The massive supply of natural gas that has resulted from new drilling technologies applied to U.S. shale fields over the past few years has been a boon not only to consumers who use gas for heating their homes, but also to a variety of companies, including chemical, steel and fertilizer manufacturers, for whom energy costs are substantial.
The U.S. has been inundated with so much cheap natural gas, in fact, that trucking companies are increasingly switching over to gas-powered engines for their fleets, while auto manufactures are offering hybrid vehicles that have the ability to burn both compressed natural gas and gasoline.
And now, the next logical step of the natural gas-fueled transformation of the transport industry -- gas-powered locomotives -- looks to be in its early stages.
U.S. railroads show interest in natural gas
Since the 1950s, U.S. locomotives have been powered mainly by diesel. But with the combination of relatively low natural gas prices and the threat of more stringent emissions standards for locomotives slated to take effect in 2015, many of the nation's biggest rail companies are reconsidering their traditional fuel of choice.
Top Trucking Stocks To Buy Right Now: Interactive Brokers Group Inc (IBKR)
Interactive Brokers Group, Inc. (IBG, Inc.) is a holding company. The Company is an automated global electronic broker and market maker specializing in routing orders and executing and processing trades in securities, futures, foreign exchange instruments, bonds and mutual funds on more than 100 electronic exchanges and trading venues worldwide. In the United States, it conducts its business in Greenwich, Connecticut, Chicago, Illinois and Jersey City, New Jersey. Abroad, the Company conducts business through offices located in Canada, England, Switzerland, Hong Kong, India, Australia and Japan. It operates in two segments: electronic brokerage and market making. As of December 31, 2011, the Company owned 11.5% in IBG LLC, the holding company for its businesses. The Company is the sole managing member of IBG LLC.
As a direct market access broker, the Company serves the customers of both traditional brokers and prime brokers. It provides its customers with order management, trade execution and portfolio management platform. Its customers can simultaneously access different financial markets worldwide and trade across multiple asset classes (stocks, options, futures, foreign exchange (forex), bonds and mutual funds) denominated in 17 different currencies, on one screen, from a single account based in any currency. Its bank and broker-dealer customers may white label its trading interface (make its trading interface available to their customers without referencing its name), or can select from among its modular functionalities, such as order routing, trade reporting or clearing on specific products or exchanges. During the year ended December 31, 2011, the Company introduced the Interactive Brokers Information System (IBIS). IBIS is a market information workspace, which provides subscribers with real-time market data, research, analytics, stock scanners, charts and alerts. As a market maker, the Company provides continuous bid and offer quotations on over 867,000 securities and futures produ! cts listed on electronic exchanges worldwide.
Electronic Brokerage-Interactive Brokers
During 2011, Electronic brokerage represented 50% of net revenues from electronic brokerage and market making combined. It conducts its electronic brokerage business through its Interactive Brokers (IB) subsidiaries. As an electronic broker, it executes, clears and settles trades worldwide for both institutional and individual customers.
The Company competes with TD Ameritrade, The Charles Schwab Corporation, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, Bank of America Merrill Lynch and Morgan Stanley Smith Barney.
Market Making-Timber Hill
During 2011, Market making represented 50% of net revenues from electronic brokerage and market making combined. The Company conducts its market making business through its Timber Hill (TH) subsidiaries. It provides liquidity by offering bid/offer spreads over a base of over 867,000 tradable, exchange-listed products, including equity derivative products, equity index derivative products, equity securities and futures. Together with its electronic brokerage customers, in 2011 it accounted for approximately 9.9% of exchange-listed equity options traded worldwide and approximately 10.1% of exchange-listed equity options volume traded on those markets in which it actively trades. The Company�� United States market making activities are conducted through Timber Hill LLC (TH LLC), a securities broker-dealer that conducts market making in equity derivative products, equity index derivative products and equity securities.
TH LLC is a member of the Boston Options Exchange, BATS exchange, Chicago Board Options Exchange, Chicago Mercantile Exchange, Chicago Board of Trade, International Securities Exchange, NYSE AMEX Options Exchange, NYSE Arca, OneChicago, NASDAQ OMX PHLX and the New York Mercantile Exchange. TH LLC also conducts market making activities in Mexico at the MEXDER and the Mexican Stock Exchange and in Brazil! at the S! ao Paulo Stock Exchange and the Brazilian Mercantile and Futures Exchange. The Company conducts market making activities in Canada through its Canadian subsidiary, Timber Hill Canada Company (THC) at the Toronto Stock Exchange and Montreal Exchange. In addition, it participates in stock trading at the Electronic Communications Networks (ECNs) in both the United States and Canada.
The Company�� European, Asian, and Australian market making subsidiaries, primarily Timber Hill Europe AG (THE), conducts operations in 20 countries, comprising the securities markets in these regions. Its other European operations are conducted on the London Stock Exchange; the Weiner Borse AG; the Copenhagen Stock Exchange; the Helsinki Stock Exchange; the NYSE Euronext exchanges in Amsterdam, Paris, Brussels and London; NASDAQ OMX Nordic in Sweden, Finland and Denmark; the Swedish Stock Exchange; the MEFF and Bolsa de Valores Madrid in Spain; the IDEM and Borsa Valori de Milano in Milan, and the OTOB in Vienna.
The Company competes with Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, UBS, Citigroup, Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Citadel, Susquehanna, Wolverine Trading, Group One Trading, Peak6 and Getco.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By victorselva]
The Charles Schwab Corporation (SCHW) is a savings and loan holding company. The company is engaged, through its subsidiaries, in securities brokerage, banking, money management, and financial advisory services. Its subsidiaries include Charles Schwab & Co. (a leading discount broker-dealer), Charles Schwab Investment Management (a mutual fund investment advisor) and Charles Schwab Bank.In this article, let's take a look at this brokerage firm and try to explain to investors the reasons this is an apparently appealing investment opportunity.The FocusThe company provides financial services to individuals and institutional clients through two segments: Investor Services and Institutional Services. The Investor Services segment provides retail brokerage and banking services to individual investors. The Institutional Services segment provides custodial, trading, and support services to independent investment advisors. The Institutional Services segment also provides retirement plan services, specialty brokerage services, and mutual fund clearing services. The company seeks to meet the financial services needs of investors, advisers and employers. It focuses on building client loyalty with the goal of attracting new clients and serving them. Additionally, Schwab麓s strengths through shared core processes and technology advances which help create services that are scalable and consistent with the business.Interest Rates, Capital Structure and Debt-to-Capital RatioThe results are dependent on short-term interest rates, as 37% of its top line came from net interest income in the first quarter of 2014.The broker has been making significant efforts to become less dependent on interest rates, which we expect Federal Reserve will raise them in late 2014 or 2015. Also, the company麓s plan is to reach a low-cost capital structure and targets a long-term debt-to-total financial capital ratio of less than 30%.Lucrative Derivatives Trading In 2011, the company acquired Compl
- [By Steve Sears]
Thomas Peterffy, the founder and chief of Interactive Brokers (IBKR), was around at the creation of the modern market. He was one of the first people on Wall Street to use computers to price stocks and options.
APAs one of the architects of the modern securities market, we reached out to him for insights into what can be done to make the securities markets more stable a day after problems at the Nasdaq Stock Market essentially shuttered the U.S. stock and options markets for about three hours. Nasdaq�� (NDAQ) chief, Bob Greifeld, told a reporter that Nasdaq�� systems, and those of the securities industry, need to be more robust.
There will be problems along the way, however.
��e should all recognize that computer systems are inherently complex and subject to failure,��Peterffy wrote in an email. ��his has always been plainly obvious to computer programmers but not so to the general public.��/p>
In an email, Peterffy offered what he called a few simple steps that could be taken to greatly reduce the vulnerability of the system:
1. Exchanges should examine and reject each order the execution of which would result in an invalid trade. But they do not want to do this because it would slow up trading and exchanges could possibly lose revenue.
2. Eliminate potential single points of failure. Broker/dealers and exchanges should have individual connections for all messages, so if any B/D or exchange fails the system continues to function.
3. Before Nasdaq was given the authority to consolidate and charge for quotations, B/Ds had built their own quote consolidation systems. Had that remained in place, yesterday’s issue would not have arisen. Nasdaq would have stopped trading but all other venues that list those stocks could have continued transmitting their prices and quotes to all their participants.
Shares of Nasdaq OMX Group have gained 0.4% to $30.58 today, while CME Group (CME) has fallen 1.1
- [By Matt Koppenheffer]
For Vanguard, the top-ranked online broker in the world according to this report, that's good news -- a happy customer is a loyal customer. It's likewise good news for competitors like TD AMERITRADE� (NYSE: AMTD ) -- which ranked No. 2 for its thinkorswim service and No. 8 for its main platform -- Charles Schwab� (NYSE: SCHW ) (No. 3), and�Interactive Brokers� (NASDAQ: IBKR ) (No. 4 for its U.S. operations, No. 5 for its offering in Germany).
Top 10 Trucking Companies For 2014: Sprint Corp (S&LS)
Sprint Corporation, incorporated on May 10, 2012, offers a range of wireless and wireline communications services to consumers, businesses and government users. On July 10, 2013, the Company, SoftBank Corp. and Sprint Nextel Corporation (Sprint Nextel) completed the merger. In the Merger, Sprint Corporation was merged into Sprint Nextel, New Sprint became the parent company of Sprint Nextel, with Sprint Nextel becoming its direct wholly owned subsidiary, and Sprint Nextel changed its name to Sprint Communications, Inc.
The Company develops, engineers and deploys technologies, including the first wireless fourth generation (4G) service from a national carrier in the United States; offering mobile data services, prepaid brands, including Virgin Mobile USA, Boost Mobile, and Assurance Wireless; instant national and international push-to-talk capabilities, and a global Tier 1 Internet Service. The Company also offers unlimited data services.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Holly LaFon]
Since Wilmers & Co. took over M&T Bank in 1983 the bank has acquired 23 banks and Savings and Loans (S&Ls) ��expanding from a single state to seven ��and assets have grown from $2 billion to $110 billion. M&T's branch count has grown from 60 to over 870. The bank currently boasts a customer base of over 2 million retail household customers and nearly 220,000 commercial customers.
Top 10 Trucking Companies For 2014: Financial Engines Inc.(FNGN)
Financial Engines, Inc. and its subsidiaries provide independent, technology-enabled portfolio management services, investment advice, and retirement income services to participants in employer-sponsored defined contribution plans. The company helps investors plan for retirement by offering personalized plans for saving and investing, as well as by providing assessments of retirement income needs and readiness. Its services include Professional Management, a discretionary managed account service designed for plan participants who want personalized and professional portfolio management services, investment advice, and retirement income services from an independent investment advisor; Online Advice, an Internet-based non-discretionary service that offers personalized advice to plan participants who manage their portfolios directly; and Retirement Evaluation, a retirement readiness assessment provided to plan participants upon plan rollout. The company delivers its services t o plan sponsors and plan participants primarily through connections to eight retirement plan providers in the United States. Financial Engines, Inc. was founded in 1996 and is headquartered in Palo Alto, California.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By GURUFOCUS]
Our biggest contributor this quarter was Financial Engines, Inc. (FNGN), which provides personalized independent investment management and advice to employees for their retirement plans. The stock rose 26.0%. Revenues grew an impressive 29% in the first quarter, driven by additional corporate clients, more employee participation and stock market appreciation. The company recently introduced "Income Plus" an alternative to "target date" fund offerings, which is being well received and opens up potential new growth opportunities.
- [By Ben Levisohn]
The iShares Russell 2000 ETF (IWM) has dropped 5.2% so far this year, while Mueller Industries (MLI), which has plunged 55%, Medidata Solutions (MDSO), which has plummeted 44%, Financial Engines (FNGN), which has slid 42%, and Isis Pharmaceuticals (ISIS), which has tumbled 42%, are the index’s biggest losers.
Top 10 Trucking Companies For 2014: IFM Investments Ltd (CTC)
IFM Investments Limited, incorporated on November 30, 2005, is a real estate services provider with the network of real estate sales offices in People�� Republic of China. The Company is the exclusive franchisor in People�� Republic of China for the CENTURY 21 brand As of December 31, 2012, its CENTURY 21 China network covered 27 cities. The Company operates under four business lines: Company-owned brokerage services, Primary and commercial services, mortgage management services and franchise services. As of December 31, 2012, the Company had approximately 321 Company-owned sales offices, representing approximately 34.7% of its CENTURY 21 China network. Its Company-owned brokerage services business owns and operates regional sub-franchisors and sales offices in the CENTURY 21 China network. The Company�� mortgage management services business provides mortgage advisory services to home buyers and home owners and interim guarantee services to commercial banks.
Company-owned Brokerage Services
As of December 31, 2012, the Company directly owns 318 CENTURY 21 sales offices located in Beijing, Shanghai and Shenzhen, cities in People�� Republic of China with a number of secondary market real estate transactions per year. Through its Company-owned brokerage services business, the Company participates in sales and leasing transactions primarily with respect to middle to high grade residential properties in the secondary real estate market. Its services include property listing, advisory services and transaction negotiation and documentation. The Company also promotes its mortgage management services to its customers to provide real estate brokerage services. It also participates in real estate sales and leasing transactions with respect to properties in the primary and commercial real estate markets. The Company operates its Company-owned brokerage services business under the CENTURY 21franchise network.
The Company competes with Centaline (China) Property Cons! ultants Limited Shanghai, Shenzhen and Chengdu.
Primary and commercial services
The Company�� primary and commercial services business consists of two business units, one that provides agency services to primary residential real estate developers and one that provides planning, consulting and brokerage services to commercial property developers. The Company generates revenues from its primary services by earning sales commissions from primary residential property developer clients, and it generate revenues from its commercial services by collecting service fees for consultancy services provided to commercial property developers.
The Company competes with World Union Properties Consulting Co., Limited and Syswin Inc., E-House (China) Holdings Limited, CB Richard Ellis and Jones Lang Lasalle.
Mortgage Management Services
The Company operates its mortgage management services as a separate segment under the brand of Kaisheng. Its mortgage management services include advisory services in connection with the selection and procurement of mortgage products offered by commercial banks. Its mortgage consultants promote and introduce various mortgage products, and advise home buyers or home owners in the selection of the appropriate mortgage product based on each mortgagor�� individual needs. The Company also has a call center in Shanghai to promote its mortgage management services business directly to its customers. The Company also provides mortgage management services to customers outside of its CENTURY 21 China network.
The Company competes with Beijing Houze Investment, Guarantee Company Limited and Shanghai Haoyonghang Investment Management Company Limited.
Franchise Services
The Company�� franchise network consists of three levels of franchise rights. First, through IFM Company Limited (IFM Co.), its wholly owned subsidiary, the Company is the exclusive franchisor for the CENTURY 21 brand in China. ! IFM Co. i! n-turn grants the right to franchise the CENTURY 21 brand within specific geographical regions to sub-franchisors whom the Company refers to as regional sub-franchisors. As of December 31, 2012, the Company had 25 regional sub-franchisors with franchise networks in 27 cities in People�� Republic of China with a total of 924 franchised sales offices. Second, each regional sub-franchisor pays the Company ongoing service fees based on its revenue from the sales offices within its respective region, subject to minimum service fee requirements. In addition to generating revenue from its regional sub-franchisors, the Company leverages the geographic breadth and local market expertise of its CENTURY 21 franchise network.
The Company competes with Coldwell Banker.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Eric Lam]
With 12 REIT IPOs in Canada since the beginning of 2012 and at least another coming from retailer Canadian Tire Corp. (CTC) in the near future, Taylor said the market has become saturated.
Top 10 Trucking Companies For 2014: CubeSmart (CUBE)
CubeSmart, incorporated on July 26, 2004, is a self-managed real estate company focused primarily on the ownership, operation, management, acquisition and development of self-storage facilities in the United States of America. As of December 31, 2012, the Company owned 381 self-storage facilities located in 22 states and in the District of Columbia. It owns, operates, develops, manages and acquires self-storage facilities. The Company owns all of its assets and conducts its operations through CubeSmart, L.P. (the Operating Partnership). The Company is the sole general partner of the Operating Partnership and, as of December 31, 2012, owned an approximately 97.6% interest in the Operating Partnership.
As of December 31, 2012, the Company owned 381 and 370 facilities, respectively, that contained an aggregate of 25.5 million and 24.4 million rentable square feet with occupancy rates of 84.4% and 78.4%, respectively. In addition, as of December 31, 2012, the Company managed 133 properties for third parties bringing the total number of properties which it owned and/or managed to 541. As of December 31, 2012, approximately 84.4% of the rentable square footage at its owned facilities was leased to approximately 182,000 tenants. As of December 31, 2012, CubeSmart had facilities in the District of Columbia and 27 states: Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas , California, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, and Virginia.
The Company�� self-storage facilities are designed for its residential and commercial customers. Its customers rent storage cubes for their use, on a month-to-month basis. Its facilities are designed to accommodate both residential and commercial customers with features, such as security systems and wide aisles and load-bearing capabilities for truck access. All ! of its facilities have an on-site manager during business hours, and 256, or approximately 67%, of its facilities have a manager who resides in an apartment at the facility. Its customers can access their storage units during business hours, and some of its facilities provide customers with round the clock access through computer controlled access systems. Approximately 76% of its facilities include climate controlled units.
The Company competes with Public Storage, Sovran Self Storage and Extra Space Storage Inc.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Marc Bastow]
Self-storage facilities real estate investment trust (REIT) operator CubeSmart (CUBE) raised its quarterly dividend 18% to 13 cents per share, payable on Jan. 15 to shareholders of record as of Jan. 2.
YSI Dividend Yield: 3.2%
Top 10 Trucking Companies For 2014: Westpac Banking Corp (WEBNF)
Westpac Banking Corporation is a banking company. It operates through three divisions: Australian Financial Services (AFS), Westpac Institutional Bank (WIB) and Westpac New Zealand. AFS consists of Westpac�� retail and business banking operations in Australia, and includes Westpac Retail & Business Banking (Westpac RBB), St.George Banking Group and BT Financial Group Australia (BFTG). Westpac RBB is responsible for sales and service for consumer, small-to-medium enterprise customers and commercial customers under the Westpac brands. St.George is responsible for sales, and service for its consumer, business and corporate customers in Australia under brands, such as St.George and BankSA. BTFG is Westpac�� Australian wealth management division. In January 2014, the Company completed the acquisition of Lloyds Banking Group Plc�� Australian asset finance business, Capital Finance Australia Limited, and its Australian corporate loan portfolio, BOS International (Australia) Ltd. Advisors' Opinion:- [By MARKETWATCH]
LOS ANGELES (MarketWatch) -- Australian stocks advanced Tuesday, as gains in market heavyweight BHP Billiton Ltd. helped push the equity benchmark toward its sixth consecutive win. The S&P/ASX 200 index (AU:XJO) rose 0.2% to 5,364.90 on strength in the mining group after BHP Billiton (AU:BHP) (BHP) raised its fiscal-year forecast for iron-ore production to 212 million metric tons following record output from its mining site in Australia's Pilbara region. BHP shares climbed 1.7%, iron-ore producer Fortescue Metals Group Ltd. (AU:FMG) (FSUMF) rose 0.9% and Rio Tinto Ltd. (AU:RIO) (RIO) picked up 0.4%. Finance issues mostly higher as well, with Westpac Banking Corp. (AU:WBC) (WEBNF) up 0.6%. But underperforming the benchmark were shares of David Jones Ltd. (AU:DJS) (DVDJF) , down 2.8% after the upscale retailer unexpectedly said late Monday its Chief Executive Paul Zahra plans to step down after three years in the position.
- [By MARKETWATCH]
LOS ANGELES (MarketWatch) -- Australian stocks inched lower in early Friday trade, with the S&P/ASX 200 (AU:XJO) down 0.1% at 5,322.00, with weakness in miners outweighing mild strength in financials. Shares of BHP Billiton Ltd. (AU:BHP) (BHP) and Rio Tinto Ltd. (AU:RIO) (RIO) fell 1.4% apiece, while Fortescue Metals Group Ltd. (AU:FMG) (FSUMF) lost 2.2% and gold miner Evolution Mining Ltd. (AU:EVN) (CAHPF) lost 0.8%, after copper prices fell to two-week lows and Chinese steel futures also lost ground, according to Reuters. The sector could react to Chinese trade data due out later in the day, as China remains a top market for Australian commodities. Stock in Alumina Ltd. (AU:AWC) (AWCMF) retreated 2.6% after its U.S. partner Alcoa Inc. (AA) posted a quarterly loss. On the upside, the big four banks all traded higher, with Commonwealth Bank of Australia (AU:CBA) (CBAUF) up 0.1%, National Australia Bank Ltd. (AU:NAB) (NAUBF) rising 0.2%, Westpac Banking Corp. (AU:WBC) (WEBN
- [By Daniel Inman]
Earnings season continued in Australia as Westpac Banking Corp. (AU:WBC) � (WEBNF) �fell 1.2% after the country�� second-largest bank by market value reported lower-than-expected revenue, offsetting a cash profit that exceeded forecasts.
Top 10 Trucking Companies For 2014: Ebix Inc(EBIX)
Ebix, Inc. provides on-demand software and e-commerce solutions to the insurance industry. The company operates data exchanges, which connects multiple entities within the insurance markets and enables the participant to carry and process data from one end to another in the areas of life insurance, annuities, employee health benefits, risk management, workers compensation, and property and casualty (P&C) insurance. It is also involved in designing and deploying broker systems comprising three back-end systems consisting of eGlobal for multinational P&C insurance brokers; WinBeat for P&C brokers in the Australian and New Zealand markets; and EbixASP for the P&C insurance brokers in the United States. In addition, the company offers business process outsourcing services, which include certificate origination, certificate tracking, claims adjudication call center, and back office support. Further, it focuses on designing and deploying on-demand and back-end carrier systems, s uch as Ebix Advantage and Ebix Advantageweb targeted at small, medium, and large P&C carriers in the United States and internationally that operate in the personal, commercial, and specialty line areas of insurance. Additionally, Ebix, Inc. provides software development, customization, and consulting services to various companies in the insurance industry, such as carriers, brokers, exchanges, and standard making bodies. The company was formerly known as Delphi Systems, Inc. and changed its name to Ebix, Inc. in December 2003. Ebix, Inc. was founded in 1976 and is headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By John Udovich]
Small cap NASDAQ stocks Vera Bradley, Inc (NASDAQ: VRA), Ebix Inc (NASDAQ: EBIX) and Synta Pharmaceuticals Corp. (NASDAQ: SNTA) had the highest short interest as of late September according to HighShortInterest.com with short interest of 57.46%, 52.28% and 47.09%, respectively. However, shorting a stock can be a dangerous business as the bears can and do sometimes get mauled by the bulls. With that in mind, let�� take a look at why the bulls or the bears may be right or wrong about these three shorted small cap stocks:�
- [By Dan Caplinger]
The next question for the market depends on whether adverse market conditions lead to changes in strategic thinking. We've already seen one victim of that change: Insurance software and services provider Ebix (NASDAQ: EBIX ) plunged more than 40% after investment firm Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS) canceled a planned merger with a Goldman affiliate. M&A activity has increased recently, but falling markets often lead to fewer mergers actually going through and can also lead to reductions in IPOs coming to market as well. That's bad news for Goldman as well, which relies on underwriting such deals.
- [By John Huber]
Dell (DELL) and Ebix (EBIX) are two stocks that I've been following for some time. Both have shown up in Joel Greenblatt's screen for months, and I've considered both to be potential investment candidates. Both have CEO's with large ownership stakes, both have negative sentiment surrounding the stock (for different reasons), both look cheap using basic value metrics, and both have traded above their deal price, signaling the market might expect a higher bid.
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