Wednesday, August 13, 2014

Best Integrated Utility Companies To Own For 2014

Why did the $35 billion "merger of equals" between Publicis Groupe and Omnicom break up before it could be consummated? To Maurice Levy, the CEO of Paris-based Publicis it came down to a fundamental differences on how to balance the leadership of what would would have become the world's biggest advertising firm.

But Levy denied it was a question of a personality clash with John Wren, his counterpart at Omnicom. Levy added that he was deeply disappointed that the deal announced last July fell apart.

But, he said, "balance means balance."

CALLED OFF: $35 billion ad industry merger falls apart

The merger was intended to help the firms compete against Internet giants such as Facebook and Google, which can bypass advertising companies altogether, as well as strengthen growth in Asia and Latin America.

Best Gas Companies To Buy Right Now: Encore Wire Corp (WIRE)

Encore Wire Corporation (Encore), incorporated on April 5, 1989, is a manufacturer of electrical building wire and cable. The Company is a supplier of building wire for interior electrical wiring in commercial and industrial buildings, homes, apartments, and manufactured housing. Encore offers an electric building wire product line that consists of nonmetallic-building ( NM-B) cable, underground feeder-building (UF-B) cable, thermoplastic high heat resistant nylon coated/thermoplastic heat and water resistant nylon coated (THHN/THWN)-2 and other types of wire products, including metal clad and armored cable. All of these products are manufactured with copper or aluminum as the conductor. The principal customers for Encore�� wire are wholesale electrical distributors, who sell building wire and a variety of other products to electrical contractors. The Company sells its products primarily through 31 manufacturers��representatives located throughout the United States. The Company also purchases small quantities of other types of wire to re-sell to customers that buy products that the Company manufactures. The manufacturing process for the Company�� various products involves multiple steps, including: casting, drawing, stranding, compounding, insulating, jacketing and armoring.

The Company�� non-metallic sheathed cable is used primarily as interior wiring in homes, apartments and manufactured housing. NM-B cable is composed of either two or three insulated copper wire conductors, with an un-insulated ground wire, all sheathed in a polyvinyl chloride (PVC) jacket. UF-B cable is an underground feeder cable is used to conduct power underground to outside lighting and other applications remote from buildings. UF-B cable is composed of two or three PVC insulated copper wire conductors, with an un-insulated ground wire, all jacketed in PVC. THHN/THWN-2 cable is used primarily as feeder, circuit and branch wiring in commercial and industrial buildings. It is composed of a copper or aluminu! m single conductor, either stranded or solid, and insulated with PVC, which is further coated with nylon.

Cross-linked high heat water resistant insulated wire (XHHW)-2 Cable is a XHHW-2 wire used for general purpose applications utilized in conduit or other recognized raceways for service, feeders, and branch-circuit wiring. It�� composed of a copper or aluminum single conductor, either stranded or solid, and with a single layer of cross-linked polyethylene (XLPE) insulation. Underground service entrance (USE)-2 Cable. USE-2 or rubber high heat-resistant (RHH) or RHW-2 wire is used for general purpose applications utilized in conduit or installed in underground applications or in recognized raceways for service, feeders, and branch-circuit wiring. It�� composed of a copper or aluminum single conductor, either stranded or solid, and with a single layer of cross-linked polyethylene (XLPE) insulation suitable for wet locations.

Metal clad and armored cable is used primarily as feeder, circuit and branch wiring, primarily in commercial and industrial buildings. It is composed of multiple conductors, either stranded or solid, and insulated with PVC, which are further coated with nylon and then fully encased in a flexible aluminum or steel armored protective sheath that eliminates the need to pull the wire through pipe or conduit. The Company�� photovoltaic style cables are designed to meet the different needs of the emerging solar industry by providing connections between photovoltaic (PV) panels, collector boxes and inverters; and where also allowed by the National Electric Code (NEC). Its bare copper conductors are used in overhead electrical transmission and distribution systems for grounding electrical systems and circuit grounding.

The Company competes with Southwire Company, Cerro Wire LLC, United Copper Industries, BICC General and AFC Cable Systems, Inc.

Advisors' Opinion:
  • [By Eric Volkman]

    Encore Wire (NASDAQ: WIRE  ) , like a strip of its namesake product, seems to believe in keeping its shareholder payouts long and straight. The company has declared a quarterly dividend of $0.02 per share, to be paid on July 19 to shareholders of record as of July 5. That amount is in line with every one of the firm's previous distributions stretching back to early 2007.�

  • [By Seth Jayson]

    Basic guidelines
    In this series, I examine inventory using a simple rule of thumb: Inventory increases ought to roughly parallel revenue increases. If inventory bloats more quickly than sales grow, this might be a sign that expected sales haven't materialized. Is the current inventory situation at Encore Wire (Nasdaq: WIRE  ) out of line? To figure that out, start by comparing the company's inventory growth to sales growth. How is Encore Wire doing by this quick checkup? At first glance, not so great. Trailing-12-month revenue decreased 9.2%, and inventory increased 0.3%. Comparing the latest quarter to the prior-year quarter, the story looks decent. Revenue grew 3.9%, and inventory expanded 0.3%. Over the sequential quarterly period, the trend looks healthy. Revenue dropped 4.1%, and inventory dropped 5.1%.

Best Integrated Utility Companies To Own For 2014: Vanguard Large Cap Etf (VV)

Vanguard Large-Cap ETF, formerly known as Vanguard Large-Cap VIPERs, is an exchange-traded share class that seeks to track the investment performance of the Morgan Stanley Capital International (MSCI) US Prime Market 750 Index (Index). The Fund employs an indexing approach to provide exposure to predominantly large-cap companies in the United States, diversified across growth and value styles.

The Index represents the universe of predominantly large-capitalization companies in the United States equity market. Using full replication, the Fund invests in all of the Index stocks, holding each stock in approximately the same proportion as its weighting in 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 large-cap stocks to your portfolio but don't have the time or expertise to hand-pick a few, the Vanguard Large-Cap ETF (NYSEMKT: VV  ) could save you a lot of trouble. Instead of trying to figure out which large-cap stocks 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. This ETF, focused on large-cap stocks, sports a relatively low expense ratio -- an annual fee -- of 0.1%. It yields about 2%.

    This ETF has performed reasonably, but it's also very young, with just a few years on the books. It underperformed the S&P 500 in 2008 and 2010, though it beat it substantially in 2007 and 2009. 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.

Best Integrated Utility Companies To Own For 2014: Trans World Entertainment Corp.(TWMC)

Trans World Entertainment Corporation, through its subsidiaries, operates as a specialty retailer of entertainment software products, including music, video, video games, and other related products through its retail stores and e-commerce sites in the United States. The company?s other related products include electronics, accessories, and trend items. As of January 29, 2011, it operated 376 mall-based stores under the For Your Entertainment (f.y.e.), Suncoast Motion Pictures, and Saturday Matinee brand names in regional shopping malls; 84 freestanding stores under the f.y.e. brand name; and 3 retail Websites, including fye.com, wherehouse.com, and secondspin.com. The company operates retail stores in the United States, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Trans World Entertainment Corporation was founded in 1972 and is headquartered in Albany, New York.

Advisors' Opinion:
  • [By Tim Melvin]

    The safe and cheap undervalued stocks will go right up, but your chances of being destroyed when the party is over are diminished. Stocks like Richardson Electronics (RELL) and Transworld Entertainment (TWMC) have the ability to go up as the market bubbles higher but their asset value will act as sort of a floor in a decline.

Best Integrated Utility Companies To Own For 2014: Roper Industries Inc.(ROP)

Roper Industries, Inc. designs, manufactures, and distributes radio frequency (RF) products and services, industrial technology products, energy systems and controls, and medical and scientific imaging products and software. Its Medical and Scientific Imaging segment offers patient positioning devices, 3-D measurement technology, diagnostic and therapeutic disposable products, ultrasound bladder volume measurement instruments, and video laryngoscopes; digital imaging products and software; and handheld and vehicle mount computers and software. The company?s Energy Systems and Controls segment produces control systems, fluid properties testing equipment, industrial valves and controls, sensors and controls, and non-destructive inspection and measurement products and solutions. Its Industrial Technology segment produces water and fluid handling pumps, equipment and consumables, leak testing equipment, flow measurement and metering equipment, water meter, and automatic meter reading products and systems. The company?s RF Technology segment provides radio frequency identification communication technology and software solutions that are used in toll and traffic systems and processing; security and access control; campus card systems; software-as-a-service in the freight matching and food industries; and metering and remote monitoring applications. It markets its products to RF applications, medical, water, energy, research, education, software-as-a-service-based information networks, and security markets. The company distributes its products through direct sales personnel, manufacturers? representatives, value added resellers, original equipment manufacturers, and distributors. It principally operates in the United States, Canada, Asia, Europe, the Middle East, and South America. Roper Industries, Inc. was founded in 1981 and is based in Sarasota, Florida.

Advisors' Opinion:
  • [By Lauren Pollock]

    Among the companies with shares expected to actively trade in Monday’s session are Merck(MRK) & Co., Biogen Idec Inc.(BIIB) and Roper Industries Inc.(ROP)

  • [By Seth Jayson]

    Roper Industries (NYSE: ROP  ) reported earnings on April 29. Here are the numbers you need to know.

    The 10-second takeaway
    For the quarter ended March 31 (Q1), Roper Industries missed estimates on revenues and beat expectations on earnings per share.

  • [By Seth Jayson]

    Roper Industries (NYSE: ROP  ) reported earnings on July 29. Here are the numbers you need to know.

    The 10-second takeaway
    For the quarter ended June 30 (Q2), Roper Industries met expectations on revenues and met expectations on earnings per share.

  • [By Rich Duprey]

    It's a bit incongruous, but industrial manufacturing specialist Roper� (NYSE: ROP  ) is now the proud owner of Managed Health Care Associates, a New Jersey-based supplier of services for�alternate site health-care providers.�The transaction was valued at approximately $1 billion, and was funded from Roper's�available cash and borrowings under its credit facility.

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