Tuesday, July 22, 2014

Top Building Product Stocks To Watch For 2014

With shares of Facebook (NYSE:FB) trading around $24, is FB an OUTPERFORM, WAIT AND SEE or STAY AWAY? Let�� analyze the stock with the relevant sections of our CHEAT SHEET investing framework:

T = Trends for a Stock’s Movement

Facebook is engaged in building products to create utility for users, developers, and advertisers. People use Facebook to stay connected with their friends and family, to discover what is going on in the world around them, and to share and express what matters to them to the people they care about. Developers can use the Facebook Platform to build applications and websites that integrate with Facebook to reach its global network of users and to build personalized and social products. Advertisers can engage with more than 900 million monthly active users on Facebook or subsets of its users based on information they have chosen to share. Social networking has been a powerful movement and tool in recent years that has changed the way many companies and consumers operate. Facebook is a pioneer and a leader in the social network trend that looks to be here to stay. Facebook will see rising profits through its engagement with the increasing user base that social networking is seeing in coming years.

5 Best Heal Care Stocks To Watch For 2015: Official Payments Holdings Inc (OPAY)

Official Payments Holdings, Inc., formerly Tier Technologies, Inc., incorporated in 1991, is a provider of biller direct electronic payment solutions, through its primary brand Official Payments. These solutions provide payment services via multiple channels, including the Internet, automated Interactive Voice Response (IVR), call center and point-of-sale (POS), environments. Its solutions include multiple enhanced payment services, including convenience fee payments, absorbed payments, payment reminder and automated payment scheduling. It also offers its clients a range of payment choices, including credit and debit cards, electronic checks, cash and money orders, and emerging payment methods to meet the needs of their customers. Its segments include Electronic Payment Solutions (EPS) and Wind-down operations.

The Company offers its clients a front-end platform designed for the biller direct market with a single source solution that simplifies the management of electronic payments. Its verticals include Federal, State and Local, Property Tax, Utility, Education and Others. During the fiscal year ended September 30, 2010 (fiscal 2010), it also provided services in one business area which is in the process of winding-down.

ELECTRONIC PAYMENT SOLUTIONS

The business consists of the Company�� biller direct solutions, which is called EPS. It offers services using several pricing options, such as transaction fee, convenience fee, flat fee, or client absorbed fee (fees paid directly by the client, in lieu of those charges being paid by the constituent using the service), which can be billed as a percentage fee, a fixed fee, or some combination of both. It provides services and solutions in several different verticals. Its client base includes the Unites States Internal Revenue Service (IRS), 27 states, the District of Columbia and nearly 4,600 additional clients, consisting of local governments and other public sector clients and approximately 100 private sector cli! ents. As of September 30, 2010, it offered nearly 9,200 payment types.

The Company provides businesses and individuals the opportunity to pay certain federal income and business tax obligations electronically via credit or debit cards. Payment options include all credit cards: American Express, Discover, MasterCard, Visa and all debit cards including some regional automated teller machine (ATM) card networks. Payment channels include Internet, IVR, and agent (a third-party provider who accepts payments on behalf of its client). In fiscal 2010, it provided payment services for 23 types of tax forms for the IRS. Revenues from Federal vertical represented 20.5% of EPS revenues for fiscal year 2010. Its contract with the IRS to provide payment services for federal tax payments contributed 17.1% of EPS revenue for fiscal year 2010.

The Company offers a variety of electronic payment solutions to state and local governments for electronic payments for personal income taxes and business taxes. For fiscal year 2010, this vertical represented 8.5% of EPS revenue.

Within the Utility vertical, the Company allows its customers and constituents of various companies and municipalities to pay their utility obligations electronically using all credit cards, debit card, e-check, cash or money order. The utility company customers can utilize the Internet, IVR, POS, agent, walk-up locations or kiosks to make these payments. For fiscal year 2010, this vertical represented 15.3% of EPS revenue.

The Company�� solutions within the education vertical service post-secondary education institutions. Solutions it provides to these clients include electronic payment options for tuition and fee payments, housing and alumni donations. During fiscal year 2010, this vertical represented 13.6% of EPS revenue.

Other vertical consists of state and local courts and citations, rent payments and insurance payments for various entities, electronic payment options for meal a! nd fee pa! yments for K-12 educational institutions, plus personal property tax payments. During fiscal year 2010, this vertical represented 14.8% of EPS revenues.

WIND-DOWN OPERATIONS

As of September 30, 2010, the Company�� Wind-down operations consisted of its VSA business from its former GBPO segment. In fiscal 2010, it serviced over 100 customers within this business.

The Company competes with Link2Gov, RBS WorldPay, SallieMae Business Office Solutions, TouchNet Information Systems, Inc, CheckFree, Bill Matrix, Oracle and Online Resources.

Advisors' Opinion:
  • [By Monica Gerson]

    Official Payments Holdings (NASDAQ: OPAY) shares surged 0.23% to touch a new 52-week high of $8.65. Official Payments shares have jumped 87.61% over the past 52 weeks, while the S&P 500 index has gained 16.68% in the same period.

Top Building Product Stocks To Watch For 2014: Techne Corporation(TECH)

TECHNE Corporation develops, manufactures, and sells biotechnology products, and hematology calibrators and controls worldwide. The company?s Biotechnology segment offers proteins, such as cytokines, and enzyme substrates and inhibitors; antibodies, including polyclonal and monoclonal antibodies; immunoassays comprising quantikine kits for the detection of human and animal proteins, and immunoassays that allow researchers to quantify a specific analyte in a biological fluids sample; clinical diagnostic immunoassay kits consisting of erythropoietin, transferrin receptor, and beta2-microglobulin immunoassays for use as in vitro diagnostic devices; flow cytometry products, such as fluorochrome labeled antibodies and kits; intracellular cell signaling products, including antibodies, phospho-specific antibodies, antibody arrays, active caspases, kinases, and phosphatases, and ELISA assays to measure the activity of apoptotic and signaling molecules; and natural and synthetic c hemical compounds for use as agonists, antagonists, and inhibitors of various biological functions by investigators. Its Hematology segment provides whole blood CBC controls controls and calibrators; linearity and reportable range controls for the assessment of the linearity of hematology analyzers for white blood cells, red blood cells, platelets, and reticulocytes; whole blood reticulocyte controls for manual and automated counting of reticulocytes; whole blood flow cytometry controls for the identification and quantification white blood cells; whole blood glucose/hemoglobin control to monitor instruments, which measure glucose and hemoglobin in blood; erythrocyte sedimentation rate control to monitor erythrocyte sedimentation rate tests; and multi-purpose platelet reference controls, such as Platelet-Trol II and Platelet-Trol Extended for use by automated and semi-automated analyzers, which monitor platelet levels. The company was founded in 1976 and is headquartered in M inneapolis, Minnesota.

Advisors' Opinion:
  • [By Rich Duprey]

    Biologics researcher�Techne� (NASDAQ: TECH  ) �will pay a regular quarterly dividend of $0.30 on May 24 to the holders of record at the close of business on May 10.

Top Building Product Stocks To Watch For 2014: WellCare Helath Plans Inc.(WCG)

WellCare Health Plans, Inc. provides managed care services for government-sponsored health care programs in the United States. The company offers Medicaid plans, including plans for beneficiaries of Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) programs; Supplemental Security Income (SSI) programs; and ABD programs and state-based programs, such as Children?s Health Insurance Programs (CHIP) and Family Health Plus (FHP) programs for qualifying families who are not eligible for Medicaid. The TANF program provides assistance to low-income families with children; and ABD and SSI programs provide assistance to low-income aged, blind, or disabled individuals. It also provides Medicare, a federal health insurance program; Medicare Advantage, a Medicare?s managed care alternative to original Medicare that provides individuals standard Medicare benefits directly through Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services; and coordinated care plans, which are administered through health m aintenance organizations and require members to seek health care services and select a primary care physician from a network of health care providers. In addition, the company provides prescription drug plans comprising the Medicare Part D program that offers national in-network prescription drug coverage to Medicare-eligible beneficiaries. As of December 31, 2011, it served approximately 2,562,000 members. WellCare Health Plans, Inc. was founded in 1985 and is headquartered in Tampa, Florida.

Advisors' Opinion:
  • [By Sue Chang]

    WellCare Health Plans Inc. (WCG) �is likely to post earnings of $1.51 a share in the third quarter.

  • [By Lauren Pollock]

    Among the companies with shares expected to actively trade in Friday’s session are WellCare Health Plans Inc.(WCG), First Solar Inc.(FSLR) and Ellie Mae Inc.(ELLI)

  • [By Ben Levisohn]

    WellCare Health Plans (WCG) has fallen 4.4% to $59.50 after the health insurer missed earnings forecasts and offered disappointed guidance for 2014.

Top Building Product Stocks To Watch For 2014: Vivo Participacoes S.A.(VIV)

Telecomunicacoes de Sao Paulo S.A.-TELESP provides fixed-line telecommunications services to residential and commercial customers in the state of Sao Paulo, Brazil. Its services include local voice services, such as activation, monthly subscription, measured service, and public telephones; intraregional, interregional, and international long-distance voice services; data services comprising broadband services; pay TV services through direct to home satellite technology and land based wireless technology multichannel multipoint distribution service; and network services, such as interconnection and rental of facilities, as well as other services consisting of extended maintenance, caller identification, voice mail, cell phone blockers, computer support, and antivirus for Internet service subscribers. The company also offers multimedia communication services, such as audio, data, voice and other sounds, images, and texts and other information. In addition, it provides interc onnection services to cellular service providers and other fixed telecommunications companies through the use of its network. Further, the company offers telecommunications solutions and IT support designed to address the needs and requirements of companies operating various types of industries, including retail, manufacturing, services, financial institutions, and government. Telecomunicacoes de Sao Paulo S.A.-TELESP provides its products and services through person-to-person sales, telesales, indirect channels, Internet, and door-to-door sales. As of December 31, 2010, its telephone network included 11.3 million fixed lines in service, including residential, commercial, and public telephone lines; 3.3 million broadband clients; and 0.5 million pay TV clients. The company was founded in 1998 and is headquartered in Sao Paulo, Brazil. Telecomunicacoes de Sao Paulo S.A.-TELESP is a subsidiary of Telefonica S.A.

Advisors' Opinion:
  • [By Mike Deane]

    Telefonica Brasil SA (VIV) reported its first quarter earnings before the opening bell on Friday, posting slightly higher revenues and much lower earnings compared to last year’s first quarter.

    VIV’s Earnings in Brief

    Telefonica Brasil�reported first quarter revenues of 8.6 billion reals, up from last year’s Q1 revenues of 8.56 billion reals. Net earnings for the quarter came in at 660.8 million reals, down from 810.2 million reals reported for last year’s Q1. Analysts were expecting earnings of 746 million reals. According to Reuters, the company also warned that the World Cup, which is taking place in Brazil this summer, could end up dragging down earnings.

    VIV’s Dividend

    Telefonica Brasil did not mention any changes to its dividend in its first quarter earnings release. Currently, the company has an annualized dividend of $1.13.

    Stock Performance

    VIV stock was inactive in pre-market trading. YTD, the company’s stock is up 13.33%.

    VIV�Dividend Snapshot

    As of Market Close on May 8, 2014

    Click here to see the complete history of VIV dividends.

Top Building Product Stocks To Watch For 2014: American Midstream Partners LP (AMID)

American Midstream Partners, LP, incorporated on August 20, 2009, owns, operates, develops and acquires a portfolio of natural gas midstream energy assets. The Company is engaged in the business of gathering, treating, processing and transporting natural gas through its ownership and operation of 10 gathering systems, four processing facilities and a 50% non-operating interest in a fifth plant, two interstate pipelines and four intrastate pipelines. Its assets are located in Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi, Tennessee and Texas, provide infrastructure, which links producers and suppliers of natural gas to diverse natural gas markets, including interstate and intrastate pipelines, as well as utility, industrial and other commercial customers. In December 2013, American Midstream Partners, LP acquired Blackwater Midstream Holdings, LLC from an affiliate of ArcLight Capital Partners, LLC. In February 2014, Penn Virginia Corporation sold all of its Eagle Ford Shale natural gas midstream assets to the Company.

The Company operates in two segments: Gathering and Processing, and Transmission. In its gathering and processing segment, it receives fee-based and fixed-margin compensation for gathering, transporting and treating natural gas. Where it provide processing services at the plants that it owns, or obtain processing services for its own account under its elective processing arrangements. During the year ended December 31, 2012, it owned four processing facilities that produced an average of approximately 49.9 million gallons of liquid per day of gross natural gas liquids (NGLs). In addition, under its elective processing arrangements, it contracts for processing capacity at a third-party plant where it has the option to process natural gas that it purchases. During 2012, under these arrangements, it sold an average of approximately 27.9 million gallons of liquid per day of net equity NGL volumes. It also receives fee-based and fixed-margin compensation in its transmission segment related to ! capacity reservation charges under its firm transportation contracts and the transportation of natural gas.

Gathering and Processing

The Company�� gathering and processing segment provides wellhead to market services for natural gas to producers of natural gas and oil, which include transporting raw natural gas from various receipt points through gathering systems, treating the raw natural gas, processing raw natural gas to separate the NGLs and selling or delivering pipeline quality natural gas, as well as NGLs to various markets and pipeline systems. It gathers and processes natural gas pursuant to arrangements, including fee-based arrangements, fixed-margin arrangements and percent-of-proceeds arrangements.

The Company competes with Tennessee Gas Pipeline (TGP), Gulf South and ANR.

Transmission Segment

The Company�� transmission segment transports and delivers natural gas from producing wells, receipt points or pipeline interconnects for shippers and other customers, which include local distribution companies (LDCs), utilities and industrial, commercial and power generation customers. Results of operations from its transmission segment are determined by capacity reservation fees from firm transportation contracts and the volumes of natural gas transported on the interstate and intrastate pipelines it owns. Its transportation arrangements include firm transportation arrangements, interruptible transportation and fixed-margin contracts. Its Midla and AlaTenn systems are interstate natural gas pipelines. Its Bamagas system is a Hinshaw intrastate natural gas pipeline, which travels west to east from an interconnection point with TGP in Colbert County, Alabama to two power plants owned by Calpine Corporation (Calpine), in Morgan County, Alabama. The Bamagas system consists of 52 miles of high pressure, 30-inch pipeline with a design capacity of approximately 450 million cubic feet per day.

The AlaTenn system is an intersta! te natura! l gas pipeline that interconnects with TGP and travels west to east delivering natural gas to industrial customers in northwestern Alabama, as well as the city gates of Decatur and Huntsville, Alabama. Its AlaTenn system has a design capacity of approximately 200 million gallons of liquid per day and is consisted of approximately 295 miles of pipeline with diameters ranging from three to 16 inches and includes two compressor stations with combined capacity of 3,665 horsepower. The AlaTenn system is connected to four receipt and 61 delivery points, including the Tetco Pipeline system, an interstate pipeline owned by Duke Energy Corporation, and the Columbia Gulf Pipeline system, an interstate pipeline owned by NiSource Gas Transmission and Storage.

The Company�� Midla system is an interstate natural gas pipeline with approximately 370 miles of pipeline linking the Monroe Natural Gas Field in Northern Louisiana and interconnections with the Transco Pipeline system and Gulf South Pipeline system to customers near Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Its Midla system also has interconnects to Centerpoint, TGP and Sonat along a high-pressure lateral at the north end of the system, called the T-32 lateral. Its Midla system is located near the Perryville Hub, which is a hub for natural gas produced in the Louisiana and broader Gulf Coast region, including natural gas from the Haynesville shale, Barnett shale, Fayetteville shale, Woodford shale and Deep Bossier formations of Northern Louisiana, Central Texas, Northern Arkansas, Eastern Oklahoma and East Texas, respectively. The Midla system is connected to nine receipt and 19 delivery points. The northern portion of the system, including the T-32 lateral, consists of approximately four miles of high pressure, 12-inch diameter pipeline. Natural gas on the northern end of the Midla system is delivered to two power plants operated by Entergy by way of the T-32 lateral and the CLECO Sterlington plant by way of the Sterlington lateral.

The Company�� s mainlin! e of the system has a design capacity of approximately 198 million cubic feet per day and consists of approximately 172 miles of low pressure, 22-inch diameter pipeline with laterals ranging in diameter from two to 16 inches. During 2012, average throughput on the Midla mainline was approximately 72.7 million cubic feet per day. The southern portion of the system, including interconnections with the MLGT system and other associated laterals, consists of approximately two miles of high and low pressure, 12-inch diameter pipeline. This section of the system primarily serves industrial and LDC customers in the Baton Rouge market. In addition, this section includes two small offshore gathering lines, the T-33 lateral in Grand Bay and the T-51 lateral in Eugene Island 28, each of which are approximately five miles in length. Natural gas delivered on the southern end of the system is sold under both firm and interruptible transportation contracts with average remaining terms of two years.

The MLGT system is an intrastate transmission system that sources natural gas from interconnects with the FGT Pipeline system, an interstate pipeline owned by Florida Gas Transmission Company, the Tetco Pipeline system, the Transco Pipeline system and its Midla system to a Baton Rouge, Louisiana refinery owned and operated by ExxonMobil and five other industrial customers. Its million cubic feet per day system has a design capacity of approximately 170 million cubic feet per day and is consisted of approximately 54 miles of pipeline with diameters ranging from three to 14 inches. The MLGT system is connected to seven receipt and 16 delivery points. During 2010, average throughput on the MLGT system was approximately 50.5 million cubic feet per day.

The Company�� other transmission systems include the Chalmette system, located in St. Bernard Parish, Louisiana, and the Trigas system, located in three counties in northwestern Alabama. The approximate design capacities for the Chalmette and Trigas sys! tems are ! 125 million cubic feet per day and 60 million cubic feet per day, respectively. During 2012, the approximate average throughput for these systems was 9.8 MMcf/d and 10.6 MMcf/d. It also owns a range of interconnects and small laterals that are referred to as the SIGCO assets.

The Company competes with Southern Natural Gas Company and Louisiana Intrastate Gas.

Advisors' Opinion:
  • [By Robert Rapier]

    2013 Performance of Alerian MLP Index versus the S&P 500 Index

    While the average MLP investor was probably happy with 2013’s performance, there was of course a wide variation of performance in the MLP world. Among the conventional midstream and upstream MLPs, performance ranged from American Midstream Partners (NYSE: AMID) — the best performing midstream MLP with a gain of 98.5 percent in 2013 — down to the upstream MLP EV Energy Partners (Nasdaq: EVEP), which lost 40 percent for the year.


    2013 Performance of American Midstream Partners versus EV Energy Partners

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