The war for breakfast is getting hotter than ever, with big fast-food companies such as Yum! Brands (NYSE: YUM ) , McDonald's (NYSE: MCD ) , and Burger King (NYSE: BKW ) intensifying their competitive pressure in that lucrative niche. On the other hand, at the higher end of the pricing spectrum, Starbucks (NASDAQ: SBUX ) could be a clear winner in that competition thanks to its differentiated quality and successful menu innovations.
Fast-food companies waking up to the breakfast war
McDonald's has traditionally been a leading player in breakfast because of the popularity of products like its Egg McMuffin and other competitively priced items. But the remarkably competitive fast-food industry is becoming even more aggressive lately, and breakfast seems to be one of the hottest battlegrounds in that war.
Yum! Brands is making an aggressive move in breakfast as the company has recently rolled out its breakfast menu at Taco Bell locations on a national scale. Offerings include a waffle taco, a breakfast burrito, and a "Crunchwrap," among other food products that Taco Bell sells alongside coffee and Tropicana orange juice.
Best Machinery Companies To Invest In 2015: Wausau Paper Corp. (WPP)
Wausau Paper Corp. manufactures, converts, and sells paper and paper products in the United States and internationally. It operates in two segments, Tissue and Paper. The Tissue segment produces and sells paper towel and tissue products for the ?away-from-home? market, including washroom roll and folded towels, windshield folded towels, industrial wipers, dairy towels, household roll towels, and various towel, tissue, and soap dispensers, as well as other premium towel and tissue products to paper and sanitary supply distributors under the DublSoft, EcoSoft, OptiCore, Revolution, Dubl-Nature, and Dubl-Tough names. The Paper segment focuses on four core markets comprising food, industrial and tape, coated and liner, and print and color. This segment manufactures products for food processing, food packaging, and foodservice, such as products used for baking applications, microwave popcorn, and other cheese and meat processing products; products for interleaving, saturating, coating, unsaturated crepe base, and a range of micro markets; specialty liners, and siliconized release papers for use in pressure sensitive tapes, specialty label applications, the production of fiber composite applications, and casting sheets used in the production of solar cells; and uncoated printing, writing, text, cover, and board grades for commercial printers, in-plant print shops, quick printers, copy centers, and office supply and mass merchandisers under the Wausau Paper, EcoSelect, ExperTec, DuraTec, InvenTec, ProGard, ProRedi, ProPly, ProTec, Astrobrights, Royal, Exact, Professional Series, Intrigue, and Creative Collection names. This segment also produces a range of custom color products, which include matte board, end leaf, and luxury packaging applications. Wausau Paper Corp. was founded in 1899 and is headquartered in Mosinee, Wisconsin.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Jonathan Morgan]
WPP Plc (WPP), the world�� biggest advertising company, advanced 3.6 percent to 1,210 pence in London trading.
LSE advanced 7.4 percent to 1,590 pence, the highest price since February 2008, as the operator of Europe�� oldest independent bourse reported a 39 percent increase in first-quarter revenue.
- [By Seth Jayson]
Calling all cash flows
When you are trying to buy the market's best stocks, it's worth checking up on your companies' free cash flow once a quarter or so, to see whether it bears any relationship to the net income in the headlines. That's what we do with this series. Today, we're checking in on Wausau Paper (NYSE: WPP ) , whose recent revenue and earnings are plotted below. - [By Mariko Yasu]
Dentsu paid 3.16 billion pounds ($4.8 billion) for Aegis as Japan�� biggest agency competes with global firms including WPP Plc (WPP) and Omnicom Group Inc. (OMC) With Japan�� benchmark Topix index on pace for its best result since 2005, the 112-year-old company is tapping an equities boom to fund the deal that added the largest independent buyer of advertising space and reduced its reliance on the domestic market.
- [By Holly LaFon]
In the second half of the year, Crescent established new positions in a few companies that have more such global footprints. We initiated investments in Google (GOOG), as well as the advertising agencies Interpublic (IPG) and WPP (WPP). The fortunes of all three are tied directly to the level of global advertising spend, and they all saw their shares prices decline due to concerns of a recession-related slowdown. At our purchase price, we believe we were buying each at roughly 11-13x our estimated earnings for 2012 should the fears of a macroeconomic slowdown prove correct. This strikes us as a very reasonable multiple to pay for asset-light global businesses that generate strong free cash flow across the business cycle and have the capability to grow earnings greater than GDP in a normal economic environment.
Top 5 Quality Companies To Watch In Right Now: RRSat Global Communications Network Ltd.(RRST)
RRsat Global Communications Network Ltd. provides content management and distribution services to television and radio broadcasting industries. The company, through its proprietary ?RRsat Global Network? comprising satellite and terrestrial fiber optic transmission capacity and the public Internet, offers distribution services for content providers. Its content distribution services consist of worldwide transmission of video and audio broadcasts. The company also offers content management services, including digital archiving and compilation of customer?s programming and advertising content into various broadcast channels. In addition, RRsat Global Communications Network Ltd. provides various production services on a contractual basis and satellite newsgathering services through its fleet of vans for outside broadcasting and electronic news gathering crews and packages. Further, it offers live broadcast studios and editing facilities to its customers. The company?s RRs at Global Network delivers content to various end markets, including cable operators, satellite operators, Internet protocol television operators, direct to home market, and public Internet. Additionally, RRSat Global Communications Network provides mobile satellite telecommunications services, such as global telephony, fax, data, Internet, and other value added services for shipping, aviation, construction, and oil companies; humanitarian aid organizations; governmental agencies; and other end customers that require telephony and Internet services in remote areas. As of December 31, 2009, it provided services to approximately 545 television and radio channels in approximately 150 countries. The company was founded in 1981 and is headquartered in D.N. Shikmim, Israel.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Garrett Cook]
Telecommunications services shares fell by 0.74 percent in Wednesday’s trading. Meanwhile, top decliners in the sector included RRSat Global Communications Network (NASDAQ: RRST), down 5.9 percent, and China Unicom (Hong Kong) (NYSE: CHU), off 4.6 percent.
Top 5 Quality Companies To Watch In Right Now: Boise Cascade Co (BCC)
Boise Cascade Company, formerly Boise Cascade, L.L.C., incorporated on July 26, 2004, is a vertically-integrated wood products manufacturer and building materials distributor with operations throughout the United States and Canada. The Company operates in two segments: wood products segment and our building materials distribution segment. The Company manufactures engineered wood products, plywood, lumber, and particleboard and distributes a line of building materials, including wood products manufactured by the Company�� wood products division. The Company�� products are used primarily in new residential construction, residential repair and remodeling projects, light commercial construction and industrial applications. In September 2013, the Company announced that it has completed the acquisition of Wood Resources LLC's Southeast Operations, which include Chester Wood Products LLC and Moncure Plywood LLC.
Wood Products
The Company�� wood products segment is a manufacturer of engineered wood products (EWP) and plywood in North America. It manufactures LVL, I-joists and laminated beams and also produces plywood, studs, particleboard and ponderosa pine lumber, a lumber grade sold primarily to manufacturers of specialty wood windows, moldings and doors. Most of its wood products are sold to wholesalers, including its building materials distribution segment, home improvement centers, retail lumberyards and industrial converters.
Building Materials Distribution
The Company is a wholesale distributor of building materials in the United States. Its nationwide network of 31 strategically-located distribution facilities sells a line of building materials, including EWP, oriented strand board OSB), plywood, lumber and general line items, such as framing accessories, composite decking, roofing, siding and insulation. It also operates a truss manufacturing plant located in Maine. Its products are used in the construction of new residential housing,! including single-family, multi-family and manufactured homes, repair and remodeling projects and the construction of light industrial and commercial buildings.
The Company markets its products primarily to retail lumberyards and home improvement centers that then sell the products to end customers, who are typically professional builders, independent contractors and homeowners engaged in residential construction projects. It also markets its products to industrial converters, which use its products to assemble windows, doors, agricultural bins and other products used in industrial and repair and remodel applications. The Company has more than 4,500 customers, which includes a diverse mix of wholesalers, home improvement centers, retail lumberyards and industrial converters. The Company supplies its customers through 49 located facilities (consisting of 18 manufacturing facilities and 31 distribution facilities).
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Eric Volkman]
A sizable block of Boise Cascade (NYSE: BCC ) stock is to land in new hands if a secondary common stock offering goes as planned. The company announced that major shareholder Boise Cascade Holdings will sell 10 million shares in an underwritten issue, at a price of $27.00 apiece. Additionally, the offering's underwriters have been granted a 30-day purchase option for up to an additional 1.5-million shares at the same price, minus underwriting discounts.
- [By Jon C. Ogg]
Boise Cascade LLC (NYSE: BCC) was raised to Buy from Neutral at D.A. Davidson.
Embraer�S.A. (NYSE: ERJ) was initiated as Outperform at RBC Capital Markets.
- [By Ben Levisohn]
Shares of Rayonier have plunged 15% to $46.97 at 12.36 p.m., but its fall doesn’t seem to have damaged other timber companies. Weyerhaeuser (WY) has gained 3.7% to $31.43 after it reported a profit of 27 cents today, beating estimates of 21 cents. Plum Creek Timber (PCL) is little changed at $49.47 and Boise Cascade (BCC) has risen 1.1% to $27.83.
Top 5 Quality Companies To Watch In Right Now: STR Holdings Inc(STRI)
STR Holdings, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, designs, develops, manufactures, and sells encapsulants for the solar industry worldwide. Its encapsulants protect the embedded semiconductor circuits of solar panels. The company sells its products to crystalline silicon and thin-film solar module manufacturers. STR Holdings, Inc. was founded in 1944 and is headquartered in Enfield, Connecticut.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By John Udovich]
Solar stocks have not exactly given buy and hold investors a smooth ride, but small cap�GT Advanced Technologies Inc (NASDAQ: GTAT) could be an interesting materials play on the solar sector���meaning its worth taking a closer look at the stock along with potential peers like Ascent Solar Technologies, Inc (NASDAQ: ASTI) and STR Holdings, Inc (NYSE: STRI) plus solar ETF Guggenheim Solar ETF (NYSEARCA: TAN). I should mention that just last week, we added GT Advanced Technologies to our�SmallCap Network Elite Opportunity (SCN EO) portfolio for both�fundamentals and technical reasons and we are already up almost 9%.
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