Friday, December 19, 2014

Top 10 Services Stocks To Watch For 2014

Frontier Communications Corporation (FTR), at its current price, is one of the best buying opportunities the market has to offer. This stock is such a good buying opportunity for a number of reasons including:

A Piotroski F Score of 8 that is the second highest out of 111 companies in the Communication Services sector with a market cap greater than $50 million.It passing our Next Generation High Potential Stock Screener that has highly outperformed the market in the pastA very competitive dividend that has provided shareholders with over an 8% yieldA significant drop in share price over the past 5 years that makes FTR highly undervalued

Frontier Communications Corporation, according to our data from AAII, is a "Communications company providing services primarily to rural areas and small and medium-sized towns and cities in the United States." The main services offered are Internet, phone, TV (provided by DISH), and protection and online security for residential and commercial customers. As of now its services are offered in 27 states with most of those states being in the Northeast and Western United States.

Hot Valued Companies To Buy Right Now: Quest Diagnostics Inc (DGX)

Quest Diagnostics Incorporated (Quest Diagnostics), incorporated in 1990, is a provider of diagnostic testing, information and services, providing insights that enable patients and physicians to make healthcare decisions. Quest Diagnostics offers United States patients and physicians the access to diagnostic testing services through its nationwide network of laboratories and Company-owned patient service centers. The Company provides interpretive consultation through the medical and scientific staff. The Company is a provider of clinical testing, including gene-based and esoteric testing and anatomic pathology services, and the provider of risk assessment services for the life insurance industry. The Company also is a provider of testing for clinical trials and testing for drugs of abuse. Its diagnostics products business manufactures and markets diagnostic test kits and specialized point-of-care testing. On April 4, 2011, the Company acquired Athena Diagnostics (Athena). On May 17, 2011, the Company acquired Celera Corporation (Celera). In January 2012, the Company acquired S.E.D. Medical Laboratories. In December 2012, the Company sold all of the assets of OralDNA Labs salivary-diagnostics business to Access Genetics. Quest Diagnostics Incorporated (Quest Diagnostics) is a provider of diagnostic testing, information and services, providing insights that enable patients and physicians to make healthcare decisions. Quest Diagnostics offers United States patients and physicians the access to diagnostic testing services through its nationwide network of laboratories and Company-owned patient service centers. The Company provides interpretive consultation through the medical and scientific staff. The Company is a provider of clinical testing and the provider of risk assessment services for the life insurance industry. The Company also is a provider of testing for clinical trials and testing for drugs of abuse. In January 2012, it acquired S.E.D. Medical Laboratories. In December 2012, it sold all of the ! assets of OralDNA Labs salivary-diagnostics business to Access Genetics. In January 2013, the Company acquired the Worcester -based clinical outreach laboratory business of UMass Memorial Medical Center.

Clinical Testing

The Company is a commercial clinical testing company. Physicians use clinical tests to assist in the detection, diagnosis, evaluation, monitoring and treatment of diseases and other medical conditions. Clinical testing is generally categorized as clinical laboratory testing and anatomic pathology services. The Company offers customers the access to the test menu of clinical laboratory and anatomic pathology tests in the United States. Clinical laboratory testing generally is performed on whole blood, serum, plasma and other body fluids, such as urine, and specimens such as microbiology samples.

The Company is a provider of routine clinical testing, including testing for drugs of abuse. The Company performs routine testing through its network of laboratories and rapid response laboratories. The Company also performs routine testing at hospital laboratories that the Company manages. The Company operates laboratories round the clock. The majority of test results are delivered electronically. Routine tests measure various bodily health parameters, such as the functions of the kidney, heart, liver, thyroid and other organs. Commonly ordered tests include blood chemistries, including cholesterol levels; complete blood cell counts; urinalysis; pregnancy and other prenatal tests, and routine microbiology testing.

The Company is a provider of anatomic pathology services in the United States, through its AmeriPath, Dermpath Diagnostics and Quest Diagnostics brands. Anatomic pathology involves the diagnosis of cancer and other diseases and medical conditions through examination of tissue and cell samples taken from patients. The Company provides inpatient anatomic pathology and medical director services at hospitals throughout the country, and through ! its labor! atories. The Company provides a range of services to all anatomic pathology subspecialties. The Company provides integrated, reports that include both anatomic pathology and clinical pathology tests, enabling its pathologists to offer patients and physicians a complete analysis. The Company introduced the Leumeta family of tests for leukemia and lymphoma.

The Company is a provider in the United States of gene-based and esoteric testing. Esoteric tests include procedures in the areas of molecular diagnostics, protein chemistry, cellular immunology and advanced microbiology. Commonly ordered esoteric tests include viral and bacterial detection tests, drug therapy monitoring tests, genetic tests, autoimmune panels and complex cancer evaluations. During the year ended December 31, 2011, it acquired Athena Diagnostics, a provider of neurology testing. Its esoteric laboratories provide reference testing services to physicians, academic medical centers, hospitals and other commercial laboratories. The Company also offers gene-based tests for the predisposition, diagnosis, treatment and monitoring of cancers. The Company develops tests at its laboratories, such as Quest Diagnostics Nichols Institute. It also develops techniques and services in anatomic pathology.

In 2011, the Company introduced its melanoma treatment selection mutation panel, which is designed to assist in the personalized selection of patient therapies. The Company introduced its thyroid cancer mutation panel, which assists in the diagnosis of thyroid cancer and aids physicians and surgeons as they plan surgery and other therapies to treat and attempt to cure thyroid cancer. During 2011, it enhanced its SureSwab Vaginosis/Vaginitis Plus test. The Company introduced Accutype IL28b, a test designed to aid in the prediction of patient response to peginterferon alpha-based therapy for treating hepatitis C virus infection. In 2011, it introduced testing for very long chain fatty acids, to assist in diagnosis and monitori! ng of inh! erited disorders of fatty acid metabolism. It also introduced high resolution chromosomal analysis testing with oligonucleotide microarrays to enhance its testing services in the pre-natal and post-natal genetics areas. During 2011, the Company released a test for therapeutic drug monitoring of dabigatran, an oral anti-coagulant. The Company also released genetic testing for SLC01B1, which helps identify patients at risk for myopathy from Simvastatin therapy for cholesterol reduction. Through Athena Diagnostics, it launched several molecular genetic tests for stroke, neuromuscular diseases and mitochondrial disorders.

Healthcare Information Technology

The Company provides interoperable technologies that help healthcare organizations and physicians enter, share and access clinical information without costly information technology (IT) implementation or workflow disruption, including through its Care360 suite of products and its ChartMaxx electronic document management system for hospitals. These solutions offer access to a national healthcare provider network, including approximately 200,000 networked physicians and clinicians using Quest Diagnostics��Care360 connectivity products. The Care360 products, including its Care360 Labs and Meds, enable physicians electronically to order diagnostic tests and review test results from Quest Diagnostics and electronically to prescribe medication. As of December 31, 2011, prescriptions were written through Care360 ePrescribing at an annualized rate of 32 million medications. Using its Care360 connectivity products, physicians can securely provide diagnostic and other data to a patient�� account. It offers Gazelle, a secure mobile health platform that allows users to receive their Quest Diagnostics laboratory results, manage their personal health information, find a Quest Diagnostics location and schedule appointments directly from their smartphone.

Clinical Trials Testing

The Company is a provider of central l! aboratory! testing performed in connection with clinical research trials on new drugs, vaccines and certain medical devices. It has clinical trials testing centers in the United States and the United Kingdom, and it provides clinical trials testing in Argentina, Australia, Brazil, the People�� Republic of China and Singapore through affiliated laboratories. The Company has biomarker capabilities. In 2011, it acquired Celera, enhancing its ability to provide biomarker discovery and develop IVD test kits.

Life Insurer Services

The Company is a provider of risk assessment services to the life insurance industry in North America. It also provides risk assessment services for insurance companies doing business in many countries outside the United States. Its risk assessment services comprise underwriting support services to the life insurance industry, including laboratory testing, electronic data collection, specimen collection and paramedical examinations, medical record retrieval, case management, motor vehicle reports, telephone inspections, prescription histories and credit checks. The laboratory tests that it performs and data it gathers are designed to assist insurance companies to objectively evaluate the mortality risks of policy applicants. The majority of the testing is performed on specimens of life insurance applicants, but also includes specimens of applicants for other types of insurance. Most of its specimen collections and paramedical examinations are performed by its network of approximately 5,000 contracted paramedical examiners at the applicant�� home or workplace. The Company also offers paramedical examinations through approximately 500 of its patient service centers, and operate approximately 80 locations other than patient service centers in the United States and Canada where the Company provides paramedical examinations, bringing to approximately 580 the total number of sites where it can provide these examinations. The Company also contracts with third parties at over! an addit! ional 200 locations globally to coordinate providing these exams.

Employer Services

The Company is a provider of testing to employers for the detection of employee use of drugs of abuse. Its Quest Diagnostics Drug Testing Index, which is an annual report of its aggregate drug testing results, is used by employers, the federal government and the media to help identify and quantify drug abuse among the nation�� workforce. It provides a range of solutions for drugs of abuse, including urine, hair, blood and oral fluid tests. In 2011, it introduced Oral-Eze, its own oral fluid collection system that simplifies the collection of oral samples for routine drug testing. The Oral-Eze Oral Fluid Collector provides all the advantages of previous collection systems, with the added benefit of its indicator window technology. The Company provides wellness testing and analytic services to employers.

Diagnostic Products

Diagnostic Products include point-of-care, or near-patient and testing. The Company develops and manufactures products that enable healthcare professionals to make healthcare diagnoses, including products for point-of-care, or near-patient, testing for the professional market. The Company has several companies, including Focus Diagnostics, HemoCue and Celera. Focus Diagnostics is a provider of infectious disease testing. Focus Diagnostics develops, manufactures and markets diagnostic products, such as HerpeSelect ELISA tests that detect patient antibodies to specific types of herpes simplex virus, which can be performed on a variety of instrument platforms. Focus Diagnostics sells its diagnostic products to academic medical centers, hospitals and commercial laboratories globally. Focus Diagnostics has an agreement with 3M Corporation for global human diagnostic rights to a compact integrated bench-top instrument for use with real time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assays. These tests are sold under the Simplexa brand name. In 2011, Focus Diagnostic! s receive! d the CE mark to offer Simplexa tests in Europe, including tests for Cytomegalovirus, Epstein Barr virus, BK virus and clostridium difficile. Focus Diagnostics offers molecular transplant-testing menus in Europe.

HemoCue manufactures and distributes point-of-care testing products globally. HemoCue is a global provider in point-of-care testing for hemoglobin, with a growing market share for glucose, microalbumin and white blood cell testing. HemoCue offers its White Blood Cell Differential System in Europe. Celera offers complexity molecular diagnostic products in segments, such as HIV-1 drug resistance testing, reproductive genetics, transplantation and cardiovascular genetics. It also manufactures and offers the InSure fecal immunochemical test (FIT) for screening for colorectal cancer.

The Company competes with Laboratory Corporation of America Holdings, Inc.

Advisors' Opinion:
  • [By Rich Duprey]

    Diagnostic information specialist Quest Diagnostics (NYSE: DGX  ) will acquire the lab-related�clinical outreach service operations of California-based hospital system Dignity Health, serving doctors and patients in parts of California and Nevada.�

  • [By Ben Levisohn]

    The announcement comes just months after the Supreme Court said that Myriad couldn’t patent the BRCA genes and allowed companies like Quest Diagnostics (DGX) to offer its own tests, the Wall Street Journal says.

Top 10 Services Stocks To Watch For 2014: RealD Inc(RLD)

RealD Inc., together with its subsidiaries, licenses stereoscopic 3D technologies in the United States, Canada, and internationally. The company designs, manufactures, licenses, and markets its RealD Cinema Systems that enable digital cinema projectors to show 3D motion pictures and alternative 3D content to consumers wearing the company?s RealD eyewear. It also offers RealD Display, active and passive eyewear ,and RealD Format technologies to consumer electronics manufacturers, and content producers and distributors to enable the delivery and viewing of 3D content on high definition televisions, laptops, and other displays. In addition, the company sells CrystalEyes eyewear, monitors, digital light processing television kits, polarizer films, emitters, and linear polarizing systems to companies, government agencies, academic institutions, and research and development organizations for applications in piloting the Mars Rover and in theme park installations. RealD Inc. was founded in 2003 and is headquartered in Beverly Hills, California.

Advisors' Opinion:
  • [By Tim Beyers]

    There's a lot riding on Man of Steel, and not just for Warner. RealD (NYSE: RLD  ) gets a cut of box office receipts for showings in its 3D format, a strategy that has worked well in years past. A big gate could mean a big payday here as well.

  • [By Seth Jayson]

    RealD (NYSE: RLD  ) reported earnings on June 6. Here are the numbers you need to know.

    The 10-second takeaway
    For the quarter ended March 31 (Q4), RealD beat expectations on revenues and exceeded expectations on earnings per share.

Top 10 Services Stocks To Watch For 2014: Google Inc (GOOGL)

Google Inc. (Google), incorporated on October 22, 2002, is a global technology company. The Company�� business is primarily focused around key areas, such as search, advertising, operating systems and platforms, enterprise and hardware products. The Company generates revenue primarily by delivering online advertising. The Company also generates revenues from Motorola by selling hardware products. The Company provides its products and services in more than 100 languages and in more than 50 countries, regions, and territories. Effective September 16, 2013, Google Inc acquired Bump Technologies Inc. Effective October 22, 2013, Google Inc acquired FlexyCore, a developer of software. Effective December 6, 2013, Google Inc acquired the entire share capital of SCHAFT Inc. Effective December 14, 2013, Google Inc acquired Boston Dynamics Inc. Effective January 15, 2014, Google Inc acquired Impermium Corp, a developer of SaaS application software. Effective February 7, 2014, Google Inc acquired the remaining 88% interest in Nest Labs Inc. Effective February 21, 2014, Google Inc acquired Spider.io, a provider of online fraud detection services. Effective March 12, 2014, Google Inc acquired Green Throttle Games.

Search

The Company integrates features into its search service and offers specialized search services to help users tailor their search. The Company also offers product listing advertisements (ads), which include product information, such as product image, price, and merchant information, without requiring additional keywords or ad text. In January 2012, it launched Search plus Your World. During the year ended December 31, 2012, it also introduced Google Now and Google�� Knowledge Graph. Google Now is a search feature that gets the right information at just the right time. It tells the day�� weather before start of a day, how much traffic to expect before you leave for work or school, when the next train will arrive as you��e standing on the platform, or favorite team�! � score while they��e playing - all automatically with cards appearing throughout the day at the moment you need them. Google�� Knowledge Graph, enables the user to search for things, people or places that Google knows about-landmarks, celebrities, cities, sports teams, buildings, geographical features, movies, works of arts and more-and enhances Google Search in three ways: find the right thing, get the summary, and go deeper and broader.

Advertising

The Company�� AdWords is a primary auction-based advertising program, which delivers ads to search queries or Web content. With AdWords, advertisers create text-based ads that then appear beside related search results or Web content on its Websites and on thousands of partner Websites in its Google Network, which is the network of third parties that use its advertising programs to deliver relevant ads with search results and content. The Company also offers AdWords on a cost-per-impression basis that enables advertisers to pay the Company based on the number of times their ads appear on its Websites and the Company�� Google Network Members��Websites as specified by the advertiser. Its AdSense program enables Websites that are part of the Google Network to deliver ads from its AdWords advertisers that are relevant to the search results or content on Websites. In June 2012, the Company integrated its AdMob technology directly into its AdWords system, which enables advertisers to run campaigns across the more than 300,000 mobile applications running ads by AdMob - all from within the AdWords interface.

The Company�� Display advertising consists of videos, text, images, and other interactive ads that run across the Web on computers and mobile devices, including smart phones and handheld computers, such as net books and tablets. The Google Display Network provides advertisers services related to the delivery of display advertising across publishers participating in its AdSense program, publishers participat! ing in th! e DoubleClick Ad Exchange, and Google-owned sites, such as YouTube and Google Finance. Through its DoubleClick advertising technology, it provides to publishers, agencies, and advertisers the ad serving technology, which is the infrastructure that enables billions of ads to be served each day across the Web. Its DoubleClick Ad Exchange creates a real-time auction marketplace for the trading of display ad space. In addition, YouTube provides a range of video, interactive, and other ad formats for advertisers to reach their intended audience. YouTube�� video advertising solutions give advertisers a way to promote their content to the YouTube community, as well as to associate with content being watched by their target audience. YouTube also offers analytic tools to help advertisers understand their audience and derive general business intelligence.

The Company is focused on developing easy-to-use ad products to help advertisers extend their reach, help create revenue opportunities for its publisher partners, and deliver relevant and useful ads to users on the go. Google Mobile extends its products and services by providing mobile-specific features to mobile device users. The Company�� mobile-specific search technologies include search by voice, search by sight, and search by location. Google Mobile also optimizes a number of Google�� applications for mobile devices in both browser and downloadable form. In addition, the Company offers advertisers the ability to run search ad campaigns on mobile devices with mobile-specific ad formats, such as click-to-call ads in which advertisers can include a phone number within ad text. AdMob also offers effective ad units and solutions for application developers and advertisers. The Company provides users with relevant local information. The Company has organized information around more than 80 million places globally from various sources across the Web. Users can find addresses, phone numbers, hours of operation, directions and more for millions of! local qu! eries like shops, restaurants, parks and landmarks right on Google.com, on Google Maps and on Google Maps for mobile. Its products and services also help local business owners manage their online presence and connect with potential customers.

Operating Systems and Platforms

The Company�� Android is a free and open source mobile software platform that any developer can use to create applications for mobile devices and any handset manufacturer can install on a device. Google Chrome OS is an open source operating system with the Google Chrome Web browser as its foundation. Both the Google Chrome OS and the Google Chrome browser are built around the core tenets of speed, simplicity, and security. The Chrome browser runs on Windows, Mac, and Linux computers. Google+ is a new way to share online just like users do in the real world, sharing different things with different people. Google Play is a cloud-based, digital entertainment destination with more than 700,000 applications (apps) and games plus music, movies and books that its users can find, enjoy and share on the Web and on their Android phone or tablet. Google Drive is a place where users can create, share, collaborate, and keep all of their stuff. Google Docs is built right into Google Drive so users can work with others in real time on documents, spreadsheets and presentations and users��files go everywhere they do. Google Wallet is a virtual wallet that securely stores credit and debit cards, offers, and rewards cards. Users can tap their phone to pay in-store using Google Wallet anywhere contactless payments are accepted - at over 200,000 merchants across the United States. Google TV is a platform that gives consumers the power to experience television and the Internet on a single screen, with the ability to search and find the content they want to watch. The Google TV platform is based on the Android operating system and runs the Google Chrome browser.

Enterprise

The Company�� enterprise! products! provide Google technology for business settings. Through Google Apps, which includes Gmail, Google Docs, Google Calendar, and Google Sites, among other features, it provides hosted, Web-based applications that people can use on any device with a browser and an Internet connection. In addition, the Company provides its search technology for use within enterprises through the Google Search Appliance (real-time search of business applications, intranet applications, and public websites), on their public-facing sites with Google Site Search (custom search engine), and Google Commerce Search (for online retail enterprises). The Company also provide versions of its Google Maps Application Programming Interface (API) for businesses (including interactive Google Maps for public and internal Websites), as well as Google Earth Enterprise (a behind-the-company-firewall software solution for imagery and data visualization). Its enterprise solutions have been adopted by a variety of businesses, governments, schools, and non-profit organizations.

Motorola

The Company�� Motorola business consists of two segments: Mobile segment and Home segment. The Mobile segment is focused on mobile wireless devices and related products and services. The Home segment is focused on technologies and devices that provide video entertainment services to consumers by enabling subscribers to access a variety of interactive digital television services.

The Company competes with Facebook, Inc., Twitter Inc., Yahoo! Inc., Microsoft Corporation, eBay Inc., and Amazon.com, Inc.

Advisors' Opinion:
  • [By Adam Levy]

    Qihoo, which is well known for its security software for PCs and mobile devices, is trading at a valuation very close to Baidu's. Both are priced slightly higher than Google (NASDAQ: GOOGL  ) , despite much slower growth at the American company.

  • [By Sean Williams]

    Beyond pure-play advertisers, investors can also gain partial exposure to the sector through content providers such as Google (NASDAQ: GOOG  ) (NASDAQ: GOOGL  ) . Google is the dominant player in the PC-advertising market, though Google is by no means wholly reliant on pure advertising revenue for its survival.�

  • [By FinanceGuru]

    Pandora remains my most confident short for the long-term. Pandora has pulled back significantly off highs and still has more downside. I've often argued that Pandora is a great short prospect. It's going up against Apple (AAPL) and Google (GOOG)(GOOGL), is massively overvalued (still at $26), lags in both content and innovation, and has a stale user base that is failing to grow as aggressively as it needs to.

Top 10 Services Stocks To Watch For 2014: Starbucks Corporation(SBUX)

Starbucks Corporation purchases and roasts whole bean coffees. It operates approximately 16,858 stores, including 8,833 company-operated stores and 8,025 licensed stores. The company offers approximately 30 blends and single-origin premium arabica coffees. It also provides handcrafted beverages, such as fresh-brewed coffee, hot and iced espresso beverages, coffee and non-coffee blended beverages, Vivanno smoothies, and Tazo teas; and merchandise products, including home espresso machines, coffee brewers and grinders, coffee mugs and accessories, packaged goods, music, books, and gift items. In addition, it offers fresh food items, which comprise baked pastries, sandwiches, salads, oatmeal, yogurt parfaits, and fruit cups. Further, it also provides VIA ready brew coffee, bottled frappuccino beverages, discoveries chilled cup coffee, doubleshot espresso drinks, iced coffee, whole bean coffee, and ice creams. The company?s brand portfolio includes Tazo tea, Ethos water, Seatt le?s Best Coffee, and Torrefazione Italia Coffee. Starbucks Corporation sells its products in approximately 50 countries worldwide. Starbucks Corporation was founded in 1971 and is based in Seattle, Washington.

Advisors' Opinion:
  • [By Neha Marwah]

    However, other players too got adversely affected and suffered softer sales throughout the year. McDonald�� (MCD) and Starbucks (SBUX), both reported decline in sales and experienced a slowdown in same store sales.

  • [By Matt Thalman]

    Another big winner in the after-hours session was Starbucks (NASDAQ: SBUX  ) , which closed the regular trading day down 0.29%, but ended the extended period up 1.1%. The move was, again, the result of a better-than-expected earnings report. Starbucks posted earnings per share of $0.71 for the quarter, much better than the $0.57 it reported a year ago, and higher than the $0.69 analysts were expecting. On the revenue side, Starbucks reported $4.24 billion in sales, again much higher than the $3.79 billion last year, but slightly lower than the $4.3 billion Wall Street was looking for. But on a same-store sales basis, the company saw a 5% increase both in the Americas and internationally, while operating margins climbed from 16.6% to an impressive 19.2%. Despite the slight miss on revenue, the report seemed to be very strong.�

  • [By Andrew Marder]

    Yesterday, Starbucks (NASDAQ: SBUX  ) announced that starting next week, it will provide calorie counts on all of its menu boards in its U.S. stores. The move follows earlier menu updates by McDonald's (NYSE: MCD  ) and others, as companies try to get out in front of any new legislation. Since 2010, when health care legislation came into effect, the FDA has been working on a law requiring businesses to display calorie information. That effort seems to have stalled out due to strong lobbying and sharp differences between the sides in the debate.

Top 10 Services Stocks To Watch For 2014: Teekay Offshore Partners L.P.(TOO)

Teekay Offshore Partners L.P. provides marine transportation, oil production, and storage services to the offshore oil industry. It operates shuttle tankers, floating storage and offtake (FSO) units, and conventional crude oil tankers, as well as floating production, storage, and offloading (FPSO) units. As of June 30, 2011, its fleet consisted of 40 shuttle tankers, including 5 chartered-in vessels and 4 committed newbuildings; 2 FPSO units; 5 FSO units; and 10 conventional oil tankers. The company primarily serves energy and oil service companies, and their affiliates. Teekay Offshore GP L.L.C. serves as the general partner of the company. The company was founded in 2006 and is headquartered in Hamilton, Bermuda.

Advisors' Opinion:
  • [By Kashafa Investment Research]

    Teekay Offshore Partners L.P. (TOO) is the largest owner in the shuttle tanker market with 33 shuttle tankers and one newbuilds on order. Through this, the company owns more than 50% of the world's shuttle tanker fleet based on total tonnage.

  • [By Ben Levisohn]

    We are upgrading our recommendation on shares of Teekay Corp. to Buy from Hold, and raising our 12-month price target to $90 from $68. The revision reflects the company’s bold new dividend strategy outlined after today’s market close and ahead of its analyst day tomorrow. The new plan includes an 80% increase in its annual dividend effective 1Q15 (to $2.25 at the midpoint vs. $1.265 today), and a policy aimed at linking future div increases to cash flow growth at its two MLP subsidiaries [Teekay LNG Partners (TGP) & Teekay Offshore Partners (TOO)]. The result should be 20%/year grow in Teekay’s dividend for the foreseeable future, which together with today’s increase, easily justify a $90+ share price in the relatively near-term.

Top 10 Services Stocks To Watch For 2014: Heartland Payment Systems Inc. (HPY)

Heartland Payment Systems, Inc. provides bankcard payment processing services in the United States and Canada. It facilitates the exchange of information and funds between merchants and cardholder�s financial institutions; and offers end-to-end electronic payment processing services, including merchant set-up and training, transaction authorization and electronic draft capture, clearing and settlement, merchant accounting, merchant assistance and support, and risk management to merchants. The company also provides other merchant services comprising payroll processing, gift and loyalty programs, and prepaid and stored-value solutions; paper check processing; payroll and related tax filing services; and secure point-of-sale solutions, as well as sells and rents point-of-sale devices and supplies. In addition, it develops, manufactures, sells, services, and maintains computer software to facilitate accounting and management functions of food service operations of K to 12 sch ools. The company markets its bankcard payment processing services directly to small and mid-sized merchants, and national and mid-tier merchants. Heartland Payment Systems, Inc. was incorporated in 2000 and is headquartered in Princeton, New Jersey.

Advisors' Opinion:
  • [By Eric Volkman]

    Heartland Payment Systems (NYSE: HPY  ) is set to be an enthusiastic buyer of its own shares. The company's board has authorized a fresh stock repurchase program to the tune of $75 million. The move is effective immediately, and its term is open-ended.

Top 10 Services Stocks To Watch For 2014: Pinnacle Foods Inc (PF)

Pinnacle Foods Inc., incorporated on July 28, 2003, is a manufacturer, marketer and distributor of branded food products in North America. The Company operates in three segments: the Birds Eye Frozen Division, the Duncan Hines Grocery Division and the Specialty Foods Division. The Birds Eye Frozen Division and the Duncan Hines Grocery Division, which collectively represent its North America Retail operations, include the brands. Its brand portfolio enjoys household penetration in the United States, where its products can be found in approximately 85% of U.S. households. Its products are sold through supermarkets, grocery wholesalers and distributors, mass merchandisers, super centers, convenience stores, dollar stores, drug stores and warehouse clubs in the United States and Canada, as well as in military channels and foodservice locations. On June 24, 2011, the Company completed the sale of its Watsonville, California facility which had been recorded as an asset held for sale.

Birds Eye Frozen Division

The Company�� Birds Eye Frozen Division includes its steamed and non-steamed product offerings, with a 27.0% market share, making Birds Eye the recognized frozen vegetables brand in the United States. Birds Eye was the Company to capture a nationwide market share with a product that enables consumers to conveniently steam vegetables in microwaveable packaging.

Duncan Hines Grocery Division

Duncan Hines is the division�� brand and includes cake mixes, ready-to-serve frostings, brownie mixes, muffin mixes, and cookie mixes. During the fiscal year ended September 23, 2012, the Company added two additional items to the line. In February 2012, the Company introduced a line of frosting products, Duncan Hines Frosting Creations, which uses a patent pending frosting system to allow consumers to customize their frosting into one of 12 different flavors. The Company also offers a complete line of shelf-stable pickle products that we market and distribute n! ationally, primarily under the Vlasic brand, and regionally under the Milwaukee�� and Wiejske Wyroby brands. In 2012, the Company introduced Vlasic Farmers Garden, artisan-quality pickle line.

Specialty Foods Division

The Company�� snack products primarily consist of Tim�� Cascade, Snyder of Berlin and Husman��. These direct store delivery brands have local awareness and hold market share positions in their regional markets. The Company also manufactures and distributes certain products, mainly in the frozen breakfast, canned meat, and pie and pastry fruit filling categories, through food service channels. The Company also manufactures and distributes certain private label products in the canned meat, shelf-stable pickles and frozen seafood. As part of its ongoing strategic focus over the last several years, the Company has deemphasized the food service and private label businesses for the benefit of its higher margin branded food products.

Advisors' Opinion:
  • [By WWW.DAILYFINANCE.COM]

    Joe Raedle/Getty Images NEW YORK -- Tyson Foods (TSN) has won a bidding war to gobble up Hillshire Brands (HSH), the maker of Jimmy Dean sausages and Ball Park hot dogs. Tyson had been vying with rival poultry producer Pilgrim's Pride for Hillshire, which wrapped up its bidding process Sunday. Tyson ended up raising its offer to $63 a share. It had previously offered $50 a share, after which Pilgrim's Pride (PPC) raised its bid to $55 a share. Pilgrim's Pride, which is owned by Brazilian meat giant JBS, said Monday that it is withdrawing its offer. Still, the deal isn't sealed yet. It is contingent on the termination of Hillshire's offer to acquire Pinnacle Foods (PF), which makes Birds Eye frozen vegetables and Wish-Bone salad dressings. Pinnacle could choose to cut bait and walk away with $163 million breakup fee, or force the deal to a vote by Hillshire shareholders. A Pinnacle representative didn't immediately return a call for comment. In a conference call with reporters, Tyson CEO Donnie Smith said he was confident the $63 offer would end up being worthwhile for Tyson shareholders, despite how high the price went. "Great brands like Jimmy Dean and Ball Park just don't become available very often," Smith said. Hillshire's stock closed at $36.95 on May 9, the day before the company announced the Pinnacle deal. Tyson, like Pilgrim's Pride, has been looking to boost its presence in brand-name, prepared foods like Jimmy Dean breakfast sandwiches. Those types of products are more profitable than fresh meat, such as chicken breasts, where there isn't as much wiggle room to pad prices. While Tyson and Pilgrim's Pride already sell some brand-name products, their businesses have been more focused on supplying supermarkets and restaurant chains. In particular, Tyson said it was drawn by Hillshire's stable of breakfast foods, which would better position it in the fast-growing category. Tyson also noted the potential for cost savings by combining suppl

  • [By Mr. TopStep]

    Overnight, the Asian markets closed modestly higher, and Europe is trading modestly lower. Today�� economic schedule starts with MBA purchase applications, Producer Price Index, Atlanta Fed business inflation expectations, Housing Market Index, EIA Petroleum Report and earnings from Agilent Technologies (NYSE:A), Macy�� (NYSE:M), Cisco Systems (Nasdaq:CSCO), and Pinnacle Foods (NYSE: PF).

  • [By Sue Chang and Ben Eisen]

    Hillshire Brands (HSH) �jumped more than 8.9% as potential buyers courted the food-maker. Pilgrim�� Pride Corp. (PPC) �said Tuesday it would boost its bid to $55 a share in cash, raising the stakes after Tyson Foods Inc. (TSN) �offered $50 a share last week. Pilgrim�� bid values the company at $7.7 billion, which is $1.3 billion more than its previous bid. Hillshire said it will hold talks with both bidders, but that it would not back away from its own plan to buy Pinnacle Foods Inc. (PF) .

  • [By Eric Volkman]

    Diamond's new hire was most recently CFO of privately held Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Company. Before that, he filled the same role with a number of firms, including Cott and Swift & Company. Silcock launched his career at Campbell Soup (NYSE: CPB  ) in 1979. He currently serves on the board of directors of Pinnacle Foods (NYSE: PF  ) .

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