Do Target-Date Retirement Funds Miss the Mark?

NEW YORK ( TheStreet ) -- Holding more than $500 billion in assets, target-date funds rank among the most popular choices in retirement plans. The funds are designed to serve people who will retire on certain dates, such as 2020 or 2035.

But some financial planners argue that the target funds are not perfect solutions. Critics contend that the one-size-fits-all portfolios should be tweaked to lower risks or to boost returns. "The strategies of target-date funds do not make sense," says Ron Surz, president of Target Date Solutions, which seeks to lower risks of portfolios.

At a time when most observers praise the target-date funds, the critics remain a distinct minority. Still, their views are worth considering because they suggest ways that retirement portfolios could be improved or customized by do-it-yourself investors.

The target-date approach has attracted millions of investors by offering balanced portfolios of stocks and bonds. For 401(k) participants, the diversified funds represent a step forward from the days when many savers put all their money in cash or the stock of their employers. Much of the criticism focuses on the asset allocations. Funds for people in their 20s and 30s typically have 70% to 90% of assets in equities and the rest in fixed income. As savers age, the equity allocations gradually decline according to schedules known as glide paths. Portfolios for retirees have from 20% to 50% in equities. The thinking is that older people must be more conservative because they have little time to recover from market downturns. Critics charge that the glide paths should be changed. Surz says that the funds for older people are hazardous because the equity allocations are too big. He points to the losses that equity portfolios recorded in the financial crisis. During the downturn of 2008, funds with target dates of 2000 to 2010 declined an average of 22.5%, according to Morningstar. For retirees, such losses could be devastating. To avoid being caught in a downturn, Surz says that investors should begin shifting to cash 10 years before the retirement date. At the time of retirement, the funds should be entirely in cash. That way savers won't suffer big losses just before withdrawals start.

As they move into retirement, investors should seek customized solutions, Surz says. People of moderate means may decide to hold mostly annuities that provide guaranteed annual income.

Rob Arnott, chief executive of Research Affiliates, says that glide paths should be scrapped. Instead of gradually shifting allocations, investors would be better served by always holding half the assets in bonds and half in stocks.

To demonstrate the impact of allocations, Arnott looked at a hypothetical employee who saved $1,000 annually for 41 years. The saver followed a standard glide path, starting with an 80% equity allocation and tapering to 20% on retirement. Another saver in the study held 50% in stocks and 50% in bonds throughout the period.

Arnott examined the outcome over many different 41-year periods from 1871 through 2011. On average, the standard glide path produced a nest egg of $124,000, about $13,000 less than the 50-50 portfolio. The glide path was also more erratic, lagging badly during many periods when stocks fared poorly. Arnott says that the problem with the glide path is that the portfolio is stock-heavy during the earlier years when the nest egg is small. Big gains from a small asset base don't add many dollars to the final portfolio. To improve results and manage risks, Arnott proposes using a 50-50 portfolio and adjusting it with several tweaks. To lower risk for retirees, he suggests gradually reducing the maturities of bonds. During the first 20 years, the bond portfolio would focus on securities with 20-year maturities. Those tend to have higher yields and stronger long-term returns than shorter bonds do. But the long bonds can be volatile, suffering losses when interest rates rise. To limit the hazard, Arnott suggests gradually reducing maturities during the 20 years before retirement. On the retirement date, the fixed-income allocation would be in Treasury bills, which could hold their value in a bond bear market. So far, Arnott has won few followers. But some funds have moved in his direction recently, shortening bond maturities or increasing equity allocations for retirees. Follow @StanLuxenberg This article was written by an independent contributor, separate from TheStreet's regular news coverage.

Stan Luxenberg is a freelance writer specializing in mutual funds and investing. He was executive editor of Individual Investor magazine.

Best Dividend Companies To Buy Right Now

Best Dividend Companies To Buy Right Now: NYSE Euronext Inc.(NYX)

NYSE Euronext, through its subsidiaries, operates securities exchanges. It operates various stock exchanges, including the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), NYSE Arca, Inc., and NYSE Amex LLC in the United States; and five European-based exchanges that comprise Euronext N.V. ? the Paris, Amsterdam, Brussels, and Lisbon stock exchanges, as well as the NYSE Liffe derivatives markets in London, Paris, Amsterdam, Brussels, and Lisbon. The company?s Derivatives segment provides access to trade execution in derivatives products, options, and futures; offers clearing services for derivative products; and sells and distributes market data and related information. NYSE Euronext?s Cash Trading and Listings segment engages in offering access to trade execution in cash trading and settlement of transactions in European markets; obtaining new listings and servicing existing listings; selling and distributing market data and related information; and providing regulatory services. Its Info rmation Services and Technology Solutions segment operates sell side and buy side connectivity networks for its markets and for other market centers, and market participants in the United States, Europe, and Asia; provides trading and information technology software and solutions; sells and distributes market data and related information to data subscribers for proprietary data products; and offers asset management services, and consultancy services to exchanges and liquidity centers. The company is headquartered in New York, New York.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Alex Planes]

  Merrill had been founded in 1914, so why did it wait decades to go public? The answer involves the New York Stock Exchange -- now part of NYSE Euronext (NYSE: NYX  ) -- which underwent many rule changes during the '60s and '70s. A long-standing rule prohibiting NYSE member firms (typically broker-dealers) from operating as joint-stock corporat! ions was loosened in 1970. Following this change, a number of member firms -- but not the majority -- wound up going public to take advantage of fresh capital.

• [By Jason Cunningham]

  NYSE Euronext (NYSE: NYX) CEO and director Duncan Niederauer appeared on CNBC Tuesday to discuss his excitement over Twitter's (NYSE: TWTR) highly anticipated IPO on Thursday.

source from Top Stocks To Buy For 2015:http://www.topstocksforum.com/best-dividend-companies-to-buy-right-now-3.html

Top Freight Stocks For 2014

Nampa Police Department via APFormer Dixie River Freight employee Christopher L. Hall is suspected of abandoning a trailer containing $80,000 in frozen chicken at a western Montana truck stop and taking the $160,000 tractor. MISSOULA, Mont. -- A truck containing 37,000 pounds of now-rotten chicken may have sat in a western Montana truck stop for more than a month while its driver texted and called his employer demanding money, police said. The driver abandoned the trailer at some point after Dixie River Freight refused his demands, and he left the frozen cargo worth $80,000 to thaw and then rot when the fuel for the trailer's refrigeration unit ran out. The trailer still sat at the Flying J Truck Stop west of Missoula on Thursday, dripping rancid juices onto the concrete and attracting flies. Police in Nampa, Idaho, are searching for the driver, 42-year-old Christopher Hall, who had been wanted for a parole violation and now faces a possible theft charge.

5 Best Industrial Conglomerate Stocks To Invest In 2015: Werner Enterprises Inc (WERN)

Werner Enterprises, Inc., incorporated on September 14, 1982, is a transportation and logistics company engaged primarily in hauling truckload shipments of general commodities in both interstate and intrastate commerce. The Company also provides logistics services through its value added services (VAS) division. As of the year ended December 31, 2012, the Company had a fleet of 7,150 trucks, of which 6,505 were Company-operated and 645 were owned and operated by independent contractors. The Company operates in two segments: Truckload Transportation Services (Truckload) and VAS.

Truckload segment

The Company's Truckload segment consists of the One-Way Truckload and Specialized Services units. One-Way Truckload includes the operating fleets: the regional short-haul (Regional) fleet transports a variety of consumer nondurable products and other commodities in truckload quantities within geographic regions across the United States using dry van trailers; the medium-to-long-haul van (Van) fleet provides comparable truckload van service over irregular routes, and the expedited (Expedited) fleet provides time-sensitive truckload services utilizing driver teams.

Specialized Services provides truckload services dedicated to a specific customer, generally for a retail distribution center or manufacturing facility, including services for products requiring specialized trailers such as flatbed or temperature-controlled trailers. The Company's Truckload fleets operate throughout the 48 contiguous United States, both common and contract, granted by the United States Department of Transportation (DOT). The Company also has authority to operate in several provinces of Canada and to provide through-trailer service into and out of Mexico. The principal types of freight the Company transports include retail store merchandise, consumer products, grocery products and manufactured products. The Company focuses on transporting consumer nondurable products that generally ship.

!

VAS segment

The Company's VAS segment is a non-asset-based transportation and logistics provider. VAS is consists of four operating units that provide non-trucking services to the Company's customers: truck brokerage (Brokerage) uses contracted carriers to complete customer shipments; freight management (Freight Management) offers a range of single-source logistics management services and solutions; the intermodal (Intermodal) unit offers rail transportation through alliances with rail and drayage providers as an alternative to truck transportation, and Werner Global Logistics international (WGL) provides complete management of global shipments from origin to destination using a combination of air, ocean, truck and rail transportation modes. The Company's Brokerage unit had transportation services contracts with approximately 9,400 carriers as of December 31, 2012.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Monica Gerson]

  Werner Enterprises (NASDAQ: WERN) issued a weak third-quarter profit forecast. Werner shares dropped 2.09% to $23.90 in the after-hours trading session.

• [By Seth Jayson]

  Werner Enterprises (Nasdaq: WERN  ) reported earnings on July 22. Here are the numbers you need to know.

  The 10-second takeaway
  For the quarter ended June 30 (Q2), Werner Enterprises missed estimates on revenues and missed estimates on earnings per share.

• [By Jake L'Ecuyer]

  Equities Trading DOWN
  Shares of Outerwall (NASDAQ: OUTR) were down 16.03 percent to $47.00 after the company lowered its forecast for the third quarter and full year. Werner Enterprises (NASDAQ: WERN) shares tumbled 4.71 percent to $23.26 after the company issued a weak third-quarter profit forecast. Bank of America downgraded the stock from Buy to Neutral. Pandora Media (NYSE: P) down, falling 1.71 percent to $23.58 as the company announced its plans to sell 14 million shares of common stock, including 4 million shares from current stockholders.

• [By Monica Gerson]

  Werner Enterprises (NASDAQ: WERN) is expected to post its Q3 earnings at $0.29 per share on revenue of $503.82 million.

  Chipotle Mexican Grill (NYSE: CMG) is estimated to post its Q3 earnings at $2.78 per share on revenue of $820.28 million.

Top Freight Stocks For 2014: Heartland Express Inc (HTLD)

Heartland Express, Inc. (Heartland), incorporated on August 8, 1986, is a short-to-medium haul truckload carrier. The Company provides regional dry van truckload services through its regional terminals plus its corporate headquarters. The Company transports freight for shippers and generally earns revenue based on the number of miles per load delivered. The Company�� primary traffic lanes are between customer locations east of the Rocky Mountains. The Company is a holding company of Heartland Express Inc. of Iowa, Heartland Express Services, Inc., Heartland Express Maintenance Services, Inc. and A & M Express, Inc. Heartland operates nine specialized regional distribution operations in Atlanta, Georgia; Carlisle, Pennsylvania; Chester, Virginia; Columbus, Ohio; Jacksonville, Florida; Kingsport, Tennessee; Olive Branch, Mississippi; Phoenix, Arizona, and Seagoville, Texas. The Company operates maintenance facilities at all regional distribution operating centers along with shop only locations in Fort Smith, Arkansas and O��allon, Missouri. In November 2013, Heartland Express Inc acquired 100% of the stock of Gordon Trucking, Inc.

The Company�� operations department is responsible for maintaining the continuity between the customer�� needs and Heartland�� ability to meet those needs by communicating customer�� expectations to the fleet management group. They are charged with development of customer relationships, ensuring service standards, coordinating proper freight-to-capacity balancing, trailer asset management, and daily tactical decisions pertaining to matching the customer demand with the appropriate capacity within geographical service areas. They assign orders to drivers based on well-defined criteria, such as driver safety and United States Department of Transportation (the DOT) compliance, customer needs and service requirements, on-time service, equipment utilization, driver time at home, operational efficiency, and equipment maintenance needs. Fleet management is r! esponsible for driver management and development. Their responsibilities include meeting the needs of the drivers within the standards that have been set by the organization and communicating the requirements of the customers to the drivers on each order to ensure successful execution. Serving the short-to-medium haul market (500 miles average length of haul in 2012) permits the Company to use primarily single, rather than team drivers and dispatch loads directly from origin to destination without an intermediate equipment change other than for driver scheduling purposes.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Jake L'Ecuyer]

  Equities Trading UP
  Heartland Express (NASDAQ: HTLD) shot up 19.72 percent to $17.14 after the company reported that it has acquired Gordon Trucking for $300 million.

• [By Ben Levisohn]

  Heartland Express (HTLD) has dropped 2.2% to $19.12 after it was cut to Hold from Buy at Stifel Nicolaus.

  Allergan (AGN) was upgraded to Outperform from Market Perform at Wells Fargo.

• [By Ben Levisohn]

  Shares of Heartland Express (HTLD) rose today despite being cut by Stifel Nicolaus for valuation reasons.

  Bloomberg News

  Shares of Heartland Express have gained 50% this year, trumping the 38% rise in Con-Way (CNW) and the 29% advance in J.B. Hunt Transport Services (JBHT) but lagging Old Dominion Freight Lines (ODFL) and Swift Transportation (SWFT).

  That big gain was enough for Stifel’s John Larkin say no mas and cut his rating on Heartland Express. They explain why:

  Downgrading from Buy to Hold as the company’s shares appear fully and fairly valued. In fact, shares have recently traded through our 12-month fair value estimate of $19 (or 16.0x our 2015 EPS estimate of $1.15 plus ~$0.68 per share NPV of future cash tax benefits).

  Rating change is primarily valuation based as well as from our view that most transportation equities are trading ahead of the still mediocre underlying freight market fundamentals.

  BB&T’s Thomas Albrecht and team, who upgraded Heartland Express to Buy from Hold yesterday, explain why they think the stock will do just fine regardless of the economy:

  Heartland is an intriguing play upon both a slow-growth economy and a rapidly growing one (along with tight capacity). Many carriers are only able to thrive in the latter environment. With HTLD we believe that even in a sluggish economy it has a self-generating EPS story through the integration and growth of Gordon. Q3’13, a very difficult quarter for TL carriers, saw HTLD post a 79.3% OR versus 83.3%.

  The timing of the Gordon deal seems ideal, similar to the Great Coastal acquisition in mid-2002. Back then the TL market was stabilizing, but had yet to really take off, which occurred in the back half of 2003. Those 4-5 quarters allowed HTLD to assess customers, integrate operations, consolidate facilities and get ready for the next cycle. By the time that occurred HTLD was ready to take advantage of the capacity

Top Freight Stocks For 2014: Echo Global Logistics Inc (ECHO)

Echo Global Logistics, Inc. (Echo) is a provider of technology enabled transportation and supply chain management services. Its Web-based technology platform compiles and analyzes data from its network of over 24,000 transportation providers to serve its clients' shipping and freight management needs. Its technology platform, composed of Web-based software applications and a database, enables it to identify excess transportation capacity, obtain competitive rates, and execute thousands of shipments every day. It focuses on arranging transportation across truckload (TL) and less than truck load (LTL), and it also offers small parcel, inter-modal (which involves moving a shipment by rail and truck), domestic air, expedited and international transportation services. Its logistics services include rate negotiation, shipment execution and tracking, carrier management, routing compliance, freight bill audit and payment and performance management reporting, including executive dashboard tools. Effective January 1, 2011, the Company acquired Nationwide Traffic Services, LLC. (Nationwide) Effective July 1, 2011, the Company acquired Advantage Transport, Inc. (Advantage). Effective December 1, 2011, the Company acquired the stock of Trailer Transport Systems (TTS). In June 2012, the Company acquired Plum Logistics, LLC. In July 2012, it acquired all of the assets of Shipper Direct Logistics, Inc. In October 2012, the Company acquired Sharp Freight Systems, Inc.

The Company�� clients fall into two categories, enterprise and transactional. Its enterprise clients outsource their transportation management function to Echo. It enters into multi-year contracts with its enterprise clients. As part of its value proposition, it also provides core logistics services to these clients, including the management of both freight expenditures and logistical issues surrounding freight to be transported. It provides transportation and logistics services to its transactional clients on a shipment-by-shipment basis.! It is a non-asset-based provider of technology enabled transportation and logistics services. Through its carrier network, it provides transportation services using a range of modes of transportation.

Transportation Services

The Company provides Truckload (TL) services across all TL segments, including dry vans, temperature-controlled units and flatbeds. Using its LaneIQ technology, it provide advanced dispatch, communication and data collection tools and capacity information to its clients on a real-time basis. The Company provides less than truckload (LTL) services involving the shipment of single or multiple pallets of freight. Using its RateIQ 2.0 technology, it obtains real-time pricing and transit time information for every LTL shipment from its database of LTL carriers. It provides small parcel services for packages of all sizes. Using its EchoPak technology, it delivers cost saving opportunities to its clients. Inter-modal transportation is the shipping of freight by multiple modes, using a container that is transferred between ships, railcars or trucks. It offers inter-modal transportation services for its clients, which utilizes both trucks and rail. The Company provides domestic air and expedited shipment services for its clients when traditional LTL services do not meet delivery requirements. It uses ETM track and trace tools for up to date information to its clients through EchoTrak. The Company provides air and ocean transportation services for its clients, offering a comprehensive international delivery option to its clients.

Logistics Services

In addition to arranging for transportation, the Company provides logistics services, either on-site (in the case of some enterprise clients) or off-site, to manage the flow of those goods from origin to destination. Its core logistics services include rate negotiation; procurement of transportation, both contractually and in the spot market; shipment execution and tracking; carrier management, ! reporting! and compliance; executive dashboard presentations and detailed shipment reports; freight bill audit and payment; claims processing and service refund management; design and management of inbound client freight programs; individually configured Web portals and self-service data warehouses; enterprise resource planning (ERP) integration with transactional shipment data, and integration of shipping applications into client e-commerce sites. Customers communicate their freight needs, typically on a shipment-by-shipment basis, to the individual or team responsible for their account. Customers communicate with it by means of telephone, fax, Internet, e-mail, or Electronic Data Interchange (EDI).

Technology Platform

The Company�� ETM technology platform allows it to analyze its clients' transportation requirements and provide customized shipping recommendations. It collects and store pricing and market capacity data in its ETM database from each interaction with carriers, and its database expands as a result of these interactions. It has also developed data acquisition tools, which retrieve information from both private and public transportation databases, including subscription-based sources and public transportation rate boards, and incorporate that information into the ETM database. Its clients communicate their transportation needs to it electronically through its EchoTrak web portal, other computer protocols, or by phone. ETM generates pricing and carrier information for its clients by accessing pre-negotiated rates with preferred carriers or using present or historical pricing and capacity information contained in its database. If a client enters its own shipment, ETM automatically alerts the appropriate account executive. After the carrier is selected, either by it or the client, its account executives use its ETM technology platform to manage all aspects of the shipping process.

The Company�� FastLane is an Internet-based Web portal, which allows its carriers! to view ! shipments available for tender, update equipment availability and preferred lanes, check on the status of all unpaid invoices, unbilled shipments, shipments in transit and other information used to resolve any billing discrepancies. There is also a mobile FastLane application, which allows carriers to view similar information remotely. eConnect is a set of tools, which allows the Company�� clients and carriers to interact directly with ETM electronically through any of several computer protocols, including EDI, extensible markup language (XML) and file transfer protocol (FTP). The eConnect tools serve as an electronic bridge between the other elements of its ETM technology platform and its clients' enterprise resource planning (ERP), billing, accounts receivable, accounts payable, order management, back office and e-commerce systems. Through eConnect, its clients are able to request shipping services and receive financial and tracking data using their existing systems.

EchoTrak is an Internet-based Web portal, which connects and integrates its clients with ETM. By entering a username and password, its clients are able to enter orders, display historical and active shipments in the ETM system using configurable data entry screens sorted by carrier, price, delivery date, destination and other relevant specifications. EchoTrak also generates automatic alerts to ensure that shipments are moving in accordance with the client specifications and timeline. There is also a mobile EchoTrak application, which allows customers to perform similar functions remotely. RateIQ2.0 is a pricing engine, which manages LTL tariffs and generates rate quotes and transit times for LTL shipments. RateIQ2.0 also provides integrated tools to manage dispatch, communications, data collection and management functions relating to LTL shipments. LaneIQ is a pricing engine, which generates rate quotes for TL shipments. LaneIQ also provides integrated tools to manage dispatch, communications, headhaul and backhaul data col! lection a! nd management functions relating to TL shipments. EchoPak is a small parcel pricing and audit engine. For each small parcel shipped, EchoPak audits carrier compliance with on-time delivery requirements and pricing tariffs. In addition, EchoPak tracks information for each parcel and is able to aggregate and analyze that data for clients. For instance, clients are able to view shipments by date, business unit, product line and location, and clients can access information regarding service levels and pricing.

The Company�� Shipment Tracking stores shipment information en-route and after final delivery. The shipment data is acquired through its carrier EDI integration, allowing its clients to track the location and status of all shipments on one screen, regardless of mode or carrier. Final delivery information is permanently archived, allowing it to provide its clients with carrier performance reporting by comparing actual delivery times with the published transit time standards.

Document Imaging allows the Company to store digital images of all shipping documents, including bills of lading and delivery receipts. CAS (Cost Allocation System) automatically audits carrier invoices against its rating engine and accounts payable accrual system. If the amounts match, the invoice is automatically released for payment. If the amounts do not match, the invoice is sent to various administrative personnel for manual processing and resolution. CAS also integrates to its general ledger, accounts receivable and accounts payable systems. Accounting includes its general ledger, accounts receivable and accounts payable functions. Accounting is integrated with CAS and EchoIQ. EchoIQ stores internally and externally generated data to support its reporting and analytic functions and integrate all of its core applications with ETM. ETM supports its logistics services, which it provides to its clients as part of its value proposition. Its ETM technology platform is able to track individual shipments ! and provi! de customized data and reports throughout the lifecycle of the shipment, allowing it to manage the entire shipping process for its clients. It also market Flex TMS.

The Company competes with C.H. Robinson Worldwide, Total Quality Logistics, UPS, FedEx, Schneider, Conway, JB Hunt and ABF.

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 Echo Global Logistics (Nasdaq: ECHO  ) , whose recent revenue and earnings are plotted below.

• [By Will Ashworth]

  Without further adieu, here are my five best stocks for the next 20 years:

  Best Stocks #1 (Small Cap): Echo Global Logistics (ECHO)
  

  Echo Global Logistics (ECHO) uses web-based proprietary technology to provide business process outsourcing to the transportation industry. Founded in 2005, ECHO serves more than 28,500 small- and midsize customers who use its technology to access the best shipping prices from a network of 24,000 carriers in a matter of seconds.

Top Freight Stocks For 2014: Aurizon Holdings Ltd (QRNNF)

Aurizon Holdings Limited, formerly QR National Limited, is a rail freight operator. It owns and operates a coal network made up of 2,670 kilometers of heavy haul rail infrastructure. It provides specialist services in rail design, engineering, construction, management and maintenance, and offers supply chain solutions to a range of customers in Australia. Its business comprises three product lines. Coal business includes transport of coal from mines in Queensland and New South Wales to end customers and ports. Freight business includes transport of bulk mineral commodities, including iron ore, agricultural products, mining and industrial inputs and general freight throughout Queensland and Western Australia. Network Services business provides access to, and operation and management of the Central Queensland Coal Network. In January 2014 the Company announced that National Australia Bank Limited and its associated entities has ceased to be the substantial holder of the Company. Advisors' Opinion:

• [By MARKETWATCH]

  LOS ANGELES (MarketWatch) -- Australia stocks enjoyed early Monday gains after an advance for commodities and U.S. stocks since the last session, with a relatively good reception for earnings. The S&P/ASX 200 (AU:XJO) improved by 0.4% to 5,376.30, with miners tracking gains in gold and copper. Rio Tinto Ltd. (AU:RIO) (RIO) added 1.3%, and Fortescue Metals Group Ltd. (AU:FMG) (FSUMF) traded 1.1% higher, while gold miners Newcrest Mining Ltd. (AU:NCM) (NCMGF) and Kingsgate Consolidated Ltd. (AU:KCN) (KSKGF) rallied 2.2% and 4.7%, respectively. Banks rose after Wall Street shares climbed on Friday, with National Australia Bank Ltd. (AU:NAB) (NAUBF) up 1% and Australia & New Zealand Banking Group (AU:ANZ) (ANEWF) adding 0.9%, though Commonwealth Bank of Australia (AU:CBA) (CBAUF) dropped 2.4% as it traded without rights to its latest dividend. Coal transport firm Aurizon Holdings Ltd. (AU:AZJ) (QRNNF) tacked on 2.1% as its fiscal first-half underlying profit increased 18%, though net profit f

Top Freight Stocks For 2014: Vitran Corporation Inc (VTNC)

Vitran Corporation Inc. (Vitran), incorporated on April 29, 1981, is a provider of freight surface transportation and related supply chain services throughout Canada 34 states in the eastern, southeastern, central, southwestern, and western United States. The Company�� business consists of Less-than-truckload services (LTL). These services are provided by stand-alone business units within their respective regions. Vitran�� business is carried on through its subsidiaries, which hold the licenses and permits required to carry on business. As of December 31, 2012, Vitran�� principal wholly owned operating subsidiaries included Vitran Express Canada Inc. (Ontario), Can-Am Logistics Inc. (Ontario), Vitran Logistics Ltd. (Ontario), Expediteur T.W. Ltee (Canada), Vitran Corporation (Nevada), Vitran Express Inc. (Pennsylvania), Vitran Logistics Corp. (Delaware), Vitran Logistics Inc. (Indiana), and Las Vegas/L.A. Express, Inc. (California). In March 2013, Vitran Corp Inc completed divestiture of its Supply Chain Operation division to Legacy Supply Chain. In October 2013, Vitran Corporation Inc. completed the sale of its United States LTL business.

LTL Services

Within Canada, the Company provides next-day service within Ontario, Quebec and parts of western Canada, and generates its revenue from the movement of LTL freight within the three- to five-day east-west service lanes. The majority of its trans-Canada freight is shipped intermodally, whereby the Company�� containers are loaded onto rail cars and trans-loaded to Vitran facilities where Vitran�� network of owner operators pick up and deliver the freight to various destinations. During 2012, Vitran�� Canadian LTL business represented approximately 27.6% of total LTL revenues. Vitran�� Transborder Service Solution (inter-regional) provides over-the-road service between its Canadian LTL and United States LTL business units.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Monica Gerson]

  Breaking news

  Vitran Corporation (NASDAQ: VTNC) announced today that it has entered into a definitive arrangement agreement with TransForce pursuant to which TransForce has agreed to acquire all of the outstanding common shares of Vitran not already owned by TransForce for US$6.50 in cash per share, in accordance with TransForce's prior proposal. To read the full news, click here. ReneSola (NYSE: SOL) today announced it signed a Memorandum of Intent (MOI) to sell three utility-scale projects in Western China, with a total capacity of 60MW, to Jiangsu Akcome Solar Science & Technology Co on December 30, 2013. To read the full news, click here. Cooper Tire & Rubber Company (NYSE: CTB) today announced it has terminated the merger agreement with Apollo Tyres (NSE:ApolloTYRE). To read the full news, click here. RedHill Biopharma (NASDAQ: RDHL) today announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement with leading healthcare investor OrbiMed Israel Partners Limited Partnership, an affiliate of OrbiMed Advisors LLC, for the sale of RedHill's American Depository Shares and warrants in a private placement transactionor a total sum of $6.0 million. To read the full news, click here.

  Posted-In: Guggenheim US Stock FuturesNews Eurozone Futures Global Pre-Market Outlook Markets

Top Freight Stocks For 2014: Agility Public Warehousing Co KSC (AGLTY)

Agility Public Warehousing Company KSC is a Kuwait-based company engaged, along with its subsidiaries, in the provision of global integrated logistics solutions. The Company is organized into two business segments: the Logistic and Related services segment provides logistics offering to its clients, including freight forwarding, transportation, contract logistics, project logistics and fairs and events logistics, and the Infrastructure segment provides other services, which include industrial real estate airport and airplane ground handling and cleaning services, customs consulting, private equity and waste recycling. The Company operates under the brand name of Agility. The Company�� subsidiaries include Global Express Transport Co. WLL, PWC Transport Company WLL, Agility DGS Logistics Services KSCC and Gulf Catering Company for General, among others. Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Fiona MacDonald]

  The Kuwait SE Price Index rose for a sixth day, climbing 0.5 percent to 6,851.17 at the close. Kuwait Real Estate Co. (KRE) climbed to the highest level in a month. Agility (AGLTY) advanced 1.7 percent after winning a $190 million UN contract in Sudan�� Darfur region. The Bloomberg GCC 200 Index, which tracks the biggest 200 companies in the Gulf Cooperation Council, fell 0.1 percent.

Finally, Someone Else Says Housing Market Rebound Suspicious

 

By Moe Zulfiqar

It’s as bad as expected, or should I say so far so good? I have been critical about the housing market in the U.S. economy for some time now; I don’t buy the blind optimism that is heard in the mainstream these days, which states the housing market will continue to increase at the rate we have seen in 2012. I stand in the camp that says we are not going to see a crash like the one we saw not too long ago, but at the same time, the increase in the U.S. housing market won’t be as exuberant as we witnessed last year—in fact, we might even see a correction going forward.

It’s not just me saying this; Fitch Ratings also agrees with this notion. According to its U.S. RMBS Sustainable Home Price and Economic Risk Factor Report, home prices in the U.S. housing market are overvalued by 17% as per Fitch’s Sustainable Home Prices (SHP) model. The rating agency said that the U.S. housing market has increased 20% year-over-year; this is the highest growth rate in any time in the last 10 years. (Source: “Fitch: Several U.S. Cities Nearing Bubble-Year Home Price Peaks,” Fitch Ratings web site, November 6, 2013.)

Here’s why the housing market looks to be facing hardships going forward.

The U.S. economy is still in trouble, as the financial crisis has left deep wounds that haven’t healed. If someone doesn’t have enough income to pay for their expenses and they’re relying heavily on government assistance, such as food stamps, would they actively look to buy a home? I don’t think it would be their first priority.

In addition to this, the mortgage rates have increased substantially since May of this year. This is all thanks to the quantitative easing taper speculation. What it has done is send those who were thinking of entering the housing market away. When the mortgage rates increase, it makes it more expensive for an individual to own a house. For example, According to the National Association of Realtors, 28% of all existing home sales in the U.S. housing market in September were from first-time home buyers. Compared to last year, this number has declined 12.5% from the same period a year ago. (Source: “Existing-Home Sales Down in September but Prices Rise,” National Association of Realtors web site, October 21, 2013.)

Worst of all, the U.S. housing market saw an influx of investors coming in and buying homes in bulk with cash. We have seen this in the past, when companies like Blackrock, Inc. (NYSE: BLK) purchased a significant amount of residential properties for the sole purpose of renovating and renting them out.

With all this in mind; one must wonder what happens to the homebuilder stocks, since they are closely related to the housing market.

Truth be told, if the housing market in the U.S. economy faces hurdles, the homebuilder stocks will face a precarious future ahead. If investors are heavily invested in them, this may be the time to think and reflect on what’s happening in the U.S. housing market. If they insist on keeping those stocks, then they should consider taking some profits off the table.

This article Finally, Someone Else Says Housing Market Rebound Suspicious was originally published at Daily Gains Letter

The following article is from one of our external contributors. It does not represent the opinion of Benzinga and has not been edited.

Posted-In: Economics Markets Trading Ideas

  Around the Web, We're Loving... Learn to Use Trading Platforms Like Hedge Fund Traders do Rumsfeld: Denial of Benefits to Fallen Soldiers' Families 'Inexcusable' Come See How the Pro's Trade in this Exclusive Webinar Facebook, Baidu Lead Big Caps Beating Shutdown What Should You Know About AMZN? Most Popular Earnings Expectations For The Week Of November 11: Walmart And Other Retailers Three iPhone Rumors from the Weekend SLIDESHOW: Larger iPad, iPad Mini Delay And More From The First Week Of November Benzinga's Top #PreMarket Losers The Twitter Week in Review UPDATE: Zalicus Reports Results from Phase 2 Clinical Trials of Z160 in Chronic Neuropathic Pain Related Articles (BLK) Finally, Someone Else Says Housing Market Rebound Suspicious Anything a Bond Can Do, These Stocks Can Do Much, Much Better BlackRock CEO Reports QE Causing Bubbles in Markets ETF Outlook for Friday October 25, 2013 Splurge-Worthy Stocks For Your Portfolio UPDATE: BlackRock Q3 Profit Surges 14% View the discussion thread. Partner Network #marketfy-ae-block { display: none; border: 2px solid #0a3f75; overflow: hidden; width: 300px; height: 125px; text-align: center; background-color: #45719E; position: relative; z-index: 1; } #marketfy-ae-block a { display: block; width: 300px; height: 125px; position: relative; z-index: 2; color: #ffffff; text-decoration: none; } #marketfy-ae-block-countdown-text { color: #f9fc99; padding: 0px 0 0 0; font-size: 19px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 19px; } #marketfy-ae-block-countdown-text-start { font-size: 12px; } #marketfy-ae-block-countdown { padding: 5px 0 5px 0; font-size: 26px; } #marketfy-ae-block-signup { padding: 5px 47px; } #marketfy-ae-block-signup:hover { background-color: #457a1a; } #marketfy-ae-block #marketfy-ae-block-logo { display: block; padding: 3px 0 0 0; margin: 0; } #marketfy-ae-block-logo { text-indent: -9999px; } #marketfy-ae-block-free { display: block; position: absolute; top: 7px; right: -23px; width: 80px; height: 16px; line-height: 16px; text-align: center; opacity: 1; -webkit-transform: rotate(45deg); -moz-transform: rotate(45deg); -ms-transform: rotate(45deg); transform: rotate(45deg); font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; color: #333333; background-color: yellow; z-index: 500; text-shadow: 1px 1px #999999; } #marketfy-ae-block-arrow { position: relative; width: 60px; height: 60px; z-index: 10; margin: -80px 0 13px -21px; } #marketfy-ae-block-arrow img { height: 60px; width: auto; } Marketfy's International
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Top 10 Biotech Companies To Buy Right Now

Top 10 Biotech Companies To Buy Right Now: Celgene Corp (CELG)

Celgene Corporation is a global biopharmaceutical company primarily engaged in the discovery, development and commercialization of therapies designed to treat cancer and immune-inflammatory related diseases. The Company is engaged in the research and development, which is designed to bring new therapies to market, and is engaged in research in several scientific areas that may deliver therapies, focusing areas, such as intracellular signaling pathways in cancer and immune cells, immunomodulation in cancer and autoimmune diseases, and therapeutic application of cell therapies. The Company's primary commercial stage products include REVLIMID, VIDAZA, THALOMID, ABRAXANE and ISTODAX. Additional sources of revenue include a licensing agreement with Novartis, which entitles it to royalties on FOCALIN XR and the entire RITALIN family of drugs, the sale of services through its Cellular Therapeutics subsidiary and other miscellaneous licensing agreements. In March 2012, it acquir ed Avila Therapeutics.

The Company invests in research and development, and the drug candidates in its pipeline at various stages of preclinical and clinical development. These candidates include pomalidomide and apremilast, its oral anti-cancer and anti-inflammatory agents, PDA-001, its cellular therapy, oral azacitidine, CC-223 and CC-115 for hematological and solid tumor malignancies, CC-122, its anti-cancer pleiotropic pathway modifier, and ACE-011 and ACE-536 biological products for anemia in several clinical settings of unmet need. Celgene product candidates include Pomalidomide (CC-4047), Oral Anti-Inflammatory: Apremilast (CC-10004), CC-11050, Kinase Inhibitors:Tanzisertib (CC-930), Cellular Therapies: PDA-001, Activin Biology: Sotatercept (ACE-011) ACE-536, and Anti-tumor Agents: CC-22, CC-115, CC-122 and Oral Azacitidine. It owns and operates a manu! facturing facility in Zofingen, Switzerland. The Company also owns and operates a drug product manufactur ing facility in Boudry, Switzerland.

Commercial! Stage Products

REVLIMID (lenalidomide) is an oral immunomodulatory drug marketed in the United States and many international markets, in combination with dexamethasone, for treatment of patients with multiple myeloma who have received at least one prior therapy. It is also marketed in the United States and certain international markets for the treatment of transfusion-dependent anemia due to low- or intermediate-1-risk myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS) associated with a deletion 5q cytogenetic abnormality with or without additional cytogenetic abnormalities. REVLIMID is distributed in the United States through contracted pharmacies under the RevAssist program, which is a risk-management distribution program. Internationally, REVLIMID is distributed under mandatory risk-management distribution programs.

REVLIMID continues to be evaluated in numerous clinical trials worldwide either alone or in combination with one or more other therapies in the treatm ent of a range of hematological malignancies, including multiple myeloma (MDS) various lymphomas, chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) other cancers and other diseases. VIDAZA (azacitidine for injection) is a pyrimidine nucleoside. VIDAZA is a Category 1 recommended treatment for patients with intermediate-2 and high-risk MDS and is marketed in the United States for the treatment of all subtypes of MDS. In Europe, VIDAZA is marketed for the treatment of intermediate-2 and high-risk MDS, as well as acute myeloid leukemia (AML) with 30% blasts and has been granted orphan drug designation for the treatment of MDS and AML.

THALOMID (thalidomide) is marketed for patients with newly diagnosed multiple myeloma and for the acute treatment of the cutaneous manifestations of moderate to severe erythema nodosum leprosum (ENL) an inflammatory complication of leprosy! and as m! aintenance therapy for prevention and suppression of the cutaneous manifestation of ENL recurrence. THA LOMID is distributed in the United States under its System f! or Thalid! omide Education and Prescribing Safety (S.T.E.P.S.) program. Internationally, THALOMID is also distributed under mandatory risk-management distribution programs. ABRAXANE (paclitaxel albumin-bound particles for injectable suspension) is a solvent-free chemotherapy treatment option for metastatic breast cancer, which was developed using its nab technology platform. This protein-bound chemotherapy agent combines paclitaxel with albumin. As of December 31, 2011, ABRAXANE was in various stages of investigation for the treatment of expanded applications for metastatic breast; non-small cell lung; malignant melanoma; pancreatic; bladder and ovarian.

ISTODAX (romidepsin) has received orphan drug designation for the treatment of non-Hodgkin's T-cell lymphomas, which includes CTCL and PTCL. The Company has licensed the worldwide rights (excluding Canada) regarding certain chirally pure forms of methylphenidate for FOCALIN and FOCALIN XR to Novartis. It also licensed to N ovartis the rights related to long-acting formulations of methylphenidate and dex-methylphenidate products which are used in FOCALIN XR and RITALIN LA.

Preclinical and Clinical-Stage Pipeline

The product candidates in the Company's pipeline are at various stages of preclinical and clinical development. Pomalidomide is a small molecule that is orally available and modulates the immune system and other biologically important targets. Pomalidomide is being evaluated in a phase III clinical trial for the treatment of myelofibrosis and a phase III clinical trial evaluating pomalidomide as a treatment for patients with relapsed/refractory multiple myeloma is accruing patients.

The Company is developing a product, ORAL ANTI-INFLAMMATORY AGENTS, which is orally available small molecules that target PDE4, an intracellular e! nzyme tha! t modulates the production of multiple pro-inflammatory and anti-inflammatory mediators, including interleukin-2 (IL-2), IL-10, IL-12, IL-23, INF-gamma, TNF-a, leukotrienes,! and nitr! ic oxide synthase. Its investigational drug, apremilast (CC-10004), is used for the treatment of moderate to severe psoriasis and active psoriatic arthritis and is being evaluated in a phase II trial for rheumatoid arthritis and six phase III multi-center international clinical trials. In addition, it is investigating its oral PDE4 inhibitor, CC-11050, which is an anti-inflammatory compound that treat a variety of chronic inflammatory conditions, such as Cutaneous Lupus Erythematosus (CLE).

The Company's oral kinase inhibitor platform includes inhibitors of the c-Jun N-terminal kinase (JNK) mTOR kinase, spleen tyrosine kinase (Syk) c-fms tyrosine kinase (c-FMS) and DNA-dependent protein kinase (DNAPK). Its oral Syk, c-FMS and DNAPK kinase inhibitors are being investigated in pre-clinical studies. The Company's new second generation JNK inhibitor, tanzisertib (CC-930), is being evaluated in a phase II trial for the treatment of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis a nd a phase II trial for the treatment of discoid lupus is accruing patients. Amrubicin is a third-generation fully synthetic anthracycline molecule with potent topoisomerase II inhibition.

At Celgene Cellular Therapeutics (CCT), it is researching stem cells derived from the human placenta, as well as from the umbilical cord. CCT is the Company's research and development division. Stem cell based therapies provide disease-modifying outcomes for serious diseases, which lack adequate therapy. It has developed technology for collecting, processing and storing placental stem cells with broad therapeutic applications in cancer, auto-immune diseases, including Crohn's disease, multiple sclerosis, neurological disorders, including stroke and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), graft-versus-host disease, and other immunological / anti-inf! lammatory! , rheumatologic and bone disorders.

The Company has collaborated with Acceleron Pharma, Inc. (Acceleron) to de velop sotatercept. Two phase I clinical studies have been co! mpleted. ! An additional phase II clinical study has been initiated and is ongoing related to treatments for end-stage renal anemia and to evaluate effects on red blood cell mass and plasma volume.

The Company competes with Abbott Laboratories, Amgen Inc. (Amgen), AstraZeneca PLC., Biogen Idec Inc., Bristol-Myers Squibb Co., Eisai Co., Ltd., F. Hoffmann-LaRoche Ltd., Johnson and Johnson, Merck and Co., Inc., Novartis AG, Pfizer, Sanofi and Takeda Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd. (Takeda).

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Tiernan Ray]

  Gainers today included biotech Celgene (CELG), bouncing back from yesterday’s broad sell-off in the group. Another top gainer in life sciences was AbbVie (ABBV), the Hep-C drug maker that Monday inked a deal with pharmacy manager Express Scripts (ESRX). It rose $1.86, or 3%, to close at $66.21, the third biggest gain.

• [By Ben Levisohn]

  Celgene (CELG) today announced that a European regulatory committee had issued a positive opinion on its cancer drug Revlimid. Bernstein’s Geoffrey Porges and Wen Shi explain the significance:

  Boston Globe via Getty Images

  This morning, the European Committee for Medicinal Products (CHMP) announced a positive opinion recommending the expansion of the Revlimid EU label to include front-line usage in multiple myeloma. The new indication reads “Revlimid is indicated for the continuous treatment of adult patients with previously untreated multiple myeloma who are not eligible for transplant.” The positive CHMP opinion is an important step as Celgene looks to significantly expand Revlimid’s market potential in the EU. This is consistent with expectations but is not the best case scenario for Celgene since it excludes the transplant eligible population.  However, th! e label i! s not confined to the elderly or any other population subgroup, and therefore is better than the worst case scenario.

  Given the market’s reaction, that sounds about right. Shares of Celgene have gained 1.1% to $117.74 at 2:28 p.m. today, just about in line with the gains in other big biotech companies. Regeneron Pharmaceuticals (REGN) has risen 1% to $428.20, Amgen (AMGN) has advanced 1.1% to $170.34 and Biogen Idec (BIIB) is up 1.5% at $359.11.

• [By Ben Levisohn]

  Leerink’s Howard Liang and team think 2015 will be another good year for biotech stocks like Gilead Sciences (GILD), Celgene (CELG), Amgen (AMGN ) and Alexion Pharmaceuticals (ALXN). They explain why:

source from Top Stocks For 2015:http://www.topstocksblog.com/top-10-biotech-companies-to-buy-right-now.html

Top 5 Blue Chip Companies To Buy Right Now

Top 5 Blue Chip Companies To Buy Right Now: McDonald's Corporation(MCD)

McDonald?s Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, operates as a worldwide foodservice retailer. It franchises and operates McDonald?s restaurants that offer various food items, soft drinks, coffee, and other beverages. As of December 31, 2009, the company operated 32,478 restaurants in 117 countries, of which 26,216 were operated by franchisees; and 6,262 were operated by the company. McDonald?s Corporation was founded in 1948 and is based in Oak Brook, Illinois.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By joe@4percentportfolio.com]

  McDonald's Corp. (MCD) is the largest fast-food restaurant company in the world, with nearly 34,500 restaurants in 119 countries. McDonald's success was built on an idea of consistency. Consistency in food preparation, quality, and value. This consistency has been the model for other restaurant franchises for many years now. It has also led to a consistency of reliable and increasing dividend payments for the company's shareholders.

• [By WWW.DAILYFINANCE.COM]

  Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg/Getty Images Don't let the recent weakness at McDonald's (MCD) lead you to the conclusion that all burger flippers are struggling. It's just not true, and Burger King (BKW) proved that in its latest quarter. McDonald's longtime nemesis posted better than expected profitability during the first three months of the year, fueled by marginally positive comparable-restaurant sales for the period. It may not seem like much of a victory. Burger King's worldwide comps rose 2 percent, with its U.S. and Canada locations clocking in with a meager 0.1 percent increase. However, even that baby step up is better than the 1.7 percent decline at McDonald's. Unlike Ronald McDonald, Burger King isn't clowning around. The Whopper Beats the Big Mac? This would be an opportune time for Burger Ki! ng to break away from the larger chain that it's been copying for years. We've seen Burger King offer up items that are blatantly similar to McCafe smoothies, Chicken McBites, Big Macs, Egg McMuffins, and even the cult fave McRibs. However, now that McDonald's is in a rut -- having posted three consecutive quarters of negative comparable-restaurant sales in this country -- it appears Burger King is ready to carve its own path. "We started off 2014 strong by generating comparable sales growth across all four regions during the first quarter," Burger King Worldwide CEO Daniel Schwartz explained in the fast food giant's earnings release. "Despite severe winter weather in the U.S. and Canada, our commitment to launching fewer, more impactful products and simplifying in-restaurant operations helped drive improved performance." If there's one thing in that statement that should stand out as a sharp contrast to the current strategy at McDonald's it's that Burger King is rolling out "fewer" products as it is "simplifying" operations. That's an entirely different strategy than the one being used by McDonald's, which seems to involve rolling out a lot of new menu ite

• [By Steven Russolillo]

  WATCH FOR: September Existing Home Sales (10:00 a.m. Eastern Time): seen +1.0% at 5.1 million; previously -1.8% at 5.05 million. ACE, Apollo Education, Brinker, Broadcom (BRCM), Coca-Cola (KO), Discover, E*Trade, Harley-Davidson (HOG), Illinois Tool Works (ITW), Interactive Brokers, Intuitive Surgical, Kimberly-Clark (KMB), Lexmark (LXK), Lockheed Martin (LMT), Manpower (MAN), McDonald's (MCD), Omnicom (OMC), Regions Financial (RF), Reynolds American (RAI), Six Flags Entertainment, Travelers, United Technologies Verizon Communications (VZ), VMware, Whirlpool (WHR) and Yahoo (YHOO) are among companies scheduled to report quarterly results.

source from Top Penny Stocks For 2015:http://www.seekpennystocks.com/top-5-blue-chip-companies-to-bu! y-right-n! ow-2.html

Top 10 Information Technology Companies To Buy For 2015

Top 10 Information Technology Companies To Buy For 2015: Avnet Inc. (AVT)

Avnet, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, distributes electronic components, enterprise computer and storage products, and embedded subsystems in the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Asia, Australia, and New Zealand. It operates in two segments, Electronics Marketing (EM) and Technology Solutions (TS). The EM segment markets and sells semiconductors; interconnect, passive, and electromechanical devices; and embedded products and embedded computing solutions, including technical design, integration, and assembly services to developers of application-specific computing solutions in the non-PC market. It also provides engineers with a host of technical design solutions in support of the sales process of complex products and technologies; engineering and technical resources to support product design, bill of materials development, design services, and technical education and training; and supply chain services focused on original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), el ectronic manufacturing services providers, and electronic component manufacturers. This segment primarily serves electronic component manufacturers in various markets, including automotive, communications, computer hardware and peripheral, industrial and manufacturing, medical equipment, military and aerospace, telecommunications, industrial, and digital editing. The TS segment markets and sells mid-to high-end servers, data storage, and software, as well as provides services required to implement such products and solutions to the value-added reseller channel. It also focuses on the worldwide OEM market for computing technology, system integrators, independent software vendors, and non-PC OEMs that require embedded systems and solutions, including engineering, product prototyping, integration, and other value-added services. The company was founded in 1955 and is headquartered in Phoenix, Arizona.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By ! Rich Duprey]

  In an effort to helpEuropean businesses select the correct advanced flash memory early in the design cycle, Avnet Memec (NYSE: AVT  ) and Macronix International, a leading provider of non-volatile memory semiconductor solutions,are joining forces tobring NOR, NAND, and ROM technology to customers acrossthe continent.

source from Top Stocks To Buy For 2015:http://www.topstocksforum.com/top-10-information-technology-companies-to-buy-for-2015-4.html

Top Oil Service Companies To Watch In Right Now

Citigroup reduced its 2013 earnings by $235 million on Friday, saying it was a victim of fraud committed by a Mexican oil services company to secure hundreds of millions of dollars in short-term loans.

The U.S. bank is seeking to recover the missing funds with the help of Mexican authorities.

The bank said that the oil services company ��Oceanografia S.A. de C.V., or OSA ��overstated by $400 million the business it was doing with Mexico's state-owned oil company Petr贸leos Mexicanos, or Pemex. OSA used falsified invoices as collateral for $585 million in loans from Citigroup's Mexican unit, Banamex, Citigroup said. But after an investigation, Citigroup could only verify $185 million of invoices.

Citi said that it believes the case is isolated, and it is moving to recover the money and identify anyone involved in the fraud.

Hot Energy Stocks To Invest In Right Now: HealthStream Inc (HSTM)

HealthStream, Inc. (HealthStream), incorporated in September 27, 1990, provides Internet-based learning and research solutions for healthcare organizations. The Company�� learning products are used by healthcare organizations to meet a range of their training, certification, and development needs, while its research products provide the customers information about patients��experiences, workforce engagement, physician relations, and community perceptions of their services. HealthStream�� products and services are organized into two segments: HealthStream Learning and HealthStream Research. HealthStream�� customers include healthcare organizations, pharmaceutical and medical device companies, and other participants in the healthcare industry. Its customer base across both learning and research business units includes over 3,000 healthcare organizations (predominately acute-care facilities) throughout all 50 states of the United States. In March 2014, the Company acquired Health Care Compliance Strategies, Inc., a Jericho, New York-based company focused on interactive and engaging online compliance training for healthcare organizations.

The Company�� core learning product is the HealthStream Learning Center (HLC), its learning platform provided through the Internet through software-as-a-service (SaaS) model. As of December 31, 2012, HealthStream had approximately 3.1 million contracted, primarily hospital-based subscribers, to the HLC platform. It delivers educational and training courseware to its customers through the HLC platform. Its research products and service offerings include satisfaction surveys, data analyses of survey results, and other research-based measurement tools focused on patients, physicians, employees, and members of the community. The Company�� core research product is the Patient Insights survey.

HealthStream Learning & Talent Management

Within HealthStream Learning & Talent Management, the Company brings training, assessment and! education content together with administrative and management tools through its HLC , HCC, and HPC. It also offers a more streamlined version of the HLC, HealthStream Express, along with HealthStream Connect, a content delivery platform that is designed for the singular purpose of allowing access to its content libraries. These content libraries allow HLC platform customers to subscribe to an array of additional courseware. Additionally, through its Hospital Direct capability in the HLC, medical device companies can offer online training support for their products and sponsor continuing education directly to healthcare workers.

The Company�� learning management system supports healthcare administrators in configuring training to meet the needs of various groups of employees, modifying training materials, and documenting training completion. It offer training, implementation, and account management services to facilitate adoption of its platform. Offered via a SaaS model, its Internet-based platform and its courseware are hosted in a central data center that allows authorized subscribers Internet access to its services.

In addition to the HLC, the Company offers an array of platform extensions, each serving a function for hospitals and health systems. The Authoring Center is a platform extension that provides healthcare organizations the capability to create Internet-based courses by moving their existing course material online or self-authoring new material and electively sharing these materials with its other customers through a courseware exchange. It also offers Authoring Pro, an upgraded product, which includes a licensed image library, as an additional subscription to this product. The HealthStream Competency Center (HCC) is its SaaS-based platform extension for competency management solution for healthcare organizations, provides customers tools to assess competency and appraise performance.

SimCenter, the Company�� platform extension offer products and ! services ! focused on accelerating the global adoption of simulation-based learning by healthcare providers with a focus on improving clinical competencies and patient outcomes. The new venture offers healthcare organizations and medical and nursing schools worldwide a range of integrated SaaS applications that accelerate development and distribution of simulation content; enable enterprise-wide management of simulation centers, simulators, and programs, and support assessment of the effectiveness of simulation training as part of complete curricula.

The HealthStream Improvement Center is a SaaS-based platform extension related to its research offering. This extension is an online system for hospital leaders to optimize and accelerate the execution of improvement plans, including those based on results from its patient, employee, physician, and community surveys. The Improvement Center, a licensed technology, is one of a number of solutions from HealthStream Research that include a line of survey products, national benchmarks, HCAHPS Improvement Library, consulting services, and other support tools.

HealthStream Research

HealthStream Research complements HealthStream Learning�� product and service offerings by providing hospital-based customers with Patient Insights, Employee Insights, Physician Insights, and Community Insights surveys, data analyses of survey results, and other research-based measurement tools. Its services are designed to provide thorough analyses that provide insightful recommendations for change; benchmarking capability using its databases, and consulting services to identify solutions for its customers based on their survey results. Its survey and research solutions focus on providing valid data to assist its customers. In addition to collecting and reporting data, the Company provides analysis and consulting to help customers understand their survey results and the underlying impact on their business. It is with this insight that healthcare organizati! ons are a! ble to develop plans for improved performance that can be delivered through its learning solutions.

The Company competes with Cornerstone OnDemand, Healthcare Source, Oracle, SABA, SAP, SumTotal Systems, Avatar International, Gallup, National Research Corporation, Press Ganey Associates, Professional Research Consultants, Inc., Kenexa, Foresight, B-Line Medical, CAE/Meti, and EMS

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 Healthstream (Nasdaq: HSTM  ) , whose recent revenue and earnings are plotted below.

• [By Jake L'Ecuyer]

  Healthstream (NASDAQ: HSTM) was down, falling 4.28 percent to $25.94 after Northland Securities downgraded the stock from Outperform to Market Perform and lowered the target price from $43 to $30.

• [By Jake L'Ecuyer]

  Healthstream (NASDAQ: HSTM) was down, falling 4.28 percent to $25.94 after Northland Securities downgraded the stock from Outperform to Market Perform and lowered the target price from $43 to $30.

• [By Sean Williams]

  What: Shares of HealthStream (NASDAQ: HSTM  ) , an Internet-based talent management company that provides learning solutions to the health care industry, jumped as much as 16% after the company reported its second-quarter earnings results.

Top Oil Service Companies To Watch In Right Now: Umpqua Holdings Corp (UMPQ)

Umpqua Holdings Corporation (Umpqua) is a financial holding company. Umpqua has two principal operating subsidiaries, Umpqua Bank (the Bank) and Umpqua Investments, Inc. (Umpqua Investments). The Bank is primarily engaged in the business of commercial and retail banking and the delivery of retail brokerage services. The Bank provides a range of banking, wealth management, mortgage banking and other financial services to corporate, institutional and individual customers. Umpqua Investments is a broker-dealer and investment advisor with offices in Portland, Lake Oswego, Medford, Oregon, and in many Umpqua Bank stores. Umpqua Investments offers a range of investment products and services, including stocks, fixed income securities (municipal, corporate, and government bonds, Certificate of Deposits (CDs), and money market instruments), mutual funds, annuities, options, retirement planning, money management services and life insurance. In December 2011, the Bank launched a commercial real estate division. In November 2012, the Company acquired Circle Bancorp, parent company of Circle Bank. In July 2013, Umpqua Holdings Corp completed its acquisition of Financial Pacific Holding Corp.

The Company offers a Switch Kit, which allows a customer to open a primary checking account with Umpqua Bank in less than 10 minutes. Other avenues, through which customers can access its products, include its Website equipped with an e-switchkit, which includes Internet banking through umpqua.online, mobile banking, and its 24-hour telephone voice response system. Umpqua Private Bank serves high net worth individuals with liquid investable assets by providing customized financial solutions and offerings. Umpqua private bank works collaboratively with the Bank�� affiliate retail brokerage Umpqua Investments and with the independent capital management firm Ferguson Wellman Capital Management. Umpqua Investments provides a range of brokerage services, including equity and fixed income products, mutual funds, annui! ties, options, retirement planning and money management services. Additionally, Umpqua Investments offers life insurance policies. At December 31, 2011, Umpqua Investments had 41Series seven-licensed financial advisors serving clients at three stand-alone retail brokerage offices and Investment Opportunity Centers located in many Bank stores.

Lending Activities

Umpqua offers loans for business and commercial customers, including accounts receivable and inventory financing, equipment loans, international trade, real estate construction loans and permanent financing and SBA program financing, as well as capital markets and treasury management. Additionally, it offers designed loan products for small businesses through its Small Business Lending Center. It also has a business banking division to increase lending to small and mid-sized businesses. The Company is also engaged in initiatives that continue to diversify the loan portfolio, including a focus on commercial and industrial loans in addition to financing owner-occupied properties.

Real estate loans are available for construction, purchase and refinancing of residential owner-occupied and rental properties. Borrowers can choose from a variety of fixed and adjustable rate options and terms. It sells residential real estate loans that originate into the secondary market. It also supports the Home Affordable Refinance Program and Home Affordable Modification Program. The Bank also provide loans to individual borrowers for a variety of purposes, including secured and unsecured personal loans, home equity and personal lines of credit and motor vehicle loans. The Bank makes both secured and unsecured loans to individuals and businesses. During 2011, its commercial real estate, commercial, residential, and consumer and other represented approximately 64%, 25%, 10%, and 1%, respectively, of the total non-covered loan and lease portfolio.

Source of Funds

The Company offers an array of deposit p! roducts, ! including non-interest-bearing checking accounts, interest-bearing checking and savings accounts, money market accounts and certificates of deposit. These accounts earn interest at rates established by management based on market factors. It also offers a seniors program to customers over fifty years old, which includes an array of banking services and other amenities, such as purchase discounts, vacation trips and seminars.

Investment Activities

As of December 31, 2011, Umpqua's portfolio of investments securities included securities issued by United States Treasury and agencies, and residential mortgage-backed securities and collateralized mortgage obligations. It also includes obligations of states and political subdivisions, other debt securities, and investments in mutual funds and other equity securities.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Roberto Pedone]

  Umpqua (UMPQ) is engaged in the business of commercial and retail banking and the delivery of retail brokerage services. This stock closed up 5% at $17.11 in Monday's trading session.

  Monday's Volume: 2.16 million
  
  Three-Month Average Volume: 686,781
  
  Volume % Change: 235%

  From a technical perspective, UMPQ ripped sharply higher here right off its 50-day moving average of $16.51 with strong upside volume. This move is quickly pushing shares of UMPQ within range of triggering a big breakout trade. That trade will hit if UMPQ manages to take out Monday's intraday high of $17.46 and then once it clears its 52-week high at $17.48 with high volume.

  Traders should now look for long-biased trades in UMPQ as long as it's trending above its 50-day at $16.51 or above more near-term support at $16 and then once it sustains a move or close above those breakout levels with volume that's near or above 686,781 shares. If that breakout hits soon, then UMPQ will set up to enter new 52-week-high territory above, which is bullish technical price action. Some possible upside targets off that breakout are $20 to $23.

Top Oil Service Companies To Watch In Right Now: iShares International Select Dividend ETF (IDV)

iShares Dow Jones EPAC Select Dividend Index Fund (the Fund) is an exchange-traded fund that seeks investment results that correspond generally to the price and yield performance of the Dow Jones EPAC Select Dividend Index (the Index). The Index measures the performance of a selected group of equity securities issued by companies that have provided relatively high dividend yields on a consistent basis over time. The Index consists of 100 of the highest dividend-yielding securities (excluding real estate investment trusts (REITs)) in the Dow Jones World Developed-Ex. U.S. Index, an index representative of the Europe, Pacific, Asia and Canada (EPAC) regions, which covers developed markets, excluding the United States. To be included in the Index, the securities must have paid dividends in each of the previous three years; must have a previous year�� dividend per share, which is greater than or equal to its three year average dividend payout ratio; must have a five-year average dividend per share, which is less than or equal to 1.5 times the five-year average dividend payout ratio of the corresponding Dow Jones country index, and must have a minimum three-month average daily trading volume of $3,000,000 a day. The Index is reviewed annually.

The Fund invests in securities of companies that are located in or whose securities are principally traded in the markets of the EPAC regions. The Fund generally will invest at least 90% of its assets in component securities and in depositary receipts representing such securities. The Fund may invest up to 10% of its assets in certain futures, options and swap contracts, cash and cash equivalents, including money market mutual funds. The Fund will only concentrate its investments in a particular industry or group of industries to approximately the same extent that its Index is so concentrated. The Fund�� investment advisor is Barclays Global Fund Advisors. The Fund�� index provider is Dow Jones & Company, Inc. The index provider determines the rel! ative weightings of the securities in the Index and publishes information regarding the market value of the Index.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Selena Maranjian]

  Exchange-traded funds offer a convenient way to invest in sectors or niches that interest you. If you'd like to add some international dividend-paying stocks to your portfolio but don't have the time or expertise to hand-pick a few, the iShares Dow Jones International Select Div ETF (NYSEMKT: IDV  ) could save you a lot of trouble. Instead of trying to figure out which companies will perform best, you can use this ETF to invest in lots of them simultaneously.
  
  The basics
  ETFs often sport lower expense ratios than their mutual fund cousins. The iShares ETF's expense ratio -- its annual fee -- is a relatively low 0.50% -- and it recently yielded more than 5%!
  
  This ETF has performed �well, outstripping the MSCI EAFE index over the past three and five years. As with most investments, of course, we can't expect outstanding performances in every quarter or year. Investors with conviction need to wait for their holdings to deliver.

• [By Jim Powell]

  At the minimum, your family trust should hold the iShares Dow Jones Select Dividend Index (DVY). I also think you should consider the iShares International Select Dividend Fund (IDV) that invests in foreign companies with good payment histories.

Top Oil Service Companies To Watch In Right Now: First Connecticut Bancorp Inc (FBNK)

First Connecticut Bancorp, Inc. (FCB) is a stock holding company. FCB has been formed in connection with the conversion of First Connecticut Bancorp, Inc. a mutual holding company (MHC), from the mutual to the stock form of organization. As of December 31, 2009, MHC owned all of the outstanding stock of Farmington Bank, a savings bank. The MHC will cease to exist as a result of the conversion, and FCB will own all of the common stock of Farmington Bank. As of December 31, 2009, FCB was not engaged in any business. Farmington Bank is a full-service, community bank with 15 full-service branch offices and four limited service offices, including its main office, located throughout Hartford County, Connecticut.

Farmington Bank provides a diverse range of commercial and consumer services to businesses, individuals and governments across Central Connecticut. Farmington Bank provides a range of banking services to businesses, individuals and governments in Central Connecticut. It also offers a range of residential mortgage loan services. Farmington Bank�� subsidiaries include Farmington Savings Loan Servicing, Inc., Village Investments, Inc., Village Corp., Limited, 28 Main Street Corp., Village Management Corp. and Village Square Holdings Inc.

Farmington Savings Loan Servicing, Inc. operates as Farmington Bank�� passive investment company (PIC). Village Investments, Inc. offers brokerage and investment advisory services through a contract with Infinex Financial Services, a registered broker-dealer. Village Corp., Limited was established to hold certain commercial real estate acquired through foreclosures, deeds in lieu of foreclosure, or other similar means. Village Square Holdings, Inc. holds certain commercial real estate of Farmington Bank, formerly used as Farmington Bank�� operations center prior to its relocation to One Farm Glen Boulevard, Farmington, Connecticut. As of December 31, 2009, 28 Main Street Corp and Village Management Corp were inactive.

Len! ding Activities

Farmington Bank�� primary lending activities consists of the origination of one-to-four family residential real estate loans that are primarily secured by properties located in Hartford County and surrounding counties in Connecticut. During the year ended December 31, 2009, the Bank originated $75.8 million of fixed-rate one-to-four family residential loans. The Bank also offers adjustable-rate mortgage loans for one-to-four family properties, with an interest rate that adjusts annually based on the one-year Constant Maturity Treasury Bill Index, after a one, three, four, five, seven or nine-year initial fixed-rate period. Its adjustable rate mortgage loans generally provide for maximum rate adjustments of 200 basis points per adjustment, with a lifetime maximum adjustment up to 6%, regardless of the initial rate. Its adjustable rate mortgage loans amortize over terms of up to 30 years. During 2009, it originated $49.2 million adjustable rate one-to-four family residential loans and purchased $33 million adjustable rate mortgages.

Farmington Bank originates commercial real estate loans and loans on owner-occupied properties used for a variety of business purposes, including office buildings, industrial and warehouse facilities and retail facilities. As of December 31, 2009, the Bank�� owner-occupied commercial mortgage loans constituted the largest portion of its commercial real estate portfolio. During 2009, commercial mortgage loans totaled $265.5 million and owner-occupied commercial real estate loans totaled $133.3 million of its commercial real estate portfolio.

Farmington Bank offers construction loans, including commercial construction loans and real estate subdivision development loans, to developers, licensed contractors and builders for the construction and development of commercial real estate projects and residential properties. During 2009, the Bank�� loans outstanding, including commercial and residential, totaled $68.7 million! . The Ban! k also originates construction loans to individuals and contractors for the construction and acquisition of personal residences.

Farmington Bank�� commercial business loan portfolio comprises both middle market companies and small businesses located primarily in Connecticut. Farmington Bank�� Resort (Timeshare) Loans include receivables loans, pre-sale loans, inventory loans, acquisition and development loans, and homeowner association loans. During 2009, its timeshare loans totaled $82.8 million. Farmington Bank also offers home equity loans and home equity lines of credit, both of which are secured by owner-occupied one-to-four family residences. At December 31, 2009, home equity loans and equity lines of credit totaled $66.7 million.

Farmington Bank also offers various types of consumer loans, including installment, demand, revolving credit and collateral loans, principally to customers residing in its primary market area with acceptable credit ratings. Its installment and collateral consumer loans generally consist of loans on new and used automobiles, loans collateralized by deposit accounts and unsecured personal loans.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By CRWE]

  First Connecticut Bancorp, Inc. (Nasdaq:FBNK) reported that its Board of Directors has voted to pay a cash dividend in the amount of $0.03 per share on June 14, 2012 to all shareholders of record as of June 4, 2012.

Top Oil Service Companies To Watch In Right Now: TrueBlue Inc.(TBI)

TrueBlue, Inc. provides temporary blue-collar staffing services in the United States. It supplies on demand general labor to various industries under the Labor Ready brand; skilled labor to manufacturing and logistics industries under the Spartan Staffing brand; and trades people for commercial, industrial, and residential construction, and building and plant maintenance industries under the CLP Resources brand. The company also provides mechanics and technicians to the aviation maintenance, repair and overhaul, aerospace manufacturing, and assembly industries, as well as to other transportation industries under the Plane Techs brand; and temporary drivers to the transportation and distribution industries under the Centerline brand. It primarily serves small and medium-size businesses. The company was formerly known as Labor Ready, Inc. and changed its name to TrueBlue, Inc. in December 2007. TrueBlue, Inc. was founded in 1985 and is headquartered in Tacoma, Washington.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Travis Hoium]

  What: Shares of staffing agency TrueBlue (NYSE: TBI  ) jumped 10% today after the company reported earnings.

  So what: Revenue jumped 19%, to $422.3 million, and beat estimates of $420.2 million from Wall Street. Adjusted earnings per share were also up 19%, to $0.31, outpacing estimates by $0.05.�

• [By Jonathan Yates]

  For those looking to invest in real estate stocks, highly recommended is the Dr. Housing Bubble blog. In a recent posting, the "Dr." pointed out that there was a "Lost Generation" when it came to household income. That has not happened for those investing in staffing industry stocks such as Paychex (NASDAQ: PAYX), Robert Half International (NYSE: RHI), TrueBlue, Inc. (NYSE: TBI), and Labor SMART (OTCBB: LTNC).

Top Oil Service Companies To Watch In Right Now: Aussie/New Zealand (AR)

Antero Resources Corporation operates as an oil and natural gas exploration and production company. The company focuses on the acquisition, development, and production of unconventional oil and liquids-rich natural gas properties primarily in West Virginia, Ohio, and Pennsylvania. It was formerly known as Antero Resources Appalachian Corporation and changed its name to Antero Resources Corporation in June 2013. The company was founded in 2002 and is based in Denver, Colorado with district offices in Mount Clare, West Virginia; and Marietta, Ohio.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Robert Rapier]

  Normally, we wouldn’t be updating so soon buy recommendations made within the last month or so. Then again, we normally wouldn’t expect a decent year’s worth of gains in a month, so a look-around definitely seems in order.

  Marcellus and Utica driller Antero Resources (NYSE: AR) is up 13 percent (as of Dec. 27) since we added it to The Energy Strategist’s Growth Portfolio on Nov. 26, extending a rally that has made it one of the year’s most successful initial public offerings.
  

  There have been no company-specific news in the last months, but the prices of natural gas and, crucially, the natural gas liquids that will account for the bulk of Antero’s future profits, have moved significantly higher.

• [By Robert Rapier]

  Supply, meanwhile, is constrained by the fact that, even at the current elevated price, few gas projects outside of the bountiful Marcellus shale can compete with the returns available in crude oil. Our favorite Marcellus drillers are Cabot Oil & Gas (COG) and Antero Resources (AR).

• [By Jake L'Ecuyer]

  Equities Trading DOWN
  Shares of Antero Resources (NYSE: AR) were down 5.41 percent to $59.74 after the company announced a 105% y/y gain in its Q1 preliminary gas production.

• [By Robert Rapier]

  In February,�Antero Resources�(NYSE: AR) filed an S-1 with the SEC for the initial public offering of an MLP comprised of its midstream assets.�The filing�indicated that Antero Resources Midstream LLC would be converted into a limited partnership named Antero Midstream Partners LP with a valuation of up to $500 million. Assets include a network of natural gas gathering pipelines and compressor stations that collects raw natural gas from Antero’s operations in the Marcellus and Utica shales. Also included: two independent water distribution systems used for well completions in the Marcellus and Utica shales.

Top 10 Net Payout Yield Companies To Invest In 2014

LPL Financial (LPLA) said Monday that NetVEST Financial, a team with about $200 million in client assets that left to affiliate with Ameriprise Financial (AMP) about a year ago, has rejoined the fold. Also, Raymond James said recently that it recruited a $220 million team from Wells Fargo.

Based in Scottsdale, Ariz., NetVEST is led by John Cartolano, who has 25 years in the business. The firm works with mass affluent and high-net-worth clients, with an emphasis on the use of different trust structures to support multigenerational wealth planning goals.

“We are delighted to see John and his team back to LPL,” said Bill Morrissey, executive vice president of business development at LPL Financial, in an interview with ThinkAdvisor.

“They have been growing their practice by leaps and bounds and came to an inflection point in terms of their growth and scale,” Morrissey said. “They wanted the right framework, talked to a few broker-dealers and ultimately decided to return to LPL, because we offer them the best platform to use to grow their business.”

Best Supermarket Stocks To Watch For 2015: Theravance Inc.(THRX)

Theravance, Inc., a biopharmaceutical company, engages in the discovery, development, and commercialization of small molecule medicines for various therapeutic areas, including respiratory disease, bacterial infections, and central nervous system (CNS)/pain. The company?s key development programs with GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) include the RELOVAIR, a Phase 3 clinical trial program for the treatment of patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and/or asthma; the LAMA/LABA program, a Phase 3 COPD program; and the Bifunctional Muscarinic Antagonist-beta2 Agonist (MABA) program, a Phase 2b program for the treatment of COPD, as well as Peripherally Selective Mu-Opioid Receptor Antagonist (P Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Sean Williams]

  A revolutionary COPD treatment?
  On Wednesday, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, or COPD, treatment collaborators GlaxoSmithKline (NYSE: GSK  ) and Theravance (NASDAQ: THRX  ) are set to go before the FDA's panel with their combo Breo Ellipta. This revolutionary drug combines Theravance's long-acting beta-2 agonists with Glaxo's long-acting muscarinic antagonists into a dry powder inhaler to provide long-term COPD relief.

Top 10 Net Payout Yield Companies To Invest In 2014: Alliance Capital Management Holding L.P. (AB)

AllianceBernstein Holding L.P. provides investment management and related services in the United States and internationally. It offers institutional services, including separately-managed accounts, sub-advisory relationships, structured products, collective investment trusts, mutual funds, hedge funds, and other investment vehicles to unaffiliated corporate and public employee pension funds, endowment funds, domestic and foreign institutions, and governments. The company also provides retail services comprising retail mutual funds, sub-advisory relationships with mutual funds sponsored by third parties, and separately managed account programs sponsored by various financial intermediaries and other investment vehicles. In addition, it provides separately managed accounts, hedge funds, mutual funds, and other investment vehicles for private clients, including high-net-worth individuals, trusts and estates, charitable foundations, partnerships, and private and family corporat ions. Further, AllianceBernstein Holding L.P. offers research services to institutional investors through research, portfolio analysis, and brokerage-related services; and equity capital markets services to issuers of publicly-traded securities. Additionally, it provides distribution, shareholder servicing, and administrative services to its sponsored mutual funds. AllianceBernstein Corporation serves as the general partner of the company. AllianceBernstein Holding L.P. was founded in 1987 and is based in New York, New York. AllianceBernstein Holding L.P. operates as a subsidiary of AXA.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Inyoung Hwang]

  Investors had declared the stock of AllianceBernstein Holding LP (AB) a loser. From Jan. 1, 2010, to Aug. 23, 2012, it had declined 43 percent compared with a 33 percent gain for the Standard & Poor�� 500 Index. Nevertheless, on that day, Credit Suisse Group AG analyst Craig Siegenthaler lifted his rating on the New York-based money manager�� shares to a buy.

Top 10 Net Payout Yield Companies To Invest In 2014: Northrim BanCorp Inc(NRIM)

Northrim BanCorp, Inc., through its subsidiaries, which provides a range of banking products and services to businesses, professionals, and individuals in Alaska. Its deposit services include noninterest-bearing checking accounts and interest-bearing time deposits, checking accounts, and savings accounts. The company?s loan portfolio comprises commercial and real estate lending, construction and land development lending, and consumer loans. Northrim BanCorp also offers other customer services, including telebanking, faxed account statements, Internet banking, automated teller services, personalized checks at account opening, overdraft protection from a savings account, extended banking hours, commercial drive-up banking with coin service, automatic transfers and payments, wire transfers, direct payroll deposit, electronic tax payments, automated clearing house origination and receipt, and cash management services. In addition, it provides investment advisory, insurance br okerage, trust, and wealth management services. As of December 31, 2009, the company operated 11 branches, including 7 in Anchorage, 2 in Fairbanks, and 1 each in Eagle River and Wasilla. Northrim BanCorp, Inc. was founded in 1990 and is headquartered in Anchorage, Alaska.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By GURUFOCUS]

  Northrim BanCorp Inc. (NRIM) operates as the bank holding company for Northrim Bank that provides commercial banking products and services to businesses, professionals, and individuals primarily in Alaska. August 16th the company increased its quarterly dividend 13% to $0.17 per share. The dividend is payable Sept. 13 to shareholders of record as of the close of business on Sept. 5, 2013. The yield based on the new payout is 2.8%.

Top 10 Net Payout Yield Companies To Invest In 2014: PetSmart Inc(PETM)

PetSmart, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, operates as a specialty retailer of products, services, and solutions for pets in the United States, Puerto Rico, and Canada. The company offers consumables, such as pet food, treats, and litter; and hardgoods, which include pet supplies and other goods comprising collars, leashes, health care supplies, grooming and beauty aids, toys, apparel, and pet beds and carriers, as well as aquariums and habitats, accessories, d�or, and filters for fish, birds, reptiles, and small pets. It also provides fresh-water fish, small birds, reptiles, and small pets; and pet services, such as grooming, including precision cuts, baths, nail trimming and grinding, and teeth brushing, as well as training, boarding, and day camp services. In addition, the company operates PetsHotels that offer boarding for dogs and cats; provides personalized pet care, an on-call veterinarian, temperature controlled rooms and suites, daily specialty treats and p lay time, and day camp services for dogs; and operates veterinary hospitals, which offer services comprising routine examinations and vaccinations, dental care, a pharmacy, and surgical procedures. As of January 29, 2012, it operated 1,232 retail stores; 192 PetsHotels; 791 veterinary hospitals under the trade name of Banfield, The Pet Hospital; and 8 hospitals operated through other third parties in Canada. The company also offers its products through an e-commerce and community site, PetSmart.com. PetSmart, Inc. was founded in 1986 and is based in Phoenix, Arizona.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By John Udovich]

  About�a week ago, Wall Street was biting small cap pet stock Petmed Express Inc (NASDAQ: PETS) for not living up to its earnings expectations�- meaning it might be worth taking a closer look at the stock�and compare its performance with other pet stocks like mid cap PetSmart, Inc (NASDAQ: PETM) and small cap VCA Antech Inc (NASDAQ: WOOF). I should also mention that we have recently added Petmed Express to our SmallCap Network Elite Opportunity (SCN EO) portfolio because we think the stock is undervalued in the pet space and has tremendous growth potential�moving forward.

• [By Laura Brodbeck]

  Wednesday

  Earnings Expected: Staples (NASDAQ: SPLS), Lowe’s Companies, Target, PetSmart (NASDAQ: PETM), Hewlett-Packard Economic Releases Expected:  Japanese manufacturing PMI, U.S. oil inventory data, German PPI

  Thursday

• [By Brian Pacampara]

  Based on the aggregated intelligence of 180,000-plus investors participating in Motley Fool CAPS, the Fool's free investing community, pet food and products retailer PetSmart (NASDAQ: PETM  ) has earned a respected four-star ranking.

Top 10 Net Payout Yield Companies To Invest In 2014: City National Corporation (CYN)

City National Corporation operates as the bank holding company for City National Bank that provides various banking, investing, and trust services to small to mid-sized businesses, entrepreneurs, professionals, and affluent individuals. Its deposit products include demand and interest checking deposits, savings deposits, and money market accounts. The company�s loan portfolio comprises commercial loans, including lease financing; residential mortgage loans; commercial real estate mortgages; real estate construction loans; equity lines of credit; and installment loans. It also offers cash management, international banking, equipment financing, and other products and services. In addition, the company provides investment management, advisory, and brokerage services, including portfolio management, securities trading, and asset management; personal and business trust and investment services comprising employee benefit trust services, and 401(k) and defined benefit plans; and estate and financial planning, and custodial services. Further, it offers various asset classes and investment styles, including fixed-income instruments, mutual funds, domestic and international equities, and alternative investments, such as hedge funds. City National Corporation provides its services through 79 offices, including 16 full-service regional centers in Southern California; the San Francisco Bay area; Nevada; New York City; Nashville, Tennessee; and Atlanta, Georgia. The company was founded in 1953 and is headquartered in Los Angeles, California.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By John Maxfield]

  Given that you clicked on this article, it seems safe to assume you either own stock in City National Corp. (NYSE: CYN  ) or are considering buying shares in the near future. If so, then you've come to the right place. The table below reveals the nine most critical numbers that investors need to know about City National stock before deciding whether to buy, sell, or hold it.

Top 10 Net Payout Yield Companies To Invest In 2014: Vanguard Health Care Etf (VHT)

Vanguard Health Care ETF (the Fund), formerly known as Vanguard Health Care VIPERs, is an exchange-traded share class of Vanguard Health Care Index Fund, which employs a passive management or indexing investment approach designed to track the performance of the Morgan Stanley Capital International (MSCI) US Investable Market Health Care Index (the Index). The Index is an index of stocks of large, medium and small United States companies in the healthcare sector, as classified under the Global Industry Classification Standard (GICS). This GICS sector is made up of two main industry groups. The first group includes companies that manufacture healthcare equipment and supplies or provide healthcare-related services (such as distributors of healthcare products, providers of basic healthcare services, and owners and operators of healthcare facilities and organizations). The second group includes companies primarily involved in the research, development, production and marketing of pharmaceuticals and biotechnology products.

The Fund attempts to replicate the Index by investing all, or substantially all, of its assets in the stocks that make up the Index, holding each stock in approximately the same proportion as its weighting in the Index. It also may sample its target Index by holding stocks that, in the aggregate, are intended to approximate the Index in terms of key characteristics, such as price/earnings ratio, earnings growth and dividend yield.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By John Udovich]

  On Thursday, small cap infertility stock OvaScience Inc (NASDAQ: OVAS) surged 23.63% plus shares are up 372.9% since the start of the year���meaning its worth taking a closer look at the stock along with the performance of female or reproductive health stocks the Female Health Co (NASDAQ: FHCO) and�Utah Medical Products, Inc (NASDAQ: UTMD)�along with the Vanguard Health Care ETF (NYSEARCA: VHT).

Top 10 Net Payout Yield Companies To Invest In 2014: Progressive Waste Solutions Ltd. (BIN)

Progressive Waste Solutions Ltd. operates as a vertically integrated non-hazardous solid waste management company in North America. It operates through three segments: Canada, the U.S. south, and the U.S. northeast. The company provides waste collection, transfer, recycling, and disposal services to commercial, industrial, municipal, and residential customers in 13 U.S. states, the District of Columbia, and 6 Canadian provinces. It also owns and operates a power generating plant fuelled by landfill gas; and generates and sells methane gas. The company was formerly known as IESI-BFC Ltd. and changed its name to Progressive Waste Solutions Ltd. in May 2011. Progressive Waste Solutions Ltd. was founded in 2001 and is based in Vaughan, Canada.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Sean Williams]

  Keep in mind, though, this is a sectorwide problem, not just one affecting Waste Management. Canada's Progressive Waste Solutions (NYSE: BIN  ) delivered an 11% increase in first-quarter revenue but succumbed to a decrease of 0.5% in recycling revenue because of lower realized metal prices. �