Sunday, July 6, 2014

Top 5 Diversified Bank Companies For 2014

Even though the broader PC market is in an accelerating decline, with unit shipments falling 14% last quarter, there's still plenty of consumers out there looking to purchase a PC.

To that end, Soluto has put together a purchasing guide for those in the market for a Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT  ) Windows laptop. Soluto offers PC monitoring and management software services, which is geared toward IT professionals. The company has access to a massive database of analytics regarding real-world PC performance.

In measuring performance, Soluto aggregates data regarding occurrences like application crashes, the infamous blue screens of death, boot times, and background processes, among others. The goal is to represent real-world performance over the long term, whereas most review sites experience a product for only a limited period of time and rely on benchmarking software that doesn't realistically capture everyday conditions.

Soluto has put together a Top 10 list of the best-performing Windows laptops, and the winner is ... a Mac.

Top Insurance Companies To Own In Right Now: Lindsay Corp (LNN)

Lindsay Corporation incorporated on January 7, 1974, is a provider of range of water management and road infrastructure products and services. The Company operates in two segments: Irrigation and Infrastructure. The Company�� irrigation segment includes the manufacture and marketing of center pivot, lateral move, and hose reel irrigation systems, which are used principally in the agricultural industry. The irrigation segment also manufactures and markets repair and replacement parts for its irrigation systems and controls, and designs, manufactures and services water pumping stations and controls for the agriculture, golf, landscape and municipal markets. The Company�� infrastructure segment includes the manufacture and marketing of moveable barriers, specialty barriers, crash cushions and end terminals, road marking and road safety equipment, large diameter steel tubing, railroad signals and structures, and outsourced manufacturing services. The Company�� principal infrastructure manufacturing facilities are located in Rio Vista, California, Milan, Italy, and Omaha, Nebraska. In August 2013, the Company announced that it has completed the acquisition of Claude Laval Corp.

Irrigation Segment

The Company manufactures and markets its center pivot and lateral move irrigation systems in the United States and internationally under its Zimmatic brand. The Company also manufactures and markets separate lines of center pivot and lateral move irrigation equipment for use on smaller fields under its Greenfield and hose reel travelers under the Perrot and Greenfield brands in Europe and South Africa. The Company also produces or markets irrigation controls, chemical injection systems and remote monitoring and control systems, which it sells under its GrowSmart brand. In addition to whole systems, the Company manufactures and markets repair and replacement parts for its irrigation systems and controls. The Company also designs, manufactures and services water pumping stations and! controls for the agriculture, golf, landscape and municipal markets.

The Company�� irrigation systems are primarily of the standard sized center pivot type, with a small portion of its products consisting of the lateral move type. Both are automatic, continuous move systems consisting of sprinklers mounted on a water carrying pipeline, which is supported approximately 11 feet off the ground by a truss system suspended between moving towers. The Company also manufactures and distributes mini-pivots and hose reel travelers. The Company also markets pivot monitoring and control systems, which include remote telemetry and a Web or personal computer-hosted data acquisition and monitoring application. These systems allow growers to monitor their pivot system, accumulate data on the operation of the system, and control the pivot from a remote location by logging onto an Internet Website. The pivot monitoring and control systems are marketed under the GrowSmart brand and product name FieldNET.

In the United States, the Company sells its irrigation systems, including Zimmatic, to over 200 independent dealer locations, who resell to their customer, the farmer. Dealers assess their customer�� requirements, assemble and erect the system in the field, and provide additional system components, primarily relating to water supply (wells, pumps, pipes) and electrical supply (on-site generation or hook-up to power lines). Lindsay dealers generally are local agribusinesses, many of which also deal in related products, such as well drilling and water pump equipment, farm implements, grain handling and storage systems, and farm structures. The Company has production and sales operations in France, Brazil and China, as well as distribution and sales operations in South Africa, Australia and New Zealand and sales operations in Central America and the Middle East serving the European, South American, Chinese, African, Australian, New Zealand, Central American and Middle Eastern markets, respect! ively.

Infrastructure Segment

The Company�� Quickchange Moveable Barrier (QMB) system consists of three parts: T-shaped concrete barriers that are connected to form a continuous wall; a Barrier Transfer Machine (BTM), capable of moving the barrier laterally across the pavement, and the variable length barriers necessary for accommodating curves. The BTM employs an inverted S-shaped conveyor mechanism that lifts the barrier, moving it laterally before setting it back on the roadway surface. The QMB system is useful in busy commuter corridors and at choke points, such as bridges and tunnels. QMB systems can also be deployed at roadway or roadside construction. The Company offers a range of equipment lease options for QMB systems and BTM equipment used in construction applications.

The Company offers a line of redirective and non-redirective crash cushions, which are at locations, such as toll booths, freeway off-ramps, medians and roadside barrier ends, bridge supports, utility poles and other fixed roadway hazards. The Company�� primary crash cushion products cover a range of lengths, widths, speed capacities and application accessories and include brand names, such as TAU, Universal TAU-II, TAU-B_NR, ABSORB 350 and Walt. In addition to these products the Company also offers guardrail end terminal products such as the X-Tension and TESI systems. The Company also offers specialty barrier products, such as the SAB, ArmorGuard, PaveGuard and DR46 portable barrier and/or barrier gate systems. The gates are generally used to create openings in barrier walls of various types for both construction and incident management purposes. The DR46 is an energy absorbing barrier to shield motorcyclists from impacting guardrail posts.

The Company offers preformed tape and a line of road safety accessory products. The preformed tape is used primarily in temporary applications, such as markings for work zones, street crossings, and road center lines or boundaries. The road s! afety equ! ipment consists of plastic and rubber products used for delineation, slowing traffic, and signaling. The Company also manages a testing laboratory, Safe Technologies, Inc., that performs testing of safety products. The Company�� Diversified Manufacturing and Tubing business unit (Diversified Manufacturing) manufactures and markets large diameter steel tubing and railroad signals and structures, and provides outsourced manufacturing and production services for other companies. The Company�� customer base includes certain industrial companies and railroads. The Company�� primary infrastructure market includes moveable concrete barriers, delineation systems, guardrails and similar protective equipment. The United States roadway infrastructure market includes projects, such as new roadway construction, bridges, tunnels, maintenance and resurfacing, and the purchase of rights-of-way for roadway expansion and development of technologies for relief of roadway congestion.

Advisors' Opinion:
  • [By John Kell var popups = dojo.query(".socialByline .popC"); popups.forEach(func]

    Lindsay Corp.(LNN) said fiscal second-quarter revenue and earnings fell as the company’s irrigation business remains mired in a sales slump. The company’s results underperformed Wall Street expectations.

  • [By Monica Gerson]

    Lindsay (NYSE: LNN) is projected to report its Q4 earnings at $0.91 per share on revenue of $155.68 million.

    Micron Technology (NASDAQ: MU) is expected to post its Q4 earnings at $0.25 per share on revenue of $2.71 billion.

Top 5 Diversified Bank Companies For 2014: People's United Financial Inc.(PBCT)

People?s United Financial, Inc. operates as the bank holding company for People?s United Bank that provides commercial banking, retail and business banking, and wealth management services to individual, corporate, and municipal customers. Its Commercial Banking segment provides commercial and industrial lending, commercial real estate lending, and commercial deposit gathering services, as well as equipment financing, cash management, correspondent banking, and municipal banking services. The company?s Retail and Business Banking segment offers consumer and business deposit gathering services; consumer lending products, including residential mortgage, home equity, and indirect auto lending; business lending; and merchant services. Its Wealth Management segment provides trust services, corporate trust, brokerage, financial advisory services, investment management services, and life insurance and other insurance services, as well as private banking services. The company also offers online and telephone banking, and investment trading services, and automated teller machine (ATM) services. As of March 31, 2011, it operated a network of approximately 341 branches, including full-service supermarket branches, investment and brokerage offices, and commercial banking offices, as well as approximately 518 automated teller machines in Connecticut, Vermont, New York, New Hampshire, Maine, and Massachusetts. The company was founded in 1842 and is headquartered in Bridgeport, Connecticut.

Advisors' Opinion:
  • [By Rick Munarriz]

    I went out on a limb last week, and now it's time to see how that decision played out.

    I predicted that People's United Financial (NASDAQ: PBCT  ) would close higher on the week. The regional banker had come up short on the bottom line in its two previous quarters, and the prior week closed with uninspiring earnings news out of the banking behemoths. People's United managed to match expectations on an operating basis, but the market was skeptical of financial services institutions this week. People's United Financial shares closed lower on the week. I was right. I predicted that the tech-heavy Nasdaq would outperform the Dow Jones Industrial Average. (DJINDICES: ^DJI  ) . This has been a tricky call lately, so how did it play out this time? Well, the market was rocked hard this week, and secondary stocks led the way down. The Nasdaq fell 2.7% on the week. The Dow managed to close just 2.1% lower. I was wrong. My final call was for United Rentals (NYSE: URI  ) to beat Wall Street's quarterly profit target. The provider of equipment rentals with 836 outlets across the country has been beating Wall Street estimates consistently over the past year. Why should that end? Analysts were looking for a profit of $0.47 a share during the quarter, and it came through with adjusted net income of $0.58. I was right.

    Two out of three? I can do better than that.

  • [By David Fried]

    People's United Financial (PBCT) is the bank holding company for People's United Bank, which provides commercial banking, retail and business banking, and wealth management services to individual, corporate, and municipal customers.

Top 5 Diversified Bank Companies For 2014: American Railcar Industries Inc.(ARII)

American Railcar Industries, Inc. designs, manufactures, and sells hopper and tank railcars in North America. Its Manufacturing Operations segment manufactures general service and specialty hopper railcars that are used to transport, load, and unload grains, cement, plastic pallets, and bulk products, as well as to transport heavy ore mineral loads; and non-pressure and high pressure tank railcars used to handle various commodities, including petroleum products, ethanol, asphalt, vegetable oil, corn syrup, other food products, chlorine, anhydrous ammonia, liquid propane, and butane. This segment also manufactures custom and standard railcar components that comprise tank railcar components and valves, tank heads, discharge outlets for hopper railcars, manway covers and valve body castings, outlet components and running boards for industrial and railroad customers, and hitches for the intermodal market; and aluminum and special alloy steel castings for the trucking, construc tion, mining, and oil and gas exploration markets, as well as finished machined aluminum castings and other custom machined products. The company?s Railcar Services segment provides repair and refurbishment services that include full cleaning, interior and exterior coating, heavy repair/rebuilding, and non-destructive testing; engineering services, such as failure analysis, retrofit drawings, procedure preparation, regulatory compliance assistance, trouble shooting, and railcar inspections; and fleet management services comprising maintenance planning, project management, tracking and tracing, regulatory compliance, mileage audit, rolling stock taxes, and online service access. It sells its products through catalogs and sales force to leasing, industrial, and other non-rail companies, as well as to railroads. The company was founded in 1988 and is headquartered in St. Charles, Missouri. As of January 15, 2010, American Railcar Industries, Inc. operates as subsidiary of Icah n Enterprises L.P.

Advisors' Opinion:
  • [By Dan Caplinger]

    Bullish economic news helped the Dow finally hold onto the 16,000 level at the end of the day, even after three previous forays had failed to result in a close above that figure. Even amid the general enthusiasm over stocks as the year draws to a close, GameStop (NYSE: GME  ) , American Railcar Industries (NASDAQ: ARII  ) , and Tower Group International (NASDAQ: TWGP  ) all fell sharply. Let's figure out why these stocks dropped so badly and what their moves could mean for the broader market.

Top 5 Diversified Bank Companies For 2014: Geron Corporation (GERN)

Geron Corporation, a biopharmaceutical company, develops therapies for cancer. Its clinical development product candidates include Imetelstat, a telomerase inhibitor, which is in Phase II clinical trials for the treatment of metastatic breast cancer, advanced non-small cell lung cancer, thrombocythemia, and myeloma. The company was founded in 1990 and is based in Menlo Park, California.

Advisors' Opinion:
  • [By Monica Gerson]

    Breaking news

    Energy XXI (NASDAQ: EXXI) and EPL Oil & Gas (NYSE: EPL) today announced the signing of a definitive merger agreement pursuant to which Energy XXI will acquire all of EPL's outstanding shares for total consideration of $2.3 billion, including the assumption of debt. To read the full news, click here. Achaogen (NASDAQ: AKAO) announced today the pricing of its initial public offering of 6,000,000 shares of its common stock at a price to the public of $12.00 per share. To read the full news, click here. Geron (NASDAQ: GERN) announced today that the company has received verbal notice from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) that its Investigational New Drug (IND) application for imetelstat has been placed on full clinical hold, affecting all ongoing company-sponsored clinical trials. To read the full news, click here. VeriFone (NYSE: PAY) jumped 9.5% in pre-market trading after the company reported its first quarter results. The firm reported a Q1 EPS of $0.31 versus the Street estimate of $0.27. To read the full news, click here.

    Posted-In: Credit Suisse US Stock FuturesNews Eurozone Futures Global Pre-Market Outlook Markets

  • [By Paul Ausick]

    The most heavily traded and wildly swinging Nasdaq stock today is Geron Corp. (NASDAQ: GERN). Shares are down 61.70% at $1.69 in a 52-week range of $0.98 to $7.79. The company has been ordered to put a hold on an investigational new drug application. Geron�� share volume was more than 11-times the daily average of around 4.5 million shares traded.

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