��ater utility stocks…boring,��you say? Not so fast.
Drought conditions in the west have brought the demand for water to crisis levels. Farmers in western states, already hurting from last summer�� drought and historic wildfires, will feel the squeeze even tighter this year. And some rural communities in California may completely run out of water by this May.
Best Consumer Service Stocks To Own Right Now: DiamondRock Hospitality Co (DRH)
DiamondRock Hospitality Company, incorporated on May 6, 2004, is a lodging-focused Maryland corporation operating as a real estate investment trust (REIT). It owns a portfolio of 27 premium hotels and resorts that contain 11,590 guest rooms. It also holds the senior note on a mortgage loan secured by an additional hotel and has the right to acquire, upon completion, a hotel under development. Its portfolio is concentrated in key gateway cities and destination resorts. Each of its hotels is managed by a third party and are operated under a brand owned by one of the global lodging brand companies (Marriott International, Inc. (Marriott), Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, Inc. (Starwood) or Hilton Worldwide (Hilton)). In November 2013, the Company sold the Torrance Marriott South Bay.
The Company conducts its business through an umbrella partnership REIT (UPREIT), in which its hotel properties are owned by its operating partnership, DiamondRock Hospitality Limited Partnership, or subsidiaries of its operating partnership. Its properties are concentrated in key gateway cities (primarily New York City, Chicago, Boston and Los Angeles) and in destination resort locations , such as the United States Virgin Islands and Vail, Colorado.
During the year ended December 31, 2012, it acquired five new hotels and sold four non-core hotels located in the markets: Atlanta, Georgia; Boston, Massachusetts ; Burlington, Vermont; Charleston, South Carolina; Chicago, Illinois ; Denver, Colorado ; Fort Worth, Texas; Los Angeles, California ; Minneapolis, Minnesota; New York, New York ; Oak Brook, Illinois; Orlando, Florida; Salt Lake City, Utah; San Diego, California; San Francisco, California; Sonoma, California; St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands; Vail, Colorado and Washington, D.C. It also owns a senior mortgage loan secured by a 443-room hotel located in Chicago, Illinois and have the right to acquire, upon completion, a 282-room hotel under development in New York City.
On July ! 12, 2012, it acquired a portfolio of four hotels from affiliates of Blackstone Real Estate Partners VI. The portfolio consists of the Hilton Boston Downtown, Westin Washington D.C. City Center, Westin San Diego and Hilton Burlington. The portfolio consists of the 362-room Hilton Boston Downtown, the 406-room Westin Washington, D.C. City Center, the 436-room Westin San Diego and the 258-room Hilton Burlington. On November 9, 2012, it acquired the 94-room Hotel Rex located in San Francisco, California. On March 23, 2012, it completed the sale of a three-hotel portfolio. The portfolio consisted of the Griffin Gate Marriott Resort and Spa, the Renaissance Waverly, and the Renaissance Austin. On October 3, 2012, it completed the sale of the Atlanta Westin North at Perimeter.
The Oak Brook Hills Marriott Resort, the Orlando Airport Marriott and the Hilton Garden Inn Chelsea/New York City each failed its performance test at the end of 2012. The Bethesda Marriott Suites hotel is subject to a ground lease. The Courtyard Manhattan/Fifth Avenue is subject to a ground lease. The Salt Lake City Marriott Downtown is subject to two ground leases: one ground lease covers the land under the hotel and the other ground lease covers the portion of the hotel that extends into the City Creek Center. The Westin Boston Waterfront is subject to a ground lease. The Hilton Minneapolis is subject to a ground lease. In addition, the golf course that is part of the Oak Brook Hills Marriott Resort is subject to a ground lease covering approximately 110 acres. A portion of the parking garage relating to the Renaissance Worthington is subject to three ground leases that cover, contiguously with each other, approximately 1/4 of the land on which the parking garage is constructed. Furthermore, these ground leases generally require them to obtain and maintain insurance covering the subject property.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Laura Brodbeck]
Monday
Earnings Releases Expected: �McKesson�(NYSE: MCK), Concho Resources (NYSE: CXO), Diamondrock Hospitality (NYSE: DRH) Economic Releases Expected: �US Federal budget balance, Indian industrial productionTuesday
Top Managed Healthcare Companies To Own In Right Now: Linde AG (LIN)
Linde AG is a German company engaged in the gases and engineering sector. It operates two divisions: Gases and Engineering, as core divisions, as well as Gist. The Gases Division includes Healthcare, producing medical gases; and Tonnage, as its two global business units; as well as the two business areas Merchant and Packaged Gases, offering liquefied and cylinder gases, and Electronics. The Company�� products are used in the energy sector, for steel production, chemical processing, environmental protection and welding, as well as in food processing, glass production and electronics. The Engineering division offers planning, project development and construction of turnkey industrial plants used in fields, such as petrochemical and chemical industries, in refineries and fertilizer plants, to recover air gases, to produce hydrogen and synthesis gases, to treat natural gas, and in the pharmaceutical industry. As of August 13, 2012, the Company acquired Lincare Holdings Inc. Advisors' Opinion:- [By John Udovich]
Small cap media stock�LIN Media LLC (NYSE: LIN) might not be a household name, but there is a good chance you might be watching the company�� programs because like the Sinclair Broadcast Group, Inc (NASDAQ: SBGI) and Nexstar Broadcasting Group, Inc (NASDAQ: NXST), its helping to consolidate the media industry plus its making investment in other forms of media like social media. The stock has also outperformed those two peers along with the�PowerShares Dynamic Media Portfolio ETF (NYSEARCA: PBS).
- [By Monica Wolfe]
Gabelli started the week by reducing his position in LIN Media (LIN). The guru reduced his position by -1.36%. Gabelli sold a total of 23,007 shares at an average price of $16.88 per share. Gabelli now holds on to a total of 1,666,208 shares of LIN Media, representing 3.06% of the company�� shares outstanding.
- [By Jeremy Bowman]
What: Shares of LIN TV (NYSE: LIN ) were up as much as 13% today, climbing steadily after the local media provider announced this morning its second acquisition in less than a week.
Top Managed Healthcare Companies To Own In Right Now: Big Lots Inc (BIG)
Big Lots, Inc., incorporated in May 2001, through its wholly owned subsidiaries, is a North America's closeout retailer. At January 28, 2012, the Company operated a total of 1,533 stores in two countries: the United States and Canada. The Company operates in two segments: U.S. and Canada. The merchandising categories include Consumables, Furniture, Home, Seasonal, Play n' Wear, and Hardlines & Other. The Consumables category includes the food, health and beauty, plastics, paper, chemical, and pet departments. The Furniture category includes the upholstery, mattresses, ready-to-assemble, and case goods departments. The Home category includes the domestics, stationery, and home decorative departments. The Seasonal category includes the lawn and garden, Christmas, summer, and other holiday departments. The Play n' Wear category includes the electronics, toys, jewelry, infant accessories, and apparel departments. The Hardlines & Other category includes the appliances, tools, paint, and home maintenance departments. On July 18, 2011, the Company acquired Liquidation World Inc. During the fiscal year ended January 28, 2012 (fiscal 2011), the Company opened 92 stores, acquired 89 stores and closed 46 stores.
All of the Company�� stores are located in North America and has an average store size of approximately 29,900 square feet, of which an average of 21,600 square feet is selling square feet. The 54 owned stores are located in Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Louisiana, New Mexico, Ohio and Texas. At January 28, 2012, the Company owned or leased approximately 9.4 million square feet of distribution center and warehouse space. The Company leases and operates two regional distribution centers in Canada located in British Columbia and Ontario. Of its 1,533 stores, 33% operate in four states California, Texas, Ohio, and Florida, and net sales from stores in these states represented 36% of its fiscal 2011 net sales.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Dan Caplinger]
Big Lots (NYSE: BIG ) will release its quarterly report on Friday, and investors haven't been certain lately about which direction the stock is likely to go. Having rebounded from its worst levels a year ago, the stock is still well off levels it hit in early 2012, and with Wal-Mart (NYSE: WMT ) and Target (NYSE: TGT ) fighting to capture more cash-strapped shoppers, Big Lots faces competition on all fronts.
- [By Rich Smith]
Columbus, Ohio-based Big Lots (NYSE: BIG ) has a new big boss.
On Tuesday, the bricks-and-mortar closeouts retailer announced that Chief Executive Officer Steve Fishman, who announced plans to retire back in December, will officially depart the corner office on May 6, to be replaced by former Respect Your Universe CEO David Campisi.
Top Managed Healthcare Companies To Own In Right Now: Tranzyme Inc.(TZYM)
Tranzyme, Inc., a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company, engages in the discovery, development, and commercialization of small molecule therapeutics for the treatment of acute and chronic gastrointestinal (GI) motility disorders in the United States and internationally. The company?s clinical product candidates include ulimorelin, an intraveneous ghrelin agonist, which is in the Phase III clinical development stage for the treatment of acute upper GI motility disorders; and TZP-102, an orally-administered ghrelin agonist that has commenced Phase IIb clinical development stage for the treatment of diabetic gastroparesis. Its preclinical product candidates comprise TZP-201, a motilin antagonist for the treatment of various forms of moderate-to-severe diarrhea; and TZP-301, an oral ghrelin antagonist for the treatment of metabolic diseases. The company has strategic collaboration with Bristol-Myers Squibb Company to discover, develop, and commercialize additional novel co mpounds; and a license agreement with Norgine B.V to develop and commercialize ulimorelin in Europe, Australia, New Zealand, the Middle East, and north and South Africa. Tranzyme, Inc. was founded in 1998 and is headquartered in Durham, North Carolina.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By CRWE]
Tranzyme Pharma (Nasdaq:TZYM) reported that it has closed the previously announced underwritten registered direct offering of approximately 3.0 million shares of its common stock at a price of $3.85 per share for gross proceeds, including the over-allotment option, of approximately $11.5 million.
Top Managed Healthcare Companies To Own In Right Now: Rock-Tenn Co (RKT)
Rock-Tenn Company (RockTenn), incorporated on September 20, 1985, is a North America's integrated manufacturer of corrugated and consumer packaging. The Company operates locations in the United States, Canada, Mexico, Chile, Argentina, Puerto Rico and China. The Company operates in three segments: Corrugated Packaging, consisting of its containerboard mills and its corrugated converting operations; Consumer Packaging, consisting of its coated and uncoated paperboard mills, consumer packaging converting operations and merchandising display facilities, and Recycling, which consists of its recycled fiber brokerage and collection operations. On June 22, 2012, the Company acquired Mid South Packaging LLC. On October 28, 2011, the Company acquired four entities doing business as GMI Group.
Corrugated Packaging Segment
The Company is a producer of linerboard and corrugated medium (containerboard) measured by tons produced and a producer of graphics pre-printed linerboard in North America. It operates an integrated system, which manufactures containerboard, corrugated sheets, corrugated packaging and preprinted linerboard for sale to industrial and consumer products manufacturers and corrugated box manufacturers. It produces a range of corrugated containers designed to protect, ship, store and display products made to its customers' merchandising and distribution specifications. It also converts corrugated sheets into corrugated products ranging from one-color protective cartons to point-of-purchase packaging. Corrugated packaging is used to provide protective packaging for shipment and distribution of food, paper, health and beauty and other household, consumer, commercial and industrial products and in the case of graphically enhanced corrugated packaging for retail sale, particularly in club store locations and retail sale. It also provides structural and graphic design, engineering services, and custom and standard automated packaging machines, offering customers turn-key instal! lation, automation, line integration and packaging solutions. It feeds linerboard and corrugated medium into corrugators, which flutes the medium to specified sizes, glues the linerboard and fluted medium together and slits and cuts the resulting corrugated paperboard into sheets to customer specifications. Its container board mills and corrugated container operations are integrated with its containerboard production used internally by its corrugated container operations. During the fiscal year ended September 30, 2012 (fiscal 2012), sales of corrugated packaging products to external customers accounted for 65.7% of its net sales.
Consumer Packaging Segment
The Company operates an integrated system of coated recycled mills and a bleached paperboard mill, which produces paperboard for its folding carton operations and third parties. The Company is a manufacturer of folding cartons in North America measured by net sales. Its folding cartons are used to package food, paper, health and beauty and other household consumer, commercial and industrial products for retail sale. It also manufactures express mail envelopes for the overnight courier industry. Folding cartons protect customers��products during shipment and distribution and employ graphics to promote them at retail. It manufactures folding cartons from recycled and virgin paperboard, laminated paperboard and substrates with specialty characteristics, such as grease masking and microwaveability. It prints, coats, die-cuts and glues the cartons to customer specifications. It ships finished cartons to customers for assembling, filling and sealing. It employs a range of offset, flexographic, gravure, backside printing, and coating and finishing technologies. It supports its customers with package development, innovation and design services and package testing services.
The Company manufactures temporary and permanent point-of-purchase displays. The Company designs, manufactures and packs temporary displays for sal! e to cons! umer products companies. These displays are used as marketing tools to support new product introductions and specific product promotions in mass merchandising stores, supermarkets, convenience stores, home improvement stores and other retail locations. It also designs, manufactures and pre-assemble permanent displays for the same categories of customers. It makes temporary displays from corrugated paperboard. It provides contract packing services, such as multi-product promotional packing and product manipulation, such as multipacks and onpacks. The Company manufactures lithographic laminated packaging for sale to its customers, which require packaging with graphics and strength characteristics.
The Company operates an integrated system of specialty recycled paperboard mills, which includes its Seven Hills Paperboard LLC (Seven Hills) joint venture. Its specialty recycled paperboard mills, excluding Seven Hills, produce paperboard for its solid fiber interior packaging converting operations and third parties, and its Seven Hills joint venture manufactures gypsum paperboard liner for sale to its joint venture partner. It sells its specialty recycled paperboard to manufacturers of solid fiber interior packaging, tubes and cores, and other paperboard products. It also converts specialty paperboard into book covers and other products. Its 65% owned subsidiary, RTS, designs and manufactures solid fiber and corrugated partitions and die-cut paperboard components. It manufactures and sells its solid fiber and corrugated partitions principally to glass container manufacturers and producers of beer, food, wine, spirits, cosmetics and pharmaceuticals and to the automotive industry. During fiscal 2012, sales of consumer packaging products to external customers accounted for 27.5% of its net sales.
Recycling Segment
The Company�� recycled fiber brokerage and collection operations provide a strategic advantage to its mills. Its recycling operations procure recovered paper (or! recycled! fiber) for its paper mills, as well as for third parties from factories, warehouses, commercial printers, office complexes, grocery and retail stores, document storage facilities, paper converters and other wastepaper collectors. It handles a range of grades of recovered paper, including old corrugated containers, office paper, box clippings, newspaper and print shop scraps. It operates recycling facilities, which collects, sorts, grades and bales recovered paper and after sorting and baling, it transfer recovered paper to its paperboard mills for processing, or sell it to the United States manufacturers of paperboard, as well as manufacturers of tissue, newsprint, roofing products and insulation and to export markets. It also collects aluminum and plastics for resale to manufacturers of these products. Its waste reduction services extract additional recyclables from the waste stream by working with customers. In addition, it operates a nationwide fiber marketing and brokerage system, which serves regional and national accounts, as well as its recycled paperboard and containerboard mills and sells scrap materials from its converting businesses and mills. Brokerage contracts provide bulk purchasing. Its recycling facilities are located close to its recycled paperboard and containerboard mills, ensuring availability of supply with reduced shipping costs. During fiscal 2012, sales to external customers accounted for 6.8% of its net sales.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Saibus Research]
Consolidation has been incremental in the paper and forest products industry. In May 2012, Resolute Forest Products (RFP) (formerly AbitibiBowater) announced that it had acquired 50.1% of Fibrek and acquired the remaining 49.9% in August. 2011 saw International Paper (IP) announce a hostile takeover of Temple-Inland and after offering $32/share in cash as well as the assumption of $600M of TIN's debt, IP was able to close the deal in February 2012. 2011 also saw Rock-Tenn (RKT) acquire Smurfit-Stone to create the number two player in the linerboard segment with 20% market share, trailing only International Paper's 40%. We see these moves as a prudent step to consolidation in the industry as certain types of paper such as newsprint and uncoated free sheet (office paper) are seeing falling demand due to increased use of digital resources.
- [By Ben Levisohn]
Shares of MeadWestvaco have jumped 4.6% to $37.29 today at 3:36 p.m. Other paper packaging companies, however, aren’t getting a boost from the news or from Merrill’s upgrade. Shares of Rock-Tenn (RKT) have dipped 0.1% to $100.34, International Paper (IP) has ticked up 0.1% to $48.74and Packaging Corp. of America (PKG) is little changed at $65.40.
- [By Dr. Melvin Pasternak]
Although I still remain cautious because of fears of tapering by the Federal Reserve, I am again trading from the long side. One stock I am currently attracted to is Rock-Tenn (NYSE: RKT), an international paper and packaging company, which according to Bloomberg, sports the highest earnings per share (EPS) in its industry.
- [By Sean Williams]
Boring doesn't always mean "buy"
You may have heard me mention recently that boring industries can often make the most profitable industries. That is generally true, but it's not a rule! This is why packaging products maker Rock-Tenn (NYSE: RKT ) has found its way onto my "sell-now" radar.
Top Managed Healthcare Companies To Own In Right Now: Cree Inc.(CREE)
Cree, Inc. develops and manufactures light emitting diodes (LEDs), LED lighting, and semiconductor solutions for wireless and power applications. Its LED products include blue and green LED chips that are used in various applications, including video screens, gaming displays, function indicator lights, and automotive backlighting; LED components comprising a range of packaged LED products and LED modules for lighting applications; LED lighting products, such as LED downlights, LED troffers, and LED lamps or bulbs for construction, retrofit, and renovation projects in commercial, governmental, and residential applications; and silicon carbide (SiC) wafers, which are used in the manufacture of optoelectronics, microwave, power switching, and other applications. The company also provides semiconductor materials and devices primarily based on silicon carbide (SiC), gallium nitride (GaN), and related compounds. Its power and radio frequency (RF) products include SiC-based power products comprising 600, 1,200, and 1,700-volt Schottky diodes, as well as 1,200-volt SiC metal semiconductor field-effect transistor switches that are used in power factor correction circuits for power supplies in computer servers and other applications, such as solar inverters; and RF devices, including a range of GaN high electron mobility transistors and monolithic microwave integrated circuits for military or commercial applications, as well as 10 watt and 60 watt SiC transistors and metal semiconductor field effect transistor products. The company primarily operates in China, the United States, Europe, South Korea, Japan, Malaysia, and Taiwan. Cree, Inc. was formerly known as Cree Research, Inc. and changed its name in January 2000. Cree, Inc. was founded in 1987 and is based in Durham, North Carolina.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Lisa Levin]
Cree (NASDAQ: CREE) shares fell 9.85% to touch a new 52-week low of $52.33 on Q3 results. Cree reported its Q3 earnings of $0.39 per share on revenue of $405.30 million. However, analysts were expecting earnings of $0.38 per share on revenue of $407.29 million.
- [By Monica Gerson]
Cree (NASDAQ: CREE) is expected to post its Q2 earnings at $0.39 per share on revenue of $412.36 million.
Woodward (NASDAQ: WWD) is projected to post its Q1 earnings at $0.71 per share on revenue of $548.45 million.
- [By Seth Jayson]
Cree (Nasdaq: CREE ) reported earnings on April 23. Here are the numbers you need to know.
The 10-second takeaway
For the quarter ended March 31 (Q3), Cree beat slightly on revenues and met expectations on earnings per share. - [By Mani]
Cree, Inc. (NASDAQ:CREE) is expected to report double-digit gains in its earnings per share when it announces its first quarter results onOct.22. The company would hold a conference call on the same day�5:00 p.m. EDT�to discuss the results.
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