Renewable oils manufacturer Solazyme (NASDAQ: SZYM ) got walloped after announcing a new commercialization strategy that will result in drastically reduced production volumes from facilities in Clinton, Iowa and Moema, Brazil and less revenue in 2015 and beyond than originally expected. The company's former commercialization strategy of selling massive volumes of commodity replacements relied on optimized, low-cost production and numerous customers. That stood in contrast to the strategy settled into by fellow industrial biotech Amyris (NASDAQ: AMRS ) at the end of 2012, which relied on producing low volumes of high value products, seeding important long-term markets, driving costs down with new microbial production strains, and adopting an efficient corporate cost structure.
Now, however, Solazyme is simply converging on the realizations of most other industrial biotech companies including Amyris, Pareto Biotechnologies (started with lean commercial strategy), REG Life Sciences, Metabolix, Deinove, Evolva, and others. While the market hasn't taken much interest in the long term value potential of Amyris' strategy, investors will want to educate themselves on the parallels, market realities, and timelines involved now that Solazyme is transitioning to a commercialization pathway nearly identical�to the rest of the field. Can Solazyme make a similar strategy work for its platform and two production facilities?
Top 5 Cheap Companies To Invest In Right Now: Platform Specialty Products Corp (PAH)
Platform Specialty Products Corporation is a producer of technology specialty chemical products and provider of technical services. The Company�� business involves the manufacture of a range of specialty chemicals, which the Company creates by blending raw materials, and the incorporation of these chemicals into multi-step technological processes. Advisors' Opinion:- [By Luke Jacobi]
13Fs were released after the close Thursday and resulted in some interesting trading activity Friday. Platform Specialty Products (NYSE: PAH), for example, rose almost six percent Ackman announced a large stake in the company. Verizon Communications (NYSE: VZ) rose more than two percent after Dan Loeb and Warren Buffett added positions in the company and David Tepper sold his stake.
Hot Life Sciences Stocks To Watch Right Now: Medallion Financial Corp.(TAXI)
Medallion Financial Corp., through its subsidiaries, operates as a specialty finance company in the United States. The company engages in originating, acquiring, and servicing loans that finance taxicab medallions and various types of commercial businesses. It offers commercial loans to finance the purchase of the equipment and related assets necessary to open a new business, or the purchase or improvement of an existing business; asset-based loans to small businesses; and secured mezzanine loans to businesses in various industries, including manufacturing and various service providers. The company also raises deposits; originates consumer loans for the purchase of recreational vehicles, boats, motorcycles, trailers, and hearing aids; and conducts other banking activities. In addition, it provides other debt, mezzanine, and equity investment capital to companies in various industries. The company was founded in 1995 and is headquartered in New York, New York.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Lawrence Meyers]
That�� the case with Medallion Financial Corporation (TAXI). This neat little company is primarily focused on the financing of taxi cab licenses in major cities like New York. It does other specialty lending as well — such as asset-backed loans for luxury vehicles like boats and art. But its bread and butter has been the taxi business.
Hot Life Sciences Stocks To Watch Right Now: Amsurg Corp.(AMSG)
AmSurg Corp., through its wholly owned subsidiaries, engages in the development, acquisition, and operation of ambulatory surgery centers in partnership with physicians in the United States. The company?s surgery centers perform colonoscopy and other endoscopy procedures in the area of gastroenterology; cataracts and retinal laser surgery in the area of ophthalmology; and knee and shoulder arthroscopy and carpal tunnel repair in the area of orthopedics. As of December 31, 2010, it owned interest in 204 surgery centers in 33 states and the District of Columbia, including 140 centers performed gastrointestinal endoscopy procedures, 37 centers performed ophthalmology surgery procedures, 19 centers were multiple specialties, and 8 centers performed orthopaedic procedures. AmSurg Corp. markets its surgery centers directly to patients; and referring physicians and third-party payors, such as health maintenance organizations, preferred provider organizations, other managed care o rganizations, and employers. The company was founded in 1992 and is headquartered in Nashville, Tennessee.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Garrett Cook]
Shares of AmSurg (NASDAQ: AMSG) were 2.07 percent to $44.85 after the company priced 8.5 million share offering at $45.00 per share. Baird upgraded Amsurg from Neutral to Outperform and raised the price target from $44.00 to $55.00.
- [By Tom Lydon]
Top holdings based on the index include Acadia Healthcare Companies (ACHC), Amsurg Corporation (AMSG), Brookdale Senior Living (BKD), Clarcor (CLC) and Community Health Systems (CYH).
- [By John Reese]
Indeed, in 2013, the Greenblatt-based portfolio has bounced back strong, returning more than 50%. Below is a look at its current holdings.
EBIX, Inc. (EBIX)
Western Refining (WNR)
DirecTV (DTV)
ITT Educational Services (ESI)
Science Applications International (SAIC)
Weight Watchers International (WTW)
ConocoPhillips (COP)
AmSurg Corp. (AMSG)
PDL BioPharma (PDLI)
AFC Enterprises (AFCE)
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- [By Johanna Bennett]
AmSurg (AMSG) could gain more than 20% in the next 12 months, according Avondale Partners. Analyst Paula Torch initiated coverage at a Market Outperform, with a $66 price target, arguing that the hospital company is growing at a brisk pace.
AmSurg operates 243 ambulatory surgery centers in 34 states and Washington, D.C. Through the recent acquisition of Sheridan, the company is now a leader in outsourced physician Services.
As Avondale writes:
The company is growing through mid to high single digit organic growth and the potential for ~$36M to $42M in operating income per year through acquisitions. Margin drivers include more profitable acquisitions, increased synergies and increased leverage from better ASC organic growth longer term.� . Still, The Dow is heading for its sixth annual rally, while the Nasdaq Composite Index surpassed 18,000 for the first time last week. The Russell 2000 Index is also near its record high. While the S&P 500 is heading for a third straight annual advance.
AmSurg fell 0.5% to $54.53 in recent trading.
Hot Life Sciences Stocks To Watch Right Now: Spdr S&P Retail Etf (XRT)
SPDR S&P Retail Exchange Traded Fund (The Fund) seeks to replicate as closely as possible, before expenses, the performance of an index derived from the retail segment of the United States total market composite index. The Fund uses a passive management strategy designed to track the total return performance of the S&P Retail Select Industry Index (the Retail Index).
The Retail Index represents the retail sub industry portion of the S&P TMI. The S&P TMI tracks all the United States common stocks listed on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), American Stock Exchange (AMEX), National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotation (NASDAQ) National Market and NASDAQ Small Cap exchanges.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Ron Rowland]
The five funds consist of three ETFs and two traditional mutual funds. The names and gains of the three ETFs were PowerShares Dynamic Retailing ETF (PMR) 0.6%, Market Vectors Retail ETF (RTH) 0.7%, and SPDR S&P Retail ETF (XRT) 1.1%.
Hot Life Sciences Stocks To Watch Right Now: Ebix Inc(EBIX)
Ebix, Inc. provides on-demand software and e-commerce solutions to the insurance industry. The company operates data exchanges, which connects multiple entities within the insurance markets and enables the participant to carry and process data from one end to another in the areas of life insurance, annuities, employee health benefits, risk management, workers compensation, and property and casualty (P&C) insurance. It is also involved in designing and deploying broker systems comprising three back-end systems consisting of eGlobal for multinational P&C insurance brokers; WinBeat for P&C brokers in the Australian and New Zealand markets; and EbixASP for the P&C insurance brokers in the United States. In addition, the company offers business process outsourcing services, which include certificate origination, certificate tracking, claims adjudication call center, and back office support. Further, it focuses on designing and deploying on-demand and back-end carrier systems, s uch as Ebix Advantage and Ebix Advantageweb targeted at small, medium, and large P&C carriers in the United States and internationally that operate in the personal, commercial, and specialty line areas of insurance. Additionally, Ebix, Inc. provides software development, customization, and consulting services to various companies in the insurance industry, such as carriers, brokers, exchanges, and standard making bodies. The company was formerly known as Delphi Systems, Inc. and changed its name to Ebix, Inc. in December 2003. Ebix, Inc. was founded in 1976 and is headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By John Udovich]
Small cap NASDAQ stocks Vera Bradley, Inc (NASDAQ: VRA), Ebix Inc (NASDAQ: EBIX) and Synta Pharmaceuticals Corp. (NASDAQ: SNTA) had the highest short interest as of late September according to HighShortInterest.com with short interest of 57.46%, 52.28% and 47.09%, respectively. However, shorting a stock can be a dangerous business as the bears can and do sometimes get mauled by the bulls. With that in mind, let�� take a look at why the bulls or the bears may be right or wrong about these three shorted small cap stocks:�
- [By Rick Munarriz]
2. Ebix comes undone
Ebix (NASDAQ: EBIX ) shares tumbled on Thursday after a leveraged buyout deal to take the company private cratered in light of a U.S. criminal probe.
Hot Life Sciences Stocks To Watch Right Now: Motorola Solutions Inc (MSI)
Motorola Solutions, Inc. (Motorola Solutions), incorporated March 9, 1973, provides communication infrastructure, devices, software and services. The Company provides these products and services for enterprise and government customers worldwide. The Company operates in two segments: Government and Enterprise. The Government segment includes sales of public safety communications systems, commercial two-way radio systems and devices, software and services. The Enterprise segment includes sales of rugged and enterprise-grade mobile computers and tablets, laser/imaging/RFID-based data capture products, wireless local area network (WLAN) and integrated digital enhanced network (iDEN) infrastructure, software and services. In January 2014, the Company announced that it has acquired Twisted Pair Solutions, a provider of push-to-talk over broadband applications for secure, real-time communication anywhere, on any device.
Government
The Government segment designs, manufactures, sells, and provides services around voice and data communications systems, devices, security products and applications. These products and services are sold to a range of customers, including government, public safety and first responder agencies, as well as commercial customers who operate private communications networks and manage a mobile workforce.
The Company offer a portfolio of network infrastructure, devices, applications and services, based on Association for Public Safety Communications Officials 25 (APCO), terrestrial trunked radio (TETRA), and digital mobile radio (DMR) standards, as well as broadband technologies (Long-Term Evolution (LTE) and WiFi). Its products and services are sold stand alone, as well as part of an integrated system. In addition, Motorola Solutions offer critical applications in the public safety command center, including voice, computer aided dispatch and multimedia/video. The Company�� service offering includes mobility consulting, system design and installatio! n, network and device management and product support.
The Company competes with Cassidian/EADS, Harris, Hytera, Kenwood, Sepura and Tait.
Enterprise
The Enterprise segment designs, manufactures, sells and provides services around WLAN infrastructure, rugged and enterprise-grade advanced data capture and mobile computing devices, security products and applications. These are sold to a range of enterprise customers, including those in retail and hospitality, transportation and logistics, manufacturing, energy and utilities, education and healthcare. Motorola Solutions offers a portfolio of devices, infrastructure, applications and services, which include rugged and enterprise-grade mobile computers and tablets, laser/imager/RFID based data capture devices and kiosks, WLAN switches/controllers and access points, network and device management software, network and device security software, voice-based devices and software, and systems based iDEN technology.
The Company competes with Apple, Aruba, Bluebird, Cisco, Datalogic, Honeywell, Hewlett Packard, Intermec, Psion, Panasonic and Samsung.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Travis Hoium]
There is some hope in the Sapphire business this year. Sapphire is expected to be about 55% of the projected $500 million to $600 million in revenue this year. Motorola Solutions (NYSE: MSI ) announced today that it has chosen GT Crystal Systems to supply sapphire screens for a new multi-plane bioptic imager. The product will require a 24" square piece of sapphire, which will come from the Salem, Massachusetts facility.�
- [By Whitney Kisling]
Companies from Accenture to Juniper Networks Inc. (JNPR) and Motorola Solutions Inc. (MSI) have predicted sales that trailed analyst estimates. The industry is 9.1 percent cheaper than the S&P 500 (SPX), a bigger discount than seven of the nine other industries, behind only energy and financial stocks.
- [By Selena Maranjian]
More than a handful of Guru-approved companies had strong performances over the past year. Hartford Financial Services Group (NYSE: HIG ) and Motorola Solutions (NYSE: MSI ) each surged 31%. Hartford has been shifting its focus from annuities, retirement planning, and life insurance toward property and casualty insurance. It has been tackling its significant debt, and its fourth-quarter earnings exceeded expectations. The stock has exhibited volatility, but some see it as undervalued now, with a forward P/E ratio of just 8.
- [By Evan Niu]
What: Shares of Motorola Solutions (NYSE: MSI ) plunged today by as much as 10% after the company reported earnings and provided lackluster guidance.
Hot Life Sciences Stocks To Watch Right Now: Asante Gold Corp (ASE)
Asante Gold Corporation is a mineral exploration company involved in the acquisition and assessment of mineral properties in the Republic of Ghana. The Company is a gold royalty, exploration and development company. The Company is focused in Ghana, West Africa where it is exploring the Fahiakoba concession, a 22.07 square kilometers prospecting license located on strike with and between Perseus Mining's 4.32 million ounce Edikan Mine and AngloGold Ashanti's 60 million ounce Obuasi mine. It has a 100% interest in the Fahiakoba concession. ASG Mining Ltd. is the Company�� 100% owned Ghana subsidiary. Advisors' Opinion:- [By Namitha Jagadeesh]
Greece�� ASE Index (ASE) retreated 4 percent today, pulled down by shares of lenders. National Bank of Greece SA tumbled 27 percent to 1.15 euros after announcing details of a share sale. Piraeus Bank SA slid 21 percent to 36 euro cents.
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