The U.S. Department of Defense wrapped up the workweek Friday with the announcement of nine new contracts, worth more than $791 million in total. One single contract, however, accounted for fully 62% of the funds on offer.
The winners of that contract, a $494 million firm-fixed-price, multiple-award, task-order contract for the supply of hardware, software, and related integration services needed for the U.S. Army's "Information Technology Enterprise Solution-2" (ITES-2S) enterprise business systems project, include:
Dell's (NASDAQ: DELL ) Federal Systems business International Business Machines (NYSE: IBM ) And four privately owned companies -- Unicom Government, CDW Government, Iron Bow Technologies, and World Wide Technology.The specific type of contract being awarded is best described as an "umbrella" contract, setting a maximum amount of funds that can be spent (the $494 million). Dell, IBM, and the other contract winners will now need to bid against each other to sell the Army equipment and software in response to specific task orders, up until said ceiling value has been reached.
5 Best Gas Stocks To Watch For 2015: ARC Document Solutions Inc (ARC)
ARC Document Solutions, Inc., formerly American Reprographics Company, provides specialized document solutions to businesses of all types, with a focus on the non-residential segment of the architecture, engineering and construction (AEC) industry. The Company offers reprographic services, as well as managed print services, digital color printing, and document management technology products and services. It also has operations in Canada, China, India and the United Kingdom. It is a document solutions company serving the AEC industry that provides document management services through a combination of local service facilities in more than 40 states, 12 digital color service centers, online channels, including Web-based applications, and software. The Company conducts its operations through a wholly owned subsidiary, American Reprographics Company, L.L.C. and its subsidiaries.
The Company offers three general categories of service: Reprographics Services, Facilities Management, and Equipment and Supplies. Reprographics Services sales include operational activities, such as document management services, document logistics, large- and small-format print-on-demand services in color and black and white, and digital document management services. Facilities Management sales are primarily composed of onsite services, where it provides document production equipment, technology solutions and sometimes staff to its customers in their offices. These services include both traditional reprographics services focused on large-format printing, as well as managed print services (MPS). Under an MPS contract, it supplies, maintains and manages a customer�� entire print networks, including office printing equipment, on an outsourced basis. Equipment and Supplies sales involve the resale of printing and imaging equipment and supplies from a variety of suppliers.
As of December 31, 2011, the Company operated 220 reprographics service centers, of which 199 were in the United States, seven were in ! Canada, 11 were in China, two were in India and one in London, England. It also occupied a technology center in Silicon Valley, California, a software programming facility in Kolkata, India, as well as other facilities, including its offices located in Walnut Creek, California. The Company�� products and services are available from any of ARC�� 220 service centers worldwide. The Company supplies reprographics services to project architects, engineers, general contractors and others. In addition to the AEC industry, ARS also provides document management and printing services to the retail, aerospace, technology, entertainment, and healthcare industries, among others.
The Company competes with Oce, Xerox, Canon, Konica Minolta, Ricoh and Sharp.
Advisors' Opinion:- [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 ARC Document Solutions (NYSE: ARC ) , whose recent revenue and earnings are plotted below.
Hot Services Companies To Buy For 2014: ReachLocal Inc.(RLOC)
ReachLocal, Inc. provides a suite of online marketing and reporting solutions to small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) primarily in the United States, Canada, Australia, the United Kingdom, India, the Netherlands, Germany, and Japan. The company?s products include ReachSearch, a search engine marketing product; ReachDisplay, a display advertising and remarketing product; ReachCast, a solution that builds and optimizes Web presence for the purpose of driving online search discovery, powering reputation management, and managing social media marketing; and remarketing and retargeting products. It also provides a suite of digital marketing solutions comprising TotalTrack, TotalLiveChat, TotalVideoNow, and TotalBannerNow to address specific marketing needs, such as lead optimization, online analytics, and digital creative solutions. The company serves clients in various industry verticals, such as home repair and improvement, automobile sales and repair, medical and health services, legal services, and retail and personal services. It delivers its solutions through a combination of its proprietary ReachLocal Platform and direct sales force of Internet marketing consultants, as well as through select third-party agencies and resellers. ReachLocal, Inc. was founded in 2003 and is headquartered in Woodland Hills, California.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Jeremy Bowman]
What: Shares of ReachLocal (NASDAQ: RLOC ) were moving the wrong way today, falling as much as 19% after providing disappointing guidance in its quarterly report.
Hot Services Companies To Buy For 2014: HomeAway Inc (AWAY)
HomeAway, Inc. (HomeAway), incorporated on April 6, 2004, is an online marketplace for the vacation rental industry. As of December 31, 2012, the Company operated its online marketplace through 44 websites in 13 languages. During the year December 31, 2012, the Company had over 600 million Website visits. As of December 31, 2012, its global marketplace included more than 710,000 paid listings of vacation rentals. HomeAway portfolio includes the vacation rental Websites: HomeAway.com, VRBO.com and VacationRentals.com in the United States; HomeAway.co.uk and OwnersDirect.co.uk in the United Kingdom; HomeAway.de in Germany; Abritel.fr and Homelidays.com in France; HomeAway.es in Spain; AlugueTemporada.com.br in Brazil, and HomeAway.com.au in Australia. In April 2012, the Company acquired 100% of the outstanding stock of Top Rural S.L. In November 2013, the Company announced that it has secured a 55% interest of Bookabach Limited, the operator of a vacation rental site in New Zealand.
HomeAway operates BedandBreakfast.com, a global site for finding bed and breakfast properties, providing travelers with another source for lodging alternatives to hotels, and HomeAway Software for Professionals at software.HomeAway.com, to offer software solutions to property managers and innkeepers. Its online marketplace serves two major constituents: property owners and managers on one side and travelers on the other. Property owners and managers pay listing fees, which are annual subscriptions, to provide detailed listings of their properties on its Websites and reach an audience of travelers seeking vacation rentals. Travelers visit its marketplace at no charge and are able to search and compare its large and detailed inventory of paid listings to find vacation rentals meeting their requirements.
Products and Services for Property Owners and Managers
Paid listings are purchased in advance by property owners or managers as a form of advertising to promote their vacation rentals to ! prospective travelers on one or more of its Websites, typically for one year. Paid listings appear in search results on its websites when travelers search for vacation rentals based on traveler search criteria. During the year ended December 31, 2012, paid listings accounted for 84.9% of the Company�� revenue. ReservationManager includes tools and services to help property owners and managers run their vacation rental businesses more efficiently. ReservationManager enables property owners and managers to respond to and manage inquiries, prepare and send rental quotes and payment invoices, allow travelers to book online, including being able to enter into rental agreements with travelers online, and process online payments via Visa, MasterCard, Discover or eCheck. Additionally, through ReservationManager, property owners and managers can provide value-added products to travelers for purchase such as property damage protection.
Property owners and managers may purchase additional enhancements to their listings to increase the marketing exposure of their properties on certain of our websites, such as: Cross-Sell Listings or Bundles and Featured Listings, Special Offers and Deals. Performance-Based Listings property managers can use its enterprise and Web-based software solutions to manage their businesses, customers and properties. The Company provide software solutions to property managers under the brand names HomeAway Software for Professionals, Escapia, PropertyPlus, V12, Entech and First Resort and offer software tailored to professional bed and breakfast innkeepers under the brand names Webervations and Rezovations. Third-Party Services offer property owners and managers several ancillary products and services on selected websites. These products and services include credit card merchant accounts, trip insurance and property damage protection, and tax return services. BedandBreakfast.com Redistribution through its professional software for bed and breakfasts and professional property m! anagers, ! it make selected, online e-bookable properties available to online travel agencies, including Expedia, Travelocity and Priceline, as well as channel partners such as FlipKey.com and PackLate.com. Property Owner and Manager Community provide resources for property owners and managers to seek advice and obtain answers to optimize their business. These resources include a community site, email newsletters, online forums and online seminars.
Products and Services for Travelers
The products and services are offered to travelers at no cost, which include Search and Compare, Traveler Login, Trust and Security, Listing Reviews and Ratings, Traveler Community and Mobile Websites and Applications. Search and compare is an online marketplace provides travelers with tools to search for vacation rentals based on various criteria, such as location, type of property, number of bedrooms, amenities, availability or keywords. Travelers are able to create accounts that enable them to log in to certain of our websites. Travelers can then send inquiries to property owners and managers without having to fill in their information for each inquiry. Trust and security reviews new listings selectively for content, appropriateness, and quality of description. Travelers are invited to submit online reviews of the vacation rentals they have rented through its Websites. These reviews are intended to convey the accuracy of the listing information found on its Websites.
Traveler community who have made at least one inquiry on one of the Company�� Websites are maintained in a database and receive regular communications, including notices about places of interest, special offers, new listings, and an e-mail newsletter. Mobile Websites and applications provides versions of its Websites formatted for Web browsers on smartphones and tablets so that travelers can access its Websites and find and inquire about vacation rentals when they are away from a computer. It also provides applications for tra! velers to! find and inquire about vacation rentals using their smartphones and tablets.
Value-Added Services
The Company�� Value-Added Services includes Carefree Rental Guarantee, Insurance Products and Tax Filing Services. Carefree Rental Guarantee, which is offered at no cost to travelers, it offer a Carefree Rental Guarantee in the United States for a fee, which provides additional financial protection against fraud if the property found on its Website is illegitimate, not as advertised, or not available to the traveler upon check-in, and, as a result, the traveler incurs a financial loss. Insurance Products have contracted with third party insurance providers to offer travelers insurance products for purchase to protect against unexpected events relating to their trips, such as property damage protection, trip cancellation protection, personal liability, medical fees and legal expenses. Tax Filing Services to assist its property owners and managers in complying with applicable tax regulations, it contract with a third party in the United States to provide tax preparation and filing services for its property owners and managers.
Advertising
The Company�� advertising includes Display Advertising and Sponsorships and Site Integrations. Display Advertising sells Internet display advertising on the majority of the Company�� Websites. Advertisers, including those offering complementary products of interest to the visitors to its Websites, are able to purchase advertising positions for a fee based upon the number of impressions and the placement of the advertisement on the page. Sponsorships and site integrations sell sponsorships and site integrations to selected advertisers on its online marketplace. Sponsors purchase a certain number of impressions for a fee, or in the case of site integrations, pay the Company on a cost-per-action basis.
The Company competes with TripAdvisor.com, FlipKey.com, HolidayLettings.co.uk, Wyndam Worldwide Corp., I! nterHome,! AG, Hyatt Vacation Clubs, Four Seasons Resorts, VacationRoost; Expedia, Inc., Hotels.com LP, Kayak Software Corporation, Orbitz, Inc., priceline.com Incorporated, Travelocity.com Inc., Interval International, Inc. and RCI, LLC, Airbnb, Inc., craigslist, Inc., eBay Inc., Google Inc. and Bing.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Jon C. Ogg]
HomeAway Inc. (NASDAQ: AWAY) was downgraded to Equal Weight from Overweight by Morgan Stanley.
Kroger Co. (NYSE: KR) and Safeway Inc. (SWY) were both started as Buy at Deutsche Bank.
- [By Jake L'Ecuyer]
Equities Trading UP
HomeAway (NASDAQ: AWAY) shot up 18.62 percent to $34.51 after the company reported a 63 percent rise in its Q3 profit. Raymond James upgraded the stock from Outperform to Strong Buy. - [By Luke Jacobi]
HomeAway (NASDAQ: AWAY) was up as well, gaining 8.17 percent to $29.74 on speculation of takeover talks with Priceline.com (NASDAQ: PCLN).
ICG Group (NASDAQ: ICGE) rose 9.74 percent to $15.39 after the company announced the sale of Procurian to Accenture plc (NYSE: ACN) for $375 million in cash.
Hot Services Companies To Buy For 2014: ExlService Holdings Inc.(EXLS)
Exlservice Holdings, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, provides outsourcing and transformation services primarily in the United States and the United Kingdom. Its outsourcing services include claims processing, premium and benefit administration, agency management, account reconciliation, policy research, underwriting support, new business processing, policy servicing, trades/sub-account transactions, add-on processing, premium audit, billing and collection, and customer services in insurance and healthcare sector; back-office processing for customer operations, metering-related services and billing, debt recovery operations, imbalance management, and account management services in utilities sector; and servicing and processing various banking products, including residential mortgage lending, retail banking, credit cards, consumer finance, commercial lending, and investment management in banking and financial services sector. The company?s outsourcing services also co mprise processing transactions, including supply chain management, warehousing, transloading, transportation management, and international logistics services in transportation and logistics sector; managing and improving operational, financial, and analytical functions for travel management companies; and finance and accounting services, including accounts payable, accounts receivable, inter-company reconciliations, financial and statutory reporting, treasury management, and tax compliance. In addition, it offers transformation services consisting of decision analytics services, including data filtering, organization and synthesis, management information system reporting, trend and variance analysis, statistical and econometric modeling, and economic and financial markets research; finance transformation services; and operations and process excellence services. The company was founded in 1999 and is headquartered in New York, New York.
Advisors' Opinion:- [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 Exlservice Holdings (Nasdaq: EXLS ) , whose recent revenue and earnings are plotted below.
Hot Services Companies To Buy For 2014: World Energy Solutions Inc(DE)
World Energy Solutions, Inc. provides a range of energy management solutions to commercial and industrial businesses, institutions, utilities, and governments. It offers technology-enabled solutions, such as online audits of facilities to identify retrofit options and project management services for retrofit implementation, as well as cross-selling opportunities for commodity auctions. The company primarily focuses on retail and wholesale energy procurement clients via its online auction platforms, including the World Energy Exchange, the World Green Exchange, and the World DR Exchange. The World Energy Exchange enables energy consumers in North America to negotiate for the purchase or sale of electricity, natural gas, and other energy resources from energy suppliers who have agreed to participate on auction platform. The World Green Exchange enables buyers and sellers to negotiate for the purchase or sale of environmental commodities, such as renewable energy certificates , verified emissions reductions, and certified emissions reductions. The World DR Exchange enables curtailment service providers and energy consumers to negotiate in structured auction events designed to yield price transparency. The company was formerly known as World Energy Exchange, Inc. World Energy Solutions, Inc. was founded in 1996 and is headquartered in Worcester, Massachusetts.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Neha Chamaria]
Peers seem to be feeling some pressure as well. Recently, Caterpillar reported a sharp 16%�slump in machine sales from the North American market for the three months ending May. Earlier, Deere (NYSE: DE ) , which derived 19% of its equipment sales from the construction equipment business last year, sounded the warning bell when it projected its sales from the business to fall by 5%�for the full year. Deere maintained a cautious outlook on the U.S. market.
- [By Stephen Simpson, CFA]
On the antennas side, PCTEL antennas can be used in a wide variety of applications from mobile radio to WiFi to GPS and machine-to-machine communication. PCTEL management defines the company's core addressable market as a 5% to 10% slice of a $30 billion market for process automation, smart grid, public safety, fleet management, and enterprise WLAN. Companies ranging from Harris (HRC) to Deere (DE) to Cisco (CSCO) have used PCTEL antennas, and Cisco incorporates the company's antennas into their higher-end wireless products.
- [By Dan Caplinger]
When it comes to agricultural equipment, it's hard to find a better-known name than Deere (NYSE: DE ) . With its trademark green-and-yellow tractors and other farm machinery, the company has made the most of its John Deere brand, but after a run-up that sent John Deere stock close to all-time record highs earlier this year, investors wonder if recent weakness in the commodities sector could point to a reversal of fortune for the company.
Hot Services Companies To Buy For 2014: Fresenius Medical Care AG & Co KGaA (FME)
Fresenius Medical Care AG & Co KGaA is a Germany-based holding and kidney dialysis company, operating in the fields of dialysis products and dialysis services. Its dialysis business is vertically integrated, providing dialysis treatment at its own dialysis clinics and supplying these clinics with a range of products. In addition, the Company sells dialysis products to other dialysis service providers. The Company operates in two business segments: North America and International. The North America segment consists of Renal Therapy Group and Fresenius Medical Services. The International segment consists of Europe and Latin America and one Asia-Pacific unit. During the year ended December 31, 2010, the Company's subsidiary, U.S. Vascular Access Holdings, LLC, completed the acquisition of National Vascular Care Inc.; it acquired a total of 168 existing clinics, and acquired Gambro AB�� peritoneal dialysis (PD) business. The Company has a total of 1000 subsidiaries worldwide. Advisors' Opinion:- [By Alex Wayne]
Fresenius Medical Care AG (FME) fell the most in more than four years in Frankfurt after the U.S. government proposed cutting payments to kidney dialysis center operators by 9.4 percent next year.
Hot Services Companies To Buy For 2014: Tencent Holdings Ltd (TCTZF)
Tencent Holdings Limited is an investment holding company. The Company and its subsidiaries are principally engaged in the provision of Internet value-added services, mobile and telecommunications value-added services and online advertising services to users in the People�� Republic of China. The Company operates in four segments: Internet value-added services, Mobile and telecommunications value-added services, Online advertising, and Others. As of December 31, 2011, its subsidiaries included Tencent Cyber (Tianjin) Company Limited, Tencent Asset Management Limited, Tencent Technology (Beijing) Company Limited, Tencent Cyber (Shenzhen) Company Limited, Tencent Technology (Shanghai) Company Limited and others. Advisors' Opinion:- [By MARKETWATCH]
HONG KONG (MarketWatch)-- Hong Kong stocks rose early Thursday, as China Mobile Ltd. shined on news of iPhone pre-orders hitting 1 million units. The Hang Seng Index (HK:HSI) added 0.6% to 23,032.09. Market heavyweight China Mobile (HK:941) (CHL) rallied 0.9%, as the world's largest mobile carrier said it has received more than 1 million pre-orders for the iPhone before it goes on sale in the carrier's stores on Friday, at a time when Apple Inc. (AAPL) Chief Executive Tim Cook visited Beijing for future cooperation between the two giants. Telecom equipment shares also advanced, with ZTE Corp. (HK:763) (ZTCOF) rising 1.2%. Meanwhile, China Mobile's smaller rivals slipped, as China Unicom (HK:762) (CHU) dropped 0.7%, and China Telecom (HK:738) (CNCT) fell 0.5%. China South City Holdings (HK:1668) , a developer of logistics and trade centers, surged 56%, after the company announced that Internet giant Tencent Holdings (HK:700) (TCTZF) would invest about 1.5 billion Hong Kong dollars ($195 million) for an almost 10% stake in the developer in order to expand their business online, including e-commerce and online payment services. Tencent Holdings (HK:700)
- [By MARKETWATCH]
HONG KONG (MarketWatch) -- Hong Kong stocks sold off early Thursday after the Federal Reserve decided to further taper stimulus, and after a final reading of China's manufacturing PMI contracted. The Hang Seng Index (HK:HSI) sank 1.5% to 21,815.04 in holiday-shortened trading. Tech stocks retreated, as Chinese PC maker Lenovo Group Ltd. (HK:992) (LNVGF) dropped 5.3%, failing to get a lift from news that it plans to acquire the Motorola handset business from Google Inc. (GOOG) for $2.91 billion as Lenovo aims for a bigger presence in the U.S. market. Software developer Kingsoft Corp. (HK:3888) (KSFTF) fell 1.9% and Internet giant Tencent Holdings Ltd. (HK:700) (TCTZF) dropped 1.5%. Casino stocks also declined. Sands China Ltds. (HK:1928) (SCHYF) , the Hong Kong-listed unit of Las Vegas Sands Corp. (LVS) , slipped 0.2%, despite financial results that showed Sands China's net income increased 40% year-on-year to $467 million in the fourth quarter. Melco Crown Entertainment Ltd. (HK:6883) (MPEL) slumped 3.2%, and both Wynn Macau Ltd. (HK:1128) (WYNMF) and MGM China Holdings Ltd. (HK:2282)
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