Getty Images WASHINGTON -- U.S. service companies expanded at a slightly faster pace in January. New orders, sales and hiring showed strength in a sign that financial firms, retailers and information technology companies foresee stronger growth. The Institute for Supply Management, a trade group of purchasing managers, said Wednesday that its service-sector index rose to 54 from 53 in December. Any reading above 50 indicates expansion. The improvement points to continued economic gains for the service industry, despite some challenges posed by freezing temperatures and winter storms last month. The survey covers businesses that employ 90 percent of the U.S. workforce, including retail, construction, health care and financial services firms. Because these companies are less sensitive to nasty weather than manufacturers are, the January figure suggests that a reported slowdown at factories last month was due in part to the winter chill rather than to broader weakness in the economy. The services sector has experienced "slow, incremental growth" for the past four years and is on a sustainable path, said Anthony Nieves, chairman of ISM's services survey. "It's been chugging along very steady," said Nieves, adding that the 4½-year-old recovery from the Great Recession has been "very resilient even with the ups and downs." A measure of new orders rose 0.5 points to 50.9. The measure for hiring rose 0.8 points to 56.4, the highest reading since November 2010. The improved employment measure could point to solid jobs gains in the January employment report being released Friday by the Labor Department, said Maninder Sibia, an economist for Contingent Macro Advisors. Earlier this week, the ISM said its survey on manufacturing plunged to 51.3 in January from 56.5 in December, partly because cold weather delayed shipments of raw materials and caused some factories to shut down. The drop rattled the stock market as evidence that the economic strength coming out of last year might be starting to fade. The economy has lost some momentum after expanding at an annualized 3.2 percent annual rate in the final quarter of 2013. Orders to U.S. factories fell 1.5 percent in December. Incomes were practically flat that month as well. Auto sales slipped 3 percent in January. And the U.S. stock market plunged in recent weeks on turmoil coming out of emerging market economies such as China and Turkey.
Top Medical Companies To Buy For 2015: Halliburton Company(HAL)
Halliburton Company provides various products and services to the energy industry for the exploration, development, and production of oil and natural gas worldwide. It operates in two segments, Completion and Production, and Drilling and Evaluation. The Completion and Production segment offers production enhancement services, completion tools and services, cementing services, and Boots & Coots. Its production enhancement services include stimulation and sand control services; completion tools and services comprise subsurface safety valves and flow control equipment, surface safety systems, packers and specialty completion equipment, intelligent completion systems, expandable liner hanger systems, sand control systems, well servicing tools, and reservoir performance services; cementing services consist of bonding the well and well casing, while isolating fluid zones and maximizing wellbore stability, and casing equipment; and Boots & Coots include well intervention services , pressure control, equipment rental tools and services, and pipeline and process services. The Drilling and Evaluation segment provides field and reservoir modeling, drilling, evaluation, and wellbore placement solutions that enable customers to model, measure, and optimize their well construction activities. Its services comprise fluid services, drilling services, drill bits, wireline and perforating services, testing and subsea services, software and asset solutions, and integrated project management and consulting services. The company serves independent, integrated, and national oil companies. Halliburton Company was founded in 1919 and is headquartered in Houston, Texas.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Tyler Crowe]
Another reason that shale gas development has not as quickly developed is a lack of clear patent protection laws,�especially�in China. While both Schlumberger (NYSE: SLB ) and Haliburton (NYSE: HAL ) have expressed an interest in developing Chinese shale gas, a lack of intellectual-property protection has them hesitant to going all in. Rather, both companies have taken minority interests in smaller,�Chinese-based companies and plan to take orders of drilling fluids and equipment. These kinds of moves are not necessary in the U.S. and have allowed companies to protect and profit from their expertise.
Hot Information Technology Companies To Watch In Right Now: J.B. Hunt Transport Services Inc.(JBHT)
J.B. Hunt Transport Services, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, operates as a surface transportation, delivery, and logistics company in North America. It operates in four segments: Intermodal (JBI), Dedicated Contract Services (DCS), Full-Load Dry-Van (JBT), and Integrated Capacity Solutions (ICS). The JBI segment provides intermodal freight solutions, including origin and destination pickup and delivery services in the continental United States, Canada, and Mexico. This segment operates 45,666 pieces of company-controlled trailing equipment; and manages a fleet of 2,592 company-owned tractors. The DCS segment involves in the design, development, and execution of supply chain solutions, which support various transportation networks. This segment offers final mile delivery, replenishment, and specialized services supporting private fleet conversion, fleet creation, and transportation system augmentation. As of December 31, 2010, it operated 4,259 company-owned trucks, 357 customer-owned trucks, and 23 independent contractor trucks. The JBT segment provides full-load, dry-van freight services by utilizing tractors operating over roads and highways. It operated 1,697 company-owned tractors. The ICS segment provides non-asset, asset-light, and transportation logistics solutions. It offers flatbed, refrigerated, expedited, and less-than-truckload, as well as various dry-van and intermodal solutions. The company transports a range of freight, including general merchandise, specialty consumer items, appliances, forest and paper products, building materials, soaps and cosmetics, automotive parts, electronics, and chemicals. J.B. Hunt Transport Services, Inc. was founded in 1961 and is headquartered in Lowell, Arkansas.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Monica Gerson]
JB Hunt Transport Services (NASDAQ: JBHT) is expected to report its Q3 earnings at $0.84 per share on revenue of $1.59 billion.
Wolverine World Wide (NYSE: WWW) is projected to post its Q3 earnings at $0.59 per share on revenue of $720.37 million.
- [By Sue Chang]
J.B. Hunt Transport (JBHT) is projected to report third-quarter earnings of 78 cents a share, according to a consensus survey by Thomson Reuters.
- [By Chris Hill]
In this installment of Investor Beat, our analysts explain why they're watching J.B. Hunt Transport Services (NASDAQ: JBHT ) and Wells Fargo (NYSE: WFC ) .
Hot Information Technology Companies To Watch In Right Now: Lexington Realty Trust (LXP)
Lexington Corporate Properties Trust operates as a self-managed and self-administered real estate investment trust (REIT). The company acquires, owns, and manages a portfolio of office, industrial, and retail properties net-leased to corporate tenants in the United States. It also provides investment advisory and asset management services to institutional investors in the net lease area. As of June 30, 2005, the company operated 185 properties and managed 2 properties. Lexington Corporate Properties Trust has elected to qualify as a REIT for federal income tax purposes. As a REIT, it would not be taxed on the portion of its income, which is distributed to shareholders, provided it distributes at least 90% of its taxable income. The company was founded in 1991 and is based in New York City.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Eric Volkman]
Lexington Realty Trust (NYSE: LXP ) is acting like a relaxed landlord that doesn't want or need to modify the rent. The company is maintaining its dividend policy by declaring a $0.15-per-share distribution for its current quarter, to be paid on or about July 15 to shareholders of record as of June 28. That amount matches the firm's previous three distributions, the most recent of which was paid in April. Prior to that, the real estate investment trust dispensed $0.125 per share.
- [By Brad Thomas]
Compared with the public REIT peers, I believe that Chambers Street will compare favorably to W.P. Carey (WPC) and Lexington Realty Trust (LXP). Both of these REITs own larger box assets and they both have conservative and well-positioned balance sheets. Here is a snapshot of Chambers Street's capitalization:
- [By CRWE]
Lexington Realty Trust (NYSE:LXP), a real estate investment trust (REIT) focused on single-tenant real estate investments, reported that it would release its third quarter 2012 results the morning of Tuesday, November 6, 2012. Lexington will conduct a teleconference that same day at 11:00 a.m., Eastern Time.
Hot Information Technology Companies To Watch In Right Now: CNA Financial Corp (CNA)
CNA Financial Corporation (CNAF), incorporated in 1967, is an insurance holding company. The Company�� core business commercial property and casualty insurance operations operate in two segments: CNA Specialty and CNA Commercial. Its non-core businesses are managed in two business segments: Life & Group Non-Core and Corporate & Other Non-Core. The Company�� insurance products primarily include commercial property and casualty coverages, including surety. Its services include risk management, information services, and warranty and claims administration. Its products and services are marketed through independent agents, brokers and managing general underwriters to a wide variety of customers, including small, medium and large businesses, associations, professionals and other groups. CNA's property and casualty and remaining life and group insurance operations are primarily conducted by Continental Casualty Company (CCC), The Continental Insurance Company, Western Surety Company and Continental Assurance Company (CAC). On June 10, 2011, CNA completed the acquisition of CNA Surety Corporation. In July 2012, the Company acquired Hardy Underwriting Bermuda Ltd. On December 14, 2012, the Company sold SUR Insurance Agency, Inc. and The Bond Exchange to California Contractors Insurance Services.
CNA Specialty
CNA Specialty provides professional and management liability and other coverages through property and casualty products and services, both domestically and abroad, through a network of brokers, independent agencies and managing general underwriters. CNA Specialty provides solutions for managing the risks of its clients, including architects, lawyers, accountants, health care professionals, financial intermediaries and public and private companies. Product offerings also include surety and fidelity bonds and warranty services.
CNA Specialty includes four business groups: Professional & Management Liability, International, Surety, and Warranty and Alternative Risks! . Professional & Management Liability provides management and professional liability insurance and risk management services and other specialized property and casualty coverages in the United States. This group provides professional liability coverages to various professional firms, including architects, real estate agents, small and mid-sized accounting firms, law firms and technology firms. Professional & Management Liability also provides D&O, employment practices, fiduciary and fidelity coverages. Products within Professional & Management Liability are distributed through brokers, agents and managing general underwriters. Professional & Management Liability, through CNA HealthPro, also offers insurance products to serve the healthcare delivery system. Products include professional liability and associated standard property and casualty coverages, and are distributed on a national basis through brokers, agents and managing general underwriters. Customer segments include long term care facilities, allied health care providers, life sciences, dental professionals and mid-size and large health care facilities.
International provides similar management and professional liability insurance and other specialized property and casualty coverages in Canada and Europe. Surety consists primarily of CNA Surety Corporation (CNA Surety) and its insurance subsidiaries and offers small, medium and large contract and commercial surety bonds. CNA Surety provides surety and fidelity bonds in all 50 states through a combined network of independent agencies.
Warranty and Alternative Risks provides extended service contracts and related products that provide protection from the financial burden associated with mechanical breakdown and other related losses, primarily for vehicles and portable electronic communication devices. These products are distributed through and administered by a wholly owned subsidiary, CNA National Warranty Corporation, or through third party administrators.
! CNA Comme! rcial
CNA Commercial works with an independent agency distribution system and a network of brokers to market a range of property and casualty insurance products and services to small, middle-market and large businesses and organizations domestically and abroad. Products include standard and excess property coverages, as well as marine coverage, and boiler and machinery. Casualty products include standard casualty insurance products such as workers��compensation, general and product liability, commercial auto and umbrella coverages. It also offers pecialized loss-sensitive insurance programs to those customers viewed as higher risk and less predictable in exposure.
The Business insurance group serves smaller commercial accounts and the Commercial insurance group serves middle markets and larger risks. In addition, CNA Commercial provides total risk management services relating to claim and information services to the insurance marketplace, through a wholly owned subsidiary, CNA ClaimPlus, Inc., a third party administrator. The International insurance group primarily consists of the commercial product lines of its operations in Europe, Canada, as well as Hawaii.
CNA Select Risk (Select Risk) includes excess and surplus lines coverages. Risk provides specialized insurance for selected commercial risks on both an individual customer and program basis. Select Risk�� products are distributed throughout the United States through specialist producers, program agents and brokers.
Life & Group Non-Core
The Life & Group Non-Core segment includes the results of the life and group lines of business that are in run-off. It retains block of group reinsurance and life settlement contracts.
Corporate & Other Non-Core
Corporate & Other Non-Core primarily includes certain corporate expenses. This also includes interest on corporate debt, and the results of certain property and casualty business in run-off, including CNA Re and ! A&EP.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Ben Levisohn]
The overwhelming majority of Loews can be valued as the sum of its three largest subsidiary businesses that also have publicly trading stock: CNA Financial (CNA), Diamond Offshore (DO) and Boardwalk Pipeline�(BWP). The sum of these stakes is equivalent to 97.7% of the market capitalization of Loews. For almost ��ree,��imknvestors also get ownership of Boardwalk�� B shares and general partnership, a small national hotel chain, natural gas and oil E&P HighMount and the $4B in fungible assets on Loews�� corporate balance sheet…
Hot Information Technology Companies To Watch In Right Now: Nationstar Mortgage Holdings Inc (NSM)
Nationstar Mortgage Holdings Inc. is a non-bank residential mortgage servicer with a range of services across the residential mortgage product spectrum. As of December 31, 2011, the Company serviced over 645,000 residential mortgage loans. The Company�� clients include national and regional banks, government organizations, securitization trusts, private investment funds and other owners of residential mortgage loans and securities. It is a partner of financial organizations, including government-sponsored enterprises (GSEs) and other regulated institutions. The Company is a licensed servicer in all 50 states. In addition to its core servicing business, the Company has a fully integrated loan originations platform and suite of adjacent businesses.
Nationstar offers clients a range of services. The Company combines its mortgage servicing with a fully integrated loan originations platform. Nationstar offers clients a diversified array of residential mortgage services: Servicing, Originations and Other Related Services.
Servicing
The Company offers mortgage investors two primary ways to partner. A portion of its portfolio consists of owned mortgage servicing rights (MSRs). In this arrangement, the Company owns the right to collect the principal and interest due from a mortgage borrower, as well as manage the title and property insurance escrow of the collateral on behalf of mortgage investors in exchange for a monthly fee proportional to the unpaid principle balance (UPB) of the mortgage. The Company acquires MSRs either through its own origination of mortgages or by acquiring these rights from other MSR owners or the mortgage investor. It subservices multiple portfolios for federal agencies, Government Sponsored Enterprises (GSEs) and large banks. For its subservicing clients, the Company is organized to serve its clients with an Investor Collections Professional and Senior Portfolio Manager(s) assigned to each portfolio.
Originations
The! Company offers a fully integrated loan origination platform. It also operates a wholesale origination channel capable of purchasing loans primarily from Financial Institutions operating as a broker.
Other Related Services
The Company offers a full suite of additional residential mortgage services to complement its servicing business and supporting originations platform. These businesses offer a range of ancillary services, including providing services for delinquent loans, managing loans in the foreclosure/real estate owned (REO) process and providing title insurance agency, loan settlement and valuation services on newly originated and re-originated loans. Nationstar is a part owner in NREIS, which is a provider of residential and commercial mortgage and real estate solutions in the United States. Their services include title insurance and property reports; real estate appraisals and alternative valuation products; settlement and closing services; commercial real estate services; default and property preservation services, and flood and tax certifications.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Amanda Alix]
This, of course, puts the trust in a perfect position to begin acquiring MSRs -- and start making megaprofits like industry heavy Nationstar Mortgage (NYSE: NSM ) , which has seen its share price skyrocket by nearly 200% over the past year, and recently reported�an increase in revenue of 163% year over year.
Hot Information Technology Companies To Watch In Right Now: Team Inc.(TISI)
Team, Inc. provides specialty maintenance and construction services for maintaining high temperature and high pressure piping systems and vessels that are utilized in heavy industries. It offers inspection and assessment services, such as inspection and evaluation of piping, piping components, and equipment; field heat treating services, including electric resistance and gas-fired combustion; leak repair services comprising on-stream repairs of leaks in pipes, valves, flanges, and other parts of piping systems and related equipment; and fugitive volatile organic chemical emission leak detection services consisting of identification, monitoring, data management, and reporting. The company also provides hot tapping services, such as hot tapping, Line-stop, and Freeze-stop services; field machining services, including the use of portable machining equipment to repair or modify machinery, equipment, vessels, and piping systems, as well as flange facing, pipe cutting, line bori ng, journal turning, drilling, and milling services; and technical bolting services comprising the use of hydraulic or pneumatic equipment with bolt tightening techniques for leak-free connections, plant maintenance, and expansion projects, as well as bolt disassembly and hot bolting services. In addition, it offers field valve repair services consisting of on-site repairs to manual and control valves, and pressure and safety relief valves, as well as specialty valve actuator diagnostics and repair. The company markets its services to companies in a various heavy industries, which include the petrochemical, refining, power, pipeline, steel, pulp and paper, and shipbuilding industries, as well as to municipalities, original equipment manufacturers, distributors, and engineering and construction firms. It operates in the United States, Canada, Europe, and internationally. The company was founded in 1973 and is headquartered in Alvin, Texas.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Ben Levisohn]
Team Inc.�(TISI) has dropped 11% after the company missed its earnings forecast and lowered guidance.
Monsanto�(MON) has dropped 2.2% to $103.15 after the agricultural-products company reported a loss of 47 cents a share, missing analyst forecasts for a loss of 43 cents, and said it would buy a firm that analyzes the weather.
- [By Monica Gerson]
Team (NYSE: TISI) lowered its annual earnings outlook. Team shares tumbled 10.63% to $35.75 in the after-hours trading session.
Synergetics USA (NASDAQ: SURG) reported its FQ4 earnings of $0.06 per share on revenue of $17.9 million. However, analysts were projecting earnings of $0.05 per share on revenue of $17 million. Synergetics USA shares dipped 11.82% to $4.40 in the after-hours trading session.
- [By Laura Brodbeck]
Earnings Releases Expected: A. Schulman, Inc. (NASDAQ: SHLM), Team, Inc. (NYSE: TISI), ZEP Inc. (NYSE: ZEP)
Economic Releases Expected: Japanese current account, US consumer credit, Chilean trade balance, Swiss CPI, Spanish industrial production, German industrial production
- [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 Team (NYSE: TISI ) , whose recent revenue and earnings are plotted below.
Hot Information Technology Companies To Watch In Right Now: QC Holdings Inc.(QCCO)
QC Holdings, Inc. provides various retail consumer financial products and services in the United States. The company offers payday loans that provide cash to the customers in exchange for a promissory note with a maturity of two to three weeks. It also provides financial products and services, such as installment loans, credit services, check cashing services, title loans, money transfers, and money orders. In addition, QC Holdings operates as a credit services organization that arranges a third-party lender to make a loan to the consumer and for providing related services to the consumer, including a guarantee of the consumer?s obligation to the third-party lender. Further, the company sells used vehicles and earns finance charges from the related vehicle financing contracts; and provides reconditioning services on its inventory of vehicles, and repair services for its customers. As of As of December 31, 2010, the company operated 523 short-term lending branches in 24 sta tes; and 5 buy here, pay here lots located in Missouri and Kansas. QC Holdings, Inc. was founded in 1984 and is headquartered in Overland Park, Kansas.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Lisa Levin]
QC Holdings (NASDAQ: QCCO) shares tumbled 3.68% to reach a new 52-week low of $1.83. QC Holdings shares have dropped 42.60% over the past 52 weeks, while the S&P 500 index has gained 31.67% in the same period.
- [By Monica Gerson]
QC Holdings (NASDAQ: QCCO) shares tumbled 2.58% to reach a new 52-week low of $2.27. QC Holdings' trailing-twelve-month profit margin is 0.60%.
NewLead Holdings (NASDAQ: NEWL) shares dipped 6.56% to touch a new 52-week low of $0.08 after the company completed the acquisition of titles in the Viking Mine located in Kentucky, USA.
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