But the government shutdown dampened manufacturing and tourism in some areas and many retailers had a tepid outlook for the holiday sales season, according to the Fed's Beige Book.
FIRST TAKE: Fed finds growth where it counts most
Named for the color of its cover, the report, released every six weeks, provides an anecdotal snapshot of the economy. The latest edition could be pivotal because it will help the Fed decide whether to dial down its financial stimulus at its Dec. 17-18 meeting.
Economic activity expanded moderately in the New York, Atlanta, Cleveland, Richmond, St. Louis, Minneapolis and Dallas Fed bank districts. Modest growth was reported in Philadelphia, Chicago, Kansas City and San Francisco, the report said.
Hot Japanese Companies To Buy Right Now: Building Turbines Inc (BLDW)
Building Turbines Inc (BTI), incorporated on November 17, 1997, is engaged in the designing and manufacturing rooftop mounted wind turbines. The patented BTI�� design is ideal for commercial applications and creates reliable, cost-effective, clean and on-site renewable electricity. The Company offers a different, patented wind turbine product that can bring the dream of clean, affordable wind energy to a reality. The turbine is mounted on a steel frame, it has a low profile, low maintenance needs, and creates almost no noise or vibration.
The Company�� design possesses these exemplary and robust structural, mechanical and electrical characteristics that are particularly important when mounting a renewable energy system onto a building's roof. The turbine can help office buildings, schools, warehouses, distribution centers, airports, hotels, and a variety of other buildings offset electricity purchased from the grid by creating it on-site from the wind. The turbine creates reliable, cost-effective and clean renewable electricity with little building modification required.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Peter Graham]
Small cap green stocks Building Turbines Inc (OTCMKTS: BLDW), Virtual Sourcing, Inc (OTCMKTS: PGCX) and Unseen Solar, Inc (OTCMKTS: PCWT) have been getting some attention lately in various investment newsletters in part because some ��reen�� is being paid out in the form of paid promotions or investor relation activity. Of course, there is nothing wrong with properly disclosed paid promotions, but you do need to remember that small cap stocks (especially those in new ��reen�� industries) already come with risk. With that in mind, here is a quick reality check about these three green small cap stocks and whether you can expect to see some green in the form of profits:
Building Turbines Inc (OTCMKTS: BLDW) Has Secured a $5 Million Line of CreditSmall cap Building Turbines Inc is focused on the design and manufacture of patented rooftop wind turbines as well as vertically integrating them into other renewable energy solutions to complete a total ��reen Energy Solution��for any urban environment. Building Turbines Inc�� subsidiary, Green City Planet, is also a premier provider of LED lighting and environmentally sound industrial solutions. On Friday, Building Turbines Inc fell 9.76% to $0.0370 for a market cap of $8.71 million plus BLDW is up 51% over the past year and down 87.2% since June 2011 according to Google Finance.
- [By Peter Graham]
Small cap green stocks Essential Innovations Technology Corp (OTCBB: ESIV), Building Turbines Inc (OTCMKTS: BLDW) and Kleangas Energy Technologies Inc (OTCMKTS: KGET) have all been getting some attention lately in various investment newsletters ��either because they were sinking, because of paid promotions or a combination of both. However, there aren�� many green stocks out there that have actually produced some green for investors in the form of profits. With that in mind, here is a quick reality check about all three green small cap stocks to help you decide whether any have the potential for long-term success:
Hot Managed Healthcare Stocks For 2014: Consolidated Edison Company of New York Inc. (ED)
Consolidated Edison, Inc., through its subsidiaries, provides electric, gas, and steam utility services in the United States. It provides electric service to approximately 3.3 million customers and gas service to approximately 1.1 million customers in New York City and Westchester County, as well as provides steam service to office buildings and apartment houses in parts of Manhattan. The company also provides electric service to approximately 0.3 million customers in southeastern New York and in adjacent areas of northern New Jersey, and northeastern Pennsylvania; and gas service to approximately 0.1 million customers in southeastern New York and adjacent areas of northeastern Pennsylvania. In addition, Consolidated Edison involves in the sale and related hedging of electricity to wholesale and retail customers; operation of generating plants; participation in other infrastructure projects; and provision of energy-efficiency services, including the design and installation of lighting retrofits, high-efficiency heating, ventilating and air conditioning equipment, and other energy saving technologies to government and commercial customers. It serves residential, industrial, and large commercial customers. The company was founded in 1884 and is based in New York, New York.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Maxx Chatsko]
Consolidated Edison (NYSE: ED ) has exploited that volatility in New York City -- its primary market that also hosts the nation's largest spark spreads year round -- to increase its profit margin 22.4% since 2009. Low natural gas prices have been arguably more important than efficiency upgrades, but that advantage may be unraveling. ��
- [By Justin Loiseau]
Natural NYC
Consolidated Edison (NYSE: ED ) announced earlier this week that it plans to spend around $100 million extending its New York City natural gas infrastructure. The decision is based on a variety of factors but can be most directly linked to environmental regulation compliance and cheaper costs for both Con Ed and customers.
Hot Managed Healthcare Stocks For 2014: Nice Systems Ltd (NICE)
NICE-Systems Ltd. (NICE), incorporated on September 28, 1986, is a provider of solutions that enable enterprises and security organizations to extract insight from interactions, transactions and surveillance to drive business performance and ensure safety and security. Its solutions enable companies and public organizations to capture, manage, analyze and impact unstructured interaction, as well as transactional data, enabling such entities to comply with internal and governmental regulations, improve business and operational performance and address security threats while increasing situational awareness. Unstructured content includes cross-channel analysis of phone calls, chat, instant messaging and e-mail interactions to contact centers, trading floors, branches, home agents and back offices, phone calls to emergency service providers and first responders, video captured by closed circuit cameras, radio communications between emergency services��and first responders��personnel, Internet sessions, e-mail and instant messaging and security management solutions for command and control centers. In May 2010, the Company acquired Lamda Communication Networks Ltd.
On January 11, 2010, NICE completed the acquisition of certain assets and liabilities of Orsus Solutions Limited and certain subsidiaries of Orsus. On August 31, 2009, NICE and certain subsidiaries of NICE completed the acquisition of the voting securities of certain subsidiaries of Fortent, Inc. (Fortent). On August 31, 2009, NICE completed the acquisition of Hexagon System Engineering Ltd. (Hexagon). On June 17, 2009, the Company completed the acquisition of Syfact.
The Company�� products include NICE SmartCenter, NICE Perform Interaction Recording, NICE Perform eXpress (NPX), NICE Quality Management, NICE Interaction Analytics, NICE Real-Time Guidance, NICE Packaged Business Solutions, NICE Feedback, NICE IEX Workforce Management, Performance Manager, Network Embedded Logger and NiceCall Focus III. It also incl! udes Actimize Fraud Prevention Suite, Actimize Anti-Money Laundering Suite, Actimize Brokerage Compliance Suite, Actimize Enterprise Risk Case Manager, Mirra IV, NICE Inform, NiceVision Net, NiceVision ControlCenter, NiceVision Analytics, NiceVision Digital, NiceVision SafeRoute, NICE Situator, FAST alpha Silver, NiceTrack.
NICE SmartCenter leverages the synergies of the combined capabilities of NICE Perform, NICE Quality Management, NICE Interaction Analytics, NICE Feedback, IEX TotalView and Performance Manager. NICE Perform Interaction Recording records customer interactions with contact center agents, financial trading floors, investment banking and enterprises, with a separate suite of applications for contact centers and investment banking, including for organizations that have a relatively small number of input channels. NICE Perform eXpress (NPX) brings the capabilities of Nice Perform into a single box, low TCO solution based on commercial hardware for small businesses or small systems. NICE Quality Management delivers tools for implementing a multifaceted quality program encompassing agents, supervisors, evaluators and managers.
NICE Interaction Analytics utilizes a multi-dimensional analysis approach to analyze customer interactions across communication channels and provide automated business insight and root cause analysis based on speech analytics, e-mail and chat analysis, call flow analysis, screen content analysis and integration with customer relationship management (CRM) data. NICE Real-Time Guidance leverages interaction analytics in order to provide recommendations to the agent in real-time during a phone or chat interaction with a customer, popping up contextually relevant instructions to the agent within call-out windows.
NICE Packaged Business Solutions is a set of out-of-the-box solutions designed to address common contact center challenges, including Customer Churn Reduction, Sales Effectiveness, Customer Experience, Marketing Effective! ness, Col! lections Optimization, Quality Optimization, such as First Contact Resolution and Average Handling Time. NICE Feedback is a solution for collecting real-time customer feedback after a call or any other type of interaction with the organization. NICE IEX Workforce Management forecasts customer interactions, schedules agents with appropriate skills to manage and optimize level of customer service and resources, measures agent and team performance and supports managing overall contact center performance
Performance Manager maps enterprise business objectives to group and individual goals, tracks and reports performance. Network Embedded Logger offers a Linux based voice over Internet protocol (VoIP) Logger embedded in Cisco routers, suitable for branch recording with NICE Perform. NiceCall Focus III provides a voice recording system for organizations that have a relatively small number of input channels and a cost-effective solution for branch recording (TDM only) with centralized storage. Actimize Fraud Prevention Suite is a suite of focused cross-channel fraud prevention solutions, available individually or as an integrated whole, used in both real-time and batch processing to detect and prevent the fraud.
Actimize Anti-Money Laundering Suite is an end-to-end suite of solutions that are available individually or as an integrated whole used to monitor and identify suspicious activities for customers and facilitate regulatory compliance processes. Actimize Enterprise Risk Case Manager is a centralized platform for holistic case and alert management that enables an enterprise-wide approach to risk and compliance operations management. Mirra IV provides small recording system that is suited to simple recording applications, in which it can record up to 48 channels of voice traffic from a variety of analog and digital interfaces. NICE Inform provides information management solution for management of multimedia interactions for security command and control centers, enables effectiv! e managem! ent of multimedia incident information from various sources, for faster incident reconstruction, greater insight and improved response.
NiceVision Net provides a complete solution for Internet protocol (IP) video security, including encoders, decoders and network video recorders. NiceVision ControlCenter provides a control room management and network-based digital video matrix. NiceVision Analytics provides a set of video content analytics applications for automated detection of threats, safety and operational related events. NiceVision Digital provides a portfolio of digital video recorders for different capacities and performance requirements. NiceVision SafeRoute provides a solution for mobile video surveillance onboard public transport vehicles. FAST alpha Silver provides digital video monitoring and recording solution for large to mid-size applications. NiceTrack provides interception, delivery, monitoring, collection and advanced analysis of telecommunication interactions.
The Company competes with Aspect Software, Inc., Autonomy Corp., Cybertech International, eLoyalty, Genesys Telecommunicatons, Nexidia, Verint Systems Inc., ACI Worldwide, FICO, Mantas, Inc., Norkom Group plc, Oracle Corporation, SAS Institute Inc., Sungard Data Systems Inc., ASC Telecom, AudioSoft, Redbox Recorders, Bosch, Genetec Inc., IndigoVision, Milestone Systems A/S, ONSSI, Schneider Electric, Atis, ETI, JSI Telecom, Pen-link Ltd., SS8 Networks, Inc. and Trovicor.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Monica Gerson]
NICE Systems (NASDAQ: NICE) shares fell 6.37% to $39.25 in pre-market trading after the company reported downbeat Q1 earnings and lowered its 2014 outlook.
- [By shash63]
In January, Nice Systems (NICE) had announced that it is in discussion with Verint Systems (VRNT) for possible acquisition. This acquisition will cost Nice Systems $1.5 billion. After this acquisition, the combined sales of both companies is expected to be around $1.5 billion annually, and it will control 70% of the voice recording market, and 50% of the video recording market. This acquisition shouldn�� face any hurdles as Verint System recently purchased the controlling stake of its holding company, Comverse Technologies, thus becoming an independent company. This deal will make it simpler for Nice System to acquire Verint Systems.
- [By Roberto Pedone]
Nice Systems (NICE) provides software solutions that deliver insights by capturing and analyzing mass quantities of structured and unstructured data in real time from multiple sources such as interactions, transactions and surveillance. This stock closed up 2.1% to $38 in Wednesday's trading session.
Wednesday's Volume: 430,000
Three-Month Average Volume: 135,436
Volume % Change: 218%From a technical perspective, NICE trended modestly higher here back above its 50-day moving average of $37.69 with heavy upside volume. This move is quickly pushing shares of NICE within range of triggering a big breakout trade. That trade will hit if NICE manages to take out some near-term overhead resistance at $38.90 to its three-year high at $39.89 with high volume.
Traders should now look for long-biased trades in NICE as long as it's trending above its 50-day at $37.69 or above Wednesday's low of $36.91, and then once it sustains a move or close above those breakout levels with volume that hits near or above 135,436 shares. If that breakout hits soon, then NICE will set up to enter new three-year high territory, which is bullish technical price action. Some possible upside targets off that move are $43 to $45.
- [By Monica Gerson]
Breaking news
Wi-LAN (NASDAQ: WILN) today announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a process to explore and evaluate a broad range of strategic alternatives for the Company to enhance shareholder value. To read the full news, click here. MannKind (NASDAQ: MNKD) today announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has acknowledged the resubmission of a New Drug Application (NDA) for AFREZZA庐 (insulin human [rDNA origin]) Inhalation Powder. To read the full news, click here. lululemon athletica (NASDAQ: LULU) today announced that Tara Poseley has been appointed to its Senior Leadership Team as Chief Product Officer. To read the full news, click here. Nice Systems (NASDAQ: NICE) reported a drop in its third-quarter profit. To read the full news, click here.Posted-In: Bank of America FOMC US Stock FuturesNews Eurozone Futures Pre-Market Outlook Markets
Hot Managed Healthcare Stocks For 2014: BKI Investment Company Ltd (BKI)
BKI Investment Company Limited, operates in the securities industry in Australia. The Company invests in a diversified portfolio of Australian shares, trusts and interest bearing securities. The Company�� investment objective is to generate an increasing income stream for distribution to its shareholders in the form of fully franked dividends, to the extent of its available imputation tax credits, through long-term investment in a portfolio of assets that are also able to deliver long term capital growth to shareholders. During the fiscal year ended June 30, 2012, the Company invested $26.5 million into the market with major purchases including Westpac Banking Corporation, National Australia Bank, Wesfarmers Limited and Fleetwood Corporation. The Company also divested a number of holdings including BlueScope Steel, Echo Entertainment, Transfield Services, Suncorp Metway Preference Shares, Westpac Preference Shares (WBCPA) and half of the position in Westpac Preference Shares (WBCPB). Advisors' Opinion:- [By Rich Smith]
Privately held (by the Koch Bros.) paper and pulp company Georgia-Pacific has agreed to acquire Buckeye Technologies (NYSE: BKI ) for the princely sum of $1.5 billion, Buckeye announced this morning.
- [By Chris Hill]
In this installment of Motley Fool Money, our analysts explain why they're watching Buckeye Technologies (NYSE: BKI ) , Bristow Group (NYSE: BRS ) , and Western Union (NYSE: WU ) .
Hot Managed Healthcare Stocks For 2014: Greatbatch Inc. (GB)
Greatbatch, Inc. provides technology solutions for medical and industrial applications. The company operates in two segments, Greatbatch Medical and Electrochem Solutions. The Greatbatch Medical segment designs and manufactures systems, components, and devices for the cardiac rhythm management, neuromodulation, vascular access, and orthopaedic markets. Its products include batteries, capacitors, filtered and unfiltered feedthroughs, engineered components, and enclosures used in implantable medical devices; instruments and delivery systems used in hip and knee replacement, and trauma and spine surgeries, as well as in hip, knee, and shoulder implants; and introducers, catheters, steerable sheaths, and implantable stimulation leads. This segment also offers value-added assembly and design engineering services for medical systems and devices. It serves primarily multi-national original equipment manufacturers. The Electrochem Solutions segment provides technology solutions fo r critical industrial applications, including customized battery power and wireless sensing systems. This segment?s products comprise cells, primary and rechargeable battery packs, and wireless sensors. It serves companies involved in energy, security, portable medical, and environmental monitoring markets. This segment sells its products directly to end users and original equipment manufactures. Greatbatch, Inc. sells its products primarily in the United States, Puerto Rico, the United Kingdom, Ireland, France, and Belgium. The company was founded in 1970 and is based in Clarence, New York.
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 Greatbatch (NYSE: GB ) , whose recent revenue and earnings are plotted below.
Hot Managed Healthcare Stocks For 2014: R.G. Barry Corporation(DFZ)
R.G. Barry Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, engages in designing, sourcing, marketing, and distributing consumer products in the retail accessories category primarily in North America. It operates in two segments, Footwear and Accessories. The Footwear segment offers footwear products comprising primarily slippers, sandals, hybrid and fashion footwear, slipper socks, and hosiery under the Dearfoams, Angel Treads, DF by Dearfoams, Utopia by Dearfoams, and Terrasoles names. This segment also markets Levi?s branded slippers and sandals. The Accessories segment provides foot and shoe care products, such as cushioned insoles, handbags, tote bags, and travel products for women under the Foot Petals, Fab Feet, Glamour Toez, Heavenly Heelz, Killer Kushionz, baggallini, and Le Bagg names. The company markets its products through accessory sections of department stores, chain stores, warehouse clubs, specialty stores, independent stores, television shopping networks, e- tailing/Internet based retailers, discount stores, and mass merchandising channels of distribution. R.G. Barry Corporation was founded in 1947 and is headquartered in Pickerington, Ohio.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Marc Bastow]
Brand development and marketing products provider R.G. Barry (DFZ) raised its quarterly dividend 11.1% to 10 cents per share, payable on Apr. 4 to shareholders of record as of Feb. 17.
DFZ Dividend Yield: 2.25%
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