Tuesday, October 14, 2014

Top 10 Services Companies To Watch For 2014

With shares of JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE:JPM) trading around $57, is JPM an OUTPERFORM, WAIT AND SEE, or STAY AWAY? Let�� analyze the stock with the relevant sections of our CHEAT SHEET investing framework:

T = Trends for a Stock’s Movement

JPMorgan Chase is a financial holding company that provides various financial services worldwide. The company is engaged in investment banking, financial services for consumers and small businesses, commercial banking, financial transaction processing, asset management, and private equity. Financial services companies like JPMorgan Chase are essential for well-functioning economies around the world

JPMorgan Chase announced a $13 billion settlement with the U.S. Department of Justice on Tuesday. The $13 billion sum is a record fine paid by a company to the federal government, but the settlement is also significant because it does not absolve the bank or its employees from any possible criminal charges. The Justice Department said that JPMorgan�� toxic mortgages contributed greatly to the financial crisis and that JPMorgan employees knew they were selling mortgages to investors that did not meet guidelines.

5 Best Japanese Stocks To Own For 2015: International Flavors & Fragrances Inc (IFF)

International Flavors & Fragrances Inc. (IFF), incorporated on December 6, 1909, creates, manufactures and supplies flavors and fragrances for the food, beverage, personal care and household products industries. The Company operates in two business segments: Flavors and Fragrances. Its Flavors business includes four categories of products: Savory, Beverages, Sweet, pharmaceutical and oral care (Sweet), and Dairy. Its Fragrances business consists of Fragrance Compounds and Fragrance Ingredients. The Company has 29 manufacturing sites around the world that support more than 36,000 products. Its manufacturing facilities are located in the United States, the Netherlands, Spain, Great Britain, Argentina, Brazil, Mexico, Australia, China, India, Indonesia, Japan and Singapore. In January 2014, International Flavors & Fragrances Inc. completed the acquisition of Aromor Flavors and Fragrances Ltd.

Flavors

The Company�� Flavors business is regional in nature, with different formulas that reflect local taste and ingredients. It produces flavors, which are used in soups, sauces, condiments, prepared meals, meat and poultry, and potato chips and other savory snacks. The Company creates flavors for juice drinks, carbonated beverages, flavored waters and spirits. The Company creates flavor concepts and heat-stable flavors for bakery products, as well as candy, chewing gum and cereal. For pharmaceutical and oral care products, it produces flavors for products, such as toothpaste and mouthwash and to create flavors that work while masking the active ingredients. The Company offers a range of value-added compounded flavors for all dairy applications, including yogurt, ice cream, cheese, cream and butter flavor. The Company also offers a range of vanilla extracts and a variety of flavor solutions that build on its understanding of vanilla. It is also developing flavor profiles in its CulinEssence program to bring culinary flavors to its customers.

Fragrances

The ! Company within its Beauty Care product line provides its customers products in the hair care, toiletries and skincare categories. The Company has three subcategories of products, in which its fragrances are included Fabric Care, including laundry detergents, fabric softeners and specialty laundry products; Personal Wash, including bar soap and shower gel, and Home Care, including household cleaners, dishwashing detergents and air fresheners. It manufactures fragrance ingredients for internal use by its perfumers in its Fragrances business and for external use by its customers and other third parties, including its competitors. The Company manufactures its ingredients through its global network of production facilities.

The Company competes with Givaudan, Firmenich and Symrise.

Advisors' Opinion:
  • [By Seth Jayson]

    When judging a company's prospects, how quickly it turns cash outflows into cash inflows can be just as important as how much profit it's booking in the accounting fantasy world we call "earnings." This is one of the first metrics I check when I'm hunting for the market's best stocks. Today, we'll see how it applies to International Flavors & Fragrances (NYSE: IFF  ) .

Top 10 Services Companies To Watch For 2014: Community Health Systems Inc (CYH)

Community Health Systems, Inc., incorporated on June 6, 1996, is an operator of hospitals in the United States. The Company provides healthcare services through the hospitals that it owns and operates in non-urban and selected urban markets throughout the United States. As of December 31, 2012, the Company owned or leased 135 hospitals, Consisting of 131 general acute care hospitals and four standalone rehabilitation or psychiatric hospitals. These hospitals are geographically diversified across 29 states, with an aggregate of 20,334 licensed beds. The Company provides a range of general and specialized hospital healthcare services and other outpatient services to patients in the communities in which the Company are located. Services provided through its hospitals and affiliated businesses include general acute care, emergency room, general and specialty surgery, critical care, internal medicine, obstetrics, diagnostic, psychiatric and rehabilitation services. On March 1, 2012, the Company acquired MetroSouth Medical Center in Blue Island, Illinois. On July 1, 2012, the Company�� subsidiaries acquired all of the assets of Memorial Health Systems in York, Pennsylvania.

Effective January 1, 2012, the Company completed the acquisition of Moses Taylor Healthcare System based in Scranton, Pennsylvania, which is a healthcare system comprised of two acute care hospitals and other healthcare providers. This healthcare system includes Moses Taylor Hospital (217 licensed beds) located in Scranton, Pennsylvania, and Mid-Valley Hospital (25 licensed beds) located in Peckville, Pennsylvania. Effective March 5, 2012, the Company completed a merger with Diagnostic Clinic of Longview, P.A., which is a multi-specialty clinic serving residents of Longview, Texas and surrounding East Texas communities. This healthcare system includes Memorial Hospital (100 licensed beds), the Surgical Center of York, and other outpatient and ancillary services.

The Company provides outpatient services at urg! ent care centers, occupational medicine clinics, imaging centers, cancer centers, ambulatory surgery centers and home health and hospice agencies. In addition to its hospitals and related businesses, the Company also own and operate 64 licensed home care agencies and 31 licensed hospice agencies, located primarily in markets where the Company also operate a hospital. Also, through its wholly owned subsidiary, Quorum Health Resources, LLC, or QHR, the Company provides management and consulting services to non-affiliated general acute care hospitals located throughout the United States.

Advisors' Opinion:
  • [By Lauren Pollock]

    Community Health Systems Inc.(CYH) somewhat tempered the hospital company’s 2013 revenue expectations, citing a greater than expected deterioration in overall volume during the last quarter, partly hurt by a softer flu season.

  • [By Tom Lydon]

    Top holdings based on the index include Acadia Healthcare Companies (ACHC), Amsurg Corporation (AMSG), Brookdale Senior Living (BKD), Clarcor (CLC) and Community Health Systems (CYH).

Top 10 Services Companies To Watch For 2014: Ameresco Inc (AMRC)

Ameresco, Inc. incorporated in April 2000, is a provider of energy efficiency solutions for facilities throughout North America. The Company�� services include upgrades to a facility's energy infrastructure and the construction and operation of small-scale renewable energy plants. Its principal service is the development, design, engineering and installation of projects that reduce the energy and operations and maintenance (O&M) costs of its customers' facilities. These projects include a variety of measures customized for the facility and designed to improve the efficiency of major building systems, such as heating, ventilation, air conditioning and lighting systems. It also serves certain customers by developing and building small-scale renewable energy plants located at or close to a customer's site. Ameresco, Inc. provides its services primarily to governmental, educational, utility, healthcare and other institutional, commercial and industrial entities. The Company operates in four segments: U.S. federal, central U.S. region, other U.S. regions and Canada. In August 2011, the Company acquired APS Energy Services Company, Inc. from Pinnacle West Capital Corporation. In December 2011, it acquired the xChange Point and energy projects businesses, including automated demand response, of Energy and Power Solutions, Inc. In August 2012, the Company acquired FAME Facility Software Solutions Inc. In February 2013, it purchased all of the assets of Ennovate Corporation. In June 2013, Ameresco Inc acquired ESP, an energy management consulting company consisting of the Energy Services Partnership and ESP Response, located in Castleford, United Kingdom.

Ameresco, Inc. offers a set of services that includes the design and installation of upgrades to a facility�� energy infrastructure, the design and construction of renewable energy plants, the sale of other renewable energy products and the arranging of financing for customer projects. In September 2010, the Company acquired Quantum Engineer! ing and Development, Inc. In July 2011, the Company acquired Applied Energy Group.

Energy Efficiency Services

The Company�� services includes the design, engineering and installation of, and the arranging of financing for, equipment to improve the efficiency, and control the operation, of a building�� heating, ventilation, cooling and lighting systems. In certain projects, it also designs and constructs a central plant or cogeneration system providing power, heat and/or cooling to a building. Its projects generally range in size and scope from a one-month project to design and retrofit a lighting system to a more complex 30-month project to design and install a central plant or cogeneration system.

Renewable Energy Projects and Products

The Company�� services offering includes the development, construction and operation of, and the arrangement of financing for, small-scale renewable energy plants, as well as the sale and integration of solar energy products and systems. It has constructed and is designing and constructing a range of renewable energy plants using landfill gas (LFG), wastewater treatment biogas, solar, wind, biomass, food waste, animal waste and hydro sources of energy. As part of its renewable energy offering, it also distributes and integrates solar energy products manufactured by several vendors. Ameresco, Inc. is a distributor of photovoltaic (PV) panels, solar regulators, solar charge controllers, inverters, solar powered lighting systems, solar powered water pumps, solar panel mounting hardware and other system components. It also integrates its PV products and system components into solar solutions designed specifically for customers. It provides solar energy solutions for both on- grid applications where the solar power is used in a building connected to a utility distribution system, and for off-grid applications where the power is used directly in the device using the electricity, such as traffic signs.

Amere! sco, Inc.! also designs and constructs renewable energy plants based on wind power. In many parts of the country, available wind resources, utility net metering and local incentives can make on-site wind generation a viable solution for meeting a portion of customers' energy needs. As of December 31, 2010, the Company had completed two projects that included a wind turbine. In addition, it has constructed and was constructing, small-scale renewable energy plants based on biomass.

As of December 31, 2010, Ameresco, Inc. had constructed more than 28 renewable energy projects, and owned and operated 22 small-scale renewable energy plants. Of the owned plants, 19 are renewable LFG plants, two are waste water biogas plants and one is a solar PV installation. These 22 small-scale renewable energy plants have the capacity to generate electricity or deliver LFG producing an aggregate of 106 megawatts (MW) or megawatt-equivalents (MWE). As of December 31, 2010, the Company had signed contracts for the construction, operation and ownership of an additional six LFG plants, two biomass power and cogeneration plants and five biomass boiler projects.

The Company competes with Chevron Energy Solutions, Constellation Energy, Honeywell, Johnson Controls, Siemens Building Technologies and TAC Energy Solutions.

Advisors' Opinion:
  • [By Brian Pacampara]

    Based on the aggregated intelligence of 180,000-plus investors participating in Motley Fool CAPS, the Fool's free investing community, energy efficiency technologist Ameresco (NYSE: AMRC  ) has earned a coveted five-star ranking.

  • [By Sara Murphy]

    Ameresco (NYSE: AMRC  ) is one of the few large, independent energy efficiency service providers. The company's principal service is the development, design, engineering and installation of projects that reduce the energy and operations and maintenance costs of its customers' facilities. Ameresco has seen declining revenues recently because of unusually long lag times in getting its projects funded, but this seems a temporary setback.

Top 10 Services Companies To Watch For 2014: NetSpend Holdings Inc.(NTSP)

Netspend Holdings, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, provides general purpose reloadable (GPR) prepaid debit and payroll cards, and alternative financial service solutions to underbanked and other consumers in the United States. Its GPR cards offer access to FDIC-insured depository accounts with a menu of pricing and features tailored to underbanked consumers needs; and serves as access devices to an FDIC-insured depository account with a bank. The company also provides various products and services to its cardholders, such as direct deposit, interest-bearing savings accounts, bill pay functionality, card-to-card transfer capability, personal financial management tools, and online and mobile phone card account access, as well as overdraft protection through its issuing Banks, and complimentary insurance coverage services. Netspend Holdings, Inc. markets its cards through various distribution channels, including retail distributors, direct-to-consumer and online marketi ng programs, and contractual relationships with corporate employers. As of December 31, 2011, it offered approximately 2.1 million active cards through approximately 600 retail distributors at approximately 40,000 locations; and reload services through approximately 450 retailers at approximately 130,000 locations. The company was founded in 1999 and is based in Austin, Texas.

Advisors' Opinion:
  • [By Jane Edmondson]

    One additional item of note: the stock has been a rumored take-out candidate since another large competitor, NetSpend (NTSP), received an offer to be acquired in February by global payment solutions provider TSYS (TSS).

Top 10 Services Companies To Watch For 2014: Osage Exploration and Development Inc (OEDV)

Osage Exploration and Development, Inc. (Osage) is an oil and natural gas exploration and production company with reserves and production in the country of Colombia and the state of Oklahoma. The Company�� pipeline is located in Colombia. The Companys focuses on developing its 28,000-acre Horizontal Mississippian block along the Nemaha Ridge in Logan County, Oklahoma, with their partners Slawson Exploration, and U.S. Energy Development Corp. The Company generates oil sales from its production operations in Colombia and in the state of Oklahoma and pipeline revenues from its Cimarrona property in Colombia. During the year ended December 31, 2011, the Company drilled two salt water disposal wells and commenced drilling the Wolfe#1-29H, the Company�� horizontal Mississippian well in Logan County, Oklahoma. In January 2012, the Company began drilling the Krittenbrink 2-36H, the Company�� second well in Logan County.

The Company�� subsidiary, Cimarrona LLC, owns a 9.4% interest in certain oil and gas assets in the Guaduas field, located in the Dindal and Rio Seco Blocks that consist of 21 wells, of which seven are producing, that covers 30,665-acres in the Middle Magdalena Valley in Colombia, as well as a pipeline with a capacity of approximately 30,000 barrels of oil per day. The Cimarrona property, but not the pipeline, is subject to an Ecopetrol Association Contract (the Association Contract) whereby the Company pays Ecopetrol S.A. (Ecopetrol) royalties of 20% of the oil produced.

The Company has acquired oil and gas leases in Logan County, Oklahoma targeting the Mississippian formation. The Mississippian formation is located on the Anadarko Shelf in northern Oklahoma and south-central Kansas. The top of this expansive carbonate hydrocarbon system is encountered between 4,000 and 6,000 feet and lies stratigraphically between the Pennsylvanian-aged Morrow Sand and the Devonian-aged Woodford Shale formations. The Mississippian formation reach 600 feet in gross thickness a! nd the targeted porosity zone is between 50 and 300 feet in thickness. The Company owns 100% of the working interest in certain producing oil and natural gas leases located in Osage County, Oklahoma (Hopper Property). The Property consists of 23 wells, 10 of which are producing wells, on 480 acres.

Advisors' Opinion:
  • [By CRWE]

    Today, OEDV surged (+1.96%) up +0.03 at $1.56 with 178,129 shares in play thus far (ref. google finance Delayed: 12:28PM EDT August 30, 2013).

    Osage Exploration and Development, Inc. previously reported preliminary production results on the Mallard 1-16H Horizontal Mississippian well in Logan County, Oklahoma. The well, located in Section 16-17N-3W, achieved a 24-hour peak initial production rate of 705 barrels of oil plus associated natural gas on an electric submersible pump and a 48/64��choke.

  • [By CRWE]

    Today, OEDV surged (+6.78%) up +0.08 at $1.26 with 39,220 shares in play thus far (ref. google finance Delayed: 11:56AM EDT August 22, 2013).

    Osage Exploration and Development, Inc. previously reported financial results for the three months ended June 30, 2013 and provided an update on field operations. For the quarter, the Company reported a 75.8% increase in revenues of $2.4 million compared to the same period in 2012, and operating income of $1.2 million versus a loss of $274,563 for the period ending June 30, 2012.

    Osage participated in drilling ten wells during the second quarter, bringing the total number of wells in which Osage has an interest to twenty-nine as of June 30, 2013. Additionally, the Company reported average daily production roughly in-line with first quarter production.

Top 10 Services Companies To Watch For 2014: CafePress Inc (PRSS)

CafePress Inc. (CafePress), incorporated on October 15, 1999, is an e-commerce platform enabling customers globally to create, buy and sell a range of customized and personalized products. It serves its customers, including both consumers and content owners, through its portfolio of e-commerce Websites, including its Website, CafePress.com. Its consumers include individuals, groups, businesses and organizations. These products include clothing and accessories, art and posters, stickers, home accents and stationery. Its content owners include individual designers, as well as artists and branded content licensors. During the year ended December 31, 2011, it shipped over 7.8 million products from a catalog of over 320 million products. It operates a portfolio of branded Websites, including CafePress.com, and enable resellers and co-branded websites to design and customize products, which target specific consumers, products and use cases, or to provide their customers with product customization capabilities. During 2011, it had nearly 130,000 new images uploaded to its retail e-commerce Websites on average per week. In October 2011, the Company acquired L&S Retail Ventures, Inc. In April 2012, it acquired all of the assets of Logo'd Softwear, Inc. On October 25, 2012, the Company acquired EZ Prints, Inc.

The Company generates revenues from sales of customized products through its e-commerce Websites and associated charges. In addition, it generates revenues from fulfillment services, including print and production services provided to third parties. Consumers purchase customized products directly from Website or through storefronts hosted by CafePress. Customized products include user-designed products, as well as products designed by its content owners. The Company�� services evolved into a platform consist of front-end design and sales channels, and back-end services platform. Its e-commerce Websites and sales channels include CafePress.com, CanvasOnDemand.com, Imagekind.com, GreatBigCanv! as.com, InvitationBox.com, CafePress content owners, branded product manufacturers, other retailers and distributed sales. CanvasOnDemand.com takes photographs and transforms them into canvas artwork. Imagekind.com is where consumers can find artwork by independent artists that can be produced on posters, canvases and framed wall art. GreatBigCanvas.com is a provider of canvas wall art and panoramic canvas photographs. InvitationBox.com is an online provider of stationery products, including invitations, announcements and other products and gifts.

Content owners, including designers, artists, small businesses, groups, clubs and organizations, use the Company�� e-commerce platform to design their own products and sell them through their own hosted e-commerce shop. In addition to such individual content owners, entertainment and publishing companies also license to its materials related to their products for creation of their own shops, online store experiences appearing embedded in their Websites but hosted by it, or for sale directly by it in its marketplaces. By supplying custom design tools and manufacturing services, it enables product manufacturers, such as Sigg and TomTom to offer customized designs on their products. It supplies distributors and resellers with short-run and quick-turn custom printed products. Its back-end services form a platform consisting of the components, which can be used to create front-end buyer and seller experiences, which include user-generated content, licensed fan content, design tools, shops, print/production and fulfillment. Content owners sell their own custom merchandise using its turn-key shops platform, which includes hosting, payment processing, marketing services, fulfillment and customer service. The Company offers users printing on over 600 product stock keeping units (SKUs). It processes and ship orders within three business days after a customer places an order and in many instances can ship orders within 24 hours after an order is placed.

!

Merchandise Assortment

Users visiting one of the Company e-commerce Websites can select from over 600 SKUs of merchandise to customize. Its merchandise catalog includes clothing and accessories, which include t-shirts, sweatshirts, baby products, bags and hats; arts, posters and signs, which include posters, framed art, canvas art, wall decals and signs; stickers and flair, which include stickers, buttons and device cases; home ascents, which include mugs, water bottles and clocks, and stationery, such as business cards, invitations, calendars and journals.

Online Designers

The Company�� portfolio of e-commerce Websites are designed to make product customization simple and easy. Once a product has been selected, users can perform a range of design and editing functions, including uploading their own designs and photos; adding text; adding stock art; scaling and rotating images to fit products; repositioning product elements using conventional and intuitive drag-and-drop functionality; changing fonts or font characteristics, and changing color schemes.

Shops

The Company�� shops platform allows users to sell and market their designed merchandise to their own communities. In addition to customizing the products that they sell, content owners may also customize the look and feel of shops, through which they sell their products. It provides a range of tools to help users market and manage their stores, including basic search engine optimization, e-mail list management and real-time sales reports.

Design, sales and customer service support

The Company is providing customer service, including phone, e-mail and chat support. Its support centers also offer design support to members customizing their own items receive finished products.

The Company competes with Amazon.com, eBay, Etsy, CustomInk, Spreadshirt, Threadless, Zazzle, VistaPrint and Shutterfly.

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

    www.fossil.com From the world's largest retailer stepping up with fresh financials to a maker of fashionable timepieces proving that it can still grow in this unwelcome climate for watchmakers, here are some of the things that will help shape the week that lies ahead on Wall Street. Monday -- Sounds Good DTS (DTSI) has carved a cozy living providing sound-enhancing technology in Blu-ray players, video game consoles and other devices. Despite its success, DTS is trading a lot closer to its 52-week low than its 52-week high. One thing holding it back is that it has failed to impress the market with its quarterly financials. It's coming off back-to-back quarters of falling short of Wall Street's profit expectations. It's against this setting that DTS will step up after Monday's market close to deliver its latest results. Will the streak of disappointment stretch to three quarters, or is DTS finally going to put out a report that looks as good as its audio technology sounds? We will know soon. Tuesday -- Fossil Fuel Fossil (FOSL) may seem to be toiling away in an industry worthy of its name. Aren't wristwatches dinosaurs? Who wears watches anymore when we have smartwatches to tell us the time. Folks with active lifestyles are saving their wrists for fitness bracelets. Well, Fossil is growing just nicely in this environment, thank you very much. When the trendy watchmaker reports on Tuesday analysts see revenue climbing 13 percent. They see top-line growth of 10 percent for all of 2014. Fossil's profitability isn't expected to clock in as nicely, but unlike DTS,we've seen Fossil blow Wall Street's profit targets away consistently over the past year. Wednesday -- Press Hard CafePress (PRSS) has been a disappointment for investors since going public at $19 two years ago. The stock opened higher on its first day of trading, but it's been mostly downhill for the shares, which now fetch less than a third of the initial public offering price. CafePress was hoping

  • [By CRWE]

    CafePress Inc. (Nasdaq:PRSS), The World’s Customization EngineTM, reported an expansion of its longstanding partnership with National Geographic, one of the world’s largest nonprofit scientific and educational organizations, with the launch of a new art shop, bringing its legendary photography collection to life on canvas and framed art pieces.

Top 10 Services Companies To Watch For 2014: EQT Midstream Partners LP (EQM)

EQT Midstream Partners, LP owns, operates, acquires and develops midstream assets in the Appalachian Basin. The Company provides substantially all of its natural gas transmission, storage and gathering services under contracts with fixed reservation and/or usage fees. The Company focuses its operations in the Marcellus Shale fairway in southern Pennsylvania and northern West Virginia. It provides midstream services to EQT Corporation in the Appalachian Basin across 22 counties in Pennsylvania and West Virginia through its two primary assets: its transmission and storage system, which serves as a header system transmission pipeline, and its gathering system, which delivers natural gas from wells and other receipt points to transmission pipelines.

Equitrans Transmission and Storage System

As of December 31, 2011, the Company�� transmission and storage system included an approximately 700 mile FERC-regulated interstate pipeline system that connects to five interstate pipelines and multiple distribution companies, and it is supported by 14 associated natural gas storage reservoirs with approximately 400 million cubic feet per day of peak withdrawal capability and 32 billion cubic feet of working gas capacity. As of December 31, 2011, its transmission assets had total throughput capacity of approximately 1.0 trillion British thermal units per day.

Equitrans Gathering System

The Company�� gathering system consists of approximately 2,100 miles of FERC-regulated low-pressure gathering lines that have multiple delivery interconnects with its transmission and storage system and a gathering and interstate pipeline system owned and operated by Dominion Transmission, Inc.

Advisors' Opinion:
  • [By Lee Jackson]

    EQT Midstream Partners L.P. (NYSE: EQM) has everything the Oppenheimer team is looking for: low-risk, fee-based contracts in an attractive region, low financial leverage, high distribution growth and coverage and a supportive parent with assets to sell. Oppenheimer has a $55 price target for the stock. The Thomson/First Call estimate is at $54. Investors are paid a 3.4% distribution which Oppenheimer thinks may grow to 4.3% in 2014. Remember, MLP distributions may include return of principal.

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