The U.S. Department of Defense awarded multiple contractors shares in some 17 contracts Tuesday, valued at up to $1.3 billion in combined dollar value. The big winner of the day was Northrop Grumman (NYSE: NOC ) , whose various divisions landed no fewer than three of the contracts on offer, specifically:
$59.6 million: Northrop Grumman's Technical Services unit won a contract modification to supply operation and maintenance services to Navy combined tactical training ranges at shore sites, land-based test facilities, and aboard ships in ports and at sea. Completion of the contract is expected to be next July. $38.4 million: Northrop Grumman's Systems unit won a contract modification to support the Vehicle And Dismount Exploitation Radar (that's right -- "VADER") system, which is designed to provide accurate radar readings on moving targets on the ground. $7.6 million: Northrop's smallest award went to its Space and Mission Systems unit, modifying a previously awarded time-and-materials, multi-year, option-filled contract to provide planning, programming, and budgeting services to the U.S. Army.Top 10 Value Stocks To Own For 2015: ABM Industries Incorporated (ABM)
ABM Industries Incorporated provides integrated facility solutions services in the United States and internationally. It offers floor cleaning and finishing, window washing, furniture polishing, carpet cleaning and dusting, and other building cleaning services for commercial office and industrial buildings, retail stores, shopping centers, warehouses, airport terminals, health facilities, educational institutions, stadiums and arenas, and government buildings. The company also provides mobile and onsite services comprising mechanical engineering and technical services and solutions for infrastructure systems, including maintenance, retro-commissioning, mechanical retrofits and upgrades, electric vehicle charging stations, electrical service, systems start-ups, performance testing, and energy audits to government facilities, military installations, commercial infrastructure, airports/transportation centers, healthcare centers and hospitals, data centers, manufacturing facil ities, educational campuses, corporate office buildings, resorts, shopping malls, museums, and residences. In addition, it offers support programs to government, such as leadership development, education and training, language support, medical support, and construction management services; and food and facility solutions services to hospitals, healthcare systems, long-term care facilities, and retirement communities. Further, the company operates parking lots and garages at office buildings, hotels, medical centers, retail centers, sports and entertainment arenas, educational institutions, municipalities, and airports; and provides transportation services. Additionally, it offers security services comprising staffing of security officers, mobile patrol services, investigative services, electronic monitoring of fire, life safety systems, access control devices, and security consulting services to various facilities. The company was founded in 1909 and is headquartered in New York, New York.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Dan Caplinger]
Next Monday, ABM Industries (NYSE: ABM ) will release its latest quarterly results. With the stock having recently hit 52-week highs, can the company keep delivering the growth that investors want to see?
- [By Dividends4Life]
ABM Industries Incorporated (ABM) offers floor cleaning and finishing, window washing, furniture polishing, carpet cleaning and dusting, and other building cleaning services. December 9th the company increased its quarterly dividend 3.3% to $0.155 per share. The dividend is payable February 3, 2014, to stockholders of record on January 2, 2014. The yield based on the new payout is 2.3%.
Top Services Stocks To Buy For 2014: Carnival Corporation(CCL)
Carnival Corporation operates as a cruise and vacation company. It provides cruises to various vacation destinations with a portfolio of cruise brands comprising Carnival Cruise Lines, Holland America Line, Princess Cruises, and Seabourn in North America; and AIDA Cruises, Costa Cruises, Cunard, Ibero Cruises, and P&O Cruises in Europe, Australia, and Asia. The company also involves in operation of hotels, as well as offers tour and transportation services. It operates approximately 98 ships, as well as owns and operates 15 hotels or lodges that include 3,420 guest rooms; 395 motorcoaches; and 20 domed rail cars. The company sells its cruises through travel agents, including wholesalers and tour operators. Carnival Corporation was founded in 1974 and is headquartered in Miami, Florida.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Rick Munarriz]
Royal Caribbean,�NCL (NYSE: NCL ) , and ship spa services provider Steiner Leisure (NASDAQ: STNR ) all hit new 52-week highs earlier this month. Unlike Carnival (NYSE: CCL ) -- which has been sluggish in light of several mishaps at sea since last year -- everyone seemed to view the negative instances as Carnival-specific events. Now Royal Caribbean's fire may lead folks to question booking on any cruise line in the near future.
- [By Mr. TopStep]
The Asian markets closed mostly higher and in Europe 9 out of 12 markets are trading lower . Today’s economic schedule starts with the Philadelphia Federal Reserve Bank President Charles Plosser’s speech on the economy and monetary policy in New York. Expect reports including Redbook, FHFA House Price Index, S&P Case Shiller HPI, New Home Sales, Consumer Confidence, Richmond Fed Manufacturing Index, Consumer confidence, Richmond Fed Manufacturing Index, and a 2-Yr Note Auction. Federal Reserve Bank of New York President William Dudley speaks on Puerto Rico’s economy and business conditions, Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco President John Williams takes part in a panel discussion on “The Global Economy, the Budget and the Board” at the 20th Annual Stanford Directors College. Expect earnings from Carnival Corporation (NYSE: CCL) and Walgreen Co. (NYSE: WAG).
- [By Garrett Cook]
Carnival (NYSE: CCL) reported better-than-expected fiscal third-quarter earnings and raised its FY14 forecast.
The Miami, Florida-based company posted a quarterly fiscal third-quarter profit of $1.25 billion, or $1.60 per share, versus a year-ago profit of $934 million, or $1.20 per share.
Top Services Stocks To Buy For 2014: IB Securities Joint Stock Co (VIX)
IB Securities Joint Stock Company, formerly XuanThanh Securities Joint Stock Company is a Vietnam-based company engaged in the provision of investment services. It provides securities brokerage services through multiple forms, such as VOpen, VSHM, VTrade, VPhone, VMobile and VSMS. The Company is also involved in securities trading, as well as the provision of investment advice, custody services and underwriting services. In addition, it provides financial services for corporate events, such as corporate restructurings, equitizations, stock listings, share auctions, mergers and acquisitions, equity offerings and bond offerings. Advisors' Opinion:- [By Lu Wang]
The Chicago Board Options Exchange Volatility Index (VIX), the gauge of S&P 500 options prices known as the VIX, slipped 1.6 percent to 14.08, extending its drop for the year to 22 percent.
- [By Holly LaFon]
This material is not authorized for distribution unless preceded or accompanied by a currentprospectus. Please read the prospectus carefully before investing or sending money. All indices referenced are unmanaged and capitalization weighted. The Russell Investment Group is the source and owner of the trademarks, service marks, and copyrights related to the Russell Indexes. Russell庐 is a trademark of Russell Investment Group. The Russell 2000 Index is an unmanaged, capitalization-weighted index of domestic small-cap stocks. It measures the performance of the 2,000 smallest publicly traded U.S. companies in the Russell 3000 Index. The Russell 1000 Index is an unmanaged, capitalization-weighted index of domestic large-cap stocks. It measures the performance of the 1,000 largest publicly traded U.S. companies in the Russell 3000 Index. The S&P 500 is an index of U.S. large-cap stocks selected by Standard & Poor's based on market size, liquidity, and industry grouping, among other factors. The Nasdaq Composite is an index of the more than 3,000 common equities listed on the Nasdaq stock exchange. The Russell Microcap Index includes 1,000 of the smallest securities in the small-cap Russell 2000 Index, along with the next smallest eligible securities as determined by Russell. The Russell Midcap Index measures the performance of the mid-cap segment of the U.S. equity universe. It includes approximately 800 of the smallest securities in the Russell 1000 Index. The CBOE Volatility Index (VIX) measures market expectations of near-term volatility conveyed by S&P 500 stock index option prices. The performance of an index does not represent exactly any particular investment, as you cannot invest directly in an index.
- [By Wallace Witkowski]
Harsh winter weather and how it affect the first quarter is likely going to remain with us for several more weeks, and might add a level of volatility to markets, Greenhaus said. By volatility, Greenhaus means where the CBOE Volatility Index (VIX) �is in the range of 15. In other words, where the VIX has averaged over the past three years, excluding the big surges from 2010 and 2011.
- [By Anora Mahmudova]
The CBOE Volatility Index (VIX) �, known as the Vix, surged 32%, its steepest rise since the April 15 Boston Marathon bombings.
Top Services Stocks To Buy For 2014: BRF SA (BRFS)
BRF - Brasil Foods S.A. (BRF), incorporated on August 18, 1934, is a food company, which focuses on the production and sale of poultry, pork, beef cuts, milk, dairy products and processed food products under several brands. The Company�� processed products include marinated, frozen, whole and cut Chester rooster and turkey meats, specialty meats, frozen processed meats, frozen prepared entrees, portioned products and sliced products. It also sells margarine, juices, soy products, animal feed, fresh pasta, sweet specialties and sandwiches. During the year ended December 31, 2010, it launched 333 new products, including Meu Menu (My Menu) portfolio, which is targeted at single people.
Poultry
The Company produces frozen whole and cut poultries, partridges and quail. During 2010, it sold 1,895 thousand tons of frozen chicken and other poultry products. During 2010, it produced 1,694 million day-old chicks, including chickens, Chester roosters, turkeys, partridge and quail. It hatches these eggs in its 25 hatcheries. As of December 31, 2010, it had a fully automated slaughtering capacity of 31.2 million heads of poultry per week.
Pork and Beef
The Company produces frozen pork and beef cuts, such as loins and ribs, and whole carcasses. During 2010, it sold 427 thousand tons of pork and beef cuts. Iits sales of pork cuts are to its export markets. As of December 31, 2010, it had a beef slaughtering capacity of 1,797 heads per week.
Milk
The Company produces pasteurized and ultra-high temperature (UHT) milk, which it sells in its domestic market. During 2010, it sold 873 thousand tons of pasteurized and UHT milk. It produces dairy products in 15 plants. It receives milk from a network of over 11,000 milk producers in more than 553 cities.
Processed Food Products
The Company produces processed foods, such as marinated, frozen chicken, Chester rooster and turkey meat, specialty meats, frozen processed foo! ds, frozen prepared entrees, dairy products, portioned products and sliced products. During 2010, it sold 2,472 thousand tons of processed foods. It processes pork to produce specialty meats, such as sausages, ham products, bologna, frankfurters, salamis, bacon and cold meats. It also processes chicken and other poultry to produce specialty meats, such as chicken sausages, chicken hot dogs and chicken bologna. It produces a range of frozen processed poultry, beef and pork products, including hamburgers, steaks, breaded meat products, kibes, meatballs and ready-to-eat snacks. It also produces soy-based vegetarian products, such as hamburgers and breaded products. It produces marinated and seasoned chickens, roosters and turkeys.
The Company produces several varieties of lasagna and pizza. It produces the meat used in these products and buys other raw materials in the domestic market, except for the durum flour used to make the noodles for the lasagna, which it imports. It sells a range of frozen vegetables, such as broccoli, cauliflower, peas, French beans, French fries and cassava fries, through its Escolha Saudavel line of products. It produces a range of pies and pastries, such as chicken and heart-of-palm pies and lime pies. It produces the meat, sauces and toppings used in its pies and pastries, and it purchases other raw materials, such as heart-of-palm, lime and other fillings from third parties.
Other
The Company produces animal feed mainly to feed poultry and hogs raised by it. It also sells a portion of its animal feed production to its integrated outgrowers or to unaffiliated customers. It produces a range of soy-based products, including soy meal and refined soy flour.
The Company competes with Sadia, Aurora, Marfig, Danone, Nestle, Paulista, Frangosul, Plamplona and Aurora.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Jon C. Ogg]
BRF S.A. (NYSE: BRFS) should be safe on the surface as a meat-producing and dairy giant. Apparently being defensive doesn’t help either. At $18.50, its 52-week range is $18.34 to $26.35. This ADR is down just over 10% so far in 2014.
- [By MONEYMORNING.COM]
And with very quick gains of 9% in BRF SA (NYSE ADR: BRFS), 5.2% in South American agricultural play Adecoagro SA (NYSE: AGRO) and 1.6% in high-tech agribusiness player Neogen Corp. (Nasdaq: NEOG), we're doing well with our plays on (pockets of) accelerating U.S. inflation.
Top Services Stocks To Buy For 2014: E-Commerce China Dangdang Inc.(DANG)
E-Commerce China Dangdang Inc. operates as a business-to-consumer e-commerce company in the People?s Republic of China. It engages in the sales of Chinese and foreign language books, and music CDs, VCDs, and DVDs through its Website dangdang.com. The company also offers general merchandise products, such as beauty and personal care products; home and lifestyle products; consumer electronics; baby, children, and maternity products; apparel and accessories; and footwear, handbags, and luggage. In addition, it operates the dangdang.com marketplace program, which enables third-party merchants to sell their products alongside products sourced by the company. The company is headquartered in Beijing, the People?s Republic of China.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Victor Selva]
The firm is currently Zacks Rank # 3��old, and it also has a longer-term recommendation of ��eutral�� A Hold rating indicates that the stock, over the next 1 to 3 months, will perform at an annualized rate of 10.56%, very similar to the S&P 500. For investors looking for a better Zacks Rank, Bitauto Holdings Limited (BITA), E-Commerce China Dangdang Inc. (DANG) and Vipshop Holdings Limited (VIPS) could be better options.
- [By Jeremy Bowman]
What: Shares of Chinese stocks were getting dumped today following the Shanghai Composite's 5.3% plunge last night. Among those feeling the pain were YY (NASDAQ: YY ) , Dangdang (NYSE: DANG ) , Trina Solar (NYSE: TSL ) , Giant Interactive (NYSE: GA ) , and LDK Solar (NYSE: LDK ) , all of which were down by 10% or more at one point today.
Top Services Stocks To Buy For 2014: Service Corporation International (SVC)
Service International Corp., formerly Service Corporation International, incorporated in July 1962, is a provider of deathcare products and services, with a network of funeral service locations and cemeteries primarily operating in the United States and Canada. Its operations consist of funeral service locations, cemeteries, funeral service/cemetery combination locations, crematoria, and related businesses. The Company operates in two segments: funeral and cemetery operations. At December 31, 2011, it operated 1,423 funeral service locations and 374 cemeteries (including 214 funeral service/cemetery combination locations) in North America, which are geographically diversified across 43 states, eight Canadian provinces, and the District of Columbia. Its funeral service and cemetery operations consist of funeral service locations, cemeteries, funeral service/cemetery combination locations, crematoria, and related businesses. The Company sells cemetery property and funeral and cemetery products and services at the time of need and on a preneed basis. In December 2013, the Company announced that it completed its acquisition of Stewart Enterprises, Inc. In May 2014, Carriage Services, Inc. acquired six businesses in New Orleans and Alexandria, Virginia from Service Corporation International.
The Company�� funeral service and cemetery operations consist of funeral service locations, cemeteries, funeral service/cemetery combination locations, crematoria, and related businesses. The Company provides all professional services relating to funerals and cremations, including the use of funeral facilities and motor vehicles and preparation and embalming services. Funeral-related merchandise, including caskets, casket memorialization products, burial vaults, cremation receptacles, cremation memorial products, flowers, and other ancillary products and services, is sold at funeral service locations. Its cemeteries provide cemetery property interment rights, including mausoleum spaces, lots, and lawn cr! ypts, and sell cemetery-related merchandise and services, including stone and bronze memorials, markers, merchandise installations, and burial openings and closings. The Company also sells preneed funeral and cemetery products and services whereby a customer contractually agrees to the terms of certain products and services to be delivered and performed in the future.
During the year ended December 31, 2011, its operations in the United States and Canada were organized into 29 major markets, 47 metro markets, and 78 main street markets. At December 31, 2011, it owned approximately 89% of the real estate and buildings used at its facilities, and the remainder of the facilities were leased. At December 31, 2011, its 374 cemeteries contained a total of approximately 26,540 acres, of which approximately 60% was developed.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By WWW.DAILYFINANCE.COM]
From a struggling department store chain delivering better than expected financial results to a popular photo-printing services provider botched a mass mailing, here's a rundown of the week's smartest moves and biggest blunders in the business world. Keurig Green Mountain (GMCR) -- Winner Coca-Cola (KO) is apparently a coffee addict. The world's leading beverage company turned heads earlier this year when it paid $1.25 billion for a 10 percent stake in Keurig Green Mountain. This week it announced that it's bumping its stake to 16 percent, paying a much higher price for the new shares. Keurig Green Mountain is the company behind the country's most popular single-serve coffee maker. In a few months it plans to enter the carbonated beverage market with Keurig Cold. Coca-Cola is on board to provide soft drink flavors for the machine, and now the company has a greater stake in seeing that Keurig Cold is successful. Shutterfly (SFLY) -- Loser "There's nothing more amazing than bringing a new life into the world," begins a promotion that Shutterfly mailed out this week. "As a new parent you're going to find more to love, more to give and more to share -- we're here to help you every step of the way." Shutterfly intended for the mailing to go out to customers who had recently ordered birth announcements, reminding them that matching thank you cards are now in order for the family and friends who provided gifts for the new baby. The problem here is that the marketing email went out to a far wider base of Shutterfly registered users. Twitter and Facebook were alive with folks joking or complaining about the mishap. It was an amusing blunder for most recipients, but it's easy to see how this kind of missive could hit hard to others. Netflix (NFLX) -- Winner We're apparently a nation of Netflix addicts. Online trend watcher Sandvine (SVC) reports that the streaming video service accounted for 34.2 percent of the North America's peak downstream Internet traffic durin
Top Services Stocks To Buy For 2014: Actuate Corp (BIRT)
Actuate Corporation (Actuate), incorporated in November 1993, provides software and services to develop and deploy custom Business Intelligence and information applications. Actuate offers ActuateOne to develop and deploy Business Intelligence and Reporting Tools (BIRT)-based custom Business Intelligence and information applications focusing on browsers and mobile devices that deliver content hosted in cloud, software-as-a-service (SaaS) and on premises deployments. Its products and services are used by its customers to develop and deploy applications across a range of business functions, including financial management, sales management, account management, and customer self-service. Xenos solutions, based on Xenos Enterprise Server, loads, transforms and presents high volumes of data and documents across multiple channels. Actuate�� BIRT Spreadsheet products are Excel-based. In February 2014, Actuate Corporation announced the acquisition of legodo ag.
ActuateOne-Business Intelligence, Analytics and Reporting
Actuate offers a range of BIRT-based Business Intelligence (BI), analytics and reporting features within the integrated ActuateOne platform, providing 64-bit, in-memory analytics, user configurable dashboards, ad-hoc query, interactive mobile and Web content, brochure-quality reporting, and spreadsheet analysis. ActuateOne provides a platform upon which Global 9000 and packaged application software vendors develop and deploy BI and information applications. Such applications retrieve business information from databases, as well as print streams and deliver it as dashboards, interactive Web pages, spreadsheets, mobile content and analytic cubes to customers, partners and employees worldwide.
Xenos Enterprise Server Framework
Xenos Enterprise Server (ES) is an application that captures, identifies, routes, stores and retrieves structured and unstructured documents and data. Xenos ES supports the processing, extraction, transformation, repurposi! ng and personalization of structured and unstructured data in both legacy and SOA environments. Xenos ES distributes documents across multiple channels, such as Web, mobile and tablet devices in addition to providing interactivity and document analytics through its integration with ActuateOne.
Performance Analytics
Actuate BIRT Performance Analytics provides interactive dashboards, analytics, and scorecards. With Web interface, users across the enterprise can monitor operations, identify and analyze performance issues and enact initiatives.
BIRT Spreadsheet
Actuate�� BIRT Spreadsheet products deliver Excel-like reporting, formatting and calculation functionality within Java applications. Actuate BIRT Spreadsheet products can also leverage all the Actuate deployment options-embedded in applications or deployed cloud or on-premise enterprise environments.
The Company competes with Information Builders, Qlik Tech, Pentaho, Jaspersoft, MicroStrategy, IBM, Microsoft, Oracle and SAP.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Roberto Pedone]
Actuate (BIRT) provides software solutions and services to corporate and government customers worldwide. This stock closed up 1.7% to $4.54 in Tuesday's trading session.
Tuesday's Range: $4.43-$4.57
52-Week Range: $3.41-$8.23
Tuesday's Volume: 213,000
Three-Month Average Volume: 319,262From a technical perspective, BIRT trended modestly higher here back above its 50-day moving average of $4.51 with lighter-than-average volume. This move to the upside on Tuesday is starting to push shares of BIRT within range of triggering a major breakout trade. That trade will hit trigger if BIRT manages to take out some key overhead resistance levels at $4.60 to $4.75 and then above more resistance at $4.85 with high volume.
Traders should now look for long-biased trades in BIRT as long as it's trending above some key near-term support levels at $4.30 to $4.25 and then once it sustains a move or close above those breakout levels with volume that hits near or above 319,262 shares. If that breakout starts soon, then BIRT will set up to re-fill some of its previous gap-down-day zone from May that started near $6.
- [By John Udovich]
Yesterday, small cap business intelligence stock MicroStrategy Incorporated (NASDAQ: MSTR) surged 18.44%�after reporting better-than-expected third quarter earnings ��meaning it might be a good idea to take a closer look at it�along with�small cap peers Actuate Corporation (NASDAQ: BIRT) and Qlik Technologies Inc (NASDAQ: QLIK) to see what they might offer small cap investors. After all, everyone is being inundated with huge amounts of data from multiple sources, but its the following small cap stocks that provide software platforms to help customers try to make sense of it all:�
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