Shares of Supervalu (NYSE:SVU), owner of Shop `N Save, Save-a-lot and Farm Fresh, have surged more than 230% since the start of the year, as the Eden Prairie, Minn., company benefited from cost-cutting. Stil, expectations for the chain remain low heading into Thursday's earnings report. Revenue is expected to fall more than 51% to $3.88 billion. Earnings per share is expected to drop to 9 cents per share. One reason for the decline is that Supervalu is much smaller than it used to be having unloaded its Acme, Albertsons, Jewel-Osco, Shaw's and Star Markets chains earlier this year.
Kroger (NYSE:KR), the largest supermarket operator, recently reported solid earnings thanks to the growth in its private label brands. Shares of the operator of its namesake stores along with Ralph�� and Fry�� have jumped more than 58% this year. Safeway (NYSE:SWY), which Barron�� recently noted was ��nce a stock market pariah,��has roared back this year, gaining more than 83% this year.
Best Supermarket Companies To Buy For 2015: Re/Max Holdings Inc (RMAX)
Re/Max Holdings, Inc., incorporated on June 25, 2013, is a franchisor of real estate brokerage services. Its business is to recruit and retain agents and sell franchises. The Company operates in two business segments: Real Estate Franchise Services, and Brokerage and Other. The Company operates in the real estate brokerage franchise industry in more than 90 countries, including the United States and Canada. Effective December 31, 2012, the Company acquired certain assets of RE/MAX of Texas. Effective November 30, 2012, the Company sold substantially all of the assets of owned and operated regional franchising operations located in Eastern Australia and New Zealand and entered into regional franchising agreements with new independent owners of these regions.
The Real Estate Franchise Services reportable segment comprises the operations of its owned and independent global franchising operations. The Brokerage and Other reportable segment contains the operations of its 21 owned brokerage offices in the U.S. which represent less than 1% of RE/MAX brokerages in the U.S., the results of operations of a mortgage brokerage company in which the Company owns a non-controlling interest, the elimination of intersegment revenue and other consolidation entities, as well as corporate and professional services expenses.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Sue Chang]
RE/MAX Holdings Inc. (RMAX) �is likely to report earnings of 26 cents a share in the first quarter.
- [By Eric Volkman]
Getty Images/Cultura As more than a few finance industry professionals will happily brag, 2013 was a banner year for initial public offerings with 156 new stocks coming to market -- the most since 2007 -- collectively reaping the issuers aggregate proceeds of more than $38 billion. We went over the most recognizable members of this year's rookie class in "The 5 Most Unfortgettable IPOs of 2013." But in a big pool of 156 companies, there are bound to be at least a few struggling fish. Here, then, is a selection of five from the class of 2013 that are getting seriously lapped by their peers. 1. Prosensa (RNA) This Dutch clinical-stage biopharmaceutical firm had a strong debut when it listed on the Nasdaq in late June. The stock's offer price of $13 zoomed to close at over $19 on the first day of trading. But bad news was waiting around the corner; less than three months later, the shares tanked by more than 70 percent after the company announced that the muscular dystrophy treatment (drisapersen) it was developing in partnership with GlaxoSmithKline (GLAXF), did not hit its primary endpoint in late-stage trials. That one-day free fall saw the stock swoon from $24 per share to barely over $7. Since then, shares have slipped even further, and can currently be had for less than $5. 2. Violin Memory (VMEM) As a provider of high-speed data storage solutions, this company should be well in tune with current IT needs. But it fell flat from the beginning -- on its first day of trading the stock closed slightly over $7 a share, after pricing at $9. Worse was to come when the firm reported its first quarterly results as a publicly traded entity. While revenue advanced nearly 40 percent on a year-over-year basis, that couldn't cover the gaping hole of a bottom line loss totaling $34 million (a figure, by the way, significantly higher than the top line number of $28 million). The already-sinking shares continued to dive, bottoming at just over $2.50 per share. The re
Best Supermarket Companies To Buy For 2015: Houston Wire & Cable Co (HWCC)
Houston Wire & Cable Company, incorporated in 1997, provides wire and cable and related services to the United States market. The Company offers its customers with a single-source solution for wire and cable, hardware and related services. The Company offers products in categories of wire and cable, including continuous and interlocked armor cable, control and power cable, electronic wire and cable, flexible and portable cords, instrumentation and thermocouple cable, lead and high temperature cable, medium voltage cable, premise and category wire and cable, wire rope and wire rope slings, as well as nylon slings, chain, shackles and other related hardware. It also offers private branded products, including its brand LifeGuard, a low-smoke, zero-halogen cable. On January 1, 2011, the acquired companies were merged into HWC Wire & Cable Company.
The Company�� products are used in repair and replacement, also known as maintenance, repair and operations (MRO), and related projects, larger-scale projects in the utility, industrial and infrastructure markets and a diverse range of industrial applications, including communications, energy, engineering and construction, general manufacturing, mining, construction, oilfield services, infrastructure, petrochemical, transportation, utility, wastewater treatment, marine construction and marine transportation. During the year ended December 31, 2011, the Company served approximately 6,000 customers.
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 Houston Wire & Cable (Nasdaq: HWCC ) , whose recent revenue and earnings are plotted below.
Hot Industrial Disributor Companies To Watch In Right Now: Apricus Biosciences Inc(APRI)
Apricus Biosciences, Inc. engages in the design and development of pharmaceutical products and product candidates based on its patented NexACT drug delivery technology. The NexACT drug delivery technology is designed to enhance the delivery of an active drug to improve therapeutic outcomes and reduce systemic side effects that accompany existing oral and injectable medications. The company?s pipeline includes Vitaros, approved in Canada for the treatment of erectile dysfunction; and Totect approved in the U.S. for the treatment of anthracycline extravasation, as well as compounds in development from pre-clinical through pre-registration, focused on sexual dysfunction, oncology, dermatology, autoimmune, pain, anti-infectives, diabetes, and consumer healthcare. The company was founded in 1987 and is headquartered in San Diego, California.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Eric Volkman]
Apricus Biosciences (NASDAQ: APRI ) is hoping to widen its capital base significantly. The company is floating a mix of common stock and warrants that it hopes will raise net proceeds of nearly $16 million. Six million shares will be sold in an underwritten public offering at $2.85 apiece, and 3 million warrants will be issued separately at an exercise price of $3.40 per share.�
Best Supermarket Companies To Buy For 2015: Salesforce.com Inc (CRM)
Salesforce.com, inc., incorporated in February 1999, is a provider of enterprise cloud computing and social enterprise solutions. The Company provides a customer and collaboration relationship management (CRM), applications through the Internet or cloud. Cloud computing refers to the use of Internet-based computing, storage and connectivity technology to deliver a variety of different services. The Company delivers its service through Internet browsers and mobile devices. It markets its social enterprise applications and platforms to businesses on a subscription basis, primarily through its direct sales efforts and indirectly through partners. In January 2011, it acquired Heroku, Inc. and DimDim, Inc. In May 2011, the Company acquired Radian6 Technologies Inc. In September 2011, the Company acquired Assistly. In August 2012, the Company acquired Buddy Media. In May 2013, SalesForce.com Inc acquired Clipboard Inc.
The Company introduced Chatter, a collaboration application for the enterprise to connect and share information securely and in real-time. It serves its customers from third-party data center hosting facilities located in the United States and other countries. The Company�� primary applications are sales cloud, service cloud, salesforce chatter, Salesforce Radian6 and Salesforce Data.com.
The Company�� customers are able to establish a system and process for recording, tracking, and sharing information about sales opportunities, sales leads, sales forecasts, the sales process, and closed business, as well as managing sales territories. Customers are able to create social profiles of their customers, based on information from social networking services like Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. Its customers are also able to manage unstructured information, such as sales collateral, presentations, price lists, and video assets. In addition, the Sales Cloud encompasses partner relationship management functionality (including channel management and partner portals) and m! arketing automation (including campaigns, and return-on-investment tracking).
The Company�� customer service and support automation features are marketed under its Service Cloud brand and allow its customers to service and engage with their customers. Using the Service Cloud, companies can access a solution for their customer service interactions across every service channel: call centers with phone, email, and chat; Web portals for self-service and customer collaboration; and community interactions within social networks. In addition, built-in collaboration tools enable customer service agents to share information on how to better service customers.
The Company�� Chatter application enables customers to create private employee social networks for companies of all sizes in order to improve employee collaboration. For customers of its Sales and Service Cloud editions, Chatter is included free for all subscribers. In addition, it offers Chatter Plus edition, designed to provide access to Chatter for employees in customers��organizations who are not subscribers of a Sales or Service Cloud edition. It delivered features, including Chatter Now for real-time collaboration, and Chatter Customer Groups enabling users to invite people outside their organizations, such as customers and partners, into their Chatter network to collaborate in a secure environment. Chatter is a core attribute of its Force.com platform and its social capabilities are an integral part of each of its application offerings and its Social Enterprise solution.
The Company�� Radian6 application provides its customers a tool for social media monitoring and marketing. The application allows companies to listen, analyze, engage and measure their brand�� presence within social media. It provides companies with a database of business contacts, company profiles and social insights. Delivered as a service, data.com integrates with its applications to provide the business data that helps companies in! crease th! eir pipeline of sales leads.
The Company�� cloud platforms provide application developers access to new capabilities that can be built into their business applications. These platforms include features popularized by social networking companies, such as profiles, status updates and feeds, and also the capability to extend applications for use on mobile devices. In addition, they run on its Database.com offering, an open enterprise database built for social and mobile computing. Its cloud platforms allow both information technology (IT) departments and independent software vendors (ISV) developers to use several programming languages to build their applications. Developers are able to use the programming languages on its cloud platforms, such as Java and Ruby, to build their applications, and its cloud platforms support multiple other languages to provide developers openness and choice.
The Company has two platform offerings: Force.com and Heroku, and offer additional developer tools, such as Database.com and the AppExchange. The Force.com cloud computing platform provides a feature set and technology environment for building business applications, including data models and objects to manage data, a workflow engine for managing collaboration of data between users, a user interface model to handle forms and other interactions, and a Web services API for programmatic access and integration. Heroku is a cloud platform for application developers to build and deploy social and mobile applications. Built on open standards, Heroku supports multiple frameworks, databases, and languages, including Java and Ruby. The AppExchange is an online directory that provides customers a way to browse, sample, share, and install applications developed on its Force.com platform. Partners and developers can offer their applications and services for a fee on the AppExchange directory. This directory gives its users a way to find and install applications to expand their use of the Force.com platform t! o areas t! hat are complementary to its social enterprise solution.
The Company offer consulting, deployment and training services to our customers to facilitate the adoption of its social enterprise services. Consulting services consist of services, such as business process mapping, project management services and guidance on best practices in using its service. Deployment services include systems integration, technical architecture and development, configuration and data conversion, as well as developing and delivering customized education programs for its customers. Most of its consulting and deployment engagements are billed on a time and materials basis. It offer a number of traditional classroom and online educational classes that address topics, such as deploying, using, administering and developing on its service. It also offers classes for its partners who deploy its service on behalf of its customers.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Ben Levisohn]
Einhorn mentioned operating margin estimates are too high and that similar companies to Athenahealth have margins around 10%. Our expectations aren�� that much higher, as we estimate Athenahealth will finish 2014 with adjusted operating margins of 10.3%, increasing to 11.4% and 12.0% in 2015 and 2016, respectively. While we expect some margin expansion, our absolute margin levels are in-line with other [software-as-a-service] peers 2014E operating margins including: Medidata (MDSO) at 8.9%, Salesforce.com (CRM) at 10.3%, and LinkedIn (LNKD) at 13.8%. While not expecting significant margin expansion in the near term, we expect Athenahealth�� margins to expand in the future, driven by declining marginal costs associated with adding additional providers to its user base. Additionally, as the top-line growth slows, we expect the company to cut back on its investments, allowing earnings to flow through the bottom line.
- [By John Divine]
The second-largest laggard of the day, Salesforce.com (NYSE: CRM ) , lost 5.3% after a weak quarter of its own. The quarter wasn't so much weak as expensive: Increasing costs brought margins down. The company lost nearly $70 million in the first quarter, even though core revenue ticked upwards. But with operating expenses rising nearly 30% and interest expense surging 87%, it's tough to post an impressive quarter.
- [By Anders Bylund]
salesforce.com (NYSE: CRM ) was started by former Oracle (NYSE: ORCL ) vice president Marc Benioff, and the two companies have been fierce rivals in a very vocal way ever since. So when Oracle promised that it would share a "startling announcement" regarding Salesforce this week, the company wasn't kidding.
Best Supermarket Companies To Buy For 2015: Britton & Koontz Capital Corporation(BKBK)
Britton & Koontz Capital Corporation operates as the holding company for Britton & Koontz Bank, National Association that provides commercial and consumer banking services in Adams and Warren Counties, Mississippi, and East Baton Rouge Parish, Louisiana, as well as in the adjoining counties and parishes in Mississippi and Louisiana. The company offers various deposit products, including personal and commercial checking accounts, money market deposit accounts, savings accounts, non-interest bearing deposits, negotiable order of withdrawal accounts, and certificates of deposit. Its loan portfolio comprises commercial, financial, and agricultural loans; real estate construction, residential, and other loans; installment loans; consumer loans; and overdrafts. In addition, the company provides automated clearinghouse services; safe deposit box facilities; brokerage services; automated teller machines; cash management services, including remote deposit, money transfer, direct de posit payroll, and sweep accounts; VISA credit cards; and letters of credit. As of May 17, 2011, it operated three full service offices in Natchez, two in Vicksburg, Mississippi; three in Baton Rouge, Louisiana; and a loan production office in Central, Louisiana. The company was founded in 1866 and is headquartered in Natchez, Mississippi.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Tim Melvin]
HBCP recently announced a deal to buy Britton & Koontz Capital Corporation (BKBK) in a deal that will add eight branches and more than $300 million of assets to the bank. It also gains access to the Mississippi marketplace and increases Home Bancorp’s deposit base in Baton Rouge.
Best Supermarket Companies To Buy For 2015: Agios Pharmaceuticals Inc (AGIO)
Agios Pharmaceuticals, Inc., incorporated on August 7, 2007, is a biopharmaceutical company. The Company is intend to apply its deep understanding of metabolism, coupled with the Company�� ability to create medicines that can inhibit or activate metabolic enzymes, to fundamentally change the way cancer and inborn errors of metabolism (IEMs) are treated. The Company has identified and validated novel and druggable targets in both cancer and IEMs. The Company�� two advanced cancer programs are targeting mutations in the enzymes isocitrate dehydrogenase 1 and 2, referred to as IDH1 and IDH2. The Company�� drug candidates are selective for the mutated forms of IDH1 and IDH2 found in cancer cells versus the normal forms of IDH1 and IDH2 found in all other cells.
The Company focused on developing medicines to address IEMs, with a novel approach to these orphan diseases for which no effective or disease-modifying therapy is available. The Company has also de-validated and terminated numerous programs, including many that have been reported in scientific journals. In the Company�� IEM portfolio, it uses an equally rigorous set of validation techniques.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Jake L'Ecuyer]
Shares of Agios Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: AGIO) got a boost, shooting up 29.08 percent to $40.84 after the company reported quarterly results.
Stage Stores (NYSE: SSI) was also up, gaining 13.47 percent to $22.41 after the company reported Q4 results and announced the sale of its Steele's off-price division to a new retail unit of Hilco Global.
Best Supermarket Companies To Buy For 2015: Kona Grill Inc.(KONA)
Kona Grill, Inc. owns and operates upscale casual dining restaurants in the United States. The company operates its restaurants under the Kona Grill name. As of September 22, 2011, it owned and operated 23 upscale casual restaurants in 16 states, including Arizona, Missouri, Nevada, Colorado, Nebraska, Indiana, Texas, Illinois, Michigan, Connecticut, Louisiana, Florida, Virginia, New Jersey, Minnesota, and Maryland. Kona Grill, Inc. was founded in 1994 and is based in Scottsdale, Arizona.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Jon C. Ogg]
The 24/7 Wall St. list of public companies expected to double sales in the next few years includes the following: Kona Grill Inc. (NASDAQ: KONA), LinkedIn Corp. (NYSE: LNKD),�Noodles & Co. (NASDAQ: NDLS),�Onyx Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ: ONXX),�Michael Kors Holdings Ltd. (NYSE: KORS),�Questcor Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ: QCOR),�Tesla Motors Inc. (NASDAQ: TSLA),�Under Armour Inc. (NYSE: UA),�Workday Inc. (NYSE: WDAY) and Yelp Inc.�(NYSE: YELP). Facebook Inc. (NASDAQ: FB)�might as well be considered a runner-up here, but it was a direct competitor of LinkedIn in the selections.
- [By Quoth the Raven]
My argument here is very similar to my argument I recently made with Kona Grill (KONA). Not only is NGS similar to Kona in the fact that they both have insiders with a huge stake in the game, but they both have the same growth prospects.
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