Best Tiny Stocks For 2018: May 2014

Saturday, May 31, 2014

Best Bank Stocks To Watch Right Now

More than 235,000 African-American, Hispanic and other minority auto loan borrowers who dealt with Ally Financial were unfairly charged higher interest rates for loans for cars or trucks due to discriminatory practices, according to federal regulators.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and the Department of Justice today ordered Ally Financial and Ally Bank to pay $80 million to harmed borrowers and pay $18 million in penalties.

The news represents the largest auto loan discrimination settlement in history and involves auto loans made between April 2011 and December 2013.

"Too many consumers have had to pay more for their auto loans simply because of their race or other characteristics protected under the law," said CFPB Director Richard Cordray.

"Discrimination is a serious issue across every consumer credit market."

Best Bank Stocks To Watch Right Now: Banco Santander Brasil SA (BSBR)

Banco Santander (Brasil) S.A. (Santander Brasil), incorporated on August 9, 1985, is a full-service bank in Brazil. The Bank operates its business along three segments: Commercial Banking, Global Wholesale Banking and Asset Management and Insurance. Through its Commercial Banking segment, the Bank offers traditional banking services, including checking and savings accounts, home and automobile financing, unsecured consumer financing, checking account overdraft loans, credit cards and payroll loans to mid- and high-income individuals and corporations (other than to its Global Banking and Markets clients). Its Global Wholesale Banking segment provides financial services and solutions to a group of approximately 700 local and multinational conglomerates, offering such products as global transaction banking, syndicated lending, corporate finance, equity and treasury. Through its Asset Management and Insurance segment, the Company manages fixed income, money market, equity and multi-market funds and offers insurance products complementary to its core banking business to its retail and small- and medium-sized corporate customers.

Lending Activities

As of December 31, 2010, the Bank�� total loans and advances to customers equaled R$160.6 billion (42.9% of its total assets). Net of allowances for credit losses, loans and advances to customers equaled R$151.4 billion as of December 31, 2010 (40.4% of its total assets). In addition to loans, it had outstanding R$93.5 billion as of December 31, 2010.

Substantially all of its loans are to borrowers domiciled in Brazil and are denominated in reais. Its commercial, financial and industrial loans include primarily loans to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in its Commercial Banking segment, and to Global Banking and Markets corporate and business enterprise customers in its Wholesale Global Banking segment. The principal products offered to SMEs in this category include revolving loans, overdraft facilities, installme! nt loans, working capital and equipment finance loans. Credit approval for SMEs is based on customer income, business activity, collateral coverage and internal and external credit scoring tools. Collateral on commercial, financial and industrial lending to SMEs generally includes receivables, liens, pledges, guarantees and mortgages, with coverage generally ranging from 100% to 150% of the loan value depending on the risk profile of the loan. Its Wholesale Global Banking customers are offered a range of loan products ranging from typical corporate banking products (installment loans, working capital and equipment finance loans) to more sophisticated products (derivative and capital markets transactions).

The Bank�� Real estate-construction loans include construction loans made principally to real estate developers that are SMEs and corporate customers in its Wholesale Global Banking Segment. Loans in this category are generally secured by mortgages and receivables, though guarantees may also be provided as additional security. Real estate-mortgage loans include loans on residential real estate to individuals. All loans granted under this category are secured by the financed real estate. Installment loans to individuals consist primarily of unsecured personal installment loans (including loans whose payments are automatically deducted from a customer�� payroll), revolving loans, overdraft facilities, consumer finance facilities and credit cards. Lease financing includes primarily automobile leases and loans to individuals. The vehicle financed acts as collateral for the particular loan granted.

Investment Activities

The Bank�� investments include Government securities-Brazil, Government securities-other countries and other debt securities. As of December 31, 2010, the book value of the investment securities was R$84.7 billion (representing 22.6% of its total assets). Brazilian government securities totaled R$55.8 billion, or 65.9% of the Bank�� investment! securiti! es as of December 31, 2010. As of December 31, 2010, the Bank held no securities of single issuers or related group of companies whose aggregate book or market value exceed 10% of stockholders��equity, other than Brazilian government securities, which represented 76.9% of its stockholders��equity.

Sources of Funds

The Bank offers its customers a variety of deposit products, such as current accounts (also referred to as demand deposits), which do not bear interest; traditional savings accounts, which earn the Brazilian reference rate for savings accounts (taxa referencial) plus 0.5% per month, as set by the federal government, and time deposits, which are represented by certificates of bank deposits (CDBs), which normally have a maturity of less than 36 months and earn interest at a fixed or floating rate. In addition, it accepts deposits from financial institutions as part of its treasury operations, which are represented by certificates of interbank deposit CDIs, and which earn the interbank deposit rate.

Advisors' Opinion:

[By Jake L'Ecuyer]
Banco Santander (Brasil) SA (NYSE: BSBR) shares were also up, gaining 12.46 percent to $6.50 on Q1 results. The company reported Q1 recurring net income of 1.427 billion reais ($637 million).
[By Rudy Martin]
We are buying Banco Santander (Brasil) S.A. (BSBR) to gain broad additional exposure to the Brazilian.

BSBR offers a full-service range of financial services, including individual and corporate banking. We also hope to benefit from the stock's 7.2% current indicated dividend yield.
[By Jake L'Ecuyer]
Banco Santander (Brasil) SA (NYSE: BSBR) shares were also up, gaining 15.74 percent to $6.69 on Q1 results. The company reported Q1 recurring net income of 1.427 billion reais ($637 million).

Best Bank Stocks To Watch Right Now: Wilshire Bancorp Inc.(WIBC)

Wilshire Bancorp, Inc. operates as the holding company for Wilshire State Bank that offers a range of financial products and services. It accepts various deposit products that include certificates of deposit, regular savings accounts, money market accounts, checking and negotiable order of withdrawal accounts, installment savings accounts, and individual retirement accounts. The company?s loan portfolio comprises commercial real estate and home mortgage loans, commercial business lending and trade finance, and small business administration lending, as well as consumer loans, including personal loans, auto loans, and other loans. It also provides trade finance services that include issuance and negotiation of letters of credit, handling of documentary collections, advising and negotiation of commercial letters of credit, transfer and issuance of back-to-back letters of credit, and trade finance lines of credit. In addition, the company offers Internet banking services, auto matic teller machines, and armored carrier services. It has 24 full-service branch offices in Southern California, Texas, New Jersey, and the greater New York City metropolitan area; and 6 loan production offices in Colorado, Georgia, Texas, New Jersey, and Virginia. The company was founded in 1980 and is headquartered in Los Angeles, California.

Advisors' Opinion:

[By Rich Smith]
Los Angeles-based Wilshire Bancorp (NASDAQ: WIBC ) is acquiring some Korean banking customers... in New Jersey.

On Monday, Wilshire announced that it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire�New Jersey's BankAsiana, a commercial bank�with three branches serving the Korean-American community in the New York/New Jersey market, boasting total assets of $207.3 million, total net loans of $161.2 million, and total deposits of $164.6 million.
[By Marc Bastow]
Los-Angeles, California-based bank holding company Wilshire Bancorp (WIBC) raised its quarterly dividend 67% to 5 cents per share, payable April 15 to shareholders of record as of March 31.
WIBC Dividend Yield: 1.77%

Top India Stocks To Invest In Right Now: BNP Paribas SA (BNP)

BNP Paribas SA is a France-based bank group with four core businesses: Retail Banking, Corporate & Investment Banking, Investment Solutions and Other Activities. Retail Banking comprises the French retail banking division, Banca Nazionale del Lavoro in Italy, BeLux Retail Banking, Europe-Mediterranean, all BNP Paribas Group retail banking businesses out of Euro Zone: in the United States, in Asia, in the Mediterranean Basin and Africa, in Turkey, Central and Eastern Europe, personal finance and equipment solutions. The Corporate & Investment Banking business provides to its clients financing, advisory and capital markets services. The Investment Solutions division offers private banking, asset management, securities services, real estate and insurance services. In November 2013, the Company launched 'Hello Bank!', a mobile, digital bank operating in France, Belgium and Germany. Advisors' Opinion:

[By Namitha Jagadeesh]
BNP Paribas SA (BNP), Societe Generale SA (GLE) and Credit Agricole SA (ACA), France�� largest banks by market value, reported second-quarter profit that exceeded analysts��estimates. Paris-based Societe Generale, which said income more than doubled from a year earlier, trades at 10.8 times projected earnings, 64 percent below its 2009 high. Credit Agricole trades at 8.6 times projected profit and BNP Paribas at 10.7 times, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

Best Bank Stocks To Watch Right Now: Washington Federal Inc (WAFD)

Washington Federal, Inc., incorporated on November 15, 1994, is a bank holding company, which conducts its operations through a federally-insured savings association subsidiary, Washington Federal (Bank). The Bank is a federal savings association. The business of the Bank consists of attracting deposits from the general public and investing these funds in loans of various types, including first lien mortgages on single-family dwellings, construction loans, land acquisition and development loans, loans on multi-family and other income producing properties, home equity loans and business loans. It also invests in United States government and agency obligations and other investments permitted by applicable laws and regulations. As of September 30, 2013, Washington Federal had 182 full service branches located in Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Arizona, Utah, Nevada, New Mexico and Texas. Through its subsidiaries, the Company is also engaged in real estate investment and insurance brokerage activities. The principal sources of funds for the Company's activities are retained earnings, loan repayments (including prepayments), net deposit inflows, repayments and sales of investments and borrowings. Washington Federal's principal sources of revenue are interest on loans and interest and dividends on investments. Its principal expenses are interest paid on deposits, credit costs, general and administrative expenses, interest on borrowings and income taxes. On October 31, 2012, South Valley Bancorp, Inc. merged with and into the Company, followed by the merger of South Valley's wholly owned subsidiary, South Valley Bank & Trust, into the Bank.

Lending Activities

As of September 30, 2013, the Company's net portfolio of loans totaled $7.5 billion representing approximately 58% of its total assets. The Company concentrates its lending activities on the origination of 30-year, fixed-rate mortgage loans, which are neither insured nor guaranteed by agencies of the United States government. Washin! gton Federal's lending activity is concentrated on the origination of loans secured by real estate, including long-term fixed-rate mortgage loans, adjustable-rate construction loans, adjustable-rate land development loans, fixed-rate multi-family loans and business loans.

The Company's lending activity is the origination of real estate mortgage loans to purchase or refinance single-family residences. The Company also originates a range of construction and land development loans, along with multi-family residential and commercial loans. As of September 30, 2013, single-family residential loans totaled $5.4 billion, or 67.2% of the Company's gross loan portfolio; construction- speculative loans totaled$131 million, or 1.6% of the Company's gross loan portfolio; construction - custom loans totaled $303 million, or 3.8% of the Company's gross loan portfolio; land acquisition and development loans totaled $82 million, or 1.0% of the Company's gross loan portfolio; land - consumer lot loans totaled $125 million, or 1.6% of the Company's gross loan portfolio; multi-family loans totaled $836 million, or 10.5% of the Company's gross loan portfolio; commercial real estate loans totaled $625 million, or 7.8% of the Company's gross loan portfolio; commercial and industrial loans totaled $326 million, or 4.1% of the Company's gross loan portfolio; home equity line of credit (HELOC) loans totaled $134 million, or 1.7% of the Company's gross loan portfolio and consumer loans totaled $55 million, or 0.7% of the Company's gross loan portfolio.

The Company originates 30 year fixed-rate loans secured by single-family residences. The Company originates construction loans to finance construction of single-family and multi-family residences, as well as commercial properties. Loans made to individuals for construction of their home generally are 30 year fixed rate loans. Multi-family residential (five or more dwelling units) loans are secured by multi-family rental properties, such as apartment build! ings.

The Company makes various types of business loans to customers in its market area for working capital, acquiring real estate, equipment or other business purposes, such as acquisitions. The terms of these loans range from less than one year to a maximum of 10 years. Consumer loans are home improvement loans made through third party originators that bear interest at rates of 10% and higher.

Investment Activities

As a federal association, the Bank is obligated to maintain adequate liquidity and does so by holding cash and cash equivalents and by investing in securities. These investments include, among other things, certain certificates of deposit, repurchase agreements, bankers��acceptances, loans to financial institutions whose deposits are federally-insured, federal funds, United States government and agency obligations and mortgage-backed securities.

Sources of Funds

Deposits are the source of the Company�� funds for use in lending and other general business purposes. In addition to deposits, Washington Federal derives funds from loan repayments, advances from the Federal Home Loan Bank (FHLB) and other borrowings and from investment repayments and sales. The Company�� deposits are obtained from residents of Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Arizona, Utah, Nevada, New Mexico and Texas. The Company obtains advances from the FHLB upon the security of the FHLB capital stock it owns and certain of its loans, provided certain standards related to credit worthiness have been met. The Company also uses reverse repurchase agreements as a form of borrowing. Under reverse repurchase agreements, the Company sells an investment security to a dealer for a period of time and agrees to buy back that security at the end of the period and pay the dealer a stated interest rate for the use of the dealer's funds. The Company also offers two forms of repurchase agreements to its customers. One form has an interest rate, which floats like that of a money market d! eposit ac! count. The other form has a fixed rate and is offered in a minimum denomination of $100,000. Both forms are fully collateralized by securities. As of September 30, 2013, the Company had $46.1 million of such agreements outstanding.

Advisors' Opinion:

[By Brian Pacampara]
What: Shares of financial holding company Washington Federal (NASDAQ: WAFD ) climbed as high as 10% today after its quarterly results topped Wall Street expectations.�
[By Eric Volkman]
Washington Federal (NASDAQ: WAFD ) is keeping its dividend level even as it effects a corporate transformation by the end of next month. The company has declared a quarterly distribution of $0.09 per share, to be paid on July 19 to shareholders of record as of July 5. That amount matches the firm's previous distribution, which was paid in April. Prior to that, it handed out a penny less at $0.08 per share.

Best Bank Stocks To Watch Right Now: Commercial Bancshares Inc (CMOH)

Commercial Bancshares, Inc. is a financial holding company. The Company�� banking subsidiary, The Commercial Savings Bank (the Bank), is engaged in the business of commercial and retail banking, with operations conducted through its main office and branches located in Upper Sandusky, Ohio and neighboring communities in Wyandot, Marion and Hancock counties. The Bank provides customary retail and commercial banking services to its customers, including acceptance of deposits for demand, savings and time accounts, individual retirement accounts (IRAs) and servicing of such accounts; commercial, consumer and real estate lending, including installment loans, and safe deposit and night depository facilities. Commercial Financial and Insurance Agency, LTD is its wholly owned subsidiary. The Bank also owns a 49.9% interest in Beck Title Agency, Ltd.

Lending Activities

The Bank grants residential, installment and commercial loans to customers located primarily in the Ohio counties of Wyandot, Marion and Hancock and the surrounding area. Commercial loans are primarily variable rate and include operating lines of credit and term loans made to small businesses primarily based on the ability to repay the loan from the cash flow of the business. Commercial real estate loans are primarily secured by borrower-occupied business real estate, and are dependent on the ability of the related business to generate adequate cash flow to service the debt. Residential real estate loans are made with primarily variable rates and are secured by the borrower�� residence. As of December 31, 2011, approximately 75.5% of the Company�� loan and lease portfolio consisted of commercial, construction and commercial real estate loans.

Investment Activities

Securities are classified as available for sale. Securities available for sale are carried at fair value. The securities available for sale include obligations of the United Sates Government and federal agencies, obligations of ! state and political subdivisions, and mortgage-backed securities. As of December 31, 2011, total securities available for sale were approximately $24.5 million, which included approximately $4.06 million of obligations of the United Sates Government and federal agencies, approximately $14.3 million of obligations of state and political subdivisions, and approximately $6.4 million of mortgage-backed securities.

Sources of Funds

As of December 31, 2011, the Company had approximately $259.1 million of deposits, which included approximately $ 38.1 million of noninterest-bearing demand, approximately $103.7 million of interest-bearing demand, approximately $ 86.9 million of savings and approximately $ 30.2 million of time deposits $100,000 and greater. As of December 31, 2011 the Company had no borrowings with Federal Home Loan Banks (FHLB).

Advisors' Opinion:

[By Doug Hughes]
Commercial Bancshares (CMOH) operates as the holding company for The Commercial Savings Bank, with just over $300,000 in assets and $259,000 million in loans. This small, but very strong bank had 5% loan growth last year and net charge-offs of just 0.23%.

Best Bank Stocks To Watch Right Now: Deutsche Bank AG (SBND)

Deutsche Bank AG is a global investment bank. The Company offers a variety of investment, financial and related products and services to private individuals, corporate entities and institutional clients around the world. The Company operates through such divisions as: Private and Business Clients, Asset and Wealth Management, Corporate Banking and Securities, Global Transaction Banking and Non-Core Operations Unit. Deutsche Bank AG is active domestically and in various countries, through the network of numerous branches. In February 2014, the Company and its related bodies corporate ceases to a share holder in the capital of the Company. Advisors' Opinion:

[By Donald van Deventer]
Long-duration Treasury Exchange-Traded Funds: (TLH), , (IEF), (DTYL), (DLBL), (ILTB), (TENZ), (ITE), (TLO), (EDV), (VGIT), (VGLT), (TMF), (TYD), (LBND), (UBT), (UST), (TMV), (TYO), (DSTJ), (DSXJ), (SBND), (PST), (DTYS), (DLBS), (TBF), (TTT), (TYNS), (TYBS), (TBX).

Best Bank Stocks To Watch Right Now: Credit Lyonnais SA (CLP)

Cr茅dit Lyonnais Group is engaged in retail financial services, asset management and investment and corporate banking. The Company's banking activities include personal banking, professional and small business banking, e-banking and middle market banking. The Company offers cash management and associated services, international business, advisory services and corporate finance. Its asset management services are involved in mutual funds, institutional clients and defining the investment strategy for the domestic private banking unit. The Company also offers structured finance, export finance and international trade finance. Cr茅dit Lyonnais has a network of 1,834 branches in France and operations in 55 countries worldwide. Advisors' Opinion:

[By Sean Williams]
Another growth driver looks to be its pending $8.6 billion merger with Colonial Properties Trust (NYSE: CLP ) . The combined entity would become the second-largest U.S. based residential REIT, with 85,000 apartment units. Opposition to the deal from some of Colonial's shareholders does exist, but comparatively speaking, MAA is in great shape either way. It already has a high occupancy rate, and the addition of Colonial's properties would only further serve to enhance its rental pricing power.
[By Rich Duprey]
Apartment-only real estate investment trust�Mid-America Apartment Communities� (NYSE: MAA ) once again is snapping up properties, this time announcing Monday that it is adding�multifamily housing operator Colonial Properties Trust (NYSE: CLP ) to its portfolio in an $8.6 billion transaction.�

Best Bank Stocks To Watch Right Now: Cenkos Securities PLC (CNKS)

Cenkos Securities plc (Cenkos) is an independent, specialist institutional securities group, focused on growth companies and investment funds. The Company�� principal activities comprise of corporate broking and advisory and institutional equities. Corporate Broking and Advisory segment reflects the corporate finance, corporate broking and market making services provided to growth companies and investment funds. Institutional Equities segment reflects the institutional equities team who provide research-driven investment recommendations and execution capabilities to institutional clients. Cenkos earns fees from primary and secondary equity fund raising, acting as a key intermediary between growth companies or investment funds and institutional providers of capital. Revenue in Corporate Broking and Advisory segment is made up of placing commissions on fund raisings, corporate finance fees and retainer income, market making profits and commissions on secondary market transactions. Advisors' Opinion:

[By Trista Kelley]
Cenkos Securities Plc (CNKS) is running the spinoff and the share sale. Royal DSM NV (DSM), the world�� largest maker of vitamins, holds about 9 percent of SiS, while U.K. venture-capital trust Downing LLP owns 16.7 percent, Moon said. Provexis stockholders received one share of Science in Sport for every 100 shares of Provexis.

Best Bank Stocks To Watch Right Now: Itau Unibanco Holding SA (ITUB)

Itau Unibanco Holding S.A., incorporated on September 9, 1943, is a bank in Brazil. The Company has four operational segments: Commercial Banking, Itau BBA, Consumer Credit and Corporate and Treasury. Commercial banking, including insurance, pension plan and capitalization products, credit cards, asset management and a variety of credit products and services for individuals, small and middle-market companies). Itau BBA includes corporate and investment banking. Consumer credit includes financial products and services to its non-accountholders. Corporate and treasury includes the results related to the trading activities in its portfolio, trading related to managing currency, interest rate and other market risk factors, gap management and arbitrage opportunities in domestic and foreign markets. It also includes the results associated with financial income from the investment of its excess capital.

On October 24, 2010, Itau Unibanco completed the integration of customer service locations throughout Brazil. In total, 998 branches and 245 customer site branches (CSB) of Unibanco were redesigned and integrated as Itau Unibanco customer service locations, thus creating a network of approximately 4,700 units in the country under the Itau brand. The Company is a financial holding company controlled by Itau Unibanco Participacoes S.A. (IUPAR). As of December 31, 2010, it had a network of 3,747 service branches throughout Brazil. As of December 31, 2010, it operated 913 CSBs throughout Brazil. As of December 31, 2010, it operated 28,844 automated teller machines (ATMs) throughout Brazil.

Commercial banking

The commercial banking segment offers a range of banking services to a diversified base of individuals and companies. Services offered by the commercial banking segment include insurance, pension plan and capitalization products, credit cards, asset management, credit products and customized products and solutions. The commercial banking segment comprises the specialized! areas and products, such as retail banking (individuals); public sector banking; personnalite (banking for high-income individuals); private banking (banking and financial consulting for wealthy individuals); very small business banking; small business banking; middle-market banking; credit cards; real estate financing; asset management; corporate social responsibility fund; securities services for third parties; brokerage, and insurance, private retirement and capitalization products.

The Company�� credit products include personal loans, overdraft protection, payroll loans, vehicles, credit cards, mortgage and agricultural loans, working capital, trade note discount and export. Its investments products include pension plans, mutual funds, time deposits, demand deposit accounts, savings accounts and capitalization plans. Its services include insurance (life, home, credit/cash cards, vehicles, loan protection, among others), exchange, brokerage and others. Its core business is retail banking, which serves individuals with a monthly income below R$7,000. In October 2010, it completed the conversion of branches under the Unibanco brand to the Itau brand and as of December 31, 2010, it had over 15.2 million customers and 4,660 branches and CSBs. Its public sector business operates in all areas of the public sector, including the federal, state and municipal governments (in the executive, legislative and judicial branches). As of December 31, 2010, it had approximately 2,300 public sector customers. Itau Personnalite�� focus is delivering financial advisory services by its managers, who understand the specific needs of its higher-income customers; a portfolio of exclusive products and services; special benefits based on the type and length of relationship with the customer, including discounts on various products and services. Itau Personnalite�� customer base reached more than 600,000 individuals as of December 31, 2010. Itau Personnalite customers also have access to Itau Unibanco netwo! rk of bra! nches and ATMs throughout the country, as well as Internet banking and phone.

Itau Private Bank is a Brazilian bank in the global private banking industry, providing wealth management services to approximately 17,951 Latin American clients as of December 31, 2010. The Company serves its customers��needs for offshore wealth management solutions in major jurisdictions through independent institutions in the United States through Banco Itau Europa International and Itau Europa Securities , in Luxembourg through Banco Itau Europa Luxembourg S.A. , in Switzerland through Banco Itau Suisse , in the Bahamas through BIE Bank & Trust Bahamas and in Cayman through Unicorp Bank & Trust Cayman. As of December 31, 2010, it had over 565 very small business banking offices located throughout Brazil and approximately 2,500 managers working for over 1,235,000 small business customers. Loans to very small businesses totaled R$5,981 million as of December 31, 2010. As of December 31, 2010, it had 374 small business banking offices located nationwide in Brazil and nearly 2,500 managers who worked for over 525,000 companies. Loans to small businesses totaled R$28,744 million as of December 31, 2010.

As of December 31, 2010, it had approximately 115,000 middle-market corporate customers that represented a range of Brazilian companies located in over 83 cities in Brazil. The Company offers a range of financial products and services to middle-market customers, including deposit accounts, investment options, insurance, private retirement plans and credit products. Credit products include investment capital loans, working capital loans, inventory financing, trade financing, foreign currency services, equipment leasing services, letters of credit and guarantees. The Company also carries out financial transactions on behalf of middle-market customers, including interbank transactions, open market transactions and futures, swaps, hedging and arbitrage transactions. It also offers its middle-market custom! ers colle! ction services and electronic payment services. The Company is able to provide these services for virtually any kind of payment, including Internet office banking. It charges collection fees and fees for making payments, such as payroll, on behalf of its customers.

The Company is engaged in the Brazilian credit card market. Its subsidiaries, Banco Itaucard S.A. (Banco Itaucard) and Hipercard Banco Multiplo S.A. (Hipercard), offers a range of products to 26 million customers as of December 31, 2010, including both accountholders and non-accountholders. As of December 31, 2010, it had approximately R$16,271 million in outstanding real estate loans. As of December 31, 2010, it had total net assets under management of R$291,748 million on behalf of approximately 2.1 million customers. The Company also provides portfolio management services for pension funds, corporations, private bank customers and foreign investors. As of December 31, 2010, it had R$184,496 million of assets under management for pension funds, corporations and private bank customers. As of December 31, 2010, the Company offered and managed about 1,791 mutual funds, which are mostly fixed-income and money market funds. For individual customers, it offered 154 funds to its retail customers and approximately 287 funds to its Itau Personnalite customers. Private banking customers may invest in over 600 funds, including those offered by other institutions. Itau BBA�� capital markets group also provides tailor-made mutual funds to institutional, corporate and private banking customers.

The Company provides securities services in the Brazilian capital markets. Its services also include acting as transfer agent, providing services relating to debentures and promissory notes, custody and control services for mutual funds, pension funds and portfolios, providing trustee services and non-resident investor services, and acting as custodian for depositary receipt programs. The Company also provides brokerage services to inte! rnational! customers through its broker-dealer operations in New York, through its London branch, and through its broker-dealers in Hong Kong and Dubai. Its main lines of insurance are life and casualty (excluding Vida Gerador de Benefucio Livre), extended warranties and property. Its policies are sold through its banking operations, independent local brokers, multinational brokers and other channels. As of December 31, 2010, it had 9.9 million in capitalization products outstanding, representing R$2,620 million in liabilities with assets that function as guarantees of R$2,646 million. The Company distributes these products through its retail network, Itau Personnalite and Itau Uniclass branches, electronic channels and ATMs. These products are sold by its subsidiary, Cia. Itau de Capitalizacao S.A.

Itau BBA

Itau BBA is responsible for its corporate and investment banking activities. As of December 31, 2010, Itau BBA offered a portfolio of products and services to approximately 2,400 companies and conglomerates in Brazil. Itau BBA�� activities range from typical operations of a commercial bank to capital markets operations and advisory services for mergers and acquisitions. As of December 31, 2010, its corporate loan portfolio was R$ 76,584 million. In investment banking, the fixed income department was responsible for the issuance of debentures and promissory notes that totaled R$18,888 million and securitization transactions that amounted to R$4,677 million in Brazil in 2010. In addition, Itau BBA advised 35 merger and acquisition transactions with an aggregate deal volume of R$16,973 million in 2010.

Itau BBA is also active in Banco Nacional de Desenvolvimento Economico e Social (BNDES) on-lending to finance large-scale projects, aiming at strengthening domestic infrastructure. In consolidated terms, total loans granted by Itau BBA under BNDES on-lending represented more than R$9,010 million in 2010. Itau BBA focuses on the products and initiatives in the international ! business ! unit, such as structuring long-term, bilateral and syndicated financing, and spot foreign exchange. In addition, in 2010 Itau BBA continued to offer a large number of lines of credit for foreign trade.

Consumer Credit

As of December 31, 2010, its portfolio of vehicle financing, leasing and consortium lending consisted of approximately 3.8 million contracts, of which approximately 71.1% were non-accountholder customers. The personal loan portfolio relating to vehicle financing and leasing reached R$60,254 million in 2010. The Company leased and financed vehicles through 13,706 dealers as of December 31, 2010. Sales are made through computer terminals installed in the dealerships that are connected to its computer network. Redecard S.A. (Redecard) is a multibrand credit card provider in Brazil, also responsible for the capturing, transmission, processing and settlement of credit, debit and benefit card transactions. As of December 31, 2010, the Company held approximately 50% interest in Redecard�� capital stock.

The Company competes with Bradesco, Banco do Brasil S.A. (Banco do Brasil), Banco Santander, Caixa Economica Federal (CEF), BNDES, HSBC, Banco Citibank S.A, Banco de Investimentos Credit Suisse (Brasil) S.A., Banco JP Morgan S.A., Banco Morgan Stanley S.A., Banco Merrill Lynch de Investimentos S.A., Banco BTG Pactual S.A., Banco Panamericano S.A, Citibank S.A., Banco GE Capital S.A. and Banco Ibi S.A.

Advisors' Opinion:

[By Will Ashworth]
Cencosud is one of the largest retailers in Latin America. It operates grocery stores, home improvement stores and department stores in five countries including Chile, its home base. Its stock is down 51% over the past year for several reasons, including a deal falling through that would have seen it sell 51% of its credit card operations in Chile and Argentina to Itau Unibanco (ITUB) and using the proceeds to reduce its heavy debt load. Add to that a major devaluation of the peso in Argentina, where it generates a quarter of its overall revenue, and you have investors in a full-on panic.

Friday, May 30, 2014

Abraxas Petroleum: Undervalued with Strong Growth Potential

Abraxas Petroleum Corporation (AXAS) is a small cap exploration and production company based in San Antonio, Texas. The company has a market cap of $472 million and has been trending higher since last year in terms of stock price. The company is currently trading at a price of $5 and this article discusses why the upside will continue.

EBITDA Expansion from Change in Production Mix

Over the last 18 months, the company has strategically shifted its focus to core assets. Last year, it sold its non-operating assets in Bakken and Wyoming. The proceeds were used to buy core assets in Eagle Ford and to repay debt. The positive impact is evident in the company's balance sheet with the leverage (debt/EBITDA) declining from 18x in 2012 to 1x in 2013.

	2013	2012
Debt	43.9	124.8
EBITDA	41.5	6.7
Debt/EBITDA	1.0	18.6

In addition to this there has been a change in the product mix, which has impacted margins. Abraxas has been increasing its oil and liquid production as a percentage of total production. There has been a 63% rise in the oil and liquid production since first quarter 2012 and this has resulted in an EBITDA margin expansion of 1500 basis points. With this trend expected to continue, the company is well positioned to generate robust EBITDA and further increase its operating margin.

	1Q14	1Q12
EBITDA	14.9	7.0
Revenue	25.9	16.3
EBITDA margin	58%	43%

Capital Expenditure to Translate Into Robust Growth

The company has an approved capital budget of $105 million for fiscal 2014 with 40% allocated for the development and completion of well drilling in Eagle Ford and 51% is allocated for the development of their wells in Bakken Shale.

The current capital expenditure program is focused on two key assets, which can yield strong results in terms of production upside. The potential of the assets is evident from the fact that Abraxas has 9901 net acres of assets in Eagle Ford with a majority of its assets in Jourdanton. The company has 100% working interest in Jourdanton with a potential of 90+ wells. As these wells are drilled, production upside is imminent.

This capital expenditure programme of the company suggests that Abraxas plans to add more rig units and hence de-risk more assets. It is estimated that with a capital investment of $95 million in these assets, production growth could potentially be 24% for fiscal2014. This implies that the company is well set for robust growth in the current financial year. This should help the stock to sustain its upside over the medium-term.

5 Best Consumer Service Stocks To Invest In Right Now

Source: Company Presentation

Attractive Valuations

Considering the above factors, the company is well placed to grow in terms of production and this will translate into healthy revenue and EBITDA growth. The undervaluation is clear considering the fact that the company is currently trading at a PE of 11.2 with an estimated earnings growth for fiscal 2014 and fiscal 2015 at 215% and 29% respectively. This would result in a considerably low PEG, and hence suggests the company is grossly undervalued with respect to the future earnings potential.

Conclusion

Abraxas Petroleum Corporation has robust growth lined up for the next two years. The company's stock has trended higher over the last year, discounting the positives in the foreseeable future. However, PEG valuation still suggests that the company has more upside. Investors can consider the stock with a medium-term time horizon.

About the author:Value InvestorA value investor.

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Top 10 International Companies To Watch For 2015

Top 10 International Companies To Watch For 2015: Golden Valley Bank (GVYB)

Golden Valley Bank is owned and operated commercial bank serving the needs of individuals and businesses in northern California. The Bank provides personal services, such as checking and savings and IRAs. The Banks business includes checking, savings, commercial lending, online banking and eDeposit.

The Bank provides business owners; commercial developers and investors, and residential builders and developers. Golden Valley Bank's business online banking service provides account management, bill pay and transactions services.

Advisors' Opinion:

[By CRWE]
Today, GVYB remains (0.00%) +0.000 at $9.00 thus far (ref. google finance Delayed: 11:59AM EDT July 17, 2013).

Golden Valley Bank headquartered in Chico, California previously reported June 30, 2013 financials. The company also announced their $.05 per share second quarter cash dividend.

2nd Quarter 2013 Financial Highlights: Year to date net profit $683,911 compared to $514,030 year to date in 2012; Assets up $14.9 million to $136.7 million, or 12.2%, over the second quarter of 2012; Loans up $6.2 million to $89.5 million, or 7.4%, over the second quarter of 2012; Deposits up $14.6 million to $118.6 million, or 14%, over the second quarter of 2012

The results of the Gravity Survey will be released once they are available

source from Top Penny Stocks For 2015:http://www.seekpennystocks.com/top-10-international-companies-to-watch-for-2015.html

Thursday, May 29, 2014

Hot High Dividend Stocks To Own Right Now

Hot High Div idend Stocks To Own Right Now: ING Groep NV (ISP)

ING Groep N.V. (ING) is a global financial institution offering banking, investments, life insurance and retirement services to meet the needs of the customers. The Companys segments include banking and insurance. Banking segment includes retail Netherlands, retail Belgium, ING direct, retail central Europe (CE), retail Asia, commercial banking (excluding real estate), ING real estate and corporate line banking. Insurance segment includes insurance Benelux, insurance central and rest of Europe (CRE), insurance United States (US), Insurance US closed block VA, insurance Asia/Pacific, ING investment management (IM) and corporate line insurance. In November 2013, the Company completed the sale of ING Hipotecaria to Banco Santander (Mexico), S.A. In December 2013, the Company completed the sale of its 33.3% interest in China Merchants Fund to its joint venture partners China Merchants Bank Co Ltd and China Merchants Securities Co Ltd, and divested ING Life Korea to MBK Partner s. Advisors' Opinion:

[By Tom Stoukas]
UniCredit SpA and Intesa Sanpaolo SpA (ISP), Italys biggest banks, dropped more than 1 percent as the nations benchmark FTSE MIB Index slid 1.2 percent. Rio Tinto Group led mining companies lower after a measure of Chinese manufacturing missed a preliminary estimate. Aryzta AG rallied the most in six months as the Swiss supplier of bakery products reported results that topped projections.

source from Top Penny Stocks For 2015:http://www.seekpennystocks.com/hot-high-dividend-stocks-to-own-right-now.html

Wednesday, May 28, 2014

Thomas Piketty: Pinko or Prophet?

Time was when wealth redistributionists were derided as “commie pinkos” or Marxist sympathizers if they stepped out of their bohemian enclaves in Berkeley or Madison.

But times have changed, and some of the central themes of Karl Marx’s Das Kapital, which sought to expose the contradictions of capitalism, have been updated in Capital in the Twenty-First Century, a 700-page tome that has risen to No. 1 on numerous bestseller lists (e.g., Amazon, The New York Times).

Indeed the book’s author, French economist Thomas Piketty, has been honored in the White House and been praised by left-leaning Nobel Prize-winning economists such as Paul Krugman and Joseph Stiglitz.

In his book, Piketty claims to have identified the central contradiction of capitalism, which he expresses formulaicly as stemming from a rate of return on capital that exceeds the economy’s growth rate.

In Picketty’s thinking, this tendency leads to a condition in which entrepreneurs become a rentier class that dominates those who own only their own labor. This system perpetuates itself, leading to a growing gap between rich and poor, which undermines society’s democratic order unless it is corrected through redistributive taxation.

Much of the controversy that has greeted his work in the United States — particularly in conservative economic circles — concerns this taxation issue, since Piketty does not propose incremental tax rate increases, but rather boldly calls for high tax rates on the wealthy and annual wealth taxes.

The author suggests an 80% tax rate on incomes of “$500,000 or $1 million,” according to a review of his work in the Wall Street Journal, and 50% to 60% tax rates on incomes of $200,000. He wants a 10% annual wealth tax on the highest incomes and a one-time 20% tax on lower levels of wealth. Piketty’s purpose in advocating high tax rates is “to put an end to such incomes,” and to develop what he calls “the meager U.S. social state,” the Journal reports.

Wednesday’s edition of the Journal lists the top 10 best-paid CEOs, with compensation as high as $76.9 million (for Larry Ellison of Oracle), so Piketty and those who share his concern for wealth inequality presumably think $7.69 million is more in line with the job of Oracle CEO. Whether that sum were sufficient to induce Ellison to keep his job is unknown — Oracle’s stock has gained 20% over the past 12 months.

Critical reviews have hardly arrested the book’s momentum on the bestseller charts — the English transation of Picketty’s French-language work having only been released in March — but it remains to be seen whether a new controversy over the validity of Picketty’s data will.

On Friday the Financial Times stirred a torrent of new criticism with an article claiming that its own investigation of Piketty’s data had uncovered “mistakes and unexplained entries in his spreadsheets, similar to those that last year undermined the work on public debt and growth of Carmen Reinhart and Kenneth Rogoff.”

Ironically, Reinhart and Rogoff’s spreadsheet error challenged a claim embraced by conservative economists that excessive debt enjoyed slower economic growth.

But the Financial Times’ investigation challenged liberal economists’ view that an increasing share of total wealth is concentrating among society’s wealthiest few.

Chris Giles, the author of the report, says his paper and an independent expert found that Piketty’s own data show no such tendency and claims “there are transcription errors from the original sources and incorrect formulas. It also appears that some of the data are cherry-picked or constructed without an original source.”

In a response to the Times, Piketty starts out by noting that it was he himself who made his data available to the public online in a bid for transparency.

He also notes the heterogeneous nature of his sources necessitated “a number of adjustments to the raw data sources so as to make them more homogenous over time and across countries.”

But the author stands by his conclusions, writing that “I would be very surprised if any of the substantive conclusion[s] about the long run evolution of wealth distributions was much affected by these improvements."

Moreover, he says, new research conducted since the publication of his bestseller suggests “the rise in top wealth shares in the U.S. in recent decades has been even larger than what I show in my book.”

The controversy has set off rancorous debates by pro- and anti-Piketty forces over the past few days.

The Economist is among commenters arguing that the FT’s charges are insufficient to rise to “the conclusion that the book's argument is wrong.”

Academics and policy warriors will continue to debate the merits of Piketty’s economic prescriptions and the quality of his data.

But it does seem that our current era is more receptive to the French economist’s ideas than a previous period was to a German economist whose name became something of an epithet in U.S. politics.

Indeed, New York City-based investment advisor Romain Hatchuel, in a potentially prophetic interview with ThinkAdvisor earlier this year, anticipated a future receptive to a wealth tax and higher tax rates, arguing explicitly that the rise of redistributionist New York City mayor Bill de Blasio, Cyprus’ asset seizure and an obscure International Monetary Fund paper calling for a one-off levy on private wealth were beginning to reshape the climate of opinion.

Little could the French native know that a countryman of his would write a dense economic treatise calling for just such a wealth tax that only two months later would become the No. 1 bestselling book in the U.S.

---

Check out these related stories on ThinkAdvisor:

We Answer Your Questions on Obamacare

We can't get enough of our reader emails, and there have been plenty to answer lately...

One huge trend we've noticed recently is that getting more Obamacare info is a priority for many of you.

That's why Money Morning Capital Wave Strategist Shah Gilani addressed a few Obamacare "facts" that readers of his Wall Street Insights & Indictmentsservice wanted to discuss.

Take a look at the Obamacare info below. These are just a few of what we've gotten so far. If you want more Obamacare info - like how to profit from the "Affordable" Care Act - you can get that here.

Obamacare Question #1: Why hasn't the Republican-controlled House defunded Obamacare? The House controls the purse strings of the nation. ~ Lorne D.

Answer from Shah Gilani: There's a long way to go in this war, and the next step will be on the funding side of the battlefield.

That's coming shortly, as in right after November...

Q: It has been my experience that every time the government sets out to reform something it is always in favor of special interests. The people always lose. People in the middle class pay the bill and the special interests people collect. ~ Pappy

A: "Same as it ever was..."

Q: Obamacare is a train wreck by design... it was never intended to work. It is merely an intermediate step towards a single payor system. When things get bad enough, the public will turn to the government to fix this mess and the government will offer up a single payor system as the solution. Your health care will then be totally controlled by the government.... it is all about control and power. ~ Len

A: While you may be right, there may be a backdoor agenda, the truth is I can't figure it out. I just don't understand why the attention isn't put on the insurance companies greasing the system that benefits them, the doctors committing fraud... in conjunction with the aiding and abetting insurance companies, and why the public is always duped so readily into believing that they are the ones who have to pay the price.

As Pappy says above, it's always in the interest of special interests. We know that, and it is the same as it ever was. But it's up to US - the American people - to protest and revolt if we have to. And we do have to. It's our health, our money, our right to choose, and our right to change the government.

If we want a better healthcare system, we need to start by changing our government.

Still, you can say one good thing for Obamacare... it's going to be one of the biggest single wealth creation opportunities in decades. We're talking trillions in new spending.

Not all companies will benefit - but a select few are primed for higher returns on a scale that was simply unimaginable before this legislation was passed. My friend and colleague Keith Fitz-Gerald just released a new investor report detailing exactly which stocks will do well when Obamacare gets rolling. Click here to see that.

The rest of Shah's Q&A session addresses readers' biggest concerns on Syria, free markets, trailing stops, and much more - go here for the full story.

Tuesday, May 27, 2014

Dollar General Earnings Due Tuesday; Dollar Stores’ Last Hurrah?

The last, and largest, of the discount variety stores reports second quarter earnings tomorrow. Dollar General Corp. (NYSE: DG) is expected to post earnings per share (EPS) of $0.74 on revenues of $4.36 billion. That is an EPS improvement of 6.8% and a revenue increase of year-over-year more than 10% year-over-year.

Dollar General's share price is up less than 6% in the past 12 months, but since the beginning of the year shares have risen more than 22%. And even then, Dollar General trails Dollar Tree Inc. (NASDAQ: DLTR) in share price growth since January 1. Dollar Tree stock is up 30%.

Big Lots Inc. (NYSE: BIG) reported earnings last Thursday night, turning in adjusted EPS of $0.31 on revenue of $1.23 billion, beating the consensus EPS estimate but slightly low on revenue. Big Lots lowered its full-year earnings and revenue guidance. Third-quarter guidance was lowered from an expected EPS loss of $0.01 to a loss of $0.05 to $0.13 and same-store sales to be flat to down 2% as the stores build inventory for the holiday season. Still, the stock price rose 2.25% on Friday.

Dollar Tree reported second-quarter earnings a week ahead of Big Lots, and the company's stock price jumped about 2.5% after the store raised the low end of its outlook for full-year earnings and revenues.

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Family Dollar Stores Inc. (NYSE: FDO) ended its fourth quarter and 2013 fiscal year on August 30 and will report results on September 30. Analysts expect quarterly EPS of $0.84 and full-year EPS of $3.78, up 12% over the fourth quarter a year ago and about 3.7% over last year's fiscal year earnings. Family Dollar's share price performance has been weaker than its peers, up just 12% year to date. The stock was downgraded by one analyst on valuation, and the company has said that discretionary purchases have been pressured.

Once these stocks were all considered to be growth plays, and to some extent they still are. But only Big Lots and Family Dollar have posted 12-month share price gains of more than 10%.

Over the past five years, Dollar Tree stock has risen more than 220%, while Dollar General and Family Dollar are up about 140%. Big Lots is up 39%, and at its peak in the past five years was up just 80%. In fact, Big Lots' share-price growth over five years is only slightly better than the share-price growth for Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (NYSE: WMT). That is not the profile of a growth stock.

Growth spurts, not sustained growth of more than 10% a year, seems to be where share prices are headed in this group. When consumer sentiment is positive, these stores simply do less well — and consumer confidence has been rising slowly. Whether that rise in sentiment continues remains to be seen.

See also: America’s Fastest-Growing Retailers

Monday, May 26, 2014

The Home Sellers Guide To Understanding Comparable Sales

One of the trickiest parts of the home selling process is selecting a list price that's just right. Not just any number will do: if you overprice your home, it will sit idle on the market, and if you underprice it, you miss out on cash and equity that could've been earned in the sale. This is when you need to think like a buyer, scoping out other homes that are for sale or have recently sold in your neighborhood. Hop on Trulia and enter your zip code to get familiar with what's out there – and maybe even swing by a few nearby open houses. Most importantly, work with your realtor to understand and analyze "the comps." They're the only way to truly determine an accurate list price for your home. Remember, this is one case where true value doesn't come from within, it's actually based on those around us.

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In the meantime, take a look at Trulia Trulia's quick guide to comparable homes:

1. Apples to Apples: Analyzing the comps entails some detective work. Obviously, your house isn't exactly like every other on the block. It can be far better – or far worse. You have to wade through and pick out comps that truly come closest to yours. Then make note of what similar homes have that your doesn't and what your house has that the comps lack? Consider these comparisons:

Sunday, May 25, 2014

Rethink your finances and retirement risks

Maybe the best way to save for retirement is to actually start budgeting for a short bout of insecurity. Or lots of insecurity.

The looming pension cuts — on top of higher health care costs — facing City of Detroit retirees should give anyone reason to reconsider their retirement risks.

What would you do if you suddenly faced extra health care expenses of $400 or more a month? Or if you suddenly lost $600 a month, as some Detroit retirees faced by an annuity clawback will do, as the city works its way out of bankruptcy.

Sometimes, what looks like a healthy nest egg could easily be scrambled into an ugly mess.

To be sure, record highs for the Dow Jones industrial average in recent weeks make many consumers overall feel more comfortable about having enough money in retirement. Some people's confidence can rebound with stock prices.

About 18% of workers nationwide are now very confident, up from 13% in 2013, about having enough money for a comfortable retirement, according to a 2014 Retirement Confidence Survey released in March by the Employee Benefit Research Institute.

But here's the catch: The increased confidence was found almost exclusively among those with higher household income and strongly correlated with whether someone had a retirement plan or retirement savings.

Nearly half of workers without a retirement plan were not at all confident about their financial security in retirement.

Many workers had little or no savings for retirement.

Among workers providing savings data for the survey, about 36% said they had less than $1,000 in savings. Many of those households earned less than $35,000 a year in income.

Not having enough savings is only one side of the story.

Many seniors now also have more debt in their retirement years than they expected.

Older consumers are carrying more mortgage debt than they had in the past, according to data from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Much of that mortgage debt is attributed ! to the refinancing boom — and the housing bust.

About 30% of homeowners age 65 and older carried a mortgage in 2011, the most recent data available. That's up from 22% in 2001.

For those ages 75 and older, the rate is 21.2%, up from 8.4% in 2001.

"A home can be a place of security for older Americans in their retirement years — a roof over their heads as well as a valuable asset," said Richard Cordray, director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, in a statement.

"But as more seniors carry significant mortgages into retirement, they put themselves at risk of losing their nest eggs and their homes."

The median amount that older homeowners owed on their mortgages was $79,000 — up 82% from about $43,000 in 2001.

A dramatic drop in home values, and a slow climb back, cut into home equity and contributes to more financial insecurity, too. Older consumers can be at greater financial risk when they have built up less equity in their homes, which can be their primary or even only asset.

Delinquency and foreclosure are significant issues among a small group of older homeowners, according to the consumer watchdog group. Nearly 5% of homeowners ages 65 to 74 were seriously delinquent in paying their mortgages, meaning they were more than 90 days late or in foreclosure, in 2011. That's up from 0.85% in 2007.

What is clear is that it is not enough to simply create a bucket list of things to do in retirement. More of us need to re-examine our bills, spending habits and get a retirement rainy day fund. All too often, it does not work out as planned.

Obviously, it's tougher to get a job, overcome health issues and pay medical bills, as well as difficult to recover from an economic setback in retirement than when one is younger.

The consumer watchdog group suggested homeowners try to pay off the mortgage by retirement or early in retirement; avoid taking out a home equity loan or refinancing to dip into equity, and consider their expenses if they'! re retiri! ng with a mortgage.

The crisis in retirement confidence is very much part of the discussion, as 10,000 baby boomers are to reach retirement age each day for the next 17 years.

While many may discuss delaying retirement, the average American is still retiring at age 59, said Mark Hug, executive vice president of product and marketing at Prudential Insurance of America.

Feeling nervous and ill-prepared about retirement is a common theme across many groups, including women and the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender communities, he said.

The key is not to give into the fear. Try to form a your own plan of adjustment for retirement expenses.

Contact Susan Tompor at stompor@freepress.com

Saturday, May 24, 2014

Iran billionaire executed over $2.6B bank fraud

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — A billionaire businessman at the heart of a $2.6 billion state bank scam in Iran, the largest fraud case since the country's 1979 Islamic Revolution, was executed Saturday, state television reported.

Authorities put Mahafarid Amir Khosravi, also known as Amir Mansour Aria, to death at Evin prison, just north of the capital, Tehran, the TV reported. The report said the execution came after Iran's Supreme Court upheld his death sentence.

Khosravi's lawyer, Gholam Ali Riahi, was quoted by news website khabaronline.ir as saying that the death sentence was carried out without him being given any notice. Death sentences in Iran are usually carried out by hanging.

"I had not been informed about the execution of my client," Riahi said. "All the assets of my client are at the disposal of the prosecutor's office."

State officials did not immediately comment on Riahi's claim.

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The fraud involved using forged documents to get credit at one of Iran's top financial institutions, Bank Saderat, to purchase assets including state-owned companies like major steel producer Khuzestan Steel Co.

Khosravi's business empire included more than 35 companies from mineral water production to a football club and meat imports from Brazil. According to Iranian media reports, the bank fraud began in 2007.

A total of 39 defendants were convicted in the case. Four received death sentences, two got life sentences and the rest received sentences of up to 25 years in prison.

The trials raised questions about corruption at senior levels in Iran's tightly controlled economy during the administration of former President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

Mahmoud Reza Khavari, a former head of Bank Melli, another major Iranian bank, escaped to Canada in 2011 after he resigned over the case. He faces charges over the case in Iran and remains! on the Islamic Republic's wanted list. Khavari previously admitted that his bank partially was involved in the fraud, but has maintained his innocence.

Friday, May 23, 2014

Low wage, health activists prepare McDonald's attack

A recent protest of fast food workers outside a McDonald's restaurant in California.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) The McDonald's annual meeting this Thursday is shaping up to be a heated one.

Activists want to put the brakes on CEO Don Thompson's multimillion dollar pay package. Health advocates are petitioning LeBron James to stop peddling McDonald's junk food to kids.

And, hundreds of fast-food workers are expected to protest for higher wages, starting a day before the meeting. All of this is happening as McDonald's is fighting a slump in sales.

The company has already barred media from the event. Reporters had been welcome in previous years. McDonald's (MCD, Fortune 500) said the idea of not inviting the media came from the media itself.

"This year, based on direct feedback from reporters and steadily declining media attendance, we are solely inviting media to listen to the meeting via web cast," said McDonald's spokesperson Lisa McComb.

The company's reluctance to have reporters at the meeting is understandable, especially after negative press from last year's meeting, when a nine-year-old girl took the microphone and told the CEO to stop tricking kids into, "wanting to eat your food all the time."

There's no reason to expect anything less this year.

"We will bring the concerns of health professionals, moms and other food advocates directly to CEO Don Thompson about the role that their kid-targeted marketing plays in driving an epidemic of diet-related diseases," said Jesse Bragg of Corporate Accountability International, a health advocacy group.

Bragg's group has written an open letter posted on its website asking LeBron James to reconsider his endorsement deal with McDonald's. The group said McDonald's is using "athleticism to sell unhealthy foods to ki! ds."

CNNMoney reached out to the basketball star, but did not receive a response.

Also presenting at the meeting will be CtW Investment Group, a shareholder group representing 5 million union pension holders. The group is asking McDonald's shareholders to vote against the CEO's pay package, which totaled $9.5 million in 2013.

CEOs at fast food companies earn 1,000 times what the average industry's worker earns, according to a recent report from public advocacy group Demos. The report found that fast food industry pay is one of the most unequal in the American economy.

The average hourly wage of fast food employees is $9.09, or less than $19,000 per year for a full time worker. The poverty level of a family of four in the U.S. is $23,850.

The fight against low wages is also driving hundreds of McDonald's workers to corporate headquarters where organizers say they will begin protesting on Wednesday on the eve of the meeting.

Protesters: Double minimum wage!

Just last week, protesters in multiple cities, including New York, Philadelphia, Boston, Chicago and Los Angeles joined strikes outside of fast food restaurants demanding their minimum hourly wage be raised to $15 an hour.

McDonald's may also hear from its own franchisees as word has spread that the group of people, who run and operate most of its outlets, have not been happy lately with decisions taken at corporate headquarters.

Thursday, May 22, 2014

Wolff: The right to be forgotten by Google

Google is too big, too octopus-like, too invasive, too knowing, too powerful. Anybody disagree that Google offers a creative scenario of a dystopian, one-company, one-information-source future?

Americans might have divided feelings about the company — pride as well as trepidation. But in Europe — where there is some experience with dystopian futures — feelings are much less mixed. "Stop Google" is a regulatory mantra for both left-wing and nationalistic bureaucrats.

To little avail — until last week.

In a nonappealable ruling, the European Court of Justice gave individuals the right to redact results on searches of their names — for wrong information, out-of-date information and, it seems too, just unflattering information. This new right — immediately enforceable — presumably extends to politicians, and perhaps corporations, if not governments. In other words, it's the end pretty much of search as we know it. Or, arguably, it is the end for Europe — serviced by denuded search engines (the ruling applies to all search engines) and kept from knowing what the rest of the world knows.

On the other hand, losing the European search market is rather a big hit on Google as we know it, hegemonically and economically. Indeed, it is a clever model for how authoritarian regimes, long confounded by Google, can bring it to heel — let everybody edit their own search results.

So where are we? Have we reached the limits of a 20-year experiment in information aggregation and access? Or is this one of those cultural snafus that technological advances regularly encounter and inevitably beat down or work around?

It is perhaps helpful to first look at this not from the view of principle — called in Europe "the right to be forgotten" — or technology, but of power.

Anybody interested in power — governments, bureaucrats, major companies — is focused on Google, which has established itself as a countervailing or insurgent force to not only every traditional info! rmation and media company, but, practically speaking, to all consumer-facing enterprises. There is hardly modern life, at this point, without Google. Likewise, Google has become another aspect of American power that Europe has long resented and regularly worked to frustrate. (There are, too, many American power centers eager to put brakes on Google.)

Which brings us to principle — convenient or otherwise.

Google is not a news or editorial organization in any conventional sense, yet it benefits from all conventional American notions of the freedom to publish whatever you want. On this basis, and much to the consternation of other publishers (who, desperately, would like to foil it), Google has been able to effectively republish what others have published. If it's difficult to correct or challenge what the press publishes, it is impossible when Google republishes. In some quirk of semantics and law, while it enjoys the freedom of a publisher, it is yet somehow not one — more a telephone system that's not responsible for the opinions or facts expressed by the people using it.

Every person who appears in a Google search — that is, nearly everyone — has misinformation attached to him or her. About every organization, every entity, every product, every subject searched, Google supplies erroneous facts. Google is surely the greatest repository of untruths ever imagined.

In the U.S., there is a free-market view that truth, or a greater truth, emerges from more rather than less information. In Europe, partly because wrong information has so often historically prevailed, there is a much more skeptical view. Information is power. The more control you have over it, the more powerful you are, therefore the less powerful deserve some protections from it.

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Not incidentally, extending the individual more power with regard to Google nicely dimin! ishes Goo! gle's power and helps to hold the savage economic and cultural beast at the door.

The world reaction, or at least the reaction among the technologically elite and ambitious, is that this is merely a spasm from European Luddites and protectionists. No matter, Google is inevitable and, in some sense, all powerful. Indeed, Europeans themselves will merely search using Google in the U.S. Duh. (Although the default setting is well known to be one of the strongest motivators in technology.)

Except that, everywhere, there is an awakening response from governments and regulators, both liberal and illiberal, to the digital free market — from efforts to oversee Airbnb in New York, to rules about bandwidth use in Washington, to the increasing digital savviness of the world's dictators. Combine that with an interest on the part of almost everyone who is not Google to level, to any degree, the playing field.

Google is a mighty force, but there are yet other mighty forces, including the ever-exasperating Europeans, aligned against it.

And, of course, what Google is and does is indefensible. It is unaccountable and, somehow, because of the extraordinary speed with which it has exerted control, we've hardly questioned that.

Anyway, Microsoft. In the 1990s, Microsoft was as vast and as powerful as Google — more perhaps. And it got waylaid in Europe. The bureaucrats pinned it down. Perhaps that is a European function now, to be a brake on modernity and technological growth. Not to stop it, but to check its pitiless march.

Wednesday, May 21, 2014

Mid-Afternoon Market Update: Markets Sell Off As Retailers Disappoint The Street Across The Board

Related BZSUM Market Wrap For May 20: Markets Sharply Lower On Fed Talk, Disappointing Earnings Mid-Day Market Update: Dick's Sporting Slides After Weak Forecast; Aeroflex Shares Rise

Toward the end of trading Tuesday, the Dow traded down 0.89 percent to 16,365.44 while the NASDAQ tumbled 0.82 percent to 4,091.51. The S&P also fell, dropping 0.74 percent to 1,882.84.

Leading and Lagging Sectors
In trading on Tuesday, technology shares were relative leaders, up on the day by about 0.12 percent. Leading the sector was strength from Aeroflex Holding (NYSE: ARX) and Canadian Solar (NASDAQ: CSIQ). Cyclical consumer goods & services shares declined around 0.71 percent in Tuesday's trading.

Top losers in the sector included Dick's Sporting Goods (NYSE: DKS), down 16.6 percent, and Staples (NASDAQ: SPLS), off 12 percent.

Top Headline
Staples (NASDAQ: SPLS) reported a drop in its fiscal first-quarter profit. Staples posted its quarterly earnings of $96.2 million, or $0.15 per share, versus $169.9 million, or $0.26 per share, in the year-ago period. Excluding certain items, it earned $0.18 per share. Its sales declined 2.8% to $5.65 billion. However, analysts were expecting earnings of $0.21 per share on revenue of $5.61 billion. Staples expects Q2 adjusted earnings of $0.09 to $0.14 per share, versus analysts' estimates of $0.15 per share.

Equities Trading UP
Aeroflex Holding (NYSE: ARX) shares shot up 25.63 percent to $10.44 after the company agreed to be acquired by Cobham plc for $10.50 per share, or $1.46 billion.

Shares of Ophthotech (NASDAQ: OPHT) got a boost, shooting up 25.78 percent to $39.54 after the company reported that it has entered into an ex-US licensing and commercialization deal with Novartis Pharmaceuticals.

Insmed Incorporated (NASDAQ: INSM) was on the rise as well, gaining 7.68 percent to $14.10 after the company announced some positive phase 2 clinical trial results in a study evaluating its drug Arikayce.

Equities Trading DOWN
Shares of Dick's Sporting Goods (NYSE: DKS) were 17.44 percent to $43.89 after the company reported quarterly results and cut its FY14 earnings forecast.

Staples (NASDAQ: SPLS) shares tumbled 12.47 percent to $11.72 after the company reported weaker-than-expected first-quarter earnings and issued a downbeat outlook.

Callaway Golf (NYSE: ELY) was down as well, dropping 9.70 percent to $7.54 after the Dick's Sporting goods earnings report unveiled a weakness in the golf market which traders applied to Callaway, using it as a catalyst to push the shares lower.

Commodities
In commodity news, oil traded up 0.20 percent to $102.31, while gold traded up 0.06 percent to $1,294.60.

Silver traded up 0.24 percent Tuesday to $19.41, while copper fell 0.76 percent to $3.14.

Eurozone
European shares were mostly lower today.

The eurozone's STOXX 600 dropped 0.01 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index rose 0.29 percent, while Italy's FTSE MIB Index gained 0.34 percent.

Meanwhile, the German DAX tumbled 0.09 percent and the French CAC 40 declined 0.39 percent while UK shares slipped 0.60 percent.

Economics
The ICSC-Goldman same-store sales index declined 1.3% in the week ended Saturday versus the prior week.

The Johnson Redbook Retail Sales Index gained 1% in the first two weeks of May versus April.

Posted-In: Earnings News Guidance Eurozone Futures Forex Global Econ #s Economics Intraday Update Markets Movers Tech

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Sunday, May 18, 2014

Hot Integrated Utility Companies To Buy For 2015

SAN FRANCISCO -- We speculated earlier this week that another sudden move in Hewlett-Packard's share price would follow its earnings report -- and after the fiscal-year performance turned in by CEO Meg Whitman and CFO Catherine Lesjak, the mood on the company was upbeat Wednesday.

Whitman made it clear company executives and the stock analysts who cover the company are very much on the same page these days, with H-P's fiscal 2014 profit forecast precisely in line with Wall Street estimates.

H-P shares remain attractive to income investors hungry for fat dividends because Whitman, in her second year with the company, made major progress turning around the venerable company's struggling operations.

And Lesjak's balance sheet and cash flow management allowed the company to pay down debt even while its sales fell and it paid its bills on time.

Hot Integrated Utility Companies To Buy For 2015: Informatica Corporation (INFA)

Informatica Corporation provides enterprise data integration and data quality software and services worldwide. Its software solutions include a set of technologies that enable various enterprise-wide data integration initiatives. The company offers PowerCenter, which integrates data virtually from business systems in various formats and delivers that data throughout the enterprise; PowerExchange that enables IT organizations to access the sources of enterprise data without having to develop custom data access programs; and Informatica Data Services for finding, integrating, and managing data across the enterprise. It also provides Data Quality, which delivers data quality to stakeholders, projects, and data domains; Master Data Management that provides consolidated business-critical data; and B2B Data Exchange software for multi-enterprise data integration. In addition, the company offers application information lifecycle management products to manage various phases of the data lifecycle, from development and testing to archiving and retirement; complex event processing to detect, correlate, analyze, and respond to data-driven events; Ultra Messaging products, which enables ultra low latency messaging; and Cloud that delivers purpose-built data integration cloud applications to allow business users to integrate data across cloud-based applications, and on-premise systems and databases. Further, it offers product-related customer support, consulting, and education services. Informatica Corporation serves aerospace, automotive, energy and utilities, entertainment/media, financial services, healthcare/life sciences, high technology, insurance, manufacturing, public sector, retail, services, telecommunications, and travel/transportation industries through its direct sales force, as well as through systems integrators, resellers, distributors, and original equipment manufacturer partners. The company was founded in 1993 and is headquartered in Red wood City, California.

Advisors' Opinion:

[By Tim Beyers]
Informatica (NASDAQ: INFA ) also saw its shares jump after exceeding Q1 revenue targets, a nice switch for a company that had suffered stalling sales in the wake of the European debt crisis. During the quarter, the company signed 19 deals with more than $1 million.
[By gurujx]
Informatica Corporation (INFA): CFO, CAO, EVP-GCS, Secretary Earl Fry Sold 110,000 Shares
CFO Earl Fry sold 110,000 shares of INFA stock on Oct. 31 at the average price of $38.68. Earl Fry owns at least 261,767 shares after this. The price of the stock has decreased by 1.45% since.

Hot Integrated Utility Companies To Buy For 2015: 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.

10 Best Beverage Stocks For 2015: First Commonwealth Financial Corporation(FCF)

First Commonwealth Financial Corporation operates as the holding company for First Commonwealth Bank that provides consumer and commercial banking services to individuals and small and mid-sized businesses in central and western Pennsylvania. The company offers personal checking accounts, interest-earning checking accounts, savings accounts, health savings accounts, insured money market accounts, debit cards, investment certificates, fixed and variable rate certificates of deposit, and IRA accounts. It also provides secured and unsecured installment loans, construction and mortgage loans, safe deposit facilities, credit lines with overdraft checking protection, and student loans, as well as Internet and telephone banking, and automated teller machine services. In addition, the company offers commercial banking services, including commercial lending, small and high-volume business checking accounts, on-line account management services, ACH origination, payroll direct deposi t, commercial cash management services, and repurchase agreements. Further, it provides various trust and asset management services, as well as a complement of auto, home, business, and term life insurance. Additionally, the company offers annuities, mutual funds, stock, and bond brokerage services through an arrangement with a broker-dealer and insurance brokers. It operates 115 community banking offices in western Pennsylvania and 2 loan production offices in downtown Pittsburgh and State College, Pennsylvania. The company was founded in 1982 and is headquartered in Indiana, Pennsylvania.

Advisors' Opinion:

[By Fast Weekly]
Okay, good, so Unilever has been able to consistently grow its revenue per share over the past seven or eight years. Other than a couple of large spikes in the late 1990s and early 2000s the revenue per share has been growing steadily since at least the mid 1990s. Thinking back to similar U.S.-based companies I've recently reviewed, Unilever's revenue growth rate seems to be slower than their U.S. rivals, which may help explain Unilever's lower valuation than some of the U.S.-based rivals. Now let's take a closer look at the earnings-per-share (EPS) and free-cash-flow per share (FCF) growth.
[By Fede Zaldua]
Eni (E) is an authentic cash cow for its shareholders. I believe the company will be able to sustain a greater than 6% cash dividend yield in 2014 even when the company's estimated 2015 free cash flow (FCF) yield is at just 4%. Asset sales as well as high oil prices should help the company meet its capex requirements and to continue giving back cash to shareholders through dividends. The recent sale of its stake in Sever Energia to the Novatek-GazpromNeft Joint Venture represents a clear hint into the company's strategy. After all, Eni's portfolio has several high quality disposal candidates which could attract the industry's interest – the first disposal candidate that comes to my mind is the remaining 8% stake Eni owns in Galp. The Italian oil and gas leader, which is held by Tom Gayner, sells for 12.5 times 2014 earnings and 5.5 times EV/EBITDAX.

Hot Integrated Utility Companies To Buy For 2015: Violin Memory Inc (VMEM)

Violin Memory, Inc., incorporated on March 9, 2005, is pioneering a new class of flash-based storage systems that are designed to bring storage performance in-line with high-speed applications, servers and networks. The Company�� Flash Memory Arrays are specifically designed at each level of the system architecture starting with memory and optimized through the array to leverage the inherent capabilities of flash memory and meet the sustained requirements of business-critical applications, virtualized environments and Big Data solutions in enterprise data centers. The Company�� Velocity Peripheral Component Interconnect Express (PCIe), Flash Memory Cards leverage its persistent memory-based architecture in servers and are optimized for applications that require continuous access to quantities of low latency persistent memory located directly in servers.

The Company�� storage systems are based on a four-layer hardware architecture, which is integrated with its Violin Memory Operating System (vMOS), software stack to optimize the management of flash memory at each level of its system architecture. The Company�� Velocity PCIe Flash Memory Cards leverage its expertise in persistent memory-based storage and controller design, as well as its vMOS software stack, to offer a differentiated architecture in a deployable PCIe form factor.

Advisors' Opinion:

[By Jayson Derrick]
Violin Memory (NASDAQ: VMEM) dove following its third quarter results and guidance that was released last night. The company reported a third quarter EPS loss of $0.63 while the Street was looking for a loss of $0.47. Revenue of $28.3 million fell short of the Street's expectation of $31.7 million. Shares were downgraded by J.P. Morgan, (NYSE: JPM) Deutsche Bank (NYSE: DB) and Pacific Crest. Shares lost 48.33 percent, closing at $3.10.

Hot Integrated Utility Companies To Buy For 2015: Giant Interactive Group Inc (GA)

Giant Interactive Group Inc. (Giant Interactive), incorporated on July 26, 2006, is an online game developer and operator in China. The Company focuses on massively multiplayer online role playing games (MMORPG) that are played through networked game servers, in which a number of players are able to simultaneously connect and interact. The Company operates 11 online games, among which nine are self-developed, including the five games in the Zheng Tu (ZT) Online Series. As of December 31, 2010, its game development team consisted of 934 members, which includes product development and enhancement teams for each of its MMORPG and multiplayer online (MMO) games.

In January 2010, the Company acquired China operation licenses for Elsword and Allods Online, two three dimensional (3D) MMORPGs. In November 2010, the Company acquired Julun Network. On December 6, 2010, Zhengtu Information, Giant Network and Shanghai Juyan Network Technology jointly established Beijing Huayi Juren Information Technology Co., Ltd with 51%, 34% and 15% interest, respectively. On December 31, 2010, Zhengtu Information sold its 51% interest in Huayi Juren Information to Huayi Brothers Media Corporation. In May 2010, the Company acquired Snow Wolf.

The Company has built nationwide distribution and marketing networks to sell and market its prepaid game cards and game points. As of December 31, 2010, its distribution network consisted of more than 130 non-exclusive regional distributors and reached over 96,000 retail outlets, including Internet cafes, software stores, supermarkets, bookstores, newspaper stands and convenience stores located throughout China. The Company also sells game points through its official game Website. The Company generates its revenues from licensing of its games to third party operators in other territories, including Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan, Malaysia, Singapore, Vietnam, Russia and other Russian speaking territories. In addition, it has also licensed its ZT Online Green Edition to! Shenzhen Tencent Computer Systems Company Limited (Tencent), on a non-exclusive basis for operation of such game on Tencent�� QQ game platform in China.

ZT Online

ZT Online is a two-dimensional, online role-playing game set in ancient China, and was the first game that was wholly developed by its internal product development team. ZT Online players assume one of five different roles, including soldiers and magicians, in 10 different kingdoms. In order to play ZT Online, players must log into one of multiple shards, or independent copies of the game world. Players can only interact with other players in his or her respective shard at any given time, and its technology enables players to travel among the different shards. The Company has developed technology for use in ZT Online that allows up to 40,000 players to play together in a single shard at any given time. ZT Online is free of charge to play. Players may purchase physical or virtual prepaid game cards and game points on its game Website or from Internet cafes and other distribution points, which allow their characters to obtain gold coins, one of the currencies used in the ZT Online game. Players may also earn silver coins for their characters when they fulfill tasks or adventures in the game world.

The game has gold coin vouchers, which are offered both as a salary to players who meet certain requirements and as a reward in connection with certain of its promotions. Players may trade silver coins for gold coins, and vice-versa, inside the game. Neither gold coins, gold coin vouchers, nor silver coins may be used by players to purchase any items or services outside of the ZT Online game. ZT Online allows players to purchase a range of virtual items and services for their characters using their gold and/or silver coins. These include weapons, clothing, pets, ceremonies and rites, and others. Weapons may be repaired or replaced by purchases of certain in-game raw materials or by payment of additional gold or! silver c! oins. ZT Online offers a play experience, where players can choose to enter the game 24 hours a day, seven days a week. ZT Online can be accessed from any location with an Internet connection. It has licensed ZT Online to Lager Network for operation in Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan, Malaysia and Singapore, licensed ZT Online to VinaGame for operation in Vietnam, and licensed ZT Online to Atrum Nival for operation in the Russia and other Russian speaking territories.

ZT Online PTP

ZT Online PTP is pay-to-play MMORPG game developed by the Company, and is based on the ZT Online free-to-play game. As in ZT Online, players assume one of five different roles in 10 different kingdoms. ZT Online PTP also requires players to log into one of multiple shards, while enabling players to travel between different shards. ZT Online PTP requires players to pay to play the game by purchasing physical or virtual prepaid game cards on its game Website or from Internet cafes and other distribution points. ZT Online PTP shares the same graphics and system requirements as ZT Online.

Giant Online

Giant Online is a military-themed MMORPG. Giant Online players may assume one of 14 different roles, such as detectives and spies. As with ZT Online, the game world in Giant Online is divided into a number of regions. Each player must guide his or her character to develop skills and cooperate with other players to fight against players from other regions. Players can equip their characters with a range of modern weaponry. Apart from waging war, characters can also engage in forms of in-game social interaction, such as friendship and even romance. Giant Online enables players, and groups of players, to purchase a range of virtual items and services. These virtual items and services include weapons, vehicles and pets. Giant Online is a 2.5 dimensional game, the background and items in the game are depicted three dimensionally, while the characters are depicted two dimensionally.

King of! Kings III

K III is a three-dimensional online role-playing experience set in a European-style magical world. Players assume the roles of K III heroes as they explore across a virtual world of forests and medieval cities and castles. K III is the third episode of the King of Kings series of MMORPGs.

My Sweetie

My Sweetie is a 2.5D free-to-play casual MMO game, which allows players to create virtual characters, raise virtual pets on their personal computer desktops and go online to interact with other virtual pet-owners. My Sweetie is the game developed pursuant to its Win@Giant program.

XT Online is a 2.5D ancient Chinese martial arts MMORPG that was developed by Snow Wolf, a game development studio. XT Online enables users to practice different schools or styles of martial arts with the goal of becoming a master, while focusing on brotherhood and trust-building with other martial artists. The Golden Land is a free-to-play medieval strategy browser game, which was developed by Juhe Network, one of its 51% owned game development studios. ZT Online II is an internally-developed free-to-play 2D sequel to its game ZT Online. ZT Online II was developed by an internal studio that it is reorganizing into Jujia Network, one of its 51% owned game development studios.

Dragon Soul is an internally developed 3D ancient Chinese MMORPG developed by Chengdu Jufan Network Technology Co. Ltd. (Jufan Network) one of its 51% owned game development studios. Spirits of the Warriors is a free-to-play 3D MMORPG based on the Three Kingdoms period of ancient Chinese history.

Advisors' Opinion:

[By Kevin Chen]
Two companies that seem on an unstoppable path of profits are Giant Interactive� (NYSE: GA ) and NetEase (NASDAQ: NTES ) .�Meanwhile, Shanda Games� (NASDAQ: GAME ) and Perfect World� (NASDAQ: PWRD ) haven't done as well.
[By Jake L'Ecuyer]
Equities Trading UP
Giant Interactive Group (NYSE: GA) shot up 12.29 percent to $11.36 after the company received a non-binding proposal to acquire the company for $11.75 per share.
[By Jake L'Ecuyer]
Equities Trading UP
Giant Interactive Group (NYSE: GA) shot up 11.97 percent to $11.34 after the company received a non-binding proposal to acquire the company for $11.75 per share.

Hot Integrated Utility Companies To Buy For 2015: Cosan Ltd (CZZ)

Cosan Limited (Cosan), incorporated on April 30, 2007, is a holding company. The Company is engaged in the production of ethanol and sugar, the marketing and distribution of fuel and lubricants in Brazil, and logistics services in the state of Sao Paulo, Brazil. The Company imports, exports, produces and sells ethanol, sugar, sugarcane and other sugar by-products. It distributes and sells fuel and other fuel by-products. The Company produces and markets electricity, steam and other co-generation by-products. During the fiscal year ended March 31, 2011 (fiscal 2011), it operated 24 mills. On February 18, 2011, Cosan, through its subsidiary Cosan S.A. Acucar e Alcool acquired 100% of the voting corporate capital of Cosan Araraquara Acucar e Alcool Ltda., (Usina Zanin).

The Company operates in three in segments: sugar and ethanol (S&E), fuel distribution and lubricants (CCL) and sugar logistics (Rumo Logistica). The sugar and ethanol segment operates and produces a range of sugar products, including raw, organic, crystal and refined sugars and consumer products under the Da Barra and Uniao brands, which are sold to a range of customers in Brazil and abroad, as well as produces and sells hydrous, anhydrous and industrial ethanol, which are sold to the Brazilian market. The sugar and ethanol segment also includes energy co-generation activities and land development businesses. Its fuel distribution and lubricants segment includes the distribution and marketing of fuels, mainly through franchised network of service stations under the brand Esso throughout the national territory, and production, distribution and marketing of lubricants licensed from ExxonMobil International Holdings B.V.. Its sugar logistics segment provides logistics services for the transport, storage and port lifting of sugar.

Sugar and Ethanol segment

As of March 31, 2011 the Company leased 437,698 hectares, through 2,128 land lease contracts with an average term of five years. During fiscal 2011,! it harvested from owned or leased lands 27.4 million tons, of the sugarcane and purchased from third-party growers the 26.8 million tons of sugarcane. During fiscal 2011, its accumulated sugar extraction was 139.0 kilograms of total sugar recovered (TSR) per ton of sugarcane and its agricultural yield was 91.4 tons of sugarcane per hectare. It produces ethanol through a chemical process called yeasting. It produces and sells three types of ethanol: hydrous ethanol and anhydrous ethanol for fuel and industrial ethanol. It sells ethanol through gasoline distributors in Brazil mainly at the mill that sell it to retailers that then sell it at the pump to customers.

During fiscal year 2011, the Company sold 4.3 million tons of sugar. The Company produces a range of standard sugars, including raw sugar, crystal sugar and organic sugar, and refined sugars, including granulated refined white sugar, amorphous refined sugar, refined sucrose liquid sugar and refined inverted liquid sugar. Its Sao Francisco mill and the Da Barra mill produce refined sugar. It also sells industrial alcohol, which is used in the chemical and pharmaceutical sectors. It sells sugar to a range of customers in Brazil and in the international markets. Its customers in Brazil include retail supermarkets, foodservice distributors and food manufacturers, for which it sells refined and liquid sugar.

Fuel distribution and lubricants

The Company�� fuel distribution business is engaged in sourcing, storing, blending and distributing primarily gasoline, ethanol, diesel and fuel oil through its retail network of approximately 4,500 Esso and Shell-branded stations. During fiscal 2011, it sold approximately 1.03 billion liters of fuels, consisting of 96.0% diesel and 4.0% gasoline, ethanol and other fuels to its industrial and wholesale clients. During fiscal 2011, Cosan Combustiveise Lubrificantes S.A. (CCL) sold a total of 166.4 million liters of lubricants. Its lubricant operations consist of a wholly o! wned Lubr! icants Oil Blending Plant (LOBP), located in Rio de Janeiro, with annual production capacity of 1.4 million barrels of lubricants per year, including 48,000 barrels of grease per year.

Sugar Logistics

The Company owns and operates a sugar-loading terminal at the Port of Santos in the State of Sao Paulo through its subsidiary Rumo Logistica. It offers logistics solution to sugar producers located in the Center South of Brazil by transporting sugar from the mill by truck or rail to be loaded at its bulk sugar port terminal in Santos. It also offer sugar storage services.

The Company competes with Copersucar, Sudzucker AG, Petrobras, Ultrapar S.A., Shell Brasil Ltda. and AleSat Combustiveis S.A.

Advisors' Opinion:

[By Maxx Chatsko]
Partnership outlook
I am still hoping that Codexis will be tapped by Raizen, a joint venture between Shell and sugar giant Cosan (NYSE: CZZ ) , as its exclusive cellulase enzyme provider. Raizen has not been shy about its cellulosic ethanol ambitions -- planning a 10 million gallon per year facility -- but has yet to choose an enzyme technology. Investors should be careful not to assume that Codexis is a lock for the partnership (Raizen is the largest investor in Codexis), but with more than 580 million gallons of first-generation ethanol capacity the opportunity is enormous.
[By Maxx Chatsko]
Lesson learned
The financial situation at Amyris is less than enviable. Whereas fellow industrial biotech company Solazyme has hit every major milestone and had no problem raising funds, Amyris has had to take the more dilutive route for shareholders. Still, large commercial partners Total (NYSE: TOT ) and Cosan (NYSE: CZZ ) haven't backed down in their support of the company. Total upped its investment in Amyris during several rough patches in the past year after incurring significant paper losses on the roughly 20% stake in the company. Total even has its own webpage for the partnership, which speaks to its long-term vision for Amyris' platform, especially in renewable diesel.
[By Dan Caplinger]
ADM's renewable-fuel business grabs most of the attention from investors. The drought has also had a big impact in this segment as well, as ADM has had to idle ethanol production facilities because of low corn supplies following the drought. Moreover, with sugar-based ethanol competitors Bunge (NYSE: BG ) and Cosan (NYSE: CZZ ) already benefiting from pricing disparities between sugar and corn, prospects of potential tariffs on U.S. ethanol in Europe could give Brazilian sugar-based ethanol a competitive advantage, further hurting ADM.

Hot Integrated Utility Companies To Buy For 2015: Palo Alto Networks Inc (PANW)

Palo Alto Networks, Inc., incorporated in March 2005, offers a network security platform that allows enterprises, service providers, and government entities to secure their networks. The core of its platform is the Company�� firewall that delivers natively integrated application, user, and content visibility and control through its operating system, hardware, and software architecture. The Company primarily sells its products and services to end-customers through distributors, resellers, and partners, and directly to end-customers (collectively partners), who are supported by its sales and marketing organization, in the Americas, in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa (EMEA), and in Asia Pacific and Japan (APAC). Its products and services can address a range of its end-customers��network security requirements, from the data center to the network perimeter, as well as the distributed enterprise, which includes branch offices and a number of mobile devices. It introduced PA-5000 Series and GlobalProtect subscription service in March 2011 and the PA-200 and WildFire subscription service in November 2011.

The Company�� platform is delivered in an appliance form factor and includes a suite of subscription services, as well as support and maintenance. Its subscription services can be activated on any of its appliances. All of the Company�� appliances incorporate its PAN-OS operating system and are based on its identification technologies, App-ID, User-ID, and Content-ID, which allow security policies to be defined within the context of applications, users, and content. It delivers these capabilities through a single-pass parallel processing architecture that simultaneously performs multiple identification, security and networking functions. The Company serves the enterprise network security market, which consists of Firewall/ Virtual Private Network (VPN), Unified Threat Management (UTM), Web Gateway, Intrusion Detection and Prevention (IDP/IPS), and VPN technologies. The Company deriv! ed 62% of its total revenue from the Americas, 27% from Europe, the Middle East, and Africa (EMEA), and 11% from Asia Pacific and Japan (APAC) as of January 31, 2012.

The Company derives revenue from sales of its products and services, which together comprise its platform. Product revenue is primarily generated from sales of its Firewall. The Company�� Threat Prevention, universal resource locator (URL) Filtering, and GlobalProtect subscriptions provide its end-customers with real-time access to the antivirus, intrusion prevention, Web filtering, and malware protection capabilities across fixed and mobile devices. The Company�� application classification engine, called App-ID, uses multiple identification techniques to determine the exact identity of applications traversing the network. App-ID is the foundational classification engine that provides the core traffic classification to all other functions in its platform. The App-ID classification is used to invoke other security functions.

App-ID uses a series of classification techniques to identify an application. App-ID classifies all network traffic, including business applications, consumer applications, and network protocols, across all ports. User-ID integrates its platform with a range of enterprise user directories and technologies, including Active Directory, eDirectory, Open LDAP, Citrix Terminal Server, Microsoft Exchange, Microsoft Terminal Server, and ZENworks. Content-ID is a collection of technologies that enables its subscription services. Content-ID combines a real-time threat prevention engine, cloud-based analysis service, and a URL categorization database to limit unauthorized data and file transfers, detect and block a range of threats, and control non-work related Web surfing. Its WildFire, cloud-based analysis service provides a real-time analysis engine for detecting previously unseen malware. Its URL filtering database consists of millions of URLs across many categories and is designed to monitor a! nd contro! l employee Web surfing activities. Single-Pass Parallel Processing Architecture (SP3) has two elements: single-pass software and parallel processing hardware.

The PAN-OS Operating System operating system provides the foundation for its network security platform and contains App-ID, User-ID, and Content-ID. PAN-OS performs the core functions of its platform, while also providing the networking, security, and management functions needed for implementation. The PAN-OS networking functions include dynamic routing, switching, high availability, and VPN support, which enables deployment into a range of networking environments. PAN-OS also includes attack protection capabilities, such as blocking invalid or malformed packets, IP defragmentation, TCP reassembly, and network traffic normalization. The Company also offers, such as application traffic management, solution design and planning, configuration, and firewall migration. Its education services provide classroom-style training and are primarily delivered through its partners.

The Company competes with Cisco, Juniper, Intel, IBM, HP, Check Point Software, Fortinet and Sourcefire.

Advisors' Opinion:

[By Reuters]
Peter Parks, AFP/Getty ImagesThe 12-story building in Shanghai's northern suburb of Gaoqiao where a Chinese military-led hacking group allegedly conducted a series of attacks on U.S. companies networks. BOSTON -- Cybersecurity company FireEye has acquired Mandiant, the computer forensics specialist best known for unveiling a secretive Chinese military unit believed to be behind a series of hacking attacks on U.S. companies. FirEye (FEYE) shares jumped more than 20 percent after Thursday's announcement of the $1.05 billion cash-and-stock deal, which FireEye said closed Monday. It unites two companies with relatively new technologies for thwarting cyber attacks, and brings together two of the most-respected executives in the security industry: FireEye CEO Dave DeWalt and Mandiant founder Kevin Mandia. While sales of older anti-virus products have been on the decline, security experts expect strong growth in both FireEye's cloud-based systems for detecting malicious software and Mandiant's software that analyzes cyber attacks. About a year ago the two companies entered into a technology development agreement that made it easier to deploy their products together. With the merger, FireEye will gain Mandiant's team of forensics investigators. "They have these very strong Navy 'cyber' Seals who respond to breaches and are very good at what they do," DeWalt said about Mandiant. He had previously served as chairman of Mandiant's board. "My aim is to create the strongest security company in the world," DeWalt said in an interview. FireEye, which has yet to post a profit, said the acquisition will be immediately accretive to earnings and expects the combined company's revenue to grow about 50 percent this year. In comparison, Symantec (SYMC), the biggest maker of anti-virus software, has said it expects fiscal 2014 revenue to drop 3 percent to 4 percent. Mandiant is best known for its forensics services. The company rose to prominence in February 2013 when it pu
[By Dan Caplinger]
On the other side of the spectrum is Palo Alto Networks (NYSE: PANW ) , which has fallen 10% following its earnings report last night. Citing federal spending cuts and poor conditions in Europe, Palo Alto reported weaker-than-expected sales despite seeing year-over-year growth of 54%. Even worse, the company expects current-quarter revenue growth to slow to about 42% year over year, reflecting a much faster deceleration than the stock's valuation implied. Given the huge amount of competition in the data- and cyber-security industry, Palo Alto and its virtual firewalls aren't guaranteed to win out over the company's rivals.
[By Rex Crum]
Network-security technology company Palo Alto Networks Inc. (PANW) �rose 3.7% to end the day at $59.99. Late Monday, Palo Alto said it would acquire privately held cyber-security technology company Morta Security for an undisclosed amount.
[By Jake L'Ecuyer]
Palo Alto Networks (NYSE: PANW) was also up, gaining 6.89 percent to $49.26 after the company reported better-than-expected fiscal first-quarter results.

Hot Integrated Utility Companies To Buy For 2015: Ambit Biosciences Corp (AMBI)

Ambit Biosciences Corporation, incorporated on May 17, 2000, is a biopharmaceutical company. The Company focused on the discovery, development and commercialization of drugs to treat unmet medical needs in oncology, autoimmune and inflammatory diseases by inhibiting kinases that are important drivers for those diseases. The Company�� lead drug candidate, quizartinib, is in Phase IIb clinical development in patients with relapsed/refractory acute myeloid leukemia (AML). The Company�� second drug candidate in clinical development, AC410, is a potent, selective, orally-administered, small molecule inhibitor of Janus kinase 2 (JAK2) that has potential utility for the treatment of autoimmune and inflammatory diseases. The Company�� third program consists of two selective small molecule compounds, AC708 and AC855, which inhibit the colony-stimulating factor-1 receptor (CSF1R), a receptor tyrosine kinase.

Quizartinib

The Company�� lead drug candidate, quizartinib, is a once-daily, orally-administered, potent and selective inhibitor of FLT3, a validated target in the treatment of AML, and is in Phase IIb clinical development. The FLT3-ITD mutation acts like a power switch that causes leukemic cells, or blasts, to spread more aggressively and grow back more rapidly following chemotherapy, conferring an especially poor survival outcome. Quizartinib is designed to turn off this switch. The Company is developing a companion diagnostic test with Genoptix Medical Laboratory, a Novartis company, to identify FLT3-ITD positive patients.

AC410

The Company�� advanced drug candidate, AC410, is a potent, selective, orally-administered, small molecule inhibitor of JAK2, which has potential utility for the treatment of autoimmune and inflammatory diseases. Signaling through JAK controls the activation, proliferation and survival of various types of immune cells, and overactivation of such cells can exacerbate a range of normal inflammatory processes, resulting i! n inflammation. The Company�� initial JAK2 drug candidate, AC430, is a racemic mixture (50/50) of two enantiomers (mirror images), AC410 and AC409, and was studied in a Phase I clinical trial.

CSF1R Program

The Company is developing two potent and exquisitely selective small molecule compounds, AC708 and AC855 that both inhibit CSF1R and have potential utility in oncology, autoimmune and inflammatory diseases. Signaling through CSF1R controls the activation, proliferation and survival of macrophages, which are key mediators of immune system function and over-activation of macrophages, may result in exacerbation of certain diseases.

The Company competes with Abbvie Inc., Akinion Pharmaceuticals AB, Amgen Inc., ARIAD Pharmaceuticals, Inc., AROG Pharmaceuticals, LLC, ArQule, Inc., Astellas, AstraZeneca plc, Bayer AG, Celgene Corporation, Daiichi-Sankyo Company Limited, Galapagos NV, GlaxoSmithKline plc, Incyte Corporation, Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Johnson & Johnson, Eli Lilly and Company, Novartis, Onyx Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Pfizer, Rigel Pharmaceuticals, Inc., F. Hoffman-LaRoche Ltd, and Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated.

Advisors' Opinion:

[By Wallace Witkowski]
Ambit Biosciences Corp. (AMBI) �shares fell more than 37% to $8 in moderate volume. The small-cap biotech said it will not file an accelerated approval application with the Food and Drug Administration for its leukemia drug quizartinib after the agency disagreed with the company about the use of certain study data to support the drug�� efficacy.