New record highs for the stock market have turned into a regular occurrence, so today's advance into uncharted territory isn't drawing nearly as much attention from investors as this year's first round of all-time highs did. Fairly benign data on jobless claims and a lack of troubling news from around the world generally left the stock market in bull mode, and by 10:55 a.m. EDT the Dow Jones Industrials (DJINDICES: ^DJI ) climbed 59 points, or 0.4%, while the S&P 500 advanced by a similar percentage.
But beneath the Dow's calm advance, there's a battle going on. Yesterday the Dow's tech stocks advanced sharply, with investors questioning whether their beaten-down valuations had too harshly penalized big technology companies for their growth challenges. Yet this morning IDC reported that PC shipments fell by 14% -- the worst quarter ever in the nearly 20 years that IDC has given data for the industry. That sent Hewlett-Packard (NYSE: HPQ ) down more than 6% and Intel (NASDAQ: INTC ) falling 2.5%, as both companies continue to rely on PCs for a big portion of their business despite their attempts to diversify their exposure into more promising areas.
10 Best Prefered Stocks To Own For 2015: MicroStrategy Incorporated(MSTR)
MicroStrategy Incorporated provides enterprise software platforms for business intelligence (BI), and mobile and social intelligence applications worldwide. The company offers MicroStrategy 9, an integrated BI platform that enables businesses to make business decisions. The MicroStrategy 9 platform?s product components comprise Intelligence Server, a foundation for the BI platform; Report Services, a reporting engine delivering production and operational reports, managed metrics reports, and interactive dashboards; OLAP Services that allows Web and desktop users to manipulate Intelligent Cubes databases; Web, a Web interface providing query, reporting, and analysis; Distribution Services that offers automated report and dashboard distribution; Office, which enables Microsoft Office users to create, run, edit, and format MicroStrategy report; and Desktop that provide users access to data through analytical applications. The MicroStrategy 9 platform?s product components al so include Architect, whose data sources are modeled through an intuitive graphical user interface; SDK to integrate MicroStrategy 9 features and functionality into any application on multiple platforms; Integrity Manager to compare and verify reports? consistency; Command Manager that automates MicroStrategy administrative tasks; Enterprise Manager to provide prebuilt reports and dashboards; Object Manager that allows administrators to manage disparate and distributed environments; MultiSource Option allowing users to report, analyze, and monitor data; Transaction Services that provides write-back capabilities; and Clustering Option, a plug-and-play add-on to Intelligence Server. The company also offers technical support, consulting, education, and cloud-based solutions. It serves retail, communications, financial services, insurance, healthcare, manufacturing, technology, consumer goods, and public services industries. The company was founded in 1989 and is headquartered in Tysons Corner, Virginia.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Evan Niu, CFA]
What: Shares of MicroStrategy (NASDAQ: MSTR ) have plunged today by as much as 13% after the company reported first-quarter earnings.
So what: Revenue in the first quarter added up to $130.2 million, a 6% decline from a year ago. That translated into a loss from continuing operations of $5.2 million, or $0.46 per share. Those figures looked poor relative to consensus estimates, which were calling for $152.4 million in sales and $0.35 per share in profit.
- [By Seth Jayson]
MicroStrategy (Nasdaq: MSTR ) is expected to report Q2 earnings around July 29. 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 MicroStrategy's revenues will wither -1.9% and EPS will wither -40.0%. - [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:�
- [By Tim Beyers and Erin Miller]
Importantly, the BI sector as a whole isn't seeing gains. MicroStrategy (NASDAQ: MSTR ) fell as much as Qlik gained on a 6% decline in revenues in the most recent quarter. Qlik, by contrast, reported a 22% rise in revenue and told analysts to expect another 20% or better bump in the quarter.
Top 10 Promising Stocks To Watch Right Now: Austin Engineering Ltd (ANG)
Austin Engineering Limited is engaged in the manufacture, repair, overhaul and supply of mining attachment products, general steelwork structures and other associated products and services for the industrial and resources-related business sectors. The Company operates in four segments: Australia, which includes mining equipment, other products and repair and maintenance services; Americas, which includes mining equipment and other products, consisting of North America and South America; Asia, which includes Indonesia for mining equipment and other products, and the Middle East, which includes aluminum smelter equipment and products. In October 2013, Austin Engineering Limited completed the acquisition of the business of Servigrut. Advisors' Opinion:- [By Julia Leite]
South African miners rallied after a recovery in gold prices. The FTSE/JSE Africa All-Share Index climbed 1.5 percent in Johannesburg, with Harmony Gold Mining Co. (HAR) and AngloGold Ashanti Ltd. (ANG) adding at least 5.2 percent.
Top 10 Promising Stocks To Watch Right Now: Valmont Industries Inc.(VMI)
Valmont Industries, Inc. produces and sells fabricated metal products, pole and tower structures, and mechanized irrigation systems in the United States and internationally. The company?s Engineered Infrastructure Products segment offers steel and aluminum poles and structures, to which lighting and traffic control fixtures are attached for applications in streets, highways, parking lots, sports stadiums, and commercial and residential developments; and roadway safety systems, including guard rail barrier systems, wire rope safety barriers, and crash attenuation barriers to redirect vehicles and to prevent collisions between vehicles. This segment also provides structures and components for the wireless communication market, as well as for the erection of infrastructure, industrial, and commercial access systems. Its Utility Support Structures segment offers tapered steel and pre-stressed concrete poles for high-voltage transmission lines, substations, and electrical dist ribution, as well as produces hybrid structures, which are structures with a concrete base section and steel upper sections. The company?s Coatings segment provides metal coating services, such as hot-dipped galvanizing, anodizing, powder coating, and e-coating. Its Irrigation segment offers mechanical irrigation equipment and related service parts under the Valley brand. The company also manufactures forged steel grinding media for the mining industry, tubular products for industrial customers, and electrolytic manganese dioxide for disposable batteries; and distributes industrial fasteners. It serves state and federal governments, contractors, utility and telecommunications companies, commercial lighting fixtures manufacturers, and large farms, as well as the general manufacturing sector. The company sells its products through direct sales force, independent and commissioned sales agents, and independent dealers. Valmont Industries, Inc. was founded in 1946 and is headqua rtered in Omaha, Nebraska.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Seth Jayson]
Calling all cash flows
When you are trying to buy the market's best stocks, it's worth checking up on your companies' free cash flow once a quarter or so, to see whether it bears any relationship to the net income in the headlines. That's what we do with this series. Today, we're checking in on Valmont Industries (NYSE: VMI ) , whose recent revenue and earnings are plotted below. - [By Bryan Murphy]
Every week, just as a matter of routine and discipline, I run a scan of stocks that fit a strict set of fundamental and technical criteria. Most of the results are worthless (though I know that going in), but there's always a gem buried in there somewhere. This week's gem is Valmont Industries, Inc. (NYSE:VMI) - a metal fabricator. No, it's not the sexiest of businesses, but VMI certainly is the sexiest (relative to its risk) of stocks for those concerned about a company's consistency.
Top 10 Promising Stocks To Watch Right Now: BB&T Corp (BBT)
BB&T Corporation (BB&T) is a financial holding company. BB&T conducts its business operations primarily through its commercial bank subsidiary, Branch Banking and Trust Company (Branch Bank), which has offices in North Carolina, Virginia, Florida, Georgia, Maryland, South Carolina, Alabama, West Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee, Texas, Washington D.C and Indiana. In addition, BB&T�� operations consist of a federally chartered thrift institution, BB&T Financial, FSB (BB&T FSB), and a number of nonbank subsidiaries, which offer financial services products. BB&T�� operations are divided into six business segments: Community Banking, Residential Mortgage Banking, Dealer Financial Services, Specialized Lending, Insurance Services, and Financial Services. Branch Bank provides a range of banking and trust services for retail and commercial clients in its geographic markets, including small and mid-size businesses, public agencies, local Governments and individuals, through 1,779 offices as of December 31, 2011. During the year ended December 31, 2011, BB&T announced the acquisitions of Liberty Benefit Insurance Services, Atlantic Risk Management Corporation and the Precept Group. In April 2012, it acquired the life and property and casualty insurance operating divisions of Roseland, New Jersey - based Crump Group Inc. On July 31, 2012, it acquired BankAtlantic.
As of December 31, 2011, the principal operating subsidiaries of BB&T included Branch Banking and Trust Company, Winston-Salem, North Carolina; BB&T Financial, FSB, Columbus, Georgia; Scott & Stringfellow, LLC, Richmond, Virginia; Clearview Correspondent Services, LLC, Richmond, Virginia; Regional Acceptance Corporation, Greenville, North Carolina; American Coastal Insurance Company, Davie, Florida, and Sterling Capital Management, LLC, Charlotte, North Carolina. Branch Bank�� principal operating subsidiaries include BB&T Equipment Finance Corporation, BB&T Investment Services, Inc., BB&T Insurance Services, Inc., Stanley, Hunt, DuPree! & Rhine (a division of Branch Bank), Prime Rate Premium Finance Corporation, Inc., Grandbridge Real Estate Capital, LLC, Lendmark Financial Services, Inc., CRC Insurance Services, Inc. and McGriff, Seibels & Williams, Inc.
Community Banking
BB&T�� Community Banking serves individual and business clients by offering a range of loan and deposit products and other financial services. As of December 31, 2011, Community Banking had a network of 1,779 banking.
Residential Mortgage Banking
Residential Mortgage Banking segment retains and services mortgage loans originated by Community Banking, as well as those purchased from various correspondent originators. Mortgage loan products include fixed and adjustable rate Government and conventional loans for the purpose of constructing, purchasing or refinancing residential properties. Substantially all of the properties are owner occupied. BB&T retains the servicing rights to all loans sold. Residential Mortgage Banking earns interest on loans held in the warehouse and portfolio, fee income from the origination and servicing of mortgage loans and recognizes gains or losses from the sale of mortgage loans. BB&T�� mortgage originations totaled $23.7 billion in 2011. BB&T�� residential mortgage servicing portfolio, which includes both retained loans and loans serviced for third parties, totaled $91.6 billion in 2011.
Dealer Financial Services
Dealer Financial Services originates loans to consumers on a prime and nonprime basis for the purchase of automobiles. Such loans are originated on an indirect basis through approved franchised and independent automobile dealers throughout the BB&T market area and nationally through Regional Acceptance Corporation. This segment also originates loans for the purchase of boats and recreational vehicles originated through dealers in BB&T�� market area. In addition, financing and servicing to dealers for their inventories is provided through a ! joint rel! ationship between Dealer Financial Services and Community Banking.
Specialized Lending
BB&T�� Specialized Lending consists of eight business units that provide specialty finance products to consumers and businesses. The internal business units include Commercial Finance that contains commercial finance and mortgage warehouse lending; and, Governmental Finance that is responsible for tax-exempt Government finance. Operating subsidiaries include BB&T Equipment Finance which provides equipment leasing within BB&T�� banking footprint; Sheffield Financial, a division of FSB Financial, a dealer-based financer of equipment for both small businesses and consumers; Lendmark Financial Services, a direct consumer finance lending company; Prime Rate Premium Finance Corporation, which includes AFCO and CAFO, insurance premium finance business units that provide funding to businesses in the United States and Canada and to consumers in certain markets within BB&T�� banking footprint, and Grandbridge Real Estate Capital, a commercial mortgage banking lender providing loans on a national basis.
Insurance Services
BB&T Insurance Services provides property and casualty, life and health insurance to businesses and individuals. It also provides small business and corporate products, such as workers compensation and professional liability, as well as surety coverage and title insurance. In addition, Insurance Services also underwrites a limited amount of property and casualty coverage.
Financial Services
Financial Services provides personal trust administration, estate planning, investment counseling, wealth management, asset management, employee benefits services, corporate banking and corporate trust services to individuals, corporations, institutions, foundations and Government entities. Financial Services also offers clients investment alternatives, including discount brokerage services, equities, fixed-rate and variable-rate annuiti! es, mutua! l funds and governmental and municipal bonds through BB&T Investment Services, Inc., a subsidiary of Branch Bank. Financial Services includes Scott & Stringfellow, LLC, a brokerage and investment banking firm. Scott & Stringfellow provides services in retail brokerage, equity and debt underwriting, investment advice, corporate finance and equity research and facilitates the origination, trading and distribution of fixed-income securities and equity products in both the public and private capital markets. Scott & Stringfellow also has a public finance department that provides investment banking services, financial advisory services and municipal bond financing. Scott & Stringfellow�� investment banking and corporate and public finance areas conduct business as BB&T Capital Markets. This segment includes BB&T Capital Partners that is a group of BB&T-sponsored private equity and mezzanine investment funds that invest in privately owned middle-market operating companies. Financial Services also includes the Corporate Banking Division that originates and services corporate relationships, syndicated lending relationships and client derivatives.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Amanda Alix]
Citi, B of A still at risk
Similarly, there is little good news as far as the most vulnerable banks are concerned. Bank of America dropped to No. 3�from No. 1, certainly nothing to brag about, while Citi moved up from second place to take the top spot. Interestingly, BB&T (NYSE: BBT ) now holds spot No. 2, quite a turnaround from the last survey -- though, when it comes to mortgage servicing, this bank trounces all others. - [By Eric Volkman]
The vault is open at BB&T (NYSE: BBT ) and dividends are flowing to investors. The financial services company has declared its latest set of distributions, most prominently a common stock payout of $0.23 per share. It will also hand out disbursements to holders of its Series D, E, F, and G preferred stock. For Series D, this will amount to $365.625 (the equivalent of $00.365625 per depositary share, which represents 1/1000th interest in the underlying security). For Series E, $351.5625 ($0.3515625), and for both Series F and G, $325.00 ($0.325).
- [By Jay Jenkins]
A consortium of banks, lead by Citigroup (NYSE: C ) , Bank of America (NYSE: BAC ) , BB&T (NYSE: BBT ) , U.S. Bancorp (NYSE: USB ) , and KeyCorp (NYSE: KEY ) have joined forces to develop critical technology to pave the way for true mobile banking.�
- [By Monica Gerson]
BB&T (NYSE: BBT) is estimated to report its Q1 earnings at $0.70 per share on revenue of $2.31 billion.
Posted-In: Earnings scheduleEarnings News Pre-Market Outlook Markets
Top 10 Promising Stocks To Watch Right Now: First Horizon National Corp (FHN)
First Horizon National Corporation (FHN), incorporated in 1968, is a bank holding company. The Company provides financial services through its subsidiary, First Tennessee Bank National Association (the Bank), and its subsidiaries. The Company�� two brands First Tennessee and FTN Financial provide customers with a range of products and services. First Tennessee provides retail and commercial banking services throughout Tennessee. FTN Financial (FTNF) is engaged in fixed income sales, trading, and strategies for institutional clients in the United States and abroad. FHN has four operating business segments: regional banking, capital markets, corporate, and non-strategic. As of December 31, 2011, the Bank had $16.4 billion in total deposits and $16 billion in total net loans. As of December 31, 2011, the Company�� subsidiaries had over 200 business locations in 17 the United States states, Hong Kong, and Tokyo, excluding off-premises automated teller machines (ATMs). As of December 31, 2011, the Bank had 183 branch locations in four states, which include 172 branches in metropolitan areas of Tennessee; two branches in northwestern Georgia; seven branches in northwestern Mississippi, and two branches in North Carolina. As of December 31, 2011, FTN Financial products and services were offered through 18 offices in total, including 16 offices in 14 states plus an office in each of Hong Kong and Tokyo.
The regional banking segment offers financial products and services, including traditional lending and deposit taking, to retail and commercial customers in Tennessee and surrounding markets. Regional banking provides investments, financial planning, trust services and asset management, credit card, cash management, and first lien mortgage originations within the Tennessee footprint. In addition, the regional banking segment includes correspondent banking, which provides credit, depository, and other banking related services to other financial institutions.
The capital markets se! gment consists of fixed income sales, trading, and strategies for institutional clients in the United States and abroad, as well as loan sales, portfolio advisory, and derivative sales. The corporate segment consists of gains on the extinguishment of debt, unallocated corporate expenses, expense on subordinated debt issuances and preferred stock, bank-owned life insurance, unallocated interest income associated with excess equity, net impact of raising incremental capital, revenue and expense associated with deferred compensation plans, funds management, low income housing investment activities, and charges related to restructuring, repositioning, and efficiency. The non-strategic segment consists of the wind-down national consumer lending activities, legacy mortgage banking elements, including servicing fees, and the associated ancillary revenues and expenses related to these businesses. Non-strategic also includes the wind-down trust preferred loan portfolio and exited businesses along with the associated restructuring, repositioning, and efficiency charges.
As of December 31, 2011, the Company provided services through its subsidiaries, which include general banking services for consumers, businesses, financial institutions, and governments; through FTN Financial fixed income sales and trading, underwriting of bank, loan sales, advisory services and derivative sales; discount brokerage and full-service brokerage; correspondent banking; transaction processing, such as nationwide check clearing services and remittance processing; trust, fiduciary, and agency services; credit card products; equipment finance; investment and financial advisory services; mutual fund sales as agent; retail insurance sales as agent, and mortgage banking services.
As of December 31, 2011, the commercial, financial, and industrial (C&I) portfolio was eight billion dollars, and is consisted of loans used for general business purposes, and consisted of relationship customers in Tennessee and certain n! eighborin! g states, which are managed within the regional bank. Products include working capital lines of credit, term loan financing of owner-occupied real estate and fixed assets, and trade credit enhancement through letters of credit. As of December 31, 2011, the unpaid principal balance (UPB) of trust preferred loans totaled $447.2 million with the UPB of other bank-related loans totaling approximately $161.8 million. The commercial real estate portfolio includes both financings for commercial construction and non-construction loans. This portfolio is segregated between income commercial real estate (CRE) loans which contain loans, lines, and letters of credit to commercial real estate developers for the construction and mini- permanent financing of income-producing real estate, and residential CRE loans. The residential CRE portfolio includes loans to residential builders and developers for the purpose of constructing single-family detached homes, condominiums, and town homes. As of December 31, 2011, the residential CRE portfolio was $.1 billion. As of December 31, 2011, the consumer real estate portfolio was $5.3 billion, and is composed of home equity lines and installment loans. As of December 31, 2011, the credit card and other portfolios were $.3 billion, and primarily include credit card receivables, automobile loans, and over-the-counter (OTC) construction loans and other consumer related credits.
FHN�� investment portfolio consists of debt securities, including government agency issued mortgage-backed securities (MBS) and government agency issued collateralized mortgage obligations (CMO). During the year ended December 31, 2011, Government agency issued MBS and CMO, and other agencies averaged $2.9 billion. During 2011, the United States treasury securities and municipal bonds averaged $79.5 million. During 2011, investments in equity securities averaged $222.3 million.
During 2011, short-term funds (certificates of deposit greater than $100,000, federal funds purchased (! FFP), sec! urities sold under agreements to repurchase, trading liabilities, and other short-term borrowings) averaged $3.6 billion. During 2011, other borrowings increased to $.3 billion. Term borrowings include senior and subordinated borrowings and advances with original maturities greater than one year. During 2011, average term borrowings averaged $2.6 billion.
The Company competes with Regions Bank, SunTrust Bank, Wells Fargo Bank N.A., Bank of America N.A., and Pinnacle National Bank.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Monica Gerson]
First Horizon National (NYSE: FHN) is estimated to report its Q3 earnings at $0.18 per share on revenue of $307.14 million.
Laboratory Corp. of America Holdings (NYSE: LH) is expected to report its Q3 earnings at $1.80 per share on revenue of $1.45 billion.
- [By Eric Volkman]
After the close of trading Friday, the S&P 500 will include Pfizer spinoff Zoetis (NYSE: ZTS ) . The stock replaces First Horizon National (NYSE: FHN ) , which is to find a new home on the S&P MidCap 400.
- [By Sean Williams]
Finally, regional bank First Horizon National (NYSE: FHN ) , which has banking branches throughout Tennessee, added 4.2% just a day after paying shareholders a $0.05 quarterly dividend. Like Genuine Parts, there is no company specific news driving First Horizon higher, but the prospect for a higher net interest margin because of higher interest rates is certainly adding a boost to banks like First Horizon that rely on traditional loan and deposit growth. But as my Foolish colleague John Maxfield recently pointed out, you may want to keep your expectations for First Horizon tempered in the interim.
Top 10 Promising Stocks To Watch Right Now: Five Below Inc (FIVE)
Five Below, Inc. (Five Below), incorporated on January 30, 2002, is a retailer offering a range of merchandise for teen and pre-teen customer. The Company offers products, including select brands and licensed merchandise across a number of categories, which it refer to as worlds-Style, Room, Sports, Media, Crafts, Party, Candy and Seasonal (which it refer to as Now). As of October 27, 2012, The Company operated 243 stores throughout the eastern half of the United States. Its Style consists primarily of accessories such as novelty socks, sunglasses, jewelry, scarves, gloves, hair accessories and attitude t-shirts. Its beauty offering includes products such as nail polish, lip gloss, fragrance and branded cosmetics. Its Room consists of items used to complete and personalize its customer�� living space, including glitter lamps, posters, frames, fleece blankets, pillows, candles, incense and related items. The Company also offers storage options for the customer�� room and locker.
The Company�� Sports consists of an assortment of sport balls, team sports merchandise and fitness accessories, including hand weights, jump ropes and gym balls. It also offers a variety of games, including name brand board games, puzzles, toys and plush items. In the summer season, its sports offering also include pool, beach and outdoor toys, games and accessories. Its Media consists of a selection of accessories for personal computers (PCs), cell phones, Moving Picture Experts Group Layer-3 Audio (MP3) players and tablet computers. The offering includes cases, chargers, headphones and other related items. It also carries a range of media products including books, video games and Digital Versatile Disc (DVDs). It offers an assortment of craft activity kits, as well as arts and crafts supplies, such as crayons, markers and stickers. It also offer trend-right items for school, such as backpacks, fashion notebooks and journals, novelty pens and pencils, as well as everyday name brand items.
The C! ompany�� Party consists of party goods, decorations and greeting cards, as well as everyday and special occasion merchandise. Its Candy consists of branded items that appeal to teens and pre-teens. This category includes an assortment of classic and novelty candy bars and movie-size box candy, as well as gum and snack food. It also sells chilled drinks through coolers. Its Seasonal consists of seasonally-specific items used to celebrate and decorate for events such as Christmas, Easter, Halloween and St. Patrick�� Day.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By DailyFinance Staff]
Job creation last month was shockingly weak, but analysts couldn't really explain why –- other than to blame the weather -- which left investors unsure how to react Friday. Many analysts say the numbers are likely to be revised higher next month, and in the end, market reaction was muted. The Dow Jones industrial average (^DJI) lost ground for a third straight day, declining nearly 8 points, but the Standard & Poor's 500 index (^GPSC) added 4, and the Nasdaq composite index (^IXIC) rose 18 points. Target (TGT) lost more than a point after saying the data breach that began on Black Friday was much worse than previously thought. The company now says as many as 70 million customers had personal information stolen. Target also lowered its fourth quarter outlook, partly because sales slumped after the data breach was first revealed. Sears (SHLD) tumbled by around 13.5 percent. It expects a big quarterly loss as sales fell during the holiday shopping season. Several smaller, specialty retailers also fell: Pacific Sunwear (PSUN) slid 16 percent, Five Below (FIVE) fell 7 percent, Shoe Carnival (SCVL) lost 5 percent, and Conn's (CONN) lost 2 percent. But Abercrombie & Fitch (ANF) jumped 12 percent. It raised its earnings forecast as sales were not as bad as expected. Elsewhere, Alcoa (AA) fell about 5.5 percent. It's not quite the economic bellwether it used to be, but the aluminum giant still matters, and its net came in a bit shy of expectations. YRC Worldwide (YRCW) tumbled 13 percent after workers rejected a contract offer. That has raised fears the trucking company could be forced into bankruptcy. On the upside, the weak jobs report could keep mortgage rates from rising, and that boosted housing stocks. KB Homes (KBH) rose 3 percent, William Lyons up 4 percent, and Lennar (LEN) was up 2 percent. And on Thursday we reported that shares of Intercept Pharmaceuticals nearly quadrupled in price on news of a positive clinical study for its liver dr
- [By WWW.DAILYFINANCE.COM]
Business Wire/Getty Images From an iconic auto parts retailer hoping to shift into reverse after a streak of negative quarters to the world's most valuable consumer tech giant showing off its new gadgetry, here are some of the things that will help shape the week that lies ahead on Wall Street. Monday -- Pep Rally The new trading week kicks off with Pep Boys (PBY) reporting quarterly results. The auto-parts retailer and provider of car maintenance and repair services has 800 locations across the country. This has historically been an all-weather niche for investors. When the economy's smoking, drivers spruce up their rides. When the economy's in the tank, drivers hold on to their cars longer, requiring more money invested in maintaining and repairing their vehicles. This doesn't mean that investors should be expecting a strong report. Analysts see flattish earnings and sales growth. Making matters worse, Pep Boys has fallen short of Wall Street's profit targets in each of the four previous quarters. The trend suggests that Pep Boys may earn less than the 17 cents a share that the pros are forecasting. Tuesday -- The Big Apple We will finally get our first look at the iPhone 6 on Tuesday. Apple (AAPL) has scheduled a media event for Tuesday, and this is the time of year when the world's most valuable consumer tech company refreshes its smartphone line. Everything is pointing to a larger device. Sources have been telling tech blogs that we're also looking at a scratch-resistant screen and a chip-based transaction platform. We may get more than just a shiny new smartphone out of Apple. Some have suggested that Apple will finally make its big splash into wearable computing. Apple could also update some of its other product lines or shock the world in a good way by entering into a brand-new product category. Wednesday -- Retailers on Parade A handful of retail chains will be updating the market with fresh quarterly reports. Wet Seal (WTSL), Five Below (F
- [By Roberto Pedone]
Another stock that's quickly pushing within range of triggering a major breakout trade is specialty retailer Five Below (FIVE), which offers merchandise targeted at the teen and pre-teen customer. This stock is off to a strong start in 2013, with shares up 54%.
>>5 Stocks Under $10 Set to Soar
If you look at the chart for Five Below, you'll notice that this stock has been uptrending strong for the last month and change, with shares pushing higher from its low of $42.42 to its recent high of $50.39 a share. During that uptrend, shares of FIVE have been making mostly higher lows and higher highs, which is bullish technical price action. That move has now pushed shares of FIVE within range of triggering a major breakout trade.
Traders should now look for long-biased trades in FIVE if it manages to break out above its all-time high at $50.39 a share with high volume. Look for a sustained move or close above that level with volume that hits near or above its three-month average action of 835,622 shares. If that breakout triggers soon, then FIVE will set up to enter new all-time-high territory, which is bullish technical price action. Some possible upside targets off that breakout are $60 to $65 a share.
Traders can look to buy FIVE off any weakness to anticipate that breakout and simply use a stop that sits right below some key near-term support at $47.13 a share or around $46 a share. One can also buy FIVE off strength once it takes out its all-time high at $50.39 a share with volume and then simply use a stop that sits a comfortable percentage from your entry point.
Top 10 Promising Stocks To Watch Right Now: Marketo Inc (MKTO)
Marketo, Inc. (Marketo), incorporated on December 17, 2009, provides cloud-based marketing software platform that enables organizations to engage in modern relationship marketing. The Company�� software platform is designed to enable the execution, management and analytical measurement of marketing activities, helping organizations to acquire new customers. The Company�� platform includes marketing automation, social marketing, sales insight and revenue analytics. Its customer base includes 2,000 customers across a range of industries, including business services, consumer, financial services, healthcare, manufacturing, media, technology and telecommunications. The Company provides its solutions on a subscription basis. Effective December 19, 2013, Marketo Inc acquired Insightera Ltd.
The Company designs, builds and markets a suite of integrated applications to address the needs of modern marketing professionals. The Company�� customers use these applications individually and in combination to streamline and automate marketing processes; develop, retain and extend customer relationships, and measure the positive impact on revenue of marketing programs. Its platform and suite of applications is hosted and delivered over the Web using a cloud-based, or software as a service (SaaS) model, and is built using a multi-tenant architecture. The Company markets and sells its enterprise applications as: Marketo lead management, which includes the core Marketo platform, plus all of the marketing automation capabilities available on the platform; Marketo social marketing, which enables social media campaigns, such as referrals, sweepstakes, and other customer engagement campaigns, and also includes features to add social marketing extensions to traditional marketing campaigns; Marketo sales insight, which provides insights to salespeople about their customers and prospects, and Marketo revenue cycle analytics, which is a suite of analytic tools, analyzers, and ad hoc reporting capabilities taki! ng advantage of its time-series analytics engine.
The Company has built a suite of applications that run on its platform. The applications include marketing automation, social marketing, sales insight and revenue analytics. Marketing automation provides a set of capabilities for marketers to create, automate, and track personalized multi-channel marketing campaigns and relationship-marketing workflows. It includes functionality for marketers to finely segment their prospect and customer database based on collected demographic and behavioral data; generate custom Web pages without programming; send batch and individual personalized marketing messages over email, short message service (SMS) text, and other channels; streamline the entire process of running online (e.g., webinar) and offline (e.g., trade show) marketing events, and to execute multi-step lead nurturing and relationship-marketing campaigns that can run over days, weeks, or months.
Social marketing enables marketers to run social media marketing campaigns, as well as to an increase traditional marketing campaigns with a social marketing aspect in order to amplify marketing messages across social networks. Its solution lets marketers add intelligent social sharing buttons to existing Web content and videos; publish new Facebook pages with the touch of a button; build social engagement applications, such as polls, sweepstakes, and referral offers to engage their audience and promote social cross-posting, and increase existing customer and prospect information with social profiles and sharing behavior.
Sold on a per-seat basis, the Company offers sales insight application to customers utilizing Microsoft dynamics customer relationship management (CRM) or salesforce.com as their CRM system. Revenue Analytics provides a range of ways to help companies understand the correlation between marketing programs and revenue outcomes, and includes: a library of operational reports detailing e-mail and landing page per! formance,! Web activity, and lead performance; intuitive analyzers that show the influence of marketing on individual customer outcomes; analytics that compute and illustrate the impact, effectiveness and return on investment of marketing programs individually and in aggregate, and an ad-hoc report builder for completely customized reports and dashboards.
The Company competes with Act-On, Eloqua, Aprimo, HubSpot, SAS Institute, Unica, ExactTarget, Responsys, Silverpop, Oracle Corporation and SAP AG.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Evan Niu, CFA]
What: Shares of Marketo (NASDAQ: MKTO ) have dropped like a rock today, down by as much as 12% following an analyst downgrade.
So what: UBS dropped its rating on the marketing software maker from "neutral" to "sell," while keeping its $22 price target unchanged. The firm is concerned about Marketo's valuation, since shares have nearly doubled in less than two months since going public at $13.
- [By Zacks Investment Research]
Marketo (MKTO) is a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy) and has been public since late May. That time horizon has allowed analysts a few chances to increase their estimates.
- [By gurujx]
Marketo Inc (MKTO): SVP & CFO Frederick Ball Sold 50,000 Shares
SVP & CFO of Marketo Inc (MKTO) Frederick Ball sold 50,000 shares on 09/18/2013 at an average price of $33.99.
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