When President Bill Clinton signed the North American Free Trade Agreement twenty years ago, many economists feared that most of America�� manufacturing jobs would flee to Mexico where wages were low and labor protections were scarce. But before that process could really get into full swing, those started heading to China, where they ultimately stayed. Despite higher transportation costs from China to key American and European markets, labor costs were so low that shipping was of little concern.
But while China may have become the workshop of the world, the country�� rapid economic expansion has sent wages in the country skyrocketing. Whereas Mexican wages were almost two times higher than China�� a decade ago, now they��e nearly 20 percent lower. As a result, many manufacturers are choosing to relocate their production facilities to Mexico in order to take advantage of lower labor and transportation costs, with easy access to both the North American and Latin American markets.
Top 5 Supermarket Companies To Buy Right Now: Nathan's Famous Inc.(NATH)
Nathan's Famous, Inc. operates in the foodservice industry. It engages in marketing Nathan?s Famous brand, and selling products bearing the Nathan?s Famous trademarks through various channels of distribution in the United States and internationally. The company operates and franchises quick-service restaurant units that features Nathan?s beef hot dogs, crinkle-cut french-fries, and other menu offerings under the Nathan?s Famous brand name. It also provides licensing agreements for the sale of Nathan?s products within supermarkets, club stores, and other grocery-type outlets; and involves in the manufacture of spices, and sale of Nathan?s products directly to other foodservice operators. In addition, the company offers Arthur Treacher?s brand fish fillets. As of August 3, 2011, its restaurant system consisted of 269 Nathan?s units, including 264 franchised units and 5 company-owned units (including 1 seasonal unit). The company was founded in 1916 and is based in Je richo, New York.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Chris Hill]
In this installment of Investor Beat, our analysts explain why they're watching Nathan's Famous (NASDAQ: NATH ) and Sony (NYSE: SNE ) .
Best Shipping Stocks To Invest In 2014: iShares MSCI Emerging Markets ETF (EEM)
iShares MSCI Emerging Markets Index Fund (the Fund) seeks to provide investment results that correspond generally to the price and yield performance of the MSCI Emerging Markets Index (the Index). The Index is designed to measure equity market performance in the global emerging markets. The Index was developed by Morgan Stanley Capital International Inc. as an equity benchmark for emerging market stock performance. The Index is a capitalization-weighted index that aims to capture 85% of the (publicly available) total market capitalization. Component companies are adjusted for available float and must meet objective criteria for inclusion in the Index. The Index is reviewed quarterly.
The Fund invests in a representative sample of securities included in the Index that collectively has an investment profile similar to the Index. The Fund's investment advisor is Barclays Global Fund Advisors.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Holly LaFon]
Dalio�� portfolio contains 261 stocks, and 32 percent of it is now in emerging markets ETFs. His biggest purchases during the fourth quarter were Vanguard Emerging Markets ETF (VWO), iMCSI Emerging Markets Index Fund (EEM), BMC Software (BMC), Watson Pharmaceuticals (WPI) and Berkshire Hathaway Inc. B Shares (BRK.B).
Best Shipping Stocks To Invest In 2014: Microchip Technology Incorporated(MCHP)
Microchip Technology Incorporated, together with its subsidiaries, develops, manufactures, and sells semiconductor products for various embedded control applications. It offers a family of microcontroller products that include 8-bit, 16-bit, and 32-bit PIC microcontrollers; and 16-bit dsPIC digital signal controllers, which feature on-board flash memory technology. The company also provides a set of application development tools that enable system designers to program a PIC microcontroller and dsPIC DSC for specific applications. In addition, it offers analog and interface products, which consist of various families with approximately 600 power management, linear, mixed-signal, thermal management, safety and security, and interface products. Further, the company provides memory products comprising serial electrically erasable programmable read-only memory. Its products are used in various applications in automotive, communications, computing, consumer, and industrial contr ol markets. Microchip Technology Incorporated markets its products primarily through a network of direct sales personnel and distributors in the Americas, Europe, and Asia. The company was founded in 1989 and is based in Chandler, Arizona.
Advisors' Opinion:- [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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- [By Lauren Pollock]
Microchip Technology Inc.(MCHP) agreed to acquire fellow semiconductor manufacturer Supertex for about $394 million to strengthen its analog business. Shares surged 36% to $33.05 premarket, topping the offer price of $33 a share.
Best Shipping Stocks To Invest In 2014: Demandware Inc (DWRE)
Demandware, Inc. (Demandware), incorporated in February 2004, is a provider of software-as-a-service e-commerce solutions that enable companies to design, implement and manage their own customized e-commerce sites, including Websites, mobile applications and other digital storefronts. The Company sells subscriptions to its on-demand software and related services through both a direct sales force and indirect channels. Its customers consist of retailers and branded consumer product manufacturers that operate principally in the vertical markets, including apparel, general merchandise, health and beauty, home and garden, sporting goods and other vertical categories. The Company derives most of its revenue from subscriptions to its on-demand platform and related services. The Company derives its services revenue from the implementation of its customers��e-commerce sites, which includes the integration of complementary technologies and adaptation to back-end systems and/or business processes and the configuration and deployment of the site. In January 2014, Demandware Inc acquired privately-held Mainstreet Commerce, a provider of cloud-based order management solutions.
The Company physically hosts its on-demand solutions for its customers in 11 secure data center facilities located in North America and Europe. It contracts for use of these data center facilities from Equinix Operating Co. and NaviSite, Inc. The Company engineers and architects the actual computer, storage and network systems upon which its platform operates, which the Company calls its grid computing points of delivery (PODs), and deploy them to the data center facilities, which provide physical security, including manned security round the clock. The Company provides system security, including firewalls and encryption technology, and it conducts regular system tests and vulnerability assessments.
Demandware Commerce Platform
The Company�� platform uses a Web-based interface to provide one centra! l location for its customers to control and manage their e-commerce sites from products to pricing to placement to content. It provides security and built-in disaster recovery through its network of data centers. Using its Demandware Commerce platform, customers can easily deploy e-commerce sites without the need to install or integrate their own hardware and software infrastructure.
The Company offers on-demand e-commerce platform, a network of alliance partners that extends the value of the platform, and a business model designed for customer revenue growth. The Company delivers its solutions on-demand to its customers who can access and can manage it over the Internet using a standard Web browser. The Company has built its solutions using a single code base and a multi-tenant, multi-user architecture that it hosts. Demandware Commerce provides a single platform that its customers can use to manage consumer interactions across all digital touch points worldwide. Its reference applications are based on e-commerce can be customized to individual needs, with access to a sophisticated cross-channel merchandising engine and open development environment. Its applications include Web Storefront Applications, Call Center Application and Mobile Application. With Demandware Commerce, a customer can build a e-commerce site from scratch or leverage its pre-built storefront, called Site Genesis.
The Company�� call center application allows its customers��call center agents to quickly access order, consumer and product information through a single Web-based interface, enabling a more efficient and engaging experience for the consumer. Using this application, agents are able to easily search for products using advanced search techniques and guided navigation. In addition to providing improved customer service, agents can use this software to gain a single view into a consumer�� entire order history and recommend products using rules established by its merchandising tools. The Compan! y�� mob! ile application offers a customizable mobile storefront with the functionality its customers need to create a compelling shopping experience for consumers on their mobile devices. Its Demandware Commerce platform provides a unified development environment between the mobile storefront and its customers��other e-commerce sites for ease of customization and site management. Its mobile application is compatible with browsers and with smart phones, such as the iPhone, Android and BlackBerry.
Demandware Commerce Center is a centralized application for control and management of all consumer e-commerce experiences across multiple sites and channels. In addition, users are able to create customized dashboards to display the commonly used activities. Active Merchandising, which is a metrics-driven online selling engine that controls merchandising interactions across search, personalization, analytics, promotions and catalog according to rules created by each of its customers. Products and Catalogs, which enables merchants to manage seasonal, branded and future product offerings across categories, catalogs and sites. Promotions, which consists of multiple configuration options for creating and controlling product promotions. A/B Testing, which allows merchants to perform comparison tests to determine, which merchandise is selected. Searchandising, which consists of rules that can easily be configured by the merchant to feature products in search results that deliver the inventory turn, conversion rates and average order size. Order Management, which provides users the ability to access, modify and cancel orders. Customer Targeting, which provides the capability to create rules that include and exclude conditions for triggering different merchandising offers, promotions and products.
Merchants and developers, through Demandware LINK, have access to an extensive library of integrations to third-party applications. These applications include campaign management, dynamic product imaging, ! order man! agement, payment management, personalization, social commerce and ratings and reviews. The Company supports its partners in the development of third-party integrations and undertake an approval process before the application is made available for downloading on Demandware LINK. Through Demandware Commerce developers can build, customize, test, debug, deploy, integrate and extend their e-commerce sites, all on-demand. Its development platform includes access to an extensive library of pre-built business processes and contains all the necessary tools to edit them.
The Demandware Commerce Cloud is comprised of its network of data centers, as well as its cloud-based architecture. Its on-demand platform allows the Company to increase the processing capacity of the environment, in which its customers��e-commerce sites operate to meet surges in demand. Through its Commerce Cloud, it also provides high uptime, security and built-in disaster recovery.
E-Commerce Retail Practice
The Company has developed a customer success program as a key component of its operational model, which is designed to enable its customers to achieve customer revenue growth and is delivered within the context of a shared business relationship. In this program, it assigns to customers an e-commerce strategist, who works hand-in-hand with its customers��executives to maximize the value of their investment. These e-commerce strategists are focused on growing its customers��revenue by taking the merchandising features and functionality of Demandware Commerce and an understanding of industry practices in site design, merchandising, analytics, interactive marketing, personalization and multi-channel integration. The Company also provides customer support engineers. Periodic system maintenance and continuous feature additions are also included in product support agreement coverage, which is included in the subscription fee. It offers support in multiple languages and through multiple channels, incl! uding glo! bal support coverage available round the clock.
Client Services
The Company�� customer enablement methodology includes document templates and processes to help project teams focus on the key tactical and strategic areas to maximize returns on its customers��online investments and minimize business risk. Its customer enablement methodology guides its tactical process to build and deploy an e-commerce site utilizing its Demandware Commerce platform. In addition, it offers a range of training classes to educate all individuals-e-commerce managers, Web developers, application developers and information technology (IT) professionals, who are part of its customers��implementation, maintenance and optimization teams.
The Company competes with IBM, Oracle/ATG, eBay/Magento, hybris, Digital River and eBay/GSI Commerce.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Sean Williams]
Priced for perfection
Software-as-a-service provider Demandware (NYSE: DWRE ) certainly commands quite the premium valuation as enterprises transition from individual computer systems to software capable of integrating customers' information in the cloud on one Web-based platform. The beauty of such software designs is that they result in recurring revenue and regular upgrades. - [By Monica Wolfe]
Demandware (DWRE)
During the second quarter, Columbia Wanger increased their holdings in Demandware by 162.49%. The fund added 948,503 shares to their stake in the company at an average price of $30.30. Since this buy, the price per share has increased 46.2%.
Best Shipping Stocks To Invest In 2014: Morningstar Inc.(MORN)
Morningstar, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, provides independent investment research to investors worldwide. The company operates in two segments, Investment Information and Investment Management. The Investment Information segment offers data, software, and research products and services for individual investors, financial advisors, and institutional clients. It provides Licensed Data, a set of investment data spanning various investment databases, including real-time pricing data available through electronic data feeds; Morningstar Advisor Workstation, a Web-based investment planning system; Morningstar.com, a membership service and Internet advertising space; Morningstar Direct, a Web-based institutional research platform; integrated Web tools to build customized Websites or enhance existing sites; Morningstar Principia, a CD-ROM-based investment research and planning software; Morningstar commodity data that provides data and analytics for the energy, financial, and agriculture sectors; equity and corporate credit research; and Morningstar structured credit ratings and research services. This segment also offers various financial communications materials, real-time data and desktop software, investment software, and investment indexes, as well as various print and online publications. The Investment Management segment offers various products and services, such as Investment Consulting that focuses on investment monitoring and asset allocation for funds of funds, including mutual funds and variable annuities; Retirement Solutions comprising the Morningstar Retirement Manager and Advice by Ibbotson platforms; and Morningstar Managed Portfolios, a asset management service includes series of mutual fund, exchange-traded fund, and stock portfolios. This segment serves banks, brokerage firms, insurance companies, mutual fund companies, and retirement plan sponsors and providers. Morningstar, Inc. was founded in 1984 and is headquartered in Chicago, Illinois.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Reuters]
Simon Dawson/Bloomberg via Getty Images TORONTO -- BlackBerry reported a quarterly loss of nearly $1 billion Friday, in line with last week's warning, days after accepting its largest shareholder's tentative $4.7 billion bid to take it out of the public eye. BlackBerry (BBRY), which had warned of poor results on Sept. 20, said its net loss for the second quarter ended on Aug. 31 was $965 million, or $1.84 a share. Revenue fell 45 percent to $1.6 billion from a year earlier. The loss included a writedown of about $934 million for unsold Z10 phones, a touchscreen model that the company had hoped would reverse its fading fortunes. The phone has sold badly with business and consumer customers alike. "This write-off is very real," said Morningstar (MORN) analyst Brian Colello. "They bought a lot of inventory hoping to sell it. The auditors were not convinced that BlackBerry can sell it or sell it at prices that the company was hoping for. We see no reason to be more optimistic than them." Excluding the Z10 writedown and restructuring costs, BlackBerry reported a loss of $248 million, or 47 cents a share. The company plans to shed 4,500 jobs, or more than one-third of its workforce, as it shrinks to focus on corporate and government customers. It will not host the typical post-results call for investors after signing a tentative $9-a-share agreement to be acquired by a consortium led by Fairfax Financial, its largest shareholder, Monday. The Waterloo, Ontario-based company's steep revenue decline and mounting losses have revived fears that BlackBerry, a pioneer in the smartphone sector, faces an ignominious death. "We are very disappointed with our operational and financial results this quarter and have announced a series of major changes to address the competitive hardware environment and our cost structure," Chief Executive Officer Thorsten Heins said in the earnings statement. BlackBerry said Heins wasn't available for an interview. The company said it
- [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 Morningstar (Nasdaq: MORN ) , whose recent revenue and earnings are plotted below.
Best Shipping Stocks To Invest In 2014: NutriSystem Inc(NTRI)
Nutrisystem, Inc. provides weight management products and services in the United States. The company offers nutritionally balanced weight loss programs designed for women, men, and seniors. Its Nutrisystem program consists of approximately 130 portion-controlled items that serve as the foundation of a low Glycemic Index diet. The company?s programs include Nutrisystem D program designed for people with type 2 diabetes for loosing weight and managing their diabetes; SUCCESS program designed to take the weight off and keep it off through portion-controlled, balanced nutrition, and low Glycemic Index eating; and Nutrisystem Select, a program for weight loss and weight management that offers standard shelf-stable food and fresh-frozen foods. It also provides monthly food packages of shelf-stable and frozen foods consisting of 28 days of breakfasts, lunches, dinners, and desserts, which are supplemented with dairy, fruits, salads, vegetables, and low-glycemic carbohydrate item s. In addition, the company offers transition and maintenance plans that comprise support tools and desired meal occasions, as well as online and smart phone weight management tools. Nutrisystem, Inc. sells its pre-packaged foods to weight loss program participants directly through the Internet and telephone, as well as through QVC, a television shopping network. The company was founded in 1972 and is based in Fort Washington, Pennsylvania.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Caroline Chen]
CEOs were replaced at Canadian Pacific Railway Ltd. (CP) and Procter & Gamble Co. (PG) after activist investor Bill Ackman pushed for shakeups. Greg Taxin�� Clinton Group Inc. prompted management changes at Nutrisystem Inc. (NTRI) and Wet Seal Inc. (WTSL) in the past year.
- [By John Udovich]
Last Friday, small cap dieting stock Weight Watchers International, Inc (NYSE: WTW) lost weight for investors when shares tumbled�27.73% to $22.10, meaning its probabaly a good idea to take a closer look�at the stock along with�other small cap weight loss or dieting stocks like NutriSystem Inc (NASDAQ: NTRI), Medifast Inc (NYSE: MED) and Reliv International, Inc (NASDAQ: RELV). Why did Weight Watchers International loose weight last Friday? The company reported its fourth straight quarterly sales decline as fewer people attended meetings and bought its products and also projected earnings that trailed analysts' estimates with the blame being placed on new mobile applications and bracelets that track calories���thus�hurting traditional diet companies.
- [By Ben Levisohn]
Investors are hungering for Nurtisystem’s (NTRI) stock. How else to explain Nutrisystems’s huge jump today, following its earnings beat?
ReutersThe Wall Street Journal explains:
For the third quarter, Nutrisystem reported a profit of $356,000, or a penny a share, down from $2.6 million, or nine cents a share, a year earlier. Excluding one-time charges and other items, adjusted profit grew to 15 cents a share from 10 cents…
Looking ahead, Nutrisystem sees fourth quarter per-share results ranging between a two cent profit to a two cent loss, compared to the penny loss forecast by analysts polled by Thomson Reuters. The company also expects revenue will rise in the mid-single digits.
Analysts are far less enthusiastic than investors, however, largely because of valuation. Imperial Capital’s Mitchell Pinheiro explains:
We are raising our one-year price target on NTRI shares to $18, about 20% above the recent share price and maintaining our In-Line rating. NTRI is in the early stages of recovering from five years of declining revenue and we are encouraged by the 3Q13 results that reflect management�� initial back-to-basics strategies in the core direct marketing business. An attractive slate of growth initiatives for 2014 appears promising and we believe these should provide real newness to a product and brand that went stale with consumers. Expansion in retailers such as Walmart (WMT) and the potential for additional retail distribution in 2014 provide potential upside to revenue. At recent prices, we believe the stock reflects the improved outlook sufficiently and we remain appropriately cautious on the outlook for consumer discretionary spending in the January diet season along with the expectation that commercial diet competitors will become more aggressive.
Janney’s John San Marco�and Elizabeth Bland�concur:
Nutrisystem�� execution of its turnaround has been commendable and
- [By Glenn Rogers]
Nutrisystem (NTRI) has been in business for over 40 years, and provides its clients with a complete menu, along with counseling, online tools and applications, along with cookbooks and complete meal planning.
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