Best Information Technology Stocks For 2015

Best Information Technology Stocks For 2015: MagnaChip Semiconductor Corporation (MX)

MagnaChip Semiconductor Corporation designs and manufactures analog and mixed-signal semiconductor products for high-volume consumer applications. It operates in three segments: Display Solutions, Power Solutions, and Semiconductor Manufacturing Services. The Display Solutions segment offers source and gate drivers, and timing controllers that cover a range of flat panel displays used in liquid crystal displays (LCDs), light emitting diodes (LEDs), 3D and organic light emitting diode televisions and displays, notebooks, and mobile communications and entertainment devices. The Power Solutions segment develop, manufactures, and markets power management solutions, including metal oxide semiconductor field effect transistors, power modules, analog switches, LED drivers, DC-DC converters, voice coil motor drivers, and linear regulators. This segment offers its products for a range of devices, including LCD, LED, 3D televisions, smartphones, mobile phones, desktop PCs, notebooks , tablet PCs, and other consumer electronics, as well as for industrial applications, such as power suppliers, LED lighting, and home appliances. The Semiconductor Manufacturing Services segment manufactures various products comprising display drivers, LED drivers, audio encoding and decoding devices, microcontrollers, touch screen controllers, RF switches, park distance control sensors for automotives, electronic tag memories, and power management semiconductors. This segment offers semiconductor manufacturing services to fabless analog and mixed-signal semiconductor companies. MagnaChip Semiconductor Corporation provides its products and services to consumer electronics OEMs, subsystem designers, and contract manufacturers through a direct sales force, as well as through a network of authorized agents and distributors in the United States, Korea, Taiwan, China, Japan, Hong Kong, and Macau. The company is headquartered in Seoul, South K! orea.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Wallace Witkowski]

  Shares of MagnaChip Semiconductor Corp. (MX) fell 13% to $12.50 on moderate volume after the company said it incorrectly stated revenue and has to restate its financial statements going back to 2011. Also, the company withdrew its guidance for the fourth quarter.

• [By Brian Pacampara]

  Based on the aggregated intelligence of 180,000-plus investors participating in Motley Fool CAPS, the Fool's free investing community, consumer gadget chip maker MagnaChip Semiconductor (NYSE: MX  ) has earned a coveted five-star ranking.

source from Top Penny Stocks For 2015:http://www.seekpennystocks.com/best-information-technology-stocks-for-2015.html

Top Sliver Stocks To Own For 2015

Top Sliver Stocks To Own For 2015: Signet Jewelers Limited(SIG)

Signet Jewelers Limited operates as a specialty jewelry retailer in the United States, the United Kingdom, the Republic of Ireland, and the Channel Islands. The company retails jewelry, watches, and associated services. As of January 28, 2012, it operated a network of 1,318 stores in 50 states in the United States that trade nationally in malls and off-mall locations as ?Kay Jewelers?, and regionally under various mall-based brands, as well as operated as destination superstores under the ?Jared The Galleria Of Jewelry? trade name. The company also operated a network of 535 stores in the United Kingdom, including 14 stores in the Republic of Ireland and 3 in the Channel Islands under the ?H.Samuel?, ?Ernest Jones?, and ?Leslie Davis? trade names in high street locations and shopping malls. Signet Jewelers Limited was founded in 1950 and is based in Hamilton, Bermuda.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Dan Moskowitz]

  Peer comparisons
  It's clear that Zale has potential going forward, but while past performance doesn't guarantee future results, it's often a very good indicator of management capabilities. With that in mind, consider the revenue performance for Zale compared to that ofTiffany (NYSE: TIF  ) , as well as Signet Jewelers (NYSE: SIG  ) , over the past five years:

• [By Jake L'Ecuyer]

  Top Headline
  Signet Jewelers (NYSE: SIG) announced its plans to buy Zale (NYSE: ZLC) for around $690 million. Signet will pay $21 per share to acquire Zale, representing a 41% premium to Zale's closing price of $14.91 on Tuesday.

source from Top Penny Stocks For 2015:http://www.seekpennystocks.com/top-sliver-stocks-to-own-for-2015.html

Economy shrank 1% in 1Q, first drop since 2011

The U.S. economy shrank in the first quarter for the first time in three years as businesses increased inventories more slowly than initially believed, and bad weather hampered activity.

In the first three months of 2014, the nation's gross domestic product fell at a 1% annual rate, vs. the 0.1% increase first estimated, the Commerce Department said Thursday. Economists expected the report to show that the nation's output declined about a half a percentage point compared with the fourth quarter.

The last time the economy contracted was in the first quarter of 2011.

FIRST TAKE: Weak 1Q growth points to 2Q rebound

Last quarter's drop was largely due to businesses boosting inventories more slowly after aggressively adding to them late last year.

Adverse winter weather also contributed to the contracting economy. Non-residential construction plunged 7.5%, vs. the 0.2% gain initially estimated.

And state and local government spending fell 1.8%, vs. an initial estimate of 1.3%.

On the positive side, consumer spending rose 3.1%, slightly more than the 3% first believed. And housing construction declined 5%, less than the initial estimate of 5.7%.

Exports also fell less sharply — at a 6% annual rate, vs. the 7.6% first estimated.

Economists wrote off the weak quarter as a temporary bump in the road to a faster recovery.

"For those worried about a recession, it's worth remembering that employment increased by nearly 300,000 in April," economist Paul Ashworth of Capital Economics said in a research note. "Those numbers point to a recovery gathering some real momentum at last."

Economists expect growth to accelerate this year now that consumers have shed much of the debt they amassed in the mid-2000's, and federal government spending cuts have eased. The housing recovery, meanwhile, is expected to regain momentum after faltering in the first quarter.

Jim O'Sullivan, chief U.S. economist of High Frequency Economics, predicts economic growth w! ill run at a 4% annual pace in the current quarter as businesses and consumers make up for reduced spending early this year. Many economists expect growth to exceed 3% the rest of this year and in 2015.

Since the recovery began in June 2009, the economy has grown at a lackluster 2% pace but increased to more than 3% the second half of last year, fueling hope that stronger gains were at hand.

Several economic reports for April have been encouraging, with business investment, home sales and employment advancing from previous months.

U.S. economic growth

Percent change in U.S. gross domestic product, which is the value of all goods and services produced in the United States. Change from previous quarter, annual rate:

Sponsored by %Bureau of Economic Analysis from Haver Analytics

The Market Turned Its Back On Facebook Earnings, As Twitter Looms

Facebook’s (NASDAQ: FB) earnings release is less than a week old. In such short period of time, Wall St. has shrugged them off.  On the most recent Monday the stock topped out just above $51. It closed the week at just below $49.  So, barely a hint of sentiment, perhaps because the numbers were about what was expected, perhaps because there was as much good as bad news in Facebook’s earnings statements, or perhaps because the market has turned its attention aggressively toward Twitter. The anxiety that dinged sentiment about Facebook goes beyond the company to the anxiety about social media in general

Facebook’s number would be the envy of almost any other. Revenue rose to $2 billion in the third quarter from $1.3 billion in the same period a year ago. Net rose from a loss of $59 million to $425 million. Year over year daily active users rose 25% to 728 million. The causes for alarm came on the earnings call as the firm’s CFO said the there was some erosion in teen use, and a sharp slowing of the advertising messages which could be put into news feeds.

Both concerns about Facebook’s future run across all social media sites, and will bedevil the Twitter IPO. If users reject advertising as “part of their experience” they will either ignore them or revolt against them. The Achilles Heel of social media is that members think they own the sites instead of shareholders. There are no other industries in which that belief is quite as strong.

The use of Facebook by teens or anyone else is probably not a direct rejection of the social media company and its primary service. Twitter does not face that challenge either. However, the crowding of social media destinations has started to look like cable television three decades ago. Instead of the dozen challenges people could get in the early years of cable, those same viewers can get 500. And each of the 500 does whatever is within its power to pull audience from competition.

Top Financial Stocks To Buy Right Now

Facebook investors have begun to eye Twitter more carefully. What they see is the refection of an industry which has become too crowded in a remarkably short period of time.

How To Get Income Without Growth

Never underestimate the ingenuity of corporate America or the optimism of its citizens. While the media obsess over multiple economic crisis scenarios and reinforce the message that the economy promises little growth, corporations just keep on grinding out higher earnings.

Much is made of Federal Reserve Bank intervention and its various programs to pump up economic growth, but our central bank's efforts are merely pump-priming at best. It's the resilience of business that is propelling growth. This is glowing testimony to the system we have today and a powerful argument for how corporations grow in a no-growth world.

Pressured on the top line, corporations have been cutting costs, downsizing and increasing worker productivity since 2008. This obviously has its limits and becomes less effective over time, but greater efficiency is a mind-set that takes years to instill in large organizations before measurable savings occur.

Since markets care more about earnings per share than total earnings, financial engineering is an effective tool that can work wonders. With interest rates so low, and shrinking sales requiring less working capital, corporations can borrow cheaply and leverage their balance sheets to use the increased cash flow to buy back outstanding shares. Some 20% of all U.S. corporate stock has thus been bought back since 2005.

Another tool is growth through mergers and acquisitions. Resurgent stock prices and huge buildups of cash make buying other companies with lower price/earnings ratios an attractive option. It's also a way to use overseas cash for foreign buyouts without first having it taxed in the U.S. Upwards of $600 billion in deals so far this year testifies to the popularity of this trend.

While the growth outlook in the U.S. is poor, it's even worse for the rest of the world. This usually leads to a stronger dollar, which translates into lower costs for foreign-sourced materials. It also means lower earnings from currency translation losses, but these can be partially hedged.

Income investors interested in dividends benefit from rising corporate payouts that also buttress stock prices, but investors who hold corporate debt face increased risk from ratings declines due to higher borrowings used to retire stock. Also fear of rate increases due to inflation will continue to haunt us despite Fed reassurances.

I believe locking in investments paying 6% or more today should prove immune to inflation-borne value erosion, if not volatility. Further protection can be built into a portfolio by the right choice of instrument and industry. Uncertainties and uneven growth in different sectors argue for staying diversified.

Two areas where you can find yields of 6% or more with some built-in appreciation potential are master limited partnerships (MLPs) and closed-end funds. As for industry, look to utilities and pipeline companies.

Why GM recall death toll will rise

A Chevrolet Cobalt involved in a fatal crash in March 2010.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) The death toll in General Motors' faulty ignition switch recall is 13, making it one of the deadliest recalls in recent years. Sadly, that toll is likely to climb.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said last week that it expects its investigation to reveal the final toll is higher. The 13 deaths are GM's internal estimate, not verified by outside investigators.

GM spokesman Alan Adler said the company investigation is ongoing, and that it will adjust the number if there is evidence of other deaths.

Right now, for instance, the GM count does not include anyone who was killed in the back seat of a car with an ignition problem, because the company is only looking at victims who might have been saved if an airbag had properly deployed. The faulty ignition switch made the cars susceptible to stalling, which disabled the air bag.

But the stall itself might have caused a fatal crash, according to Clarence Ditlow, executive director of the Center for Auto Safety. People could have been killed when the car lost control, whether or not the lack of an air bag played a role in their death.

Neither GM nor NHTSA has released a full listing of the 13 people GM is counting as killed by the ignition problem. But Democratic House investigators have released their own list, and there is evidence that many people who died in recalled cars involved in accidents are not on that list.

Adler also said that one of the deaths was from a Canadian crash. However, the Canadian transportation ministry said Tuesday that it is investigating at least two fatal crashes.

The current recall is the deadliest since the 51 fire deaths that NHTSA said were due to problems with a gas tank on 1993 to 2004 Jeep Grand Cherokees and 2002 to 2007 Jeep Libertys. Chrysler long denied that those gas tanks had a design flaw. But, with a strong push from NHTSA, Chrysler recalled the SUVs for inspections and upgrades.

Ditlow said the GM recall could top that death total. "The final proven total will be at least 50," he said.

  Mary Barra's bumpy ride as GM CEO

The overwhelming majority of car and truck re! calls do not involve accidents that caused deaths. GM has had 28 other recalls accounting for more than 10 million U.S. vehicles so far this year, and the company says it knows of no deaths associated with any of those problems.

On the day that she testified before Congress about the recall, GM CEO Mary Barra met with the families of 11 crash victims and apologized for the delay in ordering the recall. But only three of those families have someone who is on the congressional investigator's list.

Also not on the congressional list is Brooke Melton, whose family won an out-of-court settlement with GM due to the 2010 crash in which she was killed. It was that lawsuit that revealed the cover-up of the ignition problem by GM and helped prompt the long-delayed recall earlier this year.

The Meltons' lawyer has filed to reopen that case to seek additional damages, charging that new evidence shows GM hid documents about the ignition switch.

5 Best Gold Stocks To Own For 2015

The Federal Reserve's postponement of any tapering effort announcement gave investors a lot to consider and MoneyShow's Howard R. Gold thinks, while several hurdles have been cleared for the markets, there's still a long way to go.

The Federal Reserve kept the punch bowl spiked a little longer in a surprise decision that postponed investors' day of reckoning with reality.

On Wednesday, the Federal Open Market Committee voted to maintain its $85-billion monthly bond buying program, defying expectations of two-thirds of economists polled by The Wall Street Journal, who were looking for the central bank to begin tapering its extraordinary bond purchases at this month's meeting.

The reason? The FOMC just hasn't seen the kind of economic growth many gurus and pundits have. ��he Committee sees��rowing underlying strength in the broader economy,��its statement said. ��owever, the Committee decided to await more evidence that progress will be sustained before adjusting the pace of its purchases.��

5 Best Gold Stocks To Own For 2015: Agnico-Eagle Mines Limited(AEM)

Agnico-Eagle Mines Limited, through its subsidiaries, engages in the exploration, development, and production of mineral properties in Canada, Finland, and Mexico. The company primarily explores for gold, as well as silver, copper, zinc, and lead. Its flagship property includes the LaRonde mine located in the southern portion of the Abitibi volcanic belt, Canada. The company was founded in 1953 and is based in Toronto, Canada.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Markus Aarnio]

  Other gold miners that have seen intensive insider buying during the past four months include St. Andrew Goldfields (STADF.PK), Continental Gold (CGOOF.PK), Kinross (KGC) and Agnico-Eagle Mines (AEM).

• [By Ben Levisohn]

  As a result, Chidley and team upgraded Agnico Eagle Mines (AEM) and�Yamana Gold (AUY) to Neutral from Underweight, and raised Barrick Gold (ABX), Goldcorp (GG) and Iamgold (IAG) to Overweight from Neutral.�Gold Fields (GFI) was downgraded “due to increased risk and also reduced expectations for the South Deep operation,” Chidley says.

• [By Itinerant]

  Before we continue, we would like to give references to sources that we used liberally for this article: Brian Christie, VP Investor Relations at Agnico-Eagle (AEM), gave a talk at the Denver Gold Group Luncheon on May 6 in Toronto and the presentation can be viewed here. Andrew J Vigar of Mining Associates gave a keynote at the Mines and Money conference in Hong Kong in March 2013 and the presentation is here. The Visual Capitalist has uploaded a relevant presentation on the topic here. And the Break Away Digger has an interesting piece available here. These documents come with a recommendation for your weekend reading from your humble scribe.

5 Best Gold Stocks To Own For 2015: Golden Star Resources Ltd(GSS)

Golden Star Resources Ltd., a gold mining and exploration company, through its subsidiaries, engages in the acquisition, exploration, development, and production of gold properties. It owns and operates the Bogoso/Prestea gold mining and processing operation that covers approximately 40 kilometers of strike along the southwest-trending Ashanti gold district in western Ghana; and the Wassa open-pit gold mine located to the east of Bogoso/Prestea in southwest Ghana. The company also has an 81% interest in the Prestea underground gold mine located in Ghana. In addition, it holds interests in various gold exploration projects in Ghana, Sierra Leone, Burkina Faso, Niger, and Cote d?Ivoire, as well as holds and manages exploration properties in Brazil in South America. The company was founded in 1984 and is based in Littleton, Colorado.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Sean Williams]

  Golden Star Resources (NYSEMKT: GSS  )
  It's simple physics: The bigger they are, the harder they fall. When gold prices nosedived earlier this week, gold miners with historically higher operating costs took the brunt of the hit. For the most part, that meant that development-stage miners, and those operating in Africa, where labor and political costs make cost-effective mining a challenge, took it on the chin. Possibly no stock was hammered more than Golden Star Resources, a gold miner in Ghana, which lost about one-quarter of its value on Monday alone.

10 Best Paper Stocks To Buy Right Now: CME Group Inc.(CME)

CME Group Inc. operates the CME, CBOT, NYMEX, and COMEX regulatory exchanges worldwide. The company provides a range of products available across various asset classes, including futures and options on interest rates, equity indexes, energy, agricultural commodities, metals, foreign exchange, weather, and real estate. It offers various products that provide a means of hedging, speculation, and asset allocation relating to the risks associated with interest rate sensitive instruments, equity ownership, changes in the value of foreign currency, credit risk, and changes in the prices of commodities. CME Group owns and operates clearing house, CME Clearing, which provides clearing and settlement services for exchange-traded contracts and counter derivatives transactions; and also engages in real estate operations. Its primary trade execution facilities consist of its CME Globex electronic trading platform and open outcry trading floors, as well as privately negotiated transact ions that are cleared and settled through its clearing house. In addition, the company offers market data services comprising live quotes, delayed quotes, market reports, and historical data services, as well as involves in index services business. CME Group?s customer base includes professional traders, financial institutions, institutional and individual investors, corporations, manufacturers, producers, and governments. It has strategic partnerships with BM&FBOVESPA S.A., Bursa Malaysia Derivatives, Singapore Exchange Limited, Green Exchange, Dubai Mercantile Exchange, Johannesburg Stock Exchange, and Bolsa Mexicana de Valores, S.A.B. de C.V., as well as joint venture agreement with Dow Jones & Company. The company was formerly known as Chicago Mercantile Exchange Holdings Inc. and changed its name to CME Group Inc. in July 2007. CME Group was founded in 1898 and is headquartered in Chicago, Illinois.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Mark Thompson]

  The Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME), which operates the world's biggest derivatives market, is asking investors to stump up more cash to trade in financial products that provide protection against rising interest rates.

5 Best Gold Stocks To Own For 2015: Goldcorp Incorporated(GG)

Goldcorp Inc. engages in the acquisition, exploration, development, and operation of precious metal properties in Canada, the United States, Mexico, and Central and South America. It produces and sells gold, silver, copper, lead, and zinc. The company was founded in 1954 and is headquartered in Vancouver, Canada.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Ben Levisohn]

  January is nearing an end, and that means one thing: Gold miners will start announcing earnings. New Gold (NGD) will get things started on Feb 6, followed by Kinross Gold (KGC) on Feb. 12 and Goldcorp (GG) and Barrick Gold (ABX) on Feb. 13.

• [By Ben Levisohn]

  Gold miners are getting a boost today from solid earnings from the likes of Barrick Gold (ABX), Goldcorp (GG) and Agnico Eagle Mines (AEM). The exception: Kinross Gold (KGC), which missed earnings forecasts and cut its reserves.

5 Best Gold Stocks To Own For 2015: NEW GOLD INC.(NGD)

New Gold Inc. engages in the acquisition, exploration, extraction, processing, and reclamation of mineral properties. The company primarily explore for gold, silver, and copper deposits. Its operating properties include the Mesquite gold mine in the United States; the Cerro San Pedro gold-silver mine in Mexico; and the Peak gold-copper mine in Australia. The company also has development projects, including the New Afton gold, silver, and copper project in Canada; and a 30% interest in the El Morro copper-gold project in Chile. The company was formerly known as DRC Resources Corporation and changed its name to New Gold Inc. in June 2005. New Gold Inc. was founded in 1980 and is headquartered in Vancouver, Canada.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Ben Levisohn]

  Hamed singles out Goldcorp (GG) and Yamana Gold (AUY) as two companies that have strong production growth, falling costs, declining capital obligations and less debt than competitors. New Gold (NGD), meanwhile, should have the lowest all-on costs in the group at $731 an ounce, but its capital spending is likely to notes, Hamed says. Hamed rates Goldcorp and Yamana Overweight, while New Gold is rated Equal Weight.

• [By Ben Levisohn]

  One group of stocks not feeling the optimism today: Gold miners. With fewer concerns that a U.S. attack on Syria will be disruptive and more evidence that tapering will begin this month, the price of the precious metal has dropped 1.6% to $1,388.90 an ounce–and gold stocks are falling with it. New Gold (NGD), for one, has dropped 3% to $6.55, while Barrick Gold (ABX) has fallen 1.3% to $19.25.

• [By Ben Levisohn]

  Bridges favorite stocks include Goldcorp, Newmont, Eldorado Gold (EGO) and New Gold (NGD).

  Note, however, that these recommendations are all qualified in one way or another. Investors should keep that in mind before going all in on the gold miners.

• [By MONEYMORNING]

  New Gold Inc. (NSYEMKT: NGD) completed its takeover of Rainy River Resources back in October. New Gold got 4 million ounces in a good jurisdiction (Ontario) and paid less than book value.

Finally for rent: bridesmaid dresses

Future bridesmaids of the United States of America, you do not know how good you have it. The most distasteful of your long-endured duties may be nearing its end.

No, you'll still have to sweat bullets over heartfelt toasts and chase your bride's deadbeat college bestie down after she fails to pay her fair share of the bachelorette party tab. But chin up: the days of dropping hundreds on a pastel pink dress you'll never wear again are as good as over thanks to a growing number of options for renting exactly what you need for the big day – and not a day more.

More from OZY.com:

Wedding registry done right

Should lovers sign a social media prenup?

Having a happy marriage without kids

"Let's be honest, women really don't wear bridesmaids dresses again," says Kelsey Doorey, whose ecommerce company, Vow to Be Chic, launched last year and rents $500 designer bridesmaid's dresses for as little as $95.

Brides usually kick off the process by green-lighting choices for 'maids, who in turn browse online for dresses by designers such as LulaKate and Jim Hjelm and submit three standard measurements (bust, waist, hips). An at-home try-on feature means bridesmaids may test-run two sizes months in advance. The chosen dress arrives in time for the wedding — and, best of all, gets shipped back to where it came from when it's over.

Little Borrowed Dress, which announced a $1.25 million round of seed funding in February offers a similar service. With rentals starting at $50, the company has a collection custom-designed by founder Corie Hardee. Made in New York, there are 12 crinkle chiffon styles in 18 colors that can be mixed and matched. Bridesmaids receive their dress in two sizes two weeks before the wedding, along with a pre-paid envelope for returns.

10 Best Safest Stocks To Watch Right Now

As for icing, you'll find that on Adorn a bride can walk the aisle in a $! 27,000 diamond necklace for a $270 rental fee or ask her bridesmaids to rent $145 Swarovski crystal headbands for $45.

It's hardly a girls-only affair. While renting a tux is nothing new for guys, startup The Black Tux aims to improve the Men's Wearhouse experience by offering high-end suits and tuxedos for $95 alongside borrowed accoutrements like shirts, vests, cuff links and shoes – that start at $15. "No more driving to a drab shop in a strip mall, or dealing with pushy salesmen," the site declares. It's been so popular, inventory is currently booked through July 1.

Fear not, more options await from just-launched NextSuit, which sends men's suits by monthly subscription. Wear one or two, for up to 30 days, then send your stash back and wait for the next to arrive. It's geared toward young fashion-inept professionals, but offers an equally elegant solution for guys who don't want to show up at wedding-after-wedding in the same tired duds.

"There are all these options now that are shared economy, green and ecofriendly," says Vow to Be Chic's Doorey.

Not bad things to be wed to.

Ozy.com is a USA TODAY content partner providing general news, commentary and coverage from around the Web. Its content is produced independently of USA TODAY.

Top Freight Companies To Watch In Right Now

A fire at one of Bangladesh's largest garment factories, an apparent act of arson, could put a big dent in deliveries for some major Western retailers.

There were no reports of injuries after Friday's fire, which gutted the ten-story factory localed outside the Bangladeshi capital, Dhaka. Several freight trucks were also reportedly burned.

Women's Wear Daily says the factory is owned by the Standard Group of Companies, one of Bangladesh's biggest manufacturers. And WWD, quoting officials at the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturer and Exporters Associaiton, reports that company produces clothing for North American and European firms such as Wal-Mart (NYSE: WMT) , Gap (NYSE: GPS) and British retailer Marks and Spencer.

Top Freight Companies To Watch In Right Now: Marten Transport Ltd (MRTN)

Marten Transport, Ltd. is a temperature-sensitive truckload carrier. The Company specializes in transporting and distributing food and other consumer packaged goods that require a temperature-controlled or insulated environment. It operates throughout the United States and in parts of Canada and Mexico. The Company operates in two segments: Truckload and Logistics. During the year ended December 31, 2011, approximately 81% of its truckload revenue resulted from hauling temperature-sensitive products and 19% from hauling dry freight. Its long-haul traffic lanes are between the Midwest and the West Coast, Southwest, Southeast, and the East Coast, as well as from California to the Pacific Northwest. It provides regional truckload carrier services in the Southeast, West Coast, Midwest, South Central and Northeast regions.

The Company derives truckload revenue from fuel surcharges, loading and unloading activities, equipment detention and other ancillary services. Its operating revenue also includes revenue reported within its Logistics segment, which consists of revenue from its internal brokerage and intermodal operations, and through its 45% interest in MW Logistics, LLC (MWL), a third-party provider of logistics services to the transportation industry. Brokerage services involve arranging for another company to transport freight for the Company�� customers, while it retains the billing, collection and customer management responsibilities. Intermodal services involve the transport of its trailers on railroad flatcars for a portion of a trip, with the balance of the trip using its tractors or, to a lesser extent, contracted carriers. It focuses on large food and consumer-packaged goods companies whose products require temperature-sensitive services and who ship multiple truckloads per week. As of December 31, 2011, its customers were General Mills and Kraft.

As of December 31, 2011, the Company operated a fleet of 2,281 tractors, including 2,233 company owned tractors and 48 t! ractors supplied by independent contractors. The average age of its company owned tractor fleet at December 31, 2011 was approximately 2.6 years. As of December 31, 2011, it operated a fleet of 4,124 trailers. Most of its trailers are equipped with Thermo-King refrigeration units, air ride suspensions and anti-lock brakes. The average age of its trailer fleet as of December 31, 2011 was approximately 2.4 years.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Seth Jayson]

  Marten Transport (Nasdaq: MRTN  ) reported earnings on July 16. Here are the numbers you need to know.

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

• [By Monica Gerson]

  Marten Transport (NASDAQ: MRTN) is estimated to post its Q3 earnings at $0.23 per share on revenue of $168.28 million.

  CSX (NYSE: CSX) is expected to post its Q3 earnings at $0.43 per share on revenue of $2.95 billion.

Top Freight Companies To Watch In Right Now: Hub Group Inc (HUBG)

Hub Group, Inc., incorporated on March 8, 1995, is an asset-light freight transportation management companies. The Company offers intermodal, truck brokerage and logistics services. The Company operates distinct business segments: Mode, which includes the acquired Mode business acquired by the Company on April 1, 2011, and Hub, which is all business other than Mode. Both segments offer intermodal, truck brokerage and logistics services. Hub operates through a network of operating centers throughout the United States, Canada and Mexico. Hub services a diversified customer base in a broad range of industries, including consumer products, retail and durable goods. Mode markets and operates its freight transportation services primarily through its network of independent business owners (IBOs) who enter into contracts with Mode. Mode's company managed operation includes a business arranging for the transportation of raw materials and finished products for a food producer and, to a lesser extent, other highway brokerage, intermodal and logistics operations.

Intermodal

As an intermodal marketing company (IMC), the Company arranges for the movement of its customers freight in containers and trailers, typically over long distances of 750 miles or more. The Company contracts with railroads to provide transportation for the long-haul portions of the shipment and with local trucking companies, known as drayage companies, for pickup and delivery. As part of the Company's intermodal services, the Company negotiates rail and drayage rates, electronically tracks shipments in transit, consolidate billing and handle claims for freight loss or damage on behalf of its customers.

The Company uses its network to access containers and trailers owned by leasing companies, railroads and steamship lines. The Company is able to track trailers and containers entering a service area and reuses that equipment to fulfill the customers' outbound shipping requirements. As of December 31, 2012, ! Hub had access to approximately 9,111 rail-owned containers for the Company's dedicated use on the Union Pacific (UP) and the Norfolk Southern (NS) rails. In addition to these rail-owned containers, as of December 31, 2012, the Company had a total of 14,756 53-inch private containers for use on the UP and NS. The Company financed 6,167 of these containers with operating leases and the Company owns 8,589 containers.

As of December 31, 2012, approximately 66% of the Company's drayage needs were met by its subsidiary, Comtrak Logistics, Inc. (Comtrak), which assists its customers. Comtrak has terminals in Atlanta, Birmingham, Charleston, Charlotte, Chattanooga, Chicago, Cleveland, Columbus (OH), Dallas, Harrisburg, Huntsville, Indianapolis, Jacksonville, Kansas City, Milwaukee, Memphis, Nashville, Newark, Los Angeles, Perry (FL), Philadelphia, Savannah, Seattle, St. Louis, Stockton, and Titusville (FL). As of December 31, 2012, Comtrak owned 260 tractors, leased or owned 448 trailers, employed 296 drivers and contracted with 2,178 owner-operators.

Truck Brokerage (Highway Services)

The Company is a truck broker in the United States. As part of the truck brokerage services, the Company negotiates rates , track shipments in transit and handle claims for freights loss and damage on behalf of its customers.

Logistics and Other Services

Hub's logistics business operates under the name of Unyson Logistics. Unyson Logistics consists of a network of logistics professionals dedicated to developing, implementing and operating customized logistics solutions. Unyson offers a range of transportation management services and technology solutions, including shipment optimization, load consolidation, mode selection, carrier management, load planning and execution and Web-based shipment visibility. Unyson Logistics operates throughout North America, providing operations through its main operating location in St. Louis with additional support locations in Bosto! n, Chicag! o, Cleveland and Minneapolis. Certain Mode agents provide logistics services. The Company's multi-modal transportation capabilities through both the Hub and Mode segments include small parcel, heavyweight, expedited, less-than-truckload, truckload, intermodal and railcar.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Lisa Levin]

  Hub Group (NASDAQ: HUBG) surged 3.13% to $44.20. The volume of Hub Group shares traded was 388% higher than normal. Hub Group reported its Q1 earnings of $0.33 per share on revenue of $848.40 million. Longbow Research upgraded Hub Group from Neutral to Buy.

5 Best China Stocks To Buy Right Now: TNT Express NV (TNTE)

TNT Express NV is the Netherlands-based express delivery company. It collects, transports and delivers documents, parcels and freight on a time-certain or day-definite basis. The Company operates worldwide with domestic, regional and intercontinental delivery. It has own operations in more than 60 countries and can deliver to more than 200 countries through own operations, subcontractors and agents. Its customers are international companies, as well as small and medium enterprises. The Company serves industries such as technology, automotive, industrial, healthcare and lifestyle, as well as financial institutions and governments. The Company operates interconnected international air and road networks. The air network consists of a central air hub in Liege, Belgium, and a fleet of more than 50 aircrafts. The road networks are operated in Europe, the Middle East, Asia, Australia and South America. Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Robert Wall]

  One of the country�� largest employers with more than 150,000 staff, Royal Mail has shifted away from letters to more lucrative package shipping, competing with TNT Express NV (TNTE) of the Netherlands and Deutsche Post AG (DPW)�� DHL Express.

• [By Inyoung Hwang]

  TNT Express NV (TNTE) lost 4.3 percent to 6.33 euros, its lowest price in four months. PostNL NV, the Dutch mail service with operations in the U.K. and Germany, said it will sell about half of its 29.8 percent stake in the Dutch package-delivery company to reduce debt. The 15 percent stake up for sale is valued at about 540 million euros ($738 million), according to data compiled by Bloomberg. PostNL gained 1.8 percent to 4.17 euros.

Top Freight Companies To Watch In Right Now: 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 Companies To Watch In Right Now: Chalmers Ltd (CHR)

Chalmers Limited is an Australia-based company engaged in transport, logistic services, warehousing and container storage, repairs and sales. The Company operated in three segments: Transport, Containers and Property. Transport consists of road transport, predominantly import/export FCL containers and the interface with logistics/ warehousing/hubbing services. Containers represent the empty container park operations concerned with handling, storage, repairs, upgrades, pretrips and so on of empty containers on behalf of shipping and leasing company customers. Property represents the capital investment Chalmers has in freeholds located in Melbourne. The Company�� subsidiaries include Chalmers Industries Pty Ltd, Chalmers (Australia) Pty Ltd and Chalmers Industries (Brisbane) Pty Ltd. Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Corinne Gretler]

  Chr. Hansen A/S (CHR) slid 1.7 percent to 186 kroner after Credit Suisse Group AG cut the stock to neutral, the equivalent of hold, from outperform. The brokerage said that profit from its natural-color business remains under pressure. The world�� biggest maker of dairy enzymes cut its full-year sales forecast on July 3 because of lower prices for the red pigment carmine.

Top Freight Companies To Watch In Right Now: 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 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.

• [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.

Top Freight Companies To Watch In Right Now: 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 Companies To Watch In Right Now: Con-way Inc (CNW)

Con-way Inc. (Con-way), incorporated in 1958, provides transportation, logistics and supply-chain management services for a wide range of manufacturing, industrial and retail customers. Con-way�� business units operate in regional and transcontinental less-than-truckload and full-truckload freight transportation, contract logistics and supply-chain management, multimodal freight brokerage, and trailer manufacturing. Con-way is divided into four segments: Freight, Logistics, Truckload, and Other. At December 31, 2011, Con-way Freight operated 286 freight service centers, of which 144 were owned and 142 were leased. At December 31, 2011, Con-way Freight owned and operated approximately 9,200 tractors and 26,400 trailers, including tractors held under capital lease agreements.

Freight

The Freight segment consists of the operating results of the Con-way Freight business unit. Con-way Freight is a less-than-truckload (LTL) motor carrier that utilizes a network of freight service centers to provide day-definite regional, inter-regional and transcontinental less-than-truckload freight services throughout North America. LTL carriers transport shipments from multiple shippers utilizing a network of freight service centers combined with a fleet of line-haul and pickup-and-delivery tractors and trailers. Freight is picked up from customers and consolidated for shipment at the originating service center. Freight is consolidated for transportation to the destination service centers or freight assembly centers. At Freight assembly centers, freight from various service centers can be reconsolidated for transportation to other freight assembly centers or destination service centers. From the destination service center, the freight is delivered to the customer. Typically, LTL shipments weigh between 100 and 15,000 pounds. In 2011, Con-way Freight�� average weight per shipment was 1,305 pounds.

Logistics

The Logistics segment consists of the operating results o! f the Menlo Worldwide Logistics business unit. Menlo Worldwide Logistics develops contract-logistics solutions, which can include managing complex distribution networks, and providing supply-chain engineering and consulting, and multimodal freight brokerage services. Menlo Worldwide Logistics��supply-chain management offerings are primarily related to transportation-management and contract-warehousing services. Transportation management refers to the management of asset-based carriers and third-party transportation providers for customers��inbound and outbound supply-chain needs through the use of logistics management systems to consolidate, book and track shipments. Contract warehousing refers to the optimization and operation of warehouses for customers using technology and warehouse-management systems to reduce inventory carrying costs and supply-chain cycle times. For several customers, contract-warehousing operations include light assembly or kitting operations.

Menlo Worldwide Logistics provides its services using a customer- or project-based approach when the supply-chain solution requires customer-specific transportation management, single-client warehouses, and/or single-customer technological solutions. However, Menlo Worldwide Logistics also utilizes a shared-resource, process-based approach that leverages a centralized transportation-management group, multi-client warehouses and technology to provide scalable solutions to multiple customers. Additionally, Menlo Worldwide Logistics segments its business based on customer type. At December 31, 2011, Menlo Worldwide Logistics operated 76 warehouses in North America, of which 55 were leased by Menlo Worldwide Logistics and 21 were leased or owned by clients of Menlo Worldwide Logistics. Outside of North America, Menlo Worldwide Logistics operated an additional 63 warehouses, of which 48 were leased by Menlo Worldwide Logistics and 15 were leased or owned by clients. Menlo Worldwide Logistics owns and operates a small fleet of tr! actors an! d trailers to support its operations, but primarily utilizes third-party transportation providers for the movement of customer shipments.

Truckload

The Truckload segment consists of the operating results of the Con-way Truckload business unit. Con-way Truckload is a full-truckload motor carrier that utilizes a fleet of tractors and trailers to provide short- and long-haul, asset-based transportation services throughout North America. Con-way Truckload provides dry-van transportation services to manufacturing, industrial and retail customers while using single drivers as well as two-person driver teams over long-haul routes, with each trailer containing only one customer�� goods. This origin-to-destination freight movement limits intermediate handling and is not dependent on the same network of locations utilized by LTL carriers. On average, Con-way Truckload transports shipments more than 800 miles from origin to destination. Under its regional service offering, Con-way Truckload transports truckload shipments of less than 600 miles, including local-area service for truckload shipments of less than 100 miles.

Con-way Truckload offers through-trailer service into and out of Mexico through all major gateways in Texas, Arizona and California. For a shipment with an origin or destination in Mexico, Con-way Truckload provides transportation for the domestic portion of the freight move, and a Mexican carrier provides the pick-up, linehaul and delivery services within Mexico. At December 31, 2011, Con-way Truckload operated five owned terminals with bulk fuel, tractor and trailer parking, and in some cases, equipment maintenance and washing facilities. In addition, Con-way Truckload also utilizes various drop yards for temporary trailer storage throughout the United States. At December 31, 2011, Con-way Truckload owned and operated approximately 2,700 tractors and 8,000 trailers, including tractors held under capital lease agreements.

Other

! The Other! reporting segment consists of the operating results of Road Systems, a trailer manufacturer, and certain corporate activities for which the related income or expense has not been allocated to other reporting segments, including results related to corporate re-insurance activities and corporate properties. Road Systems primarily manufactures and refurbishes trailers for Con-way Freight and Con-way Truckload.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Rich Smith]

  Con-Way (NYSE: CNW  ) announced that after polling its drivers for feedback on various truck manufacturers and models, it has decided to refresh its truck fleet with 525 new tractors -- 325 Kenworth T680s from Paccar, and another 200 Navistar ProStars.

• [By Dan Caplinger]

  Navistar hasn't been entirely locked out of the trucking market, though. The company won several contracts from the Defense Department in support of its military vehicles, including its MaxxPro mine-resistant, ambush-protected armored vehicle. On the commercial front, Navistar won part of an order in May from trucking company Con-Way (NYSE: CNW  ) , which purchased 200 ProStar vehicles from the company. Still, the fact that rival Paccar (NASDAQ: PCAR  ) got an even bigger portion of the Con-Way order is just one more sign of the ongoing struggles Navistar faces.

• [By Rich Smith]

  Consider: According to YRC, the $150.9 million it currently pays in annual interest exceeds the $92.6 million in interest obligations paid by "all [of its] competitors combined." Con-Way (NYSE: CNW  ) , for example, sports a debt load about half of YRC's, yet pays only about one-third �as much in interest on that debt. Old Dominion Freight (NASDAQ: ODFL  ) has 12% the debt �of YRC, but only 7% of the interest expense.

Top Freight Companies To Watch In Right Now: Knight Transportation Inc (KNX)

Knight Transportation, Inc. (Knight), incorporated on August 31, 1989, is a provider of multiple truckload transportation services, which generally involve the movement of full trailer or container loads of freight from origin to destination for a single customer. The Company is a provider of multiple truckload transportation services with a nationwide network of service centers through which it operates one of the tractor fleets. In addition to its own fleet, the Company also partners with third-party equipment providers to provide truckload capacity and a broad range of solutions to truckload shippers. The Company has five operating segments comprised of three asset-based operating segments: dry van truckload, temperature-controlled truckload and port services and two non-asset-based operating segments brokerage and intermodal services. Through its asset-based and non-asset-based capabilities the Company is able to transport, or can arrange for the transportation of, general commodities for customers throughout the United States and parts of Canada and Mexico.

The Company's asset-based businesses generally include dry van truckload, refrigerated truckload, dedicated truckload, and drayage services. Its non-asset-based services generally include rail intermodal and truckload brokerage services. However, within its asset-based services, the use of independent contractors to provide tractors lowers the capital investment in its dry van and refrigerated operations. In addition, drayage operations generally involve less expensive tractors with longer lives and do not require a investment in trailering equipment. As of December 31, 2012, it operated 3,627 company-owned tractors with an average age of 1.9 years. It also had under contract 507 tractors owned and operated by independent contractors. Its trailer fleet consisted of 9,564 53-foot long trailers with an average age of 5.5 years and includes 1,092 temperature-controlled trailers.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Victor Nguyen]

  A report released Thursday morning, Citigroup analyst Christian Wetherbee upgrades Knight Transportation (NYSE: KNX) to BUY from NEUTRAL, increasing price target from $17 to $22.

• [By Sean Williams]

  Swift Transportation (NYSE: SWFT  ) , for example, delivered a 4% increase in revenue this past quarter in spite of having fewer trucks in service. The company was able to realize better utilization of its existing fleet and actually saw fuel prices fall from the previous year. The results were even more robust for Knight Transportation (NYSE: KNX  ) , whose shareholders saw revenue rise by 7% as the company grew from the year-ago quarter for the 14th straight time and delivered growth from each of its business segments.

• [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 Knight Transportation (NYSE: KNX  ) , whose recent revenue and earnings are plotted below.

Top Freight Companies To Watch In Right Now: 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 Michael Flannelly]

  Following Werner Enterprises, Inc.’s (WERN) third quarter earnings warning, analysts at KeyBanc downgraded the transportation and logistics company on Tuesday.

  The analysts downgraded WERN from “Buy” to “Hold.”

  KeyBanc analyst Todd Fowler said, “We downgrade WERN from Buy to HOLD following its negative 3Q pre-ann’ct, which reflected a number of company-specific issues that we expect to limit upside going forward; we would focus investors on other, stronger-performing names within the truckload space, specifically, BUY-rated Swift Transportation Company (SWFT), Marten Transport Ltd. (MRTN), and Knight Transportation Inc. (KNX).”

  Werner Enterprises shares were down $1.66, or 6.80%, during pre-market trading on Tuesday. The stock is up 12.64% year-to-date.

• [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) shares dropped 4.83% to $23.23 in pre-market trading after the company issued a weak third-quarter profit forecast.

• [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.

Abramson breaks silence about NYT firing

Jill Abramson gave the commencement address at Wake Forest Monday, her first remarks since being fired by The New York Times.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) Jill Abramson, who was fired as executive editor of The New York Times last week, doesn't know what she'll do next. But she knows she won't be getting her tattoo of the newspaper's logo removed.

Abramson spoke for the first time about her abrupt dismissal during a commencement address at Wake Forest University Monday morning.

She joked about the timing of the address. "I think the only real news here today is your graduation from this great university!" she told the graduates. She then spoke at length about the topic of resilience, citing her own experiences at The New York Times.

Abramson did not speak an ill word about The New York Times or its publisher, Arthur Sulzberger, Jr., who forced her out after fewer than three years as executive editor. She praised the newspaper and said "it was the honor of my life to lead the newsroom."

There has been widespread speculation in media circles about where Abramson will work next.

"What's next for me? I don't know," she told the assembled college students. "So I'm in exactly the same boat as many of you!"

In recent days there have also been some suggestions that she might decide to sue The New York Times (NYT), given news accounts that she was paid less than her male predecessor, Bill Keller.

Sulzberger and The Times have denied that was the case. In a statement on Saturday, Sulzberger said Abramson's total compensation was "was comparable with Bill Keller's; in fact, by her last full year as executive editor, it was more than 10% higher than his."

He went on to say that Abramson was dismissed because "she had lost the support" of her colleagues and could not get it back.

Abramson sidestepped questions about her management style, but acknowledged that losing her job "hurts." She made light of the fact that she has a tattoo in the shape of the newspaper's famous T logo. When a Wake Forest student asked her if she might have it removed, she said "not a chance!"

Praising several former colleagues by name, Abramson spoke about the importance of the hard-hitting journalism produced by The New York Times and other institutions, and said "this is the work I will remain very much a part of."

Playfully, she addressed students in the crowd who'd been dumped or "not gotten the job you rea! lly wanted."

"You know the sting of losing. Or not getting something you badly want. When that happens, show what you are made of," she said.

--CNNMoney's Gregory Wallace contributed to this report.

Pound flirts with $1.69; dollar up vs. yen, euro

NEW YORK (MarketWatch)—The dollar fell against the British pound Wednesday after minutes from the Bank of England and Federal Reserve latest meetings showed both central banks are examining ways to eventually tighten monetary policy, with expectations still for the U.K. bank to make the first move.

Minutes from the Bank of England's latest meeting suggested some bank officials are becoming more comfortable with the prospect of raising interest rates. Across the pond, Federal Reserve officials discussed "several approaches" for how to eventually tighten monetary policy but made no decision on what tools to use, according to the minutes from its April meeting.

"Our view has not changed. I would expect that the Bank of England will raise rates ahead of the U.S. Federal Reserve," said Lennon Sweeting, corporate dealer and strategist at USForex. The pound could make a run on $1.70 "very soon," he added.

Getty Images Views are diverging between Bank of England Gov. Mark Carney, above, and other officials about rate increases.

The pound (GBPUSD)  rose to $1.6899 from $1.6842 late Tuesday. That's the highest level since May 8, according to FactSet. Read: Best stocks to play a thriving U.K. economy

Minutes from the Bank of England's May meeting showed diverging views among Monetary Policy Committee officials about the amount of slack left in the labor market and the best way to eventually hike rates. The minutes added to speculation that the strengthening U.K. economy could force the BOE to raise interest rates sooner than it currently expects, which would make the pound more attractive to investors.

"The minutes hint at a divided committee, with some MPC members wanting to hike sooner than the expected Q2 2015 in order to be able to hike more gradually," said Greg Anderson, global head of foreign-exchange strategy, in a note.

Top 10 Consumer Service Companies To Watch In Right Now

/quotes/zigman/4867886/realtime/sampled GBPUSD 1.6902, +0.0063, +0.3753% British pound rallies this year

UK retail sales in April rose 1.3% from March and jumped 6.9% from a year ago, the biggest annual increase in nearly a decade.

The dollar (USDJPY)  rose to 101.44 yen from ¥101.29 late Tuesday, reversing an earlier loss. The dollar fell as low as ¥100.82 earlier Wednesday after the Bank of Japan made no change to monetary policy . Japan's trade deficit narrowed in April.

Treasury yields rose Wednesday.

The ICE dollar index (DXY) , a measure of the currency's strength against six rivals, rose to 80.086 from 80.036 late in the prior session. The WSJ Dollar Index (XX:BUXX) , an alternate gauge, was at 72.99 versus 72.95.

The euro (EURUSD)  fell to $1.3683 from $1.3703 late Tuesday.

The Australian dollar (AUDUSD)  moved down to 92.34 U.S. cents from 92.51 U.S. cents late Tuesday. The Aussie lost ground Tuesday after the Reserve Bank of Australia's meeting minutes showed that officials think accommodative policy will remain appropriate "for some time yet," making a rate hike seem unlikely in the near term.

More must-reads on MarketWatch:

Volatility in the currency market is at an all-time low

How China may be dragging down the U.S. dollar

Treasury's Jack Lew talks yuan, slowing China economy

Tesla Motors: Yes We Can

Shares of Tesla Motors (TSLA) have dropped 4.6% this month, as investors expressed disappointment over the upstart automaker’s earnings. That drop, says Morgan Stanley’s Adam Jonas and team, has revived what they call the bear case in the stock, as investors fret about Tesla’s giga factory, profit margins and distribution, among other issues.

Associated Press

Jonas has a few words for Tesla bears who say “it can’t be done.” Not only has Tesla “been doing it,” its been “doing it pretty well, actually.” Jonas offers a few examples where Tesla is doing it right:

Distribution. "The dealer lobby is too powerful." Yet the CEO of the America's largest dealer group spoke publicly in support of Tesla's captive strategy. Now the FTC has voiced concerns that state laws prohibiting Tesla's stores may be harmful to competition.

25% Gross Margin. "They'll never do it." Not only did Tesla do a 25% margin in each of the past 2 qtrs, but it achieved a 100% variable gross margin YoY in 1Q. Tesla targets a 28% gross margin by 4Q. Nearly there.

Gigafactory. "You mean giggle-factory? Economies of scale don't exist with batteries." If Panasonic signs up to support Tesla's vertical integration of battery manufacturing at 10x scale, one would have to wonder how Tesla could possibly convince them to do such a thing.

Shares of Tesla have gained 1.2% to $194.48 today, all the more surprising considering that the S&P 500 has dropped 0.2% today, while General Motors (GM) has fallen 1.1% to $33.87 and Ford Motor (F) has dipped 0.1% to $15.90.

Here's How Microsoft Nearly Killed PC Gaming

One of the biggest draws to the Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT  ) Windows platform on the PC for consumers has typically been the ability to run PC games. While Linux and Apple's (NASDAQ: AAPL  ) Mac OS have gotten some love from PC game developers as of late, the fact remains that the platform that allows for the greatest variety in hardware choice and the one with the richest library of truly great games. That said, despite Microsoft's "lead" in PC gaming, it hasn't done a whole lot to support the platform and has even taken actions to damage it in order to bolster its Xbox business.

Microsoft has hurt PC gaming
While Windows is the most popular PC gaming platform, Microsoft has also risen to be one of the two major players left in the dedicated gaming console market with its Xbox systems. To boost the popularity of its consoles, Microsoft has acquired and built up a number of internal game development houses under the wing of Microsoft Game Studios. On top of that, Microsoft has acted as publisher for a number of titles from third-party studios such as Epic Games (known for Unreal Tournament and Gears of War) and Remedy Entertainment (known for Max Payne and Alan Wake).

Instead of leveraging its in-house studios and publisher position to promote both of its platforms -- Xbox and Windows -- it has used these assets to promote Xbox and to exclude PC gamers, as the following example will illustrate. 

The Alan Wake example
Remedy Entertainment is a company well known for the hit series Max Payne. Both Max Payne 1 and its successor, Max Payne 2: The Fall of Max Payne, were heralded as superb third-person shooters and brought a lot of innovations from the actual combat to the quality and depth of the story telling to action games. Following these two games, Remedy set out to build its next franchise known as Alan Wake. 

Initially, Alan Wake was touted as an open-world masterpiece with a particular focus on advanced physics. Intel (NASDAQ: INTC  ) , for instance, used an early build of the game -- which had pretty remarkable effects at the time -- to show what kinds of games could use the horsepower that a quad-core Core 2 Quad processor could enable. Shortly thereafter, Microsoft took over the publishing rights and killed the PC version. 

Two years after the original Xbox 360 launch (which was far more tame on the physics and open-world nature of the early demos), the game was ported to the PC, but at that point it was too late and the damage was done. Microsoft got its exclusive, but it once again let the Windows gaming community know that they are an afterthought that will be tapped once it's clear that the game console variant is out of steam. 

Short term, Microsoft is right. Long term, not so much.
There's nothing wrong with putting exclusives on your platform to exclude a direct competitor (for example, Sony's (NYSE: SNE  ) PlayStation platform), but Microsoft actually harmed its own Windows PC gaming install base to drive sales of its game consoles. From a short-term perspective, this makes financial sense; force people to buy your game consoles, and then get a cut of every copy of each game sold for your platform. It's much more directly lucrative than gaming on Windows at a glance.

The problem here, though, is that without top-notch, brand-new PC games to sell ever more powerful hardware, there is less incentive for a good chunk of the PC gaming population to buy new PCs (which hurts Microsoft's WIndows sales). Further, if Microsoft ends up pushing gamers off the PC entirely and onto the Xbox, then those same gamers will have far less of a reason to buy a Windows based PC and could very well find a Linux-based or Mac OS-based PC perfectly suitable for their needs.

Foolish bottom line
In short, PC gaming is a way to keep gamers on Windows and a way to drive sales of ever more powerful PCs in order to support those new games. This is an asset that Microsoft would do well to nurture and exploit, even at the "cost" of Xbox revenue, in order to keep that "moat" around its Windows platform.

Fortunately for PC gamers, companies like Valve Software are picking up the slack and championing PC gaming. However, given Valve's aggressive support of Linux-based gaming, championing PC gaming is not necessarily synonymous with championing Windows gaming, something that could ultimately serve to hurt Microsoft down the road.

The biggest thing to come out of Silicon Valley in years
If you thought the iPod, the iPhone, and the iPad were amazing, just wait until you see this. One hundred of Apple's top engineers are busy building one in a secret lab. And an ABI Research report predicts 485 million of them could be sold over the next decade. But you can invest in it right now, for just a fraction of the price of Apple stock. Click here to get the full story in this eye-opening new report.

Belmont Stakes Beats Preakness by a Mile on Race Ticket Prices

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- The Kentucky Derby is history. Now the focus shifts to Maryland and Saturday's Preakness Stakes, the second leg of horse racing's Triple Crown.

For the first time since Affirmed in 1978, there's a real possibility of a Triple Crown winner. Still, according to TiqIQ, when it comes to the secondary market Preakness Stakes tickets are well below the demand of the Derby and the final race, New York's Belmont Stakes.

Right now, the average price for Preakness Stakes tickets on the secondary market are $135.88, a three-year low. Last year's race had a $199.18 average price, while this year is closer to the average price of 2012, which was $139.92.

From year to year the price of Preakness tickets will not shift as much as the other races. Pimlico Race Course usually has a steady stream of demand at the track, regardless of the results of the Kentucky Derby. This year's Derby winner, California Chrome, enters the weekend as the favorite to win the second leg of the Triple Crown. Should that happen, the price for Belmont Stakes tickets will start to skyrocket once the race is finished. This year's Belmont Stakes is set to be run on Saturday, June 7 at Belmont Park in Elmont, N.Y. Belmont Stakes tickets currently have an average price on the secondary market of $283.09, 108.3% above this year's price for the Preakness.

The future price of the Belmont, however, is greatly influenced by the result of the Preakness. Should California Chrome come out victorious, Belmont Stakes tickets on the secondary market could rise to rival those of the Kentucky Derby. If any other horse wins, the Belmont Stakes will likely be the cheapest of the three races this year by a fair margin. Last year, after Derby-winner Orb failed to win the Preakness, Belmont Stakes tickets dropped to an $87.81 average price. In 2012, both a rise and fall occurred as I'll Have Another entered the weekend with a chance to win the Triple Crown. However, the horse was scratched due to injury a day before the race, causing a sudden last-minute drop in price on the secondary market. Still, Belmont tickets had an average price of $320.40, 264.8% above the average price in 2013. As California Chrome was the favorite going into the Kentucky Derby and remains the favorite heading into the Preakness, there is a high possibility the Belmont will be hosting a chance at history. The current 36-year drought without a Triple Crown winner is the second longest in history, behind the 44-year drought from 1875 to 1919.

If the Preakness finishes with a chance for history to be made at the Belmont Stakes, expect both price and demand for tickets on the secondary market to increase almost immediately. At the time of publication, the author held no positions in any of the stocks mentioned. This article represents the opinion of a contributor and not necessarily that of TheStreet or its editorial staff.

Top Rising Stocks To Watch Right Now

Is the long winter finally ending for long-suffering Cliffs Natural Resources (CLF) investors?

REUTERS

It could be. The beaten-down iron-ore miner reported earnings after yesterday’s close, and they were surprisingly solid. Cliffs Natural resources reported an adjusted profit of $1.22 a share, better than analyst forecasts for 82 cents, while revenue came in at $1.52, also better than forecast.

JPMorgan’s�Michael Gambardella�and team explain why investors are excited:

Cliffs ended 2013 on a strong note by delivering its fourth straight adjusted EPS beat, continuing a recent trend of increased transparency of one-time items in GAAP EPS by adding a full reconciliation table, and providing better than expected operating guidance, specifically U.S. Iron Ore (USIO) prices whose imminent demise has been projected for almost a year. We would expect a strong positive reaction in CLF at the open given the stock remains the most heavily shorted in the entire S&P 500 at 36% of float.

Top Rising Stocks To Watch Right Now: Kite Realty Group Trust (KRG)

Kite Realty Group Trust is a publicly owned real estate investment trust. The firm invests in real estate markets of the United States. It engages in ownership, operation, management, leasing, acquisition, construction, expansion, and development and redevelopment of operating retail properties, retail properties under development, operating commercial properties, parking garage, commercial property under development, parcels of land, shopping, dining, and entertainment properties. Kite Realty Group was founded in 1968 and is based in Indianapolis, Indiana.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Lauren Pollock]

  Kite Realty Group Trust ag(KRG)reed to merge with fellow real-estate firm Inland Diversified Real Estate Trust in a stock-for-stock deal that will create a company worth $2.1 billion. Kite Realty shares climbed 5.7% to $6.50 premarket.

Top Rising Stocks To Watch Right Now: Inteliquent Inc (IQNT)

Inteliquent Inc, formerly Neutral Tandem, Inc., doing business as Inteliquent, incorporated on April 19, 2001, provides solutions for voice, data, and hosted services globally. With over 120 Ethernet sites across four continents, the Company is a global Ethernet interconnection provider, and has an Internet protocol version 6 (IPv6) network. Inteliquent is a network solutions provider, offering intelligent networking to solve interconnection and interoperability issues on a global scale. With multiprotocol label switching (MPLS) network, which is interconnected to carriers globally, it provides voice, Internet protocol (IP) transit and Ethernet solutions to carriers, service providers, and content management firms based in over 80 countries, across six continents. Its IP Transit provides bandwidth for Internet service providers (ISP), mobile operators, Telcos, enterprises and content providers. In September 2012, it announced the establishment of its Turkish subsidiary, as well as its strategic alliance with Turkey's Turkcell Superonline. In April 2013, Neutral Tandem Inc acquired the global data services business of Global Telecom & Technology Inc.

The Company simplifies the complexities of data networking by making interconnection. Its EtherCloud transforms and simplifies the delivery of Ethernet and virtual private local area network (LAN) service (VPLS) services over a global footprint. A layer-II platform, EtherCloud connects partner networks into a seamless Ethernet cloud, which delivers end-to-end connectivity globally. It relies on Inteliquent�� global MPLS backbone as a distributed switched network, which is accessible in 120 point of purchases (PoPs) across four continents, to interconnect partners��networks through standardized external network-to-network interfaces (E-NNIs). By interconnecting partner networks to create one holistic Ethernet cloud, EtherCloud enables you to both source and to sell Ethernet and VPLS connectivity. It provides a one-stop-shop to conne! ct globally.

The Company provides a range of voice services. Inteliquent's voice services include streamlined session initiation protocol (SIP) interconnection options for domestic and international long distance traffic. It offers terminating and originating access, which supports billions of minutes of billable traffic each month. Its services include Access Homing Tandem and Gateway Tandem Services. It has the first wholesale, white-label hosted collaboration solution to be resold by value added resellers (VAR) and system integrators (SI). The hosted collaboration solution (HCS) offers a range of unified communication products and services, including single number reach, integrated messaging and presence, video calling, and WebEx integration.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By alicet236]

  Inteliquent Inc. (IQNT): CEO G. Edward Evans Sold 179,192 Shares

  CEO of Inteliquent Inc. (IQNT) G. Edward Evans sold 179,192 shares on 05/07/2014 at an average price of $14.52. Inteliquent Inc. provides wholesale voice services for carriers and service providers. Inteliquent Inc. has a market cap of $468.794 million; its shares were traded at around $14.45 with a P/E ratio of 8.50 and P/S ratio of 2.10. The dividend yield of Inteliquent Inc stocks is 1.82%.

Hot Telecom Stocks To Invest In Right Now: Vocus Inc.(VOCS)

Vocus, Inc. provides cloud marketing software that enables businesses attract, engage, and retain customers in the United States, Europe, Asia, and Morocco. It offers a suite of software for social media marketing, search marketing, email marketing, and publicity. The company?s cloud marketing solutions include search marketing and news distribution solution that helps customers increase their online visibility and organic search engine rankings with press releases; and email marketing solution, which provides a method of keeping in touch with prospects and customers by using professional looking emails to send newsletters, special offers, and other useful content. Its cloud marketing solutions also comprise social media software solution that helps customers run social marketing campaigns, as well as monitor and analyze conversations across multiple social networks and other online Websites; and publicity solution, which offers media database, news monitoring, and analyt ics and publicity opportunities that help companies increase their media exposure, manage relationships with reporters, and monitor and analyze trends unfolding in the media. The company also provides professional services that consist of data migration, custom development, and training. Vocus, Inc. sells its products to the financial and insurance, technology, healthcare and pharmaceutical, and retail and consumer products industries, as well as government agencies, not-for-profit organizations, and educational institutions through its direct sales channels, indirect sales channels, and the Internet. Vocus, Inc. was founded in 1988 and is headquartered in Beltsville, Maryland.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By The GeoTeam]

  Our recent 2013 articles on SaaS companies Selectica (SLTC), E2open (EOPN), Responsys (MKTG), Vocus (VOCS), and ExactTarget (ET) highlighted such opportunities. The average return since the inception of our coverage currently stands at around 34% (55% at their highs).

• [By Seth Jayson]

  Vocus (Nasdaq: VOCS  ) reported earnings on April 23. Here are the numbers you need to know.

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

Top Rising Stocks To Watch Right Now: Katy Industries Inc (KATY)

Katy Industries, Inc. (Katy) is a manufacturer, importer and distributor of commercial cleaning and storage products. The Company�� commercial cleaning products are sold primarily to janitorial/sanitary and foodservice distributors that supply end users, such as restaurants, hotels, healthcare facilities and schools. The Company�� storage products are primarily sold through home improvement and mass market retail outlets. Continental Commercial Products, LLC (CCP) is its wholly owned subsidiary and includes as divisions all of its business units. The Company�� business units are Continental, Contico, Container, Gemtex, Glit and Wilen. On October 4, 2011, the Company sold all assets and certain liabilities related to the DISCO division of CCP to DISCO Acquisition Corp. In February 2014, Katy Industries Inc completed the acquisition of Fort Wayne Plastics, Inc.

The Continental business unit is a plastics manufacturer and an importer and distributor of products for the commercial janitorial/sanitary maintenance, industrial and food service markets. Continental products include commercial waste receptacles, buckets, mop wringers, janitorial carts, and other products designed for commercial cleaning and food service. Continental products are sold under the brand names, such as Continental, Kleen Aire, Huskee, SuperKan, King Kan, Unibody, Tilt-N-Wheel, Wall Hugger, Collossus, Corner��Round, Rountop, Swingline, Kleen Tech and Structo Tuff.

The Contico business unit is a plastics manufacturer and distributor of home and tool storage products, sold primarily through home improvement and mass market retail outlets. Contico products include plastic home storage units, such as domestic storage containers, tool boxes, shelving and hard plastic gun cases and are sold under the brand names Contico and Tuffbin. Contico is a registered trademark used under license from Contico Manufacturing Limited.

The Container business unit is a plastics manufacturer and distributor ! of industrial storage drums and pails for commercial and industrial use. Products are sold under the Contico and Contico Container brand names.

The Gemtex business unit is a manufacturer and distributor of resin fiber disks and other coated abrasives for the original equipment manufacturer (OEM), automotive, industrial and home improvement markets. Gemtex products are sold under the brand names Trim-Kut and Grind R.

The Glit business unit is a manufacturer and distributor of non-woven abrasive products for commercial and industrial use and also supplies materials to various OEMs. Glit non-woven products include floor maintenance pads, hand pads, scouring pads, specialty abrasives for cleaning and finishing, growth medium and roof ventilation products. These products are sold primarily in the commercial sanitary maintenance, food service, industrial and construction markets under the brand names, such as Glit, Kleenfast, Glit/Microtron, Fiber Naturals, Blue Ice, Brillo, Cyclone, Cyclone D, Sponge Pro, Wipe Clean Pro, Joey, Jackeroo, Buckaroo, Cocopad, Safire and WalnutPad. Brillo is a registered trademark used under license from Armaly Brands, Inc. and BAB-O is a registered trademark used under license from Fitzpatrick Bros., Inc.

The Wilen business unit is a manufacturer, importer and distributor of professional cleaning products that include mops, brooms, brushes and plastic cleaning accessories. Wilen products are sold primarily through commercial sanitary maintenance, industrial and food service markets, with some products sold through consumer retail outlets. Products are sold under the brand names, such as Wilen, Wax-o-matic, Rototech, ErgoWorx and Derma-Tek.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Chris Mydlo]

  The guru, Mario Gabelli, purchased 724,729 shares of Katy Industries (KATY). According to the 13D filed with the SEC on March 21, 2014, Gabelli is deemed to have beneficial ownership of the securities owned by Gabelli Funds, GAMCO, Teton Advisors and MJG Associates. The total amount of shares owned is 1,711,045, representing 21.52% of the shares outstanding. Katy engages in the manufacture, import and distribution of commercial cleaning and storage products for commercial janitorial/sanitary maintenance, industrial, foodservice, mass merchant retail and home improvement markets in the U.S., Canada and Europe.

Top Rising Stocks To Watch Right Now: Super Micro Computer Inc.(SMCI)

Super Micro Computer, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, develops and provides high performance server solutions based on modular and open-standard architecture. The company offers a range of rackmount, workstation, storage, graphic processing unit, and blade server systems, as well as subsystems and accessories used by distributors, original equipment manufacturers, and end customers to assemble server systems. It provides server options with single, dual, and quad CPU capability supporting Intel Pentium and Xeon multi-core architectures; and server systems based on AMD dual and quad Opteron. The company also offers server subsystems and accessories, including server boards, and chassis and power supplies. In addition, it sells other system accessories, such as microprocessors, memory, and disc drives. The company sells its server systems, and server subsystems and accessories through distributors, including value added resellers, system integrators, and original equip ment manufacturers, as well as through its direct sales force primarily in the United States, Europe, and Asia. Super Micro Computer, Inc. was founded in 1993 and is headquartered in San Jose, California.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Jake L'Ecuyer]

  Super Micro Computer (NASDAQ: SMCI) shares were also up, gaining 11.50 percent to $21.13 after the company reported upbeat FQ3 results and issued a strong Q4 forecast.

• [By John Kell var popups = dojo.query(".socialByline .popC"); popups.forEach(func]

  Shares of Super Micro Computer Inc.(SMCI) jumped 17% to $22.09 premarket after the servers maker reported better-than-expected profit and sales growth for the fiscal third-quarter. Super Micro also issued a rosy outlook for the fiscal fourth quarter.

• [By Lauren Pollock]

  Super Micro Computer Inc.'s(SMCI) fiscal second-quarter profit more than doubled as the servers maker reported a double-digit jump in sales and higher gross margins. The latest results topped Super Micro’s expectations and the company issued a rosy outlook for the fiscal third quarter. Shares surged 12% to�$20.79 premarket.

• [By Seth Jayson]

  Super Micro Computer (Nasdaq: SMCI  ) reported earnings on April 23. Here are the numbers you need to know.

  The 10-second takeaway
  For the quarter ended March 31 (Q3), Super Micro Computer missed estimates on revenues and beat expectations on earnings per share.

Top Rising Stocks To Watch Right Now: WPP plc (WPPGY)

WPP plc provides communications services worldwide. Its Advertising and Media Investment Management segment plans and creates marketing and branding campaigns; and designs and produces advertisements for television, cable, the Internet, radio, magazines, and newspapers, as well as outdoor locations, including billboards. This segment also has media investment management capabilities in the areas of business science, consumer insight, communications and media planning implementation, interactions, content development, and sports and entertainment marketing. The company�s Consumer Insight segment offers custom research services in various sectors, including strategic market studies; brand positioning; equity research; customer satisfaction surveys; product development; international research; advanced modeling; advertising research; pre-testing, tracking, and sales modeling; and trends and futures research and consultancy. Its Public Relations & Public Affairs segment provi des advice to clients that seek to communicate with consumers, governments, and/or the business and financial communities. This segment�s activities include corporate, financial, and marketing communications; crisis management; reputation management; public affairs; and government lobbying. The company�s Branding & Identity, Healthcare, and Specialist Communications segment engages in branding and identity; healthcare communications; and direct, digital, promotional, and relationship marketing activities. This segment also offers specialist communications services, such as custom media and multicultural marketing; event, sports, youth, and entertainment marketing; corporate and business-to-business; and media, technology, and production services, as well as digital and measurable interactive marketing, digital marketing strategy, mobile solutions, and platforms services. The company has a strategic partnership with Twitter, Inc. WPP plc was founded in 1971 and is based in London, the United Kingdom.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Kevin Godbold]

  So this series aims to identify appealing FTSE 100 investment opportunities and today I'm looking at�WPP� (LSE: WPP  ) (NASDAQ: WPPGY  ) , which provides marketing communications services such as advertising and public relations.

• [By Alan Oscroft]

  WPP (LSE: WPP  ) (NASDAQ: WPPGY  )
  WPP shares have gained a modest 0.5% after the advertising giant revealed an acquisition. The firm's wholly owned operating network VML will take a 49% stake in Polish digital agency Heureka Group, with an option to acquire a majority stake at a later date.

Top Rising Stocks To Watch Right Now: Continental Resources Inc. (CLR)

Continental Resources, Inc. engages in the exploration, development, and production of crude oil and natural gas primarily in the north, south, and east regions of the United States. The company primarily sells its oil and natural gas production to end users, as well as to midstream marketing companies or oil refining companies at the lease. As of December 31, 2011, its estimated proved reserves were 508.4 million barrels of crude oil equivalent, with estimated proved developed reserves of 205.2 million barrels of crude oil equivalent. The company had interests in 3,255 wells and served as the operator of 2,082 of these wells. Continental Resources, Inc. was founded in 1967 and is headquartered in Enid, Oklahoma.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Ben Levisohn]

  On a day when other oil & gas companies are rallying, Forest Oil has dropped 5.8% to $5.98 at 11:08 a.m., after opening up 2.4%. QEP Resources (QEP), meanwhile, has gained 1.9% to $28.55, Continental Resources (CLR) has risen 1.7% to $113.36 and EOG Resources (EOG) has gained 1.1% to $173.71.

• [By Matt DiLallo]

  We know that exploration and production companies are getting much more efficient in drilling wells. Drillers like Continental Resources (NYSE: CLR  ) are drilling more wells per pad, which is lowering completed well cost and is saving both time and money. For example, the company saved $7.5 million and 73 days by drilling a six-well pad compared to drilling six single wells. The company is one of many in the industry to move to multi-well pads; Continental is looking to drill four to eight wells per zone in the future because of this savings. The trend is to use fewer rigs to drill more wells, so oil-field service companies need to manage operations more closely in order to keep margins intact, which is exactly what Schlumberger is doing.

• [By Aaron Levitt]

  One of the biggest winners could be Continental Resources (CLR). Already, the Bakken�� superstar, CLR has made the SCOOP its No. 1 focus in the upcoming few years. The firm has been snapping up acreage in the region and now sits on an impressive land holding of 330,000 net acres. The company plans on applying the same cost cutting and surgical-like drilling techniques that its uses in the Bakken into its new SCOOP acreage.

• [By Matt DiLallo]

  "America has a long history of achieving the impossible. We defeated the British. We landed on the moon. We invented the Internet. And now we can add horizontal drilling to the list of American innovations that have changed the world forever."
  -- Howard Hamm, CEO of Continental Resources (NYSE: CLR  )

Top Rising Stocks To Watch Right Now: National Asset Recovery Corp (REPO)

National Asset Recovery Corp., formerly Nasus Consulting, Inc., incorporated on August 1, 2000, is a development-stage company. The Company focuses to design, develop and bring to market an immersive three dimensional (3D) virtual world, which provides an online, consumer entertainment experience that combines multiplayer gaming, virtual world and social networking elements.

On May 27, 2009, the Company ceased its information technology business. As of December 31, 2009, the Company had not recorded any revenues from its new business operations.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Chandan Dubey]

  Banks also borrow money from insurance companies and pension funds where the funds are non-depository in nature. These loans are generally collateralized against Treasuries or securities. These are called repurchase agreements (repo) and are mostly overnight. The funds are returned the next day with the interest.

Top Rising Stocks To Watch Right Now: Quanta Services Inc.(PWR)

Quanta Services, Inc. provides specialty contracting services primarily in North America. The company?s Electric Power Infrastructure Services segment designs, installs, upgrades, repairs, and maintains electric power transmission and distribution networks, and substation facilities; renewable energy generation facilities; and offers emergency restoration services, including repairing infrastructure to the electric power industry. Its Natural Gas and Pipeline Infrastructure Services segment designs, installs, repairs, and maintains natural gas and oil transmission and distribution systems, compressor and pump stations, and gas gathering systems, as well as offers related trenching, directional boring, and automatic welding services; and pipeline protection, integrity testing, rehabilitation and replacement, and fabrication of pipeline support systems, and related structures and facilities. This segment also provides airport fueling systems, and water and sewer infrastruct ure. It services customers engaged in the transportation of natural gas, oil, and other pipeline products. The company?s Telecommunications Infrastructure Services segment designs, installs, repairs, and maintains fiber optic, copper, and coaxial cable networks for video, data and voice transmission; and designs, installs, and upgrades wireless communications networks, including towers, switching systems, and backhaul links, as well as offers emergency restoration services. This segment serves customers in the wireline and wireless telecommunications, and cable television industries. Its Fiber Optic Licensing segment designs, procures, constructs, owns, and maintains fiber optic telecommunications infrastructure; and markets and licenses the right to use these point-to-point fiber optic telecommunications facilities. It provides its services to enterprise, education, carrier, financial services, and healthcare customers. The company was founded in 1997 and is headquartered in Houston, Texas.

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 Quanta Services (NYSE: PWR  ) , whose recent revenue and earnings are plotted below.

• [By Chad Tracy]

  TransCanada is not the only company that stands to profit from the possible Keystone XL approval. Refiners such as Valero and LyondellBasell Industries (NYSE: LYB), as well as construction companies Deere & Co. (NYSE: DE) and Quanta Services (NYSE: PWR) all stand to gain if Keystone XL gets the green light.

Top Rising Stocks To Watch Right Now: Emmis Communications Corporation (EMMS)

Emmis Communications Corporation, a diversified media company, engages in radio broadcasting and magazine publishing operations primarily in the United States. It also owns and operates national radio networks in Slovakia and Bulgaria. The company publishes various city and regional magazines, which include Texas Monthly, Los Angeles, Atlanta, Indianapolis Monthly, Cincinnati, Orange Coast, Country Sampler, and related magazines. In addition, it is involved in various businesses, such as Website design and development, digital sales consulting, and operating a news information radio network in Indiana. Further, the company leases its studio and office space. As of April 26, 2012, it owned 18 FM and 2 AM radio stations in New York, Los Angeles, St. Louis, Austin, Indianapolis, and Terre Haute. Emmis Communications Corporation was founded in 1981 and is based in Indianapolis, Indiana.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Monica Gerson]

  Emmis Communications (NASDAQ: EMMS) is expected to report its Q2 earnings.

  AngioDynamics (NASDAQ: ANGO) is projected to post its Q1 earnings at $0.03 per share on revenue of $82.54 million.

• [By Laura Brodbeck]

  Thursday

  Earnings Expected From: Lindsay Corporation (NYSE: LNN), Emmis Communications Corporation (NASDAQ: EMMS), API Technologies Corp. (NASDAQ: ATNY) Economic Releases Expected: Australian unemployment rate, Japanese consumer confidence, French industrial output, Italian industrial output, Bank of England interest rate decision, US initial and continuing jobless claims

  Friday