Auto Car Insurance: March 2014

Monday, March 31, 2014

Should You Put Your Money In Hewlett-Packard?

When it comes to Hewlett-Packard (HPQ) there are two types of sentiments that can be seen. On one hand several analysts and industry experts are getting excited about all the turnaround that is going on under the leadership of Meg Whitman. According to them the computer giant has been increasingly gaining in the previous few months as the company stabilized its business and started venturing into new areas. On the other hand there are several analysts who are unable to understand all the excitement and fuss about HP. To them the company is hardly making any improvement.

Let's take a quick look at both the sides and then decide whether things are actually improving for the company or not.

The bear case HP's recent earnings have brought to light a few points for which many can't consider that any kind of turnaround is going on in the company. The top-line of the company has plunged in the past two years in a row, and even the projection for the coming year is lower than the current year's figure.

PC sales, the primary business driver, was also down by 10% in both 2013 and 2012 and though the figure is expected to surge by only 2% in the current fiscal year, the surge is not significant enough o pull HP out of trouble. Next, coming to services and enterprise revenues, both the segments were down in the last fiscal and the overall trend is expected to remain the same going forward.

One analyst also pointed out the Meg Whitman's $15 billion worth of software-related acquisitions is not paying off accordingly. Such an investment is roughly expected to boost the top-line by at least $1 billion, but in reality the surge in the revenue was just $300 million. Because of all these analysts doubt if at all any turnaround is happening.

The bull case All the above points are true no doubt. But the fact remains that Meg Whitman is in her second year of the five year turnaround plan and we must give her the time before writing off HP from our books. The turnaround signs need not necessarily be in the historic figure. They can also be hidden in the company's actions and future plans.

The computer giant is shifting its focus from just manufacturing devices to services such as cloud, big data, security as well as 3D printing which many analysts believe might single handedly support the company's turnaround. HP also introduced its latest converged system portfolio – a host of interlinked services from HP using its own server, storage and networking capabilities. The components of the offering come together to provide a 360 degree solution to make information technology requirements even simpler.

HP is also paying adequate attention to the growing needs of the consumer electronics space. Its two latest gadgets – Slate 6 and Slate 7 tablets - have already created some ripples in the highly crowded tablet space. In days to come the company intends to concentrate on expanding its product portfolio, reducing costs and maintaining healthy margins.

Departing thoughts Despite discouraging numbers in the recent past, HP seems to have a lot of upside potential. Taking into account all that's going on in the company and Meg Whitman's determined and well planned moves, it can be said that the turnaround is surely in the making. The company still has three years in its hands to improve its performance and prove the critics wrong. Huge growths are expected across verticals with special focus being on 3D printing. To drive home the discussion, I feel HP has a strong chance to become the top-dog.

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Sunday, March 30, 2014

Pentagon Spending Screeches to a (Near) Halt

Maybe there's something to this whole "sequestration" phenomenon after all -- because for all intents and purposes -- and certainly in comparison with recent trends -- Department of Defense spending has come to a screeching halt in recent days. On Wednesday, for example, DoD issued a grand total of three new contracts, totaling a mere Pentagon pittance of just $44.4 million.

Privately held Beechcraft Defense, still feuding with Embraer (NYSE: ERJ ) over a contract award for fighter planes in Afghanistan, got a consolation prize of sorts. The $28.6 million firm-fixed-price contract extension it won Wednesday, to service Iraqi Air Force T-6 training aircraft through Dec. 31, was the largest award the DoD gave out Wednesday. A large step down from that one was an $8.3 million award to BAE Systems' (NASDAQOTH: BAESY ) Maritime Services Division to supply "Archerfish neutralizers (destructor, mine neutralization, Airborne EX64 Mod 0 Archerfish)" as part of an upgrade to U.S. Navy MK-105 AMCM Magnetic Mine Sweeping systems produced by Exelis (NYSE: XLS ) . BAE's expected to complete performance on this contract by September 2014. Finally, Comtech Telecommunications (NASDAQ: CMTL ) subsidiary Comtech EF Data won at $7.5 million cost-plus-incentive-fee, cost-plus-fixed-fee, firm-fixed-price contract to supply Advanced Time Division Multiple Access Interface Processors -- Ethernet devices to be used by the U.S. Navy to connect ship, shore, and submarine platforms. Work on this contract will be complete by April 24, unless contract options are extended. In that case, the completion date could move out to March 2018, and the contract value could rise to $28.4 million.

Saturday, March 29, 2014

Schwab daughter shares financial advice

Carrie Schwab-Pomerantz, the daughter of financial services icon Charles Schwab, has an MBA, is a certified financial planner and is a senior vice president of the company that bears her father's name. But sometimes even she seeks advice when it comes to investing for retirement.

"I have always been a saver, but it wasn't until my 40s that I got really intentional about my retirement," she says. "I sat down and made sure I was on track and worked with a professional. I was a do-it-yourselfer until my 40s."

Say what? She got investment advice? "You'll find a lot of financial professionals use other professionals to get help. It takes the emotions out of it, and you get better results. Otherwise, it's like a doctor doing surgery on him- or herself."

Schwab-Pomerantz, 54, shares many of her insights on saving for retirement and other financial issues in her new book, The Charles Schwab Guide to Finances After Fifty: Answers to Your Most Important Money Questions, written with Joanne Cuthbertson.

STORY: A third of people have less than $1,000 in savings

STORY: Five tips for boosting your savings

STORY: Biggest retirement regrets

She learned some key values from her father. "My dad was a struggling businessman until I was in my 20s," Schwab-Pomerantz says. "He always taught me to save. He taught me a strong work ethic."

As a child, she babysat, had a paper route and worked in her dad's office when she was 16. "When I was in my 20s and worked for the company, he taught me the importance of diversification. I'm a big believer in creating a diverse portfolio. Having a diversified portfolio of stocks, bonds and cash is one of the most important principles of successful investing. It's how we manage risks."

In turn, she has taught her three children, ages 25, 22 and 17, with husband writer Gary Pomerantz, to work hard and save.

Saving enough, especially for retirement, is a big problem for many Americans, says Schwab-Pomerantz, who is also president of th! e Charles Schwab Foundation, which oversees financial education programs for teens and adults.

Ideally, "We want to get people to start saving for their retirement when they are younger. If you start in your 20s, and you save 10% to 15% of your income for the rest of your life, you'll have a comfortable retirement," she says. "But if you wait until your 40s to start saving for retirement, you have to increase that to 25% to 40% of your gross income."

The estimates of the amount that people have saved for retirement vary among studies, she says, but according to a Employee Benefit Research Institute survey, about 60% of U.S. workers say they have less than $25,000 in savings and investments (not counting their primary residence and defined benefits such as traditional pensions).

For most people, that won't not be nearly enough. People need to crunch the numbers on how much they'll need and then make a plan on how to reach that amount, she says. "We have found that many people who are in retirement wish they had done a better job planning."

So how much do you need?

"We have a rule of thumb that says in order to feel confident that your money will last throughout retirement, you should save roughly 25 times the amount of your first year's planned withdrawal."

So if you think you'll need $40,000 a year to live in retirement — that's not counting the money you get from Social Security — you will need to save a million dollars, she says. Of course, depending on your situation, you may need more or less.

Another way of thinking about the 25-times guideline is to plan to take out roughly 4% of your assets in your first year of retirement. This 4% guideline is based on probability analysis and builds in the ability to increase your withdrawal every year for inflation, she says. It also assumes you'll have anywhere from 20% to 60% of your money invested in a diversified mix of stocks to make sure it grows enough, Schwab-Pomerantz says.

People who are way behind! in savin! g shouldn't give up. It's never too late to start, she says. A 50-year-old who maxes out his 401(k) contribution could save $17,500 a year plus make an additional catch-up contribution of $5,500 for a total savings of $23,000 a year. Assuming a 6% annual return, by the time that person retires at age 65, he would have saved about $570,000, she says.

She cautions people not to make paying for their kids' college educations a higher priority than retirement savings. "There are so many more options for your child to pay for college — scholarships, grants, loans, working part time — but with retirement you only have one shot and that's your own savings.

"I don't mean to say don't pay for your kids' college. I mean don't derail your own retirement."

Freeport-McMoRan, Newmont Mining: How Do You Solve a Problem Like Indonesia?

Indonesia–and its desire to make more off of its natural resources–has been a thorn in the side of both Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold (FCX) and Newmont Mining (NEM) this year. That could be changing.

Reuters

Reuters reports that Indonesia reached a deal with Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold to resume copper shipments. The deal would require Freeport to build a smelter in exchange for losing an export tax.

Citigroup’s Brian Yu and Daniel Knauff explain the significance:

Freeport previously estimated the cost of constructing a smelter and slime processing facility at $2.0 – $2.5 bln. Since mid-January [Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold] has been operating Grasberg at ~50% of normal milling rates, reducing production by 40 mln lbs Cu and 80k ozs Au per month. In the interim, they continue to process ~40% of concentrates or 205kt per year of copper domestically at PT Smelting in Gresik…

The ability to resume exports, even at the cost of a new smelter, should be a marginal positive for [Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold] shares since Grasberg is key to the company's deleveraging plans. However, we will need details behind the smelter financing and any potential impact to the mining plan to properly assess the impact to our model.

Still, Yu and Knauff aren’t feeling much love for Freeport-McMoRan. They maintained their sell rating due to an expected fall in copper prices.

When reports first surfaced yesterday that a deal was close, Cowen’s Anthony Rizzuto and team noted that “other mining companies taking similar actions to [Freeport-McMoRan] are also expected to be granted a reprieve from the export tax.” That could be the reason shares of Newmont have been rallying today. JPMorgan, for one, had previously noted that that a Newmont Mining rally would depend on an Indonesia resolution.

Investors appear to be betting that one is at hand. Shares of Newmont Mining have gained 4.5% to $23.98 at 2:43 p.m. today, while Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold is up 1% at $32.73.

Friday, March 28, 2014

Find the best airfare site for you

Looking for the cheapest flights? Start your online search using Kayak.

(Money Magazine) Airfares are up an average of 15% since 2009 and projected to climb another 5% this year, according to FareCompare.com.

To get the best price with the fewest clicks, find a flight-search site to match your travel style.

FOR PENNY PINCHERS:

The pick: When going cheap is your top priority, start with Kayak.

The test: In 15 searches, the site came out on top nine times, tied four times, and was beaten twice -- the best record in our test. The Kayak fares were often only slightly cheaper, but some gaps were dramatic: An identical roundtrip from Washington, D.C., to Jamaica was $379 on Kayak vs. $449 on Travelocity.

Shopping by price can mean painful layovers and departure times, but you can screen those out using the site's customizable search tools.

FOR FLEXIBLE FLIERS

The pick: Vacationers with give in their schedule should try Adioso. Rather than using the usual plus or minus three days tool, this site lets you enter a plain language request, such as "10 days in the Caribbean" or "Vegas any Friday when price drops to $300," returning results in a graph that allows easy comparison of your options.

Expedia CEO: Leisure travel flying high

The test: Searching "New York to Puerto Rico in April," for example, turned up a $285 roundtrip, departing mid-month. We did find the same fare elsewhere, but only after multiple searches.

FOR PASSPORT STAMPERS

The pick: Globetrotters should be sure to check Vayama, which specializes in international travel.

The test: Vayama put together flight combinations we found nowhere else, like a $316 Paris-to-Budapest roundtrip on Air France and KLM (the runner-up came in at $332 on different airlines).

For short hops while abroad, Anne Banas of SmarterTravel.com recommends sites based outside the U.S., such as Momondo, the only one in our test to search regional airlines like Brazil's Azul and SafariLink in Kenya.

FOR JET SETTERS

The pick: Cons! tantly zipping from city to city? Once again, Kayak is the one to beat, although this time the deciding factor is ease. The site's multistop search automatically fills in the previous connecting city and appropriate month, trimming some time (and annoyance) out of the process.

The test: Kayak, Google Flights, and Bing Travel dug up similar fares -- including a Boston-Denver-Austin itinerary that all three priced at $389 -- but Kayak got there in fewer keystrokes.

Wednesday, March 26, 2014

Why Exelixis, Inc., Plug Power Inc., and King Digital Entertainment PLC Are Today's 3 Worst Stocks

A down day for the markets couldn't stop three of today's big losers. The S&P 500 (SNPINDEX: ^GSPC ) took a beating late in the day following renewed concerns over European and American sanctions against Russia. The index dropped 0.7% after a fine start to the day, knocking out all the earlier gains that had come behind a surprising 2.2% rise in durable goods orders for the month of February. Russia's ongoing territorial standoff with Europe shouldn't shake the foundation of your portfolio, but it's worth keeping an eye on: Expect more volatility in the days and weeks ahead as the situation develops and the market digests the impact on Europe, particularly surrounding natural gas and energy.

Around the market, however, three big losers didn't need Russia's help to take a beating on the day. Biotech stock Exelixis (NASDAQ: EXEL ) took the title of today's hardest-hit loser, plunging by a migraine-inducing 39.4%, while investors hammered fuel cell producer Plug Power (NASDAQ: PLUG ) to the tune of a 24% drop. The most notable loser of the day, however, came from the market's newest stock, as shares of new IPO King Digital Entertainment (NYSE: KING ) lit the market on fire in all the wrong ways today in its debut, plunging by 15.5%. Let's catch on up on the details.

A tough day for Exelixis investors
Exelixis investors have plenty to be happy about with this stock's rise over the past year, but everything fell apart today. The biotech stock's apocalyptic fall-off came after the relatively harmless announcement that the company's clinical trial of cancer therapy cabozantinib's use in treating prostate cancer will continue beyond its interim point. Sharesholders turned to fury over the announcement, as many had expected the trial to end early.

Source: Exelixis Media Resources

Why the precipitous plunge? As JPMorgan analyst Cory Kasimov told Bloomberg, several other major prostate cancer drugs in late-stage trials had ended early, making Exelixis' continuation a downbeat result. Still, investors shouldn't panic in the wake of today's bloodbath. Cabozantinib's already scored one approval -- albeit a minor one -- from the FDA back in 2012 and received European regulatory approval for metastatic medullary thyroid carcinoma, or MTC, in certain patients just this week. That's not going to shake up the company's revenue stream much, but if cabozantinib can win over regulators in treating prostate cancer, analysts project that the drug could emerge as a blockbuster with more than $1.6 billion in annual sales. That's driven much of the excitement over Exelixis through the past year, and considering that cabozantinib's still in trials for other cancer indications as well, it's worth staying patient with this biotech pick after the big sell-off and waiting to see how the drug performs in the near future.

Plug Power might not have suffered the same drop as Exelixis, but the stock's 24% decline wasn't any less painful to investors. The company had delighted the market yesterday after the firm's CEO Andy Marsh announced that Plug Power had signed a sizable deal with a worldwide automaker. Great news -- until investors found out that it was the exact same deal that Marsh had spoken about nearly two weeks earlier in the wake of the company's earnings. More of a misunderstanding and a disappointment than any drastic problem, Plug's drop today shouldn't shake your opinion of the stock too much. Plug Power's already in line to supply fuel cells to forklifts in warehouses, but the volatility around shares of the company invites caution.

Still, neither Plug Power's drop nor Exelixis's plunge made as much news around the market as the IPO of Candy Crush Saga developer King Digital. Suffice to say, King's first foray as a publicly traded company did not quite go as the firm had planned with the big drop-off from the stock's IPO price of $22.50. King's trying to harness the power of social and mobile gaming following the rise of the mobile industry, and it's betting heavily on portfolio mainstay Candy Crush Saga, a game that dominates among King's reported 144 million daily users.

That user base has helped drive King's recent financial surge, as the company reported more than $600 million in sales in its most recent quarter. However, with Candy Crush such a dominant piece of King's architecture, it's questionable whether or not the company will be able to repeat its success in creating multiple smash hits to drive user growth -- or whether it can retain and grow Candy Crush's small minority of paying customers in the future. For now, it wouldn't be a surprise to see more turbulence from this young stock.

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Has the Biotech Bubble Popped?

No, says Credit Suisse analyst Ravi Mehrotra and team, when contemplating the recent drops in Gilead Sciences (GILD), Biogen Idec (BIIB), Celgene (CELG) and their ilk. They explain why:

When looking at the overall picture, it is clear that the biotech bull markets of1999/2000 and 2013/2014 are notably different (now driven by an appetite for EPS growth vs. genomics/tech then, now valuation is arguably not stretched relative to other sectors). However, we also highlight that there are some similarities between this bull market and the last (generalist in-flows and preclinical public companies), which could drive some lingering market nervousness. In keeping with our (still standing) “generalist GARPy inflow hypothesis” we remain confident of the >25% large-cap biotech sector’s medium-term EPS growth rate (vs. high single-digit for the S&P500). In our view, unless we see a fundamental disappointment in the "leadership" companies, we think valuation of (at least the large caps within) the biotech sector is supported and actually provides room for upside. We note that if we see a further 10.5% decline in the stock across the large caps it would place the sector at 2015 PE parity to the S&P (with >4x the EPS growth). Large cap biotech is now trading at a 2015 and 2016 PE discount to the S&P500!

Mehrotra’s prefers Biogen Idec, Gilead Sciences and Celgene among large-cap biotech stocks.

Shares of Biogen Idec have dropped 1% to $309.37 today at 11:34 a.m., while Gilead Sciences has gained 0.9% to $72.74 and Celgene has advanced 1.5% to $143.55.

Monday, March 24, 2014

Bankruptcy Filings Give Quiznos, Sbarro Chances to Change

Quiznos Sandwich Shop Prepares For Bankruptcy Filing Justin Sullivan/Getty Images March hasn't been a good month for the quick-service industry. Sbarro -- the pizza and pasta chain that's a staple in many malls -- filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization earlier this month. A few days later it was toasted-sandwich maker Quiznos following suit. This doesn't mean that you'll never have another slice of Sbarro's New York-style pizza or a French dip sub at Quiznos. Unlike Chapter 7 bankruptcy, where cash-strapped companies wind down their operations, Chapter 11 gives companies another chance to get it right after negotiating with creditors. It's not a good place to be -- and this is the second time Sbarro has gone this route in the past three years. However, things have to be pretty bad if you're willing to risk upsetting creditors and potentially hand over ownership in the pursuit of a cleaner balance sheet. Sbarro and Quiznos hope that a fiscal makeover will turn the tide. Sbarro will surrender ownership to lenders in a move that will replace 80 percent of its debt with equity. Quiznos filed a prepackaged restructuring plan that would shave $400 million of debt. Both chains will live on, but they may not be the same. Mauled at the Mall Sbarro has shut 180 company-owned locations with plans to shutter dozens more. There are now less than 800 units. Quiznos has 2,100 largely franchisee-owned locations, but we'll have to see how that holds up over time. Sbarro cited an "unprecedented decline in mall traffic" as a factor in its slide. As shoppers migrate online, there has been slower foot traffic at the suburban mall and hence to the food court. Quiznos relies on standalone locations and strip-mall outlets that haven't necessarily suffered from the thinning shopping mall crowds that have hurt Sbarro. However, Quiznos has been hit by everything from the larger Subway following it into toasted subs to folks scaling back on carbohydrates. It didn't seem as if this was a problem last year. Two of the hottest IPOs out of the gate last year -- Potbelly (PBPB) and Noodles & Co. (NDLS) -- were companies where their specialties feature the same high carbs that are supposedly tripping up Sbarro and Quiznos. Potbelly's star attraction is its line of toasted subs just like Quiznos, and Noodles naturally boils up pasta -- something that Sbarro's has always done and Quiznos started doing last month with toasted pasta. All four companies are competing in the fast casual niche that's supposedly thriving as customers trade up from fast food establishments without having to take the time for longer meals at casual dining chains. However, things aren't so rosy in fast casual these days. Potbelly and Noodles & Co., after posting uninspiring financial results, are now trading far lower than their initial euphoric highs. Quiznos and Sbarro may have seen their finances hit the breaking point -- forcing bankruptcy reorganization -- but they may not be alone.

Sunday, March 23, 2014

The 4 Stocks That Dominated the Market on Monday

March 17, 2014: Markets opened higher on Monday very likely breathing a sigh of relief that the situation in Crimea did not turn into a military confrontation. There's also a feeling that U.S. and E.U. sanctions are unlikely to give Russia much of a headache. In the final minutes of trading the DJIA was up 1.00%, the S&P 500 was up 0.84%, and the Nasdaq Composite was up 0.74%.

Every one of the 30 Dow stocks is trading higher about half an hour before Monday's closing gell. International Business Machines Corp. (NYSE: IBM) has posted the largest gain today, up 1.82% at $185.55 in a 52-week range of $172.19 to $215.82 just ahead of the closing bell. Volume is on track to be about 20% below the daily average of some 5 million shares traded. IBM's share price is second-highest among the Dow stocks.

Facebook Inc. (NASDAQ: FB) is among the most heavily traded Nasdaq stocks today following a downgrade this morning from Buy to Hold from Argus. The impact was limited though, as we pointed out earlier because Argus maintained both its $73 price target and its long-term outlook for the stock. Shares are up 1.21% at $68.56 in a 52-week range of $22.67 to $72.59. Share volume was about two-thirds the daily average of around 64 million shares traded.

Among other actively traded stocks on the Nasdaq today, Kandi Technologies Group Inc. (NASDAQ: KNDI) is up 22.41%. The Chinese car maker posted solid earnings growth numbers this morning and looks to be on track for an even better year in 2014. The stock will close at around $21.28 in a 52-week range of $3.55 to $22.11 (the high was set today). Volume was about 6-times the daily average of around around 2.8 million shares traded.

The Boeing Co. (NYSE: BA) trades up another 1.73% today after gaining nearly 2% on Friday. The stock is set to close at $125.23 in its 52-week range of $83.80 to $144.57 shortly before the closing bell. Trading volume for Boeing's shares was about 40% below the daily average of around 5.3 million shares.

SECâ€™s Gallagher: Fiduciary Rule Likely Not Coming

While Phyllis Borzi was adamant Wednesday that the Department of Labor will release a fiduciary reproposal, as the redraft is DOL’s “No. 1 priority,” Securities and Exchange Commissioner Daniel Gallagher was just as adamant that the commission lacks the votes to move forward on its fiduciary rulemaking.

Gallagher said that while it “sounds like real progress is being made” on DOL’s fiduciary redraft and that he was “looking forward to hearing about the new proposal,” he believes the commission will not exercise its authority under Section 913 of Dodd-Frank to put brokers under a fiduciary mandate.

“I’m not sure a majority of the commission believes we need to use” the authority under Dodd-Frank, he told attendees during an event in Washington held by the Financial Services Roundtable.

While Gallagher noted that the SEC, like DOL, is being “deliberative” in assessing a fiduciary rulemaking, the SEC has “the authority, but not a mandate” to issue such a rule proposal.

The economic analysis that the agency is currently conducting on such a fiduciary rule, he continued, “will help us to determine whether we need” to move forward.

SEC Chairwoman Mary Jo White said in late February that that agency would make a “threshold decision” this year on whether to proceed in adopting a uniform fiduciary standard for broker-dealers and investment advisors, and to then decide whether there should be “harmonization” of BD and advisor rules.

The commission needs three yes votes to move ahead with a fiduciary rulemaking. Industry sources say the commission is split — two commissioners for a uniform fiduciary standard and two opposed (who only want to enhance disclosures) — with White being the crucial third vote. However, she has remained tight-lipped about where she stands on the issue.

Borzi stated during the event that while August is the “arbitrary” goal set by DOL’s regulatory agenda for a redraft’s release, such a rulemaking could come sooner or later than that.

Both Borzi, assistant secretary of labor for DOL’s Employee Benefits Security Administration, and Gallagher spoke at the FSR event, which was titled Tackling America’s Coming Retirement Crisis, but focused mainly on the DOL’s fiduciary redraft. They were joined by Reps. Gwen Moore, D-Wis., and Blaine Luetkemeyer, R-Mo., both members of the House Financial Services Committee, as well as Dallas Salisbury, president and CEO of the Employee Benefits Research Institute.

Noting the 40th anniversary of ERISA will be marked in September, Borzi noted the importance of a DOL fiduciary rule because “just like the marketplace has evolved, our structures for monitoring and regulating the marketplace need to evolve as well. Our regulatory structure hasn’t evolved.”

Since pulling its 2010 fiduciary draft, Borzi said the DOL has spent countless hours getting feedback on the plan, which included “some nuggets of constructive criticsm, but most of the time it was just the same old thing: ‘go away.’” /* .premium-promo { border: 1px solid #ddd; padding: 10px; margin: 0 10px 10px 0; width: 200px; float: left; } .premium-promo li, .premium-promo ul { list-style-type: none; margin: 0; padding: 0; } .premium-promo li { margin: 0 0 10px; padding: 0 0 10px; border-bottom: 1px dotted #ddd; } .premium-promo h3 { text-transform: uppercase; font-size: 11px; } .premium-promo h4 { font-size: 16px; } .premium-promo a { text-decoration: none !important; } .premium-promo .btn { background: #0069a1; border-radius: 4px; display: inline-block; padding: 5px 10px; clear: both; color: #fff; font-weight: bold; } .premium-promo .btn:hover { background: #034c92; } */ But Borzi said reissuing a redraft is “a No. 1 priority” for DOL because “it’s a very important” consumer protection issue. “We need to focus like a laser beam on our clients,” she said. “There is confusion about the legal standard for people who give advice.”

There’s been “a lot of talk” about how two standards — one issued by the SEC and another by DOL — “will [create] all this confusion in the marketplace,” Borzi said. But “today there’s confusion in the marketplace.”

Borzi questioned why the industry is “so opposed” to DOL putting out a proposal to spark debate about an issue that needs “conversation at the national level.”

Moore said that she agreed with Borzi in the “importance of having a strong fiduciary standard” and noted her support for DOL moving ahead on rereleasing what she called “a discussion template,” as the redrafting has “taken into consideration” the comments made earlier.

However, Moore said she still had concerns about how the proposal will be reworked to address the distinction between investment education and investment advice — an area Borzi said would be updated.

“I’m concerned the an open-ended definition of who’s a fiduciary … would provide that any information could lead to liability on the part of advisors, and that this would have a chilling impact on providing education,” Moore said.

Borzi stated in her comments that DOL has “tried to be more specific [in the reproposal] about the difference between education and advice; both are important and there are different standards that apply.” Education, she said, “is not fiduciary in nature. Where you cross the line is a harder question, but that’s what we’ve tried to answer.”

Luetkemeyer noted that he was thankful that DOL pulled its initial rule proposal, and warned of the rulemaking’s “unintended consequences.” He noted that he wasn’t clear on “the overabundance” of problems the DOL’s redraft is trying to solve. “I haven’t seen this evidence yet,” he said. “Are there laws in place, if enforced properly, will solve the problem?”

But Salisbury of EBRI applauded DOL for its work on the fiduciary redraft. "There clearly needs to be some change in the marketplace to rebuild trust."

---

Check out Is DOL Fiduciary a ‘Solution in Search of a Problem?’ Consider the Data by Knut Rostad on ThinkAdvisor.

Saturday, March 22, 2014

Leading in a 'VUCA' world

Gen. Casey leaves a meeting with Iraqi army officers in Baghdad, February 2007.

(Fortune) I was recently asked to address the students of the University of North Carolina's Kenan-Flagler Business School on "Leading in a VUCA World." I must admit that as soon as I got off the call with the school's executive director, I went to the computer and Googled "VUCA." Ten seconds later it was clear why the acronym was vaguely familiar to me: It was a term coined by the U.S. Army War College in the early 1990s to describe what the world would be like after the Soviet Union's collapse: volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous.

In reality, VUCA has never been more relevant, for the military and for business. I experienced VUCA environments in Bosnia (1996), in Kosovo (2000), and in Iraq (2004-07). Leading grew progressively more difficult in those conflicts, with Iraq unquestionably the toughest. I believe that my experiences leading in those environments can benefit business leaders.

The reason is that the primary function of any leader is to point the way ahead. I've learned that doing so in VUCA environments is extraordinarily difficult. Leaders need to "see around corners" -- to see something significant about the future that others don't see. Yet the more VUCA the environment, the harder it is for leaders themselves to comprehend the situation, let alone articulate a clear way forward. VUCA environments thus become invitations for inaction -- people are befuddled by the turmoil and don't act. And to succeed, you must act!

Effective action begins with a clear statement of what needs to be accomplished. As the commander in Iraq and later as the Army Chief of Staff, I made the No. 1 question I asked: "What are we really trying to accomplish?" The higher in the organization I was, the more complex the issues became and the harder it was for me to answer that question clearly and succinctly. I had to force myself to get clarity in my own mind so that I could clearly articulate to my subordinates how I saw things and what I wanted them to do. I found that the clearer I could be -- even if I wasn't exactly right -- the better we executed. Without a clear focus, there was no common purpose, and without common purpose, there wasn't effective execution. In war -- and business -- that is fatal.

MORE: The World's 50 Greatest Leaders

Consider my experience in Iraq. When I took command in July 2004, I had about 30 days to come to grips with the new environment, build a relationship with the new Iraqi government, and develop a plan for succeeding, all the while keeping a burgeoning insurgency at bay. I had a lot on my plate.

Then, almost immediately, we confronted a countrywide uprising after a young Marine made a wrong turn and drove too close to a militia leader's house in the key city of Najaf, home to the Imam Ali Mosque, the third-holiest site in Shia Islam. In response the militia leader, Muqtada al-Sadr, whose forces had been terrorizing the popu! lation of Najaf for months, rapidly mobilized his forces in Najaf, Baghdad, and southern Iraq, and fighting escalated. That's volatility.

With an inexperienced Iraqi government, a mere two battalions in the Iraqi army, 162,000 coalition forces from 33 countries engaged in a form of combat for which they had not prepared, in a culture they didn't fully understand or appreciate, and against a diverse and committed enemy, our ability to achieve our desired outcome was hugely uncertain. In addition, Iraq was the most complex environment I had ever experienced. I had to consider not only what the U.S. government wanted but also how our decisions would affect the Iraqi government, our coalition of 33 countries, and the varying Iraqi factions -- and that was just our side. In war the enemy has a vote. On almost every issue I had to consider multiple and competing internal and external variables that, if I chose incorrectly, could produce undesirable outcomes.

MORE: World's Greatest Leaders: 9 dynamic duos

Ambiguity? The reporting that I received was all over the map -- Sadr had been killed! No, he was just wounded. An errant bomb had damaged the mosque! No, it was the hotel next door. The Iraqi Special Forces had arrived! No, they were still on the way.

VUCA conditions conspired to postpone action. Yet I had to act fast because my troops were under attack.

Over the years I had developed an offensive mindset -- I worked aggressively and opportunistically to gain an advantage. That attitude kept me from being cowed by the complexity and ambiguity of the situation, and I was able to perform a leader's first duty -- to point a clear way ahead. I quickly saw the battle for Najaf as an opportunity for the new Iraqi government to demonstrate its strength. In less than 24 hours, I consulted with the Prime Minister and instructed my forces to restore Iraqi government control of Najaf, which in the following weeks they did. The Prime Minister had his first victory.

I! got the ! chance to apply what I had learned in Iraq when I became the Army Chief of Staff in 2007. As I began developing my vision to guide the Army through my four-year tenure, I initially thought it would be something flashy, like "America's Army -- an agile, disciplined warrior team, dominant across the spectrum of 21st-century conflict." I couldn't have been more wrong.

In a four-month tour of the Army, talking with men and women of all ranks, I found an organization stretched by six years of war and facing another five to 10 years of continual deployments. Over 3,000 soldiers had given their lives, leaving 10,000 surviving family members. Another 25,000 soldiers had been wounded, some 5,000 seriously enough to require long-term care. We also were just beginning to come to grips with the impacts of posttraumatic stress and traumatic brain injury on thousands of soldiers. In all the turbulence, readiness suffered. The magnificent volunteer force that we had built so painstakingly since the early 1970s was seriously frayed.

MORE: 20 of Hollywood's greatest fictional leaders

I came to see the Army as out of balance -- so weighed down by current demands that we couldn't adequately care for soldiers or prepare for the future. I realized that when you are out of balance, there is only one thing to do: Get back in balance. I thus arrived at a simple -- and clear -- vision statement: "Put the Army Back in Balance." It wasn't quite so glamorous a vision as I had originally imagined, but because it was clear, it guided a Herculean Army-wide effort that left us in a fundamentally different and better position four years later.

Leaders are human and possess only so much intellectual and emotional energy. To succeed in a VUCA world, we must expend that energy in the areas that produce the highest payoff for our organizations. Our first priority must be developing and articulating a clear vision to drive our organizations' actions. The clearer leaders can be about what they want to acco! mplish, t! he better their organizations will execute in the volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity of today's global business environment.

George W. Casey Jr. was Army Chief of Staff and Commanding General of the Multinational Force in Iraq. He is now a consultant with the Minot Group and a Distinguished Senior Lecturer of Leadership at Cornell.

This story is from the April 7, 2014 issue of Fortune.

Friday, March 21, 2014

Hot Construction Companies To Watch In Right Now

Home building is recovering faster in some cities than in others, just as home prices are.

Major cities in Texas are leading the way back in single-family home construction, while Western cities hit hard by foreclosures still lag, research shows.

Big cities back to 30-year average levels of single-family home building include Houston, Austin and Raleigh, N.C, show data from John Burns Real Estate Consulting. It compared permit activity for the 12 months ended in November to the 1980-2012 period.

Other major cities close to historic levels include Nashville, San Antonio, Dallas and Jacksonville, the data show.

If multifamily construction is counted, add San Francisco, New York, Seattle, Boston and Miami to the list of cities that are back to or beyond their historic building levels, according to a Trulia analysis of 2013 building permits, vs. historic averages.

Hot Construction Companies To Watch In Right Now: AECOM Technology Corp (ACM)

AECOM Technology Corporation (AECOM) is a provider of professional technical and management support services for commercial and government clients around the world. The Company provides planning, consulting, architectural and engineering design, and program and construction management services for a range of projects, including highways, airports, bridges, mass transit systems, government and commercial buildings, water and wastewater facilities, and power transmission and distribution. It also provides program and facilities management and maintenance, training, logistics and other support services, for agencies of the United States government. It offers services in two segments: Professional Technical Services and Management Support Services. In June 2011, the Company acquired Spectral Services Consultants Pte. Ltd.

Professional Technical Services (PTS)

The PTS segment delivers planning, consulting, architectural and engineering design, and program and construction management services to commercial and government clients worldwide in end markets, such as transportation, facilities, environmental, energy, water and government markets. It provides program management services through a joint venture for the Second Avenue subway line in New York City, design and contract administration services for the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge's Hong Kong Boundary Crossing Facilities and engineering and environmental management services to support global energy infrastructure development for a number of petroleum and mining companies.

PTS segment contributed 86% of the Company�� revenue during the fiscal year ended September 30, 2011 (fiscal 2011).

Transit and rail projects include light rail, heavy rail (including high speed, commuter and freight) and multimodal transit projects. The Company provided engineering design services for the new World Trade Center Terminal for PATH and the Second Avenue Subway (8.5-mile rail route and 16 stations) in New York City, the Ma O! n Shan Rail (seven-mile elevated railway) in Hong Kong, and Crossrail (74-mile railway) in the United Kingdom. Marine, Ports and Harbors Projects include wharf facilities and container port facilities for private and public port operators. The Company provided marine design and engineering services for container facilities in Hong Kong, the Ports of Los Angeles, Long Beach, New York and New Jersey. Highways, Bridges and Tunnels Projects include interstate, primary and secondary urban and rural highway systems and bridge projects. Aviation Projects include landside terminal and airside facilities and runways as well as taxiways.

Government Projects include the Company�� emergency response services for the Department of Homeland Security, including the Federal Emergency Management Agency and engineering and program management services for agencies of the Department of Defense. It also provides architectural and engineering services for national laboratories, including the laboratories at Hanford, Washington and Los Alamos, New Mexico. Industrial Projects include industrial facilities for a variety of end markets, including manufacturing, distribution, aviation, aerospace, communications, media, pharmaceuticals, renewable energy, chemical, and food and beverage facilities. Urban Master Planning/Design Projects include design services, landscape architecture, general policy consulting and environmental planning projects for a variety of government, institutional and private sector clients. It provides strategic planning and master planning services for new cities and mixed use developments in the People�� republic of China, Southeast Asia, the Middle East, North Africa, the United Kingdom and the United States.

Commercial and Leisure Facilities Projects include corporate headquarters, high-rise office towers, historic buildings, hotels, leisure, sports and entertainment facilities, hospitals and healthcare facilities and corporate campuses. Institutional Projects include engin! eering se! rvices for college and university campuses, including the new Kennedy-King College in Chicago, Illinois. It has also undertaken assignments for Oxford University in the United Kingdom, Pomona College and Loyola Marymount University in California. Healthcare Projects include design services for the Mayo Clinic Gonda Building in Rochester, Minnesota, University Hospital in Dubai Healthcare City and the Samsung Cancer Center in Seoul, Korea. It has also undertaken assignments for the new Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Orlando, Florida, and the Minneapolis campus of Children's Hospitals and Clinics of Minnesota. Correctional Projects include the planning, design, and construction of detention and correction facilities throughout the world.

Water and Wastewater Projects include treatment facilities as well as supply, distribution and collection systems, stormwater management, desalinization, and other water re-use technologies for metropolitan governments. Environmental Management Projects include remediation, waste handling, testing and monitoring of environmental conditions and environmental construction management for private sector clients. Water Resources Projects include regional-scale floodplain mapping and analysis for public agencies, along with the analysis and development of protected groundwater resources for companies in the bottled water industry.

Demand Side Management Projects include energy efficient systems for public K-12 schools and universities, health care facilities, and courthouses and other public buildings, as well as energy conservation systems for utilities. Transmission and Distribution Projects include power stations and electric transmissions and distribution and co-generation systems, including enhanced electrical power generation in Stung Treng, Cambodia. These projects utilize a range of services that include consulting, forecasting and surveying to detailed engineering design and construction management. Alternative/Renewable Energy Projects ! include p! roduction facilities, such as ethanol plants, wind farms and micro hydropower and geothermal subsections of regional power grids. It provides site selection and permitting, engineering, procurement and construction management and related services. Hydropower/Dams Projects include hydroelectric power stations, dams, spillways, and flood control systems including the Song Ba Ha Hydropower Project in Vietnam, the Pine Brook Dam in Boulder County, Colorado and the Peribonka Hydroelectric Power Plant in Quebec, Canada. Solar Projects include performing environmental work for the solar photovoltaic Brockton Brightfield project in New England, and environmental permitting services for the California Energy Commission to permit the development of a 250 mega watts (MW) solar thermal power plant in the Mojave Desert of California.

Management Support Services (MSS).

The MSS segment provides program and facilities management and maintenance, training, logistics, consulting, technical assistance and systems integration services, for agencies of the United States government. It also provides organizational and limited direct support services for equipment sent to the United States Army's Corpus Christi Depot in Texas. The MSS segment contributed 14% of the Company�� fiscal 2011 revenue.

Installation, Operations and Maintenance Projects include Department of Defense and Department of Energy installations where the Company provides services for the operation and maintenance of complex government installations, including military bases, test ranges and equipment. It also provides services for the operations and maintenance of the Department of Energy's Nevada Test Site. Logistics and Field Services Projects include logistics support services for a number of Department of Defense agencies and defense contractors focused on developing and managing integrated supply and distribution networks. Training Projects include training applications in live, virtual and simulation training! environm! ents. Systems Support Projects cover a set of operational and support systems for the maintenance, operation and modernization of Department of Defense and Department of Energy installations. Its services in this area range from information technology and communications to life cycle optimization and engineering, including environmental management services.

Technical Personnel Placement Projects include the placement of personnel in functional areas of military and other government agencies, as these entities continue to outsource critical services to commercial entities. It provides systems, processes and personnel in support of the Department of Justice's management of forfeited assets recovered by law enforcement agencies. It also supports the Department of State in its enforcement programs by recruiting, training and supporting police officers for international and homeland security missions. Field Services Projects include maintaining, modifying and overhauling ground vehicles, armored carriers and associated support equipment both within and outside of the United States under contracts with the Department of Defense. It also maintains and repairs telecommunications systems for military and civilian entities.

Advisors' Opinion:

[By Ben Levisohn]
If all goes right, URS could double in two years,�Mirshekari says, comparing it to AECOM Technology (ACM).

Looks a lot like AECOMM, which did something similar and rallied.
[By Rich Smith]
Continuing to laze its way through summer, the U.S. Department of Defense announced only nine mostly small new contracts Tuesday, totaling just a bit over $87 million in aggregate value. Winners today included:
[By Rich Smith]
The U.S. Department of Defense announced the award of 10 separate contracts Thursday, worth a bit over $340 million in aggregate value. Boeing and Raytheon claimed about one third of the money on offer, apiece. As for other companies participating in Pentagon funding, these included the following:
[By Lauren Pollock]
Aecom Technology Corp.(ACM) swung to a fiscal fourth-quarter profit despite continued weakness in the technical and management-support services provider’s Americas and Australia markets. The company forecast per-share earnings for the recently started new fiscal year that were below Street estimates.

Hot Construction Companies To Watch In Right Now: Jacobs Engineering Group Inc. (JEC)

Jacobs Engineering Group Inc. provides professional, technical, and construction services. Its services include engineering, design, and architectural services; construction and construction management services; operations and maintenance services; and process, scientific, and systems consulting services. The company serves a range of companies and organizations comprising industrial, commercial, and government clients across multiple markets and geographies. Jacobs Engineering Group Inc. provides its services to various industries and markets consisting of oil and gas exploration, production, and refining; environmental programs; pharmaceuticals and biotechnology; chemicals and polymers; buildings; infrastructure; power; technology and manufacturing; consumer products; and pulp and paper. The company provides its services through its offices in North America, Europe, the Middle East, Asia, and Australia. Jacobs Engineering Group Inc. was founded in 1947 and is based in Pa sadena, California.

Advisors' Opinion:

[By Ben Levisohn]
URS Corp, which competes with the likes of Fluor (FLR), Jacobs Engineering (JEC) and Tetra Tech (TTEK), said it would earn between $3.20 and $3.30 a share in 2013–the previous range had been between $4.10 and $4.25 a share–and also offered guidance for 2014 that was well below analyst forecasts. On the plus side, URS said it would buy its shares back at a faster pace than previously announced.
[By Rich Smith]
The Department of Defense had a slow day Thursday, announcing only five new defense contracts, with a combined value of only $109.5 million. Of these contracts, only two went to publicly traded defense contractors:

Hot Canadian Companies To Buy Right Now: Oci NV (OCI)

Oci NV is a Netherlands-based company, which divides its activities into two groups. The first group is engaged in the design, construction and maintenance of industrial and commercial infrastructures and buildings, such as roads, ports, railroads, hospitals, stadiums and water treatment units. The second group is engaged in the production of fertilizers, such as anhydrous ammonia, granulated urea, calcium ammonium nitrate and urea ammonium nitrate, among others. The Company is a subsidiary of Orascom Construction Industries SAE, an international fertilizer producer and construction contractor based in Cairo, Egypt. In September 2013, it announced spin-off of its subsidiary OCI Partners LP. Advisors' Opinion:

[By Ahmed A. Namatalla]
OCI attracted $2 billion in commitments from a group of investors including Cascade Investment LLC, Gates�� personal investments vehicle, to help finance the move to Amsterdam, which it said would lower borrowing costs and boost its global profile. Yesterday�� settlement prompted Cairo-based investment bank Pharos Holding to raise Orascom to buy from hold, saying the construction and fertilizer company would proceed with an offer to investors to buy its Cairo-listed shares or swap them with OCI NV (OCI) stock.

Hot Construction Companies To Watch In Right Now: Tile Shop Holdings Inc (TTS)

Tile Shop Holdings, Inc., incorporated on June 21, 2012, is a specialty retailer of manufactured and natural stone tiles, setting and maintenance materials, and related accessories in the United States. The Company sells over 4,500 products from around the world, including ceramic, porcelain, glass, and stainless steel manufactured tiles and, marble, granite, quartz, sandstone, travertine, slate, and onyx natural tiles. It purchases its tile products and accessories directly from producers. The Company manufactures its own setting and maintenance materials, such as thinset, grout, and sealers under its brand name. The Company operates 70 stores in 22 states, with an average size of 23,000 square feet. It also sells its products on its Website. In January 2014 Tile Shop Holdings Inc launched its first retail store in Oklahoma City.

The Company offers a complete assortment of tile products, generally sourced directly from producers, including ceramic, porcelain, glass, and stainless steel manufactured tiles, and marble, granite, quartz, sandstone, travertine, slate, and onyx natural tiles. The Company also offers a range of setting and maintenance materials, such as thinset, grout and sealers, and accessories, including installation tools, shower and bath caddies, drains, and similar products.

The Company competes with Home Depot, Tile America, World of Tile, Century Tile, and Floor and Decor, Dal-Tile and Florida Tile.

Advisors' Opinion:

[By Brian Pacampara]
Based on the aggregated intelligence of 180,000-plus investors participating in Motley Fool CAPS, the Fool's free investing community, natural stone tile retailer Tile Shop Holdings (NASDAQ: TTS ) has earned a coveted five-star ranking.
[By John Udovich]
The shorts appear to be trying to crack small cap Tile Shop Holdings, Inc (NASDAQ: TTS)��meaning it might be worth taking a realistic look at the stock and any potential problems surrounding it plus the performance of other home improvement retailers or peers like Lumber Liquidators Holdings Inc (NYSE: LL), which is not into tiles, and The Home Depot, Inc (NYSE: HD) and Lowe's Companies, Inc (NYSE: LOW) which would be into tiles.

Hot Construction Companies To Watch In Right Now: Amcol International Corp (ACO)

AMCOL International Corporation (AMCOL), incorporated on December 3, 1959, is focused on the development and application of minerals and technology products and services to various industrial and consumer markets. It operates in five segments: performance materials, construction technologies, energy services, transportation and corporate. Its performance materials segment previously referred to as its minerals and materials segment is a supplier of bentonite related products. Its construction technologies segment previously referred to as its environmental segment provides products for non-residential construction, environmental and infrastructure projects worldwide. Its energy services segment previously referred to as its oilfield services segment offers a range of patented technologies, products and services for both upstream and downstream oil and gas production. Its transportation segment serves domestic subsidiaries, as well as third parties, is a dry van and flatbed carrier and freight brokerage service provider.

Performance Materials Segment

The Company supplies chromite and leonardite, and operates more than 25 mining or production facilities worldwide. It mines chromite, an iron chromium oxide, from open cast mines in South Africa and transport it to our nearby processing facility. Its primary uses include metalcasting, drilling fluid additive, and agricultural applications. Its performance materials segment conducts its business through wholly owned subsidiaries and investments in affiliates and joint ventures throughout the world. It consists of four product lines: metalcasting; specialty materials; basic minerals, and pet products. Its principal products are marketed under various registered trade names, including VOLCLAY, PANTHER CREEK, PREMIUM GEL, ADDITROL, ENERSOL, and Hevi-Sand.

The Company�� metalcasting products include blended mineral binders containing sodium and calcium bentonite and organic additives sold under the trade name ADDITROL. I! n the ferrous casting market, the Company specializes in blending bentonite of various grades by themselves or with mineral binders containing sodium bentonite, calcium bentonite, seacoal and other ingredients. It also has a line of formulated additives that introduce silicon and carbon in the melt phase of the casting process. In the steel alloy casting market, it sells a chromite product with a particle size distribution specific to a customer�� needs.

The Company�� specialty materials products contain bentonite and synthetic additives offering solutions for consumer and industrial applications. It also offers products for bio-agricultural applications. The markets and applications of its specialty materials products include fabric care, personal care, basic materials and pet products. It supply high-grade, agglomerated bentonite and other mineral additives used in fabric care products. It manufactures adsorbent polymers and purified grades of bentonite for sale to manufacturers of personal skin care products. The adsorbent polymers are used to deliver high-value actives in skin-care products. Microsponge and Poly-Pore are the principal trade names under which these products are sold. Its basic minerals product line supplies minerals to a variety of markets and industrial applications, including drilling fluid additives, ferro alloys and other industrial.

The Company�� pet products include sodium bentonite-based scoopable (clumping), traditional and alternative cat litters, as well as specialty pet products sold to grocery and drug stores, mass merchandisers, wholesale clubs and pet specialty stores throughout the United States. It is primarily a private-label producer of cat litter, and its products are marketed under various trade names. These products are sold solely in the United States from three principal sites from which it package and distribute finished goods. Its transportation segment provides logistics services and is a component of its capability in supplyi! ng custom! ers on a national basis.

Construction Technologies Segment

The Company�� construction technologies segment serves customers engaged in a range of construction projects, including site remediation, concrete waterproofing for underground structures, liquid containment on projects ranging from landfills to flood control, and drilling applications including foundation, slurry wall, tunneling, water well and horizontal drilling. Its construction technologies segment conducts its business through wholly owned subsidiaries and joint ventures throughout the world. This segment consists of four product lines: building materials; contracting services; drilling products, and lining technologies.

The Company sells lining and other products for a variety of applications, most of which are directed to preserving or remediating environmental issues. It helps customers protect ground water and soil through the sale of geosynthetic clay liner products containing bentonite. It market these products under the BENTOMAT and CLAYMAX trade names principally for lining and capping landfills, mine waste disposal sites, water and wastewater lagoons, secondary containments in tank farms, and other contaminated sites. It also provides associated geosynthetic materials for these applications, including geotextiles and drainage geocomposites.

The Company�� lining technologies product line also includes specialized technologies to mitigate vapor intrusion in new building construction. It also provides reactive capping technologies and solutions to contain residual contamination, reduce costs associated with ex-situ remedies, and aid in environmental protection. Products offered include Liquid Boot, a liquid applied vapor barrier system; REACTIVE CORE-MAT, an in-situ sediment capping material; ORGANOCLAY, which absorbs organic containments, and QUIK-SOLID, a super absorbent media.

The Company offer a variety of active and passive waterproofing and greenroof technolog! ies for u! se in protecting the building envelope of non-residential constructions, including buildings, subways, and parkway systems. Its products include VOLTEX, a waterproofing composite comprised of two polypropylene geotextiles filled with sodium bentonite; ULTRASEAL, an advanced membrane using a active polymer core, and COREFLEX, featuring heat-welded seams for protection of critical infrastructure. In addition to these membrane materials, it also provides roofing products and a variety of sealants and other accessories required to create a functional waterproofing system.

The Company drilling products are used in environmental and geotechnical drilling applications, horizontal directional drilling, mineral exploration and foundation construction. The products are used to install monitoring wells, facilitate horizontal and water well drilling, and seal abandoned exploration drill holes. VOLCLAY GROUT, HYDRAUL-EZ, BENTOGROUT and VOLCLAY TABLETS are among the trade names for products used in these applications. It also offer a range of drilling products used in the excavation of foundations for large buildings, bridges and dams; these products include SHORE PAC and PREMIUM GEL. Contracting services, which involve installation of products, are occasionally offered to customers for select projects.

Energy Services Segment

The Company�� energy services segment provides services to improve the production, costs, compliance, and environmental impact of activities performed in the oil and gas industry. Operating as CETCO Energy Services, it offer a range of patented technologies, products and services for all phases of oil and gas production, transportation, refining, and storage throughout the world. It provide both land-based and offshore water treatment, well testing, pipeline separation, nitrogen, coil tubing and other services to the oil and gas industry. The Company provides its services through subsidiaries located in Australia, Brazil, Malaysia, Nigeria, the United Ki! ngdom, an! d the United States, principally in the Gulf of Mexico and the surrounding on-shore area. Its principal services include water treatment, coil tubing, well testing, nitrogen services and pipeline. The Company helps customers comply with regulatory requirements by providing equipment, technologies, personnel and filtration media to treat waste water generated during oil production.

The Company's coil tubing services utilize metal piping, which comes spooled on a large reel. It provide both equipment and operating personnel to perform services ranging from acid stimulation, reverse circulation, cementing, pressure control, nitrogen injection, and other operations that involve pumping fluids into a well. Horizontal wells and shale completions are a large component of its operations. It provide equipment and personnel to help customers control well production, as well as to clean up, unload, separate, measure component flow, and dispose of fluids from oil and gas wells. Nitrogen services are provided in jetting wells that are loaded with fluid; stimulating wells, including fracturizing and acidizing; displacing completion fluids prior to perforating; inflating flotation devices for offshore installations, and pressure testing and other maintenance activities.

Transportation Segment

The Company operates a long-haul trucking business through Ameri-Co Carriers, Inc., and a freight brokerage business through Ameri-Co Logistics, Inc. primarily for delivery of finished products throughout the continental United States. These services are provided to its subsidiaries, as well as third-party customers.

Advisors' Opinion:

[By Seth Jayson]
AMCOL International (NYSE: ACO ) is expected to report Q2 earnings on July 26. 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 AMCOL International's revenues will grow 1.6% and EPS will wither -16.9%.
[By Jake L'Ecuyer]
Leading and Lagging Sectors
In trading on Friday, Basic Materials shares were relative leaders, up on the day by 0.78 percent. Top gainer in the sector was AMCOL International (NYSE: ACO), up 9 percent.

Hot Construction Companies To Watch In Right Now: Assa Abloy AB (ASAZY.PK)

Assa Abloy AB is a Sweden-based company engaged in the secure door opening solutions. It is organized into five divisions: Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA), North and South America (Americas), Asia, Australia and New Zealand (Asia Pacific), Global Technologies and Entrance Systems. The EMEA, Americas and Asia Pacific divisions manufacture mechanical and electromechanical locks, security doors and hardware in their respective geographical markets. The Global Technologies division operates in the product areas of access control systems, secure card issuance, identification technology and hotel locks. The Entrance Systems division is a supplier of entrance automation products and services. The Company�� subsidiaries include ASSA Sverige AB, Timelox AB and ABLOY Holdings Ltd., among others. In November 2013, it acquired Ameristar Fence Products Inc, a manufacturer of ornamental fences and gates. In January 2014, it acquired IdenTrust. In February 2014, it acquired Lumidigm. Advisors' Opinion:

[By Weighing Machine]
Domiciled in Sweden, Assa Abloy (ASAZY.PK) is the largest lock maker in the world with a global market share of nearly 12%. While the construction market has been difficult since the financial crisis, Assa has continued to increase revenue and operating profit every year since 2010 and is on track to do so again in 2013. While commercial construction has been subdued, the aftermarket (which represents ~70% of the total lock market) is driven by changes in tenancy, renovation, and extensions have not been very cyclical and provides the company with a steady stream of profits. Assa has been cobbled together through 150+ acquisitions since the early 1990s and while management has done a good job of rationalizing facilities, there remain opportunities to increase manufacturing efficiencies. Similarly, the company's back office is still running dozens of IT systems (as a result of acquisitions) but management plans to consolidate these over the next few years. Further, Assa remains an active consolidator of the locks industry - it should be able to add 5% per year to sales via acquisitions (as an aside, those interested in micro-caps should have a look at Securidev in France which trades at less than half the private market value Assa has paid for lock makers on average over the past decade). Having the highest margins in the industry, Assa is able to achieve significant synergies on acquired businesses and earn good returns on capital for its shareholders through M&A. Thus even in a difficult economy, we expect Assa will continue to grow its operating profit given its steady after market revenue, opportunity to improve results through cost cutting, and through value accretive M&A. While its shares are not cheap, at 19x earnings, shares could offer investors with a five year holding period and an 8-10% annualized return.

Hot Construction Companies To Watch In Right Now: American Woodmark Corp (AMWD)

American Woodmark Corporation, incorporated on April 21, 1980, manufactures and distributes kitchen cabinets and vanities for the remodeling and new home construction markets. The Company offers framed stock cabinets in approximately 550 different cabinet lines, ranging in price from relatively inexpensive to medium-priced styles. Styles vary by design and color from natural wood finishes to low-pressure laminate surfaces. The product offering of stock cabinets includes 86 door designs in 18 colors. Stock cabinets consist of a common box with standard interior components and a maple, oak, cherry, or hickory front frame, door and/or drawer front. The Company�� product is primarily sold under the brand names of American Woodmark, Timberlake, Shenandoah Cabinetry, Potomac, and Waypoint Living Spaces.

The Company�� product is sold on a national basis across the United States to the remodeling and new home construction markets. The Company services these markets through three primary channels, which include home centers, builders, and independent dealers and distributors. The Company provides complete installation services to its direct builder customers through its network of nine service centers that are strategically located throughout the United States. The Company distributes its products to each market channel directly from four assembly plants through a third party logistics network. The primary raw materials used include hard maple, oak, cherry, soft maple, and hickory lumber and plywood.

Advisors' Opinion:

[By John Udovich]
After the bedroom, the kitchen is probably the place where we spend the most time awake in our homes with small cap kitchen stocks Caesarstone Sdot-Yam Ltd (NASDAQ: CSTE) and American Woodmark Corporation (NASDAQ: AMWD) along with diversified midcap Fortune Brands Home & Security Inc (NYSE: FBHS) all putting in a good performance. After all, any sort of housing recovery with more new homes being sold will�help kitchen stocks and so will increased sales of older or foreclosed homes that need to have their kitchens remodeled. But which is the better kitchen stock for investors? Here is�closer look at all three:

Hot Construction Companies To Watch In Right Now: Societe Libanaise des Ciments Blancs SAL (CBN)

Societe Libanaise des Ciments Blancs SAL is a Lebanon-based joint stock company that operates in the construction materials industry sector. The Company is engaged in the production and sale of white cement. The Company is a 65.99% owned by Holcim (Liban) SAL. Advisors' Opinion:

[By CanadianValue]
Nigeria�� reformed banking system has provided many foreigners with an attractive means to invest in the fast-growing domestic economy. The banking industry is important, not only because of the rise of microfinance, but because of the move by banks into consumer banking. Until recently, banks were mainly financing large businesses or the government through bond purchases. Following a banking crisis in 2008, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) conducted an audit of the commercial banking sector. All banks that failed the audit had their CEOs replaced. The state-owned Asset Management Corporation (AMCON) was created to purchase non-performing loans and recapitalize the unhealthy banks. A recent review of the country�� banks by the IMF showed a dramatic increase in profits for the industry in 2012, while the capital adequacy ratio was above the minimum requirement of 10% and non-performing loans were below the mandated threshold of 5%5.

Hot Construction Companies To Watch In Right Now: Larsen & Toubro Ltd (LT)

Larsen & Toubro Limited is a technology, engineering, construction and manufacturing company. It operates in three segments Engineering & Construction Segment, Electrical & Electronics segment, Machinery & Industrial Products, and others. Engineering & construction Segment comprises execution of engineering and construction projects in India. Electrical & electronics Segment comprises manufacture and sale of low and medium voltage Switchgear components, custom-built switchboards, custom built low and medium voltage switchboards, and electronic energy meters/protection (relays) systems. Machinery & industrial Products Segment comprises manufacture and sale of industrial machinery and equipment, manufacture and marketing of industrial valves, construction equipment and welding/industrial products. Others include property development and integrated engineering services. Effective March 28, 2013, the Company acquired Audco India Ltd. Advisors' Opinion:

[By Anuchit Nguyen]
India�� S&P BSE Sensex rose, holding at a three-year high, amid better-than-estimated corporate earnings. Engineering company Larsen & Toubro Ltd. (LT) rallied to a three-month high and Asian Paints Ltd. (APNT) surged about 6 percent after reporting profit that beat forecasts.

Putnamâ€™s Reynolds to Head Great-West Lifeco U.S.

Great West Lifeco Inc. announced Thursday that Robert Reynolds, president and CEO of Putnam Investments, was named president and CEO of Great-West Lifeco U.S. Inc., which owns Denver-based Great-West Financial and Boston-based Putnam Investments.

Reynolds will also replace Mitchell Graye as president and CEO of Great-West Financial in May upon Graye’s retirement.

The companies also announced the same day that under the leadership of Reynolds, Putnam’s retirement business will be combined with Great-West Financial’s to create one of the nation’s leading providers of comprehensive retirement services capabilities to small, mid and large-sized corporate 401(k) clients, government 457 plans and nonprofit 403(b) entities. The combined retirement business will reside within Great-West Financial.

“I approach this with a lot of excitement,” Reynolds said on a Thursday conference call to discuss the announcement.

Reynolds said that Great-West has specialized in serving the small- to midsize end of the 401(k) market while Putnam has been serving the medium to large end. So with the merger of Putnam and Great-West Financial’s retirement businesses, “there will be total coverage of the 401(k) market.”

The combined assets under administration will total $220 billion, and serve more than 5 million participants, Reynolds said.

“The U.S. market represents a significant growth opportunity for Great-West Lifeco,” said Paul Mahon, president and CEO of that firm. “The new structure will allow Great-West Lifeco to pursue expanded U.S. market opportunities by leveraging the combined strengths and capabilities of our core businesses in a coordinated manner to best serve clients.”

“Bob has been a driving force of innovation and industry progress in financial services for three decades, having led institutional and retail asset management, insurance and retirement services businesses over the course of his career,” Mahon said.

Reynolds added that “by drawing upon the vision, leadership and dedication to excellence of two superb retirement businesses, with their unmatched client service, product, marketing and technology capabilities, we will be in a position to provide the U.S. marketplace with a superior, leading-edge offering across every client segment.”

The combined retirement businesses, headed by Charles P. Nelson, president of retirement services, at Great-West Financial and Edmund F. Murphy III, head of defined contribution, at Putnam, will report to Reynolds. Nelson and Murphy, Reynolds said, will “work together” on the integration.

Thursday, March 20, 2014

Mortgage Rates Turn Downward (Again)

Remember all the dire predictions about what the Federal Reserve's tapering was going to do to the housing market? It seems mortgage rates have gotten a reprieve -- and from a somewhat unlikely source.

Mortgage rates fell throughout January and into early February. However, that is not entirely good news.

Relief for mortgage rates
2013 was the first year in seven in which mortgage rates rose, and 2014 was expected to see more of the same. The economy appeared to be strengthening, and in December the Fed announced it would start cutting back its quantitative easing program. That program had been seen as instrumental in driving mortgage rates down to record levels.

So far though, 2014 has defied expectations. Thirty-year mortgage rates were at 4.53 percent on January 2, but had fallen to 4.23 percent by February 6. This drop comes as a relief to prospective home buyers, but existing home owners also have reason to cheer lower rates: Low mortgage rates create refinance opportunities, and generally support property values.

Does this take the Fed off the hook?
Under different circumstances, the Fed might also welcome lower mortgage rates. Throughout last year, there were continual debates about how the Fed could back off from quantitative easing without sending mortgage rates so high they would choke off the housing rally and dampen economic growth.

Instead, the Fed has now taken two steps toward tapering its monetary stimulus, and rates have fallen rather than risen. Does this get the Fed off the hook for any potential adverse effects of tapering? Not exactly.

After all, starting last May, mortgage rates rose by more than a percentage point in anticipation of Fed tapering, so even with the recent easing of rates, they are still much higher than they were a year ago. Also, current mortgage rates reflect a series of disappointing economic news releases, which is hardly something the Fed could have wished for. After all, the idea of bringing rates down in the first place was to stimulate the economy.

Business as usual for deposit rates
For now, it is fair to say that mortgage rates have abandoned their upward course, and it will take either some more positive economic news or signs of inflation to send them higher again. Though current mortgage rates are higher than they were a year ago, they are still much lower than historical norms.

There has been no such change of course for rates on CDs, savings accounts and money market accounts. These remained unchanged throughout last year, having hit bottom and then appearing dead in the water. As the recent downturn in mortgage rates suggests, the deteriorating economic news of late should only prolong the time deposit rates spend near zero.

In an economic story with so many twists and turns, improved growth may yet revive deposit rates later in the year. For now though, the only way consumers can earn higher rates is by active comparison shopping.

The original article: Mortgage Rates Turn Downward (Again) appeared on MoneyRates.com

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Tuesday, March 18, 2014

It's Time to Trade Yahoo! Now Ahead of Alibaba IPO

YHOO EBAY AMZN DELAFIELD, Wis. (Stockpickr) -- The IPO market is about to get hit with a big name that could make a real splash on Wall Street.

>>5 Stocks Set to Soar on Bullish Earnings

China-based e-commerce player Alibaba has been rumored to disclose its prospectus for an IPO in New York as soon as April. Alibaba is often called the eBay (EBAY) or Amazon.com (AMZN) of China. Some analysts think Alibaba could raise as much as $15 billion to $16 billion when it hits the public market, valuing the company at more than $100 billion.

Alibaba runs an Amazon-like online shopping mall, an eBay-like platform for customers to buy from other people, a business-to-business sales platform and a PayPal-like online payment platform. Alibaba is one of the world's largest e-commerce players, and it's been rumored the company does more than $150 billion worth of sales on its online platform each year, which is more than Amazon and eBay combined. The fever for Alibaba is so high that some analysts think it could the largest IPO ever for a technology company in the U.S. Clearly, shares of Alibaba will quickly become a favorite play of the trading and investing community once it hits the U.S. exchanges. However, since we don't know the exact IPO date for Alibaba yet, traders need to find other derivative plays to capture some of the run-up momentum to the official offering date. One stock that looks to be setting up for an excellent Alibaba IPO play that could reap big rewards over the short-term is global technology player Yahoo! (YHOO). >>5 Rocket Stocks to Buy This Week The reason that Yahoo! looks so attractive here as an Alibaba IPO play is because it currently holds a 24% stake in the company. Yahoo! is required to sell a little less than half of its stake at the offering, but if that offering is a major success before and after, then Yahoo! is going to cash in big time. I believe that shares of Yahoo! are preparing right now for a momentum run-up trade into the Alibaba offering. Traders aren't going to wait for a few weeks before the offering. I think they need to start to focus on playing Yahoo! now as more and more Alibaba news stories hit the wires. If you consult the chart for shares of Yahoo!, you'll see that this stock recently formed a double bottom chart pattern at $36.82 to $36.48 a share over the last month or so. This stock has now started to spike and gap higher back above its 50-day moving average of $38.36 a share with heavy upside volume flows. The upside volume for shares of YHOO over the last two trading sessions (not today) has registered over 29 million shares, which is well above its three-month average volume of 17.02 million shares. This unusual spike in upside volume is leading me to believe that traders are starting to snap up shares of YHOO ahead of the Alibaba IPO so they can capture some quick gains if the stock runs up into the offering. The chart for Yahoo! is also starting to form a W pattern, which is a bullish technical setup that often resolves much higher. That pattern hasn't confirmed yet, since shares of YHOO will need to break out above the neckline to give this setup a chance to really take flight, but the stock is quickly approaching that breakout which could trigger very soon. Traders should look for long-biased trades in YHOO as long as its trending above those double bottom support zones that sit just above $36 a share and then once it breaks out above some key near-term overhead resistance levels at $40.15 a share to its 52-week high at $41.72 a share with high volume. Look for volume on that breakout that hits near or above its three-month average action of 17.02 million shares. If that break kicks off soon, then I think shares of YHOO have an excellent chance to tag $50 a share, or possibly even north of that level. Keep in mind that it won't just be Alibaba pushing shares of YHOO higher if it breaks out into new 52-week-high territory -- it will also be momentum and technical traders who buy stocks showing strength off high-volume moves to new highs. If this breakout I have outlined above doesn't materialize, then of course you can forget about any run-up trade, so follow the trend with YHOO and play it only if we get a high-volume breakout conformation. -- Written by Roberto Pedone in Delafield, Wis. RELATED LINKS: >>3 Stocks Rising on Big Volume >>3 Huge Stocks on Traders' Radars >>5 Big Health Care Stocks to Trade for Gains Follow Stockpickr on Twitter and become a fan on Facebook.

Stock quotes in this article: YHOO

Monday, March 17, 2014

10 Best Restaurant Stocks To Watch For 2015

For the first time in its 63-year history, Dunkin' Donuts, part of the Dunkin' Brands Group (NASDAQ: DNKN ) , will�open restaurants in the Southern California market after�signing multi-unit store development agreements with four franchise groups, the company announced today.

Combined, the four franchise groups have committed to opening 45 new Dunkin' Donuts in Southern California, with the first stand-alone facilities scheduled for 2015 in Orange and Los Angeles counties, Dunkin' Donuts said. In addition to its plans for stand-alone restaurants, some "non-traditional Dunkin' Donuts locations may open over the next several months," according to today's press release.

Paul Twohig, president Dunkin' Donuts�U.S. and Canada, commented "Our continued focus on franchisee profitability and restaurant economics has made our long-awaited expansion into California possible, and we continue to believe that Dunkin' Donuts has tremendous domestic growth opportunities both east and west of the Mississippi."

10 Best Restaurant Stocks To Watch For 2015: Darden Restaurants Inc (DRI)

Darden Restaurants, Inc. (Darden), incorporated in March 1995, is a company owned and full-service restaurant company. As of May 27, 2012, the Company operated through subsidiaries 1,994 restaurants in the United States and Canada. In the United States, it operated 1,961 restaurants in all 50 states, including 677 Red Lobster, 786 Olive Garden, 386 LongHorn Steakhouse, 46 The Capital Grille, 30 Bahama Breeze, 23 Seasons 52, eight Eddie V's Prime Seafood and three Wildfish Seafood Grille restaurants, and two test synergy restaurants, which house both a Red Lobster and Olive Garden restaurant in the same building. In Canada, the Company operated 33 restaurants, including 27 Red Lobster and six Olive Garden restaurants. Through subsidiaries, it owns and operates all of its restaurants in the United States and Canada, except for three restaurants located in Central Florida that is owned by joint ventures it manages. On November 14, 2011, it acquired eight Eddie V's Prime Seafood restaurants and three Wildfish Seafood Grille restaurants.

As of May 27, 2012, the Company had 28 restaurants outside the United States and Canada operated by independent third parties pursuant to area development and franchise agreements, including five LongHorn Steakhouse restaurants in Puerto Rico, 22 Red Lobster restaurants in Japan, and one Red Lobster restaurant in Dubai. During fiscal year ended May 27, 2012, it opened 89 net new restaurants in the United States and Canada.

Red Lobster

Red Lobster is a full-service dining seafood specialty restaurant operator in the United States. It offers a menu featuring fresh fish, shrimp, crab, lobster, scallops and other seafood. The menu includes a variety of specialty seafood and non-seafood entrees, appetizers and desserts. Red Lobster maintains different lunch and dinner menus and different menus across its trade areas.

Olive Garden

Olive Garden is a full service dining Italian restaurant operator in the United Stat! es. Olive Garden�� menu includes a range of authentic Italian foods featuring fresh ingredients and a wine list that includes a selection of wines imported from Italy. The menu includes flatbreads and other appetizers, soups, salad and garlic bread sticks, baked pastas, sauted specialties with chicken, seafood and fresh vegetables, grilled meats, and a variety of desserts. Olive Garden also uses coffee imported from Italy for its espresso and cappuccino.

LongHorn Steakhouse

LongHorn Steakhouse restaurants are full-service establishments serving both lunch and dinner. With locations in 35 states, primarily in the Eastern half of the United States, LongHorn Steakhouse restaurants feature a range of menu items, including signature fresh steaks, as well as salmon, shrimp, chicken, ribs, pork chops, burgers and prime rib.

The Capital Grille

The Capital Grille has locations in metropolitan cities in the United States. The Capital Grille offers seafood flown in daily and culinary specials created by its chefs. The restaurants feature a wine list offering over 350 selections, personalized service, and private dining rooms.

Bahama Breeze

Bahama Breeze restaurants bring guests the feeling of a Caribbean escape, offering the food, drinks and atmosphere found in the islands. The menu features Caribbean-inspired seafood, chicken and steaks, as well as signature specialty drinks. During fiscal 2012, it opened four Bahama Breeze restaurant.

Seasons 52

Seasons 52 is a grill and wine bar with seasonally inspired menus offering ingredients to meals that are lower in calories than comparable restaurant meals. It offers a wine list of more than 90 wines with approximately 60 available by the glass. As of May 27, 2012, there were 23 Seasons 52 restaurants in the United States.

Synergy restaurant

Synergy restaurant houses both a Red Lobster and Olive Garden restaurant in the same building, but ! with sepa! rate front doors, dining rooms and brand-specific menus. It opened a second synergy test location during fiscal 2012.

Advisors' Opinion:

[By Damian Illia]
Here�� where I see that Nucor hold its competitive advantage: electric arc furnaces (EAF). These furnaces, in spite of being more electricity intensive, require a much lower per-unit investment and are significantly more efficient in terms of labor. Adding to this, the fact the Nucor has shifted its raw material usage from pig iron to direct-reduced iron (DRI) by building a new production capacity that utilizes cheap natural gas is also a way in which management is attaining a low-cost strategy to outperform its competitors. Moreover, Nucor�� acquisition of ferrous scrap metal broker David J. Joseph Company allows it to avoid price volatility.

10 Best Restaurant Stocks To Watch For 2015: Planet Platinum Ltd (PPN)

Planet Platinum Limited is an Australia-based company engaged in the operation of Showgirls Bar 20 and the on-going rental of property in Elsternwick. The Company operates in two segments: hospitality and entertainment and property rental businesses. The Company�� hospitality and entertainment segment comprises operations of Showgirls Bar 20 in Melbourne and is engaged in the nightclub through the provision of beverages and adult entertainment. Property segment comprise maintaining of rental property at Home Street, Elsternwick. The Company continues to receive lease rentals from its Home Street property. The investment property is located at 12 Home Street, Elsternwick Victoria. Advisors' Opinion:

[By Tabitha Jean Naylor]
Americans consume a lot of chicken. It estimated that Americans consume about 81 pounds of poultry per year, per capita. With there being upwards of 310 million people living in the United States, it is no wonder why poultry production is big business. Two of the biggest names in poultry production are Tyson Foods (NYSE: TSN) and Pilgrim's Pride (NASDAQ: PPN).

Best Performing Stocks To Buy For 2014: Burger King Worldwide Inc (BKW)

Burger King Worldwide, Inc., incorporated on April 2, 2012, is a fast food hamburger restaurant, under the Burger King brand. The Company generates revenues from three sources: franchise revenues, consisting primarily of royalties based on a percentage of sales reported by franchise restaurants and fees paid by franchisees; property income from properties that it leases or subleases to franchisees, and retail sales at Company restaurants. In September 2012, it sold 41 Company-owned BURGER KING restaurants in Singapore to Rancak Selera Sdn Bhd. As of December 31, 2012, it owned or franchised a total of 12,997 restaurants in 86 countries and United States territories. In April 2013, it announced the sale of Burger King Restaurants of Canada (BKRC), including 94 Company owned BURGER KING restaurants in the Canada market to Redberry Investments Corp.

The Company operates in the FFHR category of the quick service restaurant (QSR), segment of the restaurant industry. In the United States, the QSR segment is the segment of the restaurant industry and has demonstrated steady growth over a long period of time. The Company launched four new menu platforms (salads, wraps, smoothies and desserts) and expanded its chicken, coffee and ancillary menu platforms. It has established a data driven marketing process, which is focused on driving restaurant sales and traffic, while targeting a broader consumer base with more inclusive messaging to reach women, parties with children and seniors.

United States and Canada (U.S. and Canada)

As of December 31, 2012, the Company had 7,293 franchise restaurants and 183 Company restaurants in the U.S. and Canada. During the year ended December 31, 2012, the Company refranchised 752 restaurants in the U.S. and Canada, bringing the region to 98% franchised. During the year ended December 31, 2012, it also continued to implement its Four Pillars strategy to improve comparable sales growth and franchise profitability by enhancing its Menu, Marke! ting Communications, Image, and Operations.

Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA)

As of December 31, 2012, the Company had 2,989 franchise restaurants and 132 Company restaurants in EMEA. While in Germany continues with 684 restaurants as of December 31, 2012, Turkey and Russia are two of its growing markets with net openings of 78 restaurants and 47 restaurants, respectively, during the year ended December 31, 2012.

Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC)

As of December 31, 2012, the Company had 1,290 franchise and 100 Company restaurants in LAC. In 2011, the Company entered into a joint venture agreement with Vinci Partners for Brazil and granted franchise and development rights to the joint venture. The Company received a minority stake and board seats in the joint venture without deploying its own capital.

Asia Pacific (APAC)

As of December 31, 2012, the Company had 1,007 franchise and 3 Company restaurants in APAC. As of December 31, 2012,the Company had 357 restaurants in Australia. It contributed 44 Company restaurants in China. In September 2012, the Company sold 38restaurants to Rancak Selera, the Burger King franchisee in Malaysia.

The Company competes with McDonald�� Corporation, Wendy�� Company, Carl�� Jr., Jack in the Box and Sonic.

Advisors' Opinion:

[By David Goodboy]
I was pleasantly surprised that a Dunkin' Donuts I recently visited in South Carolina offered free Wi-Fi, a lounge area full of leather chairs, a variety of coffee flavors, sandwiches and, of course, donuts that are vastly superior to Starbucks' offerings. During my travels recently, I have noticed Dunkin' Donuts sprouting up in the same general areas as established Starbucks locations. This strategy resembles Burger King's (NYSE: BKW) pursuit of McDonald's (NYSE: MCD) locations.
[By Jeff Reeves]
Wendy�� has had a rough go of things in recent years, but after the 2011 sale of its Arby�� restaurants to a private equity group the burger chain has been able to stay focused and worry about efficiency and modest international investment. Wendy�� re-entered Japan in 2012 and that same year managed to topple Burger King (BKW) as the No. 2 burger chain in America behind McDonald�� (MCD).
[By John Casteele]
In good company
McDonald's isn't the only fast-food company that's feeling the pinch at the moment. Burger King Worldwide (NYSE: BKW ) , Wendy's, and Yum! Brands (NYSE: YUM ) (parent of Taco Bell, Pizza Hut, and KFC) have all had their share of downward pressure in recent quarters.

10 Best Restaurant Stocks To Watch For 2015: Fiesta Restaurant Group Inc (FRGI)

Fiesta Restaurant Group, Inc. (Fiesta Restaurant Group), incorporated on April 27, 2011, owns, operates and franchises two fast-casual restaurant brands, Pollo Tropical and Taco Cabana. The Company's Pollo Tropical restaurants offer a range of tropical and Caribbean inspired food, while the Company's Taco Cabana restaurants offers a range of fresh, authentic Mexican food. As of December 30, 2012 , the Company owned and operated a total of 251 restaurants across four states, which included 91 Pollo Tropical and 160 Taco Cabana restaurants. The Company franchises its Pollo Tropical restaurants internationally. As of December 30, 2012 , the Company had 35 franchised Pollo Tropical restaurants located in Puerto Rico, Ecuador, Honduras, Trinidad, the Bahamas, Venezuela, Costa Rica, Panama and on several college campuses in Florida. As of December 30, 2012 , the Company had eight Taco Cabana franchised restaurants located in Georgia, New Mexico and Texas.

Pollo Tropical

The Company's Pollo Tropical restaurants offer tropical and Caribbean inspired menu items, featuring grilled chicken marinated in the Company's blend of tropical fruit juices and spices. The Company's diverse menu also includes a line of TropiChops (a casserole bowl of grilled chicken, roast pork or grilled vegetables served over white, brown or yellow rice and red or black beans and topped with a range of condiments and sauces), a range of chicken sandwiches, wraps, salads, roast pork, grilled ribs and wings offered with a range of salsas, sauces and Caribbean style made from scratch side dishes, including black beans and rice, Yucatan fries and sweet plantains, as well as menu items, such as french fries, corn and salads. The Company also offers Hispanic desserts, such as flan and tres leches, and at certain locations, the Company offers a range of sangria, wine and beer.

The Company's Pollo Tropical restaurants feature signature dining areas. In additiona, the Company's Pollo Tropical restaurants ! provide its guests the option of take-out, as well as the convenience of drive-thru windows. The Company's Pollo Tropical restaurants are open for lunch, dinner and late night orders seven days per week. As of December 30, 2012, its company-owned Pollo Tropical restaurants were freestanding buildings. The Company's typical free-standing Pollo Tropical restaurant ranges from 2,800 to 3,500 square feet and provide interior seating for approximately 70 guests. As of December 30, 2012 , the Company owned and operated a total of 91 Pollo Tropical restaurants, of which 89 were located in Florida and two were located in Georgia. The Company is franchising its Pollo Tropical restaurants internationally. As of December 30, 2012, the Company had 35 franchised Pollo Tropical restaurants located in Puerto Rico, Ecuador, Honduras, Trinidad, the Bahamas, Venezuela, Costa Rica, Panama and on college campuses in Florida. The Company also has agreements for the future development of franchised Pollo Tropical restaurants in Tobago, Aruba, Curacao, Bonaire, Guatemala and India.

Taco Cabana

The Company's Taco Cabana restaurants serve Mexican food, including flame-grilled beef and chicken fajitas served on sizzling iron skillets, quesadillas, hand-rolled flautas, enchiladas, burritos, tacos, fresh-made flour tortillas, a selection of made from scratch salsas and sauces, customizable salads served in a Cabana bowl, traditional Mexican and American breakfasts and other Mexican dishes. The Company's Taco Cabana restaurants also offer a range of beverage choices, including soft drinks, frozen margaritas and beer.

The Company's Taco Cabana restaurants feature interior dining areas, as well as semi-enclosed and outdoor patio areas. In addition, the Company's Taco Cabana restaurants provide its guests the option of take-out. The Company's freestanding Taco Cabana restaurants average approximately 3,500 square feet (exclusive of the exterior dining area) and provide seating for approximatel! y 80 gues! ts, with additional outside patio seating for approximately 50 guests. As of December 30, 2012, its company-owned Taco Cabana restaurants were freestanding buildings. As of December 30, 2012, the Company owned and operated 160 Taco Cabana restaurants, of which 156 are located in Texas and four in Oklahoma.

Advisors' Opinion:

[By GURUFOCUS]
Fiesta Restaurant Group (FRGI) was the Fund's best performing position in the fourth quarter and for all of 2013. Over the past year the stock g ained over 240 percent and added 212 basis points of return. The fast-food chain has con tinued to restructure after spinning off Burger King restaurants and is now successfully ach ieving organic growth. We continue to believe the stock is undervalued and expect further growth ahead.

10 Best Restaurant Stocks To Watch For 2015: Richoux Group PLC (RIC)

Richoux Group plc is a United Kingdom-based company engaged in the operation of restaurants. The Company has three segments: Richoux, Villagio Zippers and Dean�� Diner. Richoux restaurants operate in the areas of central London. The restaurants are open all day for breakfast, lunch, afternoon tea and dinner. The restaurants also offers patisserie. Zippers is a spacious, stylish and contemporary restaurant with a relaxed ambience. Dean's Diner offers a range of freshly prepared dishes. Villagio is a modern local Italian restaurant with a menu suitable for the whole family. The Company�� subsidiaries include Newultra Limited and Richoux Limited. Advisors' Opinion:

[By Sally Jones]

Richmont Mines Inc. (RIC)
Down 70% over 12 months, Richmont Mines Inc. has a market cap of $56.23 billion, and trades with a P/B of 0.60.
[By Roberto Pedone]
Richmont Mines (RIC) engages in the mining, exploration and development of mining properties, principally gold in Canada. This stock closed up 2.4% to $1.68 in Tuesday's trading session.

Tuesday's Range: $1.61-$1.68

52-Week Range: $1.31-$5.50

Tuesday's Volume: 76,000

Three-Month Average Volume: 101,786

From a technical perspective, RIC bounced higher here right off its 50-day moving average of $1.59 with decent upside volume. This stock has been uptrending strong for the last month and change, with shares moving higher from its low of $1.31 to its recent high of $1.71. During that move, shares of RIC have been making mostly higher lows and higher highs, which is bullish technical price action. That move has now pushed shares of RIC within range of triggering a near-term breakout trade. That trade will hit if RIC manages to take out some near-term overhead resistance at $1.71 to $1.80 with high volume.

Traders should now look for long-biased trades in RIC as long as it's trending above its 50-day at $1.59 or above more near-term support levels at $1.50 to $1.44 and then once it sustains a move or close above those breakout levels with volume that hits near or above 101,786 shares. If that breakout triggers soon, then RIC will set up to re-test or possibly take out its next major overhead resistance levels at $2.10 to $2.20. Any high-volume move above those levels will then give RIC a chance to tag its 200-day moving average at $2.48.

10 Best Restaurant Stocks To Watch For 2015: Blue Water Global Group Inc (BLUU)

Blue Water Global Group, Inc. (Blue Water), incorporated on March 3, 2011, is a development-stage company. The Company focuses on developing a chain of casual dining restaurants in tourist destinations throughout the Caribbean region. The Company's initial restaurant is going to be called Blue Water Bar & Grill and will be located in St. Maarten, Dutch West Indies.

As of February 7, 2013, the Company did not operate any restaurant properties, and did not have any ownership or leaseholds in any restaurant properties. As of February 7, 2013, the Company did not have any ownership or leaseholds in any restaurant properties.

Advisors' Opinion:

[By Peter Graham]
Small cap stocks Naturalnano Inc (OTCMKTS: NNAN), Global Payout, Inc (OTCMKTS: GOHE) and Blue Water Global Group Inc (OTCBB: BLUU) were either jumping higher or diving lower yesterday. To complicate matters for investors, two of these small cap stocks have been subjects of disclosures about paid promotion or investor relation campaigns. So what will these three small caps do for the rest of this week? Here is a closer look to help you decide on a trading or investing strategy:

10 Best Restaurant Stocks To Watch For 2015: BAB Inc (BABB)

BAB, Inc., incorporated on July 12, 2000, franchises and licenses bagel and muffin retail units under the Big Apple Bagel (BAB) and My Favorite Muffin (MFM) trade names. At November 30, 2012, the Company had 100 franchise units and 6 licensed units in operation in 24 states. The Company additionally derives income from the sale of its trademark bagels, muffins and coffee through nontraditional channels of distribution including under licensing agreements with Kohr Bros. Frozen Custard, Kaleidoscoops, Green Beans Coffee, Sodexo and through direct home delivery of specialty muffin gift baskets and coffee. The Company has two wholly owned subsidiaries: BAB Systems, Inc. (Systems) and BAB Operations, Inc. (Operations). At November 30, 2012, the Company had 100 franchise units and six licensed units in operation in 24 states.

The Company additionally derives income from the sale of its trademark bagels, muffins and coffee through nontraditional channels of distribution including under licensing agreements with Kohr Bros. Frozen Custard, Kaleidoscoops, Green Beans Coffee, Sodexo and through direct home delivery of specialty muffin gift baskets and coffee. The BAB franchised brand consists of units operating as Big Apple Bagels, featuring daily baked bagels, flavored cream cheeses, premium coffees, gourmet bagel sandwiches and other related products. Licensed BAB units serve the Company's par-baked frozen bagel and related products baked daily. BAB units are primarily concentrated in the Midwest and Western United States. The MFM brand consists of units operating as My Favorite Muffin, featuring a variety of freshly baked muffins, coffees and related products, and units operating as My Favorite Muffin and Bagel Cafe, featuring these products as well as a variety of specialty bagel sandwiches and related products.

The Company�� BAB offering franchises in all 50 states, its initial development focus is targeted for the Midwest, specifically Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin and Ohio. A! s part of its introductory development plan, BAB will be donating 10% of the initial franchise fee from its 50 SweetDuet units to the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, of which BAB is a corporate sponsor. SweetDuet, as its name implies, is a fusion concept, pairing self-serve frozen yogurt with BAB's exclusive line of My Favorite Muffin gourmet muffins, broadening the shop's offering and therefore differentiating itself from the numerous frozen yogurt outlets already populating the market. SweetDuet shops include BAB's Brewster's Coffee and a streamlined breakfast menu. The concept is designed to work in 1600 square feet of space.

BAB franchised stores daily bake a variety of fresh bagels and offer up to 11 varieties of cream cheese spreads. Stores also offer a variety of breakfast and lunch bagel sandwiches, salads, soups, various dessert items, fruit smoothies, gourmet coffees and other beverages. A typical BAB store is in an area with a mix of both residential and commercial properties and ranges from 1,500 to 2,000 square feet. The Company's current store design is approximately 1,800 square feet, with seating capacity for 20 to 30 persons, and includes approximately 750 square feet devoted to production and baking. A satellite store is typically smaller than a production store, averaging 800 to 1,200 square feet. Although franchise stores may vary in size from other franchise stores, store layout is generally consistent.

MFM franchised stores daily bake 20 to 25 varieties of muffins from over 250 recipes, plus a variety of bagels. They also serve gourmet coffees, beverages and, at My Favorite Muffin and Bagel Cafe locations, a variety of bagel sandwiches and related products. The typical MFM store design is approximately 1,800 square feet, with seating capacity for 20 to 30 persons.The Company advertises its franchising opportunities in directories, newspapers and the Internet.

The Company competes with Einstein Noah Restaurant Group, Panera Bread Company and Brue! gger's Ba! gel Bakery.

Advisors' Opinion:

[By CRWE]
Today, BABB remains (0.00%) +0.000 at $.800 thus far (ref. google finance July 11, 2013).

For the quarter ended May 31, 2013, BAB had revenues of $658,000 and net income of $125,000, or $0.02 per share, versus revenues of $826,000 and net income of $267,000, or $0.04 per share, for the same quarter last year. For the quarter ended May 31, 2012, the Company received a $171,000 payment for the buyout of the Franchise Agreement from its Minot, ND franchisee so the franchisee could pursue its other business interests associated with the local energy boom. In that acceptance by the Company of the voluntary buyout is unique, no such transaction occurred nor was such income earned in the quarter ended May 31, 2013.

10 Best Restaurant Stocks To Watch For 2015: 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.), Noah�� New York Bagels (Noah��) 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., Noah�� and Manhattan Bagel brands.

During the fiscal year ended January 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 prepared lunch sandwiches, cream cheese and other spreads, specia! lty coffees and teas, soups, salads and other menu offerings. Noah�� 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 Noah��, 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 manufacturing 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 to offer Einstein Bros. franchises in 49 states and the District of Columbia. It also has a franchise base in the Manhatt! an 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 Company�� 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 John Udovich]
At the end of last week, small cap sandwich stock Potbelly Corp (NASDAQ: PBPB) had a delicious surge of 120% for its IPO��meaning its probably a good idea to see whether its still worth getting in on the action plus take a look at the performance of peers�Cosi Inc (NASDAQ: COSI), Panera Bread Co (NASDAQ: PNRA) and Einstein Noah Restaurant Group, Inc (NASDAQ: BAGL) as Subway remains private. I should mention that competing with Subway in the sandwich business is a tall order as they have 40,229 restaurants in 102 countries and territories as of early September��making them the�largest single-brand restaurant chain and the largest restaurant operator globally. However, Potbelly Corp and its peers Cosi Inc, Panera Bread Co and Einstein Noah Restaurant Group aren�� slugging it out directly with Subway.

10 Best Restaurant Stocks To Watch For 2015: DineEquity Inc (DIN)

DineEquity, Inc., incorporated on May 07, 1976, owns franchise and operate two restaurant concepts: Applebee's Neighborhood Grill & Bar, (Applebee's), in the bar and grill segment of the casual dining category of the restaurant industry, and International House of Pancakes (IHOP), in the family dining category of the restaurant industry. As of December 31, 2012, the franchise operations segment consisted of 2,011 restaurants operated by Applebee's franchisees in the United States, one United States territory and 15 foreign countries and 1,569 restaurants operated by IHOP franchisees and area licensees in the United States, two United States territories and five foreign countries. As of December 31, 2012, the Company restaurant operations segment consisted of 23 Applebee's Company-operated restaurants, 10 IHOP Company-operated restaurants and two IHOP restaurants reacquired from franchisees and operated by IHOP on a temporary basis until refranchised. Financing operations revenue primarily consists of interest income from the financing of franchise fees and equipment leases, as well as sales of equipment associated with refranchised IHOP restaurants and a portion of franchise fees for restaurants taken back from franchisees not allocated to IHOP intellectual property. In October 2012, it completed the refranchising program and completed the transitioning to a 99% franchised restaurant system.

Applebee's

The Company develops, franchises and operates restaurants in the bar and grill segment of the casual dining category of the restaurant industry under the name Applebee's Neighborhood Grill & Bar. As of December 31, 2012, 68 franchise groups operated 2,011 of these restaurants and 23 restaurants were Company-operated. The restaurants were located in 49 states, one United States territory and 15 countries outside of the United States. During the year ended December 31, 2012, 20 domestic franchise restaurants opened, six domestic franchise restaurants closed. 154 Company-operated! restaurants were franchised. The number of restaurants held by an individual franchisee ranges from one to 438 restaurants. As of December 31, 2012, it is focusing on international franchising primarily in Canada, Mexico, Central and South America, and the Mediterranean/Middle East. As of December 31, 2012, there were 149 international Applebee's franchise restaurants. During 2012, 14 international franchise restaurants opened and 13 international franchise restaurants closed.

IHOP

The Company develops franchises and operates restaurants in the family dining category of the restaurant industry under the names IHOP and International House of Pancakes. As of December 31, 2012 there were a total of 1,581 IHOP restaurants of which 1,404 were subject to franchise agreements, 165 were subject to area license agreements, 10 were Company-operated restaurants and two restaurants were reacquired from franchisees and operated by IHOP on a temporary basis. The Company owns and operates 10 IHOP restaurants in the Cincinnati market area primarily to test new remodel programs, operating procedures, products, technology, cooking platforms and service models. IHOP restaurants are located in all 50 states of the United States, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and the United States Virgin Islands and internationally in Canada, the Dominican Republic, Guatemala, Mexico and the United Arab Emirates. As of December 31, 2012, the area licensee for the state of Florida and certain counties in Georgia operated or sub-franchised a total of 152 IHOP restaurants, and the area licensees for the province of British Columbia, Canada operated or sub-franchised a total of 13 IHOP restaurants. As of December 31, 2012, the Company had signed commitments and options from franchisees to build 245 IHOP restaurants over the next 17 years, comprised of 5 restaurants under single-restaurant or non-traditional development agreements, 120 restaurants under multi-restaurant development agreements and 63 restaurants! under in! ternational development agreements. As of December 31, 2012, there were 1,525 domestic IHOP franchise and area license restaurants. During 2012, its franchisees and area licensees opened 40 domestic franchise restaurants and 17 domestic franchise and area license restaurants were closed. As of December 31, 2012, there were 44 international IHOP franchise and area license restaurants. During 2012, its franchisees opened eight international franchise restaurants and no restaurants were closed.

The Company competes with Chili's, T.G.I. Friday's, Ruby Tuesday's, Denny's, Cracker Barrel Old Country Store and Bob Evans Restaurants.

Advisors' Opinion:

[By Jon C. Ogg]
DineEquity Inc. (NYSE: DIN) seems to be a likely winner if travelers will�be spending more. With some 3,600 Applebee’s�and IHOP restaurant chain locations offering meals for the “budget-minded but not fast food” crowd, the 15% sell-off from highs earlier in 2013 seems to be a possible gift now that its dividend yield is up at 4.5%. Analysts on average see upside of almost 20% for this restaurant chain.

10 Best Restaurant Stocks To Watch For 2015: Sodexo SA (SW)

Sodexo SA, (formerly Sodexho Alliance SA), is a global provider of services in three primary business areas: The On-site Services Solutions offer various services that range from food services to construction management, reception to the maintenance of scanners and laboratory equipment, management of data centers, leisure cruises and provides housekeeping to rehabilitation services at correctional facilities. The Motivation Solutions division provides passes and vouchers, comprising Restaurant Pass, Gift Pass, Sport Pass, Training Voucher, Service Card and Book Card, among others. The Company also provides Personal and Home Services in the form of childcare, tutoring, concierge services and in-home service care facilities. The Company is present in 80 countries in a number of geographic areas, such as North America, South America, Continental Europe and United Kingdom and Ireland. Advisors' Opinion:

[By Glenwoods]
Recently giant food conglomerate, Cargill announced it had partnered with the Swiss biosynthetic pharmaceutical company, Evolva (EVE:SW), to develop a more consistent and less expensive stevia sweetener via Evolva�� microbial fermentation-based process.� This is big news for the future of stevia because a microbial fermentation-based process does not have to rely on soil conditions or weather, and stevia can be manufactured anywhere, thus having the potential of guaranteeing an endless supply line of stevia.� Through the microbial fermentation, the manufacturer has the capability to process the key sweet individual components of stevia using low-cost plant sugars, and allows for the individual components of stevia, regardless of how minute, to be developed creating blends in any volume, which then could open the door for these manufacturers to fine-tune its stevia to local tastes.� But what would be most attractive is that, because the fermentation process does not require the entire plant, the method could conceivably shave upwards of 70% off the cost of producing stevia extracts.�