VoIP stands for Voice over Internet Protocol. It’s a system that converts analog signals into digital signals so that a phone call can be made over the internet. Basically, when used in conjunction with the internet, it uses an internet connection for routing phone calls. In order for VoIP to work, broadband is often necessary. Broadband is a telecommunications system where a wide band of frequencies is available to transmit information. This wide bandwidth allows multiple types of information to be transmitted simultaneously and quickly. So, many people can be on the same VoIP network without the system crashing.
Crown Equity Holdings Inc. (CRWE) recently announced that it has entered into a joint venture to deploy VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) technology delivering voice, video and data services to residential and commercial customers. The joint venture company is Crown Tele Services Inc. which was a wholly-owned subsidiary of Crown Equity Holdings Inc. Crown Equity Holdings Inc. will own fifty percent (50%) interest in the joint venture.
Commenting on the joint venture, Kenneth Bosket, President of Crown Equity Holdings Inc., said: “We are excited to de! liver Vo IP communications solutions specifically designed to meet the business and residential market needs in this fast-growing global market.”
Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) was developed in order to provide access to voice communication in any place around the world. In most places, voice communication is quite costly. Consider making a phone call to a person living in a country half the globe away. The first thing you think of in this case is your phone bill! VoIP solves this problem and many others.
Crown Equity Holdings Inc., together with its digital network, currently provides electronic media services specializing in online publishing, which brings together targeted audiences and advertisers.
Crown Equity Holdings Inc. offers internet media-driven advertising services, which covers and connects a range of marketing specialties, as well as search engine optimization for clients interested in online media awareness.
For more information, please visit their website: http://www.crownequityholdings.com
Arkansas Best Corporation (Nasdaq:ABFS) has expanded its portfolio of global solutions to include Ocean LTL: a single-contact, expedited less-than-container-load/less-than-truckload (LCL/LTL) supply chain solution for customers who import from manufacturing centers in China, Hong Kong and Taiwan.
Arkansas Best Corporation, through its subsidiaries, engages in motor carrier freight transportation in the United States.
Alliance Resource Partners LP (Nasdaq:ARLP) and Alliance Holdings GP, L.P. (NASDAQ:AHGP) announced that Brian L. Cantrell, Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, will participate in a panel discussion at the RBC Capital Markets’ 2011 MLP Conference in Dallas at approximately 2:30 p.m. Central time on Thursday, November 17, 2011.
Alliance Resource Partners, L.P. engages in the production and marketing of coal for utilities and industrial users in the United States. It operates nine undergr! ound min ing complexes, which offer low, medium, and high-sulfur coal.
Network Equipment Technologies Inc. (Nasdaq:NWK) will present at the 8th Annual SRA Fall Growth Stock Conference at the Le Meridien Hotel in San Francisco on November 15, 2011, at 11:30 a.m. PT. More information about the conference can be found at: www.sracap.com.
Network Equipment Technologies, Inc. (NET), together with its subsidiaries, engages in the design, development, manufacture, and sale of voice and data telecommunications equipment for multi-service networks and associated services used by government organizations, enterprises, and carriers worldwide.
Chances are you have received your share of 'pre-approved' credit card offers in the mail, some with low introductory rates and other perks. Many of these solicitations urge you to accept 'before the offer expires.' Before you accept, shop around to get the best deal.
Credit Card Terms:
A credit card is a form of borrowing that often involves charges. Credit terms and conditions affect your overall cost. So it's wise to compare terms and fees before you agree to open a credit or charge card account. The following are some important terms to consider that generally must be disclosed in credit card applications or in solicitations that require no application.
Annual Percentage Rate:
The APR is a measure of the cost of credit, expressed as a yearly rate. It also must be disclosed before you become obligated on the account and on your account statements. Some credit card plans allow the issuer to change your APR when interest rates or other economic indicators - called indexes - change. Because the rate change is linked to the index! 's perfo rmance, these plans are called 'variable rate' programs.
Free Period:
Also called a 'grace period,' a free period lets you avoid finance charges by paying your balance in full before the due date. Knowing whether a card gives you a free period is especially important if you plan to pay your account in full each month. Without a free period, the card issuer may impose a finance charge from the date you use your card or from the date each transaction is posted to your account. If your card includes a free period, the issuer must mail your bill at least 14 days before the due date so you'll have enough time to pay.
Annual Fees:
Most issuers charge annual membership or participation fees.
Transaction Fees and Other Charges:
A card may include other costs. Some issuers charge a fee if you use the card to get a cash advance, make a late payment, or exceed your credit limit. Some charge a monthly fee whether or not you use the card.
Other Costs and Features:
Credit terms vary among issuers. When shopping for a card, think about how you plan to use it. If you expect to pay your bills in full each month, the annual fee and other charges may be more important than the periodic rate and the APR, if there is a grace period for purchases. However, if you use the cash advance feature, many cards do not permit a grace period for the amounts due - even if they have a grace period for purchases. So, it may still be wise to consider the APR and balance computation method. Also, if you plan to pay for purchases over time, the APR and the balance computation method are definitely major considerations.
You'll probably also want to consider if the credit limit is high enough, how widely the card is accepted, and the plan's services and features.
Useful Tips: Keep these tips in mind when looking for or using a credit or charge card.
Shop around for the plan that best fits your needs.
Make sure you understand a plan's terms before you accept! the car d.
old on to receipts to reconcile charges when your bill arrives.
Protect your cards and account numbers to prevent unauthorized use.
Draw a line through blank spaces on charge slips so the amount can't be changed.
Finally, keep a record - in a safe place separate from your cards - of your account numbers, expiration dates and the phone numbers of each issuer to report a loss quickly and carry only the credit cards you think you'll use.
A week ago, everyone really gave up hope. The perceptions were that all of the major European banks were insolvent, the U.S. economy was hurting badly, the sovereign bonds were all suckers' plays and China was doing nothing to help and everything to hurt us.That was one week ago.One week ago!Now look at things. The European banks may have been and may be insolvent, but their borrowing costs, in dollars, were lowered dramatically and, although no one is arguing this point, the funding is not going away any time soon. Ben Bernanke took charge this week and that's the only way you can look at it. You know he must have gotten some deal to offer those credit lines -- and I am calling these credit lines life lines, despite everyone's insistence that they are just swaps that may or not help the cause -- because he's a pretty decent poker player by now. The deal? It would be to relent and help these ne'er-do-well countries WHILE not after they get their act together. That's the crucial difference.Secondly, did anyone think that Black Friday was going to be huge? And it was huge, regardless of whether things were for sale or not it was gigantic, the biggest in years. Given the unemployment situation in this country, it should have been a bust. Given the gloom in this country, it should have been a bust. It was anything but a bust. It was a home run. We know that it was followed by excellent car sales. And we know from people like Manny Chirico, the terrific PVH(PVH) CEO, that it has only gotten stronger, not weaker.Car sales. Mall sales. That's the United States economy in a nutshell.In my new job as co-host of "Squawk on the Street," I ask all sorts of people whether they would ever buy sovereign bonds. Uniformly in the last few weeks I didn't get "maybe at a certain price." I got looks like I had two heads and one was dumb and the other was dumber. "Are you out of your mind?" they would ask, at least in the subtext. Like, I could be so stupid to even pose the question.Well, get this. Have you seen the Spanish bonds this week? They have had the largest move up of any sovereign bonds in the 12-year history of the euro. They declined 100 basis points in yield. You read that right. One hundred basis points. You lever that up and you had a year-maker. Of course if you had ridden them all the way down, big deal. But this is a move that could have probably saved even the biggest doofus, Jon Corzine. (At least isn't that what everyone thinks of him?)I knew something was up when Jim O'Neill, the very credible Goldman Sachs analyst who coined the term BRIC, said that he thought Italian bonds were getting real interesting when he was on the show a couple! of days ago. All it has EVER taken was a belief that these bonds could be good money to get the trillions off the sidelines. Do I want to buy Italian bonds? No. But that doesn't mean I am going to be right. It means that I think that Spain is further along in its austerity program so maybe those bonds, if they get hit, are a better bet.What matters, though, is that the trade is no longer one way. Now you weren't foolish you are a genius. Now people who openly scorned the idea of buying some of the assets that are being sold by the European banks at rock-bottom prices might be inclined to do so.Remember, you don't need to have the situation reverse itself. You just need to think that private capital might be enticed into playing. Isn't that what happened?
Ben Bernanke isn't going to be outdone in this race to save Europe from itself, but when you consider that the Chinese coordinated with its pathetic much-maligned trading partners, whom it dumps product on routinely to save its country from revolution, with its interest rate cut, giving it a one-two punch, it's a pretty big deal.
If China had just acted alone, then it would still be major, but not enough. Instead, reversing two years of tightening, after waiting, correctly, for its economy to slow down, turned out to be a prudent and universally held necessary thing, especially because Euroland is a huge trading partner of China.The timing, given the nine-week draw down of copper, a terrific indicator, and you read that right, a vastly depleted copper inventory, was spectacular. It has produced a moment where you could drag up the transports here, heavily laden with China related business, allowing the transports to lead us. They are right at resistance.Put it all together and what do you get? How about the first time in years that hope actually was a strategy. The people who did best here are the people who believed that the world would not end, that the! west di dn't want to commit economic suicide and that Ben Bernanke, whom I reiterate will go down as a terrific central banker after stumbling at the beginning, had our back all along.Now, I temper my enthusiasm here knowing that Merkel's intransigence and Draghi's hardline talk about price stability stand in the way of a larger solution. But yesterday, in a moment of weakness, perhaps, Draghi was quoted as saying that price stability could also mean that he is concerned about deflation, not just inflation and the way to combat deflation as we all know, is to print something, anything. So that, plus a rate cut, can stimulate some growth.So much still has to go right. We need real austerity plans out of Ita! ly and S pain. The latter seems well on its way. We need help from the grown-ups. We need money market funding from our country for the banks. We need nationalization plans at the ready. We need growth to avoid a severe recession over there.Most importantly, when it comes to investing over here we need to see us break free from the European hostage taking. That can happen. We have to hope for many more pieces to fall in place. So far, though, as I wrote, hope's been a winning strategy. Maybe it is just better to be lucky than good.Still, when I come back to a week ago, I see the world has changed and changed radically. Scorned ideas have become winning ideas. Good research has worked. Winning companies have turned into winning stocks. The grown-ups saw how out of control the situation has become and started doing something.Started. Not finished. Nevertheless, they hadn't started at all before this. Remarkable. One week. But perhaps the most important week of the year, the first joyous week, the first light at the end of the tunnel that, at last, was not an oncoming train.Action Alerts PLUS, which Cramer co-manages as a charitable trust, has no positions in the stocks mentioned.>To order reprints of this article, click here: Reprints
Today, I'm going to pick out one dividend stock that I will believe will far outperform the S&P 500 -- with dividends reinvested -- between now and Dec. 31, 2012.
For this to happen, I will be picking from a pool of stocks that share three characteristics: They will fulfill basic human needs, which makes them recession-resistant; they will offer a yield of at least 3%; and they will have the possibility for strong price appreciation -- which is especially important since I'm investing with a one-year horizon.
Meet the contenders In order to safeguard against the havoc a global recession could create on the economy, I went to the relatively stable industries of utilities and waste collection. Though demand may slow, I believe that even in a recession, people will still be turning on their lights at night, and they'll still want their garbage to be picked up in the morning.
From these two industries, I went looking for exciting candidates who were offering up yields of at least 3%. After vetting the candidates, I settled on these six possibilities. Below, I included information on their dividend payout, its safety, and their chance for price appreciation.
Company
Dividend Yield
< p align="center">Payout Ratio
Forward P/E
Price/Sales
Price/Book
Waste Management (NYSE: WM )
?4.3%
65%
?13.4
1.1
2.4
Republic Services (NYSE: RSG )
?3.2%
57%
13.1
1.2
1.3
Veolia Environnement (NYSE: VE )
?11.5%
76%
10.3
0.1
0.6
Atlantic Power (NYSE: AT )
?8.4%
N/A
?N/A
?7.3
2.4
Otter Tail (Nasdaq: OTTR )
?5.5%
135%
20.6
0.6
?1.2
AmeriGas Partners (NYSE: APU )
?6.7%
126%
15.5
1.0
7.5
Source: Yahoo! Finance. N/A = not available; the company is both earnings and free-cash-flow negative.
Though the safety of a dividend payment (as measured by the payout ratio) wasn't one of my three characteristics, I simply can't ignore the fact that Atlantic Power, Otter Tail, and AmeriGas all pay out more than they take in via earnings or free cash flow.
That left me with my waste disposers, and there's no question that Veolia sticks out as an enticin! g candid ate. It would have been very (small "f") foolish to choose Veolia just based on the chart above, but a deeper look at the business convinced me that this stock is primed for outperformance. Read below to see why.
A diversity of offerings Based out of France, Veolia has its hand in many different businesses. Here's a breakdown of where revenues came from in 2010.
Water and sewage: This division -- which accounted for 33.7% of revenue in 2010 -- could be a major growth factor in the future. The company's services could help the growing global middle class get access to the clean water they'll come to expect on a daily basis.
Energy services: Encompassing heating and cooling networks, this accounted for 6.9% of revenue in 2010.
Environmental services: By far the largest segment of the company -- coming in at 52.4% of revenue -- this is, at its bare bones, the trash removal service that many people are familiar with.
Transportation: Though it is low-margin and low-revenue right now -- accounting for 7% of 2010 revenue -- some believe that transportation could be a boon in the future, when more municipalities wish to run their vehicles on Veolia's network.
So, what's the problem? With so much diversity and potential upside -- in transportation and water/sewage -- some might be surprised to see that the company is trading for just 0.1 times sales. The answer for this downturn is threefold.
First, there was a collection of bad news that hurt the company over the past few years. Disappointing earnings, followed by the departure of a longtime CEO, and the discovery of an accounting error, which sparked fears of malfeasance, all took a toll.
Furthermore, Veolia's contracts are largely with municipalities, many of them in Europe. Unless you've been hiding under a rock, you know that anyone counting on payments from European municipalitie! s could be playing with fire.
Finally, the company's dividend yield is likely to take a hit in the coming year. In Europe, companies tend to be far more flexible with their dividends than they are stateside. Veolia adjusts its dividend yearly to make sure it's sustainable. In 2009, just 42% of free cash flow was used to pay its dividend. In 2010, the figure was upped to 86%. Even our dividend guru James Early, who recently recommended the stock, concedes that "we'll see a dividend cut."
I see huge upside With regard to all three forces pushing the stock down: I see far more upside than downside at today's prices. For starters, the accounting error that caused panic was small, and I don't think it's indicative of a systemic problem. Furthermore, I believe that even in the worst-case European scenario, trash collection and disposal contracts would be one of the last services to be cut.
I also think that the company has several avenues for growth, especially in their sewage treatment and desalinization services -- which could be in high demand in the developing regions of Asia.
And even though the dividend will likely be cut, I think it will still be substantial (over 3%), and I'm willing to reinvest those dividends with so much upside potential for price appreciation.
My plan Between now and the end of the year, I'll be putting my own money into Veolia, via my Roth IRA. I'll also be making a CAPScall on my profile for Veolia. Hopefully, after doing your own due diligence, you'll consider doing the same.
If, however, you'd like some more traditional dividend ideas, I'd like to offer you access to our special free report: "Secure Your Future With 11 Rock-Solid Dividends." The report will give you the names of 11 companies our analysts believe will help guide your portfolio toward a comfortable retirement. It's yours today, absolutely free!
The European Central Bank (ECB) announced Wednesday that it will lend banks as much money as they need for three years, in addition to loosening collateral rules and lowering banks’ reserve ratio requirements (RRR).
The announcement from ECB President Mario Draghi came as the bank also dropped its key interest rate to 1%.Bloomberg reported that the rate cut, at a quarter percent, was the second in two months, and matched a record low.
ECB officials may also loosen collateral criteria so that banks can gain easier access to cheap cash, and lengthen the terms of loans, according to three unnamed euro-area officials who were familiar with the discussions.
Draghi said that the ECB cut banks’ RRR to 1% from 2%, and will stop fine-tuning operations at the end of each reserve maintenance period. He added that the 36-month loans will be carried out as a fixed rate with full allotment.
Christoph Rieger, head of fixed income strategy at Commerzbank AG in Frankfurt, was quoted in the report saying, “They have listened to the banks and will start some measures to alleviate some of the strains in markets.” He added, “They will also keep open the option to go below 1% on rates; that’s no longer the magic floor.”
However, rather than increasing its government bond purchases, the ECB is turning its attention to getting banks to lend. Its insistence on governments acting to restore investor confidence has been at least somewhat successful, with yields on Italian and Spanish bonds falling after an agreement between France and Germany to move the euro zone closer to a fiscal union.
Given our concerns over some of the leading tech markets, we have tended to favor names like Rockwell Automation (ROK). By helping make factories more efficient, the company seems to be on the right side of business trends, which are to increase efficiency whenever possible. Zacks.com had some of the same thoughts:
Rockwell Automation (ROK) is the world's largest industrial automation company, providing power, control and information solutions to improve manufacturing productivity. September quarter top and bottom-line were in-line with consensus estimates. Forward guidance indicates that revenue is expected to increase 7-8% in fiscal 2007. The Power systems division has been divested for $1.8 billion. This has the impact of raising margins.We believe that the market has not yet impounded the recent attractive growth and earnings rates and is instead focusing on the automobile segment. Consequently, we are reiterating our Buy rating on the shares.
Their full report is available as a premium service.
The author may hold a position in the securities discussed. The! author& #8217;s current holdings are as follows: Long: Union Pacific (UNP) put options; Air Products (APD) put options; Nasdaq 100 (QQQQ) put options; FedEx (FDX) put options; Bookham (BKHM; Ballard Power (BLDP); Syntax Brillian (BRLC); CMGI (CMGI); Genentech (DNA); Ion Media Networks (ION); Three Five Systems (TFS); IShares Japan (EWJ); StreetTracks Gold (GLD); Starbucks (SBUX); U.S. Oil Fund (USO); Plantronics (PLT) call options; Short: Starbucks (SBUX) call options; Landstar (LSTR) put options; Ceradyne (CRDN) put options; Dell (DELL) put options; Plantronics (PLT) put options
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau debuted a prototype for credit card agreements Wednesday. The two-page form is intended to simplify credit card contracts so prices, risks and terms are easier for consumers to understand.
The agreements follow the CFPB's release of a report on credit card complaints revealing that consumer confusion persists when it comes to the terms and conditions of credit card contracts and associated products such as debt protection services.The prototype agreement separates information about prices, risks and terms and is devoid of the legalese issuers typically weave into the agreement. It is organized into three simple sections: costs, changes and additional information.Click here to see a copy of the form on the CFPB's Web site!To help streamline the copy, the CFPB is also introducing formal definitions for terms commonly found in credit card contracts, including "APR," "balance transfer" and even "card" itself. This precludes issuers from having to include unnecessarily long clauses or qualifiers for legal purposes at the expense of confusing consumers. The definitions will be available to consumers online and in print versions. Credit Scores: 9 Things That Don't Matter, 5 That Do The forms are the second prototypes the CFPB is testing as part of its "Know Before You Owe" initiative. Back in May, the bureau unveiled two sample documents that could replace existing federally required mortgage disclosure forms.Are Prepaid Cards the New Allowance for Kids? The CFPB plans to test the form with Pentagon Federal Credit Union to get consumer feedback and is asking the public to weigh in on its Web site.The prototype addresses the most common complaints the CFPB has fielded since its July 21 launch. An entire section is devoted to how billing disputes are handled, and the top-most section presents APRs, another frequent offender, in a way that includes qual! ifiers t hat can end up hidden in the fine print. At 1,100 words, it is also considerably shorter than current agreements, which the CFPB says tend to be about 5,000 words. The CFPB has yet to specify where issuers would be required to advertise these forms, an important issue since many companies are already in the habit of hiding the terms and conditions of a card under promotional materials on their Web site. What do you think of the potential credit card agreements? Are there areas you think could still be improved? Let us know in the comments below. Update: On Thursday morning, Republicans in the Senate blocked President Barack Obama's latest nomination to head the CFPB, former Ohio Attorney General Richard Cordray, leading the president to hold a press conference assailing Republicans for playing politics with a candidate who has received bipartisan endorsements.Follow TheStreet.com on Twitter and become a fan on Facebook.>To order reprints of this article, click here: Reprints
A healthy amount of fear is slowly creeping back into the markets today. Stocks are firmly in the red for the first time since the post-Thanksgiving rally began. The indexes aren��t off by much- but it��s enough to slow the torrid rally that has lifted equities for the past two weeks.
Pullbacks like this one can be telling. After the rising tide has washed everything onto the beach, the garbage will more often than not flow back out to sea when the water begins to recede. Unfortunately for some investors, many of the momentum darlings from earlier this year are beginning to lose their luster.
Today, I��ll be taking a look at a couple of former high-flyers that are struggling to regain their magic from earlier this year…
Linkedin Corp. (NYSE:LNKD): Linkedin provided Wall Street with plenty of hype, but it��s severely lacking consistency. November was an especially brutal month for the recent IPO, with shares falling from a high of $95 to below $60 before the holiday bounce snapped it back above $70. LNKD remains in a precarious positions today, despite the fact that shares are up more than 1% as of midday. The stock is approaching resistance at $75. If it continues to run into sellers at this level, I would expect the stock to resume its downtrend. On the other hand, another broad market push could help shares find its mojo:
Green Mountain Coffee Roasters Inc. (NASDAQ:GMCR): Green Mountain looked unstoppable earlier this year �� and now it looks as if it can��t regain its footing after a disastrous fall from grace. Now light years from its 52-week high of $116, the stock is struggling to keep up with the rallying market. Since early November, the stock has been working to fill the huge gap down near $60. Resistance appears to be very strong at this p! rice, so I would not be surprised to see this name fall further in the near-term. The opportunity to go short is there, with a stop loss placed slightly above $60:
Yum! Brands Inc. (NYSE:YUM): Last week, I highlighted the rise of pizza stocks. It might sound completely absurd, but pizza-related companies have been dominating the market. Now, we can add Yum Brands to the list. Yum!, which owns Pizza Hut (along with KFC, Taco Bell, and a few other prominent fast-food chains) is marching to new 52-week highs today:
Penny Promotions
[Editor��s note: In this section of Market Movers, we expose stocks that are currently the subject of promotional material. If you��re unfamiliar with promotions, pumps and dumps, or other penny stock scams, please take the time to read this column before continuing. Unless you are an experienced trader, we recommend that you avoid these stocks at any price.]
US Highland Inc. (OTC:UHLN): I received numerous spam promotions for this stock earlier this week, but I doubt the stock��s rise will last much longer. Volume is down significantly today (only a couple of days into the pump). I have a feeling the rug will get yanked out from under this name soon enough, sending shares back below 3 cents. Avoid this one at any price:
Green energy is a hot topic whether you agree with its benefits or not. High-profile bankruptcies like Solyndra's put a black eye on the whole sector while subsidies for inefficient technologies make people question government support for the clean energy market.
There are opportunities for investors in clean energy, but for today, I would like to point out three investments I would avoid.
Biofuels This week, fellow Fool and Million Dollar Portfolio analyst David Meier said he thought Solazyme (Nasdaq: SZYM ) was the best green energy stock there is on the market. He touted the mass scale that Solazyme had planned and how their fuels could be a great alternative to fossil fuels. It sounded a lot like an argument I've heard over and over about another alternative fuel: corn-based ethanol.
I would love to believe in alternative fuels that Solazyme, Amyris (Nasdaq: AMRS ) , or Rentech (AMEX: RTK ) are developing, but I see way too many barriers in the way, barriers that we originally saw with corn-based ethanol.
The first problem is scale. Right now none of the companies mentioned above makes fuel in any sort of scale, having only proven their technologies in labs or pilot plants. But moving to a large scale means sourcing more fuel and bu! ilding l arger plants. When it became time for corn ethanol to make that jump, the increased demand for corn resulted in higher prices and any advantage ethanol had evaporated.
The company also had just $1.9 million in product revenue in the most recent quarter and reported a $14.1 million loss. It may look safe with $250.6 million in cash and equivalents but as another green company, A123 Systems (Nasdaq: AONE ) , found out that cash burns up quickly if your plans don't come together perfectly.
That doesn't mean that Solazyme in particular doesn't have a place in the market. It's developing a lucrative business making products for skin and personal care ingredients. That may be the future, I just don't see it in fuel, and I don't see success on the scale Solazyme envisions.
Advanced batteries I love the growing electric car market. Companies like Tesla Motors (Nasdaq: TSLA ) have made us rethink the automobile and how it is built. But some of the worst investments in the industry are being made in the battery space.
A123 Systems in particular has played a good hand far too strongly and is now facing mounting losses and disappointing sales from its most important customer, Fisker. And things are even worse at Ener1, which may not survive much longer.
The problem isn't technological or in the products themselves. By all indications, A123 makes a fine battery. The problem was how fast A123 and the electric vehicle market envisioned itself ruling the world.
When EVs first came onto the scene, analysts had a field day predicting how many EVs would be on the road in the near future. One Berkley study predicted 64% of U.S. light-vehicle sales would be EVs by 2030, and Zpryme predicted sales would be 203,200 vehicles in 2016 alone. When faced with those predictions, management and investors got big eyes and loaded thei! r plates with as much capacity as possible. But like grandma always warned me, our eyes were bigger than our stomachs, and the market hasn't come close to eating up the growing supply of batteries.
Thin-film solar I'm dogging one of my own investments here, First Solar (Nasdaq: FSLR ) , but outside of that one success story, it's hard to find anyone who has made any real progress in thin-film solar. Ascent Solar and Energy Conversion Devices at least made it to the public markets before running into problems, and likely an eventual bankruptcy. Solyndra, which was based on thin-film technology, was a colossal failure, and the CIGS technology it used has failed to live up to industry expectations.
But the biggest reason thin-film solar is a money pit is that there are too many higher-efficiency modules on the market at attractive prices making thin-film uncompetitive. Thin-film solar is lower efficiency requiring more land, and other installation costs versus competitors. For a look at how important these balance of system costs are becoming, check out my article about these costs here.
There are still success stories out there Not all green energy is created equal, and understanding the advantages and disadvantages of each is half the battle. For good investment opportunities, I would look at SunPower, which is on the flip side of thin-film's weak competitive position. I also like Clean Energy Fuels (Nasdaq: CLNE ) , which is helping build the infrastructure for a natural gas fleet of vehicles. With ample supplies of both solar energy and natural gas domestically, these two are leveraging proven fuel sources into green power that will drive us into the future.
The Nikkei was up .3% to 17,262. Bridgestone was up 1% to 2640. Canon was down .3% to 6420. Fuji Film was flat at 4720. Hitachi was down .3% to 793. Honda was down .9% to 4650. Japan Air was up 3.8% to 249. NEC down 2% to 610. NTT was up .5% to 609000. Sharp was down .3% to 1989. Softbank was flat at 2460. Sony was down .5% to 5660. Toshiba was down .5% to 818. Toyota was up .3% to 7940. Yahoo Japan was down 1.2% to 46650.
The Hang Seng was up .2% to 20,065. Cathay Pacific was up 2.5% to 20.95. China Mobile was up .5% to 68.6. China Netcom was down 2.5% to 18.8. HSBC was down .2% to 140.3. PCCW was down .8% to 4.7.
Security systems, valves, and fire protection equipment maker Tyco International (NYSE: TYC ) recently posted a better-than-expected fourth quarter in the wake of a better-performing construction and architecture industry. The company has topped analysts' estimates for four consecutive quarters now.
Let's dig deeper.
Billing brightens Construction and architectural billing has been on the rise over the past quarter. This is an important indicator for industries dealing in related products such as electric and systems security. The improving construction industry boosted demand (although demand remains volatile). Compared to the same quarter last year and excluding results of Tyco's sale of a majority interest of its electrical and metal products business, Tyco's sales were up 14% to $4.69 billion, beating the market expectation of $4.51 billion.
All three of the company's businesses -- security, fire protection, and flow control -- saw double-digit revenue growth. The security solution business, which accounts for nearly half of Tyco's sales, grew 11%. Benefited by a growing infrastructure, Honeywell International's (NYSE: HON ) automation and control solutions division also saw 14% revenue growth in the last quarter.
Flow-control products maker Flowserve (NYSE: FLS ) recently posted a 15% revenue growth in its last quarter owing to strong ! industry demand. However, with 25% growth in its flow control business, Tyco outperformed its competitor significantly in growth.
Expanding profits Tyco's net income increased to $402 million, an impressive 50% increase over last year. Earnings per share at $0.92 beat the Street's $0.86 per share view. Over the past year, Tyco has spent $1.3 billion on stock buybacks and is continuing to do so.
In fiscal 2012, Tyco expects to earn an average revenue of $17.7 billion, which is a little below analysts' expectations of $17.9 billion. Whether Tyco is successful in splitting itself into three separate companies will determine the future for the leftover security and fire-suppression systems company.
The Foolish bottom line Tyco's bottom line has benefited largely from greater demand. The company remains fundamentally strong. Tyco's better-than-expected performance comes as no surprise.
Navjot Kaur does not own shares in any of the companies mentioned in this article. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
Unless you live under a rock -- or your name is Ashton -- you no doubt have an opinion about the firing of Joe Paterno.
Actually, if you possess a shred of humanity, your thoughts have probably been focused far more on the horrific sex abuse scandal unfolding in lurid detail at Penn State than the fate of a football coach who failed to be bothered by the prospect that a child rapist was being protected by his silence. And yet, into the wee hours of the morning on Nov. 9, we watched as hundreds of Happy Valley students raged -- using the firing of Paterno as the catalyst for a protest that culminated in a near riot ! of broke n glass and a toppled news van. Here is what they might have been protesting: that Paterno has been a man of honor and principle throughout his decades-long association with the university and until there is a full investigation into his role, or lack thereof, in this tragedy he deserves a chance to defend himself and/or the opportunity to retire on his own terms. The reality is that all the protests really consisted of were some marching, slurred chants of "We are Penn State" and "Joe Paw," tearing up of lampposts and so on. There seemed no greater relevance, no sophisticated thought process and nary a shred of concern for the victims and their families. A smattering of students may have voiced their thoughts with eloquence, but the overwhelming majority of the crowd had no point, no heart and no brain.It was only Tuesday -- nearly a week after the riots -- that the Collegian Online, the student news site, got around to saying in an editorial that "If you were one of the people who rioted last Wednesday and ripped lampposts out of the ground in downtown State College ... If you attended Friday night's somber vigil ... If you left flowers at Joe Paterno's house ... Or if you have made any comment about the scandal at Penn State ... You need to immediately read the 23-page grand jury presentment outlining the charges against former Penn State football defensive coordinator Jerry Sandusky, if you haven't already."Good call. Odd that it took a week to tell students to educate themselves before rioting, but a good call nonetheless, since literally rioting about something you know nothing about -- especially when it involves charges of years-long sexual abuse of children -- seems, well, misguided. The sorrowful display by Penn State students had us recalling some other infamous examples of misguided public passion over the years:
Saving the whales When Big Miracle h! its thea ters in February, Drew Barrymore and John Krasinski are going to remind you of "the incredible true story that united the world." But you'd be forgiven for forgetting entirely that incredible true story behind it: when three whales got trapped in Arctic ice in October 1988 and the world went crazy joining together to save them. Uncountable whales had died this way in the past, and certainly hundreds since, but in this particular case Eskimos that normally hunted and killed the species instead let them live and even named them, like they were pets. And the Soviets -- at the end of a whaling season that killed more than 150 of the creatures -- sent an icebreaking vessel to help rescue little (actually, gigantic) Siku, K'nik and Putu -- names that translate to Ice, Snowflake and Hole in the Ice, respectively. As Tom Rose recalls in his Freeing the Whales: How the Media Created the World's Greatest Non-Event (1989, Birch Lane Press), millions of people were riveted by more than two weeks of media coverage produced by more than 150 journalists who traveled to Alaska from around the world, spending upward of $5.8 million on the story. President Ronald Reagan, whose environmental high points included appointing the indifferent if not environmentally antagonistic James Watt secretary of the interior and blaming trees for pollution, called the rescue team to let them know that "Our hearts are with you." The governor of Alaska exerted himself on the rescue, despite or because of the apathy he displayed a few weeks before toward saving seven Eskimos who floated out to sea on an ice floe.And the oil industry, mainly the companies Arco and Veco, scored major points by contributing to rescue efforts, although their usual role in Alaska was cluttering the land with pumping and drilling equipment and befouling water and animals with oil spills. Within six months, the Exxon Valdez would dump 11 million gallons of oil in Alaska, causing what many still consider to be the No. 1 spill worldwide in ter! ms of da mage to the environment. So Siku, K'nik and Putu went on their way and shortly thereafter the Eskimos and Soviets went back to hunting them and the world went back to ignoring it.For some two weeks, though, man, we really, really, really cared.
Honoring the south There are some who would say we need more young people like Jacqueline Duty, who in May 2004 paid the price for her beliefs but wouldn't back down, even taking her own school district to court the following December to prove her principle (and maybe win $50,000).Her cause: wearing a Confederate flag gown to her Russell, Ky., high school prom, even after school officials asked her not to. As she told reporters, she'd worked on the design for the dress for four years, even knowing some people might find the Confederate flag offensive."Everyone has their own opinion. But that's not mine," she said, describing the conflict as a First Amendment issue because the dress represented what she stood for.Well, let's run it down: The Confederate flag represents states who lost a war brought on by breaking from the United States more or less because they didn't want to be told they couldn't enslave other people for economic benefit. And Kentucky wasn't even a Confederate state. (It was officially neutral. After pro-Union candidates won the state legislature and nine out of 10 Congressional seats, Southern-leaning parts of the state seceded. Eventually there were 100,000 Kentuckians fighting for the North and far less than that -- possibly as few as 20,000, according to civilwar.org -- fighting for the South.) To many people, that made Duty's prom gown protest three kinds of wrong. The whole thing made her sad, she said, because senior prom and her wedding day would be the most important days in her life.She settled her lawsuit for an undisclosed amount two years later. No word on whether she wore the gown to her ! wedding to show what she stood for; it's certainly as sensible a venue for a Civil War protest as a high school prom.
Nuclear letdown It was 1979. The Three Mile Island nuclear plant just outside of Harrisburg, Pa., just scared the heck out of everyone with a partial reactor core meltdown that belched radiation into the surrounding area. Anti-nuclear protesters were up in arms. Someone had to do something.Enter the classic rockers. Jackson Browne, Bonnie Raitt, Graham Nash and Orleans singer/activist/future Congressman John Hall's plan for pulling the plug on nuclear power employed the same time-honored tactic employed by the Muppets every time their theater was in trouble or Kermit needed bus fare: Hey, let's put on a show! The foursome's Musicians United For Safe Energy occupied Madison Square Garden for five nights while friends such as Crosby, Stills and Nash, The Doobie Brothers, James Taylor, Carly Simon, Chaka Khan, Gil Scott-Heron and Tom Petty played sets that could register on a Geiger counter.If the series just ended with Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band unleashing their 400 megatons of awesome and blowing the roof off the place, that would have been just fine. Instead, MUSE decided to bring Ralph Nader, Jane Fonda and 200,000 of their closest friends out to the empty, undeveloped Battery Park City landfill of dirt excavated from the World Trade Center site for an anti-nuclear protest. As it is, Battery Park City looks like a bit of apartment-laden land that was chipped off of Hoboken, floated across the Hudson River and crashed into West Street. If visitors think the Battery Park City beyond the World Financial Center is a silent, desolate waste that no one pays attention to now, it may as well be Williamsburg compared with the ragged, remote dirt pile protesters saw in 1979.It was a lousy encore to an otherwise great bunch of nights, but did any of it make! a diffe rence? Not really. Three Mile Island's operators paid more than $80 million in compensation to surrounding residents, but the plant still stands and still produces energy. Browne, Nash, Raitt and Hall hosted reunion shows in 2007 and earlier this year, but haven't shuttered any of the nation's 104 nuclear facilities. Surprisingly, no amount of Runnin' On Empty, Angel From Montgomery or Suite Judy Blue Eyes could avert nuclear disaster at Chernobyl and Fukushima, either. And yet nuclear power now looks like the environmentally responsible energy choice compared with fossil fuels.More than 30 years after the No Nukes concerts, there are still nukes very much in our midst and little being done to reduce reactor numbers to something resembling "No." The concert footage from the event still holds up pretty well, but little more so than a quote from one of the activist attendees at the beginning of the film: "I think most of the crowd here is just a bunch of bulls---ters. They're just here to see the concert, you know?"Yep, we know.
Off target for gun rights Here is what many gun owners would want their critics to believe: that they are responsible; that safety is an utmost concern; and that they are more about self-defense than acts of aggression. That said, we wonder how many rational, intelligent gun owners were horrified by pro-gun Tea Party rallies in recent months. We've seen these folks strutting along the Washington Mall with their personal arsenal stuffed into their senior waistbands and under red, white and blue suspenders. In March, a small band of Tea Party activists rocked out with their Glocks out at Montana's statehouse to complain about various government intrusions, not the least of which were gun restrictions. By waving around their weaponry like they were in a rural recasting of Scarface, they undermined any hope of portraying them! selves a s rational defenders of the constitution. Instead, they looked just like the caricature painted of them by liberal ideologues: a bunch of unstable hicks from the sticks. We understand their desire to be strong and vocal about protecting their rights. Alas, they threw away any credibility or sway they might have had. We are not saying anything that hasn't already been said before, but imagine if the participants of the Million Man March were waving Saturday Night Specials in the air. What if Acorn supporters brandished AK-47s in local parks or Planned Parenthood counselors showed up at polling places wearing ammunition belts strapped across their chests? We'll tell you what would happen: chaos. There would be cops. There would be riot gear and tear gas. There would be arrests. There would be outrage on the part of those very same Tea Party folks. An important lesson for any group of protesters -- be they liberal or conservative -- is to not stoop to the very stereotype your foes have attached to you. The Tea Party gun fans lost on two fronts. One, despite their stated fears of people coming after their guns, they were left alone (even though public safety concerns should have dictated otherwise), continuing an Obama administration record of taking no actions whatsoever on gun control. And for basically zero political return they gave -- pardon the expression -- ammunition -- to critics already leery of the rhetoric of such party panderers as Nevada's Sharron Angle ("People are really looking toward those Second Amendment remedies and saying, my goodness, what can we do to turn this country around? I'll tell you, the first thing we need to do is take Harry Reid out"), Minnesota's Michele Bachmann ("I want people in Minnesota armed and dangerous on this issue of the energy tax, because we need to fight back. Thomas Jefferson told us having a revolution every now and then is a good thing") and Florida's Allen West ("I am convinced that the most important thing the Founding Fathers did to ! ensure m e my First Amendment rights was they gave a Second Amendment. And if ballots don't work, bullets will").
Occupying Santa Cruz If you want to really stick it to the "man," you can mobilize protests and look for ways to garner public support and stir up outage. Or you could just hang out at the beach. Let's set aside the continuing debates over Occupy Wall Street and its relevance. Focus instead on its offshoots, groups such as Occupy Santa Cruz. We know what you are all thinking -- why are those other folks wasting their time on Wall Street when the real seat of financial power in this nation lies hidden within the bait shops, T-shirt stands and record stores of San Francisco's sunnier cousin? Economic injustice can take place anywhere, and there were, after all, 8,556 businesses in Santa Cruz last year according to the U.S. Census, one of which has more than 1,000 employees and 5,715 of which (that's 67%) have four or fewer. And you know big business is what runs Santa Cruz when you go to the "Economic development statistics" page of the city's Web site and find the link is broken.The top employer in Santa Cruz? The University of Santa Cruz -- home of the fighting Banana Slugs. The top private employer in Santra Cruz? Plantronics(PLT), the headset maker, with a whole 474 workers, according to the city's 2009 Comprehensive Annual Financial Report. The big controversy regarding Occupy Santa Cruz was last month, when members went to a local Bank of America to close their accounts but were denied the opportunity and threatened with arrest. There were two protesters, and Bank of America's(BAC) objection was their brandishing anti-bank signs and videotaping the whole affair. Should a customer be allowed to close an account? Of course, it is their legal right. But does a private business have to facilitate a! publici ty stunt that's against its own self-interest and an annoyance to other customers? No, it turns out.Back to the beach.Follow TheStreet on Twitter and become a fan on Facebook.>To order reprints of this article, click here: Reprints
European Central Bank President Mario Draghi has coupled an interest rate cut with an offer to lend banks unlimited cash for up to three years as European officials head to Brussels for a summit where they will hope to construct a “comprehensive” solution to the debt crisis.
The ECB cut its benchmark interest rate by 25 basis points to match a record low of 1 percent. It also unexpectedly introduced new three-year loans for banks and loosened collateral criteria by making credit claims such as bank loans eligible and reducing the rating threshold on asset-backed securities.
Officials speaking on condition of anonymity ahead of today’s policy meeting said that, though three-year loans were being discussed, they were unlikely to be introduced at this stage, with the bank instead extending loans to just two years.
The measures ��should ensure enhanced access of the banking sector to liquidity,�� Draghi told reporters in Frankfurt today after chairing a meeting of the ECB��s Governing Council.
The central bank has chosen to focus on reviving bank lending rather than increasing government bond purchases, leaving it to European Union leaders meeting in Brussels this week to stamp out the debt crisis.
Last week, Draghi pushed EU leaders to deliver a “fiscal compact” like that being proposed by Germany and France, hinting that the ECB might then be willing to help support financial markets. However, repeating his ca! ll for a fiscal compact compact today, Draghi denied that he had hinted the ECB would automatically support such an initiative with more bond purchases.
The ECB also cut banks’ reserve ratios by half to 1 percent, and will stop fine tuning operations at the end of each reserve maintenance period. Three-year loans will be conducted as a fixed rate with full allotment, said Draghi.
Both Democrats and Republicans on the House Financial Services Committee advocated new restrictions on insider trading on Tuesday, after previous efforts to pass restrictions all failed to advance in Congress.
Though the issue had been sidelined, it re-emerged after a report last month by the CBS News program “60 Minutes,” which said members of Congress bought stock in companies during debates on legislation that might affect the businesses.
Though none of the investments were illegal, according to the report, the news further rattled faith in a legislative body that has been rendered largely ineffective by partisan positioning since Republicans took control of the House of Representatives in January.
��This is about restoring faith,�� said Representative Tim Walz, a Minnesota Democrat who is sponsoring legislation to explicitly ban insider trading. ��If you think a 9 percent approval rating is bad, don��t do anything, drag it out and watch what happens,�� he said, referring to polling on Americans�� approval of Congress.
House Financial Services Committee chairman Spencer Bachus, an Alabama Republican, said the panel would vote on legislation next week. ��It is absolutely essential that we do restore the public��s trust,�� said Bachus. ��If this is the answer, so be it.��
Bachus was among the lawmakers mentioned in the ��60 Minut! es�� rep ort. CBS reported that during the 2008 financial crisis, Bachus, then the ranking Republican on the Financial Services Committee, bet stock prices would fall while being briefed privately that a global crisis might be imminent. In a statement at the time, Bachus’s office denied he ever traded on nonpublic information.
Still, the CBS report led lawmakers concerned with public perception to take another look at legislation first introduced in 2006 by Representative Louise Slaughter, a New York Democrat. Reintroduced this year by Representative Walz, the measure would label as securities fraud any trading on legislation information by lawmakers or members of staff. The bill would require all trades of more than $1,000 be reported within 90 days.
The bill would require regulators to draft rules barring individuals and political intelligence firms from selling nonpublic information obtained from federal employees, and would require any firms or individuals involved in political intelligence to register in the same way as federal lobbyists.
Meanwhile, the Senate’s Homeland Security Committee is examining similar bipartisan proposals to restrict certain trading by lawmakers and their aides.
Wall St. Watchdog reveals information about top dividends declared at publicly traded companies for the week ending Dec 2nd, 2011.
Diamond Hill Investment Group Inc. (NASDAQ:DHIL) announced a dividend of $5 with a Dividend Ex. Date of 2011-12-08. That��s a 61.54% reduction versus the previous dividend of $13. The new dividend yield is 18.1%. Get the most recent company news and stock data here >>
White River Capital, Inc. (AMEX:RVR) announced a dividend of $4 with a Dividend Ex. Date of 2011-12-06. That��s a 1500% increase versus the previous dividend of $0.25. The new dividend yield is 19.0%. Get the most recent company news and stock data here >>
Limited Brands, Inc. (NYSE:LTD) announced a dividend of $2 with a Dividend Ex. Date of 2011-12-08. That��s a 900% increase versus the previous dividend of $0.2. The new dividend yield is 4.2%. Get the most recent company news and stock data here >>
Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (NYSE:CM) announced a dividend of $0.9 with a Dividend Ex. Date of 2011-12-23. That��s a no change versus the previous dividend of $0.9. The new dividend yield is 4.9%. Get the most recent company news and stock data here >>
SeaDrill Limited (NYSE:SDRL) announced a dividend of $0.76 with a Dividend Ex. Date of 2011-12-08. That��s a 1.33% increase versus the previous dividend of $0.75. The new dividend yield is 8.7%. Get the most recent company news and stock data here >>
Epoch Investment Partners, Inc. (NASDAQ:EPHC) announced a dividend of $0.75 with a Dividend Ex. Date of 2011-12-20. That��s a 837.5% increase versus the previous dividend of $0.08. The new dividend yield is 4.3%. Get the most recent company news and stock data here >>
New England Realty Associates Limited Partnership (AMEX:NEN) announced a dividend of $0.7 with a Dividend Ex. Date of 2011-12-13. That��! s a no c hange versus the previous dividend of $0.7. The new dividend yield is 3.9%. Get the most recent company news and stock data here >>
The Toronto-Dominion Bank (NYSE:TD) announced a dividend of $0.68 with a Dividend Ex. Date of 2012-01-03. That��s a no change versus the previous dividend of $0.68. The new dividend yield is 3.7%. Get the most recent company news and stock data here >>
Mid-America Apartment Communities Inc. (NYSE:MAA) announced a dividend of $0.66 with a Dividend Ex. Date of 2012-01-11. That��s a 5.18% increase versus the previous dividend of $0.6275. The new dividend yield is 4.4%. Get the most recent company news and stock data here >>
Walt Disney Co. (NYSE:DIS) announced a dividend of $0.6 with a Dividend Ex. Date of 2011-12-14. That��s a 50% increase versus the previous dividend of $0.4. The new dividend yield is 1.1%. Get the most recent company news and stock data here >>
At first glance, bankruptcy may appear to be an easy way out of debt problems, but is it the only answer? What is the real cost of bankruptcy? Before considering bankruptcy, there are a multitude of factors that must be considered, many of which are best explained by a specialist debt management company.
The process of going bankrupt is actually quite simple:
? Complete declaration forms available from your local county court. ? Provide details of all assets you own and all debts you owe. ? Pay the associated court fee and administration deposit.
Bankruptcy can be a same-day service! But should you consider it at all?
Following the above steps, you will be issued with a Bankruptcy Order. You will then need to meet the Official Receiver in your area. Their role is to review your circumstances and ensure you meet the conditions of the bankruptcy. This will involve discussing your debts. Once the bankruptcy takes effect, you will be unable to acquire any other kind of debt solution, such as debt management, a consolidation loan, or an IVA. The duration of bankruptcy usually lasts one year. In 2004 this was reduced from three years. Once you are discharged from your bankruptcy you are able to start again debt free.
Sounds easy doesn't it? Many people think it is an easy option for those in serious debt. However, the negative, long lasting consequences of bankruptcy need to be taken into account as they can have a lasting impact on your life.
You and Your Home
The trustee associated with your bankruptcy has three years to deal with your home or any property you own. During these three years the trustee can:
? Put your property up for sale.
? Have a charging order issued. This means that any money generated by the property, through rent or sale, will got to the trustee.
? Arrange terms for you to buy the trustee's interest in the property. These terms can be arranged with those with whom you share ownership of the property.
Your bankruptcy terms usually last one year. However you are at risk of further action, in terms of your assets, for a further two years. Many people forget that after the expiration of their bankruptcy order, their home, or their share of it, remains in the hands of the trustee.
At worst this can mean your house is sold regardless of your bankruptcy status. The consequences of this can be devastating for your family. As mentioned above, this can also be the case if you own a share in a property.
Bankruptcy Restriction Order (BRO)
A BRO is an extension of a Bankruptcy Order that can be imposed on the debtor at the end of the bankruptcy terms, which is usually one year. A BRO is issued if the Official Receiver deems that the debtor has been irresponsible during the terms of their bankruptcy.
Examples of irresponsible behaviour could be:
? Gaining more debt during their bankruptcy period. ? Gaining more debt with the intention of applying for bankruptcy. ? Selling assets and giving the mo! ney to f amily members.
Consequences of a BRO
? You cannot be a director of a company.
? Creditors must be made aware of your bankruptcy status if you apply for credit for more than £500.
? If you are trading you have to inform those you trade with about your bankruptcy status and the name you traded under when declared bankrupt.
? These restrictions can last between 2 and 15 years.
Bankruptcy can be seen as an easy solution to debt problems, but many problems can result. Whether or not bankruptcy is right for you depends largely on your own unique circumstances. Sure you seek advice from a debt management professional before you go ahead.
This article is part of our Rising Star Portfolios series.
I'll be gathering more small- and mid-cap candidates for my Rising Star "multivitamin" portfolio over the next few days via my Foolish 8 and modified Foolish 8 screens. Today I present the Foolish 8, which was developed by Motley Fool co-founder David Gardner to identify profitable, rapid-growth, small-cap stocks. Here are the eight criteria:
Revenues: $500 million or less.
Earnings and sales growth: 25% or greater.
Net profit margin: 7% or greater.
Daily dollar volume: $1 million to $25 million.
Insider holdings: 10% or greater.
Share price: $7 or greater.
Relative strength: 90 or greater.
Operating cash flow: a positive number.
The contenders This month, 11 companies passed the screen:
Company
Market Cap (in millions)
Business
Add to Your Watchlist
AeroVironment (Nasdaq: AVAV )
$672
Aerospace and Defense
Add
Altisource Portfolio Solutions (Nasdaq: ASPS )
?1,184
Real Estate Management and Development
Add
Bank of the Ozarks
$945
Commercial Banks
Add
CVD Equipment
$88
Semiconductors and Semiconductor Equipment
Add
Epoch Investment Partners (Nasdaq: EPHC )
$562
Capital Markets
Add
Gulfport Energy (Nasdaq: GPOR )
$1,904
Oil, Gas, and Consumable Fuels
Add
MercadoLibre (Nasdaq: MELI )
$4,177
Internet Software and Services
Add
Nanometrics (Nasdaq: NANO! & nbsp; )
$411
Semiconductors and Semiconductor Equipment
Add
SolarWinds
$2,405
Software
Add
Transcend Services
$283
Health Care Technology
Add
Twin Disc (Nasdaq: TWIN )
$454
Machinery
Add
Source: S&P Capital IQ.
New stocks on the list this month are Bank of the Ozarks, Epoch Investment Partners, Gulfport Energy, Nanometrics, and Transcend Services. Dropping off the list from last month are Hi Tech Pharmacal and IPG Photonics.
Biggie smalls Here's a look at some interesting metrics for these small fries:
Company
Insider Ownership
Forward P/E
EV/FCF (TTM)
ROE
Net Margin
!
Aero Vironment
16%
21.4
18.7
14%
11%
Altisource Portfolio Solutions
26%
13.6?
22.5
45%
16%
Bank of the Ozarks
16%
14.7
NM
28%
52%
CVD Equipment
24%
23.1
12.2
14%
11%
Epoch Investment Partners
32%
23.0
24.0
36%
30%
Gulfport Energy
17%
14.6
NM
27%
46%
MercadoLibre
12%
43.3
66.9
39%
26%
Nanometrics
19%
27.6
21.0
32%
24%
SolarWinds
22%
29.4
26.2
32%
33%
Transcend Services
12%
17.6
40.1
18%
11%
Twin Disc
25%
14.7
NM
21%
8%
Source: S&P Capital IQ. P/E = price-to-earnings ratio; EV = enterprise value; FCF = free cash flow; TTM = trailing 12 months; ROE = return on equity; NM = not meaningful because of negative or negligible FCF.
Tomorrow I'll show you the r! esults o f this month's modified Foolish 8 screen and then talk about the companies that interest me from both screens in more depth.
If you're interested in keeping up with any of these companies, add them to your free watchlist by clicking the "add" button in the far-right column of the top table. You can also follow me on Twitter and check out the multivitamin discussion board.
This article is part of our Rising Star Portfolios series, where we give some of our most promising stock analysts cold, hard cash to manage on the Fool's behalf. We'd like you to track our performance and benefit from these real-money, real-time free stock picks. See all of our Rising Star analysts (and their portfolios).
On Jan. 13th, SAP pre-released 4Q 06 results yesterday afternoon, posting lighter than expected license and total revenue. Investors expected a solid 4th Q and given the strong run in the shares, the ensuing correction is not surprising.
SAP now expects 4th Q software revenue of 1.26 bil Euroes, which is below the 1.38-39 bil estimate of The Street . Total revenue is expected to be 2.95 bil vs Street forecast of approximately 3.08 bil Euros. Also, SAP had previously guided software rev. growth of 15-17% vs reported 7%.
So why did the company miss?
I believe that SAP's competitive position is weakening evident by its 2nd negative pre-announcement in 3 Qs. In addition to more competition and likely pricing pressure from a revitalized Oracle, I believe SAP is poorly positioned to benefit from non-application related growth areas in software. Comparisons could be tough going forward, as double digit license revenue growth may be difficult to achieve.
Given this lower growth profile and inconsistent execution, investors can expect to see multiple compression. Investors will want to see consistent signs of reacceleration growth before getting more positive on SAP.
On the positive side, SAP’s license revenues increased 7% in 4th Q vs ORCL’s reported organic growth of 1%. SAP’s results suffer from a dollar headwind which benefit-ed/s Oracle.
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If one looks at the weakening revenues, the business software market itself maybe slowing down. Last month, Oracle announced disappointing 2nd Q revenue of $4.16 billion, sending the stock down 4.5%
For 4th Q, SAP expects total revenue to be 2.95 bil vs consensus estimate of 3.05 bil Euros. License revenue is expected to be 1.26 bil vs consensus of 1.35 bil Euros.
SAP needs to show operating margin expansion of 27-30% alongside double digit license revenue growth. While this may appear difficult, SAP has historically proven it can deliver on heightened expectations. That being said, Investors of SAP and ORCL will be eager to hear what SAP has to say when it issues guidance with its results on Jan 24.
Based on the aggregated intelligence of 180,000-plus investors participating in Motley Fool CAPS, the Fool's free investing community, soft-drink and snack giant PepsiCo (NYSE: PEP ) has earned a coveted five-star ranking.
With that in mind, let's take a closer look at PepsiCo's business and see what CAPS investors are saying about the stock right now.
PepsiCo facts
Headquarters (Founded)
Purchase, N.Y. (1898)
Market Cap
$101.5 billion
Industry
Soft drinks
Trailing-12-Month Revenue
$64.5 billion
Management
Chairman/CEO Indra Nooyi CFO Hugh Johnston
Return on Equity (Average, Past 3 Years)
32.5%
Cash/Debt
$3.54 billion / $26.9 billion
Dividend Yield
3.2%
Competitors
Coca-Cola (NYSE: KO ) General Mills (NYSE: GIS ) Kraft (NYSE: KFT )
Sources: S&P Capital IQ and Motley Fool CAPS.
On CAPS, 97% of the 4,422 members who have rated PepsiCo believe the stock will outperform the S&P 500 going forward. These bulls include All-Stars TMFDeej and TheMiracleDJR, both of whom are ranked in the top 5% of our community.
Just last month, TMFDeej tapped the stock as a tasty bargain opportunity: "Pepsi is cheap on a sum-of-the-parts basis. This value may be unlocked by a split of ! the drin ks and snacks divisions, potentially forced by activist investors and the company's Board of Directors."
In fact, PepsiCo sports a cheapish price-to-cash flow of 12.3. That represents a discount to competitors like Coca-Cola (17.1), General Mills (15.0), and Kraft (15.3).
CAPS All-Star TheMiracleDJR expands on the outperform argument:
As a marketing man, all I can say is The Pepsi Generation -- as stupid, annoying and idiotic as it is -- is the purest genius. A moat pretty much as big as Coke's. No chance any beverage/snack food company can get in front of them. They're profits are as close to guaranteed as profits can be.
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The Board of Directors of The Pepsi Bottling Group, Inc. (NYSE: PBG) has declared a quarterly dividend of $0.18 per share on PBG’s common stock. The dividend is payable September 30, 2009 to PBG shareholders of record on September 4, 2009.
Acxiom(R) Corporation (Nasdaq: ACXM) expects to issue its FY 2010 first quarter earnings release on Wednesday, July 29, following market close. A conference call will be held at 4:30 p.m. CDT the same day to discuss the results.
Tyson Foods, Inc. (NYSE:TSN) today announced an exchange offer for its outstanding 10.50% Senior Notes due 2014. These notes were originally issued March 9, 2009, in a private offering in an aggregate principal amount of $810,000,000. Holders of these notes may exchange them for an equal principal amount of a new issue of 10.50% Senior Notes due 2014 pursuant to an effective registration statement on Form S-4 filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Monarch Bank (Nasdaq: MNRK), a subsidiary of Monarch Financial Holdings, Inc., has been named one of the “Best Places to Work” in Hampton Roads, Va., by weekly business journal Inside Business. In addition, Monarch was ranked second in mid-sized companies and the only bank recognized on the business journal list.
L-3 Communications (NYSE: LLL) announced today that its Mission Integration Division delivered the seventh and final aircraft for Phase 1 of the Project Liberty Aircraft (LPA) program to the U.S. Air Force.
The Eastern Company (NYSE Amex-EML) today announced the declaration of its regular quarterly cash dividend of nine cents ($0.09) per share, payable September 15, 2009, to common stock shareholders of record as of August 21, 2009. This dividend represents the Company’s 276th consecutive quarterly dividend.
Dollar Thrifty Automotive Group, Inc. (NYSE:DTG) shares were transacted unexpectedly with a volume of 1.02 million shares as compared to its average volume of 273,676.00 shares. DTG opened at $50.24 scored +0.94% closed $50.70. Its 52 week price range is $22.82 - $53.00.
DTG has earnings of $130.18 million and made $1.53 billion sales for the last 12 months. Its quarter to quarter sales remained 1.06%. The company has 28.74 million of outstanding shares and 28.26 million shares were floated in the market.
DTG has an insider ownership at 1.76% and institutional ownership remained 94.73%. Its return on investment (ROI) for the last 12 month was 5.63% as compare to its return on equity (ROE) of 33.22% for the last 12 months.
The price moved ahead +4.54% from the mean of 20 days, +6.08% from 50 and went up +7.06% from 200 days average price. Company��s performance for the week was +4.49%, +3.96% for month and yearly performance remained 102.96%.
Its price volatility for a month remained 1.35% whereas volatility for a week noted as 1.70% having beta of 3.86. Company��s price to sales ratio for last 12 months was 0.95 while its price to book ratio for the most recent quarter was 2.80 and its earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) remained 319.13 million for the past twelve months.
