Monday, July 21, 2014

Hot Consumer Companies To Watch In Right Now

On Jul 9, 2013, Zacks Investment Research upgraded Visa Inc. (V) to a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).

Why the Upgrade?

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for Visa increased to $7.48 from $7.45 in the last 60 days. The increase was driven by upward estimate revisions.

The card giant delivered earnings surprise in all the last 4 quarters with an average beat of 4.7%. We expect the trend to continue when it reports its fiscal third-quarter results. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for Visa�� fiscal third-quarter stands at $1.78, translating to a 14.4% year-over-year increase.

Visa enjoys an industry leading position among its peer group with respect to total payments volume, total transactions and total number of cards in circulation. Further, strong brand value, sturdy balance sheet, and the increasing demand for electronic payment services are the other positives. Moreover, Visa continues to grow organically through a healthy product boutique and huge network.

Visa also follows an inorganic route to boost its growth profile. The acquisitions of CyberSource, PlaySpan and Fundamo along with strategic alliances with JPMorgan Chase, Samsung, Bank of America, QIWI, Obopay, Orange, Intel, Vodafone, Samsung, Isis, Monitise, CashEdge and Fiserv complement Visa�� latest eCommerce and mCommerce growth strategies. These pacts also help the company reach out to the banked and unbanked consumers in developing nations, which should further aid in driving its non-U.S. revenue share to about 50% by 2015

Top 5 Railroad Companies For 2015: Xerox Corporation(XRX)

Xerox Corporation provides business process and information technology (IT) outsourcing, and document management services worldwide. Its business process outsourcing services include human resources services; finance and accounting services; healthcare payers and pharma; customer management solutions; healthcare provider solutions; technology-based transactional services for retail, travel, and non-healthcare insurance companies; programs for federal, state, county, and town governments; transportation solutions; and government healthcare solutions. The company is involved in designing, developing, and delivering IT solutions, such as comprehensive systems support, systems administration, database administration, systems monitoring, batch processing, data backup, and capacity planning services; telecommunications management services; and desktop services. Its document outsourcing services comprise managed print services that optimize, rationalize, and manage the operation of Xerox and non-Xerox print devices; and communication and marketing services that deliver design, communication, marketing, logistic, and distribution services through SMS, Web, email, and mobile, as well as print media. The company also manufactures and sells products, including desktop monochrome, color and compact printers, multifunction printers, copiers, digital printing presses, and light production devices for small/mid-size businesses and large enterprises. In addition, it sells paper, wide-format systems, network integration solutions, and electronic presentation systems. The company sells its products and solutions through its sales force, as well as through a network of independent agents, dealers, value-added resellers, systems integrators, and the Web. Xerox Corporation was founded in 1906 and is headquartered in Norwalk, Connecticut.

Advisors' Opinion:
  • [By Ben Levisohn]

    Xerox (XRX) has fallen 1.9% to $10.20 after it received a “Wells Notice” from the SEC, which is investigating the accounting at one of its units.

  • [By Sean Williams]

    Xerox (NYSE: XRX  ) made waves yesterday when it announced the purchase of LearnSomething, a digital education company operating primarily in the pharmaceutical and health care industry, for an undisclosed sum. This is a continuation of Xerox's deeper move into information technology with regard to the health care sector. Acquisitions like this set Xerox up for success by normalizing its cash flow against the natural ebb and flow of the economic cycle and allow it to pay out the robust 2.6% yield that shareholders are currently privy to.

Hot Consumer Companies To Watch In Right Now: Time Inc (TIME)

Time Inc., incorporated on September 28, 1988, is a magazine publisher in the United States. As of March 31, 2014, the Company publishes 23 magazines in print in the United States, including People, Sports Illustrated, InStyle, Time, Real Simple, Southern Living, Entertainment Weekly and Fortune and over 70 magazines outside the United States, primarily through IPC Magazines Group Limited (IPC) in the United Kingdom and Grupo Editorial Expansion (GEX) in Mexico. On April 30, 2014, the Company acquired the IPC publishing business in the United Kingdom, which was previously owned by a wholly-owned subsidiary of Time Warner (the IPC Purchase). In June 2014, Time Inc acquired Cozi Inc., a Seattle-based technology company with a portfolio of mobile and digital family organizing tools

The Company�� United States and United Kingdom print magazines is also available as tablet editions on digital devices and platforms. In addition, as of March 31, 2014, it operated over 45 Websites that collectively have tens of millions of average monthly visitors globally. It also operates an integrated publishing business that provides content marketing, targeted local print and digital advertising programs, branded book publishing and marketing and support services, including magazine subscription sales services, retail distribution and marketing services and customer service and fulfillment services, to the Company and other third-party clients, including other magazine publishers.

Advisors' Opinion:
  • [By Chris Isidore]

    With a circulation of 931,558, Forbes is the No. 3 U.S. business publication, behind Time Inc.'s (TIME) Money magazine and Bloomberg Businessweek. It is particularly well known for its lists such as the world's richest people. Forbes Media also has an online presence in Forbes.com, and a majority stake in the Real Clear group of Web sites, such as Real Clear Politics.

Hot Consumer Companies To Watch In Right Now: Dole Food Company Inc(DOLE)

Dole Food Company, Inc. engages in sourcing, growing, processing, marketing, and distributing fresh fruits and vegetables, and food products to wholesale, retail, and institutional customers worldwide. It operates in three segments: Fresh Fruit, Fresh Vegetables, and Packaged Foods. The Fresh Fruit segment involves in growing and selling bananas under the DOLE brand name primarily in North America, Europe, and Asia; ripening and distributing DOLE and non-DOLE branded fresh produce in Europe; growing, sourcing, and selling fresh pineapples under the DOLE TROPICAL GOLD label; and exporting Chilean fruits, including grapes, apples, pears, stone fruits, and kiwifruits primarily to North America, Latin America, and Europe. The Fresh Vegetables segment engages in sourcing, harvesting, cooling, distributing, and marketing various fresh and fresh-cut vegetables, including iceberg lettuce, red and green leaf lettuce, romaine lettuce, butter lettuce, celery, cauliflower, broccoli, c arrots, Brussels sprouts, green onions, asparagus, snow peas, artichokes, and radishes, as well as fresh strawberries and raspberries. This segment also processes and markets value-added vegetable products, such as packaged salads and packaged fresh-cut vegetables. The Packaged Foods segment produces and markets canned pineapples, canned pineapple juice, fruit juice concentrate, fruit parfaits, snack foods, and frozen fruits, as well as fruits in plastic cups, jars, and pouches. Its principal customers include mass merchandisers and supermarkets. Dole Food Company, Inc. was founded in 1851 and is based in Westlake Village, California.

Advisors' Opinion:
  • [By Michael Nau]

    How would you react as a shareholder if the management of a company you owned behaved erratically and consequently pushed down the company's share price? What if after pushing down the share price, management offered to buy you out on the cheap? That is exactly what the Chairman, CEO and 40% owner of Dole (DOLE) David Murdock appears to have done.

  • [By Chris Hill]

    Shares of Sony (NYSE: SNE  ) rise after the company's new PlayStation4 game console is priced at $399. Softbank raised its offer to buy Sprint Nextel (NYSE: S  ) by $1.5 billion. Dole Food (NYSE: DOLE  ) CEO David Murdock offers to buy the entire company. And bricks-and-mortar retailer GameStop (NYSE: GME  ) also gets a boost from Sony's news that the new PlayStation4 will allow unlimited used-game sales. In this installment of Investor Beat, our analysts discuss four stocks making big moves.

  • [By Michael Lewis]

    On a valuation basis, Chiquita isn't richly valued, though not the extreme bargain it once was, either. Set to return to profitability this year, Chiquita is trading at a little over 10 times forward earnings. Competitor Dole (NYSE: DOLE  ) , which just this week received a buyout offer led by its CEO, is now valued at 20 times forward earnings. On an EV/EBITDA basis, Dole has been valued by its CEO's offer at nearly 19 times. Chiquita trades at 12.6 times.

Hot Consumer Companies To Watch In Right Now: McDonald's Corporation(MCD)

McDonald?s Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, operates as a worldwide foodservice retailer. It franchises and operates McDonald?s restaurants that offer various food items, soft drinks, coffee, and other beverages. As of December 31, 2009, the company operated 32,478 restaurants in 117 countries, of which 26,216 were operated by franchisees; and 6,262 were operated by the company. McDonald?s Corporation was founded in 1948 and is based in Oak Brook, Illinois.

Advisors' Opinion:
  • [By Jeremy Bowman]

    Some minimum-wage workers at McDonald's (NYSE: MCD  ) joined with fellow fast-food employees and walked off the job today, demanding a $15-an-hour wage in a weeklong protest. The minimum-wage issue appears to be gaining traction after the D.C. Council recently passed a law designed to make Wal-Mart pay its future workers there a minimum of $12.50 an hour, and President Obama's recent statement that the widening income gap was damaging the country. McDonald's has also been the target of much derision and mockery since a sample budget for employees, which among other things implies that a worker needs two jobs, found its way to the media. Shares of Mickey D's were unaffected by the strike, falling 0.2%, but the issue will continue to circulate and could become a greater concern.

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