U.S. stocks fluctuated, after benchmark indexes fell four straight days, as investors weighed data showing faster-than-forecast economic growth and an unexpected drop in jobless claims for clues on the timing of cuts to Federal Reserve stimulus.
Aeropostale Inc. lost 1.4 percent as the retailer�� fourth-quarter loss forecast was wider than estimated. Safeway Inc. (SWY) slid 3.1 percent after Jana Partners LLC cut its stake in the supermarket chain. Apple Inc. rose 1.6 percent as China Mobile Ltd. moved closer to offering its 759 million subscribers iPhones.
The Standard & Poor�� 500 Index (SPX) declined 0.1 percent to 1,791.86 at 10:11 a.m. in New York, trimming an earlier slide of 0.4 percent. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 5.07 points, or less than 0.1 percent, to 15,894.84. Trading in S&P 500 stocks was 4.3 percent below the 30-day average at this time of day.
��he numbers today pave the way for the Fed��to cut stimulus, Matthew Kaufler, a portfolio manager at Federated Investors Inc. in Rochester, New York, said by phone. His firm oversees $363.8 billion. ��here�� angst in the short run, but I think it�� only positive in the long run that the Fed begin to taper and extricate itself from being the ultimate market maker.��
Verifone Systems, Inc. designs, markets, and services electronic payment solutions in North America and internationally. It provides system solutions, including countertop electronic payment systems that accepts magnetic, smart card, contactless/ radio frequency identification(RFID) cards, and near field communication(NFC) enabled mobile phones; secure PIN pads that support credit and debit transactions; and wireless system solutions that support Internet protocol-based code division multiple access, general packet radio service, bluetooth, and wireless fidelity technologies. The company also offers products for consumer-activated functionality at the point of sale; contactless/NFC payment solutions consisting of contactless readers primarily for consumer-activated transactions with contactless cards, tokens, and NFC-enabled mobile phones; and Gemstone family of products comprising integrated electronic payment systems for petroleum companies. In addition, it provides serv er-based payment processing software and middleware; unattended and self-service payments hardware and software integration modules, such as vending machines, ATMs, ticketing kiosks, petroleum dispensers, public transportation turnstiles and buses, self-checkout, bill payment, and photo finishing kiosks; retail bank branch solutions; mass transportation solutions; and network access solutions. Further, the company offers client services, customized application development, advertising publishing, taxi payments and advertising, cardholder data security, annual software maintenance program, and repair services. It serves financial institutions, payment processors, petroleum companies, large retailers, taxi fleets, government organizations, healthcare companies, independent sales organizations, and advertisers. The company was formerly known as VeriFone Holdings, Inc. and changed its name to VeriFone Systems, Inc in May 2010. VeriFone Systems, Inc. is headquartered in San Jose, California.
Advisors' Opinion: - [By Jay Jenkins]
For the technology to really go mainstream, it needs consumer-side products to support it (cue�Square and PayPal�(subsidiary of eBay (NASDAQ: EBAY ) ), it needs infrastructure to transmit the data (looking at you,�MasterCard (NYSE: MA ) and Visa (NYSE: V ) ), and it needs vendor-side hardware to close the loop (uh, hmm...�VeriFone (NYSE: PAY ) ).
- [By Suravi Thacker]
Provider of electronic payment solutions, VeriFone Systems (PAY), lit up the Street with its first-quarter results by beating analysts��expectations. Investors were overwhelmed by the company�� surprising performance, sending shares higher.
Top 10 Supermarket Stocks To Watch Right Now: Solar Thin Films Inc (SLTZ)
Solar Thin Films, Inc. is engaged in the business of designing, manufacturing and installation of thin-film amorphous silicon (a-Si) photovoltaic manufacturing equipment. The equipment is used in plants that produce photovoltaic thin-film a-Si solar panels or modules. The Company operates through its wholly owned subsidiary, Kraft Elektronikai Zrt (Kraft). Kraft is engaged in the design, development, manufacture, and installation of a-Si photovoltaic manufacturing equipment. The primary buyers of photovoltaic thin-film manufacturing equipment are businesses, as well as investment partnerships, engaged in the production of photovoltaic thin-film modules. In May 2010, the Company acquired Atlantis Solar LLC. In May 2013, Solar Thin Films Inc acquired Quality Resource Technologies Inc. In October 2013, Solar Thin Films Inc announced the sale of all of its ownership stake of Hungarian subsidiary, Kraft, R.t. (Kraft), to GJR Collectibles LLC.
Kraft has been providing equipment that is incorporated into a single manufacturing line capable of manufacturing a-Si solar modules that produce approximately 5megawatt (MW) of solar power annually. The Company focuses, directly and through joint ventures or alliances with other companies or governmental agencies, to sell equipment for and participate financially in solar power facilities using thin film a-Si solar modules or metallurgical and other crystalline solar modules as the power source to provide electricity to municipalities, businesses and consumers.
The Company competes with Applied Materials and Oerlikon.
Advisors' Opinion: - [By Peter Graham]
Small cap stocks Alliance Creative Group Inc (OTCMKTS: ACGX), Dale Jarrett Racing Adventure Inc (OTCMKTS: DJRT), Inscor Inc (OTCMKTS: IOGA) and Solar Thin Films Inc (OTCMKTS: SLTZ) have all been getting some attention lately in various investment newsletters and it should come as no surprise that two out of four of these stocks have been the subject of paid promotions ��which tend to benefit traders. However, two out of four of these stocks also have pretty good financials for being small cap OTC stocks and that might make them attractive to investors with a long term time horizon. So which of these stocks might make traders some profits in the short term and investors some profits over the longer term? Here is a closer look to help you decide:
Top 10 Supermarket Stocks To Watch Right Now: Ascena Retail Group Inc.(ASNA)
Ascena Retail Group, Inc. operates as a specialty retailer of apparel for women and tween girls in the United States, Puerto Rico, and Canada. The company operates its stores under the dressbarn, maurices, and Justice brand names. Its dressbarn and maurices stores offer casual and career fashion apparel and accessories; and Justice stores provide apparel, accessories, footwear, and intimates, as well as lifestyle products, such as bedroom furnishings and electronics primarily for tween girls. As of March 01, 2012, Ascena Retail Group operated approximately 2,500 stores. The company was formerly known as Dress Barn, Inc. and changed its name to Ascena Retail Group, Inc. in January 2011. Ascena Retail Group, Inc. was founded in 1962 and is based in Suffern, New York.
Advisors' Opinion: - [By Maria Armental var popups = dojo.query(".socialByline .popC"); popups.forEach]
Ascena Retail Group Inc.(ASNA) is planning promotions to adjust its inventories ahead of the fall season, amid challenging sales trends that have continued into the apparel retailer’s current quarter. Shares dropped 5.2% to $15.55 premarket.
- [By Lauren Pollock]
Ascena Retail Group Inc.'s(ASNA) fiscal first-quarter earnings rose 22% as the apparel retailer reported broad sales growth and stronger margins. Shares of Ascena, which affirmed its fiscal-year guidance, were up 4.2% at $21.75 in premarket trading as adjusted earnings and revenue beat expectations.
Top 10 Supermarket Stocks To Watch Right Now: FAB Universal Corp (FU)
FAB Universal Corp.(FAB), formerly Wizzard Software Corporation, incorporated on July 1, 1998, operates in two segments: Software and Media Services. The Software segment engages primarily in the development, sale, and service of custom and packaged computer software products. The Media Services provides podcast hosting, content management tools and advertising services. The Company�� software segment attributes revenues from the development, sale, and service of custom and packaged computer software products at the time the product is shipped and collections are likely and from digital media publishing services at the time the service is provided. Its media segment attributes revenue from digital media publishing service at the time the service is provided and collection is likely. As of September 30, 2012, the Company does not have any inter-segment revenues. On October 12, 2012, it opened a 20,000 square foot Flagship superstore in the Beijing shopping district of SoShow. On September 26, 2012, the Company completed the acquisition of Digital Entertainment International Ltd. (DEI). As of September 30,2012, the Company discontinued its Future Healthcare of America (FHA).
The Company specializes in the distribution of entertainment and audio visual products through its two flagship stores in Beijing as well as its online stores. DEI, through its wholly owned subsidiary and its VIE, is engaged in marketing and distributing various officially licensed digital entertainment products under the FAB brand, including products such as digital music files, Compact Discs(CD), Video Compact Discs (VCD) and Digital Video Disks (DVD) as well as books, magazines, mobile phone accessories and cameras. DEI�� products and services are primarily distributed through its flagship stores, wholesale services, FAB kiosks, and online virtual stores. FAB kiosks, located in high-traffic areas of office buildings, shopping malls, retail stores and airports, are self-service terminals that provide a range of en! tertainment and consumer applications. Its Media is primarily engaged in operating and providing multimedia kiosks for music downloads information exchange and advertising.
MEDIA
The Company distributes over 150,000 media based products including copyrighted DVD��, Blu-ray Discs, music CD��, video games and downloadable digital content through three distribution channels: wholesale and retail, licensing and kiosks. It conducts their retail business through their flagship stores. Each store has over 20,000 square feet in size and carries the selection of copyrighted audio and video products in China, including CDs, VCDs, DVDs, blu-rays, books, magazines and portable electronic devices. It markets their products to individual consumers and audio-video retailers. The flagship stores are recognized by many Chinese consumers as the right place to buy copyright protected products. Celebrity signing events are the driver to FAB�� retail stores which have been used as a venue for Chinese music and movie stars to meet their fans. Its SoShow flagship provides Beijing shoppers with its audio-video hypermarket. As a preferred venue for product announcements, publishing parties, studio releases, author readings, movie showings, live promotional performances and concerts, its SoShow outlet is one of China�� ultra-modern entertainment destination for music lovers, film buffs, game enthusiasts, and early electronic adopters.
The Company's wholesale distribution provides audio-video products such as compact discs, video compact discs and digital video discs as well as books and magazines to audio-video products retailers. It distributes these media products to over 80 customers including Sohu (NASDAQ: SOHU), Dangdang (NYSE: Dang) and Century Outstanding Information Technology Company, a subsidiary of Amazon.com (NASDAQ: AMZN). Its wholesale business caters to three types of customers: retail stores, FAB license stores and small wholesale/resellers. Customers place orders by! telephon! e, through the Internet or in-person and fulfillment is handled by its vehicle fleet or through direct warehouse access. As of September 30, 2012, the Company has over 100 suppliers and 80 wholesale customers, including the Government.
Its Intelligent Media Kiosks are based on 61 national intellectual property rights, are automated teller machine (ATM) style terminals where consumers can download copyrighted music, video games, ringtones, digital books and movies directly to their cell phones, memory sticks or other mobile storage devices. Its Media Kiosks can also run video ads on the high-tech liquid crystal display (LCD) screens and accept payments for utility bills, metro cards, and credit card bills. It is a self-service vending kiosk designed and launched by the Company. The kiosks target the millions of mobile and portable device users combing interactive touch screen and LED display with a selection of copyrighted content such as music, movies and games. There are thousands of licensed digital entertainment content items in each kiosk, such as music, movie and TV episodes, which allows the customer to play or download to their portable device or memory card with payment by cash, its membership card or ATM card. It has deployed over 11,000 kiosks through their licensing program. The kiosks are located in high-traffic areas, such as office buildings, shopping malls, and retail stores. It generates revenues from its Intelligent Media Kiosk business through the sale of licenses and then through ongoing media content download, media membership card sales and kiosk-based advertising.
SPEECH TECHNOLOGY & SERVICES GROUP
Its legacy Speech Technology & Services Group sells and licenses speech programming tools, related speech products and services, and distributable speech engines in over 13 languages worldwide. It receives the majority of its sales leads through arrangements with AT&T, as well as through its own Internet marketing efforts through Google, Yahoo and! other In! ternet search engines. The Speech Technology and Services Group's immediate focus is to increase revenue and be a preferred supplier for speech technologies to businesses worldwide, emphasize great technologies, competitive prices, and support to the speech development community and offer non-technical hosted speech conversion services to companies.
Advisors' Opinion: - [By Jayson Derrick]
Shares of FAB Universal (NYSE: FU) have been halted premarket, and remained as such throughout the duration of the trading day. There is no indication when shares would resume trading.
- [By Bryan Murphy]
If history is any indication, than roughly half of you are about to hate me for what I'm about to say regarding Fab Universal Corp. (NYSEMKT:FU), while the other half of anyone reading this will likely love me for it - there is no in between. Here goes... FU is poised to make a fairly significant pullback following last week's heroic rally.
Top 10 Supermarket Stocks To Watch Right Now: The Fresh Market Inc.(TFM)
The Fresh Market, Inc. operates as a specialty grocery retailer. The company offers various perishable product categories, including meat, seafood, produce, deli, bakery, floral, sushi, and prepared foods; and non-perishable product categories, such as traditional grocery and dairy products, as well as specialty foods, which include bulk, coffee and candy, and beer and wine. As of March 20, 2012, it operated 115 stores in 21 states located in the southeast, midwest, mid-Atlantic, and northeast of United States. The company was founded in 1981 and is headquartered in Greensboro, North Carolina.
Advisors' Opinion: - [By Roberto Pedone]
Another potential earnings short-squeeze trade idea is specialty food retailer The Fresh Market (TFM), which is set to release its numbers on Thursday after the market close. Wall Street analysts, on average, expect The Fresh Market to report revenue $411.85 million on earnings of 35 cents per share.
Read More: 5 Stocks With Big Insider Buying
The current short interest as a percentage of the float for The Fresh Market is extremely high at 28.7%. That means that out of the 43.88 million shares in the tradable float, 12.63 million shares are sold short by the bears. This is a monster short interest on a stock with a relatively low tradable float. Any bullish earnings news could easily set off a large short-covering rally post-earnings that forces the bears to cover some of their positions.
From a technical perspective, TFM is currently trending below both its 50-day and 200-day moving averages, which is bearish. This stock recently formed a double bottom chart pattern at $28.60 to $29.31 a share. Following that bottom, shares of TFM have started to uptrend and move within range of triggering a near-term breakout trade post-earnings above some key overhead resistance levels.
If you're in the bull camp on TFM, then I would wait until after its report and look for long-biased trades if this stock manages to break out above some near-term overhead resistance levels at $31.77 to $32.79 a share with high volume. Look for volume on that move that hits near or above its three-month average volume of 940,711 shares. If that breakout starts post-earnings, then TFM will set up to re-test or possibly take out its next major overhead resistance levels at $35.89 to $38 a share, or even $40 to $42.50 a share.
I would simply avoid TFM or look for short-biased trades if after earnings it fails to trigger that breakout and then drops back below some key near-term support levels at $29.31 to its 52-week low of $28.60 a share with high volume. If we
- [By Ben Levisohn]
The Fresh Market’s (TFM) earnings didn’t look so fresh–and its shares are tumbling today.
REUTERS The high-end grocery store reported a profit of 32 cents, in line forecasts, and revenue of $354.8 million, above forecasts for $355.8 million. The guidance, however, disappointed, as the Fresh Market now expects earnings of $1.50 to $1.57 per share, below expectations for $1.57.
In a note yesterday, Sterne Agee’s Charles Grom and Renato Basanta argued that the numbers aren’t so bad. They write:
2Q results came in mostly as expected, but investor focus is likely on FY13 EPS guidance, which was reduced by $0.02 at the midpoint. We point out that a large part of the guidance revision is due to higher costs from opening new stores more quickly (a positive, in our view), and believe the essence of TFM’s growth story remains intact. In fact, 2Q traffic accelerated and TFM’s FY13 SSS view was increased. Net, we continue to like TFM, particularly in the context of a choppy retail environment.
UBS analysts Jason DeRise and Mark Carden, disagreed, and cut the stock to Neutral from Buy last night. They write:
TFM outperformed the market by 33% since its Q4 results on March 6. At the time, the market questioned the TFM business model following weak Q4 12 same store sales growth (1.9%) and guided its EPS mid point 8% below consensus. We believe the market underappreciated the cyclical nature of TFM�� gourmet grocery sales. Its comp sales began to recover in H1, while it continues to open up new stores at rapid pace (+17% y/y in 13E). But, its new guidance suggests another 6 months until the better EPS growth kicks in, which differed from our expectations.
Investors sided with UBS. Shares of Fresh Market have dropped 10% to $48.80 today. Competitor Kroger (KR) has gained 1.2% to $36.83, while Whole Foods Market (WFM) has risen 1.5% to $52.53 and Safeway (SWY) has advanced 1.2% to $11.40.
Top 10 Supermarket Stocks To Watch Right Now: Compass Minerals Intl Inc(CMP)
Compass Minerals International, Inc., through its subsidiaries, produces and markets inorganic mineral products primarily in North America and the United Kingdom. The company operates in two segments, Salt and Specialty Fertilizer. The Salt segment produces salt and magnesium chloride for use in road deicing and dust control, food processing, water softeners, pool salt, and agricultural and industrial applications. This segment also purchases potassium chloride and sells as a finished product. The Specialty Fertilizer segment produces and markets sulphate of potash crop nutrients and industrial grade sulfate of potash for use in the production of specialty fertilizers for vegetables, fruits, potatoes, nuts, tobacco, and turf grass. The company also produces and markets consumer deicing and water conditioning products, ingredients used in consumer and commercial food preparation, and other mineral-based products for consumer, agricultural, and industrial applications. In ad dition, Compass Minerals provides records management services to businesses located in the U.K. The company operates rock salt mines in Goderich, Ontario, Canada; and Winsford, Chesire, the United Kingdom. It primarily serves producers of intermediate chemical products used in the production of vinyls and other chemicals, and pulp and paper, as well as water treatment and other industrial uses. The company markets its products through direct sales personnel, contract personnel, and a network of brokers or manufacturers? representatives. Compass Minerals International, Inc., formerly known as Salt Holdings Corporation, was founded in 1993 and is headquartered in Overland Park, Kansas.
Advisors' Opinion: - [By Brendan Mathews]
Compass Minerals (NYSE: CMP ) is a sleepy producer of a boring product: rock salt. But it has a strong competitive advantage. It owns the world's largest rock salt mine, which luckily is conveniently located near the major deicing markets of the Great Lakes region. This combination of a great mining resource and ideal location provide the company with a wide, crocodile-filled competitive moat.
Top 10 Supermarket Stocks To Watch Right Now: Iliad SA (ILD)
Iliad SA is a France-based holding company active in the integrated telecommunications sector. The Company provides Internet access services, hosting services and others. Iliad SA is also focused on fixed-line telephony services and the provision of wireless fidelity (WiFi) cards, among several others. In addition, Iliad SA sells via Internet a range of insurance policies. As of December 31, 2012, the Company had a number of subsidiaries, which include Free SAS, Centrapel SAS, Freebox SAS, Telecom Academy SARL, Free Frequences SAS, Iliad 1 SAS, Iliad 2 SAS, Protelco SAS, IFW SAS, IRE SAS, Management Centre De Relation Abonne (MCRA), F Distribution SAS, and Centrapel SAS, among others. Its Fixe subsidiary is a landline business-provider of broadband Internet services. As of year-end 2012, the Company was active as a operator in more than 35 countries.
Advisors' Opinion: - [By Patricio Kehoe]
In order to counter the aggressive pricing strategy from wireless new entrant Iliad SA (ILD) in France, Orange was forced to reduce prices. Thus, the firm has continued to add wireless subscribers but at a lower average revenue per user, mainly through its low-end Sosh brand.
- [By Marie Mawad]
Sales and earnings at Orange are falling as domestic competition with rivals including discounter Iliad SA (ILD) weighs on prices. The carrier, which has diversified into countries from Poland to Egypt, is also trying to keep a lid on debt.
