Sunday, September 21, 2014

Top 5 Electric Utility Stocks To Watch For 2014

When Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL  ) reported earnings last week, it proved to the world that the majority of investor worries leading into the report were grossly exaggerated. The ominous sea of Google Android devices did not stop the company from selling over 37 million iPhones or over 19 million iPads during the quarter. However, it wasn't Apple's current results that spooked investors -- it was guidance that kept a lid on optimism.

The company expects to earn only $33.5 billion in revenue next quarter, which surprisingly represents a 4% decline in revenue from the same period in 2012. This goes to show you that when you're a company as massive as Apple, growth becomes harder and harder to come by. In this context, if Apple wants to keep growing, it's forced to expand its addressable market. To that end, Apple could either expand its existing product lines or enter new markets... or it could do both.

Although entering new markets bears the most risk, it could reap the greatest rewards for shareholders. To help support this cause, Apple's research and development budget has grown at a compounded rate of nearly 8.3% a year since 2010, giving it enough firepower to expand its addressable market.

Top Beverage Stocks To Own Right Now: St. Joe Co (JOE)

The St. Joe Company, incorporated on May 26, 1936, owns land, timber and resort assets located primarily in Northwest Florida, Jacksonville, Florida and Tallahassee, Florida. The Company operates in five segments: residential real estate, commercial real estate, resorts, leisure and leasing operations, forestry, and rural land. Its residential real estate segment plans and develops mixed-use resort, primary and seasonal residential communities of various sizes, primarily on the Company's existing land. In the Company's commercial real estate segment the Company plans, develops, manages and sells real estate for commercial purposes. Its leisure and leasing operations includes the Company's resorts and clubs financial information, which was presented in the residential real estate segment. The Company owns and operates forestry operations in the Southeastern United States. It traditionally sells parcels of varying sizes ranging from less than one acre to thousands of acres.

Residential Real Estate

The Company owns large tracts of land in Northwest Florida, including Gulf of Mexico beach frontage, and other waterfront properties and land in and around Jacksonville and Tallahassee. Within the Company's residential real estate business, the Company has two types of communities and is planning to add a third type. The first, the Company's residential resort communities, are positioned to attract primarily second home buyers. The Company's l projects in this category include the WaterColor and WaterSound Beach communities, which were built in a region of Florida. The Company's second category of residential communities is the Company's primary home communities for buyers who will use the community as their primary residence. The Breakfast Point, RiverTown and SouthWood communities are the Company's largest projects in this category. The Company's third category of residential communities is active adult communities.

Commercial Real Estate

The Company focuse! s on commercial development and sales in Northwest Florida because of its large land holdings surrounding the new Northwest Florida Beaches International Airport (the Airport), along roadways and near or within business districts in the region. The Company provides development opportunities for national and regional retailers and its strategic partners in Northwest Florida. The Company offers land for commercial and light industrial uses within large and small-scale commerce parks, as well as a range of multi-family rental projects. The Company also develops commercial parcels within or near existing residential development projects.

Resorts, Leisure and Leasing Operations

The Company's leasing operations were presented in both its residential real estate and commercial real estate segments. The Company's resorts, leisure and leasing operations segment includes recurring revenue streams from the Company's resort and leisure businesses and its leasing operations. The Company's WaterColor Inn and Resort is a boutique hotel, which provides guests with a beach club, spa, tennis center, restaurant and complementary retail and commercial space. The day-to-day operations of the WaterColor Inn and Resort is managed by Noble House Hotels & Resorts. In addition the Company's vacation rental business rents private homes in the WaterColor community and surrounding communities, primarily in those that the Company has built, to individuals who are vacationing in the area. The Company does not own the homes, but for a fee, the Company advertises , take reservations, check-in and check-out , and clean and maintains the home for the homeowner. The Company owns four golf courses in Northwest Florida. Three of them are in the Panama City Beach area and the fourth is located in Tallahassee. The golf courses are situated in or near the Company's residential communities. The Company also own two marinas. The Company's golf courses and marinas are managed for the Company by a third party management c! ompanies.!

The Company's leasing operations business includes the Company's retail and commercial leasing. The Company has several small retail shopping centers located in or near to some of its residential projects, such as the WaterColor, SouthWood and WindMark Beach communities that are managed by its leasing team. The Company's commercial leasing business includes industrial parks and several commerce parks. One of the industrial parks is the Company's VentureCrossings Enterprise Centre, a 1,000 acre commercial and industrial development adjacent to the Airport.

Forestry

The Company has 545,000 acres designated for forestry operations, including land in West Bay. Southern Pine, the Company's main product, is a product that fits well into cost-conscience supply chains. The Company's forestry operations can produce about 1.3 million tons of trees for lumber and pulp on an annual, sustainable basis. The Company rigorously examines the characteristics of individual trees in a forest and the interactions of those trees with each other and with the forest ecosystem as a whole in order to maximize the timber output. The Company produces both sawtimber (lumber used in construction) and pulp (timber used to make pulp for products like linerboard).

Rural Land

The majority of rural land sold is undeveloped timberland and is managed as timberland until sold, although some parcels include the benefits of limited development activity, including improved roads, ponds and fencing. The pricing of these parcels varies significantly based on size, location, terrain, timber quality and other local factors.

Advisors' Opinion:
  • [By Monica Wolfe]

    St. Joe Corporation (JOE)

    Bruce Berkowitz�� fourth largest holding is in St. Joe Corporation where he holds 6.8% of his total portfolio. As of the second quarter, the guru owned 25,017,933 shares of St. Joe, representing 27.10% of the company�� shares outstanding.

  • [By Ben Levisohn]

    Their advice: Cover your shorts. That means they’ve upgraded DR Horton and KB Homes to Market Peform from Underperform. And if our idea of a good time is playing the upside in a potential short squeeze, then they have the stocks for you, too–Lennar and the St. Joe Co. (JOE), which have short-interest ratios of 25.3% and 14.3%, respectively. “For investors needing a little more excitement in their lives, we are also upgrading two names that we believe could uncommonly benefit from potential short-covering if ��ope Trade 2014��gains momentum,” Horne writes. Lennar goes to Strong Buy from Outperform and St. Joe goes to Outperform from Market Perform.

Top 5 Electric Utility Stocks To Watch For 2014: Coldwater Creek Inc. (CWTR)

Coldwater Creek Inc., together with its subsidiaries, operates as a multi-channel specialty retailer of women's apparel, accessories, jewelry, and gift items primarily in the United States. It operates premium retail stores located in traditional malls, lifestyle centers, and street locations; merchandise outlet stores; and day spas, which offer spa treatments, including massages, facials, body treatments, manicures, and pedicures, as well as provide relevant apparel and personal care products. The company also offers its products through its e-commerce Web site coldwatercreek.com and catalogs, as well as through phone and mail. As of October 27, 2012, it operated 354 premium retail stores and 38 factory outlet stores, as well as 9 spas. The company was founded in 1984 and is headquartered in Sandpoint, Idaho.

Advisors' Opinion:
  • [By Roberto Pedone]

    Another earnings short-squeeze prospect is specialty retailer of women's apparel, accessories, jewelry and gift items Coldwater Creek (CWTR), which is set to release numbers Tuesday after the market close. Wall Street analysts, on average, expect Coldwater Creek to report revenue of $162.81 million on a loss of 63 cents per share.

    The current short interest as a percentage of the float for Coldwater Creek is very high at 18.8%. That means that out of the 12.17 million shares in the tradable float, 3.47 million shares are sold short by the bears. This is a big short interest on a stock with a very low tradable float. If the bulls get the earnings news they're looking for, then this stock could easily explode higher post-earnings.

    From a technical perspective, CWTR is currently trending just below its 50-day moving average and well below its 200-day moving average, which is bearish. This stock has been trending sideways for the last two months, with shares moving between $2.16 on the downside and $2.80 on the upside. A high-volume move above the upper-end of its recent range could trigger a breakout trade for CWTR post-earnings.

    If you're bullish on CWTR, then I would wait until after its report and look for long-biased trades if this stock manages to break out above some near-term overhead resistance levels at $2.51 to $2.69 a share and then once it takes out more resistance at $2.80 a share with high volume. Look for volume on that move that hits near or above its three-month average action of 192,994 shares. If that breakout hits, then CWTR will set up to re-fill some of its previous gap down zone from June that started near $3.60 a share.

    I would simply avoid CWTR or look for short-biased trades if after earnings it fails to trigger that breakout, and then drops back below some key near-term support levels at $2.35 to its 52-week low at $2.16 a share with high volume. If we get that move, then CWTR will set up to enter new 52-wee

Top 5 Electric Utility Stocks To Watch For 2014: Symmetricom Inc.(SYMM)

Symmetricom, Inc. provides timekeeping technologies, instruments, and solutions worldwide. Its Communications business unit provides timing technologies and services for communications infrastructure. The Communications business unit products comprise primary reference sources; edge clocks and distribution products for synchronization outside the network core; building integrated timing supply and sync supply unit for the central office; the PackeTime product suite; data over cable service interface specifications timing interface systems; network management and monitoring software; and embedded hardware and software solutions for integration with various elements of the communications ecosystem, such as silicon, routers, switches, microwave backhaul, and base stations. The company?s Government business unit offers time technology products for aerospace/defense, IT infrastructure, power infrastructure, and science and metrology applications. The Government business unit p roduct portfolio comprises timescale clock sources; network time servers; network time displays; time code generators; bus level timing cards; primary reference standards, such as rubidium and cesium oscillator standards; high stability masers; chip-scale atomic clocks; ruggedized crystal oscillators; and custom time and frequency systems. It offers timekeeping in GPS satellites, national time references, and national power grids, as well as in critical military and civilian networks, which enable data, voice, mobile, and video networks and services. The company sells its products through distributors, systems integrators, and manufacturer sales representatives. It serves various markets, including communications service providers; network equipment manufacturers; silicon suppliers; aerospace/defense; power utility infrastructure; IT infrastructure; underwater exploration and navigation; and science and metrology. The company was founded in 1956 and is headquartered in San J ose, California.

Advisors' Opinion:
  • [By Rich Smith]

    San Jose, Calif.-based Symmetricom (NASDAQ: SYMM  ) has a new chief executive officer.

    On Tuesday, the "precise time" computer announced a series of changes in upper management. Current CEO David G. Cote is leaving the company "to pursue other interests" and has been replaced by new CEO Elizabeth A. Fetter, a current board member. Details on Fetter's compensation have yet to be filed with the SEC.

  • [By Lauren Pollock]

    Microsemi Corp.(MSCC) agreed to pay almost $298 million to acquire Symmetricom Inc.(SYMM), a deal that will expand the power-management supplier’s exposure into the aerospace and defense industries while also immediately adding to earnings. Shares in Symmetricom soared.

Top 5 Electric Utility Stocks To Watch For 2014: Tennant Company(TNC)

Tennant Company engages in the design, manufacture, and marketing cleaning solutions worldwide. The company offers floor maintenance and outdoor cleaning equipment; chemical-free cleaning technologies; and specialty surface coatings and related products for protecting, repairing, and upgrading floors. Its products are used to clean and coat surfaces in factories, office buildings, parking lots and streets, airports, hospitals, schools, warehouses, shopping centers, and other retail environments. The company also provides parts, consumables, and service maintenance and repair; business solutions, such as pay-for-use offerings, and rental and leasing programs; and cleaning technologies that enhance the performance of its cleaning equipment. In addition, it offers Green Machine 500ze, an electric vacuum street sweeper to clean crowded urban areas. The company serves building service contract cleaners, end-user businesses, healthcare facilities, and schools, as well as local, state, and federal governments through its direct sales and service organization, and authorized distributors. Tennant Company was founded in 1870 and is based in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Advisors' Opinion:
  • [By Marc Bastow]

    Floor maintenance and cleaning service company Tennant (TNC) raised its quarterly dividend 11% to 20 cents per share payable June 6 to shareholders of record May 30.
    TNC Dividend Yield: 1.29%

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