Top Dividend Stocks To Buy For 2015: April 2014

Wednesday, April 30, 2014

SECâ€™s White Pleads for Advisor Exam Funds; Rep. Waters â€˜Pushing Hardâ€™ for User Fees Bill

As Securities and Exchange Commission Chairwoman Mary Jo White gave lawmakers on Tuesday stark statistics about the limited number of examiners the agency has to oversee advisors, Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif., said that she was “pushing very hard” to secure support for her user fees bill to fund advisor exams.

During her testimony before the House Financial Services Committee, White reiterated the agency’s need for adequate resources.

“I need funding to carry out my job, which I do not have now,” White told lawmakers. “Bottom line is that we are under-resourced for the responsibility that we have, and it’s a great concern to me.”

White underscored the importance of boosting the number of advisor exams, stating that from fiscal 2001 to fiscal 2014, advisors’ assets under management jumped almost 200% to $55 trillion. In 2004, the SEC, she said, “had 19 examiners per trillion dollars in investment adviser assets under management. Today, we have only eight.”

Last year, White said that the SEC was in a position to only examine 9% of registered investment advisors. “More coverage is plainly needed, as the industry itself has acknowledged,” she said.

In fiscal year 2013, examiners conducted approximately 1,615 examinations, including 438 broker-dealers, 964 investment advisors, 99 investment company complexes, 42 transfer agents, 17 clearing agencies and five municipal advisors. The staff also conducted 50 market oversight program inspections.

Last year, White also said that the SEC filed 140 actions against investment advisors, “several” of which resulted from risk-based investigations, which she described as “proactive measures to identify misconduct at an early stage so that timely action can be taken and investor losses minimized.”

But White told ThinkAdvisor in a recent interview that while the risk-based exams allow the agency to be “a lot smarter” in singling out advisors to examine, she said “that’s just not sufficient coverage.”

President Barack Obama’s 2015 budget proposal would give the SEC $1.7 billion, a 26% boost from the agency’s 2014 enacted level, and would allow the agency to add 316 staffers to the agency’s Office of Compliance Inspections and Examinations, with 240 of those examiners devoted solely to overseeing advisors.

The SEC’s fiscal year 2015 budget request, White told lawmakers, “would permit the SEC to increase its examination coverage of investment advisors who everyday investors are increasingly turning to for investment assistance with retirement and family needs.”

Rep. Waters’ user fees bill, the Investment Adviser Examination Improvement Act of 2013, H.R. 1627, would allow the SEC to collect user fees to fund advisor exams. Waters, ranking member on the committee, reintroduced the bill last April; it has garnered little support among the Republican-controlled committee.

Neil Simon, vice president of government affairs for the Investment Adviser Association, said in early March that IAA and other planning groups are “working hard” to get a bipartisan user fees bill introduced in the Senate that mirrors Waters’ bill.

Rep. Spencer Bachus, R-Ala., the former chairman of the House Financial Services Committee who now serves as chairman emeritus, told White during the Tuesday hearing that despite his failed attempts to get a bill passed supporting a self-regulatory organization to help boost advisor exams, that she continue exploring options to increase advisor exams.

The "advisor community," Bachus said, "seems to embrace" the user fees concept. "I would urge you to continue to keep this [advisor exams issue] as a priority, and that all of us will work together to resolve this."

During the nearly three-hour hearing, White also said the she has spoken with Labor Secretary Thomas Perez about the SEC’s fiduciary rulemaking process as well as the department’s rule to amend the definition of fiduciary under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act.

Rep. Gwen Moore, D-Wis., told White that while the DOL appears to be “plowing ahead” on its fiduciary rule, “it’s my opinion that there’s more expertise within the SEC” and the two agency’s rules “should be harmonized.”

Moore asked White if the SEC is providing its expertise to the DOL. White replied that the SEC is providing its expertise concerning impacts of a DOL fiduciary rulemaking on the broker-dealer model. “I’ve ratcheted up that collaboration” between the SEC and DOL, White said, adding however that “at the end of the day, we are two different agencies” operating under two different statutes.

---

Check out Mary Jo White: The 2014 IA 25 Extended Profile on ThinkAdvisor.

Tuesday, April 29, 2014

Top 5 Electric Utility Companies To Own For 2014

Top 5 Electric Utility Companies To Own For 2014: China Ceramics Co. Ltd.(CCCL)

China Ceramics Co., Ltd. engages in the manufacture and sale of ceramic tiles used for exterior siding, interior flooring, and design in residential and commercial buildings primarily in the People's Republic of China. It offers porcelain tiles, glazed tiles, glazed porcelain tiles, rustic tiles, and ultra-thin tiles under the Hengda, Hengdeli, TOERTO, and WULIQIAO brand names. The company primarily sells its products through a distributor network, as well as directly to property developers. China Ceramics Co., Ltd. is based in Jinjiang City, the People's Republic of China.

Advisors' Opinion:

[By Lisa Levin]
China Ceramics Co (NASDAQ: CCCL) shares fell 2.40% to touch a new 52-week low of $1.63. China Ceramics shares have dropped 35.27% over the past 52 weeks, while the S&P 500 index has gained 19.70% in the same period.

source from Top Stocks Blog:http://www.topstocksblog.com/top-5-electric-utility-companies-to-own-for-2014.html

Monday, April 28, 2014

Don't Miss The Hewlett-Packard Turnaround

I have come across a sea of analyses discussing the turnaround story of Hewlett-Packard (HPQ) since the time this behemoth came under the control of CEO Meg Whitman. Meg took over the rein of a struggling HP after the Autonomy deal debacle and resolved to turnaround HP in a period of approximately 5 years. It has almost been more than 2 years and positive numbers around y-o-y growth, dividend etc. and strengthening presence of the company in core business areas already indicate a strong comeback.

Strong results

In the first quarter, HP's performance exceeded the expectations of analysts and investors. The company declared a diluted EPS of $0.90 per share on a non-GAAP basis as against the outlook of $0.82 to $0.86 per share. Though the revenue was marginally down, it delivered a sizeable cash flow of $3 billion from operations. One of HP's core segments, industry standard servers saw a revenue growth of 6% y-o-y. Overall, the company delivered reasonable results being in a turnaround phase, which shows that it is progressing in the correct direction.

The door to massive opportunities

In a recent announcement, HP confirmed its plans to enter the hitherto reserved 3D printing industry, a move that would be a big threat to the already existing players in the industry i.e. Stratasys (SSYS) and 3D Systems (DDD). While, HP has been a revolutionary brand in the 2D printing segment, developing and selling 3D printers would be a different ball game. In fact, a solid performance in the printing segment over the last year has sustained HP's image and kept the confidence of investors afloat. For Q1, the operating margin in this segment was approximately 16.8%, making it one of the high performers.

CEO Meg Whitman mentioned the company's intention to make a "big technology announcement" regarding 3D printing around June and this has stirred interest among Street analysts.

Earlier, HP had entered into a manufacturing and distribution agreement with Stratasys whereby HP sold 3D printers under its label, developed by Stratasys. Though that partnership ended in 2012, yet it is a testament of HP's robust distribution network. Hence, HP's focus should be on developing an innovative, affordable and effective range of printers.

The progress of Autonomy

A double-digit growth in Autonomy's IDOL (a meaning based platform that enables extraction of meaning from information) licence revenue and a major win with China Mobile has set the ball rolling after the over-valued deal had marred HP's reputation. The deal with China mobile will allow citizens to access public service information on the go. HP's innovation streak has helped it to launch IDOL 10 and Data Protector 8.1, first ever self-aware backup and recovery solution.

In a move to expand this platform to developers, HP is planning to break down IDOL into individual web services. This move could usher in a good number of developers who could not be a part of HP's audience because IDOL was being sold as an enterprise package.

Battling the slowdown in PC demand

Apart from the above-mentioned business areas, HP's core competency still lies in PC markets and we are already aware of the smart devices wave that has almost swept the demand for desktops. In spite of battered demand in consumer PC market, HP increased the unit shipments by 6% y-o-y due to improved demand conditions in the commercial PC markets. As a result of a sturdy performance, HP's market share is now just slightly lower than that of Lenovo (LNVGY), the leader in the PC market. A report from Gartner showcases the shares of enterprises that occupy this market.

As I mentioned earlier, PC demand is on a gradual decline and the numbers on the Gartner report also narrate a similar story. Identifying the trend, HP has taken the initiative to expand its presence in the smart devices market. It recently introduced two new devices in the Indian market, the HP Slate 6 and Slate 7 VoiceTab. However, it is clear that a good amount of work needs to be done by HP on smart devices in order to establish its presence in an already crowded space.

Future Outlook

One of HP's main strengths is private cloud solutions and it was recognized as a leader in the space by Forrester Research. In Q1, the Cloud saw a double-digit growth and as such, it is going to be HP's primary strategic area in the future. CEO Meg Whitman seemed highly confident about HP's offerings in the cloud space especially the hybrid cloud management platform. Going ahead, HP will focus on inorganic growth in building its cloud platform besides Security and Big Data firms.

In nutshell, HP is eyeing acquisitions in key areas like Cloud, security and data management in order to achieve growth. Though the company management has not laid out specific plans related to these acquisitions but analysts are hopeful that HP can get massive growth from these avenues.

Big Threats

Besides the headwinds in the PC market, HP would face a big threat from Lenovo once the latter completes the acquisition of IBM's server business. If this deal goes through then Lenovo's share of the server markets would jump to 14% from 2%. This will endanger HP's server business, wherein the company is progressing smoothly.

Additionally, investors should also watch out for Cisco's (CSCO) plans with cloud after the company unveiled its public cloud services. Cisco has planned to spend approximately $1 billion over the next couple of years to enter the cloud computing market. This article does well in comparing the potential of Cisco and HP in this space and highlights the reasons for HP's superiority over Cisco.

Final words

While fundamentally the company appears to be in a sweet spot, the technical strength of the company is also improving. A well-planned restructuring exercise has been behind strong operating margins as the company saved approximately $2 billion in staffing costs in 2013. Besides the restructuring plan, HP has also worked on upgrading its supply chain that has resulted in disciplined cost management.

The management of HP is committed to return 50% of its cash flow to the shareholders in 2014 via dividends and share repurchases. This suggests the positive perception of the board towards future operations and confidence in company's initiatives.

An addition to points in favor of HP is the fact that in spite of trading at multi-year highs, the stock is available at a cheap valuation. Based on the earnings outlook given by the management for FY 2014 i.e. $3.50 to $3.75 per share, the share is trading at a P/E of around 10. The same multiple is given by a calculation based on free cash flow per share. This suggests that it is still a good time to make a position in the stock and participate in the future rally.

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Sunday, April 27, 2014

Appleâ€™s Latest Quarter Performance Shows What Potential It Holds

It's again the time of the year when tech companies start reporting their results and one name that everyone waits for the most is Apple (AAPL). The Cupertino based tech giant finally came out with its fiscal 2014 second quarter earnings very recently and what a quarter it has delivered! The company has given its stakeholders ample reasons to rejoice and also to worry less on losing market share concerns. Along with all this, Apple is also looking at a stock split and better returns to the shareholders.Let's take a look at what all the company has been up to and what the investors can look forward to.A sneak-peek in to the quarter and its numbersEvery year the iPhone maker launches something new that drives its top-line and bottom-line across the year. Last year the company had launched the highly awaited iPhone 5S, followed by iPad Air, and many analysts were questioning if these will be enough to drive Apple's growth this time also or not. It seems, they were concerned for no reason at all. Some were also a little shocked by the numbers and the decisions taken by Apple. Carl Icahn (Trades, Portfolio) even tweeted that he fails to understand the company.The iPhone maker's top-line surged 4.6% YoY as the company reported revenue totaling $45.6 billion, translating to a bottom-line of $11.62 per share, turning out to be better than even what the company has expected earlier. The numbers took the Wall Street by shock as it not only topped analyst estimates, but also topped the company's guidance. The Wall Street was expecting Apple to report $43 billion worth of sales and an EPS of $10.18.Like always, iPhones contributed massively (57.1%) to Apple's wonderful top-line. The company sold as many as 43.4 million iPhone units during the period, way above the street expectation of 37 million. However, iPad sales took a beating and were lower than expectation at 16.3 million as against the anticipated 19.7 million, but still accounted for almost 20% of the total top-line. Even the Mac and iPod nu! mbers were encouraging at 4.1 million and 2.7 million respectively. The company was also reported substantial increase in iTunes users which now stands at 800 million, up almost 40% since last year June.What investors can look forward toNumbers reported by the company are pretty encouraging. Along with that, Apple has also come out with the guidance for the next quarter. The company expects to report revenue between $36 and $38 billion; however this is lower than what the analysts thought.The tech mammoth even has plans to give back more to its shareholders and for that it has announced its plans of increasing its stock buyback and a seven-for-one stock split. Apple was already in the process of buying back $60 million worth of stocks according to the previous pledge and now it will be buying back another $30 million of its stocks, pulling up the total buyback value to $90 million. Not only this, the shareholders will also receive better dividends as the company decided to raise the quarterly returns amount to $3.29 per share, resulting in an 8% increase.Another point that the company announced which has raised much interest from investors and analysts is the stock-split decision. In the past nine years this is the first time that Apple's board approved the seven-for-one stock split decision that will take place on June 2, 2014, and with this Apple shares will be available to a broader segment of investors. Industry experts are of the opinion that post stock-split the shares of the company will be more accessibly priced. Currently the stock is trading at $571.94 and taking the stock-split into account, the price per share will be reduced to $81.7, making it possible for more individual buyers to purchase moreDeparting ThoughtsApple surely rocked the stage with its fiscal 2014 second quarter results and this gives a huge boost to what can be expected from the company in the coming days. Apple has several strong products in its pipeline which are expected to hit the market this year and with these the c! ompany'! s performance should shoot up substantially. Tim Cook in his statement said that Apple didn't ship the first smartphone or the first mp3 player or the first tablet. But, Apple surely shipped the first successful smartphone, mp3 player and tablet and more of such things can be expected from Apple.The company is offering investors, analysts and industry experts with what they seek in a stock – growth potential, strong product line-up, better return to shareholders and near to the ground institutional ownership – and all this makes Apple a must have for ones portfolio.

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Friday, April 25, 2014

Estate Planning with Roth IRAs

An IRA, especially a Roth IRA, is valuable for more than your retirement planning. Your estate plan can be much better when a Roth IRA is shrewdly used.

Instead of looking at the front-end tax benefits and costs, take the long-term view. While converting a traditional IRA to a Roth can save estate taxes, the Roth IRA also can leave your heirs better off even when your estate won't owe federal estate taxes.

An IRA, whether traditional or Roth, is included in the owner’s gross estate. After a traditional IRA is inherited, the beneficiary must include all distributions in gross income just as the original owner would have (which means Roth distributions are tax free). The beneficiary is able to stretch the distributions over his or her life expectancy, but annual distributions from an inherited traditional IRA are required and will be taxed.

Distributions from an inherited IRA are known as income in respect of a decedent, which could give the beneficiary a tax deduction for the share of estate taxes attributable to the IRA. The deduction shelters a portion of the IRA distributions from taxes. See IRS Publication 559 for details about the write off.

Suppose that instead of maintaining the traditional IRA for life you convert it to a Roth. In a conversion, you treat the converted amount as though it were taken as a distribution. So, you pay income taxes on the converted amount.

Your estate is reduced by the income taxes you pay on the conversion. Most people don't want to pay taxes before they have to, but this tax bill has several long-term benefits.

First, you're in effect paying taxes for your heirs. They would have owed the taxes in the future when taking distributions from the IRA. Instead, you pay them now, and avoid estate and gift taxes on that gift. In the future when your beneficiary takes distributions from the Roth IRA, those distributions are tax free. In addition, ! you and your heirs avoid any taxes on future growth of the IRA.

Second, paying the taxes now reduces the size of your estate and any taxes on it. This is key for taxable estates and also is important when you live in a state with an estate or inheritance tax. Remember, the traditional IRA has an embedded income tax bill. Your beneficiary enjoys only the after-tax amount, not the market value of the IRA. But federal and state death taxes will be imposed on the market value. So your estate would be paying estate taxes on the embedded income taxes.

Third, the conversion provides lifetime income tax benefits to you. When you maintain a traditional IRA, after age 70½ you're required to take minimum annual distributions. When you don't need this money for spending, it simply increases your taxes. It could increase your income enough to push you into a higher tax bracket, reduce itemized deductions, increase taxes on Social Security benefits, and have other effects. The older you are, the higher the required distributions and the taxes on them will be.

RMDs and all the stealth taxes turn tax planning on its head. You and your beneficiary are likely to be better off when you pay the taxes early, such as in a conversion. After that, there are no RMDs, the IRA compounds tax free, and future distributions are tax free.

The benefits of paying income taxes now instead of later are reduced when you are in a higher tax bracket than your beneficiary is likely to be when he or she takes distributions from the inherited IRA. But that doesn't eliminate the benefits of conversion, and it's difficult to forecast the tax bracket your beneficiary will be in over the rest of his or her life.

Another potential estate planning benefit of converting the traditional IRA to a Roth IRA is the beneficiary can create a Stretch Roth IRA.

Unlike the original owner, a beneficiary of a Roth IRA is required to take minimum distributions over his or her life expectancy. When the beneficiary is re! latively ! young, there is the potential for the distributions to be less than the annual earnings of the IRA, so the IRA grows while the distributions are being taken. Of course, the beneficiary can take more than the minimum, even the entire Roth IRA, at any time tax free. But a beneficiary who wisely lets the Roth IRA compound will have it available to help fund his or her retirement.

Classic income tax planning says to defer taxes for as long as possible. But some things are different now. For some people, it pays to pay the taxes now by converting a traditional IRA to a Roth IRA, especially if you expect the IRA will be around for your heirs to inherit.

Thursday, April 24, 2014

My '10% Solution' For Increasing Your Chances Of Becoming A Millionaire

Do you want to become a millionaire?

That's obviously a rhetorical question... the majority of us would love it. But what's your plan for achieving that goal?

If your plan is to make that sort of wealth in the stock market, then what's your strategy? Blue-chip stocks, index funds, or do you want to watch your "daily paychecks," as my colleague Amy Calistri would say, roll in by the truck load?

All of these strategies are great. There's nothing wrong with them and they'll probably make you money in the long run.

But while investing in just steady-eddy, mature companies may keep the income flowing in, it isn't going to make you a millionaire anytime soon.

They're not going to give you those "knocked-out-of-the-park" returns that you've heard about since you first learned of the stock market.

No, I'm convinced that if your goal is to reach a seven-figure bank account, you need to add a "swing for the fences" element to your overall portfolio strategy...

I call it the "10% solution."

The idea behind it is simple. If your goal is to become a millionaire in the market, then you need to dedicate a portion of your portfolio to aggressive growth stocks.

Let me explain...

My daughter is in private school. She will eventually go to college and will need cars, trips and -- someday -- perhaps a wedding.

For her and the rest of my family, I've allocated 90% of my portfolio to safe and reliable assets. The kind of assets I know will allow me to meet my comfort level and feel confident knowing I can adequately provide for my family.

But the other 10%? That's different.

This portion is dedicated to the "Game-Changers." These are the types of stocks that have the potential to move the needle on not only the balance of my account, but on the life I live.

You see, most investors are stuck in the slow lane, passively accepting the market's returns and failing to use equities as the supercharging force they can be.

While it's important to have the bulk (90%) of your portfolio tied to dependable assets, I think a portion -- the other 10% -- needs to go toward investments with the potential to knock the cover off the ball.

You should know that for more aggressive investors, I actually recommend a "20% solution" -- with one-fifth of investor portfolios going toward "swing for the fences" plays -- but for simplicity's sake and for investors who aren't w! illing to take on that much risk, we'll stick with the "10% solution" today.

Here's how the 10% solution works...

I'll start this example with a modest amount to show you how it works. Assume you start with a $25,000 portfolio that tracks the broader market. The average annual return from 2002 through 2012 for the S&P 500 was a measly 4% (with dividends). That means $25,000 turns into $38,789.29 in 11 years.

Top 5 Regional Bank Stocks To Watch Right Now

But things can change dramatically when you add in the potential for just a few big winners.

Let's say you invest 90% of your $25,000 portfolio, or $22,500, in the broader market to achieve that 4% return. Then you allocate the remaining 10%, or $2,500, to a collection of "game-changing" picks -- stocks with the potential to snag major gains.

If that part of the portfolio averages 30% a year, then the initial $2,500 grows into $65,086.40 after 11 years.

Add in the $22,500 and its market return, which has grown to $34,910.36 and you've got a pretty nice nest egg of $99,996.76 -- nearly triple the other portfolio -- all thanks to where you put just 10% of your money.

(Note: You'll notice that this return isn't $1 million, but the results are fully scalable. You can simply start with more capital to reach your goal.)

I've made the comparison in the chart to the right. Would you rather have Column A, or would you rather end up with Column B, which uses the 10% solution?

I think the answer is obvious.

Now you may be asking, if the 10% solution seems to work so well, why not dedicate 50% or 100% of your portfolio to it?

Simple answer: It's always impor! tant to b! e diversified, so putting all of one's eggs into a single basket is never a good idea, no matter how spectacular the potential for returns.

I can sleep at night knowing that most of my money -- the majority of my equity portfolio -- is invested so as to expose it only to general broad-market risk. Only a small percentage is allocated to game-changing plays with return potential that could move the needle on the overall portfolio.

The fact is, if you pick a few winners over time with a small subset of your portfolio, then it can make an enormous difference. And 10% can do the trick nicely. It's enough to make a difference, but not enough to keep you up at night.

Don't get me wrong though, I'm not guaranteeing my system will make you a millionaire. There are no guarantees when it comes to investing. I also believe that safe and reliable dividend payers are still the backbone of any successful portfolio.

Action to Take --> But if you want to maximize your earning potential, you owe it to yourself to put a portion of your portfolio into investments that "swing for the fences."

P.S. -- To help you get started, I've released a new report, "The 11 Most Shocking Investment Predictions for 2014" outlining the investments that I think will be the biggest "Game-Changers" in the months to come. In the past, my annual predictions have found stocks that returned 291%... 340%... even 390%. Just imagine how that could improve your overall portfolio's returns. To learn more about my predictions for 2014, click here.

Wednesday, April 23, 2014

5 Stocks Set to Soar on Bullish Earnings

DELAFIELD, Wis. (Stockpickr) -- Short-sellers hate being caught short a stock that reports a blowout quarter. When this happens, we often see a tradable short squeeze develop as the bears rush to cover their positions to avoid big losses. Even the best short-sellers know that it's never a great idea to stay short once a bullish earnings report sparks a big short-covering rally.

>>Side-Step the Selling With These 5 Big Trades

This is why I scan the market for heavily shorted stocks that are about to report earnings. You only need to find a few of these stocks in a year to help enhance your portfolio returns -- the gains become so outsized in such a short time frame that your profits add up quickly.

That said, let's not forget that stocks are heavily shorted for a reason, so you have to use trading discipline and sound money management when playing earnings short-squeeze candidates. It's important that you don't go betting the farm on these plays and that you manage your risk accordingly. Sometimes the best play is to wait for the stock to break out following the report before you jump in to profit off a short squeeze. This way, you're letting the trend emerge after the market has digested all of the news.

Of course, sometimes the stock is going to be in such high demand that you risk missing a lot of the move by waiting. That's why it can be worth betting prior to the report -- but only if the stock is acting technically very bullish and you have a very strong conviction that it is going to rip higher. Just remember that even when you have that conviction and have done your due diligence, the stock can still get hammered if The Street doesn't like the numbers or guidance.

>>5 Stocks Under $10 Ready to Explode

If you do decide to bet ahead of a quarter, then you might want to use options to limit your capital exposure. Heavily shorted stocks are usually the names that make the biggest post-earnings moves and have the most volatility. I personally prefer to wait until all the earnings-related news is out for a heavily shorted stock and then jump in and trade the prevailing trend.

With that in mind, here's a look at several stocks that could experience big short squeezes when they report earnings this week.

Swift Transportation

My first earnings short-squeeze trade idea is multi-faceted transportation services player Swift Transportation (SWFT), which is set to release numbers on Thursday after the market close. Wall Street analysts, on average, expect Swift Transportation to report revenue $1.02 billion on earnings of 12 cents per share.

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Just recently, RW Baird suggested that long-term investors use the weakness in shares of Swift Transportation to add to positions, citing positive forward-looking commentary from the company, accelerating industry rate growth and unchanged investment thesis. Baird has the stock rated as outperform with a $28 price target per share.

The current short interest as a percentage of the float for Swift Transportation is very high at 18.1%. That means that out of the 102.81 million shares in the tradable float, 18.68 million shares are sold short by the bears. If the bulls get the earnings news they're looking for, then shares of SWFT could easily spike sharply higher post-earnings as the bears rush to cover some of their positions.

From a technical perspective, SWFT is currently trending above both its 50-day and 200-day moving averages, which is bullish. This stock has recently crossed back above its 50-day moving average and it's quickly moving within range of triggering a big breakout trade post-earnings.

If you're bullish on SWFT, then I would wait until after its report and look for long-biased trades if this stock manages to break out above some near-term overhead resistance levels at $25.82 to its 52-week high at $26.71 a share with high volume. Look for volume on that move that hits near or above its three-month average action of 2.17 million shares. If that breakout hits post-earnings, then SWFT will set up to enter new 52-week-high territory, which is bullish technical price action. Some possible upside targets off that breakout are $30 to $35 a share.

I would simply avoid SWFT or look for short-biased trades if after earnings it fails to trigger that breakout and then drops back below its 50-day moving average of $24.58 a share with high volume. If we get that move, then SWFT will set up to re-test or possibly take out its next major support levels at $22.47 to its 200-day moving average of $21.37 a share.

Sirius XM

Another potential earnings short-squeeze play is satellite radio services provider Sirius XM (SIRI), which is set to release its numbers on Thursday before the market open. Wall Street analysts, on average, expect Sirius XM to report revenue $994.60 million on earnings of 2 cents per share.

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The current short interest as a percentage of the float for Sirius XM is pretty high at 8.5%. That means that out of the 2.89 billion shares in the tradable float, 242.23 million shares are sold short by the bears. The bears have also been increasing their bets from the last reporting period by 8%, or by about 18 million shares. If the bears get caught pressing their bets into a bullish quarter, then shares of SIRI could easily rip sharply higher post-earnings as the shorts jump to cover some of their bets.

From a technical perspective, SIRI is currently trending below both its 50-day and 200-day moving averages, which is bearish. This stock has been downtrending badly for the last four months, with shares sliding lower from its high of $3.89 to its recent low of $3 a share. During that downtrend, shares of SIRI have been making mostly lower highs and lower lows, which is bearish technical price action. That said, shares of SIRI have now started to find some buying interest around some previous support at $3.04 a share.

If you're in the bull camp on SIRI, then I would wait until after its report and look for long-biased trades if this stock manages to break out above some key near-term overhead resistance levels at $3.24 to $3.40 a share with high volume. Look for volume on that move that hits near or above its three-month average action of 68.14 million shares. If that breakout triggers post-earnings, then SIRI will set up to re-test or possibly take out its next major overhead resistance levels at $$3.63 to $3.89 a share. Any high-volume move above those levels will then give SIRI a chance to tag its 52-week high at $4.18 a share.

I would simply avoid SIRI or look for short-biased trades if after earnings it fails to trigger that breakout and then drops back below its 52-week low of $3 a share with high volume. If we get that move, then SIRI will set up to enter new 52-week-low territory, which is bearish technical price action. Some possible downside targets off that move are $2.50 to $2.33 a share.

Synaptics

Another potential earnings short-squeeze candidate is custom-designed human interface solutions developer and supplier Synaptics (SYNA), which is set to release numbers on Thursday after the market close. Wall Street analysts, on average, expect Synaptics to report revenue of $192.03 million on earnings of 57 cents per share.

>>3 Stocks Rising on Unusual Volume

The current short interest as a percentage of the float for Synaptics is extremely high at 28.6%. That means that out of the 34.56 million shares in the tradable float, 10.01 million shares are sold short by the bears. This is a monster short interest on a stock with a relatively low tradable float. Any bullish earnings news could easily set off a large short-squeeze for shares of SYNA post-earnings.

From a technical perspective, Synaptics is currently trending above both its 50-day and 200-day moving averages, which is bullish. This stock has been uptrending for the last few weeks, with shares moving higher from its low of $55.46 to its intraday high of $66.94 a share. During that uptrend, shares of SYNA have been consistently making higher lows and higher highs, which is bullish technical price action. That move is quickly pushing shares of SYNA within range of triggering a major breakout trade post-earnings.

If you're bullish on SYNA, then I would wait until after its report and look for long-biased trades if this stock manages to break out above its 52-week high at $67.11 a share (or Thursday's intraday high if greater) with high volume. Look for volume on that move that hits near or above its three-month average action of 1.35 million shares. If that breakout starts post-earnings, then SYNA will set up to enter new 52-week-high territory, which is bullish technical price action. Some possible upside targets off that breakout are $75 to $80 a share, or even $85 a share.

I would avoid SYNA or look for short-biased trades if after earnings it fails to trigger that breakout and then drops back below some key near-term support levels at $63 to its 50-day moving average of $61.61 a share with high volume. If we get that move, then SYNA will set up to re-test or possibly take out its next major support levels at $55.46 to $53 a share to its 200-day moving average of $50.67 a share.

Deckers Outdoor

Another earnings short-squeeze prospect is Deckers Outdoor (DECK), a footwear and apparel developer for high-performance outdoor activities and everyday casual lifestyle use, which is set to release numbers on Thursday after the market close. Wall Street analysts, on average, expect Deckers Outdoor to report revenue of $282.13 million on a loss of 15 cents per share.

Just recently, Piper Jaffray said it remains a buyer of Deckers Outdoor shares after spending two days with management. Piper believes its first quarter estimates could prove conservative and it expects shares to move higher as the company's growth recovers this year. The firm has an overweight rating on the stock with a $96 per share price target.

The current short interest as a percentage of the float for Deckers Outdoor is extremely high at 19.9%. That means that out of the 33.59 million shares in the tradable float, 6.70 million shares are sold short by the bears. This is a big short interest on a stock with a relatively low tradable float. This is the perfect recipe for a big short-covering rally post-earnings if Deckers Outdoor can produce the earnings news the bulls are looking for.

From a technical perspective, DECK is currently trending above both its 50-day and 200-day moving averages, which is bullish. This stock has been trending sideways and consolidating for the last month, with shares moving between $75 on the downside and $82.10 on the upside. A high-volume move above the upper-end of its recent sideways trading chat pattern could trigger a big breakout trade for shares of DECK post-earnings.

If you're bullish on DECK, then I would wait until after its report and look for long-biased trades if this stock manages to break out above some key near-term overhead resistance levels at $79.80 to $82.10 a share with high volume. Look for volume on that move that hits near or above its three-month average action of 1.11 million shares. If that breakout gets underway post-earnings, then DECK will set up to re-test or possibly take out its next major overhead resistance levels at $87.86 to its 52-week high at $90.09 a share. Any high-volume move above $90.09 will then give DECK a chance to tag $95 to $100 a share.

I would simply avoid DECK or look for short-biased trades if after earnings it fails to trigger that breakout and then drops back below some key near-term support levels at $75.62 to $75.27 a share with high volume. If we get that move, then DECK will set up to re-test or possibly take out its next major support levels $72.51 to its 200-day moving average at $71.36 a share. Any high-volume move below those levels will then give DECK a chance to re-test or possibly take out its next major support level at $66.41 a share.

Gigamon

My final earnings short-squeeze play is network traffic intelligence solutions developer Gigamon (GIMO), which is set to release numbers on Thursday after the market close. Wall Street analysts, on average, expect Gigamon to report revenue of $31.30 million on a loss of 7 cents per share.

Just recently, DA Davidson upgraded shares of Gigamon to buy from neutral based on valuation, but it also recently lowered its first-quarter revenue outlook based on the fallout of a large deal with an existing customer.

The current short interest as a percentage of the float for Gigamon is pretty high at 9.4%. That means that out of the 17.19 million shares in the tradable float, 1.43 million shares are sold short by the bears. The bears have also been increasing their bets from the last reporting period by 6%, or by about 81,000 shares. If the bears get caught pressing their bets into a strong quarter, then shares of GIMO could easily soar sharply higher post-earnings as the shorts rush to cover some of their positions.

From a technical perspective, GIMO is currently trending well below both its 50-day and 200-day moving averages, which is bearish. This stock has been downtrending badly for the last month, with shares plunging sharply lower from its high of $36.75 to its recent low of $14.75 a share. During that downtrend, shares of GIMO have been consistently making lower highs and lower lows, which is bearish technical price action. That said, shares of GIMO have now entered extremely oversold territory, since its current relative strength index reading is 19.66. Any bullish earnings news could spark a sharp short-covering rally for shares GIMO off these extremely oversold levels.

If you're in the bull camp on GIMO, then I would wait until after its report and look for long-biased trades if this stock manages to break out above some near-term overhead resistance at $16 a share with high volume. Look for volume on that move that hits near or above its three-month average volume of 611,629 shares. If that breakout hits, then GIMO will set up to re-test or possibly take out its next major overhead resistance levels at $18 to its recent gap-down-day high of around $20 a share. Any high-volume move above $20 will then give GIMO a chance to do some gap filling.

I would avoid GIMO or look for short-biased trades if after earnings it fails to trigger that breakout, and then drops back below both its 52-week low at $14.75 a share with high volume. If we get that move, then GIMO will set up to enter new all-time-low territory, which is bearish technical price action. Some possible downside targets off that move are $12 to $11 a share.

To see more potential earnings short squeeze plays, check out the Earnings Short-Squeeze Plays portfolio on Stockpickr.

-- Written by Roberto Pedone in Delafield, Wis.

Monday, April 21, 2014

Top 5 Chemical Stocks To Buy For 2015

The gushing oil well at Spindletop Dome in Beaumont, Texas, is one of the most iconic images in the history of oil. When the well hit paydirt, oil spewed 150 feet into the air at a staggering rate of 100,000 barrels per day.�

We've come a long way since that Spindletop gusher 112 years ago, and today's industry faces greater challenges finding new sources that can be sold at a reasonable rate of return.

On a recent conference call, Core Laboratories (NYSE: CLB ) CEO David Demshur stated that outside some of the best spots in the U.S., oil producers in the U.S. will slow down exploration if oil prices are to remain below $90 for a sustained amount of time. Let's look at a few factors that might give some�credence�to Demshur's claim.

1. Higher resource costs. According to Cheaspeake Energy (NYSE: CHK ) , the average shale well in the U.S. is drilled to 7,800 feet vertically plus several thousand feet horizontally and is injected with more than 5 million gallons of water, sand, and chemicals to fracture the tight pores where the oil is hidden. All of this effort is for an average initial production rate of about 450 barrels per day.�

Top 5 Chemical Stocks To Buy For 2015: Stepan Co (SCL)

Stepan Company, incorporated on February 19, 1959, produces specialty and intermediate chemicals, which are sold to other manufacturers and then made into a variety of end products. The Company serves principal markets, such as manufacturers of cleaning and washing compounds (including detergents, shampoos, fabric softeners, toothpastes and household cleaners), paints, cosmetics, food and beverages, agricultural products, plastics, furniture, automotive equipment, insulation and refrigeration. The Company has three segments: surfactants, polymers and specialty products. The Company operates in the geographical regions of North America, Europe, Latin America and Asia. As of December 31, 2012, the Surfactants segment accounted to 72%, Polymers segment accounted to 24% and Specialty segment accounted to 4% of the Company�� revenues. On March 22, 2012, the Company increased its controlling interest in Stepan Philippines Inc from 89% to 100%.

Surfactants

Surfactants are used in a variety of consumer and industrial cleaning compounds as well as in agricultural products, lubricating ingredients, biodiesel and other specialized applications. The Surfactants are principal ingredients in consumer and industrial cleaning products, such as detergents for washing clothes, dishes, carpets, floors and walls, as well as shampoos, body washes, toothpastes and fabric softeners. Surfactants are manufactured at six North American sites (five in the United States and one in Canada), three European sites (United Kingdom, France and Germany), and three Latin American sites (Mexico, Brazil and Colombia), and one Asian site (Philippines and Singapore). The Company also holds a 50% ownership interest in a joint venture, TIORCO, LLC (TIORCO), that markets chemical solutions for increasing the production of crude oil and natural gas from existing fields.

Polymers

Polymers generate its revenues primarily from the sale of polyols and phthalic anhydride used in plastics, buildi! ng materials and refrigeration systems. It includes two primary product lines: polyols and phthalic anhydride. Polyols are used in the manufacture of rigid laminate insulation board for thermal insulation in the construction industry. Polyols are also a base raw material for flexible foams, coatings, adhesives, sealants and elastomers.

Phthalic anhydride is used in unsaturated polyester resins, alkyd resins and plasticizers for applications in construction materials and components of automotive, boating and other consumer products. In addition, phthalic anhydride is used internally in the production of polyols. In the United States, polymer product lines are manufactured at the Company�� Millsdale, Illinois, site. In Europe, polyols are manufactured at the Company�� subsidiaries in Germany and Poland. In Asia, polyols are produced at the Company�� 80% owned joint venture in Nanjing, China.

Specialty Products

Specialty products are used in food, flavoring and pharmaceutical applications. It includes flavors, emulsifiers and solubilizers used in the food and pharmaceutical industries. Specialty products are primarily manufactured at the Company�� Maywood, New Jersey, site.

Advisors' Opinion:

[By Seth Jayson]
Basic guidelines
In this series, I examine inventory using a simple rule of thumb: Inventory increases ought to roughly parallel revenue increases. If inventory bloats more quickly than sales grow, this might be a sign that expected sales haven't materialized. Is the current inventory situation at Stepan (NYSE: SCL ) out of line? To figure that out, start by comparing the company's inventory growth to sales growth. How is Stepan doing by this quick checkup? At first glance, not so great. Trailing-12-month revenue decreased 4.8%, and inventory increased 30.6%. Comparing the latest quarter to the prior-year quarter, the story looks potentially problematic. Revenue dropped 1.9%, and inventory grew 30.6%. Over the sequential quarterly period, the trend looks OK but not great. Revenue grew 6.9%, and inventory grew 9.5%.
[By Monica Gerson]
Stepan Company (NYSE: SCL) is expected to report its Q3 earnings at $0.93 per share on revenue of $467.40 million.

Lennox International (NYSE: LII) is projected to report its Q3 earnings at $1.28 per share on revenue of $877.87 million.
[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 Stepan (NYSE: SCL ) , whose recent revenue and earnings are plotted below.

Top 5 Chemical Stocks To Buy For 2015: OCI Resources LP (OCIR)

Oci Resources LP, incorporated on April 22, 2013, is a limited partnership formed by OCI Holdings to operate the trona ore mining and soda ash production business of OCI Wyoming. The Company owns a controlling 40.98% general partner interest and 10.02% limited partner interest in OCI Wyoming, serving a global market from its facility in the Green River Basin of Wyoming. As of March 31, 2013, OCI Wyoming had proven and probable reserves of approximately 267.1 million short tons of trona, which is equivalent to 145.5 million short tons of soda ash. During the year ended December 31, 2012, OCI Wyoming mined approximately 3.87 million short tons of trona and produced approximately 2.45 million short tons of soda ash.

Trona, a naturally occurring soft mineral, is also known as sodium sesquicarbonate and consists primarily of sodium carbonate, or soda ash, sodium bicarbonate and water. The Company process trona ore into soda ash, which is an essential raw material in flat glass, container glass, detergents, chemicals, paper and other consumer and industrial products. The majority of the world's trona reserves are located in the Green River Basin.

Advisors' Opinion:

[By Renaissance Capital IPO Research]
The following IPOs are expected to price this week:

OCI Resources LP (OCIR), a north American soda ash production business of Korea's OCI Chemical, plans to raise $100 million by offering 5.0 million shares at a price range of $19.00 to $21.00. At the midpoint of the proposed range, OCI Resources LP would command a market value of $399 million. OCI Resources LP, which was founded in 1962, booked $446 million in sales over the last 12 months. The Atlanta, GA-based company plans to list on the NYSE under the symbol OCIR. Citi and Goldman Sachs are the joint bookrunners on the deal.

10 Best Paper Stocks To Buy Right Now: Basf SE (BASFY.PK)

BASF SE is a chemical company. The Company operates in six segments: Chemicals, Plastics, Performance Products, Functional Solutions, Agricultural Solutions and Oil & Gas. Chemicals segment offers products in the chemical, electronic, construction, textile, automotive, pharmaceutical and agricultural industries. Plastics segment offers a range of products, system solutions and services. Performance Products help its customers to improve their products and processes. Functional Solutions segment bundles system solutions and products for customers and industries. The Company�� Agricultural Solutions segment includes crop protection products, which guard against fungal diseases, insects and weeds. Its Oil & gas segment is a producer of oil and gas. On April 9, 2009, the Company acquired Ciba Holding AG. In April 2010, Intertek Group plc acquired the Regulatory and Safety Testing businesses of Ciba Expert Services (Ciba ES) from the Company. In December 2010, the Company completed its acquisition of Cognis Holding GmbH from Cognis Holding Luxembourg S.a r.l.

Chemicals

The Company�� Chemicals segment portfolio ranges from basic chemicals, glues and electronic chemicals for the semiconductor and flat panel display industry, to solvents and plasticizers, as well as starting materials for detergents, plastics, textile fibers, paints, coatings and pharmaceuticals. This segment is organized into three divisions: Inorganics, Petrochemicals and Intermediates. The important basic products of the Inorganics division are ammonia, methanol, sodium hydroxide, chlorine, as well as sulfuric and nitric acid. The Petrochemicals division produces products, such as ethylene, propylene, butadiene and benzene, which are produced in steam crackers from naphtha or natural gas. In further processing stages, it produces alcohols, solvents and plasticizers for the chemicals and plastics industries. BASF SE�� Intermediates division develops, produces and markets a range of intermediates of all produc! ers worldwide. The product lines include amines, diols, polyalcohols, acids and specialties. They serve as starting materials for products, such as coatings, plastics, pharmaceuticals, textile fibers, crop protection products, as well as detergents and cleaners.

Plastics

BASF�� Plastics segment is organized into two divisions: Performance Polymers and Polyurethanes. The Performance Polymers division is a supplier of engineering plastics, polyamides and polyamide intermediates, foams and specialty plastics. The Company offers its customers a portfolio of engineering plastics based on polyamide 6 and polyamide 6,6. This is complemented by products Ultradur, Ultraform and Ultrason. For the packaging, textile and food industries, it offers Ultramid, a base product for the manufacturing of fibers and foils. BASF SE�� product range also includes Ecoflex and Ecovio, biodegradable specialty plastics for the packaging industry. Styropor and its refinement Neopor are styrene-based precursors for foams used in insulating material for construction and packaging. The Polyurethanes division is a supplier of basic products, systems and specialties. The Company offers polyurethane products for numerous customer applications. Under brand names, such as Elastoflex and Elastopor, polyurethanes are used, as rigid or flexible foams in construction for furniture and household appliances.

Performance Products

The Performance Products segment consists of the Acrylics & Dispersions, Care Chemicals and Performance Chemicals divisions. Acrylics & Dispersions produces acrylic acid, as well as its derivatives superabsorbents and polymer dispersions. Superabsorbents are used particularly in diapers. Polymer dispersions are used in the production of glues, coatings, nonwoven materials and construction chemicals. The Company�� product portfolio for the paper industry consists of binders, process chemicals and kaolin pigments. Its Care Chemicals portfolio consists of products f! or cleani! ng, care, cosmetics and hygiene. Performance Chemicals pools specialties for various customer industries. The product portfolio consists of antioxidants, pigments, light stabilizers and specialty additives. The division also makes chemicals for the production and finishing of leather and textiles.

Functional Solutions

The Functional Solutions segment consists of the Catalysts, Construction Chemicals and Coatings divisions. The Catalysts division develops catalysts and adsorbents. It produces catalysts that transform pollutants in the exhaust flows of vehicles into harmless chemical and plastics. The Construction Chemicals division is engaged in development of concrete admixtures, such as concrete plasticizers, deferrers and curing agents. It also produces and markets construction systems. The Coatings division is a provider of coatings solutions for automotive and industrial applications. Its brands Glasurit and R-M are for the car refinish business.

Agricultural Solutions

The Agricultural Solutions segment consists of the Crop Protection division. The Company develops and produces active ingredients and formulations for the improvement of crop health and yields, and markets them worldwide. Its portfolio includes fungicides, insecticides, herbicides and seed treatments. Its product Headline contains the active ingredient F500, which is not only used for corn and soybean, but also for numerous other crops.

Oil & Gas

BASF�� oil and gas activities are bundled in the Wintershall Group. Wintershall and its subsidiaries operate in the business sectors exploration and production, and natural gas trading. In the exploration and production of oil and natural gas, the Company focuses on oil and gas regions in Europe, North Africa and South America, as well as Russia and the Caspian Sea region. The Mittelplate oil field in the North Sea tidal flats is the cornerstone of the Company�� oil production in Germany. Wintershall and RWE-D! EA each h! old a 50% interest in this field. During the year ended December 31, 2009, it acquired 25% interest in Cuxhaven concession. It operates 26 offshore platforms in Mittelplate region, of which 19 are actually controlled. In Libya, Wintershall operates eight onshore oil fields in the concessions 96 and 97 and exploits the associated gas released during crude oil production in a gas utilization plant for the local demand. In Mauritania, it operates two onshore exploration blocks. In 2008, Wintershall acquired stakes of 50% each in two exploration areas in the Canadon Asfalto Basin. It supplies Germany and several other European countries. The gas pipeline network operated by WINGAS TRANSPORT connects the markets in Western Europe with a natural gas infrastructure that runs through Eastern Europe and the Russian Federation all the way to the gas fields in Siberia. Other components portfolio include natural gas storage facility in Western Europe, in Rehdn, Germany, and the natural gas storage facility in Haidach, Austria.

Advisors' Opinion:

[By Markus Aarnio]
BioAmber expects its advanced bio-based specialty chemicals to compete with petrochemical equivalents that are proven in the market and manufactured by established companies, such as Gadiv Petrochemical Industries, Kawasaki Kasei, DSM (RDSMY.PK) and numerous small Chinese producers including Anqing Hexing Chemical, and Anhui Sunsing Chemicals. In addition, BioAmber's products will compete against other companies in the bio-based specialty chemical industry, both early stage companies, such as Genomatica (for bio-based 1,4 BDO) and Myriant Corporation (for bio-succinic acid), and established companies, such as a collaborative venture between DSM and Roquette Frères S.A. and a collaborative venture between BASF (BASFY.PK) and Purac (both for bio-succinic acid).

Top 5 Chemical Stocks To Buy For 2015: Zoltek Companies Inc (ZOLT)

Zoltek Companies, Inc. is a holding company, which operates through wholly owned subsidiaries, Zoltek Corporation, Zoltek Zrt., Zoltek de Mexico SA de CV, Zoltek de Occidente SA de CV, Engineering Technology Corporation (Entec Composite Machines), Zoltek Properties, Inc., and Zoltek Automotive, LLC. Zoltek Corporation (Zoltek) develops, manufactures and markets carbon fibers and technical fibers in the United States. The Company is an applied technology and advanced materials company. It commercialization of carbon fiber through composites used in a range of commercial products, which it sells under the Panex trade name. In addition to manufacturing carbon fiber, it produces an intermediate product, a stabilized and oxidized acrylic fiber used in flame- and heat-resistant applications, which it sells under the Pyron trade name. During fiscal year ended September 30, 2011 (fiscal 2011), its net sales to Vestas Wind Systems, a wind turbine manufacturer represented % of its net sales. In October 2011, Zoltek purchased a building in St. Peters, Missouri to house its prepreg operations.

Zoltek Zrt. is a Hungarian subsidiary that manufactures and markets carbon fibers and technical fibers and manufactures acrylic fiber precursor raw material used in production of carbon fibers and technical fibers. Zoltek de Mexico SA de CV and Zoltek de Occidente SA de CV are Mexican subsidiaries that manufacture carbon fiber and precursor raw material. Entec Composite Machines manufactures and markets filament winding and pultrusion equipment used in the production composite parts. The Company�� sales markets are in Europe and the United States. The Company has manufacturing plants in Nyergesujfalu, Hungary, Guadalajara, Mexico, Abilene, Texas and St. Charles, Missouri. Its Texas plant houses carbon fiber manufacturing lines and value-added processing capabilities. Its Missouri plant is engaged in the production of technical fibers for aircraft brake and other friction applications and also produces limited! amounts of carbon fibers. In addition, it has facilities in Salt Lake City, Utah where it designs and builds composite manufacturing equipment and produce resin pre-impregnated carbon fibers, called prepregs. It performs certain downstream processing, such as weaving, knitting, blending with other fibers, chopping and milling and preparation of pre-form, pre-cut stacks of fabric. In addition, its Salt Lake City-based Entec Composite Machines subsidiary designs and builds composite manufacturing equipment and markets the equipment along with manufacturing technology and materials. It also provides composite design and engineering for development of applications for carbon fiber reinforced composites.

The Company competes with Hexcel Corporation, Cytec Industries, Toray Group, Toho Tenax, Mitsubishi Chemical and SGL Carbon.

Advisors' Opinion:

[By Maxx Chatsko]
3. Zoltek (NASDAQ: ZOLT )
Zoltek was an interesting investment at the beginning of the year for futurist investors. The company is one of the largest manufacturers of carbon fiber in the world. In fact, its lightweight and high-strength carbon fiber is used almost exclusively in the largest wind turbine blades around the world and played a major role in America's 20-fold improvement in breezy energy capacity since 2000. This material of the future has many other uses and potential uses as well, but Zoltek has never really gained the confidence of the market in any big way: Its market cap was hovering near $300 million at the start of the year.
[By Maxx Chatsko]
Shares of world-leading carbon fiber manufacturer�Zoltek� (NASDAQ: ZOLT ) �have been pushed to new highs after a frantic attempt by Quinpario Partners to acquire a large position in the company. Despite being turned away by management, the fund does make valid points about the company's general lack of progress given its global scope and potential. Investors in this business built around a game-changing material may be worrying whether shares are about to fall back to earth. In the following video, Fool.com contributor Maxx Chatsko gives at least one reason for investors to think that shares can hold their current levels -- or even trek higher.
[By Lauren Pollock]
Toray Industries Inc.(3402.TO), the global market leader in carbon fiber, agreed to buy smaller rival Zoltek Cos.(ZOLT) in a deal valued at $584 million. The Japanese synthetic-fiber maker offered $16.75 a share, a 9.5% discount to Thurday’s close. Zoltek has struggled amid what it has called a cyclical downturn in the wind energy market. Zoltek shares dropped 10% to $16.58 in light premarket trading.

Top 5 Chemical Stocks To Buy For 2015: Rentech Inc (RTK)

Rentech, Inc. (Rentech), incorporated in 1981, is a provider of clean energy solutions. The Company owns and operates a nitrogen fertilizer plant in East Dubuque, Illinois, that manufactures and sells natural gas-based nitrogen fertilizer products within the corn-belt region in the United States. It is developing energy projects to produce certified synthetic fuels and electric power from carbon-containing materials, such as biomass, waste and fossil resources. Its technologies can produce synthesis gas (syngas) from biomass and waste materials, and convert syngas from its own or other gasification technologies into complex hydrocarbons (the Rentech Process) that are then upgraded into fuels using refining technology that it licenses. In addition to developing projects using these technologies, it is pursuing the licensing of its technologies to developers of projects that are expected to produce fuels and/or power. In May 2011, it acquired majority interest in ClearFuels Technology Inc. In May 2013, Rentech Inc acquired the entire share capital of Fulghum Fibres Inc. In August 2013, Rentech Inc announced that a subsidiary of the Company closed the sale of approximately 450 acres in Natchez, Mississippi to Adams County, Mississippi.

The Rentech Process is a technology based on Fischer-Tropsch (FT) chemistry, which converts syngas that can be produced from a range of biomass, waste and fossil resources into hydrocarbons. These hydrocarbons can be processed and upgraded into synthetic fuels, such as military and commercial jet fuels and low sulfur diesel fuel, as well as waxes and chemicals. Unlike some other alternative transportation fuels, such as ethanol, fuels produced from the Rentech Process can be transported and used in existing infrastructure, including pipelines and engines without blending restrictions. Its technology portfolio also includes the Rentech-SilvaGas biomass gasification technology (the Rentech-SilvaGas Technology), which enables it to offer integrated technologies t! hat can convert biomass and wastes to syngas and into clean fuels and electric power.

The Rentech Process can produce synthetic diesel fuels (RenDiesel1 fuels), which are clean burning having lower emissions of regulated pollutants, such as nitrogen oxides, sulfur oxides and particulate matter, than traditional petroleum-based diesel fuels. The Rentech Process also can produce synthetic jet fuel (RenJet fuel), which when blended with conventional jet fuel meet jet fuel specifications for military jet fuel and commercial Jet A and Jet A-1 fuels. It is developing a proposed project near Natchez, Mississippi (the Natchez Project) designed to produce approximately 30,000 barrels per day of synthetic fuels and chemicals and approximately 120 megawatts of power. It is evaluating alternative configurations for the Natchez site, which would initially be smaller in scale. The alternate configurations may use various feed-stocks alone or in various combinations, and include proportions of waxes and chemicals as products.

The Company owns, through its wholly owned subsidiary, Rentech Energy Midwest Corporation (REMC), a nitrogen fertilizer manufacturing plant that uses natural gas as its feedstock to produce syngas and then nitrogen fertilizer products. The products, the Company can produce include renewable synthetic diesel and jet fuels, naphtha and power from biomass resources; synthetic diesel and jet fuels, naphtha and power from fossil or fossil and biomass resources, and paraffinic waxes, solvents and specialty chemicals.

The Company competes with ExxonMobil, the Royal Dutch/Shell group, Statoil, BP and Sasol.

Advisors' Opinion:

[By Travis Hoium]
What: Shares of fertilizer and renewable energy company Rentech (NASDAQ: RTK ) jumped 17% today after the company announced an acquisition.
[By Rich Duprey]
Alternative energy specialist�Rentech� (NASDAQ: RTK ) �will be�buying back�up to $25 million worth of company stock through the rest of the year, the board of directors announced Monday.
[By Robert Rapier] While the MLP space is dominated by the oil and gas sector, in last week’s article we began to explore some of the more exotic master limited partnership offerings. This week we continue our exploration of nontraditional MLPs by looking at the partnerships supplying fertilizer.

Rentech (Nasdaq: RTK) has been around for more than a decade, and it has shifted strategies several times. Full disclosure: Rentech’s Chief Technology Officer Harold Wright is a former manager of mine when we were both at ConocoPhillips, and I have visited Rentech’s facility in Commerce City, Colorado.

For most of Rentech’s existence, the company has sought to commercialize alternative fuels. At one time it had ambitions to build a large coal-to-liquids (CTL) plant, but federal legislation ultimately nudged it instead into the biomass-to-liquids (BTL) space. The company did build a BTL demonstration plant, but ultimately shut it down and has now refocused its efforts on becoming “one of the largest wood processing companies in the world.”

During its interesting journey as a company, Rentech acquired two ammonia nitrogen fertilizer facilities, which turned out to be a profit center that funded the alternative energy research. In November 2011, Rentech spun off this fertilizer business into an MLP called Rentech Nitrogen Partners LP (NYSE: RNF).

In the months leading to the spin-off, RTK’s market capitalization was about $200 million. Rentech maintained 60 percent ownership of RNF, and three months after the spin-off RTK’s market cap had risen to $400 million, while investors had bid RNF up to $1 billion. Interestingly, RTK’s share of RNF was worth more than RTK’s entire market cap, a situation that persists. The market currently values Rentech at $482 million, while the valuation of Rentech Nitrogen Partners makes RTK’s 60 percent stake in RNF worth slightly more than $600 million — another illu

Sunday, April 20, 2014

Best Prefered Companies For 2015

Although we don't believe in timing the market or panicking over market movements, we do like to keep an eye on big changes -- just in case they're material to our investing thesis.

What: Shares of Ironwood Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: IRWD ) , a specialty biopharmaceutical company, gained as much as 11% after the company reported better-than-expected second-quarter earnings results.

So what: Take that phrase "better than expected" with a grain of salt, because when you're a growing biotechnology company with a newly approved drug, Wall Street tends to cut you some slack. For the quarter, Ironwood recorded a 34% decline in revenue to $9.7 million as its loss widened to $0.57 per share. Comparatively speaking, though, this was far better than the $0.70 loss per share on $6.2 million in revenue that the Street had expected. Furthermore, Ironwood backed its full-year sales and marketing expense guidance for its lead drug, Linzess, that it co-markets with Forest Laboratories (NYSE: FRX ) . According to Forest Labs, sales of the drug, which is used to treat irritable bowel syndrome with constipation and chronic idiopathic constipation in adults, totaled $28.8 million for the second quarter.

Best Prefered Companies For 2015: DryShips Inc (DRYS)

DryShips Inc. (DryShips), incorporated in September 2004, is a holding company engaged in the ocean transportation services of drybulk cargoes and crude oil worldwide through the ownership and operation of drybulk carrier vessels and oil tankers and offshore drilling services through the ownership and operation of ultra-deepwater drilling units. As of December 31, 2011, DryShips owned and operated two fifth generation ultra-deepwater, semi-submersible offshore drilling rigs, the Leiv Eiriksson and the Eirik Raude, and four sixth generation, advanced capability ultra-deepwater drillships, the Ocean Rig Corcovado, the Ocean Rig Olympia, the Ocean Rig Poseidon and the Ocean Rig Mykonos. As of December 31, 2011, the Company owned and operated four Aframax tankers, Saga, Daytona, Belmar, and Calida, and one Suezmax tanker, Vilamoura. On August 24, 2011, DryShips acquired all of their shares of OceanFreight Inc. On October 5, 2011, DryShips completed the partial spin off of Ocean Rig UDW Inc. (Ocean Rig UDW). On November 3, 2011, the merger of Pelican Stockholdings Inc. (Pelican Stockholdings), its wholly owned subsidiary, and OceanFreight, was completed. In January 2013, it sold two of its tankers under construction at Samsung Heavy Industries, Esperona and Blanca.

As of December 31, 2011, DryShips operated its tankers under pooling arrangements that are managed by Heidmar Inc. As of March 6, 2012, the Company owned, through its subsidiaries, a fleet of 36 drybulk carriers, consisting of nine Capesize, 25 Panamax and two Supramax vessels, which have a combined deadweight tonnage of approximately 3.53 million deadweight tonnage and an average age of approximately eight years; six drilling units, comprised of two modern, fifth generation, advanced capability ultra-deepwater semisubmersible offshore drilling rigs and four sixth generation, advanced capability ultra-deepwater drillships, and five tankers, comprised of four Aframax and one Suezmax tankers.

The Company�� drybulk flee! t principally carries a variety of drybulk commodities, including major bulk items, such as coal, iron ore, and grains, and minor bulk items, such as bauxite, phosphate, fertilizers and steel products. During the year ended December 31, 2011, DryShips sold the drybulk vessel Primera; contracted for and completed the sale of the drybulk vessels La Jolla, Conquistador, Brisbane, Samsara and Toro; took delivery of its four sixth-generation, ultra-deepwater advanced capability sister drillships constructed by Samsung Heavy Industries Co. Ltd. (Samsung), the Ocean Rig Corcovado, the Ocean Rig Olympia, the Ocean Rig Poseidon and the Ocean Rig Mykonos; took delivery of three newbuilding Aframax tankers, Saga, Daytona and Belmar, and one newbuilding Suezmax tanker, Vilamoura, and acquired four Capesize vessels, MV Robusto, MV Cohiba, MV Montecristo and MV Partagas, two Panamax vessels, the MV Topeka and the MV Helena. DryShips contracted for and completed the sale of the drybulk vessels Avoca and Padre, which were delivered to their new owners, on February 14, 2012 and February 24, 2012, respectively.

Drybulk Operations

The Company manages the deployment of its drybulk fleet between long-term and short-term time charters. A time charter is a contract to charter a vessel for a fixed period of time at a specified or floating daily or index-based daily rate and can last from a few days to several years. A spot charter refers to a voyage charter or a trip charter or a short-term time charter. Under a bareboat charter, the vessel is chartered for a stipulated period of time, which gives the charterer possession and control of the vessel, including the right to appoint the master and the crew.

Offshore Drilling Operations

In January 2012, following the completion of the contract with Tullow Oil plc (Tullow Oil) contract, discussed below, the Eirik Raude commenced a contract with Anadarko Cote d��voire Company (Anadarko) for the drilling of two wells offshore West ! Africa. I! ts offshore drilling operations consist of the Ocean Rig Corcovado, the Ocean Rig Olympia, the Ocean Rig Poseidon and the Ocean Rig Mykonos. As of December 31, 2011, the Ocean Rig Corcovado was employed under a three-year contract, plus a mobilization period, with Petroleo Brasileiro S.A. (Petrobras Brazil) for drilling operations offshore Brazil. The Ocean Rig Olympia is operating under contracts to drill a total of five wells for exploration drilling offshore Ghana and the Ivory Coast. The Ocean Rig Poseidon commenced a contract with Petrobras Tanzania, a company related to Petrobras Oil & Gas B.V. (Petrobras Oil & Gas).

The Ocean Rig Mykonos commenced a three-year contract, plus a mobilization period, with Petrobras Brazil, on September 30, 2011, for drilling operations offshore Brazil. DryShips�� wholly owned subsidiary, Ocean Rig AS, provides supervisory management services, including onshore management, to its operating drilling rigs and drillships. DryShips also has contracts to provide offshore drilling services and drilling units.

Tanker Operations

The Company employs its Aframax tankers Saga, Daytona, Belmar and Calida, in the Sigma tanker pool, which consists of 46 Aframax tankers, with fourteen different pool partners. It employs its Suezmax tanker, Vilamoura, in the Blue Fin tanker pool, which consists of 18 Suezmax tankers with eight different pool partners.

Advisors' Opinion:

[By Bryan Murphy]
Two months ago, maritime shipping stocks FreeSeas Inc. (NASDAQ:FREE), NewLead Holdings Ltd (NASDAQ:NEWL), and DryShips Inc. (NASDAQ:DRYS) were all the rage; traders couldn't get enough of them. The spark for the new strength from DRYS, NEWL, and FREE was a strong - and somewhat surprising - bounce in Baltic Dry Index, which roughly measures the daily charter rate for maritime shipping vessels. It had risen from a low of 698 at the beginning of the year to above 1000 by July to a peak of 2113 in late September. Since these shipping companies had seen a tripling (in less than a year, mind you) of the prices they could charge customers, the rebounding interest in these stocks was certainly understandable. FreeSeas shares more than doubled in value during that time. DryShips nearly did the same. While NewLead Holdings Ltd didn't actually dole out any significant gain, it did draw a lot of new interest during that hot period as a potential "the next one to take off" idea.

Best Prefered Companies For 2015: Akbank TAS (AKBNK)

Akbank TAS (Akbank) is a Turkey-based commercial bank. The Bank operates in five segments: the Retail banking segment offers a range of retail services, such as deposit accounts, consumer loans, commercial installment loans, credit cards, insurance products and asset management services; the Corporate and Small and Medium Size Enterprises (SME) banking segment provides financial solutions and banking services to large, medium and small size corporate and commercial customers; the Treasury Activities segment conducts regional and foreign currency spot and forward transactions, treasury bonds, government bonds, Eurobond and private sector bond transactions, as well as derivative trading activities; the Private banking segment offers banking and investment transactions for upper-income groups, and the International banking segment provides services for foreign trade financing, foreign currency and Turkish Lira (TL) clearances, and money transfers through agent financial institutions. Advisors' Opinion:

[By Julia Leite]
Turkey�� equity benchmark rallied as Turkiye Garanti Bankasi AS and Akbank TAS (AKBNK) advanced at least 5.4 percent. The lira gained for the fourth day.
[By Anuchit Nguyen]
The Borsa Istanbul National 100 Index capped the longest slide since July 26 as Akbank TAS (AKBNK) and Turkiye Garanti Bankasi AS dropped at least 2.9 percent.
[By Harry Suhartono]
The Borsa Istanbul National 100 Index jumped 3.7 percent, the most among major emerging-market gauges, as Akbank TAS (AKBNK) and Turkiye Halk Bankasi AS (HALKB) rallied. Benchmark measures in Poland and the Czech Republic added at least 0.5 percent, while Hungarian shares retreated for a fourth day.

Best Gas Stocks To Invest In Right Now: Senomyx Inc.(SNMX)

Senomyx, Inc. engages in the discovery and development of novel flavor ingredients in the savory, sweet, salt, bitter, and cooling areas using proprietary taste receptor-based assays and screening technologies. The company has product discovery, development, and commercialization collaborations with seven food, beverage, and ingredient companies, including Ajinomoto Co., Inc.; Firmenich SA; Kraft Foods, Inc.; Nestle SA; and PepsiCo, Inc. Senomyx, Inc. licenses flavor ingredients to its collaborators on an exclusive or co-exclusive basis. The company was founded in 1998 and is based in San Diego, California.

Advisors' Opinion:

[By Jake L'Ecuyer]
Leading and Lagging Sectors
Healthcare stocks gained Wednesday, with Senomyx (NASDAQ: SNMX) leading advancers after the company announced a research agreement with PepsiCo (NYSE: PEP). Among the leading sector stocks, gains came from Pernix Therapeutics Holdings (NASDAQ: PTX), Albany Molecular Research (NASDAQ: AMRI) and Gentiva Health Services (NASDAQ: GTIV).

Best Prefered Companies For 2015: Point.360(PTSX)

Point.360 operates as an integrated media management services company in the United States. It offers film, video and audio post-production, archival, duplication, computer graphics, and data distribution services. The company also provides services to edit, master, reformat, covert, archive, and distribute its clients? film and video content, including television programming, feature films, and movie trailers. Its value-added services comprise visual effects, video and data editing, graphics and animation, digital color correction, picture restoration, audio post-production, audio restoration and layback, closed captioning and subtitling, foreign language mastering, standards conversion, broadcast encoding, global distribution and syndication, and archival services. In addition, Point.360 is involved in the rental and sale of DVDs and video games to consumers through its Movie>Q retail stores. Its customers include independent motion picture and television production com panies, television program suppliers, national television networks, infomercial providers, local television stations, television program syndicators, corporations, and educational institutions, as well as advertising agencies, and corporate or instructional video providers. The company is based in Burbank, California.

Advisors' Opinion:

[By Lisa Levin]
Point.360 (NASDAQ: PTSX) shares reached a new 52-week low of $0.528. Point.360's trailing-twelve-month ROE is -12.69%.

QC Holdings (NASDAQ: QCCO) shares tumbled 3.68% to reach a new 52-week low of $1.83. QC Holdings shares have dropped 42.60% over the past 52 weeks, while the S&P 500 index has gained 31.67% in the same period.

Best Prefered Companies For 2015: Indo Global Exchange(IGEX)

Indo Global Exchange(s) Pte, Ltd., formerly Claridge Ventures, Inc., incorporated on May 7, 2008, presents and provides online trading platforms. The Company�� online trading platforms offer market access to the clients, which include over 30 global equity exchanges for trading in securities; over 30 global equity exchanges for trading in contracts for differences (CFD's), which include Euro Zone, the United Kingdom, Japan, Asia, Oceania, Canada, & the United States; over 180 currency pairs in spot (Cash), forwards and options; gold and silver trading in spot (Cash), forwards and options; global commodity futures exchanges including financial futures, and indices and commodity CFD's.

The Company�� trading services products include stocks, CDFs, forex, futures, contract option, exchange traded funds (ETF's) and exchange traded commodities (ETCs), foreign-exchange (FX) option and managed account. Education centre offers information through free tutorial and self paced learning for Shares, CFD's, Futures and FX for beginners and experienced traders alike. It is acting as the administrator, promoter, educator and integrator for the clients in Asia. The Company uses Halifax Investment Services Pty Ltd and Australian Stock Report as its clearing and settling operation in Australia. The Company is supported by global trading platforms in equities, CFD��, derivatives, commodities, energies, foreign exchange and options.

The Company provides online Forex trading for 24 hours a day on currency pairs worldwide. It offers a range of ETF's and ETCs that are tradable on live prices through its online trading platforms. It offers 1,500+ ETFs and ETCs. The Company�� platforms include Online Trader, WEBTrader and Mobiletrader. Its stock accesses more than 14,000 stocks from 29 global exchanges. Its CFDs access to over 8,000 CFDs including 21 Index-Tracking CFDs, 20 Commodity CFDs and Forex CFDs across 29 global exchanges worldwide. Its futures offer more than 190 instruments, includ! ing crude oil, currencies, gold and silver, agricultural products, meats, softs and stock indices.

Advisors' Opinion:

[By James E. Brumley]
They say a company is judged by the caliber of the talent it can attract. If that's true (and it is), then Indo Global Exchanges PteLtd (OTCMKTS:IGEX) should have little problem successfully completing its mission of becoming in Indonesia what E-TRADE Financial Corporation (NASDAQ:ETFC), Charles Schwab Corp. (NYSE:SCHW), and TD Ameritrade Holding Corp. (NYSE:AMTD) became here in the United States ... a dominant force in the stock brokerage world, and the face of online trading. The only difference is, IGEX may finish its mission a lot faster than AMTD, SCHW, or ETFC did. See, Indo Global Exchanges PteLtd's target market is already fully online and in love with the internet (Indonesia has a bigger Facebook-user populous than the United States, for cryin' out loud), and there's no online-trading competition in sight.
[By James E. Brumley]
Care to venture a guess as to what country is the world's fourth largest by population, and 16th largest by gross domestic product? Few get the right answer, even with both descriptors. Likewise, since most underestimate the size and strength of this nation, they also underestimate the size and scope of one particular investment opportunity. The country: Indonesia. The stock: Indo Global Exchanges PteLtd (OTCMKTS:IGEX). Indo Global is planting the seeds to become that country's first, best (and so far, only) online stock-trading service... a country where Charles Schwab Corp. (NYSE:SCHW), TD Ameritrade Holding Corp. (NYSE:AMTD), and E-TRADE Financial Corporation (NASDAQ:ETFC) don't have a presence to get in Indo's way.
[By John Udovich]
Small cap stocks FXCM Inc (NYSE: FXCM), Gain Capital Holdings Inc (NYSE: GCAP) and up and coming�Indo Global Exchanges PteLtd (OTCMKTS: IGEX) all offer online trading platforms to retail or institutional traders and investors. Certainly if you have found yourself trading more lately or if markets become more volatile, trading platforms are going to be the big winners.�With that in mind, here is a close look at these three small cap trading platform stocks:�

Best Prefered Companies For 2015: Cyan Inc (CYNI)

Cyan, Inc., incorporated on October 25, 2006, has carrier-grade networking solutions that transform legacy networks into open, high-performance networks. The Company�� solutions include high-capacity, multi-layer switching and transport platforms, as well as a carrier-grade software-defined networking platform and applications. The Company�� solutions enable network operators to virtualize their networks, accelerate service delivery. The Company has designed its solutions to provide a range of applications, including business Ethernet, Wireless and broadband support services and cloud connectivity. The Company also offer high-capacity, multi-layer switching and transport platforms, known as its Cyan Z-Series, that have been designed to support the multiple concurrent technologies used in regional and metro networks, including both Ethernet-based services, as well as optical services.

The Company�� Z-Series platforms have been designed to transport traffic over network layer, utilizing both electrical and optical domains, to enable network operators to maximize network capacity at the lowest cost per bit. The Company�� customers range from service providers to high-performance data center and large, private network operators.

Advisors' Opinion:

[By Lauren Pollock]
Among the companies with shares expected to actively trade in Tuesday’s session are Cyan Inc.(CYNI), Neurocrine Biosciences Inc.(NBIX) and SandRidge Energy Inc.(SD)

Best Prefered Companies For 2015: Amazon.com Inc.(AMZN)

Amazon.com, Inc. operates as an online retailer in North America and internationally. It operates retail Web sites, including amazon.com and amazon.ca. The company serves consumers through its retail Web sites and focuses on selection, price, and convenience. It also offers programs that enable sellers to sell their products on its Web sites, and their own branded Web sites. In addition, the company serves developer customers through Amazon Web Services, which provides access to technology infrastructure that developers can use to enable virtually various type of business. Further, it manufactures and sells the Kindle e-reader. Additionally, the company provides fulfillment; miscellaneous marketing and promotional agreements, such as online advertising; and co-branded credit cards. Amazon.com, Inc. was founded in 1994 and is headquartered in Seattle, Washington.

Advisors' Opinion:

[By Travis Hoium]
Amazon.com's (NASDAQ: AMZN ) Prime service has drawn in customers and added to the company's sales, but it has failed to lead to a long-term profit for the company. Travis Hoium dug deeper into the numbers and found that actual gross margin has fallen from 7% a year ago to 6.8% last quarter. The Fool's Erin Miller sat down with Travis to see why he's not seeing a strong future for Amazon's stock.�
[By Demitrios Kalogeropoulos]
After reporting earnings last week, Amazon.com (NASDAQ: AMZN ) is looking more like a retailer, and less like a tech giant.�The company's merchandise sales jumped as a percentage of revenue last quarter, with very little help from extra media or cloud-service sales.
[By Michael Lewis]
The players
Three big names in the cloud services space --�Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN ) , Google (NASDAQ: GOOG ) , and Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT ) �-- appear to be at war with one another yet again, this time in a race to the price bottom.
[By Douglas A. McIntyre]
Investors seems to believe that J.C. Penney Co. Inc. (NYSE: JCP) showed signs of life when it released earnings, and that Barnes & Noble Inc. (NYSE: BKS) admitted it was doomed. No matter which side Wall Street takes of either case, all of the evidence shows that neither has made any advance against its real enemy — Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN)

Best Prefered Companies For 2015: Laredo Petroleum Inc (LPI)

Laredo Petroleum, Inc., formerly Laredo Petroleum Holdings, Inc., incorporated in August 12, 2011, is an independent energy company focused on the exploration, development and acquisition of oil and natural gas in the Permian and Mid-Continent regions of the United States. The Company�� activities are primarily focused in the Wolfberry and deeper horizons of the Permian Basin in West Texas and the Anadarko Granite Wash in the Texas Panhandle and Western Oklahoma, where it has assembled 134,680 net acres and 37,850 net acres, respectively, as of December 31, 2011.

Permian Basin

The Permian Basin, located in west Texas and southeastern New Mexico, is an onshore oil and natural gas producing regions in the United States. The Company�� Permian activities are centered on the eastern side of the basin approximately 35 miles east of Midland, Texas in Glasscock, Howard, Reagan and Sterling Counties. As of December 31, 2011, it held 134,680 net acres in over 300 sections with an average working interest of 96% in wells drilled as of that date. The overall Wolfberry interval, the principal focus of its drilling activities, is an oil play that also includes a liquids-rich natural gas component. Its production/exploration fairway extends approximately 20 miles wide and 80 miles long. While exploration and drilling efforts in the southern half of its acreage block has been centered on the shallower portion of the Wolfberry (Spraberry, Dean and Wolfcamp formations) the emphasis in the northern half has been on the deeper intervals, including the Wolfcamp, Cline Shale, Strawn and Atoka formations.

As of December 31, 2011, the Company had drilled and completed approximately 600 gross vertical wells and had defined the productive limits on its acreage throughout the trend. It has expanded its drilling program to include a horizontal component targeting the Cline and Wolfcamp Shales. The Company has drilled four gross horizontal Wolfcamp Shale wells as of December 31, 2011. A! s of December 31, 2011, it had drilled a total of 27 gross horizontal wells in the Wolfcamp and Cline formations, of which 23 are in the Cline Shale and four in the Wolfcamp Shale. It had over 5,600 total gross identified drilling locations (both vertical and horizontal) in the Permian, all of which are within the Wolfberry and Cline Shale interval during the year ended December 31, 2011.

Anadarko Granite Wash

Straddling the Texas/Oklahoma state line, its Granite Wash play extends over a large area in the western part of the Anadarko Basin. As of December 31, 2011, it held 37,850 net acres in Hemphill County, Texas and Roger Mills County, Oklahoma. The Company�� play consists of vertical and horizontal drilling opportunities targeting the liquids-rich Granite Wash formation. As of December 31, 2011, it had drilled and completed over 150 gross vertical wells. During 2011, its horizontal Granite Wash program was in the development phase. As of December 31, 2011, it had approximately 100 gross identified potential drilling locations for the horizontal Granite Wash, which included both its Texas and Oklahoma acreage.

Other areas

The Company, in addition to its Permian Wolfberry and Anadarko Granite Wash plays, evaluated opportunities in three other areas within its core operating regions during 2011. The Dalhart Basin is located on the western side of the Texas Panhandle. As of December 31, 2011, the Company held 83,295 net acres in the Dalhart Basin. As of December 31, 2011, it had drilled two gross vertical wells in the Dalhart Basin. The second area is centrally located in the Central Texas Panhandle, where its operations were conducted through its joint venture with ExxonMobil as of December 31, 2011. As of December 31, 2011, it held 46,915 net acres in the Central Texas Panhandle. The third area is located in the eastern end of the Anadarko Basin, in Caddo County, Oklahoma. As of December 31, 2011, the Company held 33,306 net acres in the Eastern An! adarko. Advisors' Opinion:

[By Tony Daltorio]
Other companies already drilling in the Cline include Apache Corp. (NYSE: APA), Gulfport Energy Corp. (Nasdaq: GPOR), and another pioneer in the region, Laredo Petroleum Holdings Inc. (NYSE: LPI).
[By Tyler Crowe]
Who's doing it the best?
It can be pretty handy to evaluate the entire industry on how efficiently it's replacing reserves, but reserve replacement costs can be more effective in evaluating individual companies. The lower the costs, the better it is. According to Ernst & Young, the most effective company at controlling reserve replacement costs is private company�Antero Resources, with a three-year average reserve replacement cost of about $2.88 per barrel of oil equivalent. Antero, and four of the other top five companies on Ernst & Young's list, are almost pure natural gas plays. If we've learned one thing over the past couple of years, it's that oil reserves and natural gas reserves are two totally different things when it comes to value. The five following companies have more than 50% liquids on�their�reserves and had the lowest reserve replacement costs for 2012.
Company % Liquids in�Portfolio Oil Production Replacement Rate (3 Years) Reserve Replacement Costs (3-Year Average) Per boe Rosetta Resources� (NASDAQ: ROSE ) 57% 846% $6.99 Continental Resources� (NYSE: CLR ) 72% 827% $12.61 Laredo Petroleum� (NYSE: LPI ) 52% 1,042% $13.51 SM Energy� (NYSE: SM ) 53% 392% $14.67 SandRidge Energy� (NYSE: SD ) 58% 704% $14.85
Sources: Ernst & Young and S&P Capital IQ; author's calculations.

Best Prefered Companies For 2015: OXiGENE Inc.(OXGN)

OXiGENE, Inc., a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company, develops novel therapeutics to treat cancer and eye diseases in the United States. It primarily focuses on the development of vascular disrupting agents (VDAs) that disable and destroy abnormal blood vessels, which provide solid tumors a means of growth and survival, as well as associate with visual impairment in various ophthalmological diseases and conditions. The company?s products include ZYBRESTAT, which is in fosbretabulin in anaplastic cancer of the thyroid (FACT) trial?Phase 2/3 study for the treatment of anaplastic thyroid cancer; in fosbretabulin in advanced lung oncology (FALCON) trial?Phase 2 randomized and controlled study to treat non-small cell lung cancer; in Phase 2 Simon two-stage design study for the treatment of platinum-resistant ovarian cancer; and in Phase 2 randomized controlled study to treat platinum-relapsed but platinum sensitive ovarian cancer. Its products also comprise OXi4503 that is in Phase 1 dose-escalation study for the treatment of acute myelogenous leukemia and myelodysplastic syndromes; Phase 1b dose-ranging study to treat solid tumors with hepatic tumor burden; and Phase 1 dose-escalation study for the treatment of refractory solid tumors. In addition, the company?s products consist of ZYBRESTAT, which is in Phase 2 randomized, double-masked, placebo-controlled, single-dose study for proof-of-mechanism study in polypoidal choroidal vasculopathy. OXiGENE has a strategic collaboration agreement with Symphony Capital Partners, L.P. to support the advancement of ZYBRESTAT for oncology and ophthalmology, and OXi4503. The company was founded in 1988 and is headquartered in South San Francisco, California.

Advisors' Opinion:

[By Bryan Murphy]
If you missed the recent surges from Neurometrix Inc. (NASDAQ:NURO) and/or OXiGENE Inc. (NASDAQ:OXGN), and decided to skip an entry on either or both because they were too frothy at the time, then here's some good news.... you're getting a second chance. Both NURO and OXGN are getting their proverbial second wind, and they're doing so at a price much lower than the price you would have had to pay for either just a few days ago. There's just one catch - you may want to hurry of you want in. This second wind is unfurling as rapidly as the first surges did.
[By Bryan Murphy]
In the very short run, OXiGENE Inc. (NASDAQ:OXGN) is overbought and probably due for a setback, not unlike the all the other one-day surges and subsequent pullbacks we've seen from the stock since February of this year. Today's pop from OXGN, however, is quite different than all the rest... this time, it's got a legitimate shot at following through on the upside effort. Ergo, this little biopharma name is actually one of the market's best 'trades' right now.

Best Prefered Companies For 2015: AngioDynamics Inc.(ANGO)

AngioDynamics, Inc. designs, develops, manufactures, and markets various therapeutic and diagnostic devices that enable interventional physicians to treat PVD, tumors, and other non-coronary diseases. The company operates in two divisions, Vascular and Oncology/Surgery. The Vascular division provides venous products, including VenaCure EVLT laser systems and Sotradecol; angiographic products and accessories comprising angiographic catheters, entry needles, guidewires, and fluid management products; percutaneous transluminal angioplasty dilation balloon catheters, such as WorkHorse, WorkHorse II, and Profiler to open blocked blood vessels and dialysis access sites; drainage products consisting of the total abscession general, biliary, and nephrostomy drainage catheters; and thrombolytic products that include pulsespray infusion and unifuse thrombolytic catheters, and speedlyser to deliver thrombolytic agents. It also offers micro access sets that provide interventional phys icians a smaller introducer system for minimally-invasive procedures; Benephit, a therapeutic approach to deliver drugs directly to the kidneys; and various dialysis catheters, which comprise DuraMax, Schon, Evenmore, Dura-Flow, SCHON XL, LifeJet, and Centros dialysis catheters. In addition, this division provides PICC products consisting of Morpheus CT PICC, Morpheus CT PICC insertion kits, and Morpheus smart PICC; port products and accessories, including Vortex, SmartPort, and LifeGuard; and central venous catheter products. The Oncology/Surgery division offers radiofrequency ablation, embolization, and nanoknife products. The company markets its products to interventional radiologists, vascular surgeons, and surgical oncologists through a direct sales force in the United States and through a combination of direct sales and distributor relationships internationally. AngioDynamics, Inc. was founded in 1988 and is headquartered in Latham, New York.

Advisors' Opinion:

[By Lauren Pollock]
AngioDynamics Inc.(ANGO) swung to a modest fiscal second-quarter loss but achieved break-even per-share results as the medical-device maker’s revenue improved more than expected, pushing shares up 6.5% to $19.15 premarket.