Hot Building Product Stocks To Watch Right Now

Initial public offerings (IPOs) have skyrocketed so far in 2014, particularly for new biotech firms. According to the Financial Times, eight biotech firms raised a total of more than $500 million last week alone.

Here�� a look at two IPOs from last week that were not biotech firms and two of the biotechs��IPOs.

Ladder Capital Corp. (NYSE: LADR) priced its offering of 13.25 million shares on Wednesday night at $17, at the mid-point of its expected range of $16 to $18 a share. Underwriters have a 30-day option on an additional 1.99 million shares. Ladder raised approximately $226 million in the IPO. Shares opened Thursday at around $16.50 but finished the first day of trading at $16.99. They closed Friday at $17.30. Ladder is a commercial real-estate finance firm that uses a proprietary platform to originate conduit loans. It bundles the loans and sells them commercial backed mortgage securities (CMBS).

Continental Building Products Inc. (NYSE: CBPX) priced its IPO on Tuesday night at $14, below the expected range of $16 to $18 a share. Shares opened at $14.52 on Wednesday and hit an intraday high of $17.74 on Thursday. They closed on Friday at $17.30. The company raised $165.2 million on the offering of 11.8 million shares. The company makes and sells gypsum board to the construction industry.

Best Restaurant Stocks To Invest In Right Now: UBS AG (UBSN)

UBS AG, incorporated on February 28, 1978, is a client-focused financial services company that offers a combination of wealth management, asset management and investment banking services on a global and regional basis. UBS AG is the parent company of the UBS Group (Group).The operational structure of the Company consists of the Corporate Center and four business divisions: Wealth Management & Swiss Bank, Wealth Management Americas, Global Asset Management and the Investment Bank. As of December 31, 2011, the Company operated about 877 business and banking locations worldwide, of which about 42% were in Switzerland, 42% in the Americas, 11% in the rest of Europe, Middle East and Africa, and 5% in Asia-Pacific. During the year ended December 31, 2011, it completed acquisitions in Global Asset Management and in the equities business of the Investment Bank. In November 2011, investment management responsibility for a private equity fund of funds was transferred to Global Asset Management from Wealth Management & Swiss Bank. In October 2011, Global Asset Management acquired ING Investment Management Limited business in Australia. In July 2011, the infrastructure and private equity fund of funds businesses were transferred from its alternative and quantitative investment area to its infrastructure investment area. In January 2011, investment management responsibility for a multi-manager alternative fund was transferred to Global Asset Management from Wealth Management & Swiss Bank.

Wealth Management

Wealth Management provides wealthy private clients with financial advice, products and tools to fit their individual needs. As of December 31, 2011, Wealth Management had presence in over 40 countries and approximately 200 wealth management and representative offices, half of which are outside Switzerland, mostly in Europe, Asia Pacific, Latin America and the Middle East. During 2011, the Company had CHF 750 billion of invested assets. The Company offers products and services to private! clients, focusing in particular on the ultra-high-net-worth (clients with investable assets of more than CHF 50 million) and high-net-worth client segments (clients with investable assets between CHF 2 million and CHF 50 million). In addition, it also provides wealth management solutions, products and services to financial intermediaries. Wealth Management has a presence in over 40 countries and approximately 200 wealth management and representative offices, half of which are outside Switzerland, mostly in Europe, Asia Pacific, Latin America and the Middle East.

The Company�� Global Financial Intermediaries (Global FIM) business serves approximately 1,700 asset managers. It provides its clients with the financial advice, products and tools. The Company�� clients can trade a range of financial instruments from single securities, such as equities and bonds, to various investment funds, structured products and alternative investments. Additionally, it offers structured lending, corporate finance and wealth planning advice on client needs, such as funding for education, inheritance and succession. For its ultra high net worth clients, it offers institutional-like servicing that provides access to its Investment Bank and Global Asset Management offerings. Wealth Management also gives clients access to the knowledge, and product and service offerings from Global Asset Management and the Investment Bank, complemented by an open product platform providing access to an array of products from third-party providers.

The Company competes with Credit Suisse, Julius Bar, HSBC, Deutsche Bank, JP Morgan, Citigroup, Barclays and Unicredit.

Retail & Corporate

The Company delivers financial products and services to its retail, corporate and institutional clients. The Retail & Corporate unit is a core element of UBS Switzerland�� universal bank delivery model. As of December 31, 2011, the Company had a network of around 300 branches, 1,250 automated teller machines! , self-se! rvice terminals and customer service centers, alongside e-banking and mobile banking. The Company�� retail clients have access to offering, including cash accounts, payments, savings and retirement solutions, investment fund products, residential mortgages, as well as life insurance and advisory services. It provides financing solutions to its corporate clients, offering access to capital markets (equity and debt capital), syndicated and structured credit, private placements, leasing and traditional financing. The Company�� transaction banking offers solutions for payments and cash management services, trade and export finance, receivable finance, as well as global custody solutions to institutional clients.

The Company competes with Credit Suisse, Raiffeisen and PostFinance.

Wealth Management Americas

Wealth Management Americas provides advice-based relationships through its financial advisors, who deliver a range of wealth management solutions. On December 31, 2011, the business division had CHF 709 billion in invested assets. Wealth Management Americas consisted of branch networks in the United States, Puerto Rico and Canada, with 6,967 financial advisors as of 31 December 2011. Most corporate and operational functions of the business division are located in the home office in Weehawken, New Jersey. In the United States and Puerto Rico, Wealth Management Americas operates through direct and indirect subsidiaries of UBS AG. Securities and operations activities are conducted primarily through two broker-dealers, UBS Financial Services Inc. and UBS Financial Services Incorporated of Puerto Rico. Its banking services in the United States include those conducted through the UBS AG branches and UBS Bank USA, a federally regulated Utah bank, which provides Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) insured deposit accounts. It includes the domestic US business, the domestic Canadian business and international business booked in the United States.

Ca! nadian we! alth management and banking operations are conducted through UBS Bank (Canada). The Company�� include wealth accumulation and preservation, income generation and portfolio diversification. The Company�� advisors work closely with internal consultants in areas, such as wealth planning, portfolio strategy, retirement and annuities, alternative investments, managed structured products, banking and lending, equities, and fixed income accounts, structured products, banking and lending, equities, and fixed income retirement and annuities, alternative investments, managed accounts, structured products, banking and lending, equities, and fixed income. It also offers lending and cash management services, such as securities-backed lending, the resource management account, FDIC-insured deposits, mortgages and credit cards. For corporate and institutional clients, it offers a range of solutions, including equity compensation, administration, investment consulting, defined benefit and contribution programs and cash management services. It offers a range of equity and fixed income instruments.

The Company competes with Bank of America, Morgan Stanley and Wells Fargo.

Global Asset Management

The Company serves third-party institutional and wholesale clients and the clients of UBS�� wealth management businesses. The Company�� fund services unit, a global fund administration business, provides professional services, including legal fund set-up, accounting and reporting. Invested assets totaled CHF 574 billion and assets under administration were CHF 375 billion on December 31, 2011. Global Asset Management serves third-party institutional and wholesale clients, and the clients of UBS�� wealth management businesses. Global Asset Management�� business lines include traditional investments (equities, fixed income and global investment solutions); alternative and quantitative investments; global real estate; infrastructure and private equity, and fund services.

Global ! investment solutions offer asset allocation, currency, multi-manager, structured solutions, risk advisory and strategic investment advisory services. Alternative and quantitative investments has two primary business lines-Alternative Investment Solutions (AIS) and O��onnor. AIS offers a range of hedge fund solutions and advisory services, including multi-manager strategies. O��onnor is a provider of single-manager global hedge funds. Global real estate manages real estate investments globally and regionally within Asia, Europe, Switzerland and the United States. Infrastructure and private equity manages direct infrastructure investment and multi-manager infrastructure and private equity strategies for both institutional and high net worth investors. Infrastructure asset management manages direct investments in core infrastructure assets worldwide. Fund services, the global fund administration business, provides professional services, including legal set-up, reporting and accounting for retail and institutional investment funds, hedge funds and other alternative products.

The Company competes with Fidelity Investments, AllianceBernstein Investments, BlackRock, JP Morgan Asset Management and Goldman Sachs Asset Management.

Investment Bank

The Investment Bank provides a range of products and services in equities, fixed income, foreign exchange and commodities to corporate and institutional clients, sovereign and government bodies, financial intermediaries, alternative asset managers and UBS�� wealth management clients. The Investment Bank has three business areas: equities, fixed income, currencies and commodities (FICC), and the investment banking department. The Company operates through branches and subsidiaries of UBS AG. Securities activities in the United States are conducted through UBS Securities LLC, a broker-dealer. Securities research provides investment analysis across a range of asset classes of more than 3,400 companies worldwide.

The ! Company p! articipates in the primary and secondary markets for cash equity and equity-related products, including listed options, structured products, equity-linked securities, swaps, futures and over-the-counter (OTC) derivative contracts. Cash equities provide clients with liquidity, investment advisory, trade execution and related consultancy services. It offers trade execution for single stocks and portfolios, including capital commitment, block trading, small-cap execution and commission management services. In addition, it also provides clients with a range of electronic trading algorithms and analytical tools. Derivatives and equity-linked provides a range of flow, structured, synthetic and equity-linked products with worldwide access to primary and secondary markets.

Prime services offer brokerage business, including clearing and custody, capital consultancy, financing, securities lending and equity swaps execution. The FICC business area delivers products and solutions to corporate, institutional and public-sector clients in all markets, as well as to private clients via targeted intermediaries. Macro consists of the foreign exchange, money market and interest rate sales and trading businesses, as well as cash and collateral trading. It provides a range of foreign exchange, precious metals, treasury, and liquidity management solutions to institutional and private clients via targeted intermediaries. Credit sales and trading consists of the origination, underwriting, trading and distribution of cash and synthetic products across the credit spectrum - bonds, derivatives, notes and loans.

The investment banking department provides advice and a range of capital markets execution services to corporate clients, financial institutions, financial sponsors, sovereign clients and hedge funds. The Company also provides liquidity in local markets across foreign exchange, credit, rates and structured products. The advisory group assists in acquisitions and sale processes, and also advises on! reviews ! and corporate restructuring solutions. Global capital markets is a joint venture with the securities business. It offers financing and advisory services that cover all forms of capital raising, as well as risk management solutions. Global leveraged finance provides event-driven (acquisition, leveraged buyout) loans, and bond and mezzanine leveraged finance to corporate clients and financial sponsors.

The Company competes with Bank of America/Merrill Lynch, Barclays Capital, Citigroup, Credit Suisse, Deutsche Bank, Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan Chase and Morgan Stanley.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Bloomberg News]

  ��e believe land reform, free trade zones, national security, and state-owned enterprises may become long-lasting investment themes,��UBS AG (UBSN) strategist Chen Li, wrote in a report dated today. ��ousehold registration reform, population policy, and financial reform remain to be seen, and may have a short-term negative impact on related thematic investment in terms of sentiment.��

• [By Robert Wall]

  Bookrunners for the sale are Goldman Sachs Group Inc., UBS AG (UBSN), Barclays Plc (BARC) and Merrill Lynch & Co., with Investec Ltd., Nomura Bank International Plc and RBC Europe Ltd. lead managers, said the government, which is being advised by Lazard Ltd. (LAZ)

• [By Bloomberg News]

  UBS AG (UBSN)�� China venture plans to offer more computerized-trading services as it bets on a surge in demand from institutional money managers in the biggest emerging market.

• [By Sofia Horta e Costa]

  BP posted its best week in 23 months after the oil producer increased its dividend. Alcatel-Lucent rallied 18 percent after predicting it will beat its cost-cutting targets this year and reporting a narrower-than-forecast quarterly loss. UBS AG (UBSN) dropped the most in almost two years after saying it may fail to reach its profitability goal until at least 2016.

Hot Building Product Stocks To Watch Right Now: Leucadia National Corporation(LUK)

Leucadia National Corporation, through its subsidiaries, engages in manufacturing, land based contract oil and gas drilling, gaming entertainment, real estate, medical product development, and winery operations in the United States and internationally. Its manufacturing operations include remanufacturing, manufacturing, and/or distribution dimension lumber, home center boards for retailers, pine decking, and other specialty wood products; and manufacturing and marketing lightweight plastic netting used in building and construction, erosion control, packaging, agricultural, carpet padding, filtration, and consumer products. The company?s land based contract oil and gas drilling operations include the provision of drilling services to independent oil and natural gas exploration and production companies in the Mid-Continent region of the United States, including Oklahoma, Texas, Arkansas, Louisiana, and Kansas. As of December 31, 2010, it had 38 drilling rigs. The company?s g aming entertainment operations consist of owning the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Biloxi located in Biloxi, Mississippi, which consists of 325 rooms and suites, 1,268 slot machines, 52 table games, 6 live poker tables, 5 restaurants, and spa. Its real estate activities include investment in commercial properties, residential land development projects, and other unimproved land. The company?s medical product development operations comprise the development of MP4OX that has completed a phase II proof of concept clinical trial and is a solution of cell-free hemoglobin, administered intravenously to provide oxygen delivery to oxygen deprived tissues. In addition, Leucadia National Corporation engages in the production and sale of wines; and investment and evaluation of gasification projects to convert various types of low grade fossil fuels into energy products. The company was founded in 1854 and is based in New York, New York.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Eric Volkman]

  Leucadia's (NYSE: LUK  ) Jefferies and Piper Jaffray are the joint-book running managers of the issue.

  Currently, AcelRx has 37.2 million shares outstanding, and its stock most recently closed at $12.48 per share.

Hot Building Product Stocks To Watch Right Now: Monsanto Co (MON)

Monsanto Company (Monsanto), incorporated on February 9, 2000, along with its subsidiaries, is a provider of agricultural products for farmers. The Company's seeds, biotechnology trait products, and herbicides provide farmers with solutions that improve productivity, reduce the costs of farming, and produce better foods for consumers and better feed for animals. It manages business in two segments: Seeds and Genomics, and Agricultural Productivity. In April 2010, the Company completed the acquisition of a corn and soybean processing plant located in Paine, Chile from Anasac, a company that provides seed processing services. In October 2009, the Company completed the acquisition of Seminium, S.A. (Seminium), a corn seed company. In February 2011, the Company acquired Divergence, Inc. In September 2011, the Company acquired Beeologics. In June 2012, the Company purchased a planting technology developer, Precision Planting, Inc. In January 2013, it purchased select assets of Agradis, Inc. In June 2013, Monsanto Company acquired GrassRoots Biotechnology Inc. In November 2013, the Company announced that it has completed the acquisition of The Climate Corporation.

Seeds and Genomics Segment

Through the Company's Seeds and Genomics segment, it produces seed brands, including DEKALB, Asgrow, Deltapine, Seminis and De Ruiter, and it develops biotechnology traits that assist farmers in controlling insects and weeds. It also provides other seed companies with genetic material and biotechnology traits for their seed brands. It has a global distribution and sales and marketing organization for its seeds and traits. It sells products under Monsanto brands and license technology and genetic material to others for sale under their own brands. Through distributors, independent retailers and dealers, agricultural cooperatives, plant raisers, and agents, it markets DEKALB, Asgrow and Deltapine branded germplasm to farmers globally. In the United States, it markets regional seed brands under it! s American Seeds, LLC and Channel Bio, LLC businesses to farmers directly, as well as through dealers, agricultural cooperatives and agents. It markets and sells trait technologies with branded germplasm, pursuant to license agreements with its farmer customers. In Brazil and Paraguay, its has implemented a point-of-delivery, grain-based payment system. It contracts with grain handlers to collect applicable trait fees when farmers deliver their grain. In addition to selling its products under its own brands, the Company licenses a range of germplasm and trait technologies to large and small seed companies in the United States and certain international markets. Those seed companies in turn market its trait technologies in their branded germplasm; they may also market its germplasm under its own brand name. Its vegetable seeds are marketed in more than 100 countries through distributors, independent retailers and dealers, agricultural cooperatives, plant raisers and agents, as well as directly to farmers.

The Company�� row crop seeds brands include DEKALB, Channel Bio, Asgrow and Deltapine. Its DEKALB and Channel Bio are corn hybrids and foundation seed. Its Asgrow are soybean varieties and foundation seed. Its Deltapine are cotton varieties, hybrids and foundation seed. Canola is its row crop variety and hybrid. Its vegetable seed brands are Seminis and De Ruiter. These are open field and protected-culture seed for tomato, pepper, eggplant, melon, cucumber, pumpkin, squash, beans, broccoli, onions, and lettuce, among others. Its Biotechnology traits include SmartStax, YieldGard, YieldGard VT Triple, VT Triple PRO, VT Double PRO, Roundup Ready and Roundup Ready 2 Yield and Genuity. Its SmartStax, YieldGard, YieldGard VT Triple, VT Triple PRO and VT Double PRO have applications for corn, and Bollgard and Bollgard II have application for cotton. It enables crops to protect themselves from borers and rootworm in corn and leaf- and boll-feeding worms in cotton, reducing the need for application! s of inse! cticides. Its Roundup Ready and Roundup Ready 2 Yield have application for soybeans. The Company�� Genuity is a global umbrella trait brand. It enables crops, such as corn, soybeans, cotton, and canola to be tolerant of Roundup and other glyphosate-based herbicides. Monsanto also offers farmers stacked-trait products, which are single-seed products in which two or more traits are combined.

Agricultural Productivity Segment

Through the Company's Agricultural Productivity segment, it manufactures Roundup brand herbicides and other herbicides and provide lawn-and-garden herbicide products for the residential market. Its products include Glyphosate-based herbicides, Selective herbicides and Lawn-and-garden herbicides. Its Glyphosate-based herbicides have applications in nonselective agricultural, industrial, ornamental and turf applications for weed control. Its Selective herbicides control preemergent annual grass and small seeded broadleaf weeds in corn and other crops. Its residential lawn-and-garden has applications for weed control. It uses the same distribution and sales and marketing organization for its crop protection products as for its seeds and traits. It also has separate distribution and sales and marketing organizations for its crop protection products. It sells crop protection products through distributors, independent retailers and dealers and agricultural cooperatives. In some cases outside the United States, it sells such products directly to farmers. It also sells certain of the chemical intermediates of its crop protection products to other agricultural chemical producers, who then market their own branded products to farmers. The Company markets its lawn-and-garden herbicide products through The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By WWW.DAILYFINANCE.COM]

  Comcast has a lousy reputation even before this head-turning move.

  The controversial experiment started earlier this month with 50,000 homes in Houston with plans to expand to 150,000 residential routers by the end of the month. It may seem outrageous at first. Why would anyone want to have strangers relying on their connectivity to go online? Comcast is quick to point out that the Wi-Fi hotspot will be separate from a home's network. You won't have outsiders firing off your Wi-Fi printer or diving into your music collection and family photos. Comcast also promises that Xfinity members hosting these routers will be allocated additional bandwidth to make sure that third-party access to the router doesn't slow them down. It's still bound to be a dicey practice. For starters, Xfinity customers don't opt in to participate in the bold experiment to create residential neighborhoods with Wi-Fi accessible to existing subscribers. The onus is on the customer to opt out. It also doesn't help that Comcast, despite being the country's largest cable TV and broadband provider, has a lousy reputation even before this head-turning move. It's Comcastic Consumerist in April published it annual list of the country's worst companies. Readers vote in tournament-style fashion until the initial list of 32 is whittled down to the villainous victor. Comcast won in 2010 and is back as Consumerist's Worst Company in America, just beating out Monsanto (MON) for the dishonorable honor. Yes, Monsanto. The agribusiness giant that never has a problem rounding up vocal protestors picketing the state of chemical supplements that increase crop yields lost out to a company that simply provides cable programming, Internet access and Web-based home phone service. Then again, it's hard to please customers as a pay TV giant. Comcast had working relationships with 26.8 million homes as of the end of March, and more than 21 million depend on Comcast's Xfinity for online access. It's hard to
• [By David Smith]

  Chemical giant Dow Chemical (NYSE: DOW  ) has joined its peers, DuPont (NYSE: DD  ) and Monsanto (NYSE: MON  ) in making agricultural hay. With its chemicals businesses attempting to fight through economic quicksand in much of the world, especially Europe, Dow was able to turn out a robust quarter in part because of steadiness in its agricultural sciences segment.

Hot Building Product Stocks To Watch Right Now: Great Lakes Dredge & Dock Corporation(GLDD)

Great Lakes Dredge & Dock Corporation engages in the business of marine construction, primarily dredging, and commercial and industrial demolition primarily in the east, west, and Gulf Coasts of the United States. The company?s Dredging segment is involved in capital dredging projects consisting of primarily port expansion projects, land reclamations, trench digging for pipelines, tunnels and cables, and other dredging related to the construction of breakwaters, jetties, and canals; beach nourishment projects, which involve moving sand from the ocean floor to shoreline locations; and maintenance dredging that includes the re-dredging of previously deepened waterways and harbors to remove silt, sand, and other accumulated sediments, as well as lake and river dredging, inland levee and construction dredging, environmental restoration, and habitat improvement. Its Demolition segment provides commercial and industrial demolition services. It is involved in exterior demolition that comprises dismantling and demolition of structures and foundations; and interior demolition, which includes removing specific structures within a building. This segment also engages in site development, removal of asbestos and other hazardous materials, and remediation of contaminated demolition materials. The company serves federal, state, and local governments; foreign governments; domestic and foreign private concerns, such as utilities and oil companies; general contractors; corporations that commission projects; nonprofit institutions, such as universities and hospitals; and local government and municipal agencies. It has a fleet of 33 dredges, including 8 deployed internationally; 19 material transportation barges; 2 drill boats; and various other specialized support vessels. The company was formerly known as Lydon & Drews Partnership and changed its name to Great Lakes Dredge & Dock Corporation in 1905. The company was founded in 1809 and is headquartered in Oak Brook, Illinois.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Seth Jayson]

  There's no foolproof way to know the future for Great Lakes Dredge & Dock (Nasdaq: GLDD  ) or any other company. However, certain clues may help you see potential stumbles before they happen -- and before your stock craters as a result.