Friday, November 21, 2014

Top 5 Consumer Service Companies To Invest In Right Now

Although Canada�� economic growth is forecast to outpace the US this year, just as it did last year, economists��expectations have recently diminished. Still, the latest numbers from Canada�� wholesale sector showed surprising strength in May, which could mean second-quarter growth reaccelerated after a disappointing April (the national accounts for May will be released at the end of this month).

According to Statistics Canada (StatCan) wholesale trade numbers blew past projections in May, rising 2.2 percent, to CAD52.6 billion, which was an all-time high for the sector.

By contrast, economists had forecast an increase of just 0.6 percent. The prior month�� result was also revised higher by two-tenths of a percentage point, for growth of 1.4 percent.

The auto sector accounted for most of the gain, with sales of motor vehicles up 9.8 percent month over month, to CAD6.9 billion, or 13.2 percent of total wholesale trade. Motor vehicle sales have risen 9.0 percent year over year.

Top 5 Gas Companies To Watch For 2015: Clean Energy Fuels Corp.(CLNE)

Clean Energy Fuels Corp., together with its subsidiaries, provides natural gas as an alternative fuel for vehicle fleets in the United States and Canada. The company designs, builds, operates, and maintains fueling stations, as well as supplies compressed natural gas (CNG) and liquefied natural gas (LNG) fuel for medium and heavy-duty vehicles. Its CNG is used in automobiles, light to medium-duty vehicles, refuse trucks, and transit buses as an alternative to gasoline and diesel. The company also sells non-lubricated natural gas compressors and related equipment used in CNG and LNG stations; and produces renewable natural gas, which is used as vehicle fuel or sold for power generation. In addition, it offers vehicle finance services for the purchase of natural gas vehicles, as well as for the conversion of gasoline or diesel powered vehicles to operate on natural gas. Further, the company provides natural gas conversions, alternative fuel systems, application engineering, service and warranty support, and research and development services for natural gas vehicles. As of December 31, 2011, it served approximately 530 fleet customers with approximately 25,000 natural gas vehicles; and owned, operated, or supplied 273 natural gas fueling stations in 23 states within the United States, and British Columbia and Ontario within Canada, as well as in Peru. Clean Energy Fuels Corp. was incorporated in 2001 and is headquartered in Seal Beach, California.

Advisors' Opinion:
  • [By Arjun Sreekumar]

    One stock to play the shift to NGVs
    One company investing heavily in natural gas fueling stations in Texas, as well as across the country, is Clean Energy Fuels (NASDAQ: CLNE  ) . The California-based company is the largest provider of natural gas fuel for transportation in North America and already fuels tens of thousands of vehicles every day at various locations across the United States and Canada.

  • [By Tyler Crowe]

    Let's take, for example, natural gas vehicles. Clean Energy Fuels (NASDAQ: CLNE  ) , the nation's largest fueling station network, has about 360 stations. The problem, though, is that just isn't enough to make it convenient enough for every day drivers to make the switch. According to the Petroleum Marketers Association of America, the point at which natural gas vehicles can be adopted on a large scale is about 53,000 fueling stations, so we are about 2.2% to the point where you or I could seriously consider a natural gas vehicle without the inconvenience of driving around for half the day to find a fueling station.�

  • [By Garrett Cook]

    Energy shares rose by 1.89 percent in today’s trading. Top gainers in the sector included Harvest Natural Resources (NYSE: HNR), up 22.3 percent, and Clean Energy Fuels (NASDAQ: CLNE), up 12.4 percent.

  • [By Tim Melvin]

    One of the really interesting stocks on the list is Clean Energy Fuels Corporation (CLNE). The company operates fueling stations that allow vehicle fleets to use natural gas to run their vehicles. CLNE also sells compressed natural gas for light-, medium- and heavy-duty vehicles; and liquefied natural gas for medium- and heavy-duty vehicles. CLNE has a pretty good customer base, with 779 fleet customers operating approximately 35,240 natural gas vehicles.

Top 5 Consumer Service Companies To Invest In Right Now: SourcingLink.net Inc (SNET)

SourcingLink.net, Inc., incorporated in 1994, was involved in developing and deploying merchandise-sourcing solutions for the retail industry prior to its operating assets sale in March 2004. The Company's Internet-based, hosted solutions for the pre-order phase of business-to-business merchandise procurement enabled retailers to organize, automate and reduce the cost of their merchandise-sourcing activities by locating and connecting directly with their retail merchandise suppliers around the globe. Its solution, branded MySourcingCenter, provided an online location for search, display and comparison functions, and linked and managed the data and communications between retailers and merchandise suppliers in industry-specific private environments, organizing and automating sourcing or pre-order merchandise procurement activities over the Internet. The majority of the Company's revenue through the fiscal years ended March 31, 2001 (fiscal 2001) to 2003 (fiscal 2003) was generated from a contract entered into, in March 2000, with Carrefour S.A. After completion of the Carrefour agreement, SourcingLink.net, Inc. was unable to procure additional contracts to replace the revenue generated by the Carrefour agreement.

SourcingLink.net sold its operating assets and intellectual property, and its two customer contracts in two separate transactions, in March 2004, (collectively, the operating assets sale), and ceased its operating business at that time. Its fixed assets, software, intellectual property and customer contracts related to Internet-based merchandise sourcing solution were sold to a third party in Europe. The Company's list of potential customers and certain Lotus Notes templates related to its professional services business were sold to a separate foreign company.

Prior to the operating assets sale in March 2004, the Company also performed professional services that accounted for the majority of its revenue since fiscal 2001. Its professional services enabled customers to ! implement Internet-based electronic negotiations (eSourcing) solutions. SourcingLink.net's service offering was buyer auction programs, which encompassed assessment, savings delivery and training aimed at optimizing auction processes within the buying organization.

MySourcingCenter is an online sourcing solution for finding, displaying, comparing and negotiating the purchase of products. The Company provided customers with a turnkey solution, including project management for buyer rollout and both online and global helpdesk support for buyers and suppliers. Reporting and forms were standardized for suppliers and standard forms were also available for retailers. In addition, SourcingLink.net mapped standard supplier data to any forms specification the retailer may have had, providing a customized display to meet retailer requirements. All of the underlying software resided outside of customer firewalls in a third party co-location facility.

The Company's only customer for MySourcingCenter was the international purchasing department of France-based Leroy Merlin. It also signed a contract with a United States-based customer, for which initial planning had occurred prior to the operating assets sale in March 2004.

SourcingLink.net provided professional services in the area of Internet-based, pre-order merchandise procurement. It assisted retailers in the conduct of online real-time negotiation events and trained buying organizations to become autonomous in conducting such events. Related to the Company's Internet solution, it provided project management for retailer implementations of MySourcingCenter. SourcingLink.net provided services to Carrefour, from April 2000, through mid-fiscal 2004, under a three-year contract. This contract provided the majority of the Company's revenues during the prior three fiscal years. It also provided services to the WorldWide Retail Exchange and certain of its members. One such contract provided about one-third of its services revenue ! during fi! scal year 2004. The Company's professional services customers included Carrefour, under the Carrefour contract, and members of several industry exchanges, including the WorldWide Retail Exchange, a retail industry exchange with 60 members around the globe, and CPGmarkets, an exchange for manufacturers of consumer packaged goods, whose members are in Europe.

Advisors' Opinion:
  • [By Peter Graham]

    Small cap stocks IDGlobal Corp (OTCMKTS: IDGC), Embarr Downs Inc (OTCMKTS: EMBR) and SourcingLink.net, Inc (OTCMKTS: SNET) have been getting some extra attention in various investment newsletters or investor alerts lately as at least two of these stocks have been the subject of paid promotions or other types of investor relations activities. Of course, there is nothing wrong with properly disclosed promotions or investor relations activities. But just how hot are these two small cap stocks? Here is a closer look and a quick reality check:

Top 5 Consumer Service Companies To Invest In Right Now: United States Steel Corporation(X)

United States Steel Corporation produces and sells steel mill products in North America and Central Europe. It operates in three segments: Flat-rolled Products (Flat-rolled), U. S. Steel Europe (USSE), and Tubular Products (Tubular). The Flat-rolled segment offers slabs, rounds, strip mill plates, sheets, and tin mill products, as well as iron ore and coke. This segment serves service center, conversion, transportation, construction, container, and appliance and electrical markets in North America. The USSE segment offers slabs, sheets, strip mill plates, tin mill products, and spiral welded pipes, as well as heating radiators and refractory ceramic materials. This segment serves the European construction, service center, conversion, container, transportation, and appliance and electrical, as well as and oil, gas, and petrochemical markets. The Tubular segment offers seamless and electric resistance welded steel casing and tubing; and standard, and line pipe and mechanical tubing. It primarily serves customers in the oil, gas, and petrochemical markets. The company also provides transportation services, including railroad and barge operations. In addition, it owns, develops, and manages various real estate assets, which include approximately 200,000 acres of surface rights primarily in Alabama, Illinois, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, and Pennsylvania; participates in joint ventures that are developing real estate projects in Alabama, Maryland, and Illinois; and owns approximately 4,000 acres of land in Ontario, Canada. The company was founded in 1901 and is headquartered in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

Advisors' Opinion:
  • [By Wallace Witkowski]

    On the S&P 500, Darden Restaurants Inc. (DRI) �, PulteGroup Inc. (PHM) �, U.S. Steel Corp. (X) �and Apple Inc. (AAPL) �were the big gainers.

  • [By Ben Levisohn]

    United States Steel (X) has gained 3.1% to $19.39 today, while AK Steel (AKS) has gained 4.6% to $3.73 and Steel Dynamics (STLD) has jumped 3.2% to $16.33. The odd man out: Nucor (NUE), which has dropped 1% to $48.71.

  • [By Rich Bieglmeier]

    Of the companies that made the list, United States Steel Corporation (NYSE:X) was the only one where the roster of buyers were not serial buyers or only purchasing something like 14 shares, which is meaningless.

Top 5 Consumer Service Companies To Invest In Right Now: (ACS)

ACS Motion Control, Ltd. develops and manufactures multi-axis motion controllers and integrated control modules for customers in Israel and internationally. It offers controllers, drives, interfaces, I/O products, and accessories for use in various applications, such as semiconductors, electronic assembly, FPD, bio medical, medical scanners, digital printing, laser processing, and motion centric. The company also provides support services. Its products are used in packaging, printing, robotics, linear stage control, semiconductor manufacturing and testing, electronic assembly and testing, medical imaging, and digital printing industries. ACS Motion Control, Ltd. was formerly known as ACS-Tech 80 Ltd. and changed its name to ACS Motion Control, Ltd. in March 2006. The company was founded in 1985 and is based in Migdal Ha-Emek, Israel. It has sales and support centers in the United States, China, and South Korea.

Advisors' Opinion:
  • [By Nicolas73]

    The Affiliated Computer Services (ACS) acquisition

    In September 2009, Xerox announced it would acquire ACS for $6.4 billion. ACS was a leading firm in Business Process Outsourcing (around 80% of 2009 total revenues, 40% of that coming from government contracts).

  • [By Victor Selva]

    In February 2010, the company acquired Affiliated Computer Services (ACS) for approximately $6.4 billion in stock and cash. Last year, Xerox acquired WaterWare Internet Services with a view to upgrade its DocuShare enterprise content management (ECM) platform. WaterWare�� services include Web application and software development, integration and customization. It also purchased the U.K.-based Concept Group, increasing its presence in the UK market while working in parallel with other distribution channels in the region.

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