Top 10 Freight Stocks To Invest In 2015

Top 10 Freight Stocks To Invest In 2015: Con-way Inc (CNW)

Con-way Inc. (Con-way), incorporated in 1958, provides transportation, logistics and supply-chain management services for a wide range of manufacturing, industrial and retail customers. Con-way's business units operate in regional and transcontinental less-than-truckload and full-truckload freight transportation, contract logistics and supply-chain management, multimodal freight brokerage, and trailer manufacturing. Con-way is divided into four segments: Freight, Logistics, Truckload, and Other. At December 31, 2011, Con-way Freight operated 286 freight service centers, of which 144 were owned and 142 were leased. At December 31, 2011, Con-way Freight owned and operated approximately 9,200 tractors and 26,400 trailers, including tractors held under capital lease agreements.

Freight

The Freight segment consists of the operating results of the Con-way Freight business unit. Con-way Freight is a less-than-truckload (LTL) motor carrier that utilize s a network of freight service centers to provide day-definite regional, inter-regional and transcontinental less-than-truckload freight services throughout North America. LTL carriers transport shipments from multiple shippers utilizing a network of freight service centers combined with a fleet of line-haul and pickup-and-delivery tractors and trailers. Freight is picked up from customers and consolidated for shipment at the originating service center. Freight is consolidated for transportation to the destination service centers or freight assembly centers. At Freight assembly centers, freight from various service centers can be reconsolidated for transportation to other freight assembly centers or destination service centers. From the destination service center, the freight is delivered to the customer. Typically, LTL shipments weigh between 100 and 15,000 pounds. In 2011, Co! n-way Freight's average weight per shipment was 1,305 pounds.

Logistics

The Logistics segment consists of the operating results o! f the Menlo Worldwide Logistics business unit. Menlo Worldwide Logistics develops contract-logistics solutions, which can include managing complex distribution networks, and providing supply-chain engineering and consulting, and multimodal freight brokerage services. Menlo Worldwide Logistics' supply-chain management offerings are primarily related to transportation-management and contract-warehousing services. Transportation management refers to the management of asset-based carriers and third-party transportation providers for customers' inbound and outbound supply-chain needs through the use of logistics management systems to consolidate, book and track shipments. Contract warehousing refers to the optimization and operation of warehouses for customers using technology and warehouse-management systems to reduce inventory carrying costs and supply-chain cycle times. For several customers, contract-warehousing operations include light assembly or kitting operations.

Menlo Worldwide Logistics provides its services using a customer- or project-based approach when the supply-chain solution requires customer-specific transportation management, single-client warehouses, and/or single-customer technological solutions. However, Menlo Worldwide Logistics also utilizes a shared-resource, process-based approach that leverages a centralized transportation-management group, multi-client warehouses and technology to provide scalable solutions to multiple customers. Additionally, Menlo Worldwide Logistics segments its business based on customer type. At December 31, 2011, Menlo Worldwide Logistics operated 76 warehouses in North America, of which 55 were leased by Menlo Worldwide Logistics and 21 were leased or owned by clients of Menlo Worldwide Logistics. Outside of North America, Menlo Worldwide Logistics operated an additional 63 wa! rehouses,! of which 48 were leased by Menlo Worldwide Logistics and 15 were leased or owned by clients. Men lo Worldwide Logistics owns and operates a small fleet of tr! actors an! d trailers to support its operations, but primarily utilizes third-party transportation providers for the movement of customer shipments.

Truckload

The Truckload segment consists of the operating results of the Con-way Truckload business unit. Con-way Truckload is a full-truckload motor carrier that utilizes a fleet of tractors and trailers to provide short- and long-haul, asset-based transportation services throughout North America. Con-way Truckload provides dry-van transportation services to manufacturing, industrial and retail customers while using single drivers as well as two-person driver teams over long-haul routes, with each trailer containing only one customer's goods. This origin-to-destination freight movement limits intermediate handling and is not dependent on the same network of locations utilized by LTL carriers. On average, Con-way Truckload transports shipments more than 800 miles from origin to destination. Under its regional s ervice offering, Con-way Truckload transports truckload shipments of less than 600 miles, including local-area service for truckload shipments of less than 100 miles.

Con-way Truckload offers through-trailer service into and out of Mexico through all major gateways in Texas, Arizona and California. For a shipment with an origin or destination in Mexico, Con-way Truckload provides transportation for the domestic portion of the freight move, and a Mexican carrier provides the pick-up, linehaul and delivery services within Mexico. At December 31, 2011, Con-way Truckload operated five owned terminals with bulk fuel, tractor and trailer parking, and in some cases, equipment maintenance and washing facilities. In addition, Con-way Truckload also utilizes various drop yards for temporary trailer storage throughout the United States. At December 31, 2011,! Con-way ! Truckload owned and operated approximately 2,700 tractors and 8,000 trailers, including tractors held under capital lease agreements.

Other

! The Other! reporting segment consists of the operating results of Road Systems, a trailer manufacturer, and certain corporate activities for which the related income or expense has not been allocated to other reporting segments, including results related to corporate re-insurance activities and corporate properties. Road Systems primarily manufactures and refurbishes trailers for Con-way Freight and Con-way Truckload.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By John Kell]

  Con-way Inc.(CNW) issued a weaker-than-expected profit outlook for the fourth quarter after the trucking company encountered challenges at its Con-way Freight and Menlo Worldwide Logistics operations. The company’s shares declined 6.1% to $38.89 premarket.

• [By Ben Levisohn]

  Shares of Atlas Air have plunged 15% to $37.13 today at 1:48 p.m., on what has been a lousy day for shippers and those involved with shipping. Trucking company Con-Way (CNW) has fallen 2.5% to $40.38 after it said earnings would be unchanged from a year ago, well short of analyst forecasts. FedEx (FDX) has dropped 0.7% following UPS’s miss.

• [By Ben Levisohn]

  Shares of Heartland Express have gained 50% this year, trumping the 38% rise in Con-Way (CNW) and the 29% advance in J.B. Hunt Transport Services (JBHT) but lagging Old Dominion Freight Lines (ODFL) and Swift Transportation (SWFT).

• [By Rich Smith]

  Consider: According to YRC, the $150.9 million it currently pays in annual interest exceeds the $92.6 million in interest obligations paid by "all [of its] competitors combined." Con-Way (NYSE: CNW  ) , for example, sports a debt load about half of YRC's, yet pays only about one-third  as much in interest on that debt. Old Dominion Freight (NASDAQ: ODFL  ) has 12% the debt  of Y! RC, but o! nly 7% of the interest expense.

source from Top Stocks For 2015:http://www.topstocksblog.com/top-10-freight-stocks-to-invest-in-2015.html

LinkedIn Beefs Up Their Job Search Resume With The Addition Of A New Standalone IPhone App

It’s true, LinkedIn has become a leader in the job search space with their Talent Solutions offerings pulling in 275.9 million dollars in Q1 this year. To further their foothold, LinkedIn has launched a new stand-alone job app for the iPhone dubbed LinkedIn Job Search.

LinkedIn Job Search App for iPhone from LinkedIn

While it may seem odd to apply for jobs via an app, the implementation is quite intuitive and easy-to-use. Users can search by job title, keyword or location then filter by proximity, most recent and most relevant. Still didn’t find what you were searching for? Additional search filters like job function, industry and seniority exist to help users find the perfect gig.

Once that gig has been found, users can quickly apply with the tap of a finger using their current LinkedIn profile – no cover letters and envelopes required.

Another nice feature of LinkedIn Job Search is that users can get real-time notifications that include:

The ability to see who has viewed your applicationNew job postings that match saved searches

Overall, this is a very handy job search tool that will only further LinkedIn as a major player in the job search space. The ease of use, advanced search features and simplicity to apply should help drive even more market-share towards LinkedIn. To download it for yourself head on over to iTunes to download at no-cost.

Hot European Stocks For 2015

Hot European Stocks For 2015: Fresenius Medical Care Corporation (FMS)

Fresenius Medical Care AG & Co. KGaA, a dialysis company, provides products and services for patients with chronic kidney diseases. As of May 12, 2011, it provided dialysis care services to 216,942 patients through its network of 2,769 dialysis clinics primarily in North America, Europe, Latin America, the Asia-Pacific, and Africa. The company also develops and manufactures various dialysis products, including hemodialysis machines, dialyzers, hemofilters, dialysis fluid filters, tubing systems, fistula needles, dialysis related equipment, acute hemodialysis machines, plasma filters, acute tubing systems and cassettes, catheters, and related disposable products for chronic hemodialysis, acute therapy, home therapy, and therapeutic apheresis, as well as dialysis drugs. In addition, it provides laboratory services. Fresenius Medical sells its products through distributors. The company was founded in 1996 and is headquartered in Bad Homburg, Germany.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Louie Grint]

  Still unaffected
  First, Fresenius Medical Care (NYSE: FMS  ) is the No. 1 global provider of dialysis equipment. It enjoys leading market share of almost 33% in its home country.

• [By John Udovich]

  Small cap dialysis stock Rockwell Medical Inc (NASDAQ: RMTI) looks set to decline when the market opens after Brean Capital initiated coverage with a sell rating and a price target of $4.00, meaning it might be time to take a closer look at what is going on with the stock along with the performance of large cap dialysis stocks DaVita Healthcare Partners (NYSE: DVA) and Fresenius Medical Care (NYSE: FMS) along with small cap dialysis stocks NxStage Medical, Inc (NASDAQ: NXTM). 

source from Top Stocks For 2015:http://www.topstocksblog.com! /hot-european-stocks-for-2015-2.html

Amazon Fire Phone: Bing For Search, Nokia For Maps

The emerging consensus from the early “hands on” or “first look” reviews is that the Amazon Fire Phone has some novel and interesting features but that it doesn’t measure up, overall, to the iPhone or “true Android” devices. I’ve argued that Amazon missed the boat with its high-end pricing.

Interestingly, there has been almost no talk about search on the Fire. Gmail, Google Maps, Google Search and other�Google apps are not present in the Amazon Store. Users can still get to Google services on a browser of course.

But Amazon has erected barriers to using Google on its devices. Among them,�Bing is the default search engine for Kindle Fire and probably the Fire Phone, too — though there was no discussion of that yesterday during the handset’s introduction.

The maps experience was shown off a bit in some of the reviews. It uses the phone’s “dynamic perspective,” providing a 3D effect as the phone is tilted or rotated. Upon tilting, Yelp reviews appear on the map. Otherwise, Amazon reportedly is using Nokia to provide the underlying mapping data.

Mashable says that Amazon built the maps app in house. If so it must be at least partly constructed on top of the company’s 2012 acquisition of 3D mapping provider UpNext. However, the mapping UI looks a lot like Nokia’s HERE mapping interface.

Nokia/HERE maps also substantially power Windows Phones and Yahoo Maps. Indeed, the mapping experience appears mostly undifferentiated. I’ll have to use the phone first before I can say much more.

While Amazon hasn’t totally neglected maps, the company doesn’t appear to consider maps to be a key feature of the Fire’s user experience.�There may be some logic there.

Maps and local search are generally about bringing internet content and services to bear on real-world activities and decision-making. With this phone, Amazon is trying to do the opposite — turn the entire real-world into a selling environment (e.g., Firefly) for Amazon e-commerce and online services.

Online Marketing News – Twitter Gets GIFs, Microsoft Makes Promises, No Budget For Mobile

Starting today, you can share and view animated GIFs on http://t.co/wJD8Fp317i, Android and iPhone. http://t.co/XBrAbOm4Ya

� Twitter Support (@Support) June 18, 2014

Twitter Brings Tweets To Life Through The New Support Of Animated GIFs - Twitter may start looking a lot more like Tumblr soon thanks to the new support of animated GIF files. Across the web, Android & iOS platforms users will be able to view their favorite GIF images in full motion. Marketing Land

Facebook to Use Web Browsing History For Ad Targeting - Through its ubiquitous “like” buttons on publisher sites across the web, Facebook has long been able to watch the web surfing behavior of its 1.28 billion monthly users. Soon it will begin to use that information for ad targeting on Facebook. AdAge

Facebook Posts See More Engagement After Hours, Weekends [Study] - TrackMaven studied more than 5,000 Facebook pages and about 1.6 million posts to uncover the best days and times to post status updates, as well as how to structure those updates for maximum visibility. ClickZ

How to Get In With the �In Crowd�: Digital Influencer Marketing for Brands [Infographic] - What’s digital influencer marketing and how can your brand use it?� Marketo takes a look in this helpful infographic which includes top digital marketing influencers like TopRank’s CEO, Lee Odden. Marketo Blog

Study: Facebook Great At Delivering Reach � Through Advertising - Facebook can deliver great reach for brands and companies � it�s just becoming increasingly evident that you have to pay for it. A study by Neustar, a real-time analytics firm, shows that Facebook�s advertised reach efficiency exceeds that of exchange services, advertising portals and ad networks. However, reach on Facebook (noted in the report as social) has dipped considerably from Q4 2013 to Q1 2014. InsideFacebook

Microsoft Promises No Targeted Advertising With Updated Privacy Policy - In an effort to reassure consumers, the tech giant states it will not use email, chat, or voice data for targeted advertising. Microsoft has updated its user agreements to clarify how it stores and uses customer data, with a clear effort to position itself in a different light to rival Google. ClickZ

80% Of Marketers Believe Mobile Is Significant, Yet Allocate Just 3% Of Budget [Infographic] - If 8 in 10 search marketers believe that mobile is an important part of the marketing mix, why is it that it makes up just 3% of budget? Marketing Pilgrim

Only 1 in 10 Online Shoppers Say Mobile Is Preferred Method for Making Purchases - UPS and comScore have released their 3rd annual �Pulse of the Online Shopper Study,� based on a survey of 5,800 online shoppers in the US who make at least 2 online purchases in a typical 3-month period. The results suggest that despite the growth of mobile commerce (23% year-over-year in 2013, per comScore), only 1 in 10 respondents prefer to purchase products on mobile devices. Marketing Charts

STUDY: Facebook Ads In Paid Search Campaigns Mean More, Cheaper Conversions - Facebook and paid search are often viewed as competitors for advertising, but a study commissioned by the social network and conducted by Kenshoo, a Strategic Preferred Marketing Developer, analyzed two weeks� worth of adding Facebook ads to paid search campaigns by Experian, finding better performance and lower costs per acquisition. Inside Facebook

LinkedIn�s New �Galene� Search Platform Offers Broader, More Relevant & Faster Results - Last week, Linkedin announced it had rolled out a newly upgraded search platform Galene, designed to offer broader searches and more relevant results that are now delivered twice as fast. Search Engine Land

New “Google My Business” Simplifies Local Marketing For SMBs - For quite some time since the introduction of Google+ Local, managing local listings and content across Google properties has confused many local SEOs and local business owners alike. Now Google has launched a new, integrated approach called Google My Business. Search Engine Land

Study: Top Performing Email Marketers Earning 9.5% CTR, 6 Times Higher Than Median CTR - A new Email Benchmark Study from Silverpop revealed top performing email marketers are earning a 9.5 percent click-through rate, six times higher than the median click-through rate of 1.5 percent. Marketing Land

The Most Effective Calls to Action for Facebook Posts - Simply asking people to share a post is often the most effective call to action (CTA) for Facebook posts by brands, according to a recent report from TrackMaven. MarketingProfs

From our Online Marketing Community:

On From Antwerp to Bucharest � Lessons Learned About Storytelling and Content Marketing, Kelly Hungerford said, “Nice post Lee! I really like your point about content needing to address business objectives as well as customer objectives. Content needs to be a win for both in order to be a success. And I love the example of content on tap. That’s something I’m going to keep in mind and try to put to practice. I’m not sure I could have pulled out three example in five minutes. You rocked it! For me it’s almost a rethinking of how we learn to “communicate” business, which seems to always be factual and not emotional. On storytelling: Danny’s had my full attention and I’ve told the story about the shuttle about a dozen times now. I can’t remember the height or width of the boosters for the shuttles, but I can remember they are the size of two horses asses and that makes for great conversation. I love the picture you included in this post. It tells a story too: physical events and meet-ups are a stellar opportunity to meet new friends, exchange stories and become a part of other people’s stories. Thank you.”

Mark Masters, said “Who says that travel doesn’t broaden the mind? It’s interesting that whilst topics that we share and promote are becoming topics that many others are bestowing onto others ie. how to become a ‘rock star/ninja in…’ the big differential is how we weave our own stories and experiences into our perception of the world. The moment when you realise that you don’t have to please everyone, but to have a point of view and stick to it, then becomes a lot easier to find your own path….from my perspective anyway. Enjoyed the read.”

And on Essential Q and A on the Value of Content Marketing, Gerrid Smith said, “Thank you for sharing this translation. I couldn’t agree more on the aspect of growing audiences from niche communities.”

What were the top online and digital marketing news stories for you this week?

Thanks for reading and have a great weekend!

Image: Marketo Blog

Canadian Court Orders Google To Remove Sites Worldwide

On the heels of Europe’s “Right to Be Forgotten” ruling, a British Columbia court in Canada has ruled Google must block a group of websites worldwide.

The case was opened by industrial networking devices manufacturer Equustek Solutions, Inc. to block a network of websites it claims are owned by former associates who stole trade secrets to illegally manufacture and sell competing products.

According to a report from the�The Globe and Mail, a temporary injunction against Google was issued last Friday in spite of Google’s protests that Canadian courts had no jurisdiction over the Mountain View, California based search engine.

From the Globe and Mail:

In her ruling, Justice Fenlon determined the B.C. court had jurisdiction over Google, noting the company sells ads in British Columbia and uses its search technology to target those ads to British Columbians…�Google is an innocent bystander but it is unwittingly facilitating the defendants� ongoing breaches of this Court�s orders,� her ruling reads.

�The Court must adapt to the reality of e-commerce with its potential for abuse by those who would take the property of others and sell it through the borderless electronic web of the internet,� she writes.

The ruling seems more far-reaching than any previous court decision on how sites are removed from Google. Typically, when Google approves a removal request to block a website from appearing in its search results, it only removes the website based on the country where the request is made – not worldwide.

The BC court ruling is forcing Google to move websites worldwide so that they would not be searchable from any country.

In an email, a Google spokesperson told Search Engine Land, “We’re disappointed in this ruling and will appeal this decision to the British Columbia Court of Appeals, BC’s highest court.”

Google wouldn’t confirm if it has removed content worldwide based on any other court action. This seems likely to already have been the case when Google is required�to remove content deemed infringing copyright under the US DMCA law.

DMCA removals drop content from Google.com, and we’re pretty sure that this also removes that content from any Google country-specific editions – so a worldwide removal.

However, if Google follows the Canadian court’s order, then this might be the first time it has done a worldwide removal based on the laws of a country outside the US.

 

Yandex Introduces Cityguide Apps For Russian Market

Combining maps, business listings, reviews and other content aggregated from 70 partners, Yandex has introduced a cityguide app for iOS and Android. There’s also a PC site as well.

Called Yandex City, it’s a straight-up map-centric local search site. It’s only available for Russia currently but will likely expand to other geographies that Yandex serves: Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Belarus and Turkey.

Yandex stock has suffered since the Putin crackdown and the crisis in Ukraine. But there are signs that things may be easing as the Ukraine crisis potentially heads for a peaceful resolution.

The Russian market doesn’t have the same glut of local search competitors seen in the West. Thus the company is filling a void. It’s possible that Yandex City could be competitive in selected Western European markets, as well.

Canadian Court Orders Google To Remove Sites Worldwide

On the heels of Europe’s “Right to Be Forgotten” ruling, a British Columbia court in Canada has ruled Google must block a group of websites worldwide.

The case was opened by industrial networking devices manufacturer Equustek Solutions, Inc. to block a network of websites it claims are owned by former associates who stole trade secrets to illegally manufacture and sell competing products.

According to a report from the�The Globe and Mail, a temporary injunction against Google was issued last Friday in spite of Google’s protests that Canadian courts had no jurisdiction over the Mountain View, California based search engine.

From the Globe and Mail:

In her ruling, Justice Fenlon determined the B.C. court had jurisdiction over Google, noting the company sells ads in British Columbia and uses its search technology to target those ads to British Columbians…�Google is an innocent bystander but it is unwittingly facilitating the defendants� ongoing breaches of this Court�s orders,� her ruling reads.

�The Court must adapt to the reality of e-commerce with its potential for abuse by those who would take the property of others and sell it through the borderless electronic web of the internet,� she writes.

The ruling seems more far-reaching than any previous court decision on how sites are removed from Google. Typically, when Google approves a removal request to block a website from appearing in its search results, it only removes the website based on the country where the request is made – not worldwide.

The BC court ruling is forcing Google to move websites worldwide so that they would not be searchable from any country.

In an email, a Google spokesperson told Search Engine Land, “We’re disappointed in this ruling and will appeal this decision to the British Columbia Court of Appeals, BC’s highest court.”

Google wouldn’t confirm if it has removed content worldwide based on any other court action. This seems likely to already have been the case when Google is required�to remove content deemed infringing copyright under the US DMCA law.

DMCA removals drop content from Google.com, and we’re pretty sure that this also removes that content from any Google country-specific editions – so a worldwide removal.

However, if Google follows the Canadian court’s order, then this might be the first time it has done a worldwide removal based on the laws of a country outside the US.

 

Does Google’s “Search Ads Lift Brand Awareness” Study Mean What It Says?

Google is touting a new study this week that concludes “Search Ads Lift Brand Awareness.” What the study should be titled, though, is “The Top Search Ad Lifts Brand Awareness”.

This was a meta-study in which several studies were conducted by Google and Ipsos MediaCT across a set of verticals including CPG and automotive. A total of 800 US consumers were asked to search for a category specific keyword. The results showed that the test brands across the verticals saw a lift in awareness:

When respondents were asked what brand first came to mind when thinking about a specific category keyword, an average of 14.8% in the Test group named the test brand, while just 8.2% of the Control group named the same brand. That�s a 6.6 percentage point increase or an average 80% lift in top-of-mind awareness.

Only The Top Ad Spot Was Tested

Here’s the thing about the study, it only tested the brand impact for the brand when its ad appeared in the top spot. It didn’t test the branding impact of other ad positions.

The Test SERP featured the test brand in the top search ad position, with all other ads on the page moved down by one position. The Control did not feature an ad from the test brand at all. The organic results of the SERP were not manipulated in any way.

So, while the overview boasts that “the results were clearly positive: search ads increased top-of-mind awareness and unaided brand awareness.” The results didn’t actually show that search ads lift brand awareness. They showed the top search ad increases brand metrics.

Is anyone surprised that brand recall for an ad consistently shown in the top spot on the SERP in the test group was higher than in the control group that saw no ad for the brand at all? Probably not. Is an 80 percent lift in top-of-mind awareness good news for brands? It would seem so, and most search marketers wouldn’t argue about the branding benefits of paid search advertising.

The Top Ad Position Is Not A Proxy For All Ad Spots

However, to extrapolate this finding and paint it with a broad brush to say “Search Ads Drive Brand Awareness” seems a stretch and potentially misleading.�Is there research that shows right rail ads lift brand awareness? How much do positions 2 and 3 lift brand metrics? This study didn’t measure that.

Toward the end of the original post on the Think With Google blog, brand advertisers are encouraged to think about search for more than just driving conversions, buy category keywords and “Use the top ad slot and image search formats to help your brand stand out from other results.”

I’m not arguing with the results or even the recommendations necessarily. I find fault with the fact that the title and write-ups aren’t more explicit about what the results actually show. A strategy to be in the top ad position on a number of broad category terms is different, both tactically and budget-wise, than a campaign driven by the concept that “search ads lift brand awareness” might be. This study shows the results are likely to be different, too.

Hot Semiconductor Companies To Invest In 2015

Hot Semiconductor Companies To Invest In 2015: Intel Corporation(INTC)

Intel Corporation engages in the design, manufacture, and sale of integrated circuits for computing and communications industries worldwide. It offers microprocessor products used in notebooks, netbooks, desktops, servers, workstations, storage products, embedded applications, communications products, consumer electronics devices, and handhelds. The company also provides system on chip products that integrate its core processing functionalities with other system components, such as graphics, audio, and video, onto a single chip. In addition, it offers chipset products that send data between the microprocessor and input, display, and storage devices, including keyboard, mouse, monitor, hard drive, and CD, DVD, or Blu-ray drives; motherboards designed for desktop, server, and workstation platforms, and that has connectors for attaching devices to the bus; and wired and wireless connectivity products consisting of network adapters and embedded wireless cards used to translate and transmit data across networks. Further, the company provides NAND flash memory products primarily used in portable memory storage devices, digital camera memory cards, and solid-state drives; software products comprising operating systems, middleware, and tools used to develop, run, and manage various enterprise, consumer, embedded, and handheld devices; and software development tools that enable the creation of applications. Additionally, it develops computing platforms, which are integrated hardware and software computing technologies designed to offer an optimized solution. The company sells its products principally to original equipment manufacturers, original design manufacturers, PC components and other products users, and other manufacturers of industrial and communications equipment. It has a strategic alliance with Scientific Conservation Inc. Int! el Corporation was founded in 1968 and is based in Santa Clara, California.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Rex Crum]

  Other gains came from IBM Corp. (IBM) , Yahoo Inc. (YHOO) , Intel Corp. (INTC)  and Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) .

• [By Ashraf Eassa]

  There seems to be a public misconception that Samsung (NASDAQOTH: SSNLF  ) spends more on leading-edge logic semiconductor development than Intel (NASDAQ: INTC  ) does. This has been the primary reason why some investors believe that Samsung will one day match, and then exceed, what Intel does vis-a-vis chip building. While Samsung may very well do so -- though personally I'm not betting on it -- it won't be due to the South Korean giant outspending Intel.

• [By Ashraf Eassa]

  In the article Intel Corporation's Atom Z3580 Is Another Big Step Forward, we talked through a set of Intel (NASDAQ: INTC  ) marketing claims touting the performance of its Z3580. Intel's chip competes well on CPU and GPU performance against the Qualcomm (NASDAQ: QCOM  ) Snapdragon 801 found in flagship phones such as the Samsung (NASDAQOTH: SSNLF  ) Galaxy S5 and the LG G3, losing only in camera/imaging performance and integration. However, a reader noted in the comments section of that piece that a more appropriate comparison would be to Qualcomm's recently announced Snapdragon 805.

source from Top Stocks For 2015:http://www.topstocksblog.com/hot-semiconductor-companies-to-invest-in-2015.html

Microsoft Shuttering Bing Ads Express

Bing Ads Express, Microsoft’s program to encourage small businesses to adopt the paid search platform, will be sunsetted this summer.

Launched just last October and modeled on Google’s own AdWords Express, the program was designed to simplify and automate paid search advertising across the Yahoo Bing Network.

Small and local businesses could use their Facebook pages as a landing page in lieu of having their own dedicated websites. Expanded targeting options were rolled out as recently as April. Apparently it wasn’t enough.

In a blog post announcing the shutdown, Bing Ads Express product lead, Ginny Sandhu wrote of the decision to shutter the product, “We know customers, both big and small, value the ability to control their marketing efforts and by providing the full range of options with Bing Ads, customers will be able to create detailed, targeted campaigns that promote their business on Bing, Yahoo and partner sites.”

Bing Ads Express will close down on July 30th, after which point Bing Ads Express customers will no longer have access to their account information. Past Express customers will need to create a new Bing Ads account and set up new campaigns. Bing Ads Support is available to those making the transition.

Microsoft has been investing in the Bing Ads platform, adding new reporting capabilities, live chat support, updates to its editor, and most recently the long-awaited URL auto-tagging for Google Analytics integration. Perhaps the thinking is to dedicate more resources to the main platform and work to bring on smaller businesses in a more scalable fashion than Bing Ads Express was able to accomplish.

Is The Mobile Migration Of Graph Search Upon Us? New Facebook Test Uncovers Mobile Web Integration

We’ve been saying that it is just a matter of time for Facebook’s Graph Search to make its way to mobile devices.

A test spotted yesterday by InsideFacebookshows that the launch may be close. The test shows an in-depth integration for mobile web users that contains the same bells and whistles as the desktop version.

The test shows a prompt issued to mobile web users prodding them to search for news and topics. Once a user begins, they can see top results, and break down by people, photos, pages, posts, groups, places, apps and events:

The mobile web version appears to have the ability to handle all the complex queries that desktop can as well. Queries about what friends like and what they are involved in will also display relevant results:

When asked for a comment a Facebook representative told us:

�we�re testing improvements to Facebook mobile search.�

To see more examples of this test in the wild, wild mobile web – head over to InsideFacebook.com. Images courtesy of InsideFacebook.com.

 

Hot Gas Companies To Own For 2015

Hot Gas Companies To Own For 2015: Vermilion Energy Inc (VET)

Vermilion Energy Inc. (Vermilion), is engaged in the business of oil and natural gas exploitation, development, acquisition and production in Australia, Canada, France, Ireland and the Netherlands. As of December 31, 2011, Vermilion holds an average working interest of 68.5% in 395,616 (271,067 net) acres of developed land, 582 (396 net) producing natural gas wells and 319 (198 net) producing oil wells in Canada. Vermilion holds an 83.6% working interest in 193,017 acres of developed land in the Aquitaine and Paris Basins. Vermilion's Netherlands assets consist of eight onshore concessions and one offshore concession located in the northern part of the country. In October 2013, Vermilion Energy Inc, through its wholly owned subsidiary acquired Northern Petroleum Nederland B.V. Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Marc Bastow]

  Oil exploration and production company Vermillion Energy (VET) raised its monthly dividend 7.5% to 21.50 cents (Canadian) per share, and is expected to be payable on February 17.
  VTE Dividend Yield: 1.52%
  

source from Top Stocks For 2015:http://www.topstocksblog.com/hot-gas-companies-to-own-for-2015.html

Google Previews New AdWords Policy Center, Will Go Live September

A new Policy Center will be coming to AdWords this September. Google says that policies will be streamlined and that there will be more transparency into why policies exist and what advertisers should do to comply.

A preview of the updated Policy Center is live now. While most advertisers likely won’t be affected by the change, Google points out that there will be some new restrictions relating to weapons, tobacco and fireworks in a new Dangerous Content policy.

The new policies are designed to clarify areas of misinterpretation. For example, knife manufacturers and retailers have often come up against seemingly arbitrary policy restrictions.

Here is the existing knife policy:

Knives

Not allowed

Google doesn’t allow the promotion of knives, such as automatic knives, switchblade knives, balisong or butterfly knives, stiletto knives, assisted opening knives, spring blades, knives with a trigger release, throwing knives, military knives, combat knives, fighting knives, in addition to disguised knives, such as air gauge, belt buckle, and lipstick case and writing pen knives.

Here is the revised policy that specifies dangerous knives and is more directive in intended use of the knives that will be prohibited:

Dangerous knives

Disapproval and suspension reason: “Dangerous knives”

Knives that are designed or promoted as products that can be used to injure an opponent in sport, self-defense, or combat Any knife design that provides a confrontational advantage (including disguised appearance or assisted-opening mechanism)

Examples: Switchblades, tactical knives, fighting knives, sword-canes, balisongs, military knives, push daggers, throwing axes

Of course, many advertisers will also be looking for more uniform enforcement of these kinds of policies from Google, so that their competitors aren’t allowed to advertise products that they’ve had flagged. Advertisers are encouraged to review the new policies prior to the September launch.

A Google spokesperson issued the following statement, “In the coming months, we�ll be refreshing our AdWords policy center. We�re introducing fewer sections, easier to understand language, and better organizing the layout of our policies. In terms of practical effect, most advertisers will see no changes although we are tightening some restrictions around Dangerous Products and Services, particularly around weapons (such as prohibiting ads for stun guns), fireworks, and tobacco (such as ads for cigarette vending machines).”

Russian Search Engine Yandex Now 100% “Not Provided,” Blocks Referrer Data

Yandex announced (in Russian) today that they have now went 100% secure, encrypting all search queries, resulting in a huge jump in the [not provided] count.

This was first reported by Anna Oshkalo who shared a screen shot of her analytics detailed the bulk of her Yandex keyword data now shows [not set] or [not provided].

Yandex wrote, and I am using Google Translate:

In December last year we started an experiment to encrypt text query in the Referrer, which gradually expanded. By February, the share encrypted data has reached 30% of user requests. Time that has passed since the announcement, made ??it possible for webmasters to shift to other methods of estimating the user’s interests. From today, we start encrypting referrers at 100% of the flow of requests. Statistics searches for sites in your metrics and service for webmasters still available in full.

Google and Yahoo are fully secure now, with huge not provided counts. Bing has been testing theirs.

Essential Q and A on the Value of Content Marketing

Content Marketing Sage or Ice Giant?

In advance of the Content Marketing Conference Europe event last week, Maaike Gulden did an interview with me to surface some essential advice about improving content marketing.

Since the interview was published in Dutch, I’m posting portions here for�our readers looking for a useful perspective on content marketing. It covers everything from a definition of content marketing to why it’s not just “big hype” to why it’s valuable, a solid B2B content marketing example and my perspective on the future of content marketing.

What is your perspective on content marketing?

Content is the reason search engines exist and it�s the cornerstone of what people share on the social web. A quantity of quality content that answers reader�s questions in a useful and entertaining way serves everything from demand generation to lead generation.

Without content, there is no search and social becomes very boring. Without interesting and useful content experiences, customers are uninterested and uninspired to engage and take action on brand content.

Companies that can reconcile brand objectives and messaging with customer needs in a way that both informs and entertains (info-tains) their community are best prepared to win in today�s competitive digital landscape.

What is your definition of content marketing?

Content Marketing is the planning, creation, publishing, and promotion of useful information and media directed towards a specific audience and intended to affect a particular outcome.

Is content marketing �just hype? Every organization creates content, so how can you really be different than your competition?

The popularity of content marketing has attracted opportunistic marketers that have endeavored to redefine content marketing for their own purposes. As a result, there is a bit of hype about what content marketing is and what it means for brand marketers.

Many companies are simply creating �more content� for tactics like SEO and not �better content experiences� for their customers. The distinction is important, because mechanical content production may increase a quantity of interactions, but there is little to differentiate.

Companies that truly understand the interests and goals of their customers create content that targets them with useful information published on the channels they prefer, in the formats they like best and with the offers and calls to action that the target audience is most likely to respond to.

Such a personalized effort is an entirely different experience for buyers than a quantity of content created based on a SEO keyword list.

What is the power of content marketing? Why should companies use it for their marketing?

Well planned, creatively produced and enthusiastically promoted content delivers all the information a buyer needs to make important decisions during the sales cycle. From awareness to consideration to purchase, content marketing provides answers to the questions customers are asking in order to buy.

If a company wants to create a competitive advantage and better relationships with customers, content marketing will play a central role in their digital marketing strategy. Content can be found in search, shared on the social web and inspire both transactions and referrals.

What is the link between�search and social media?

Search engines exist to make copies of the content found on the web and any company that wants to be found where customers are actively looking with ensure their websites are optimized for discovery.

Content that is optimized for search visibility and social sharing accelerates engagement and effectiveness for conversions.

Making content easy to find when buyers are actively seeking a solution is one of the most valuable marketing investments a company can make. What good is great content if no one can find it? What good is great content if it�s not easy to share on social networks?

There is so much information on internet, does content marketing still work? How can you assure that your content still gets noticed on the web?

There is a substantial amount of content being produced by traditional publishers, bloggers, brands and even consumers. But there is a disparity between high value, high quality content and the bulk of the content being published.

In other words, the vast majority of content is closer to crap than awesome. To stand out, companies need to do 4 things:
-������ Create content that�s useful for specific audience interests
-������ Package content creatively and in interesting ways
-������ Make amplification of content (optimise, socialise, publicise, advertise) part of the content development process
-������ Grow channels of distribution through social networks, email lists and connections with industry influencers. These channels are useful for promotion and will serve as a source of infinite content ideas.

How can you create real value for your customers and organization with content marketing?

By understanding the what buyers want and need to know, companies can create content that solves specific customer questions. If a business creates information that�s useful, and not just hype, they are creating value above and beyond what most marketers are publishing.

The amazing thing is, without explicitly trying to promote and sell with every piece of content, content marketers will actually sell more. Customers don�t feel pressured or invaded with useless promotions. Instead, the brand can provide information that addresses customer needs specifically and actually help the customer achieve their goals. Purchasing becomes a logical next step and a decision made by the customer because it makes sense.

How can you give your customers a true brand experience with content marketing?

It starts with defining what your brand stands for. What is the brand value proposition and what does it mean for customers? Defining those key characteristics of the brand will help content marketing strategists construct brand stories that can be told through the content they create.

Brand experience comes from all touch points and customer may have from seeing an ad online to reading a blog post or article in an industry publication to reading an email offer. Each touch point is an opportunity for the brand to be useful and also to connect with buyers on an emotional level.

From awareness to purchase and beyond through retention and advocacy, companies can use content to create and support true brand experiences for their customers.

What is a good content strategy? And why is this essential?

The most basic of content strategies is to tell the brand story, be useful and engaging with prospects in a way that inspires them to become customers.

Come to Content Marketing Conference Europe in Antwerp 10 June to find out more. J

What are the biggest challenges of content marketing?

According to an annual content marketing study released by CMI and MarketingProfs, the top 5 challenges for content marketers are:

1. Lack of time 69%
2. Producing enough content 55%
3. Producing the kind of content that engages 47%
4. Lack of budget 39%
5. Producing a variety of content 38%

What are the biggest opportunities of content marketing?

To create better experiences for customers so that they buy from your company instead of the competition, advocate for your brand and inspire other people to become customers too.

How can you monetize content marketing?

Most content marketing is focused on monetization through customer acquisition. Content provides useful information along the buyer�s journey so that as consumers discover, consume and act on information, circumstances will align to inspire purchase. Content educates buyers in ways that inspires them to transact.

Another way to monetize content is through selling sponsorships, syndicating content and media and allowing advertising.� Alternative content monetization can get in the way of the original lead generation objectives for a content marketing program, so the benefits and costs must be weighed carefully.

Do you have good examples or best practices of companies that use content marketing well?

Luckily, there are many companies using content in clever and effective ways to grow their brands and in ways that contribute to achieving business goals. A clever content marketing campaign might win awards, but if it doesn�t make money, it�s not worth much.

In the business-to-business world (B2B) companies like Marketo and HubSpot have long been great examples of best practices content marketing.

However, I think LinkedIn is really starting to come into it�s own, especially with the work LinkedIn Sales Solutions are doing with their blog (Koka Sexton) and with LinkedIn Marketing Solutions (Jason Miller and Deanna Lazzaroni) and projects like The Sophisticated Marketer�s Guide to LinkedIn, which won a Killer Content Marketing Award at the C2C conference recently. (Disclosure, LinkedIn is a TopRank Client)

For the Sophisticated Marketer�s Guide to LinkedIn, an eBook was created offering advice on how to use LinkedIn as a marketing resource. Thought leaders were interviewed as well. The advice from marketing experts within LinkedIn combined with industry experts resulted in a very useful resource that gained international exposure.

The eBook was also very well designed in coordination with other promotable media. Using a consistent theme across channels made the campaign easily recognizable.

The eBook was published to both U.S. and Europe LinkedIn and Slideshare�accounts. Many of the thought leaders interviewed for the eBook also embedded it on their own websites. Besides an accompanying webinar, infographic and translated versions of the eBook, an actual print version was created and given out at the Social Media Marketing World Conference.

Versions of the eBook were also customized by vertical market giving LinkedIn the opportunity to connect with specific target audiences in addition to the mass appeal to all digital or �sophisticated� marketers.

There’s a great collection of over 100 content marketing examples curated by CMI here:

What is the future of content marketing according to you?

The future of content is going to be a car crash for a lot of companies unprepared to compete at higher levels of content marketing maturity. I think we�re a ways off from that, but the amount of content bring produced will continue to increase as will the competition to stand out.

Rather than mass audiences, I think successful content marketers will be effective at growing specialized, niche communities. I also think those communities will be more actively involved with the creation of brand content too. Think: participation marketing.

From Antwerp to Bucharest – Lessons Learned About Storytelling and Content Marketing

Growing digital marketing skills and knowledge are more important now than ever. I�m sure you can relate to the pressures of having to continuously stay on top of what�s new and most effective.

The good news is that much knowledge can be gained from new experiences and connections. In the past 2 weeks I�ve had the good fortune to attend an Integrated Marketing Communications event at West Virginia University a content marketing conference in Antwerp, Belgium and a digital marketing conference in Bucharest Romania. Plus this week I�m in London for a few meetings where similar topics will be discussed.

Amongst those geographically diverse experiences, each with a focus on some aspect of digital marketing and communications, I have noticed a consistent set of expectations regarding information delivery, content quality and interactions.

Besides recognizing these trends, I�ve come to realize, that each is an area that I need to improve upon. Maybe the same is true for you.

Everyone Loves A Great Story

At the Content Marketing Conference Europe held in Antwerp, I listened to Danny Devriendt’s�story about how the size and form of the Russian space shuttle has little to do with the American space shuttle (they look the same) and more to do with the size of a horse�s ass.

As you can imagine, the �What?� effect of that statement had people�s attention as they listened for the punchline of how a horse�s ass could have anything to do with the Russian space shuttle, let alone how it relates to content marketing.

The lesson he was after can be expressed with my favorite phrase on the value of storytelling:

Facts Tell, Stories Sell

We all know storytelling is important. But how are you acting on that insight? What are you doing to collect, curate and manage stories to be told? Are you finding stories to use with every content object you create and are they relevant to both the business and the audience you�re sharing them with?

Stories on Tap

During last week�s ICEEfest conference, I was given the opportunity to do an on-air interview for ProTV, a popular TV station in Bucharest. I didn�t know the specifics of what we�d talk about until a few minutes before starting.

Did the TV reporter ask me for facts? Did he ask me for case studies or data from a report? No, of course not. He asked me for quick stories – 5 of them. In 5 minutes, right before the cameras rolled.

Sadly, I was only able to offer up 3 stories in that time and only 2 made it to the show. But I was able to get some of our own story and key messaging into the interview – �Attract, Engage, Convert� and �Be the Best Answer�. �Regardless, the experience reinforced to me the importance of having sound bite stories on tap for whatever expertise I want our agency to be known for.

The Futility of Utility

Publish useful information and you�ll inform the reader. Tell great stories and you will inspire them.

I talk about this a lot with the content marketing maturity model and how companies evolve from quantity to quality to utility to storytelling. It’s an important perspective as companies seek to evolve the effectiveness of their content investments.

Tell stories well and share them in a way that reconciles your brand objectives and how you want to be known with the things that your intended audience cares about. Relevancy isn�t just about the customer, it�s important for the brand objectives to be present in content as well.

Doing so requires making the effort to really understand who your customers are and what questions they need answered in order to buy from you. Find out the triggers that will connect and engage your buyers and package your content into easily digested and shareable content. Content usefulness + interestingness = awesomeness.

Infotainment Trumps Information

Nick Sohnemann�from FutureCandy gave a visually stunning presentation at ICEEfest about the future of retail using background music to embellish his slides, calls for participation, lots of video and even a real-time demonstration of Google Glass.

Granted, presentations at this event were given in a movie theatre with a huge screen and many small screens projecting behind the speaker (plus a killer sound system and A/V people who knew what they were doing) so the experience was a bit more immersive than at a typical conference.

All the same, Nick could have shown slides of innovative new technology with a few videos. But what he did was more like an informative performance, setting the stage with music to get people�s attention, articulating what they could expect and then narrating a string of videos and demonstrations.

Every single person sitting in that auditorium will remember Nick�s presentation and when they think of companies that are experts at helping businesses adopt new technologies, they will certainly think of FutureCandy.

The Takeaway with Storytelling and Content Marketing

Great stories are interesting. They take you away from where you are into a head space that taps imagination and visualization. Complex ideas can be quickly conveyed though stories. Otherwise distracted audiences are kept at attention with stories. The interestingness of stories helps create a competitive advantage for those telling them by providing information in a way that connects on both intellectual and emotional levels.

No matter what business situation or geographic location you find yourself in, you simply cannot go wrong having a great (and relevant) story to tell. With each content object you create, always answer the question: What�s the story in this message?

I challenge you to think about incorporating more stories in your content. I know I’m challenging myself to do the same.

Top Gas Stocks To Buy Right Now

Top Gas Stocks To Buy Right Now: Phillips 66 (PSX)

Phillips 66 is a holding company. The Company is engaged in producing natural gas liquids (NGL) and petrochemicals. The Company operates in three segments: the Refining and Marketing (R&M) segment, the Midstream segment and the Chemicals segment. The Refining and Marketing (R&M) segment purchases, refines, markets and transports crude oil and petroleum products, mainly in the United States, Europe and Asia, and also engages in power generation activities. The Midstream segment gathers, processes, transports and markets natural gas, and fractionates and markets NGL, predominantly in the United States. The Chemicals segment manufactures and markets petrochemicals and plastics on a worldwide basis. The Companys operations encompass 15 refineries with a gross crude oil capacity of 2.8 million barrels per day, 10,000 branded marketing outlets and 7.2 billion cubic feet per day of gross natural gas processing capacity.

R&M

The Companys R&M segmen t primarily refines crude oil and other feedstocks into petroleum products (such as gasolines, distillates and aviation fuels); buys, sells and transports crude oil; and buys, transports, distributes and markets petroleum products. This segment also engages in power generation activities. R&M has operations in the United States, Europe and Asia.

The Companys Bayway Refinery is located on the New York Harbor in Linden, New Jersey. The refinery produces a high percentage of transportation fuels, such as gasoline, diesel and jet fuel, as well as petrochemical feedstocks, residual fuel oil and home heating oil. Its Trainer Refinery is located on the Delaware River in Trainer, Pennsylvania. Refinery facilities include fluid catalytic cracking units, hydrodesulfurization units, a reformer and a hydrocracker. The Alliance Refinery is located on the Mississippi River in Belle Chasse, Louisiana. The single-train facility includes fluid catalytic cracking units, hydrod esul! furization units and a reformer and aromatics unit. Alli! ance produces a percentage of transportation fuels, such as gasoline, diesel and jet fuel. Other products include petrochemical feedstocks, home heating oil and anode petroleum coke.

The Lake Charles Refinery is located in Westlake, Louisiana. Its facilities include crude distillation, fluid catalytic cracker, hydrocracker, delayed coker and hydrodesulfurization units. The refinery produces a percentage of transportation fuels, such as gasoline, off-road diesel and jet fuel, along with home heating oil. It owns a 50% interest in Excel Paralubes, a joint venture which owns a hydrocracked lubricant base oil manufacturing plant located adjacent to the Lake Charles Refinery. The Sweeny Refinery is located in Old Ocean, Texas, approximately 65 miles southwest of Houston. Refinery facilities include fluid catalytic cracking, delayed coking, alkylation, a continuous regeneration reformer and hydrodesulfurization units. It produces a percentage of transportation fuels, such as gasoline, diesel and jet fuel. Other products include petrochemical feedstocks, home heating oil and coke.

The Companys Merey Sweeny, L.P. (MSLP) owns a delayed coker and related facilities at the Sweeny Refinery. Fuel-grade petroleum coke is produced as a by-product and becomes the property of MSLP. The Company owns 50% operating interest in Sweeny Cogeneration, a joint venture, which owns a simple cycle, cogeneration power plant located adjacent to the Sweeny Refinery. The plant generates electricity and provides process steam to the refinery, and it also provides merchant power into the Texas market.

The Companys Wood River Refinery is located in Roxana, Illinois, about 15 miles northeast of St. Louis, Missouri, at the convergence of the Mississippi and Missouri rivers. Operations include three distilling units, two fluid catalytic cracking units, hydrocracking, coking, reforming, hydrotreating and sulfur recovery. The refinery prod uce! s a perce! ntage of transportation fuels, such as gasoline,! diesel a! nd jet fuel. Other products include petrochemical feedstocks, asphalt and coke. Its Borger Refinery is located in Borger, Texas, in the Texas Panhandle, approximately 50 miles north of Amarillo. The refinery facilities consist of coking, fluid catalytic cracking, hydrodesulfurization and naphtha reforming, in addition to a 45,000-barrels-per-day NGL fractionation facility. It produces a percentage of transportation fuels, such as gasoline, diesel and jet fuel, as well as coke, NGL and solvents.

The Ponca City Refinery is located in Ponca City, Oklahoma. It is a high-conversion facility, which includes fluid catalytic cracking, delayed coking and hydrodesulfurization units. It produces a range of products, including gasoline, diesel, jet fuel, liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) and anode-grade petroleum coke. The Billings Refinery is located in Billings, Montana. Its facilities include fluid catalytic cracking and hydrodesulfurization units. The Ferndale Refinery is l ocated on Puget Sound in Ferndale, Washington, approximately 20 miles south of the United States-Canada border. Facilities include a fluid catalytic cracker, an alkylation unit, a diesel hydrotreater and an S-Zorb unit. The Los Angeles Refinery consists of two linked facilities located about five miles apart in Carson and Wilmington, California. The San Francisco Refinery consists of two facilities linked by a 200-mile pipeline. The Santa Maria facility is located in Arroyo Grande, California, about 200 miles south of San Francisco.

As of December 31, 2011, the Company marketed gasoline, diesel and aviation fuel through approximately 8,250 marketer-owned or -supplied outlets in 49 states. At December 31, 2011, its wholesale operations utilized a network of marketers operating approximately 6,875 outlets that provided refined product offtake from its refineries. In addition to automotive gasoline and diesel, it produces and markets aviation gasoline, which ! is us ed! by smaller piston engine aircrafts. As December 31, 2011,! aviation! gasoline and jet fuel were sold through dealers and independent marketers at approximately 875 Phillips 66-branded locations in the United States.

The Company manufactures and sells automotive, commercial and industrial lubricants, which are marketed worldwide under the Phillips 66, Conoco, 76 and Kendall brands, as well as other private label brands. It also manufactures Group II and import Group III base oils and market both globally under the respective brand names Pure Performance and Ultra-S. It manufactures and markets graphite and anode-grade petroleum cokes in the United States and Europe for use in the global steel and aluminum industries. It also manufacture and market polypropylene to North America under the COPYLENE brand name. Its ThruPlus Delayed Coker Technology, a process for upgrading heavy oil into higher value, light hydrocarbon liquids, was sold in June 2011. In October 2011, it sold Seaway Products Pipeline Company to DCP Midstream. In Dece mber 2011, the Company sold its 16.55% interest in Colonial Pipeline Company and its 50% interest in Seaway Crude Pipeline Company. The Company manufactures and sells a variety of specialty products, including pipeline flow improvers and anode material for high-power lithium-ion batteries. Its specialty products are marketed under the LiquidPower and CPreme brand names.

The Company owns four refineries outside the United States: the Humber Refinery, Whitegate Refinery, Melaka Refinery and Wilhelmshaven Refinery. The Humber Refinery is located on the east coast of England in North Lincolnshire, United Kingdom. It is an integrated refinery, which produces a high percentage of transportation fuels, such as gasoline and diesel. Humbers facilities encompass fluid catalytic cracking, thermal cracking and coking. The refinery has two coking units with associated calcining plants, which upgrade the heaviest part of the crude barrel and imported feedstocks! into lig! ht oil products and graphite and anode petroleum cokes.

!

Th! e Whitegate Refinery is located in Cork, Ireland. The refinery primarily produces transportation fuels, such as gasoline, diesel and fuel oil, which are distributed to the inland market, as well as being exported to Europe and the United States. It also operate a crude oil and products storage complex consisting of 7.5 million barrels of storage capacity and an offshore mooring buoy, located in Bantry Bay, about 80 miles southwest of the refinery in southern Cork County.

The Mineraloelraffinerie Oberrhein GmbH (MiRO) Refinery, located on the Rhine River in Karlsruhe in southwest Germany, is a joint venture in which it owns an 18.75% interest. Facilities include three crude unit trains, fluid catalytic cracking, petroleum coking and calcining, hydrodesulfurization units, reformers, isomerization and aromatics recovery units, ethyl tert-butyl ether (ETBE) and alkylation units. MiRO produces a percentage of transportation fuels, such as gasoline and diesel. Other p roducts include petrochemical feedstocks, home heating oil, bitumen, and anode- and fuel-grade petroleum coke. The Wilhelmshaven Refinery is located in the northern state of Lower Saxony in Germany, and has a 260,000 barrels-per-day crude oil processing capacity.

As of December 31, 2011, the Company had approximately 1,430 marketing outlets in its European operations, of which approximately 900 were Company-owned and 330 were dealer-owned. It also held brand-licensing agreements with approximately 200 sites. Through its joint venture operations in Switzerland, it also has interests in 250 additional sites.

Midstream

The Midstream segment purchases raw natural gas from producers, including ConocoPhillips, and gathers natural gas through pipeline gathering systems. Its Midstream segment is primarily conducted through its 50% investment in DCP Midstream. DCP Midstream also owns or operates 12 NGL fractionation plants,! along wi! th propane te rminal facilities and NGL pipeline assets. It has a 25% inte! rest in R! ockies Express Pipeline LLC (REX).

Chemicals

The Chemicals segment consists of its 50% investment in CPChem. As of December 31, 2011, CPChem owned or had joint-venture interests in 38 manufacturing facilities. CPChems business is structured around two primary operating segments: Olefins & Polyolefins (O&P) and Specialties, Aromatics & Styrenics (SA&S). The O&P segment produces and markets ethylene, propylene, and other olefin products, which are primarily consumed within CPChem for the production of polyethylene, normal alpha olefins, polypropylene and polyethylene pipe. The SA&S segment manufactures and markets aromatics products, such as benzene, styrene, paraxylene and cyclohexane, as well as polystyrene and styrene-butadiene copolymers.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Dividend]

  Phillips 66 (PSX) has a market capitalization of $36.15 billion. The company employs 12,400 people, generates revenue of $182.922 billion and has a net income of $4.131 billion. Phillips 66s earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) amounts to $8.939 billion. The EBITDA margin is 4.89 percent (the operating margin is 3.63 percent and the net profit margin 2.26 percent).

• [By Dan Caplinger]

  Before you conclude that a stock is fundamentally cheap based on its P/E ratio, though, you need to look not just at its current earnings but also at its future prospects. Often, especially with cyclical stocks, you'll find that P/E gives you the exact opposite message that you'd expect. Consider these examples:

  In the energy sector, oil giants ExxonMobil (NYSE: XOM  ) and Chevron (NYSE: CVX  ) both have attractive P/E ratios of around 10. Yet looking forward, analysts don't expect either company to produce a lot of profit growth, as both companies have had to work extremely hard to avoid massive output declines stemming f! rom falli! ng production levels from their respective oil-field assets. As long as Exxon and Chevron can acquire new properties with lucrative prospects, they'll be able to keep revenue up, but it's far from certain whether they'll succeed in finding new discoveries. The cyclical trend is even more apparent in the refining industry. Marathon Petroleum (NYSE: MPC  ) and Phillips 66 (NYSE: PSX  ) have made huge share-price advances over the past year, as extremely wide spreads between crude oil prices in the U.S. and abroad have led to unusually high profits for refined-product sales. Now, though, analysts have increasingly concluded that a combination of rising costs, greater regulation, and narrowing spreads will lead to falling profits, making current P/Es based on trailing earnings artificially low if they turn out to be right. You can find similar trends in other industries as well. Even in the traditionally high-growth tech industry, many sector giants have seen their P/E ratios plunge as earnings growth has slowed to a standstill. Dell (NASDAQ: DELL  ) is one of the most notable of these companies, with explosive growth during the 1990s having given way more recently to the PC bust and concerns about the viability of its business model going forward. Its share price has fall
• [By The Part-time Investor]

  Next I turned to Phillips 66 (PSX). I received PSX when it was spun off from ConocoPhillips (COP). I had held onto it since that time because I wasn't quite sure what to do with it. Should I buy more shares to bring it up to a full position? Or should I just sell it and move on? I wanted to see what kind of dividend policy PSX would develop before I made a decision, and it did recently raise its dividend by 24.8%. When I saw that I thought about bringing PSX up to a full position, but I also knew that PSX, even with the dividend increase, would have a yield of only 2.70%. In the end my desire to increase my portfolio yield over-ruled my pleasure with the ! dividend ! increase, and I sold my small position in PSX.

• [By Ben Levisohn]

  Oppenheimer’s Fadel Gheit and Robert Du Boff have become the latest analysts to offer their opinion of refining stocks, when they downgraded Holly Frontier (HFC), Marathon Petroleum (MPC), Phillips 66 (PSX), Tesoro (TSO) and Valero (VLO) to Perform from Outperform today.

source from Top Penny Stocks For 2015:http://www.topstocksforum.com/top-gas-stocks-to-buy-right-now-2.html

Top Oil Stocks To Watch For 2015

Top Oil Stocks To Watch For 2015: Imperial Oil Limited(IMO)

Imperial Oil Limited engages in the exploration, production, and sale of crude oil and natural gas in Canada. The company operates through three segments: Upstream, Downstream, and Chemical. The Upstream segment engages in the exploration and production of conventional crude oil, natural gas, synthetic oil, and bitumen primarily in the Western Provinces, the Canada Lands, and the Atlantic Offshore. Its primary conventional oil producing asset includes the Norman Wells oil field in the Northwest Territories. The Downstream segment engages in the transportation and refining of crude oil, as well as blending, distribution, and marketing of refined products. It owns and operates crude oil, and natural gas liquids and products pipelines in Alberta, Manitoba, and Ontario. The Chemical segment engages in the manufacture and marketing of various petrochemicals, including ethylene, benzene, aromatic and aliphatic solvents, plasticizer intermediates, and polyethylene resin. As of De cember 31, 2010, Imperial Oil Limited had 1,204 million oil-equivalent barrels of proved undeveloped reserves; maintained a nation-wide distribution system, including 24 primary terminals, to handle bulk and packaged petroleum products moving from refineries to market by pipeline, tanker, rail, and road transport; and sold petroleum products through 1,850 Esso retail service stations, of which approximately 510 were company owned or leased. The company was founded in 1880 and is headquartered in Calgary, Canada. Imperial Oil Limited operates as a subsidiary of Exxon Mobil Corporation.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Aaron Levitt]

  Ten of Exxon's major projects are expected to begin pumping energy throughout this year. These include expansions of Imperial Oil's (IMO) oil sands production in Canada, new deepwater wells in the Gulf of Mexico as well as fina! lly seeing production from its partnership in Russia. XOM  will start producing oil from the largest offshore oil and gas platform in that nation within a few months. These projects will add about 300,000 barrels per oil equivalent per day to Exxon's production.

• [By Aaron Levitt]

  For Imperial Oil (IMO), it's good to have friends in high places. In this case, we're talking about Exxon's (XOM) 70% stake in the Canadian integrated oil firm. That relationship has provided plenty of capital and technological know-how to produce plenty of crude oil and natural gas via conventional and unconventional means.

• [By Vanin Aegea]

  Two companies that have been around for some time now are Imperial Oil (IMO) and Pembina Pipeline (PBA). Political instability in the Middle East has also given an extra relevance to the reserves found at this region, so let us see what the future holds and what gurus think of them.

• [By Arjun Sreekumar]

  Cost overruns and abandoned projects
  As a result of these factors, cost overruns have become quite common in Alberta. For instance, Imperial Oil (NYSEMKT: IMO  ) said it exceeded its cost estimates for the first phase of its Kearl bitumen mining facility by about C$2 billion. And some companies have even decided to abandon expensive projects altogether.

source from Top Stocks For 2015:http://www.topstocksblog.com/top-oil-stocks-to-watch-for-2015-2.html