JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE:JPM) has removed one of the key overhangs ahead of its quarterly earnings by settling its alleged business dealings with Bernard Madoff for $1.7 billion.
JPMorgan, the biggest bank in the U.S. by assets, settled for claims that it facilitated Madoff's Ponzi scheme, the largest in U.S. history, thereby resolving another legal hiccup facing the embattled bank.
As part of the deal, JPMorgan has agreed to a deferred-prosecution agreement, by which the bank can avoid criminal charges as long as it adheres to specific legal requirements for two years. The deal requires the bank to acknowledge failures in its protections against money laundering. However, none of the bank employees were accused of wrongdoing in the deal.
[Related -Banks Outperform The Market, With Regional Banks Pulling Ahead]
Yandex N.V., an Internet and technology company, operates an Internet search engine in Russia and internationally. It offers access to a range of information available online; localized homepages for specific geographic markets; and personalized and email services. The company also provides specialized search services comprising news aggregation and information services; and price comparison services, such as product information, price comparisons, and consumer-generated reviews of products and online retailers, as well as other specialized search services, including search services for images, videos, music, theatres, televisions, weather, jobs, transportation, cars, and real estate. In addition, it offers desktop applications consisting of specialized toolbar for Web browsers, Russian-to-English and English-to-Russian keyboard layout switcher, and customized browser versions; and server applications for indexing and searching files in various formats. Further, the compan y provides text-based advertising and display advertising services for advertisers on its Websites and Yandex ad network member Websites; and Yandex.Market, a price comparison service, which offers a platform for retailers to reach consumers in a targeted manner. Additionally, it provides services and tools for businesses comprising Yandex.Webmaster that allows Webmasters to control how their Website is seen by its search engine; Yandex.Metrica, a Web statistics analysis tool; Yandex Site Search, a search tool for Webmasters and Website owners; Yandex.Mail for Domain Owners that allows users to create email accounts with their own domain names; Yandex APIs and Widgets that enable developers to use its technologies in their own businesses; and Yandex.Money, an online payment system. Yandex N.V. was incorporated in 2004 and is based in The Hague, the Netherlands.
Advisors' Opinion: - [By James Brumley]
With that as the backdrop, are U.S. investors right to be eyeing the Google of Russia — search engine Yandex�(YNDX) — as the next big search opportunity? Let’s take a look.
- [By MONEYMORNING.COM]
And here you'll find Strategic Tech Investor favorites like fabless chip firm NXP Semiconductors NV (Nasdaq: NXPI) and Russian Internet giant Yandex NV (Nasdaq: YNDX).
Hot Regional Bank Companies To Watch In Right Now: Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA)
Commonwealth Bank of Australia (the Bank) is engaged in the provision of a range of banking and financial products and services to retail, small business, corporate and institutional clients. The Bank is a provider of integrated financial services, including retail, business and institutional banking, superannuation, life insurance, general insurance, funds management, broking services and finance company activities. Its operating segments include Retail Banking Services, Business and Private Banking, Institutional Banking and Markets, Wealth Management, New Zealand, Bankwest and Other. Its retail banking services include home loans, consumer finance, retail deposits and distribution. Its business and private banking include corporate financial services, regional and agribusiness banking, local business banking, private bank and equities and margin lending. The Bank and its subsidiaries ceased to be a substantial holder in Ten Network Holdings Limited, as of September 12, 2012.
Advisors' Opinion: - [By Jan Schalkwijk]
M-Pesa, the system that revolutionized mobile payments in Kenya and beyond, is not capital intensive for Safaricom, but the company has to pay 10% of revenues to Vodafone, which runs the system's technology backbone. Safaricom is planning to take this job on itself going forward, which should increase profitability, though there would be some operational risk if they can't deliver the same level of service. M-Pesa has now spawned M-Shwari, which is the same concept but adds mobile banking services such as the provision of credit. This new service is delivered in partnership with the unlisted Commercial Bank of Africa (CBA).
- [By Yoshiaki Nohara]
Panasonic Corp., Japan�� largest consumer electronics maker, climbed 6.8 percent after posting profit that beat estimates. STX Offshore & Shipbuilding Co. (067250) jumped 15 percent in Seoul after agreeing to restructure it debt. Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA), the nation�� biggest lender, fell 1.5 percent, pacing losses among the nation�� financial shares on a report the government will impose a new tax on banks.
- [By Michael Ugulini]
Investors can take away that Craft Brew Alliance (CBA) is experiencing growth in all brands as noted by the company's President of Commercial Operations, Mr. Andy Thomas in an August Earning's Call, "For the first time in CBA's history, CBA's quarterly growth was propelled by growth in all brand families and across all CBA sales divisions. Our overall plus 12% STR growth came from a healthy blend of plus 23% growth for Kona, plus 14% growth for Redhook, and plus 1% growth for Widmer Brothers; all accompanied by the continued expansion of Omission in our international markets."
Hot Regional Bank Companies To Watch In Right Now: Xilinx Inc (XLNX)
Xilinx, Inc. (Xilinx), incorporated on February 5, 1984, designs, develops and markets programmable platforms. These programmable platforms have a number of components, including integrated circuits (ICs) in the form of programmable logic devices (PLDs), including Extensible Processing Platforms (EPPs); software design tools to program the PLDs; targeted reference designs; printed circuit boards, and intellectual property (IP), which consists of Xilinx and various third-party verification and IP cores. In addition to its programmable platforms, Xilinx provides design services, customer training, field engineering and technical support. The Company�� PLDs include field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), complex programmable logic devices (CPLDs) that its customers program to perform logic functions, and EPPs. Xilinx�� products are offered to electronic equipment manufacturers in end markets, such as wired and wireless communications, industrial, scientific and medical, aerospace and defense, audio, video and broadcast, consumer, automotive and data processing. The Company sells its products globally through independent domestic and foreign distributors and through direct sales to original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) by a network of independent sales representative firms and by a direct sales management organization. In January 2011, the Company acquired AutoESL Design Technologies, Inc. In August 2012, the Company acquired embedded Linux solutions provider PetaLogix.
Product Families
The 7 series devices that comprise the Company�� 28-nanometer (nm) product families are fabricated on a high-K metal gate 28-nm process technology. These devices are based on an architecture, which enables design and IP portability and re-use across all families, as well as provides designers the ability to achieve the appropriate combination of I/O support, performance, feature quantities, packaging and power consumption to address a range of applications. The 7 series devices consist of! three families: Virtex-7 FPGA, Kintex-7 FPGAs and Artix-7 FPGAs. The Zynq-7000 family is the family of Xilinx EPPs. The Virtex-6 FPGA family consists of 13 devices and is the sixth generation in the Virtex series of FPGAs.
Virtex-6 FPGAs are fabricated on a high-performance, 40-nm process technology. There are three Virtex-6 families: Virtex-6 LXT FPGAs, Virtex-6 SXT FPGAs and Virtex-6 HXT FPGAs. The Spartan-6 family is the PLD industry�� 45-nm high-volume FPGA family, consisting of 11 devices in two product families: Spartan-6 LX FPGAs and Spartan-6 LXT FPGAs. The Virtex-5 FPGA family consists of 26 devices in five product families: Virtex-5 LX FPGAs for logic-intensive designs, Virtex-5 LXT FPGAs for high-performance logic with serial connectivity, Virtex-5 SXT FPGAs for high-performance DSP with serial connectivity, Virtex-5 FXT FPGAs for embedded processing with serial connectivity and Virtex-5 TXT FPGAs for high-bandwidth serial connectivity. Prior generation Virtex families include Virtex-4, Virtex-II Pro, Virtex-II, Virtex-E and the original Virtex family. Spartan family FPGAs include 90-nm Spartan-3 FPGAs, the Spartan-3E family and the Spartan-3A family. Prior generation Spartan families include Spartan-IIE, Spartan-II, Spartan XL and the original Spartan family.
Design Platforms and Services
The Company offers three types of programmable platforms. The Base Platform is the delivery vehicle for all of its new silicon offerings used to develop and run customer-specific software applications and hardware designs. The Base Platform consists of FPGA silicon; Integrated Software Environment (ISE) Design Suite design environment; integration support of optional third-party synthesis, simulation, and signal integrity tools; reference designs; development boards and IP. The Domain-Specific Platform targets one of the three primary Xilinx FPGA user profiles: the embedded processing developer; the DSP developer; or the logic/connectivity developer. The Market-S! pecific P! latform enables software or hardware developers to build and run their specific application or solution. Built for specific markets, such as automotive, consumer, aerospace and defense, communications, audio, video and broadcast, industrial, or scientific and medical, the Market-Specific Platform integrates both the Base and Domain-Specific Platforms.
During April 2012, Xilinx introduced the Vivado Design Suite. Vivado supports Xilinx 7 series FPGAs and Zynq EPPs. Xilinx and various third parties offer hundreds of no charge and fee-bearing IP core licenses covering Ethernet, memory controllers Interlaken and PCIe interface, as well as domain-specific IP in the areas of embedded, DSP and connectivity, and market-specific IP cores. The Company also offers development kits, including hardware, design tools, IP and reference designs. Xilinx offers a range of configuration products, including one-time programmable and in-system programmable storage devices to configure Xilinx FPGAs. These programmable read-only memory (PROM) products support all of the Company�� FPGA devices. Xilinx and certain third parties have developed and offer a ecosystem of IP, boards, tools, services and support through the Xilinx alliance program. Xilinx also works with these third parties to promote its programmable platforms through third-party tools, IP, software, boards and design services. Xilinx engineering services provide customers with engineering, ranging from hands-on training to full design creation and implementation.
The Company competes with Altera Corporation, Lattice Semiconductor Corporation and Microsemi Corporation.
Advisors' Opinion: - [By Marc Bastow]
Programmable devices and technologies designer Xilinx (XLNX) raised its quarterly dividend 11.5% to 29 cents per share, payable June 4 to shareholders of record as of May 14.
XLNX Dividend Yield: 2.33%
- [By Monica Gerson]
Xilinx (NASDAQ: XLNX) fell 12.15% to $42.30 in pre-market trading after the company reported downbeat Q1 revenue and issued a weak Q2 revenue forecast. BMO Capital downgraded Xilinx from Outperform to Market Perform and lowered the price target from $60.00 to $42.00.
- [By Beth Piskora]
They are listed below:
Altera (ALTR)��ielding 1.7%
Apple (AAPL)��ielding 2.5%
Applied Materials (AMAT)��ielding 2.6%
Cisco (CSCO)��ielding 2.9%
EMC Corp. (EMC)��ielding 1.5%
International Business Machines (IBM)��ielding 2.0%
KLA-Tencor (KLAC)��ielding 3.2%
Microchip Technology (MCHP)��ielding 3.6%
Oracle (ORCL)��ielding 1.5%
Qualcomm (QCOM)��ielding 2.1%
Texas Instruments (TXN)��ielding 2.9%
Xilinx (XLNX)��ielding 2.3%
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Hot Regional Bank Companies To Watch In Right Now: El Paso Electric Company (EE)
El Paso Electric Company, a public utility company, engages in the generation, transmission, and distribution of electricity primarily in west Texas and southern New Mexico. It principally operates nuclear, natural gas, and coal power plants, as well as wind turbines. As of December 31, 2010, the company owned 6 electrical generating facilities with a net generating capacity of approximately 1,643 megawatts. It serves approximately 370,000 residential, commercial, industrial, public authority, and wholesale customers. The company sells its products to electric utilities and power marketers, as well as to oil and copper refining, and steel production facilities, universities, and the United States military installations. El Paso Electric Company was founded in 1901 and is based in El Paso, Texas.
Advisors' Opinion: - [By Tyler Crowe]
If we were to pinpoint a company that�embodies�this�success�as of late, it's First Solar (NASDAQ: FSLR ) . It just sold a 139 megawatt facility to�utility�giant -- and large coal consumer -- Southern (NYSE: SO ) , and recently signed a power purchase deal with El Paso Electric (NYSE: EE ) that will supply El Paso with electricity for half what it pays for power from coal. These deals also come with the announcement that the company upped guidance earlier in April which sent share prices up by 46% in one day.�
- [By Tyler Crowe]
It may have been a long time coming, but the technology for renewable fuels is very close to the point that they can can compete on the open market against traditional energy sources. First Solar just recently announced a deal with El Paso Electric (NYSE: EE ) that it will sell electricity to El Paso from its Macho Springs solar facility for 5.79 cents per kilowatt hour, less than half what El Paso pays for electricity from coal. Also, the Federal Energy Regulation Commission has stated that 83% of all additional energy generation in the U.S. for Q1 2013 came from either wind or solar facilities. Perhaps the route to developing better solutions wasn't the smoothest, but it's hard to deny the overall outcome.�
Hot Regional Bank Companies To Watch In Right Now: Bill Barrett Corp (BBG)
Bill Barrett Corporation explores for and develops oil and natural gas in the Rocky Mountain region of the United States. As of December 31, 2011, the Company had four active development programs, including the Gibson Gulch area in the Piceance Basin, the Uinta Oil Program in the Uinta Basin, the West Tavaputs area in the Uinta Basin and, following an acquisition in August 2011, a primarily oil program in the Denver-Julesburg Basin. The Company holds acreage in a number of basins with plans for drilling activity in the Powder River, Southern Alberta, Paradox and San Juan Basins. Among its four key development programs, three of the programs target oil and high British Thermal Unit (BTU) content natural gas that can be processed into natural gas liquids (NGLs), while its exploration program is exclusively focused on oil and high BTU content natural gas. On December 31, 2012, the Company sold its natural gas assets to an affiliate of Vanguard Natural Resources, LLC. In December 2013, Bill Barrett Corp closed its sale of the West Tavaputs natural gas property located in the Uinta Basin, Utah to affiliates of EnerVest, Ltd.
Piceance Basin
The Piceance Basin is located in northwestern Colorado. As of December 31, 2011, its estimated proved reserves was 596 billions of cubic feet equivalents. As of December 31, 2011, the Company had interests in 826 gross (779.8 net) producing wells, and it serves as the operator in 796 gross producing wells. As of December 31, 2011, it held 42,633 net undeveloped acres, including the Cottonwood Gulch prospect. As of December 31, 2011, it was in the process of drilling three gross (three net) wells and waiting to complete 44 gross (44 net) wells within the Piceance Basin.
The Gibson Gulch area is a basin-centered gas play along the north end of the Divide Creek anticline near the eastern limits of the Piceance Basin�� productive Mesaverde (Williams Fork) trend at depths of approximately 7,500 feet. Its natural gas production in this ! basin is gathered through its own gathering system and EnCana Oil & Gas Corporation�� gathering system and delivered to markets through a variety of pipelines, including pipelines owned by Questar Pipeline Company, Northwest Pipeline, Colorado Interstate Gas, TransColorado Pipeline, Wyoming Interstate Gas Company Pipeline and Rockies Express Pipeline LLC. The energy content of its Piceance gas is 1.15 BTU per cubic foot and the natural gas is processed at an Enterprise Products Partners L.P. plant in Meeker, Colorado.
Uinta Basin
The Uinta Basin is located in northeastern Utah. As of December 31, 2011, in West Tavaputs Area, it had the estimated proved reserves was 460.7 billions of cubic feet equivalents. As of December 31, 2011, it had interests in 271 gross (258 net) producing wells, and it serves as the operator in 271 gross producing wells. During the year ended December 31, 2011, the net production was 32 billions of cubic feet equivalents. As of December 31, 2011, it held 22,618 net undeveloped acres, along with 16,119 net acres that are subject to drill-to-earn agreements. As of December 31, 2011, it was in the process of drilling one gross (one net) well and waiting to complete 17 gross (12.5 net) wells.
The Company serves as operator of its interests in the West Tavaputs Area. As of December 31, 2011, it had identified 622 potential drilling locations and 460.7 billions of cubic feet equivalents of estimated proved reserves with a weighted average working interest of 96%. The Company is actively drilling its shallow program, which targets the gas-productive sands of the Wasatch and Mesaverde formations at depths down to 7,600 feet on average. The Company drilled 92 wells during the year ended December 31, 2011, and completed 89 wells. Two of the new wells during 2011, targeted the Mancos and Niobrara formations to test these deeper horizons. Additionally, two recompletions were performed on existing wells in the Mancos and Niobrara formations. T runni! ng a one ! rig drilling program to drill and complete wells in the Wasatch and Measverde formations in the West Tavaputs area of the Uinta Basin. Its natural gas production in the West Tavaputs Area is gathered through its own gathering systems and delivered into Questar Pipeline Company and Three Rivers Gathering, LLC. Gas delivered into Questar Pipeline is processed by Questar Transportation Services Company, and gas delivered into Three Rivers Gathering can be processed by QEP Field Services Co and Chipita Processing LLC. Gas can then be marketed through a variety of pipelines including Questar Pipeline Company, Northwest Pipeline, CIG, Ruby Pipeline LLC, Rockies Express Pipeline LLC, and Wyoming Interstate Gas Company Pipeline.
The Uinta Oil Program is a fractured oil play with multiple pay zones. The program consists of three main areas of development, including Blacktail Ridge, Lake Canyon and newly acquired East Bluebell. As of December 31, 2011, it had identified three formations: the Green River, Wasatch and Uteland Butte, with 1,688 potential drilling locations and 172.8 billions of cubic feet equivalents of estimated proved reserves and a weighted average working interest of 54%. The Company is also in the planning stages of selecting 80 acre pilot test areas across the field. It is running a three rig drilling program in the Uinta Oil Program which may be adjusted throughout the year as business conditions and operating results warrant.
The Blacktail Ridge area consists of both vertical and horizontal wells that target the Wasatch, Green River, Uteland Butte and Mahogany formations. At December 31, 2011, it had an acreage position of 23,037 net acres with an additional 16,660 net acres subject to drill-to-earn agreements. Under its exploration and development agreement with the Ute Indian Tribe of the Uintah and Ouray Reservation, (Ute Tribe), and Ute Development Corporation, it serves as operator and has the right to earn a minimum of a 50% working interest in all formation! s. Throug! h December 31, 2011, it had earned 17,588 gross (8,794 net) tribal acres in this area. The Ute Tribe assigned its participation rights pursuant to the exploration and development agreement to Ute Energy Corporation (Ute Energy).
The Lake Canyon area consists of both vertical and horizontal wells that target the Wasatch, Green River, and Uteland Butte formations. At December 31, 2011, it had an acreage position of 21,595 net acres with an additional 44,228 net acres subject to drill-to-earn agreements. Under the amended exploration and development agreement with the Ute Tribe and Ute Development Corporation, it operates the northern block of Lake Canyon (consisting of 19,781 net tribal acres) with a 75% working interest, and its industry partner operates the southern block where it retains a 25% working interest. The agreement also requires the Company and its industry partner to drill at least two wells per year from 2012 through 2015 and an additional 14 wells at some point between 2012 and 2015. Through December 31, 2011, it had earned 10,200 gross (4,640 net) tribal acres in this area. The Ute Tribe assigned its participation rights pursuant to the Lake Canyon amended agreement to Ute Energy.
On June 8, 2011, the Company closed on an acquisition of oil properties and related assets in the Uinta Basin referred to as East Bluebell. The acquired properties, which consist of 20,413 net acres, are located approximately 35 miles east-northeast of the Blacktail Ridge and Lake Canyon projects with a mixture of fee, state, federal and tribal minerals both unitized and non-unitized. Three federal units exist within the acquired leasehold, Aurora Unit, Ouray Valley Unit and Roosevelt Unit. Also included in the acquisition was associated gathering and transportation infrastructure.
Denver-Julesburg Basin
The Denver-Julesburg Basin (DJ Basin) is located in Colorado�� eastern plains and parts of southern Wyoming, western Kansas and western Nebraska. As of D! ecember 3! 1, 2011, its estimated proved reserves were 41.1 billions of cubic feet equivalents. As of December 31, 2011, it had interests in 216 gross (156.6 net) producing wells, and it serves as operator in 148 gross wells. As of December 31, 2011, the Company held 52,075 net undeveloped acres. As of December 31, 2011, it was in the process of drilling one gross (one net) well and waiting to complete two gross (two net) wells within the DJ Basin. The main oil and gas formations being targeted in the DJ Basin are the tight Muddy J Sandstone, Codell Sandstone and the Niobrara.
On August 16, 2011, it closed on an acquisition of oil and gas properties in the DJ Basin. This acquisition included approximately 26,416 gross (17,074 net) development and exploratory acreage in the Niobrara oil play in the Borie, Chalk Bluffs and Briggsdale prospect areas of Laramie County, Wyoming and Weld County, Colorado. With the acquisition, it also obtained operatorship of 126 producing wells and an interest in another 60 non-operated wells. The Company acquired another 21,903 gross acres (14,800 net) in the Niobrara oil and gas play in the Greater Wattenberg Area of Weld and Adams Counties in Colorado. The Company is running a one rig drilling program to drill and complete horizontal wells targeting oil in the Niobrara formation in the DJ Basin.
Powder River Basin
The Powder River Basin is primarily located in northeastern Wyoming. Its development operations are conducted in its coalbed methane (CBM) fields along with a Powder River Deep Program targeting oil. As of December 31, 2011, its estimated proved reserves were 55.7 billions of cubic feet equivalents. As of December 31, 2011, it had interests in 742 gross (472 net) producing wells and it serves as operator in 580 gross wells. As of December 31, 2011, it held 45,652 net undeveloped acres. During 2011, the Company�� net production was 13.2 billions of cubic feet equivalents. As of December 31, 2011, the Company was not in the process of! drilling! or completing any CBM wells within the Powder River Basin. Coalbed methane wells are drilled to 1,200 feet on average, targeting the Big George Coals. Its natural gas production in this basin is gathered through gathering and pipeline systems owned by Fort Union Gas Gathering, LLC and Thunder Creek Gas Services.
The Company�� Powder River Deep Program consists of vertical and horizontal wells targeting various Cretaceaous oil bearing horizons, including the Parkman, Sussex, Shannon, Niobrara, Turner and Frontier formations. The Company also has an interest in an active Parkman waterflood. At December 31, 2011, it had an interest in 51 gross (10.7 net) producing wells with estimated net proved reserves of three billions of cubic feet equivalents, and it serve as operator in seven gross wells. The Company has increased its net acreage position to 27,201 net acres throughout 2011, along with 11,141 net acres that are subject to drill-to-earn agreements.
Wind River Basin
The Wind River Basin is located in central Wyoming. The Company�� activities are concentrated primarily in the eastern Wind River Basin, along the greater Waltman Arch, where it generally serves as operator. In addition, it has a number of exploration projects, some of which are in areas of the Wind River Basin where it has no existing development operations. As of December 31, 2011, its Estimated proved reserves was 35.2 billions of cubic feet equivalents. As of December 31, 2011, the Company had interests in 152 gross (144.3 net) producing wells, and it serves as operator in 148 gross wells. During 2011, its net production was 5.3 billions of cubic feet equivalents. As of December 31, 2011, it held 180,273 net undeveloped acres. As of December 31, 2011, it was not in the process of drilling or completing wells within the Wind River Basin. its natural gas production in this basin is gathered through its own gathering systems and delivered to markets through pipelines owned by Kinder Morgan Inte! rstate (K! MI) and Colorado Interstate Gas (CIG).
Paradox Basin
The Paradox Basin is located in southwestern Colorado and southeastern Utah. As of December 31, 2011, it had interests in six gross (5.9 net) producing, or capable of producing, wells, and it serves as operator in six gross wells. As of December 31, 2011, it held 365,988 net undeveloped acres. As of December 31, 2011, the Company was not in the process of drilling or completing wells within the Paradox Basin. Its Paradox Basin prospect targets oil, natural gas and associated natural gas liquids from the Gothic and Hovenweep shales at average vertical depths of 5,800 and 5,700 feet, respectively. Through December 31, 2011, it had drilled four exploratory vertical wells to gather rock property data and nine horizontal well bores in the Gothic shale. Six of the horizontal wells were on production at various times in 2011, of which two have continually produced from inception and thus far exhibit flat decline curves. It serves as operator in this area where it has a working interest of approximately 100%.
Advisors' Opinion: - [By Rich Smith]
Denver.-based Bill Barrett Corp. (NYSE: BBG ) is under new management. The oil and gas developer announced Wednesday that it has confirmed interim Chief Executive Officer R. Scot Woodall as its new permanent president and CEO. The appointment took effect Tuesday.
- [By Adam Haigh]
Fanuc Corp., a maker of controls to run machine tools that earns 72 percent of its revenue in Asia, climbed 2.7 percent. Billabong International Ltd. (BBG) surged 14 percent after the Australian surfwear company said Coastal Capital International Ltd. is seeking a board shakeup. Everbright Securities Co. slumped by as much as the 10 percent daily limit in Shanghai as the company that roiled China�� equity market two weeks ago with errant trades said two executives resigned amid record penalties imposed by regulators after an investigation.
- [By Jake L'Ecuyer]
Bill Barrett (NYSE: BBG) shares were also up, gaining 7.27 percent to $26.56 on Q1 results. The company reported its Q1 adjusted loss of $0.05 per share. Mizuho Securities upgraded Bill Barrett from Neutral to Buy and lifted the price target from $27.00 to $29.00.
Hot Regional Bank Companies To Watch In Right Now: CECO Environmental Corp.(CECE)
CECO Environmental Corp. provides air-pollution control technology products and services worldwide. The company offers engineered equipment, cyclones, scrubbers, dampers, diverters, regenerative thermal oxidizers, component parts, and monitoring and managing services. Its Engineered Equipment Technology and Parts Group segment provides air handling equipment and systems for filtering, cooling, heating, and capturing emissions in the metal industries; systems for corrosion protection, fugitive emissions control, evaporative cooling, and other ventilation and air handling applications; and fume exhaust systems that provide control of oil mist and fumes, as well as remove liquid particles and vapor phase emissions from rolling mill, machining, and other oil mist generating processes. This segment also markets a strip cooler under the JET*STAR name designed to cool metal strip coatings. The company?s Contracting/Services Group segment offers oil mist collection, dust collecti on, industrial exhaust, chip collection, make-up air, and automotive spray booth systems, as well as industrial and process piping, and other industrial sheet metal works. This segment also engages in fabricating parts, engineered subassemblies, and customized products for air pollution and non-air pollution systems from sheet, plate, and structurals. Its Component Parts Group segment manufactures and markets component parts for industrial air systems to contractors, distributors, and dealers. The company markets its products and services under the Kirk & Blum, CECO Filters, Busch International, CECO Abatement Systems, KB Duct, Effox, Fisher-Klosterman, Buell, A.V.C., FKI, and Flextor names. It serves aerospace, brick, cement, steel, ceramics, metalworking, printing, paper, food, foundries, utilities, metal plating, woodworking, chemicals, glass, automotive, ethanol, pharmaceuticals, and refining industries. CECO Environmental Corp. was founded in 1966 and is headquartered i n Cincinnati, Ohio.
Advisors' Opinion: - [By Seth Jayson]
Calling all cash flows
When you are trying to buy the market's best stocks, it's worth checking up on your companies' free cash flow once a quarter or so, to see whether it bears any relationship to the net income in the headlines. That's what we do with this series. Today, we're checking in on CECO Environmental (Nasdaq: CECE ) , whose recent revenue and earnings are plotted below.
Hot Regional Bank Companies To Watch In Right Now: Nabors Industries Ltd (NBR)
Nabors Industries Ltd. (Nabors), incorporated on December 11, 2001, is the land drilling contractor and land well-servicing and workover contractors in the United States and Canada. The Company markets approximately 474 land drilling rigs for oils and gas land drilling operations in the United States Lower 48 states, Alaska, Canada and over 20 other countries globally. The Company actively markets approximately 442 rigs for land well-servicing and workover work in the United States and approximately 106 rigs for land well-servicing and workover work in Canada. In 2012, the Company sold its remaining wholly-owned oil and gas business in Colombia and sold additional wholly owned assets in the United States. In April 2012, TransForce Inc. acquired through its subsidiary, I.E. Miller Services, Inc, certain assets of Peak USA Energy Services, Ltd., subsidiary of Nabors Industries Ltd. In December 2012, the Company sold its 49.7% ownership interest in NFR Energy LLC (NFR Energy).
The Company is a provider of offshore platform workover and drilling rigs, and actively markets 36 platform, 12 jackup and four barge rigs in the United States, including the Gulf of Mexico, and multiple international markets.The Company provides completion and production services, including hydraulic fracturing, cementing, nitrogen and acid pressures pumping services with over 805,000 hydraulic horsepower in United States and Canada. The Company offers a range of ancillary well-site services, including engineering, transportation and disposal, construction, maintenance, well logging, directional drilling, rigs instrumentation, data collection and other support services in select United States and international markets. The Company manufactures and lease or sell drives for a ranges of drilling applications, directional drilling systems, rig instrumentation and data collection equipment, pipeline handling equipment and rig reporting software. The Company has a 51% ownership interest in a joint venture in Saudi Arabia, w! hich owns and actively markets nine rigs in addition to the rigs the Company leases to the joint venture.
A land-based drilling rig generally consists of engines, a drawworks, a mast (or derrick), pumps to circulate drilling fluid under various pressures, blowout preventers, drill string and related equipment. Special-purpose drilling rigs used to perform workover services consist of a mobile carrier, which includes an engine, drawworks and a mast, together with other standard drilling accessories and specialized equipment for servicing wells. These rigs are specially designed for repairs and modifications of oil and gas wells, including standard drilling functions. Land-based drilling rigs are moved between well sites and among geographic areas using the Company's fleet of cranes, loaders and transport vehicles or those of third-party service providers.
Platform rigs provide offshore workover, drilling and re-entry services. The Company's platform rigs have drilling and/or well-servicing or workover equipment and machinery arranged in modular packages that are transported to, and assembled and installed on, fixed offshore platforms owned by the customer. Jackup rigs are mobile, self-elevating drilling and workover platforms equipped with legs that can be lowered to the ocean floor until a foundation is established to support the hull, which contains the drilling and/or workover equipment, jacking system, crew quarters, loading and unloading facilities, storage areas for bulk and liquid materials, helicopter landing deck and other related equipment. The Company also own two workover inland barge rigs. These barges are designed to perform plugging and abandonment, well-service or workover services in shallow inland, coastal or offshore waters.
The Company provides a range of wellsite solutions to oil and natural gases companies, consisting primarily of technical pumping services, including hydraulic fracturing, a process sometimes used in the completion of oil and g! as wells ! whereby water, sand and chemicals are injected under pressure into subsurface formations to stimulate gas and oil production, and down-hole surveying services. Other technical services include completion, production and rental tool services. In addition, the Company provides fluid logistics services, including those related to the transportation, storage and disposal of fluids that is used in the drilling, development and production of hydrocarbons.
The Company provides maintenance services on the mechanical apparatus used to pump or lift oils from producing wells. These services include, among other activities, repairing and replacing pumps, sucker rods and tubing. They also occasionally include drilling services. The Company provides the rigs, equipment and crews for these tasks, which are performed on both oil and natural gas wells, but which are more commonly required on oil wells. Producing oil and natural gas wells occasionally require repairs or modifications, called workovers. The Company can also provide other specialized services, including onsite temporary fluid storage; the supply, removal and disposal of specialized fluids used during certain completion and workover operations, and the removal and disposal of salt water that often accompanies the production of oil and natural gas.
Through various subsidiaries, the Company manufactures top drives and catwalks, which is installed on both onshore and offshore drilling rigs. The Company provides heavy equipment to move drilling rigs, water, other fluids and construction materials as well as the means to moves such equipment. The Company offers specialized drilling technologies, including patented steering systems and rigs instrumentation software systems, including ROCKITTM directional drilling system, which is used to provide data collection services to oil and gas exploration and service companies, and RIGWATCHTM software, which is computerized software and equipment that monitors a rig's real-time performance and da! ily repor! ting for drilling operations, making this data available through the Internet.
The Company competes with Helmerich and Payne, Inc., Patterson-UTI Energy, Inc., Basic Energy Services, Inc., Key Energy Services, Inc., Superior Energy Services, Inc., Forbes Energy Services Ltd., Halliburton, Baker Hughes, Weatherford International Ltd., Schlumberger Limited, FTS International Services LLC, C&J Energy Services, Inc. and RPC, Inc.
Advisors' Opinion: - [By Ben Levisohn]
As a result, the knives have come out. Cowen’s analysts downgraded six stocks–Baker Hughes (BHI), Cameron International (CAM), Nabors Industries (NBR), CGG (CGG), Superior Energy Services (SPN) and Helmerich & Payne (HP)–and cut their estimates on even more. Its analysts explain why:
- [By M. Joy Hayes]
Unfortunately for shareholders, Nabors Industries (NYSE: NBR ) wants to ensure it continues to have this advantage even though a majority of shares voted against the practice last year.
