NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- U.S. stocks edged up at the open on Friday, as investors digested a stronger-than-expected jobs report that initially hammered stock futures. The S&P 500 (SPX) was last up 3 points, or 0.2%, to 1,750, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) gained 25 points, or 0.2%, to 15,620. The Nasdaq Composite (COMP) rose 21 points, or 0.5%, to 3,878. The jobs report at first spurred bets that the Federal Reserve could begin tapering its bond-buying program sooner than expected, but then investors reconsidered that reaction. Nick Colas, chief market strategist at ConvergEx Group, said stock futures recovered as market participants questioned some details in the jobs report. While the headline number was strong, many jobs added were part time, and participants wondered about the eventual revisions, he said. "I think there's a lot of skepticism of the quality of this number," Colas told MarketWatch.
Top 10 Diversified Bank Stocks To Watch Right Now: H&E Equipment Services Inc.(HEES)
H&E Equipment Services, Inc. operates as an integrated equipment services company. The company rents, sells, and provides parts and service support for hi-lift or aerial work platform equipment, crane, earthmoving equipment, and industrial lift truck categories. It offers heavy construction and industrial equipment for rent on a daily, weekly, and monthly basis. As of December 31, 2011, the company?s fleet consisted of 17,538 pieces of equipment. It also sells new heavy construction and industrial equipment in various categories. In addition, the company sells used equipment from its rental fleet, as well as inventoried equipment that is acquired through trade-ins from its customers and selective purchases; and new and used parts. Further, it provides maintenance and repair services; and ongoing preventative maintenance services and warranty repairs, as well as offers ancillary equipment support activities, including transportation, hauling, parts shipping, and loss damag e waivers. The company provides its services to industrial and commercial companies, construction contractors, manufacturers, public utilities, municipalities, and maintenance contractors, as well as for other industrial accounts. As of February 28, 2012, it operated a network of 65 full-service facilities, serving approximately 29,800 customers across 22 states in the West Coast, Intermountain, Southwest, Gulf Coast, Southeast, and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The company markets its equipment rental services, and new and used equipment through its sales force. H&E Equipment Services, Inc. was founded in 1961 and is headquartered in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Seth Jayson]
Margins matter. The more H&E Equipment Services (Nasdaq: HEES ) keeps of each buck it earns in revenue, the more money it has to invest in growth, fund new strategic plans, or (gasp!) distribute to shareholders. Healthy margins often separate pretenders from the best stocks in the market. That's why we check up on margins at least once a quarter in this series. I'm looking for the absolute numbers, so I can compare them to current and potential competitors, and any trend that may tell me how strong H&E Equipment Services's competitive position could be.
Top 10 Integrated Utility Companies To Invest In 2014: Twin Disc Incorporated(TWIN)
Twin Disc, Incorporated engages in the design, manufacture, and sale of marine and heavy duty off-highway power transmission equipment. The company?s product portfolio includes marine transmissions, surface drives, propellers, and boat management systems, as well as power-shift transmissions, hydraulic torque converters, power take-offs, industrial clutches, and controls systems. It sells its products to customers primarily in the pleasure craft, commercial, and military marine markets, as well as in the energy and natural resources, government, and industrial markets through direct sales force and distributor network worldwide. Twin Disc, Incorporated was founded in 1918 and is headquartered in Racine, Wisconsin.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Eric Volkman]
It was chief executive election time at Twin Disc (NASDAQ: TWIN ) , with a familiar name emerging as the winner. The company's board of directors has chosen John Batten to be its new CEO and president, effective Nov. 1. Batten replaces his father, Michael, who is to retire effective Dec. 31. The elder Batten will continue to serve in his present capacity as board chairman.
Top 10 Integrated Utility Companies To Invest In 2014: Territorial Bancorp Inc.(TBNK)
Territorial Bancorp Inc. operates as the bank holding company for Territorial Savings Bank, a federally-chartered savings bank that provides a range of financial services to individuals, families, and businesses in Hawaii. It involves in accepting deposits from the general public and investing those deposits together with funds generated from operations and borrowings in loans and investment securities. The company?s deposit products include passbook and statement savings accounts, certificates of deposits, money market accounts, commercial and regular checking accounts, and NOW accounts. Its loan products include one-to-four-family residential mortgage loans; home equity loans and lines of credit; construction, commercial, and other non-residential real estate loans; consumer loans; and multi-family mortgage loans. The company, through its subsidiary, Territorial Financial Services, Inc., also engages in insurance agency activities. In addition, it provides various non-d eposit investments, including annuities and mutual funds through a third-party broker-dealer. As of December 31, 2010, the company operated 26 full-service branch offices in Hawaii. The company was founded in 1921 and is headquartered in Honolulu, Hawaii.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Lisa Levin]
Territorial Bancorp (NASDAQ: TBNK) shares touched a new 52-week low of $21.31. Territorial Bancorp shares have dropped 9.43% over the past 52 weeks, while the S&P 500 index has gained 16.18% in the same period.
Top 10 Integrated Utility Companies To Invest In 2014: Centene Corporation (CNC)
Centene Corporation provides multi-line healthcare programs and services in the United States. It operates in two segments, Medicaid Managed Care and Specialty Services. The Medicaid Managed Care segment provides Medicaid and Medicaid-related health plan coverage to individuals through government subsidized programs, including Medicaid, the State children�s health insurance program, long-term care, foster care, and Medicare special needs plans, as well as aged, blind, or disabled programs. Its health plans provide primary and specialty physician care, inpatient and outpatient hospital care, transportation assistance, emergency and urgent care, vision care, prenatal care, dental care, laboratory and x-ray services, immunizations, prescriptions and over-the-counter drugs, home health and durable medical equipment, behavioral health and substance abuse services, therapies, social work services, care coordination, and 24-hour nurse advice line. The Specialty Services segment manages behavioral healthcare for members; provides health insurance to individual customers and their families; implements life and health management programs; offers long-term care services to the elderly and people with disabilities; and administers routine and medical surgical eye care benefits through its network of eye care providers. It also offers telehealth services; and claims processing, pharmacy network management, benefit design consultation, drug utilization review, formulary and rebate management, specialty and mail order pharmacy services, and patient and physician intervention services, as well as provides care management solutions that automate the clinical, administrative, and technical components of care management programs. The company offers its services through primary and specialty care physicians, hospitals, and ancillary providers. Centene Corporation was founded in 1984 and is headquartered in St. Louis, Missouri.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Monica Gerson]
Breaking news
Whirlpool (NYSE: WHR) reported a strong rise in its third-quarter earnings. For the year, Whirlpool lifted its earnings forecast to $9.90 to $10.10 per share, versus its July outlook of $9.50 to $10 per share. To read the full news, click here. Questcor Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: QCOR) announced today that it will commence a Phase 2 study to explore the efficacy and safety of H.P. Actharåº Gel (repository corticotropin injection) for Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome (ARDS). To read the full news, click here. Centene (NYSE: CNC) reported a stronger-than-expected third-quarter profit. Centene's quarterly net earnings surged to $49.4 million, or $0.87 per share, up from $3.8 million, or $0.07 per share, in the year-ago period. To read the full news, click here. Dwolla and Alliance Data Systems (NYSE: ADS) today announced they have signed a new, multi-year agreement for Alliance Data's Retail Services business to provide a cardless private label credit product for the Dwolla payment network. To read the full news, click here.Posted-In: Morgan Stanley US Stock FuturesNews Eurozone Futures Global Pre-Market Outlook Markets
- [By Jake L'Ecuyer]
Shares of Centene (NYSE: CNC) got a boost, shooting up 12.72 percent to $64.58 on upbeat quarterly results. Centene reported its Q1 earnings of $0.57 per share on revenue of $3.46 billion.
- [By Monica Gerson]
Centene (NYSE: CNC) is estimated to report its Q3 earnings at $0.84 per share on revenue of $2.68 billion.
FMC Technologies (NYSE: FTI) is projected to post its Q3 earnings at $0.59 per share on revenue of $1.75 billion.
- [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 Centene (NYSE: CNC ) , whose recent revenue and earnings are plotted below.
Top 10 Integrated Utility Companies To Invest In 2014: Freeport-McMoran Copper & Gold Inc.(FCX)
Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc. engages in the exploration, mining, and production of mineral resources. The company primarily explores for copper, gold, molybdenum, silver, and cobalt. It holds interests in various properties, located in North and South America; the Grasberg minerals district in Indonesia; and the Tenke Fungurume minerals district in the Democratic Republic of Congo. As of December 31, 2010, the company?s consolidated recoverable proven and probable reserves totaled 120.5 billion pounds of copper, 35.5 million ounces of gold, 3.39 billion pounds of molybdenum, 325.0 million ounces of silver, and 0.75 billion pounds of cobalt. The company was founded in 1987 and is headquartered in Phoenix, Arizona.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Matt DiLallo]
After spending $19 billion to buy a couple of oil and gas companies, Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE: FCX ) is understandably exhausted. In fact, the company has so exhausted its financial resources that it's looking to cut back its spending and is even planning to make a return or two. It hasn't helped matters that the company's profits have been pinched by low commodity costs, which is forcing Freeport to take a break from its free-spending ways.
Top 10 Integrated Utility Companies To Invest In 2014: Maui Land & Pineapple Company Inc. (MLP)
Maui Land & Pineapple Company, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, engages in the development, sale, and leasing of real estate properties. It owns approximately 23,300 acres of land on Maui. The company also offers water and waste transmission services. In addition, it manages certain resort amenities at the Kapalua Resort. The company was founded in 1909 and is based in Lahaina, Hawaii.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Matthew Skelly]
The technology of fracturing (and the horizontal style of drilling), is changing America's needs on the energy front. At the epicenter of this infrastructure build-out is Atlas Pipeline Partners (NYSE:APL), a midstream gathering and processing company that trades as a Master Limited Partnership, (MLP). Atlas Pipeline is essentially a middle man between the drillers and long-haul transportation pipelines. It gathers mixed volumes of natural gas and natural gas liquids (NGLs) such as ethane, propane, and butanes, etc. from the thousands of wells drilled by its drilling customers, back through pipelines to its processing plants, which will separate the gas from the NGLs. Both are then sold to long-haul transportation pipelines, which take the two products downstream to the next part of the energy supply chain.
Top 10 Integrated Utility Companies To Invest In 2014: ICF International Inc. (ICFI)
ICF International Inc. provides management, technology, and policy professional services to government, commercial, and international clients. It primarily offers advisory services, which include needs and market assessments, policy analysis, strategy and concept development, organizational assessment and strategy, enterprise architecture, and program design; and implementation services to manage technological, organizational, and management solutions for clients, including information technology solutions, project and program management, project delivery, strategic communications, and training. The company also provides evaluation and improvement services consisting of program evaluations, continuous improvement initiatives, performance management, benchmarking, and return-on-investment analyses. It serves energy, environment, and transportation; health, education, and social programs; and homeland security and defense. The company was formerly known as ICF Consulting Gro up Holdings, LLC and changed its name to ICF International, Inc. in 2006. The company was founded in 1969 and is headquartered in Fairfax, Virginia.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By John Leonard]
Key takeaways
ICF International (ICFI) trades at an attractive multiple due to concerns that lower government spending (~three quarters of its business) will negatively affect results.However recent contract wins and an expected strong 2H mitigate these concerns.Moreover, a successful acquisition strategy reduced its dependence on government spending and resulted in significant EBITDA growth, high free cash flow and an almost 50% debt reduction.Company overview
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