Best Electric Utility Stocks For 2014

As many packaged food companies start to stumble and sputter, Tyson Foods (NYSE:TSN) appears to be picking up steam. With generally solid volume and pricing trends across the business and lower feed costs boosting margins, Tyson is starting to draw the ��t's different this time��bullish arguments. It's hard to argue with a stock that has nearly doubled over the past year, and management's guidance sounds pretty solid, but investors buying today need to hope for strong grain harvests and restrained competition going forward.

Chicken Takes Flight In Fiscal Q3
Tyson saw a very favorable combination of circumstances in the fiscal third quarter, and that led to beats versus estimates pretty much across the board. In particular, Tyson has found itself in the enviable position of being able to grow volume and boost pricing while simultaneously benefiting from declining production costs.

SEE: Wall Street All In On Kraft's Improvement Potential

Revenue rose 5% this quarter, with underlying revenue growth closer to 6%, as volume improved more than 2% and average prices rose by nearly 4%. Poultry was the biggest grower and the second-biggest contributor as sales rose nearly 9% and strong volume and pricing. Beef was up nearly 7% and also saw solid volume and pricing. Prepared food growth was a little better than 4%, while pork revenue declined 1% and a nearly 5% decline in volume.

Top 5 Penny Stocks To Buy Right Now: United Rentals Inc.(URI)

United Rentals, Inc., through its subsidiaries, operates as an equipment rental company. It offers approximately 3,000 classes of equipment for rent to customers comprising construction and industrial companies, manufacturers, utilities, municipalities, homeowners, and government entities. The company?s fleet of rental equipment includes general construction and industrial equipment, such as backhoes, skid-steer loaders, forklifts, earthmoving equipment, and material handling equipment; aerial work platforms consisting of boom lifts and scissor lifts; and general tools and light equipment, including pressure washers, water pumps, generators, heaters, and power tools. Its fleet also comprise trench safety equipment, such as trench shields, aluminum hydraulic shoring systems, slide rails, crossing plates, construction lasers, and line testing equipment for underground work; and power and heating, ventilating, and air conditioning (HVAC) equipment, which consists of portable diesel generators, electrical distribution equipment, and temperature control equipment, including heating and cooling equipment. In addition, the company sells new and used equipment, as well as related contractor supplies, parts, and service; and offers repair, maintenance, and rental protection services. Further, it develops and markets RENTALMAN, an enterprise resource planning application for equipment rental companies; and INFOMANAGER, which offers solution for creating a business intelligence system. As of January 1, 2012, the company had an integrated network of 529 rental locations in the United States and Canada. United Rentals, Inc. was founded in 1997 and is headquartered in Greenwich, Connecticut.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Ben Levisohn]

  Going through his papers, he found a list of stocks that UBS said to buy if Obama won the election in 2012, including the likes of United Rentals (URI) , First Solar (FSLR),�Alliant Techsystems (ATK), Alkermes (ALKS) and Mohawk Industries (MHK). And wouldn’t you know it, those stocks have gained 58% this year, compared to the S&P 500′s 27% gain. And just in case you’re wondering, those stocks have also trumped UBS’s Romney basket, which has gained 33%.

• [By Seth Jayson]

  United Rentals (NYSE: URI  ) is expected to report Q2 earnings around July 16. Here's what Wall Street wants to see:

  The 10-second takeaway
  Comparing the upcoming quarter to the prior-year quarter, average analyst estimates predict United Rentals's revenues will expand 23.3% and EPS will expand 57.6%.

• [By Richard Moroney]

  United Rentals (URI)

  Equipment-rental leader United Rentals is leveraged to the US economy, which we see improving this year. The firm seems capable of generating excess cash to reduce balance sheet leverage and also fund its plans to repurchase $450 million in shares, or about 6% of the total outstanding.

• [By Ben Levisohn]

  Like many companies this year, United Rentals (URI) announced an acquisition and saw its shares price pop.

  ASSOCIATED PRESS

  Reuters has the details on United Rentals’ big buy:

  United Rentals Inc, the world’s largest equipment rental company, said on Sunday it had agreed to acquire privately held National Pump, the second-largest specialty pump rental company in North America, for $780 million.

  The deal marks United Rentals’ foray into the pump rental sector, which is benefiting from increased demand from energy and petrochemical companies tapping into the shale gas boom in the United States. Upstream oil and gas customers account for about half of National Pump’s revenue.

  Citigroup’s Timothy Thein and Saree Boroditsky like the deal:

  We see the announced acquisition of National Pump, the second largest pump specialty rental company in NA (with ~15% share), and related assets, to be a positive on many fronts. It expands�[United Rentals'] presence in to the high margin, high ROA specialty rental market (19% of pro-forma sales), evidenced by National�� high dollar utilization (80%, vs. 47% for URI) and EBITDA margins. With ~65% of National�� sales coming from Oil&Gas and Petrochem markets, the deal gives URI added exposure to two powerful secular trends (US energy independence and manufacturing ��enaissance��, which helps support above-avg growth potential for this category ([United Rentals] ests ~9% LT growth). We think the 6.5x EBITDA multiple (7.6x adj. EBITDA excluding cash tax savings) is reasonable given the attractive margins / return profile, and the fact that it provides synergy opportunities and a strong base off which�[United Rentals] can grow ([United Rentals] plans to double the size of the pump business within five years). Deal expected to be accretive to FCF and EPS in ��4 (closing anticipated early 2Q14). Lastly, we would suspect this deal takes�[United Rentals] out

Best Electric Utility Stocks For 2014: Discount Dental Materials Inc (DDOO)

Discount Dental Materials, Inc. (DDM), incorporated on December 18, 2007, is a development-stage company. The Company focuses on selling disposable dental supply products at discount prices over the Internet. As of November 30, 2011, the Company had not generated any revenues.

The Company focuses on selling a limited number of products including burs (modern dental drills that can rotate at up to 800,000 revolutions per minute (rpm) and generally use hard metal rotary files). Dental burs come in a variety of shapes designed for specific applications. They are often made of steel with a tungsten carbide coating or of tungsten carbide entirely. The bur may also have a diamond coating), bearings, turbines and sterilization pouches. The Company uses a facility in Burbank, California to store and ship products.

The Company competes with Henry Schein and Patterson Dental.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By CRWE]

  Today, DDOO remains (0.00%) +0.000 at $1.05 thus far (ref. google finance Delayed:� 3:42PM EDT July 1, 2013).

  Cerebain Biotech Corp. a subsidiary of Discount Dental Materials, Inc. , previously reported that medical device product development company, Sonos Models, Inc. (��onos��, is set to complete the first prototypes of its medical device solution during the company�� first fiscal quarter, which begins July 1, 2013.

  Cerebain�� President, Eric Clemons, stated, ��e are excited with the imminent completion of the first set of prototypes of our Medical Device Product for the treatment of Alzheimer�� Disease. Years of hard work and research will culminate with the introduction of these prototypes which will utilize the Omentum for the treatment of patients with this debilitating disease. With these prototypes, we are introducing a leading edge approach to the treatment of Alzheimer�� Disease.��/p>

Best Electric Utility Stocks For 2014: Towers Watson & Co (TW)

Towers Watson & Co. operates as a global professional services company that provides human capital, and financial consulting services worldwide. The company operates in four segments: Benefits, Risk and Financial Services, Talent and Rewards, and Exchange Solutions. The Benefits segment offers benefits consulting and administration services, such as retirement solutions, which support organizations in designing, managing, administering, and communicating retirement plans; and health and group benefits that provides advice on the strategy, design, financing, delivery, ongoing plan management, and communication of health and group benefit programs. This segment also offers its technology and administration solutions to deliver benefit outsourcing solutions; and international consulting services, which provide expertise in dealing with international human capital management and related benefits, and compensation advice. The Risk and Financial Services segment offers risk cons ulting and financial modeling software solutions primarily to the insurance industry; reinsurance and insurance brokerage services; and investment consulting and solutions covering investment strategy risk assessment, asset allocation, and investment manager selection to institutional investors. The Talent and Rewards segment provides executive compensation advisory services; employee rewards, talent management, and communication and change management services; and data, analytics, survey, and technology solutions. The Exchange Solutions segment operates the private Medicare insurance exchange in the United States that enables employers to transition their retirees to individual, defined contribution health plans. The company was formerly known as Watson Wyatt Worldwide, Inc. and changed its name to Towers Watson & Co. in January 2010 as a result of merging with Towers, Perrin, Forster & Crosby, Inc. Towers Watson & Co. was founded in 1871 and is headquartered in New York, N ew York.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Benjamin Shepherd] The US health care industry is among the heaviest regulated in the nation. Most health care-related companies must answer to federal, state and, in many cases, local regulators.
  
  That regulatory burden will only grow more complex, as myriad new rules under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, or “Obamacare,” come into effect over the next few months. In just 22 days, the first insurance exchanges are supposed to come online. On January 1, the individual mandate and changes in coverage standards become effective.
  
  Many health care businesses and organizations were dragging their feet in complying with Obamacare’s provisions, waiting to see how the Supreme Court would come down on the law. The court didn’t rule on Obamacare until June 2012, a decision in which it upheld the law almost in its entirety.
  
  Given that delayed decision, a study conducted by the Government Accountability Office this past June found that only 44 percent of key activities required for full compliance had been completed, particularly where health insurance exchanges were concerned.
  
  As a result, there’s a massive scramble underway to achieve minimum compliance levels with the law. But there’s a paucity of workers with the requisite knowledge of federal and insurance regulations required to help companies and state governments navigate the labyrinth of regulations.
  
  That’s creating a lot of work for consultancies such as Huron Consulting Group (NSDQ: HURN), which focuses almost exclusively on the health care sector.
  
  While the company also works in the legal, financial, education and life sciences arenas, it primarily helps hospitals, health systems and physician groups reduce costs, maximize reimbursements from both federal and private insurers and transition towards the value-based care mandated under Obamacare. In future years, reimbursements will transition towards rewarding health care organizations tha
• [By Ben Levisohn]

  Towers Watson�(TW) has dropped 0.5% to $102.49 after it was cut to Neutral from Overweight at JPMorgan. It was also upgraded to Buy from Hold at Deutsche Bank.

• [By Reuters]

  Wendy Maeda/The Boston Globe via Getty Images NEW YORK -- Walgreen is moving 120,000 employees to a private health insurance exchange from coverage provided directly from carriers, the company will announce Wednesday. The pharmacy chain will join 17 other large employers on the Aon Hewitt Corporate Health Exchange as part of a growing movement to offer employees fixed dollar amounts to purchase their own plans on such exchanges. The end-cost to employees depends on the plan chosen, but they typically get more options than under traditional arrangements. Private exchanges mimic the coverage mandated as part of the Affordable Care Act. Enrollment in the public exchanges starts Oct. 1. "What happens to employer contributions over time? Will they put in as much as they put in the past? These are unanswered questions but potential negatives," says Paul Fronstin, a senior research associate with the Employee Benefit Research Institute. The benefit to Walgreen and other employers is unknown at this point, as their cost-savings aren't clear. Of the 180,000 Walgreen (WAG) employees eligible for health care insurance, 120,000 opted for coverage for themselves and 40,000 family members. Another 60,000 employees, many of them working part-time, weren't eligible for health insurance. Aon Hewitt (AON) says other participants in its program include retailer Sears Holding (SHLD) and Darden Restaurants (DRI). These new additions raise enrollment to 330,000 from 100,000 last year, and Aon Hewitt estimates enrollment will jump to 600,000 next year, a fivefold increase from 2012. By 2017, nearly 20 percent of employees nationwide could get their health insurance through a private exchange, according to Accenture Research (ACN). A recent report by the National Business Group on Health said that 30 percent of large employers are considering moving active employees to exchanges by 2015. Other major providers of private exchanges include Mercer, a division of Marsh & Mc

• [By Teresa Rivas]

  Towers Watson & Co. (TW) is down slightly today, but analysts are optimistic that the stock can climb higher, given its acquisition of privately held Liazon Corporation for $125 million.

  Liazon develops private benefit exchanges and online benefit markets for employees, an area where human resources and benefit solutions provider Towers Watson has already built a name for itself.

  Analysts are looking at the acquisition favorably, even if the market is skeptical today. Deutsche Bank analysts Paul Ginocchio and Ato Garrett today reiterated their Buy rating on Towers Watson and raised their target price by $5 to $130.

  From the note:

  TW has gotten more bullish on the adoption rate of exchanges: The adoption rate of exchanges is happening faster than TW expected just 6 months ago. TW agrees with forecasts of 35-70m covered lives (employees + dependents) on an exchange in 5-yrs. TW expects middle market companies to potentially adopt faster than large market companies, thus it has acquired Liazon to meet that need now. OneExchange Active will continue to focus on the large market (>10,000 employees) while Liazon focuses on the mid-market (1,000 to 10,000) via its insurance brokerage sales network.

  Liazon should help TW close the gap in the active exchanges: On 1/1/14, TW will have about 140,000 lives on its two active exchange platforms (40,000 on OneExchange Active and 100,000 on Liazon) and is targeting up to 1m lives for 1/1/15. AON has stated it will have over 600,000 covered lives on its exchange on 1/1/14, Bucks (Xerox) will have 400,000 and Mercer 165,000. The Liazon acquisition moves TW�� size much closer to Mercer and puts TW in a position to capture 25-33% market share longer-term.

  MKM Partners is also bullish about Towers��prospects. Analysts Darren Marcus and Harry Fong reiterated a Buy rating and $140 price target on the stock writing: ��hile Towers had an existing presence in the active employee excha

Best Electric Utility Stocks For 2014: Alleghany Corporation(Y)

Alleghany Corporation, through its subsidiaries, engages in the property and casualty, and surety insurance business in the United States. It underwrites specialty insurance coverages in the property, umbrella/excess, general liability, directors and officers liability, professional liability lines of business, and homeowners insurance. The company also writes surety products, such as commercial surety bonds and contract surety bonds. In addition, Alleghany Corporation owns and manages improved and unimproved commercial land, and residential lots in the Sacramento, California. As of December 31, 2010, the company owned approximately 320 acres of property in various land use categories. Further, it engages in the oil and gas exploration and production business. The company was founded in 1929 and is based in New York, New York.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Matthew Argersinger]

  Matching a stable of strong insurance businesses with intelligent investing is one of the key formulas Warren Buffett used to turn Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE: BRK-A  ) (NYSE: BRK-B  ) into one of the greatest investments of the past half-century. Fortunately for investors who weren't able to ride Buffett's market-crushing train, there are several smaller companies that have embraced Berkshire's formula with great success. One of those is Alleghany (NYSE: Y  ) , a multi-line insurance company whose objective�is "to create value through owning and managing operating subsidiaries and investments, anchored by a core position in property and casualty reinsurance and insurance." Sound familiar?

• [By Damian Illia]

  The firm is currently Zacks Rank # 2 - Buy, and it also has a longer-term recommendation of ��utPerform�� For investors looking for a Zacks Rank # 1 ��Strong Buy, Alleghany Corp. (Y), Berkshire Hathaway Inc (BRK.B) and Fidelity (FNF) could be the options.

• [By Chris Hill]

  Which investors are worth following? In this installment of MarketFoolery, our analysts talk about why they're following Cook and Bynum's Richard Cook and Dowe Bynum, Martin Capital's Frank Martin, Alleghany's (NYSE: Y  ) CEO Weston Hicks, and T. Rowe Price's (NASDAQ: TROW  ) �Preston Athey.�

Best Electric Utility Stocks For 2014: Companhia Energetica de Minas Gerais Cemig (CIG)

Companhia Energetica de Minas Gerais (CEMIG), incorporated on May 22, 1952, is a Brazil-based holding company mainly engaged in the generation, transmission and distribution of electricity. In the generation segment, CEMIG operates through hydroelectric plants, thermoelectric plants and wind farms. In the transmission segment, as of December 31, 2008, CEMIG�� transmission network was comprised of 38 substations with a total of 94 transformers and an aggregate transformation capacity of 15,583 Megavolt amperes. In the distribution business, as of December 31, 2008, the Company owned and operated 451,539 kilometers of distribution lines, supplying electricity to approximately 10 million customers. CEMIG is also engaged in the natural gas distribution business in Minas Gerais, through its subsidiary Companhia de Gas de Minas Gerais - GASMIG, as well as in the telecommunications business, through its subsidiary Cemig Telecomunicacoes SA - Cemig Telecom, which provides optical fiber and coaxial cable network.

Power Generation and Trading

As of December 31, 2009, the Company generated electricity at 54 hydroelectric plants, three thermoelectric plants and two wind farms, and had a total installed capacity of 6,624 megawatts. As of December 31, 2009, it owned and operated 3,085 miles of transmission lines and 281,756 miles of distribution lines. It holds concessions to distribute electricity in 96.7% of the territory of Minas Gerais. Eight of CEMIG�� hydroelectric plants accounted for approximately 81% of its installed electric generation capacity during the year ended December 31, 2009. CEMIG operates the Ipatinga thermoelectric plant, through its subsidiary Usina Termica Ipatinga S.A. The plant has an installed capacity of 40 megawatts, generated by two units and that uses blast furnace gas as fuel. The Company operates the Sa Carvalho hydroelectric power plant, located on the Piracicaba River in the municipality of Antonio Dias in the State of Minas Gerais, through its subsid! iary Sa Carvalho S.A. The Company�� Rosal hydroelectric plant has an installed capacity of 55 megawatts. The Rosal plant is located on the Itabapoana River, which runs along the border between the states of Espirito Santo and Rio de Janeiro.

Cemig Capim Branco Energia S.A. is engaged in developing the Capim Branco Generating Complex in partnership with Companhia Vale do Rio Doce (CVRD), a mining company, Comercial e Agricola Paineiras, an agricultural company, and Companhia Mineira de Metais (CMM) a metallurgical company. Horizontes Energia S.A. was formed by the Company to generate and trade electricity, through the commercial operation of its hydroelectric plants: the Machado Mineiro Power Plant (located on the Pardo River in the municipality of Ninheira in the State of Minas Gerais with an installed capacity of 1.72 megawatts); the Salto do Paraopeba Power Plant (located on the Paraopeba River in the town of Jeceaba in the State of Minas Gerais with an installed capacity of 2.37 megawatts); the Salto Voltao Power Plant (located on the Chapecozinho River in the town of Xanxere in the State of Santa Catarina with an installed capacity of 8.2 megawatts), and the Salto do Passo Velho Power Plant (located on the Chapecozinho River in the town of Xanxere in the State of Santa Catarina with an installed capacity of 1.8 megawatts), as well as other generating projects.

Usina Termeletrica Barreiro S.A. holds the assets of the Barreiro thermoelectric power plant. The Irape Hydroelectric Power Plant, which has an installed capacity of 360 megawatts, is located on the Jequitinhonha River, in northern Minas Gerais. The Company�� wind farm, Morro do Camelinho is located in Gouveia, a municipality in northern Minas Gerais. It has a total generation capacity of 1 megawatt, powered by four turbines with a capacity of 250 kilowatts each. Central Eolica Praia do Morgado S.A is located in the county of Acarau, in the State of Ceara. Central Eolica Volta do Rio S.A is located in the county ! of Acarau! , in the State of Ceara.

Transmission

The Company�� transmission business consists of the bulk transfer of electricity from the power plants where it is generated to the distribution system, which carries the electricity to final consumers, and others consumer agents connected directly in the transmission grid. Its transmission system comprises transmission lines and step-down substations with voltages ranging from 230 kilovolt to 500 kilovolt. As of December 31, 2009, the Company�� transmission network in Minas Gerais consisted of 1,352 miles of 500 kilovolt lines, 1,244 miles of 345 kilovolt lines and 485 miles of 230 kilovolt lines, as well as 35 substations with a total of 94 transformers and an aggregate transformation capacity of 15,506 megavolt ampere. The Company transmits the energy that it generates and the energy that it purchases from Itaipu and other sources, as well as the energy for the interconnected power system. On December 31, 2009, the Company also had 13 industrial consumers, to whom it transported 4,103 gigawatt hour directly with high voltage energy, through their connections to its transmission lines. Nine of these industrial consumers accounted for approximately 66.9% of the transported total volume of electricity. The Company also transmits energy to distribution systems, through the south/southeast-linked system of the grid.

Distribution and Purchase of Electric Power

The Company�� distribution operation consists of electricity transfers from distribution substations to final consumers. Its distribution network consists of a network of overhead and underground lines and substations with voltages lower than 230 kilovolts. The Company supplies electricity to industrial consumers at the higher end of the voltage range and residential and commercial consumers at the lower end of the range.

Other Businesses

The Company holds approximately 55% of Gasmig and Petrobras, through its subsidiary, Gaspet! ro-Petrob! ras Gas S.A., holds 40%. In 2009, Gasmig supplied approximately 1.5 million cubic meters of natural gas per day to 276 consumers, including 175 industrial and commercial clients, 93 retail distribution stations for natural gas vehicles, two thermal power plants and six distributors of compressed natural gas (CNG). Gasmig supplied 0.2 million cubic meters of gas per day to thermal power plants and 1.3 million cubic meters of gas per day to retail consumers. In addition to, Gasmig also supplied eight customers with re-gasified liquefied natural gas (LNG). In 2009, Gasmig distributed approximately 4.1% of all natural gas distributed in Brazil.

The Company�� owns a 99.9% interest in Cemig Telecomunicacoes S.A., which has an optical fiber-based long-distance communications backbone installed along the Company�� power grid using optical ground wire cables. This communications backbone is connected to an access network that is based on hybrid fiber-coaxial cable technology and is deployed along its power grid. The telecommunication services provided by Cemig Telecomunicacoes S.A., through its network are signal transportation and access, both for point-to-point and point-to-multipoint applications, delivered to telecommunications operators and Internet service providers on a channel basis. Cemig Telecomunicacoes S.A. also provides intra-company data transmission services to the Company. CEMIG provides consulting services to governments and public utility companies in the electricity industry. The Company has a 100% interest in Efficientia S.A.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Jake L'Ecuyer]

  In trading on Wednesday, utilities shares were relative laggards, down on the day by about 0.25 percent. Top decliners in the sector included Companhia Energ茅tica de Minas Gerais SA (NYSE: CIG), off 5.3 percent, and Companhia de Saneamento Basico do Estado de Sao Paulo (NYSE: SBS), down 3.3 percent.

• [By Jake L'Ecuyer]

  Leading and Lagging Sectors
  Utilities sector gained 1.12 percent, with Companhia Paranaense de Energia (NYSE: ELP) moving up 4.3 percent to gain the top spot. Among leading sector stocks, gains came from Companhia de Saneamento Basico do Estado de Sao Paulo (NYSE: SBS), CPFL Energia SA (NYSE: CPL) and Companhia Energ茅tica de Minas Gerais SA (NYSE: CIG).

• [By David Dittman]

  Question: CEMIG (NYSE: CIG) is still way off multi-year highs due to some pretty serious government interference in Brazil. Nevertheless, it’s up dramatically the last couple of months.

Best Electric Utility Stocks For 2014: Select Sector Utilities Select Sector SPDR Fund (XLU)

Select Sector Utilities Select Sector SPDR Fund (the Fund), formerly Utilities Select Sector SPDR Fund, seeks to provide investment results that correspond to the price and yield performance of the Utilities Select Sector of the S&P 500 Index (the Index). The Index includes companies that produce, generate, transmit or distribute electricity or natural gas.

The Fund utilizes a passive or indexing investment approach to invest in a portfolio of stocks that seek to replicate the Index. The Fund�� investment advisor is SSgA Funds Management, Inc.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Matthew McCall]

  The SPDR Utilities ETF (NYSE: XLU) is up 1.5 percent today and is breaking to a one-month high. The iShares Cohen & Steers Realty ETF (NYSE: ICF), which owns a basket of REITs, is up 1.1 percent, also looking for a one-month high.

• [By David Fabian]

  A mid-year checkup reveals that the Utility Select Sector SPDR (NYSE: XLU) and Energy Select Sector SPDR (NYSE: XLE) are far outstripping the broader market in total returns.  Both ETFs have gained approximately 15.50 percent in 2014, while the SPDR S&P 500 ETF (NYSE: SPY) has notched a modest seven percent advance.

• [By Bruce Vanderveen]

  Utilities Select Sector SPDR ETF (XLU) is the largest utility ETF; it has $5 billion in assets under management and currently has holdings in 32 large (mostly electric) US utilities.

• [By Mark Salzinger]

  The surging US stock market left staid utilities behind in 2013; while the S&P 500 (SPX) gained more than 32%, SPDR Select Sector Utilities (XLU) gained only about 13%, a decent absolute gain, but a poor relative one.

Best Electric Utility Stocks For 2014: Intralinks Holdings Inc (IL)

IntraLinks Holdings, Inc. (IntraLinks), incorporated in June 1996, together with its subsidiaries, is a global provider of Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) solutions for securely managing content, exchanging critical business information and collaborating within and among organizations. The Company�� cloud-based solutions enable organizations to control, track, search and exchange time-sensitive information inside and outside the firewall, all within a secure environment. The Company provide services to enterprises and governmental agencies in over 60 countries across a variety of industries, including financial services, pharmaceutical, biotechnology, consumer, energy, industrial, legal, insurance, real estate and technology. The Company sells its solutions directly through an enterprise sales team with industry-specific expertise and indirectly through a customer referral network and channel partners. In April 2013, it acquired MergerID. Concurrently, IntraLinks acquired PE-Nexus LLC.

The Company delivers its solutions through a cloud-based model where they are available on-demand over the Internet using a multi-tenant SaaS architecture in which a single instance of its software serves all of its customers. The Company provides its customers with various services, including access to its cloud-based IntraLinks Platform, access to one or more of its intraLinks exchanges, and related customer support and other services.

The Company competes with Merrill Corporation, RR Donnelley & Sons Company, EMC Corporation and International Business Machines Corp. (IBM).

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Seth Jayson]

  IntraLinks Holdings (NYSE: IL  ) reported earnings on May 8. Here are the numbers you need to know.

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

• [By Lee Jackson]

  IntraLinks Holdings Inc. (NYSE: IL) is a leading global software as a service (SaaS) provider of inter-enterprise content management and collaboration solutions. It recently launched Intralinks DealNexus, the largest global deal marketplace and professional network for qualified mergers and acquisitions (M&A) professionals. Intralinks DealNexus offers a secure and confidential way for dealmakers to find and engage the best buyers or capital partners, and it is used by more than 5,000 private equity firms, corporations, investment banks and advisors to intelligently connect and exchange deal opportunities. Wunderlich rates the company a stock to buy and has a $17 price objective. The consensus target is $12.The stock closed on Friday at $8.61.