Yesterday's combination of horrible news, including the tragic explosion in Boston and troubling concerns on the economic front, left investors shaken. Yet this morning, the regular business of the market appeared to calm investors' fears, as some favorable news on the earnings front helped investors refocus on signs of improvement for the U.S. economy. By 10:45 a.m. EDT, the Dow Jones Industrials (DJINDICES: ^DJI ) were up more than 65 points, albeit putting only a small dent in yesterday's 266-point drop. Broader markets saw similar gains of about half a percent.
The big winner among the 30 Dow stocks is Coca-Cola (NYSE: KO ) , which has spiked by more than 5% after releasing highly encouraging earnings. Although revenue dropped by 1%, overall sales volume posted a 4% gain, and the company's adjusted earnings-per-share figure beat estimates by a penny despite some adverse calendar effects in comparison with last year's quarter. Moreover, investors responded favorably to Coke's decision to sell off some of its U.S. distribution assets to its team of independent bottlers. Although long-term trends may reassert themselves at some point, Coke's news shows that counting the soft-drink giant out isn't a smart move.
Top 10 Penny Companies To Invest In Right Now: Books-A-Million Inc.(BAMM)
Books-A-Million, Inc. operates as a book retailer in the southeastern United States. The company operates superstores and traditional bookstores that offer a selection of hardcover and paperback books, magazines, and newspapers. It also offers other merchandise, including gifts, cards, collectibles, magazines, music, DVDs, and electronic accessories, as well as coffee, tea, and other edible products. The company markets its products under the trademarks of Books-A-Million, BAM! Books-A-Million, Bookland, Books & Co., Millionaire?s Club, Sweet Water Press, Thanks-A-Million, Big Fat Coloring Book, Up All Night Reader, Read & Save Rebate, Readables Accessories for Readers, Kids-A-Million, Teachers First, The Write-Price, Bambeanos, Hold That Thought, Book$mart, BAMM, BAMM.com, BOOKSAMILLION.com, Chillatte, Joe Muggs Newsstand, Page Pets, JOEMUGGS.com, FAITHPOINT.com, Faithmark, Joe Muggs, Anderson?s Bookland, Snow Joe, Summer Says, On the John University, OTJU, American Whole sale Book Company, AWBC, and NetCentral. It also offers its products over the Internet at Booksamillion.com. As of August 11, 2011, the company operated 231 stores in 23 states and the District of Columbia. Books-A-Million, Inc. was founded in 1917 and is based in Birmingham, Alabama.
Top 10 Penny Companies To Invest In Right Now: (LTUM)
Lithium Corporation, an exploration stage company, engages in the identification, acquisition, and exploration of metals and minerals with a focus on lithium mineralization in Nevada. It holds interests in Fish Lake Valley property that covers approximately 7,360 acres located in west central Nevada in northern Esmeralda County; Salt Wells property, which covers approximately 8,500 acres in Churchill County; and Cortez property that consists of approximately 4,960 acres located in Lander County, Nevada. The company was formerly known as Utalk Communications Inc. and changed its name to Lithium Corporation in September 2009. Lithium Corporation was founded in 2007 and is based in Reno, Nevada.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Skousen]
Lithium Corp. (OTC: LTUM)is higher after announcing positive brinesamplingresults on its Fish Lake Valley prospect in Nevada. LTUM has acquired and continues to explore and develop lithium properties in Nevada, as well as other lithium rich areas in the continental United States. At last check, the stock was up 104.35% to $0.470 on above-average volume of 2.94 million shares. (OTC:LTUM), (LTUM)
Best Financial Stocks To Invest In Right Now: Rick's Cabaret International Inc.(RICK)
Rick?s Cabaret International, Inc., through its subsidiaries, owns and operates upscale adult nightclubs serving primarily businessmen and professionals in the United States. The company?s nightclubs offer live adult entertainment, restaurant, and bar operations. It owns and operates, or licenses adult nightclubs in Houston, Austin, San Antonio, Dallas, and Fort Worth, Texas; Charlotte, North Carolina; Minneapolis, Minnesota; New York, New York; Miami Gardens, Florida; and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and Las Vegas, Nevada. The company operates its adult nightclubs under the Rick's Cabaret, Club Onyx, XTC Cabaret, Tootsie?s Cabaret, Cabaret North, Jaguars, and Cabaret East names. It also owns and operates various adult entertainment Internet Web sites, including CouplesTouch.com, a personals site for those in the swinging lifestyle; NaughtyBids.com, an online adult auction site that contains consumer-initiated auctions for items, such as adult videos, apparel, photo sets, a dult paraphernalia, and other erotica; and xxxPassword.com that features adult content. In addition, the company offers trade magazine serving the adult nightclubs industry, as well as owns 2 industry trade shows, 2 other industry trade publications, and approximately 25 industry Websites. As of January 4, 2011, it owned and operated 22 adult nightclubs. The company was founded in 1982 and is based in Houston, Texas.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Fernandez]
Rick’s Cabaret International, Inc. (NASDAQ: RICK): Rick’s Cabaret International, Inc., owns and operates upscale adult nightclubs serving primarily businessmen and professionals.
Rick’s nightclubs offer live adult entertainment, restaurant, and bar operations in Houston, Austin, San Antonio, Minneapolis, Minnesota, New York, Dallas Fort Worth, Charlotte, and other cities under the names Rick’s Cabaret, XTC, and Club Onyx.
As of September 30, 2008, Rick’s operated 19 adult nightclubs.
Rick’s is a best-in-breed player, and one of the few public companies that operate in this space.
With the recent headwinds in the economy, it will be interesting to see by how much Rick’s is affected, but odds are they are definitely going to be affected.
The good news is that Rick’s has recently announced a stock buyback program, there has been some slight insider buying, and the company recently preannounced Q4 and full fiscal year (ended September) earnings and results which were mostly very positive, including or excluding Rick’s recent acquisitions.
In fact the company still had positive same-store (or same-club) sales growth in what is an extremely difficult retail environment.
For this reason, I believe that with Rick’s stock price being where it is, a 1/4 position buy is warranted for long term investors with a strong stomach for volatility, and a long time horizon, as Rick’s will emerge from any current downturn in a much stronger position for future growth due to its continued strong cash flow and margins, as well as intelligent acquisitions.
Top 10 Penny Companies To Invest In Right Now: Pericom Semiconductor Corporation(PSEM)
Pericom Semiconductor Corporation designs, develops, manufactures, and markets high performance digital, analog, and mixed-signal integrated circuits (ICs) and frequency control products (FCPs) used in electronic systems worldwide. The company?s products are used for the transfer, routing, and timing of digital and analog signals within and between computer, networking, data communications, and telecommunication systems. It offers SiliconConnect family products, including PCI and PCI-X bridges, PCI Express Bridges and packet switches, drivers, receivers, and transceivers, as well as low-voltage differential signaling products; SiliconSwitch family products comprising application-specific standard product switches, analog switches, and digital switches; SiliconInterface family products consisting of redrivers/signal conditioners, universal level shifters, lower balanced drives, application specific logic functions, 3.3-volt interface logic products, 5-volt FCT logic product s, and gates; and SiliconClock family products, such as clock buffers and zero-delay clock drivers, voltage controlled crystal oscillators, clock frequency synthesizers, and programmable clocks. The company?s FCPs include crystals that resonate at a frequency; and crystal oscillators used in various electronic devices. Its ICs and FCPs are used in various applications, such as notebook computers, servers, network switches and routers, storage area networks, digital TVs, cell phones, GPS, and digital media players. The company markets and distributes its products through a network of independent sales representatives and distributors to original equipment manufacturers and contract manufacturers in the computer, peripherals, networking, and telecommunications markets, as well as to end-user customers. Pericom Semiconductor Corporation was founded in 1990 and is headquartered in San Jose, California.
Top 10 Penny Companies To Invest In Right Now: CIFC Deerfield Corp.(DFR)
Deerfield Capital Corp. (DFR) operates as a real estate investment trust. The firm invests in real estate-related securities, commercial mortgage backed securities, bank loans, leveraged finance securities and alternative assets. It primarily provides junior debt including second lien and mezzanine and one-stop debt financings, with a limited appetite for preferred stock and non-control common equity investments. The firm invests in growth, change of control transactions, strategic acquisitions, and recapitalizations. It typically invests between $10 million to $40 million in companies with minimum annual EBITDA of $5 million with a focus on North America. The firm also invests in Western Europe. For mortgage investing, it invests in Agency and AAA-rated non-Agency loans with target duration of one year or less. For direct real estate lending, it provides mezzanine financing, platform investment, and institutional investment, For mezzanine investing, it invests in property types including office, retail, multi-family, industrial, hospitality, senior housing, and land of United States. For platform investments, it provides capital to financial companies and real estate sponsors on a platform basis through first loss financing on warehouse lines; Equity Bridge lines with a transaction size between $20 million and $90million with multiple assets as collateral. For institutional investment, the firm invests in first and second lien debt, B notes, and mezzanine offerings arranged by investment and commercial banks to real estate related companies and project finance secured by real estate. It was formerly known as Deerfield Triarc Capital Corp. Deerfield Capital Corp was founded in 2004 and is based in New York, New York.
Top 10 Penny Companies To Invest In Right Now: USA Technologies Inc.(USAT)
USA Technologies, Inc. supplies cashless, remote management, reporting, and energy management solutions for the unattended point of sale market primarily in the United States. The company offers networked devices and associated services that enable the owners and operators of stand-alone distributed assets, such as vending machines, kiosks, personal computers, photocopiers, and laundry equipment the ability to remotely monitor, control, and report on the results of these distributed assets, as well as the ability to offer their customers cashless payment options. Its products include Intelligent Vending, an ePort connect solution for the vending industry; Kiosk, an ePort solution that offers an electronic payment option and Web-based remote monitoring and management for various kiosk types; eSuds, a solution for the commercial laundry industry; Business Express, which provides self-service business center solutions to the hotel and motel industry; and ePort Transact soluti on for the self-service business center devices, such as printers and copy machines. The company also manufactures and sells energy conservation products comprising VendingMiser, CoolerMiser, VM2IQ and CM2IQ, SnackMiser, and PlugMiser for various existing equipment, including refrigerated vending machines and glass front coolers. USA Technologies, Inc. was founded in 1992 and is based in Malvern, Pennsylvania.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Michael]
USA Technologies is a supplier of cashless, remote management, reporting and energy management services.
Shares of USA Technologies ramped higher in January after the company said revenue in its fiscal second quarter jumped 60% from a year earlier to $6 million, while its net loss narrowed to a penny a share from a loss of 19 cents. Shares pulled back slightly in March after USA Technologies announced it raised nearly $11 million in a private placement of common stock.
Current Share Price: $2.35 (March 29)
First Quarter Total Return: 128%
Analyst Ratings: Janney Montgomery Scott is the only research firm with coverage of USA Technologies, rating the stock a "hold" with a price target of $1.25.
TheStreet Ratings has a "sell" recommendation on USA Technologies, citing disappointing return on equity.
Top 10 Penny Companies To Invest In Right Now: SORL Auto Parts Inc.(SORL)
SORL Auto Parts, Inc., through its principal operating subsidiary, Ruili Group Ruian Auto Parts Co., Ltd., engages in the development, manufacture, and distribution of automotive brake systems and other safety related auto parts for commercial vehicles, such as trucks and buses. The company, through its 90% ownership in Ruili Group Ruian Auto Parts Co., Ltd., a Sino-foreign joint venture, offers various products, including spring brake chamber, clutch servos, air dryers, relay valves, and hand brake valves. It also provides auto metering products, auto electric products, anti-lock brake systems, retarders, hydraulic brakes, and power steering products. SORL Auto Parts, Inc. markets its products under the SORL brand to automotive original equipment manufacturers and the related aftermarket customers in the People?s Republic of China and internationally. The company was founded in 2003 and is headquartered in Ruian City, the People?s Republic of China.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Robert Hsu]
Sorl Auto Parts (NASDAQ: SORL) has purchased the assets of the hydraulic brake, power steering, and automotive electrical operations of Ruili Group Auto Parts. As a result of this acquisition, Sorl’s product offerings will expand to both commercial and passenger vehicles’ brake systems and other key safety-related auto parts. The company expects it will allow the company to streamline its management organization, as well as create efficiencies in production, R&D and its sales network. In addition, Sorl’s management expects the acquisition will be beneficial to the company’s revenues and earnings.
Sorl paid 170 million yuan — or about $25 million — for the acquisition, and the company believes it will generate about $35 million in revenues and about $4 million in net income in 2011. In addition, Sorl expects the acquisition to generate incremental free cash flow in both 2010 and 2011. SORL has outperformed earnings estimates for four consecutive quarters, and its stock price rose 71.7% over the past 12 months.
Now, the chairman and CEO of Sorl Auto, Xiao Ping Zhang, is also the controlling shareholder of the Ruili Group. However, the price paid for the acquisition was based on a valuation of the purchased business performed by Asia’s leading appraisal company, DTZ Debenham Tie Leung — lessening the possibility of a conflict of interest with regards to the sale.
Overall, I think this was a good purchase by Sorl. The acquisition will allow the company to offer its customers more high-quality products to fulfill their needs from one source. In addition, because both companies share similar visions, I expect the combination of their internal resources will create favorable economies-of-scale that will strengthen earnings and create shareholder value. Buy SORL under $10.
Top 10 Penny Companies To Invest In Right Now: First Financial Northwest Inc.(FFNW)
First Financial Northwest, Inc. operates as the holding company for First Savings Bank Northwest that provides community-based savings bank services in Washington. Its deposit products include noninterest bearing accounts, NOW accounts, money market deposit accounts, statement savings accounts, and certificates of deposit. The company?s loan products portfolio comprises one-to-four family residential loans, multifamily loans, commercial real estate loans, construction/land development loans, and business loans, as well as consumer loans, including home equity loans, personal lines of credit, second mortgage loans, and savings account loans. First Financial Northwest, Inc., through another subsidiary, First Financial Diversified, Inc., offers escrow services. The company primarily serves customers in the King, Pierce, Snohomish, and Kitsap counties of Washington through a full-service banking office in Renton, Washington. First Financial Northwest, Inc. was founded in 1923 and is based in Renton, Washington.
Top 10 Penny Companies To Invest In Right Now: Crown Crafts Inc.(CRWS)
Crown Crafts, Inc., through its subsidiaries, offers infant and toddler products primarily in the United States. Its products include crib and toddler bedding, blankets, nursery accessories, room d
Top 10 Penny Companies To Invest In Right Now: SPAR Group Inc.(SGRP)
SPAR Group, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, provides merchandising and other marketing services to manufacturers, distributors, and retailers worldwide. The company primarily offers syndicated services, such as regularly scheduled, routed merchandising, and marketing services provided at the retail store level; and dedicated services, including store set-ups, store remodels, and fixture installations. It also provides project services comprising in-store services, such as new store openings, new product launches, special seasonal or promotional merchandising, focused product support, product recalls, in-store product demonstrations, and in-store product sampling, as well as kiosk product replenishment, inventory control, new store sets and existing store resets, re-merchandising, and remodels and category implementations under annual or stand-alone project contracts or agreements. In addition, the company offers in-home and in-office assembly services; and in-store e vent staffing services consisting of in-store product samplings and in-store product demonstrations. Further, SPAR Group provides various other marketing services comprising test market research, including testing promotion alternatives, new products and advertising campaigns, as well as packaging, pricing, and location changes at the store level; mystery shopping services, such as calling anonymously on retail outlets to check on distribution or display of a brand and to evaluate products, service of personnel, and conditions of store; data collection services consisting of gathering sales and other information for analysis and interpretation; and radio frequency identification services. The company?s customers include manufacturers, mass merchandisers, electronics store chains, drug store chains, convenience and grocery stores, and other retail outlets, such as discount stores, and home and office supply centers. SPAR Group, Inc. was founded in 1967 and is headquartered i n Tarrytown, New York.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Cutler]
Spar Group is a merchandising and marketing services company, providing an array of services to help companies improve their sales, operating efficiency and profits at retail locations.
Shares of Spar Group surged in March after the company said fourth-quarter revenue grew 32% to $18.7 million from a year earlier, with net income quadrupling to $1.2 million, or 6 cents a share. The company attributed its success in the quarter to increased market share in domestic operations, acquisitions and organic growth, and international operations thanks to redeveloped key partner relationships.
Current Share Price: $1.87 (March 29)
First Quarter Total Return: 125%
Analyst Ratings: Spar Group doesn't have an analyst following from Wall Street research firms. However, TheStreet Ratings has a "buy" rating on Spar Group, noting the company's "revenue growth, notable return on equity, good cash flow from operations, solid stock price performance and impressive record of earnings per share growth."
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