NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- A week since the announcement, Comcast's (CMCSA) $45.2 billion bid for Time Warner Cable (TWC) has already been debated every which way. Yet, until now, the broadcast industry's biggest players have remained quiet. Finally, in a series of post-earnings calls, (DTV), Dish Network (DISH) and Charter Communications (CHTR) have spoken up on what would be an unprecedented consolidation of the sector.
Looking at the deal, it should be enough to cause even an industry giant concern. If the deal passes as proposed, a combined Comcast-Time Warner would create a broadcasting powerhouse in a business already replete with low competition and high barriers to entry. In its broadband division alone, Comcast-Time Warner would have dominance in two-thirds of the U.S. marketplace.
5 Best Machinery Stocks To Watch For 2015: Vonage Holdings Corp.(VG)
Vonage Holdings Corp. provides broadband communication services in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom. The company offers voice and messaging services through session initiation protocol (SIP) based voice over Internet protocol network. The company?s primary product offering is Vonage World, a residential plan with unlimited calling domestically and to approximately 60 countries, including India, Mexico, and China for a flat monthly rate. It also provides broadband telephone replacement services to residential, small office, and home office customers through various service plans with a range of basic features, including call waiting, caller ID with name, call forwarding, and voicemail. In addition, the company offers mobile services through mobile applications that can be downloaded for iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, and Android OS devices. Further, the company provides Vonage Mobile, a free downloadable mobile application that provides free calling and messagi ng between users who have the application, as well as traditional paid international calling to any other phone. It markets its services through in-bound telemarketing and online direct sales, as well as through regional and national retailers. As of December 31, 2011, the company had approximately 2.4 million subscriber lines. Vonage Holdings Corp. was incorporated in 2000 and is headquartered in Holmdel, New Jersey.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Rich Smith]
Holmdel, N.J.-based Vonage (NYSE: VG ) has a new Chief Financial Officer.
On Friday, Vonage closed out the trading week with an announcement that it's hired away David T. Pearson from Deutsche Bank�to become its new Treasurer and CFO. At Deutsche, Pearson spent nine years working as a managing director and head of the bank's Global Media & Telecom Group. Before that, he worked in Goldman Sachs' Technology, Media & Telecommunications�group.
- [By Greg Madison]
Vonage Holdings Corp. (NYSE: VG) had a notorious, comically bad IPO. The Internet communications company had ubiquitous advertising and a decent product, Voice over Internet Protocol, which essentially offered phone calls for free or at a low cost over the broadband connections. Vonage raised a very tidy $531 million on the first day. The first day was the best day, and for all intents and purposes the last day. Over the week that followed, the company lost something like 30% of its value. Analysts for MSNBC said the firm "may never be profitable." Vonage won the dubious honor of the single worst trading day for a company in 2006. Shares that debuted at $17 per share are now worth about $3.
- [By Caroline Bennett]
Telecom company Vonage (NYSE: VG ) has received a new patent from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office for its invention in improving Internet Protocol (or IP) phone systems, the company announced Tuesday.
- [By Jake L'Ecuyer]
Equities Trading UP
Vonage Holdings (NYSE: VG) was up early on in Thursday's session, gaining 15.74 percent to $3.53 after news broke that the company would acquire Vocalocity for $130 million.
10 Best Industrial Disributor Stocks For 2014: Essex Property Trust Inc. (ESS)
Essex Property Trust, Inc. operates as a self-administered and self-managed real estate investment trust in the United States. It engages in the ownership, operation, management, acquisition, development, and redevelopment of apartment communities, as well as commercial properties. As of March 31, 2012, the company owned or had interests in 158 apartment communities; and 5 commercial buildings, as well as 5 development projects. Its communities are located in Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Diego, Santa Barbara, and Ventura counties in southern California; and the San Francisco Bay area in northern California, as well as in the Seattle metropolitan area. The company has elected to be taxed as a real estate investment trust. As a result, it would not be subject to corporate income tax on that portion of its net income that is distributed to shareholders. Essex Property Trust, Inc. was founded in 1971 and is headquartered in Palo Alto, California.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Susan J. Aluise]
Like all ETFs, REZ offers the diversification of a mutual fund, with low expenses and the advantages of trading on a major exchange just like a stock. REZ�� top holdings include multifamily REITs like AvalonBay (AVB), Equity Residential (EQR), Essex Property Trust (ESS) as well as Public Storage (PSA) common stock, which also benefits from the rental housing boom.
- [By Sean Williams]
To get a better idea of how RealPage is doing, it's always best to look at occupancy rates for some of the nation's biggest residential-REITs. In AvalonBay Communities' (NYSE: AVB ) most recent quarter, the company reported a 5% increase in revenue attributable to a 4.7% boost in prices in established communities, and a 0.3% uptick in occupancy. For Equity Residential (NYSE: EQR ) it was much of the same, with revenue rising 5.4% in the fourth-quarter as occupancy rates rose 40 basis points to 95.4% from the year-ago period. Finally, Essex Property Trust (NYSE: ESS ) delivered some of the strongest occupancy results of all, with 96.9% of its units occupied as of the end of January. The point is that with occupancy rates at their lowest levels in more than a decade, these residential REITs are driving growth by boosting prices because of rent scarcity.
- [By Jayson Derrick]
Owners of BRE Properties (NYSE: BRE) will receive $12.33 in cash and 0.2971 shares of newly created Essex common stock following Essex Property Trust's (NYSE: ESS) acquisition. Shares of Essex lost 3.31 percent, closing at $142.81.
- [By Jayson Derrick]
Bloomberg reported�Essex Property Trust Inc. (NYSE: ESS) has made an offer to acquire BRE Properties for about $5 billion.
BRE Properties Chief Executive Office Constance B. Moore had publicly hinted earlier this year that the company would consider ��ny legitimate proposal��after an investment firm Land & Buildings had made a $4.6 billion offer valued at $60 a share.
10 Best Industrial Disributor Stocks For 2014: United States Steel Corporation(X)
United States Steel Corporation produces and sells steel mill products in North America and Central Europe. It operates in three segments: Flat-rolled Products (Flat-rolled), U. S. Steel Europe (USSE), and Tubular Products (Tubular). The Flat-rolled segment offers slabs, rounds, strip mill plates, sheets, and tin mill products, as well as iron ore and coke. This segment serves service center, conversion, transportation, construction, container, and appliance and electrical markets in North America. The USSE segment offers slabs, sheets, strip mill plates, tin mill products, and spiral welded pipes, as well as heating radiators and refractory ceramic materials. This segment serves the European construction, service center, conversion, container, transportation, and appliance and electrical, as well as and oil, gas, and petrochemical markets. The Tubular segment offers seamless and electric resistance welded steel casing and tubing; and standard, and line pipe and mechanical tubing. It primarily serves customers in the oil, gas, and petrochemical markets. The company also provides transportation services, including railroad and barge operations. In addition, it owns, develops, and manages various real estate assets, which include approximately 200,000 acres of surface rights primarily in Alabama, Illinois, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, and Pennsylvania; participates in joint ventures that are developing real estate projects in Alabama, Maryland, and Illinois; and owns approximately 4,000 acres of land in Ontario, Canada. The company was founded in 1901 and is headquartered in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Arjun Sreekumar]
U.S. Steel (NYSE: X ) , for instance, reported�a larger than expected loss of $73 million in the first quarter due to an 11% plunge in sales and a 3% drop in shipments, while AK Steel Holding (NYSE: AKS ) , an integrated producer of flat-rolled carbon, stainless and electrical steels, and tubular products, reported�a net loss of $9.9 million, or $0.07 per diluted share, in the first quarter.
- [By Dividends4Life]
Fair Value: In calculating fair value, I consider the NPV MMA Differential Fair Value along with these four calculations of fair value, see page 2 of the linked PDF for a detailed description:
1. Avg. High Yield Price
2. 20-Year DCF Price
3. Avg. P/E Price
4. Graham Number
NUE is trading at a premium to all four valuations above. The stock is trading at a 85.8% premium to its calculated fair value of $28.51. NUE did not earn any Stars in this section.
Dividend Analytical Data: In this section there are three possible Stars and three key metrics, see page 2 of the linked PDF for a detailed description:
1. Free Cash Flow Payout
2. Debt To Total Capital
3. Key Metrics
4. Dividend Growth Rate
5. Years of Div. Growth
6. Rolling 4-yr Div. > 15%
NUE earned one Star in this section for 2.) above. The stock earned a Star as a result of its most recent Debt to Total Capital being less than 45%. The company has paid a cash dividend to shareholders every year since 1973 and has increased its dividend payments for 40 consecutive years.
Dividend Income vs. MMA: Why would you assume the equity risk and invest in a dividend stock if you could earn a better return in a much less risky money market account (MMA) or Treasury bond? This section compares the earning ability of this stock with a high yield MMA. Two items are considered in this section, see page 2 of the linked PDF for a detailed description:
1. NPV MMA Diff.
2. Years to > MMA
The negative NPV MMA Diff. means that on a NPV basis the dividend earnings from an investment in NUE would be less than a similar amount invested in MMA earning a 20-year average rate of 3.68%. If NUE grows its dividend at 0.7% per year, it will never equal a MMA yielding an estimated 20-year average rate of 3.68%.
Memberships and Peers: NUE is a member of the S&P 500, a Dividend Aristocrat, a member of the Broad Dividend Achievers
10 Best Industrial Disributor Stocks For 2014: Morningstar Inc.(MORN)
Morningstar, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, provides independent investment research to investors worldwide. The company operates in two segments, Investment Information and Investment Management. The Investment Information segment offers data, software, and research products and services for individual investors, financial advisors, and institutional clients. It provides Licensed Data, a set of investment data spanning various investment databases, including real-time pricing data available through electronic data feeds; Morningstar Advisor Workstation, a Web-based investment planning system; Morningstar.com, a membership service and Internet advertising space; Morningstar Direct, a Web-based institutional research platform; integrated Web tools to build customized Websites or enhance existing sites; Morningstar Principia, a CD-ROM-based investment research and planning software; Morningstar commodity data that provides data and analytics for the energy, financial, and agriculture sectors; equity and corporate credit research; and Morningstar structured credit ratings and research services. This segment also offers various financial communications materials, real-time data and desktop software, investment software, and investment indexes, as well as various print and online publications. The Investment Management segment offers various products and services, such as Investment Consulting that focuses on investment monitoring and asset allocation for funds of funds, including mutual funds and variable annuities; Retirement Solutions comprising the Morningstar Retirement Manager and Advice by Ibbotson platforms; and Morningstar Managed Portfolios, a asset management service includes series of mutual fund, exchange-traded fund, and stock portfolios. This segment serves banks, brokerage firms, insurance companies, mutual fund companies, and retirement plan sponsors and providers. Morningstar, Inc. was founded in 1984 and is headquartered in Chicago, Illinois.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Reuters]
Mark Lennihan/APAbercrombie & Fitch CEO Michael Jeffries An Abercrombie & Fitch shareholder urged the teen apparel retailer to replace Chief Executive Officer Mike Jeffries after his contract expires in February, failing which the company should look to sell itself. Engaged Capital, which owns less than 1 percent of the company's shares, said in a letter to the board Tuesday that the expiration of Jeffries' term is an opportunity for the board to set a new direction for the company. Engaged Capital, a young activist investment firm led by former Relational Investors managing director Glenn Welling, said a sale of the company to a private equity buyer may represent the best option for shareholders. "However, as we have learned through discussions with industry insiders and private equity firms, Mr. Jeffries' presence represents a major stumbling block to a transaction," the activist investment firm said in the letter. Abercrombie's (ANF) shares, which have lost about 30 percent of their value this year, rose 6.4 percent to $36.20 by midday. Analysts have raised concerns about the company's ability to revitalize its merchandise, citing management's focus on cost-cutting, marketing and distribution instead of product and design. "A little fresh blood would definitely benefit the company," Morningstar (MORN) analyst Bridget Weishaar told Reuters. However, she said the board has been very supportive of Jeffries. "So, I'd be highly doubtful if this letter changes anything." Engaged Capital said there appeared to be no qualified successor within the company to replace 69-year-old Jeffries, who has been CEO for 16 years. His current contract includes a clause that he would receive over $100 million if the company changes control. Jeffries owned about 1.3 percent of Abercrombie's shares as of July 30. The company wasn't immediately available for comment. Engaged Capital said it owned about 400,000 shares of Abercrombie. The company has about 76.4 mil
10 Best Industrial Disributor Stocks For 2014: International Rectifier Corporation (IRF)
International Rectifier Corporation designs, manufactures, and markets power management semiconductors worldwide. The company operates through six segments: Power Management Devices, Energy Saving Products, Automotive Products, Enterprise Power, HiRel, and Intellectual Property. The Power Management Devices segment provides power metal oxide semiconductor field effect transistors (MOSFETs), FETKYs, and DirectFETs for power supply, data processing, telecommunications, industrial, and commercial battery-powered systems. The Energy Saving Products segment provides analog high voltage integrated circuits (HVICs), insulated gate bipolar transistors (IGBTs) platforms, digital control ICs, and IRAM integrated power modules for motor control appliances, industrial automation, lighting and display, audio, and video applications. The Automotive Products segment offers HVICs, intelligent power switch ICs, power MOSFETs, IGBTs, diodes, and advanced power modules for various automotive applications. The Enterprise Power segment offers DirectFET discrete products, digital PWM controllers, power monitoring products, voltage regulators, low voltage ICs, and PowIRstages primarily for applications in servers, storage, routers, switches, infrastructure equipment, notebooks, graphic cards, and gaming consoles. The HiRel segment provides RAD-hard discretes, RAD-hard ICs, power management modules, DC-DC converters, and high temperature converters for satellites and space exploration vehicles, military hardware, and other high reliability applications. The Intellectual Property segment sells and licenses technologies and manufacturing process know-how. The company was founded in 1947 and is headquartered in El Segundo, California.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Seth Jayson]
Calling all cash flows
When you are trying to buy the market's best stocks, it's worth checking up on your companies' free cash flow once a quarter or so, to see whether it bears any relationship to the net income in the headlines. That's what we do with this series. Today, we're checking in on International Rectifier (NYSE: IRF ) , whose recent revenue and earnings are plotted below.
10 Best Industrial Disributor Stocks For 2014: Prosensa Holding NV (RNA)
Prosensa Holding N.V., formerly Prosensa Holding B.V., is a biotechnology company engaged in the discovery and development of ribonucleic acid-modulating (RNA)-modulating, therapeutics for the treatment of genetic disorders. The Company�� primary focus is on rare neuromuscular and neurodegenerative disorders with a large unmet medical need, including Duchenne muscular dystrophy, myotonic dystrophy and Huntington�� disease. The Company�� clinical portfolio of RNA-based product candidates is focused on the treatment of Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD). The Company�� platform technology allows the development of RNA-modulating therapeutics that either interferes with splicing (exon skipping, exon inclusion, or splice mutation correction), remove mutant RNA, or block RNA expression, for different indications.
DMD is a rare, severe muscle wasting disease that occurs in up to 1 in 3,500 male births. It is commonly diagnosed between the ages of three to five, when boys begin to show signs of impaired motor development. PRO044, the Company�� product candidate, addresses a separate sub-population of DMD patients. The Company developed PRO044 using its exon-skipping technology to generate a product candidate with the same mechanism of action that is used by drisapersen.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Bryan Murphy]
Anybody who knows at least something about Prosensa Holding NV (NASDAQ:RNA) will at least know the stock turned into a disaster a few weeks ago, plunging from a close of $24.00 on September 19th to a close of $7.14 on September 20th, thanks to the failure of its MS drug drisapersen, which was jointly developed with GlaxoSmithKline plc (NYSE:GSK). Such is the life of a company with only one drug anywhere close to being approved; drisapersen was in Phase 3 trials - RNA shares could have just as easily gained 70% rather than lost 70% had the drug worked.
- [By Leo Sun]
However, these three biotech stocks -- Amarin (NASDAQ: AMRN ) , Dendreon (NASDAQ: DNDN ) , Prosensa (NASDAQ: RNA ) -- don't fit that category at all. Read on to understand why these dogs of the sector should never be mistaken as underdogs.
- [By Sean Williams]
Shares of Sarepta climbed to a 52-week high of $55.61 in September shortly after an experimental rival drug, drisapersen, developed by Prosensa (NASDAQ: RNA ) and GlaxoSmithKline (NYSE: GSK ) , missed its primary end point by a mile in late-stage trials. However, Sarepta also tanked just weeks later after the Food and Drug Administration decided against supporting an accelerated drug approval for eteplirsen; the agency would not make the connection that increased dystrophin production led to its remarkable trial results.�Also, given the recent failure of drisapersen in a phase 3 study, the FDA felt it pertinent that Sarepta engage in a broader study. Shares ultimately dipped as low as $12.12.�
- [By John Udovich]
Recent news surrounding small cap biotech stocks like�Xencor Inc (NASDAQ: XNCR), Prosensa Holding NV (NASDAQ: RNA),�Puma Biotechnology Inc (NYSE: PBYI),�Geron Corporation (NASDAQ: GERN)
and TNI BioTech Inc (OTCQB: TNIB) show that while the sector and appetite for biotech�IPOs may have cooled, lottery tickets can still be found or occur in the sector. Just consider the following recent news or trends:
10 Best Industrial Disributor Stocks For 2014: Compania Mina Buenaventura S.A. (BVN)
Compania de Minas Buenaventura S.A.A., a precious metals company, engages in the exploration, mining, processing, and development of gold, silver, and other metals in Peru. It also explores for zinc, lead, and copper. The company operates the Orcopampa mine located in the province of Castilla in the department of Arequipa; the Uchucchacua mine located in the province of Oyon in the department of Lima; the La Zanja mine located in the district of Pulan in the province of Santa Cruz; the Antapite mine located in the province of Huaytara in the department of Huancavelica; the Julcani mine located in the province of Angaraes in the department of Huancavelica; and the Recuperada mine located in the province of Huancavelica in the department of Huancavelica. It also holds controlling interests in the Colquijirca and Marcapunta Norte mines located east of the city of Lima; and the Shila-Paula mines located in the province of Castilla in the department of Arequipa. In addition, th e company owns interests in various other mining companies. Further, it offers electric power transmission services; and geological, engineering, design, and construction consulting services to the mining sector. Compania de Minas Buenaventura S.A.A. was founded in 1953 and is headquartered in Lima, Peru.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Sally Jones]
Buenaventura Mining Company Inc. (BVN)
Down 70% over 12 months, Buenaventura Mining Company Inc. has a market cap of $2.95 billion, and trades with a P/E of 6.70.
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