Holiday gift buying is just getting underway; but in the stock market, eager buying has been underway for the entire year��espite a less than robust economy and the certainty that the Fed will shortly start removing the monetary props that have kept stocks rising, cautions Stephen Quickel in US Investment Report.
So why does the buying continue? Has rational investing declined in direct proportion to rising price/earnings ratios? Everyone knows the market is over-extended, but no one is bailing out��ot yet anyway.
Investors with big paper gains in the year-long upsurge are reluctant to cash in, because they don't want to miss out on more gains.
Timid folks who missed out on those gains, because they didn't trust the sluggish economy and the Fed actions that artificially inflated corporate profits and share prices, are belatedly buying overpriced stocks in an attempt to play catch-up.
Market professionals, with wads of other people's money at their command, know that stocks are over-extended, but could care less as long as the averages keep hitting new highs. They are busy padding their fees and year-end bonuses while the party lasts.
Top Insurance Stocks To Own Right Now: Fluidigm Corporation(FLDM)
Fluidigm Corporation engages in the development, manufacture, and marketing of microfluidic systems for growth markets in the life science and agricultural biotechnology (Ag-Bio) industries. The company?s proprietary microfluidic systems consist of instruments and consumables, including chips (integrated fluidic circuits) and reagents. Its technology enables customers to perform and measure various biochemical reactions on samples smaller than the content of a single cell by utilizing minute volumes of reagents and samples; and rapid preparation of multiple samples in parallel for next generation DNA sequencing. The company?s products include the BioMark HD system, which performs high-throughput gene expression analysis using real-time and end point PCR, SNP genotyping, single-cell analysis, and digital PCR using TaqMan, EvaGreen dye, and other chemistries; The EP1 System that performs end point PCR and is commonly used in production settings for Ag-Bio, digital PCR, and copy number variation experiments using TaqMan, EvaGreen dye, and other chemistries; and the Access Array system that enables automated sample preparation and tagging for next generation DNA sequencers. The company serves pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, academic institutions, diagnostic laboratories, and Ag-Bio companies. Fluidigm Corporation distributes its instruments and supplies through direct field sales and support organizations in North America, Europe, and Japan; and through distributors or sales agents in parts of Europe, Latin America, the Middle East, and the Asia-Pacific region. The company was formerly known as Mycometrix Corporation and changed its name to Fluidigm Corporation in April 2001. Fluidigm Corporation was founded in 1999 and is headquartered in South San Francisco, California.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Seth Jayson]
Basic guidelines
In this series, I examine inventory using a simple rule of thumb: Inventory increases ought to roughly parallel revenue increases. If inventory bloats more quickly than sales grow, this might be a sign that expected sales haven't materialized. Is the current inventory situation at Fluidigm (Nasdaq: FLDM ) out of line? To figure that out, start by comparing the company's inventory growth to sales growth. How is Fluidigm doing by this quick checkup? At first glance, pretty well. Trailing-12-month revenue increased 24.0%, and inventory increased 14.4%. Comparing the latest quarter to the prior-year quarter, the story looks decent. Revenue expanded 32.8%, and inventory increased 14.4%. Over the sequential quarterly period, the trend looks worrisome. Revenue dropped 7.2%, and inventory grew 2.8%. - [By Sean Williams]
What: Shares of Fluidigm (NASDAQ: FLDM ) , a manufacturer of microfluidic systems for the biotech, pharmaceutical, and academic research sectors, shot higher by as much as 14% after reporting its first-quarter-earnings results.
- [By John Kell]
Bio-technology company Fluidigm Corp.(FLDM) agreed to acquire DVS Sciences Inc. for about $208 million to expand its portfolio of single-cell technology products. DVS manufactures and distributes bioanalytical products for biological research and future clinical applications. Shares dropped 2.3% to $40.02 premarket.
Top 10 Forestry Stocks To Watch For 2014: SemiLEDS Corporation(LEDS)
SemiLEDs Corporation engages in the development, manufacture, and sale of light emitting diode (LED) chips and LED components. Its products are used primarily for general lighting applications, including street lights and commercial, industrial, and residential lighting, as well as in backlighting, medical, automotive, and ultra violet (UV) applications. The company markets blue, green, and UV LED chips under the MvpLED brand name primarily to customers in China and Taiwan, as well as in Russia and North America. It sells LED chips to packagers and distributors, who in turn sell to packaging customers. SemiLEDs Corporation was founded in 2005 and is based in Miao-Li County, Taiwan.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Stock Investor]
Next up I will look at SemiLEDs Corporation (LEDS). This company is based in China, typically a red flag from the start. In the last year LEDS posted almost $26m in revenue with a net cash balance of approximately $36m. The market cap here is a small $42m, much cheaper than RVLT. LEDS has an average quarterly cash burn of about $5m, leaving them ample funding for the next two years at current spend rates. So far the financials here suggest that LEDS is undervalued, especially when compared to RVLT. Usually, however where there is smoke there is fire. In 2012 LEDS lost a patent infringement suit against CREE Inc (CREE). The settlement prevents LEDS from selling it product in the US, a major red flag. This is also the likely reason for such a large drop in sales over the last year of almost 40%. Revenue for the second quarter of fiscal 2013 was $4.8 million, a 39% decrease compared to $7.9 million in the second quarter of fiscal 2012. It is disconcerting that a company in a sector that is supposedly experiencing record growth, is seeing its sales drop this much. A major red flag for investors. While the cash position is a positive, investors should note that this is a China based company. Accurate financials are not something Chinese companies are know for.
- [By Paul Ausick]
Just a week earlier SemiLEDS Corp. (NASDAQ: LEDS) said that it had received a delisting notice from Nasdaq for failing to maintain a share price of at least $1 a share. The company also faced several class action lawsuits as earnings tanked after a dramatic run-up in April. Shares rose nearly 15% after Revolution�� October announcement.
- [By Victor Selva]
On Nov. 21, Robert Karr bought Veeco Instruments Inc. (VECO), a company that designs, manufactures and markets equipment to make light emitting diodes (LEDs), solar panels, hard-disk drives and other devices.
Top 10 Forestry Stocks To Watch For 2014: Noah Holdings Ltd (NOAH)
Noah Holdings Limited, incorporated on June 29, 2007, through its subsidiaries is a service provider focusing on distributing wealth management products to the high net worth population in the People�� Republic of China (PRC). The Company provides direct access to China�� high net worth population. Noah Holdings Limited is a holding company and it operates its business through its PRC subsidiary, Shanghai Noah Rongyao Investment Consulting Co., Ltd (Noah Rongyao), its variable interest entity, Shanghai Noah Investment Management Co., Ltd (Noah Investment), and their respective subsidiaries in China. While Noah Rongyao conducts most of the Company�� businesses, it conducts its insurance brokerage business through Noah Investment and its subsidiaries. Its products choices consist of over-the-counter (OTC) products originated in China and designed to cater to the needs of high net worth population.
With over 300 relationship managers in 28 branch offices, the Company�� coverage network encompasses China�� economically developed regions where high net worth population is concentrated, including the Yangtze River Delta, the Pearl River Delta and the Bohai Rim. Through this coverage network, it serves high net worth individuals, enterprises affiliated with high net worth individuals and wholesale clients, primarily local commercial banks or branches of national commercial banks, which distribute wealth management products to their own clients. Its registered clients were 12,353 as of June 30, 2010. The number of its active clients was 779 as of June 30, 2010. Noah Holdings Limited distributes OTC, wealth management products originated in China. Its product choices primarily include fixed income products, private equity funds and securities investment funds.
Noah Holdings Limited markets and distributes various categories of products supplied by third party product providers, which include fixed income products, mainly including collateralized fixed income products sponso! red by trust companies and other products that provide investors with fixed rates of return; private equity funds products, including investments in private equity funds sponsored by domestic and internal fund management firms; securities investment funds, which are privately raised funds investing in publicly traded stocks, and investment-linked insurance products. It generates revenues primarily from one-time commissions and recurring service fees paid by third-party product providers or, for the majority of fixed income products, by the underlying corporate borrowers. Its one-time commissions accounted for 78.6% of its net revenues during the year ended December 31, 2009, and its recurring service fees accounted for 21.4% of its net revenues in 2009.
The Company competes with China Merchants Bank, China Minsheng Bank and China Everbright Bank.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Paul Ausick]
Stocks on the move: Onyx Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ: ONXX) is up 5.6% at $123.52 after accepting a $10.4 billion buyout offer from Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ: AMGN). Chinese wealth management firm Noah Holdings Ltd. (NYSE: NOAH) is down 16.6% at $13.76 following an analyst downgrade on worries about the company�� recurring revenues.
- [By Roberto Pedone]
Noah (NOAH) is a service provider focusing on distributing wealth management products to the high-net-worth population in the People's Republic of China. This stock closed up 7.7% to $12.64 in Friday's trading session
Friday's Volume: 357,000
Three-Month Average Volume: 207,430
Volume % Change: 120%From a technical perspective, NOAH ripped higher here right above its 50-day moving average of $11.37 with above-average volume. This move is quickly pushing shares of NOAH within range of triggering a near-term breakout trade. That trade will hit if NOAH manages to take out some near-term overhead resistance levels at $12.77 to $12.98 with high volume. At last check, NOAH hit an intraday high on Friday of $12.98 and volume was well above its three-month average action of 207,430 shares.
Traders should now look for long-biased trades in NOAH as long as it's trending above its 50-day at $11.37 and then once it sustains a move or close above those breakout levels with volume that hits near or above 207,430 shares. If that breakout hits soon, then NOAH will set up to re-test or possibly take out its 52-week high at $14.64. Any high-volume move above $14.64 will then push NOAH into new 52-week-high territory, which is bullish technical price action. Some possible upside targets off that move are $18 to $20.
Top 10 Forestry Stocks To Watch For 2014: BOK Financial Corporation(BOKF)
BOK Financial Corporation, a financial holding company, offers a range of financial products and services to commercial and industrial customers, and other financial institutions and consumers. It operates in three segments: Commercial Banking, Consumer Banking, and Wealth Management. The Commercial Banking segment offers lending, treasury, and cash management services; and customer risk management products to small businesses, middle market, and larger commercial customers. The Consumer Banking segment involves in retail lending and deposit services, and mortgage banking activities, as well as offers indirect automobile lending products. The Wealth Management segment provides fiduciary, brokerage and trading, private bank, and investment advisory services. As of December 31, 2010, the company operated 207 consumer banking locations, including branch banking locations and mortgage lending offices; and 1,943 ATM locations. BOK Financial Corporation operates in Oklahoma, Tex as, New Mexico, Northwest Arkansas, Colorado, Arizona, and Kansas/Missouri. The company was founded in 1910 and is headquartered in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By John Maxfield]
Given that you clicked on this article, it seems safe to assume you either own stock in BOK Financial (NASDAQ: BOKF ) or are considering buying shares in the near future. If so, then you've come to the right place. The table below reveals the nine most critical numbers that investors need to know about BOK (which stands for "Bank of Oklahoma") before deciding whether to buy, sell, or hold its stock.
Top 10 Forestry Stocks To Watch For 2014: Digi International Inc.(DGII)
Digi International Inc. engages in the provision of machine to machine networking products and solutions to connect, monitor, and control of local or remote physical assets by electronic means. It offers a range of embedded products, including modules, single board computers, chips, satellite communication devices, and software and development tools; and non embedded products comprising cellular products, serial servers, console servers, universal serial bus connected products, serial cards, and wireless communication adaptors. The company also provides wireless product design and development services to provide wireless networking products. In addition, it offers iDigi, a cloud-based Internet platform to connect enterprise applications to remote electronic devices. The company sells its products through a network of distributors, systems integrators, and value added resellers for a range of businesses and institutions, as well as to original equipment manufacturers primar ily in North America, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Asia, and Latin America. It has strategic alliances with VMware, Ember, Freescale, Qualcomm, Ericsson, Itron, AT&T, Sprint, Verizon, Bell Mobility, and Rogers. The company was founded in 1985 and is headquartered in Minnetonka, Minnesota.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By John Udovich]
Small cap machine-to-machine (M2M) stock Elecsys Corp (NASDAQ: ESYS) jumped 8.99% yesterday and is up 254% over the past year, meaning it might be time to take a closer look at the stock and its performance verses other small cap M2M stocks like Digi International Inc (NASDAQ: DGII), Numerex Corp (NASDAQ: NMRX) and Sierra Wireless, Inc (NASDAQ: SWIR). First of all though, I should mention that machine-to-machine (M2M) broadly refers to technologies that allow both wireless and wired systems to communicate with other devices of the same type and this can be through any type of technology ranging from instruments to networks to applications that create connections between devices.
- [By Seth Jayson]
Basic guidelines
In this series, I examine inventory using a simple rule of thumb: Inventory increases ought to roughly parallel revenue increases. If inventory bloats more quickly than sales grow, this might be a sign that expected sales haven't materialized. Is the current inventory situation at Digi International (Nasdaq: DGII ) out of line? To figure that out, start by comparing the company's inventory growth to sales growth. How is Digi International doing by this quick checkup? At first glance, not so great. Trailing-12-month revenue decreased 5.8%, and inventory increased 3.2%. Comparing the latest quarter to the prior-year quarter, the story looks decent. Revenue shrank 1.7%, and inventory grew 3.2%. Over the sequential quarterly period, the trend looks healthy. Revenue grew 2.6%, and inventory grew 1.7%. - [By John Kell]
Digi International Inc.'s(DGII) fiscal first quarter earnings fell, as high costs masked a slight rise in revenue. The wireless-product provider’s results were well-below the company’s previous guidance. Shares slumped 9.9% to $10.89 premarket.
Top 10 Forestry Stocks To Watch For 2014: Stewart Enterprises Inc.(STEI)
Stewart Enterprises, Inc., through its subsidiaries, provides funeral and cemetery products and services in the death care industry in the United States and Puerto Rico. The company also offers a range of funeral merchandise and services, as well as cemetery property, cremation, merchandise, and services. Its funeral homes provide various services and products, including the family consultation, removal and preparation of remains, usage of funeral home facilities for visitation, worship and funeral services, transportation services, flowers, and caskets. The company also sells cemetery property and related merchandise, which includes lots, lawn crypts, family and community mausoleums, monuments, markers, and burial vaults; and provides burial site openings and closings and inscriptions. In addition, it maintains cemetery grounds under cemetery perpetual care contracts and local laws. As of January 31, 2011, the company owned and operated 218 funeral homes and 141 cemeterie s. Stewart Enterprises, Inc. was founded in 1910 and is based in Jefferson, Louisiana.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Brian Pacampara]
What: Shares of funeral-home operator Stewart Enterprises (NASDAQ: STEI ) soared 34% today, after larger rival Service Corp. International (NYSE: SCI ) agreed to acquire it in a deal worth about $1.4 billion.
- [By Chris Katje]
Service Corporation (SCI), the largest funeral home operator in the United States, made news last week with its large acquisition of Stewart Enterprises (STEI). The acquisition was well received by investors, as shares rose 8% on the day of the announcement. Together, the two companies will see huge cost savings advantages and a backlog that is currently undervalued.
Top 10 Forestry Stocks To Watch For 2014: Global X China Materials ETF (CHIM)
Global X China Materials ETF (the Fund) seeks to provide investment results that correspond generally to the price and yield performance, before fees and expenses, of the S-BOX China Materials Index (the Underlying Index). The Underlying Index is a free float adjusted, liquidity tested and market capitalization-weighted index that is designed to measure performance of the investable universe of companies in the Materials sector of the Chinese economy, as defined by Structured Solutions AG. Global X Management Company, LLC serves as the investment adviser to the Fund. Advisors' Opinion:- [By pamatlarge]
Investors looking to short a particular sector can choose from several Global X long ETFs. The Global X China Consumer ETF (CHIQ) concentrates its investments in consumer cyclical goods and consumer defense goods. The Global X China Energy ETF (CHIE) primarily holds stocks in coal, oil and utility companies. The Global X China Financials ETF (CHIX) only invests in financial services companies and real estate companies. The Global X China Industrials ETF (CHII) holds stocks in industrial companies and basic materials companies. The Global X China Materials ETF (CHIM) invests in basic materials stocks. The Global X China Technology ETF (CHIB) holds technology stocks as the core of its investments. All of these ETFs are particularly sensitive to sector downturns and general economic contractions.
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