Millions of holiday packages are delivered in the final days leading up to Christmas. FedEx expected to handle 20 million packages on December 16 alone, and UPS planned to deliver nearly 29 million packages on December 17. The U.S. Postal Service expected its busiest day for shipments to be December 19.
SEE ALSO: How to Get Free Shipping on Online Holiday PurchasesWith so many packages being sent, you want to make sure that anything you send arrives safely. The question is whether you should pay extra to do so.
FedEx, UPS and the U.S. Postal Service do assume liability for loss or damage to packages they ship up to a certain limit at no additional charge. There's really no reason to purchase extra protection if the value of the gifts you are shipping falls below those liability limits. But if you want more protection for gifts that exceed those limits, you��l have to pay for it. Here�� what you need to know about the protection your packages will receive from the major shippers, plus steps you should take to avoid having to file a claim for damaged, lost or stolen items.
Hot Gas Utility Stocks To Invest In 2015: Inland Real Estate Corp (IRC)
Inland Real Estate Corporation is a self-managed, real estate investment trust (REIT). The Company owns and operates neighborhood, community, power and single tenant retail centers. It also may construct or develop properties or render services in connection with construction or development. As of December 31, 2011, the Company owned interests in 146 investment properties, including those owned through its unconsolidated joint ventures, which consist of 61 neighborhood retail centers totaling approximately 4,249,000 gross leasable square feet; 23 community centers totaling approximately 3,129,000 gross leasable square feet; 32 power centers totaling approximately 4,959,000 gross leasable square feet; one lifestyle center totaling approximately 561,000 gross leasable square feet, and 29 single-user properties totaling approximately 1,334,000 gross leasable square feet. In December 2012, the Company disposed two consolidated retail properties in the Greater Chicago and Indianapolis markets. In January 2013, the Company acquired for its consolidated portfolio Valparaiso Walk, a 137,509-square-foot power center in northwestern Indiana. In June 2013, Inland Real Estate Corp closed its acquisition of the 50% ownership interest of New York State Teachers Retirement System in the parties IN Retail Fund, L.L.C. (IN Retail) joint venture entity. In October 2013, Inland Real Estate Corporation announced that its joint venture with Dutch pension fund advisor PGGM has acquired Cedar Center South, a 139,000 square foot shopping center located in University Heights. In December 2013, Inland Real Estate Corp acquired two shopping centers in Florida and Arkansas.
In April 2012, it announced a joint venture acquisition with Inland Private Capital Corporation (IPCC) of two retail properties in Wisconsin. On March 6, 2012, it purchased for its own portfolio the Westgate Shopping Center, a grocery-anchored power center located in Fairview Park, Ohio. On February 29, 2012, the Company acquired the Stone Creek ! Towne Center, a power center located in the Cincinnati market. In March 2012, the Company acquired two retail properties in Ohio. On February 24, 2012, the Company�� joint venture with PGGM purchased Silver Lake Village. The property is located in St. Anthony, Minnesota. It also purchased Woodbury Commons located in Woodbury, Minnesota. On December 7, 2011, the Company�� joint venture with PGGM acquired Elston Plaza, a grocery-anchored center located in Chicago, Ill. On November 29, 2011, the Company purchased Brownstones Shopping Center, also grocery-anchored and located in Brookfield, Wis., a suburb of Milwaukee. In November 2011, the Company acquired Bradley Commons, an investment property.
The Company is engage in certain activities through Inland Venture Corporation (IVC) and Inland Exchange Venture Corporation (IEVC), wholly owned TRS entities. These entities engage in activities that would otherwise not be permitted for a REIT, such as managing properties owned by ventures, in which the Company is a partner. The Company owns interests in investment properties located in the States of California, Florida, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, Ohio, Tennessee, and Wisconsin. On January 11, 2011, its joint venture with PGGM purchased Joffco Square from an unaffiliated third party. On February 14, 2011, the Company sold Schaumburg Golf Road Retail, in Schaumburg, Illinois to an unaffiliated third party.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Rich Duprey]
Midwest retail shopping center operator Inland Real Estate (NYSE: IRC ) announced today that it set its monthly disbursement for August on its 8.125% Series A cumulative redeemable preferred stock at $0.169271 per share.
10 Best Shipping Stocks To Own For 2014: Teledyne Technologies Incorporated (TDY)
Teledyne Technologies Incorporated provides instrumentation, digital imaging products and software, aerospace and defense electronics, and engineered systems in the United States and internationally. The company?s Instrumentation segment provides monitoring and control instruments for marine, environmental, scientific, industrial, and defense applications, as well as harsh environmental interconnect products. Its Digital Imaging segment includes sponsored and centralized research laboratories benefiting government programs and businesses, as well as development efforts for innovative digital imaging products for government and space applications. It also includes infrared detectors, cameras, and optomechanical assemblies. Teledyne Technologies? Aerospace and Defense Electronics segment provides electronic components and subsystems and communications products, including defense electronics, data acquisition, and communications equipment for air transport and business aircra ft and components and subsystems for wireless and satellite communications, as well as general aviation batteries. The company?s Engineered Systems segment provides systems engineering and integration, advanced technology application, software development, and manufacturing solutions to space, military, environmental, energy, chemical, biological and nuclear systems, and missile defense requirements. This segment also designs and manufactures hydrogen generators, thermoelectric and fuel-cell based power sources, and small turbine engines. Teledyne Technologies? customers include government agencies, aerospace prime contractors, energy exploration and production companies, industrial companies, and airlines. The company was founded in 1960 and is headquartered in Thousand Oaks, California.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Seth Jayson]
Calling all cash flows
When you are trying to buy the market's best stocks, it's worth checking up on your companies' free cash flow once a quarter or so, to see whether it bears any relationship to the net income in the headlines. That's what we do with this series. Today, we're checking in on Teledyne Technologies (NYSE: TDY ) , whose recent revenue and earnings are plotted below. - [By Geoff Gannon]
We should be careful to overstate the tax aspect of buybacks. For example, Q-Logic has a lot of cash overseas (almost all of its $500 million). The company could ��in theory ��make several tender offers for close to 50% of its market cap with that cash. This is the Teledyne (TDY) approach. Q-Logic doesn�� do that for several reasons. One, it likes having some cash on hand at all time. But, more importantly, it doesn�� want to pay the tax.
10 Best Shipping Stocks To Own For 2014: Mindspeed Technologies Inc.(MSPD)
Mindspeed Technologies, Inc. designs, develops, and sells semiconductor networking solutions for communications applications in enterprise, fixed and mobile broadband access, metropolitan, and wide-area networks (WAN). The company offers communications convergence processing products that serve as bridges for transporting video, voice, fax, and modem transmissions between circuit-switched and packet-based fixed and mobile networks, and across network boundaries; and offer video and voice over Internet protocol, voice-over-asynchronous transfer mode (ATM), and voice-over-digital subscriber line services, as well as wireline-to-wireless connectivity. These products include the eighth-generation Comcerto family for fiber-access service delivery; and Transcede family of 3G/4G base station baseband processors. It also provides analog transmission devices and switching products, which comprise laser drivers, transimpedance amplifiers, post amplifiers, clock and data recovery cir cuits, signal conditioners, serializers/deserializers, video reclockers, cable drivers, and line equalizers that support storage area network, fiber-to-the-premise, optical transport networks, and broadcast video. In addition, the company offers WAN communications products comprising transmission solutions and ATM/multi-protocol label switching network processors that facilitate the aggregation, processing, and transport of voice and data traffic over copper wire or fiber optic cable to access metropolitan and long-haul networks. It sells its products directly to network infrastructure original equipment manufacturers; and indirectly through electronic component distributors and third-party electronic manufacturing service providers in the Americas, the Asia-Pacific, Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. The company was founded in 2001 and is headquartered in Newport Beach, California.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Monica Gerson]
Mindspeed Technologies (NASDAQ: MSPD) surged 69.02% to $5.02 in the pre-market session after M/A-Com Technology Solutions Holdings (NASDAQ: MTSI) announced its plans to acquire Mindspeed Technologies.
- [By Lee Jackson]
Mindspeed Technologies Inc. (NASDAQ: MSPD) provides voice over internet protocol (VOIP) infrastructure and some telecom chips, which account for about 10% of sales. This could disrupt earnings at a micro cap tech company. The consensus price target for the stock is $3.75.
- [By Lauren Pollock]
M/A-COM Technology Solutions Holdings Inc.(MTSI) agreed to acquire semiconductor manufacturer Mindspeed Technologies Inc.(MSPD) in a deal valued at $272 million, expanding the company’s markets to include enterprise applications. Mindspeed shares surged 70% to $5.04 premarket.
10 Best Shipping Stocks To Own For 2014: Deutsche Lufthansa AG (LHA)
Deutsche Lufthansa AG is a Germany-based aviation company with global operations and a total of more than 400 subsidiaries and associated companies. The Company is engaged in passenger transport, airfreight and airline services. The Lufthansa Group operates in five major business segments: scheduled passenger air traffic (Passenger Airline Group) consists of Deutsche Lufthansa AG, Lufthansa CityLine GmbH, Swiss International Air Lines AG, Austrian Airlines AG, Air Dolomiti S.p.A., Eurowings Luftverkehrs AG and Germanwings GmbH; scheduled airfreight services (Logistics) consists of the Lufthansa Cargo group; maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) consists of the Lufthansa Technik group; information technology (IT Services) consists of the Lufthansa Systems group, and catering (Catering) consists of the LSG Lufthansa Sky Chefs group. On April 20, 2012, the Company announced the divestiture of British Midland Ltd. (bmi) to International Consolidated Airlines Group SA. Advisors' Opinion:- [By Jonathan Morgan]
German stocks were little changed, as declines in utilities and banks offset gains in Deutsche Lufthansa AG (LHA) and Deutsche Boerse AG.
RWE AG (RWE), Germany�� second-largest utility, slipped 2.4 percent after RBC Capital Markets cut its recommendation on the stock. Lufthansa followed its European peers higher, recovering some of its Aug. 2 selloff. Xing AG (O1BC), the business social network, jumped the most since October as Deutsche Bank AG (DBK) upgraded its rating on the shares.
- [By Jonathan Morgan]
Deutsche Lufthansa AG (LHA), Europe�� largest airline by sales, advanced 3.1 percent to 15.52 euros as a gauge of travel and leisure companies posted the biggest gain of the 19 industry groups in the Stoxx Europe 600 Index. EasyJet Plc rallied after saying its fiscal third-quarter revenue climbed.
- [By Tom Stoukas]
Deutsche Lufthansa AG (LHA) and Allianz SE (ALV) led airlines and insurers lower, retreating at least 1.5 percent. Bayerische Motoren Werke AG (BMW) slid 1.6 percent. Deutsche Bank AG (DBK) rose after JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its recommendation on the shares. Gildemeister AG (GIL) added 3.4 percent after Deutsche Bank upgraded the maker of cutting tools.
10 Best Shipping Stocks To Own For 2014: Tree.com Inc.(TREE)
Tree.Com, Inc., through its subsidiaries, engages in lending business in the United States. It owns various brands and businesses that provide information, tools, advice, products, and services for consumers looking to comparison shop for loans, real estate, and other services from businesses and professionals. The company?s LendingTree Loans segment originates, processes, approves, and funds various types of residential real estate loans primarily under the LendingTree Loans brand name. It offers a range of adjustable and fixed rate mortgage loans, including conforming and prime loans, as well as non-conforming and FHA loans. This segment sources its leads through online and telephone services, as well as through various non-LendingTree channels, such as third-party online lead aggregators and direct mail marketing campaigns. Its Exchanges segment consists of online lead generation networks under the LendingTree.com, GetSmart.com, DegreeTree.com, HealthTree.com, LendingT reeAutos.com, DoneRight.com, and InsuranceTree.com brands; and call centers that connect consumers and service providers, principally in the lending, higher education, home services, insurance, and automobile marketplaces. This segment also provides unsecured loans, automobile loans, credit cards, and various consumer insurance products, as well as opportunities for students seeking institutions of higher education, and home improvement professional services with contractors. The company is based in Charlotte, North Carolina.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Jake L'Ecuyer]
Meanwhile, top decliners in the sector included Tree.Com (NASDAQ: TREE), down 4.7 percent, and Hilltop Holdings (NYSE: HTH), off 6.7 percent.
Top Headline
Office Depot (NYSE: ODP) reported upbeat first-quarter results and announced its plans to close at least 400 stores in the United States. For the full year, Office Depot also lifted its adjusted operating income outlook to at least $160 million versus $140 million. Office Depot posted a quarterly net loss of $109 million, or $0.21 per share, versus a year-ago loss of $17 million, or $0.06 per share. - [By WWW.DAILYFINANCE.COM]
Casper1774 Studio/Shutterstock You may not have noticed it, but recently, it's gotten easier to buy a new home. Last year, a strong housing market combined with fears that the Federal Reserve would eventually begin tapering its purchases of mortgage bonds. Together, these factors helped drive up the cost of a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage from about 3.3 percent in January 2013 to nearly 4.6 percent by September. Since then, mortgage rates have backed off those recent highs, bobbling back and forth between 4.5 percent or so, and, recently, 4.2 percent. This has helped to keep housing affordable for those who want to buy a home. But it did pose the bankers a dilemma: How could they get more people to want to buy homes in the first place, so that they could sell more mortgages? Answer: Make it easier to apply for a mortgage. Mortgage Down Payments Live Down to Their Name Last spring, lending data website LendingTree.com (TREE) released a report showing that the average down payment demanded by mortgage bankers to obtain a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage had fallen 9.4 percent since mid-2011. At 16.1 percent, it was nearly 4 full percentage points shy of the old rule of thumb that a home buyer should put 20 percent down on a new home. Six months later, average down payments had fallen to 15.73 percent of the value of a home. Now, LendingTree has put out an updated report showing that after down payment demands inched back up in 2013 (to 16.01 percent), they've begun to fall once more. At last report, mortgage bankers on average want to see a 15.78 percent down payment -- a bit more than what we saw last fall, but still continuing the downward trend in down payments. Why? One clue may be found in recent comments from Freddie Mac vice president and chief economist Frank Nothaft, who's been highlighting declines in existing-home sales, in new-home sales as well, and even in permits taken out to build houses, in a series of reports through April. If home-buying is
10 Best Shipping Stocks To Own For 2014: Powershares DB Commodity Index Tracking Fund (DBC)
PowerShares DB Commodity Index Tracking Fund (the Fund) and its subsidiary, DB Commodity Index Tracking Master Fund (the Master Fund), were formed as trusts. The Fund is designed to replicate positions in a commodity index.
The PowerShares DB Commodity Index Tracking Fund is based on the Deutsche Bank Liquid Commodity Index - Optimum Yield Excess Return (Index). The Fund is managed by DB Commodity Services LLC.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Doug Fabian]
PowerShares DB Commodity Index Tracking Fund (DBC) is a fund that tracks a basket of commodities, including gold, silver, Brent crude oil, RBOB gasoline, heating oil, sugar, corn, soybeans, and much more.
- [By Richard Stavros]
Another futures-based ETF is PowerShares Deutsche Bank Commodity Index (DBC). It is more diversified than DBA. It holds futures contracts in corn and wheat. But it also holds significant positions in gold, heating oil, and crude.
- [By Cameron Swinehart]
Going forward I will be looking to add investments on my watchlist and trim other positions. It will be interesting to see how an overweight commodity portfolio will perform relative to the rest of the market.
Cost Basis# SharesCurrent Price% of PortfolioCurrent ValueReturnMetal/Miners Sprott Physical Gold Trust (PHYS)$12.4985$11.043.75%$938.40-13.13%Sprott Physical Silver Trust (PSLV)$7.95125$8.744.37%$1,092.509.04%FreePort-McMoran (FCX)$31.6731$33.874.20%$1,049.976.50%Ishares MSCI Global Gold Miners ETF (RING)$13.0695$10.644.04%$1,010.80-22.74%Energy Statoil ASA(STO)$21.7940$22.683.63%$907.203.92%Vanguard Natural Resources LLC (VNR)$27.5636$27.874.01%$1,003.321.11%ConocoPhillips (COP)$63.6822.43$71.006.37%$1,592.5310.31%Agriculture CVR Partner LP (UAN)$26.3630.9$18.932.34%$584.94-39.25%Adecoagro$6.78125$7.443.72%$930.008.87%Archer-Daniels Midland (ADM)$34.8030$37.244.47%$1,117.206.55%Mixed Commodity Powershares DB Commodity Index (DBC)$26.3540$25.954.15%$1,038.00-1.54%Sprott Resource Corp$3.34400$2.714.34%$1,084.00-23.25% Total % of portfolio49.40% Cost Basis12,666.00 Current Value12,348.86 Return-2.50% Source: Investing For The Future Surge In Commodity PricesDisclosure: I am long ADM, FCX, UAN, AGRO, RING, VNR, SCPZF.PK, COP, DBC, PHYS, PSLV. I wrote this article myself, and it expresses my own opinions. I am not receiving compensation for it (other than from Seeking Alpha). I have no business relationship with any company whose stock is mentioned in this article. (More...)
10 Best Shipping Stocks To Own For 2014: Limelight Networks Inc.(LLNW)
Limelight Networks, Inc. provides content delivery network services in North America, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and the Asia Pacific. It offers content delivery services to deliver media files, such as video, music, games, and software, or live streaming of corporate or entertainment events; video content management services, which enable organizations to publish, manage, syndicate, analyze, and monetize video content through a cloud-based service; Web content management services that enable content publishers to create, manage, and publish Web content through a cloud-based service; and mobility and monetization services that help publishers to deliver content to media-enabled mobile handsets or tablets. The company also provides Web acceleration services, which enhance Web experiences for content, online commerce transactions, and Web applications; cloud storage services that comprise customer services for the storage of media and enterprise content; and global con sulting and technical services that enable customers optimize their publishing, e-commerce, mobility, or content distribution workflows, as well as to provide support for network architecture design, storage infrastructure, Web application development, creative design, live event execution, and design, deployment, and management of infrastructure. In addition, it offers reporting and analytics services that help customers to manage and configure content delivery and presentation. The company offers its services to traditional and emerging media companies or content providers, including businesses operating in the television, music, radio, newspaper, magazine, movie, videogame, software, and social media industries; and enterprises, technology companies, and government entities doing business online. The company was founded in 2001 and is headquartered in Tempe, Arizona.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Bryan Murphy]
For Google, the shift in the way the justice system looks at and handles patent infringement claims meant its subsidiary, Motorola Mobility, unsuccessfully bid to convince U.S. courts that Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) was illegally using Google's/Motorola's approach for sending data to a mobile device. For Akamai Technologies, it means that the technology company will need to re-explain - and ultimately re-prove - to an appellate court that Limelight Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:LLNW) infringed on an Akamai patent even though a lower court had already ruled in favor of AKAM. And for Soverain Software, the legal system's new attitude meant it wouldn't even bother hearing its appeal for a case it lost against Newegg last year... a case it's tried against several companies, losing every time.
- [By Rich Smith]
Tempe, Ariz.-based Limelight Networks (NASDAQ: LLNW ) will soon have a new CFO.
On Wednesday, Limelight announced that current Chief Financial Officer Douglas Lindroth has entered a "transition period," after which he plans to leave the company to "pursue other business and professional interests." Replacing him will be new CFO Peter Perrone, who comes from Goldman Sachs' Merchant Banking Division, having experience in Internet infrastructure companies such as Limelight. He is a current member of Limelight's board of directors. He will step down from the Limelight board as he joins the firm as a senior vice president.
- [By jaggom]
Akamai (AKAM) and Limelight (LLNW) are two completely different prospects that investors can consider in the content delivery services space. Both have been performing differently. Let's take a look at which one suits investors' portfolios the best.
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