Although we don't believe in timing the market or panicking over market movements, we do like to keep an eye on big changes -- just in case they're material to our investing thesis.
What: Shares of Allscripts Healthcare Solutions (NASDAQ: MDRX ) , a health care information technology company, jumped as much as 10% after the company announced better-than-expected preliminary second-quarter booking results.
So what: In a press release, Allscripts noted that it anticipates that bookings will exceed the $200 million mark, which is higher than the $194 million in booked in the year-ago quarter. This would be Allscripts first year-over-year increase in bookings in the past six quarters. Allscripts also pointed to a consistent customer backlog totaling $3.1 billion.
Now what: Before you get too excited, keep in mind that this is the same company that seemed desperate to sell itself last year only to find no buyers. The strength associated with today's release is surprising, but I'm not exactly sure I'd call it a trend. Allscripts' turnaround strategy could take years to execute, and it's likely to put the company even further behind its peers. I'd suggest keeping a safe distance and observing Allscripts from the sidelines.
Top 10 Blue Chip Companies To Buy Right Now: Oriental Financial Group Inc.(OFG)
Oriental Financial Group Inc., a financial holding company, provides various banking and financial services to mid and high net worth individuals, and families, including professionals and owners of small and mid-sized businesses primarily in Puerto Rico. It operates in three segments: Banking, Wealth Management, and Treasury. The Banking segment offers commercial and consumer lending, saving and time deposit products, financial planning, and corporate and individual trust services. It also provides mortgage lending products that include the origination and purchase of residential mortgage loans. As of October 25, 2011, this segment operated 30 branches in Puerto Rico. The Wealth Management segment offers securities brokerage, trust services, retirement planning, insurance, pension administration, and other wealth management services. Its securities brokerage services include various investment alternatives, such as tax-advantaged fixed income securities, mutual funds, sto cks, and bonds to retail and institutional clients. This segment also provides public offerings and private placements of debt and equity securities, underwriting, and merger and acquisition and financial restructuring advisory services. In addition, it engages in insurance agency services and administration of retirement plans in the United States, Puerto Rico, and the Caribbean. The Treasury segment is involved in various treasury related functions with an investment portfolio consisting of mortgage-backed securities, obligations of U.S. government sponsored agencies, Puerto Rico government and agency obligations, structured credit investments, and money market instruments. The company was founded in 1964 and is based in San Juan, Puerto Rico.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Marc Bastow]
Diversified financial services company OFG Bancorp (OFG) raised its quarterly dividend 33% to 8 cents per share, payable on Jan. to shareholders of record as of Dec. 31.
OFG Dividend Yield: 1.8% - [By John Udovich]
For investors looking for exposure to the US commonwealth of Puerto Rico, banking stocks Doral Financial Corp (NYSE: DRL), First Bancorp (NYSE: FBP), OFG Bancorp (NYSE: OFG) and Popular Inc (NASDAQ: BPOP) offer the best bet as these Puerto Rico stocks trade on major US exchanges rather than the OTC. However, it should be mentioned that there has been a slowdown in Puerto Rico�� economy which has also shrunk in five of the past seven fiscal years. Then last�February, Puerto Rico�� debt was cut to speculative grade by the three largest credit-rating companies while�Governor Alejandro Garcia Padilla has proposed a series of budget cuts to help tackle the island�� mounting debt load -including the freezing public workers��salaries and the closing about 100 schools.
- [By Paul Ausick]
The third recommended multinational is another Puerto Rican bank, OFG Bancorp (NYSE: OFG). A recent dividend increase could indicate a share buyback for next year. The bank raised its EPS guidance in every quarter of 2013. This small cap bank closed at $16.82 on Friday in a 52-week range of $12.86 to $19.33. The Sterne Agee price target on the stock is $23.00, yielding a potential upside of almost 79%. The EPS estimate for 2014 is $2.05 and the stock�� forward multiple for 2014 is a low 8.3 from the firm while the consensus multiple is 9.45.
Top Information Technology Stocks To Invest In Right Now: Liberty Coal Energy Corp (LBTG)
Liberty Coal Energy Corp, incorporated on August 31, 2007, is an exploration-stage company. The Company is a precious metal mineral exploration, development and production company. The primary business focus of the Company is to acquire, explore and develop coal properties in North America. On February 1, 2012, the Company entered into a letter of intent for the acquisition of private mineral leasehold rights to certain coal mining property in Owsley County, Kentucky with AMS Development LLC. and Colt Resources, Inc.
The Owsley property covers approximately 1,000 acres and has 3,600,000 tons of coal recoverable by surface and high wall (auger) methods. As of September 31, 2011, the Company had not earned any revenues.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Peter Graham]
On Friday, small cap mining stocks Maverick Minerals Corp (OTCMKTS: MVRM) and Liberty Coal Energy Corp (OTCMKTS: LBTG) plus oil stock Gray Fox Petroleum Corp (OTCBB: GFOX) sank 30.9%, 16.67% and 11.2%, respectively. However, only one of these stocks appears to have been the subject of some kind of paid promotion in the form of an investment in some shares. So will these three small cap mining or oil stocks keep coming up empty for investors this week? Here is a closer look:
Top Information Technology Stocks To Invest In Right Now: Sparton Corporation(SPA)
Sparton Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, offers electronic manufacturing services primarily for medical device, defense and security systems, and electronic manufacturing services industries worldwide. The company?s Medical segment engages in the contract development, design, production, and distribution of medical related electromechanical devices for the medical OEM and ET customers primarily in the vitro diagnostic and therapeutic device areas. Its EMS segment involves in the contract manufacturing, assembly, design, preproduction, prototyping, and/or box building assemblies, such as flight control systems and fuel control systems for the aerospace, medical diagnostics systems, security systems, detection systems, lighting, and defense. The company?s DSS segment engages in the design, development, and production of electromechanical equipment, such as sonobuoys, an anti-submarine warfare device used by the United States Navy and foreign governments; and perf orms an engineering development function for the United States military and prime defense contractors on advanced technologies for defense products, and replacement of current systems. It also offers non-sonobuoy related manufacturing and services. Sparton Corporation was founded in 1900 and is headquartered in Schaumburg, Illinois.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Jasmine Ng]
Futures (SPA) on the Standard & Poor�� 500 Index lost 0.3 percent today. The U.S. equities benchmark index dropped 0.3 percent yesterday amid data that showed manufacturing unexpectedly climbed last month and retail spending fell on the weekend after Thanksgiving for the first time since 2009.
- [By Emma O��rien]
Futures (SPA) on the Standard & Poor�� 500 Index fell and the yen climbed against the dollar as U.S. lawmakers continued to scrap over raising the debt limit and the government shutdown. Crude oil declined while gold rallied.
- [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 Sparton (NYSE: SPA ) , whose recent revenue and earnings are plotted below. - [By Louis Navellier]
Sparton Corporation (SPA) provides electromechanical systems and operates in three segments: medical devices, complex systems and defense and security systems. The medical devices segment makes devices used in diagnostic, therapeutic, surgical, and laboratory applications. Complex devices makes printed circuit assemblies used in military, aerospace, industrial and commercial OEMs, while the defense and security segment designs products for defense applications.
Top Information Technology Stocks To Invest In Right Now: Spherix Inc (SPEX)
Spherix Incorporated (Spherix), incorporated on May 1, 1992, is a scientific research company. The Company is engaged in developing biopharmaceutical products and providing technical and regulatory consulting services to food, consumer products and pharmaceutical companies. The Company operates in two segments: Biospherics Incorporated (Biospherics), the Company's biotechnology research and development business, and Health Sciences, a technical and regulatory consulting business. The Company has created two wholly owned subsidiaries, Biospherics Incorporated and Spherix Consulting, Inc. (Spherix Consulting), for its two operating segments. The Company's Health Sciences contracts are in the name of Spherix Consulting, and the Company's patents are in the name of Biospherics Incorporated. Spherix provides management, strategic guidance, business development, marketing and other services to its subsidiaries. In September 2013, Spherix Incorporated closed on the acquisition of North South Holdings Inc.
Biospherics
The Company focuses its studies on treating high triglycerides and other dyslipidemias with a combination of D-tagatose and SPX-106, a licensed drug compound, which combination is referred to as SPX-106T. Spherix Consulting provides scientific and strategic support for suppliers, manufacturers, distributors and retailers of conventional foods, biotechnology-derived foods, medical foods, infant formulas, food ingredients, dietary supplements, food contact substances, pharmaceuticals, medical devices, consumer products, and industrial chemicals and pesticides. Biospherics has also completed a global Phase III clinical trial investigating the use of D-Tagatose, a stereoisomer of fructose, as a treatment for glycemic control in patients with Type 2 diabetes.
Health Sciences
The Company's Health Sciences business provides technical and regulatory consulting services to biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies, as well as providing technical suppo! rt for its research and development activities. During the year ended December 31, 2011, Health Sciences provided services to 20 companies. The projects range from safety analyses of food ingredients to safety analyses of pharmaceutical manufacturing and dispensing equipment. Health Sciences is also monitoring and directing the clinical trials for Biospherics.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Paul Ausick]
Big earnings movers: Chinese internet firm Qihoo 360 Technology Co. Ltd. (NYSE: QIHU) is up 8% at $78.99 on strong earnings and a buoyant outlook. A small biotech firm, Spherix Inc. (NASDAQ: SPEX) jumped 26.7% to more than $14 on earnings. On Tuesday we are scheduled to get earnings from LDK Solar Co. Ltd. (NYSE: LDK) and Tiffany & Co. (NYSE: TIF) before markets open. After Tuesday�� close we��l hear from Workday Inc. (NYSE: WDAY) and TiVo Inc. (NASDAQ: TIVO), among others.
- [By Paul Ausick]
Cisco Systems Inc. (NASDAQ: CSCO) bounced lower today, down 1.19% to $22.06 in a 52-week range of $19.98 to $26.49. Share volume was about equal to the daily average of around 42.7 million shares traded. The networking giant was hit with a lawsuit charging that Cisco violates 11 patents owned by Spherix Inc. (NASDAQ: SPEX) and that virtually all of Cisco�� revenues from switches and routers since 2008 were generated from the patent infringements.
- [By Peter Graham]
Small cap medical device or biotech related stocks Therapeutic Solutions International Inc (OTCMKTS: TSOI), diaDexus, Inc (OTCMKTS: DDXS) and Spherix Inc (NASDAQ: SPEX) have been getting some attention lately in various investment newsletters with the good news being that it appears none are the subject of paid promotions from stock promoters. So why are these three stocks all of a sudden getting some attention and what else do you need to know about them before you make a short or a long term bet on one? Here is a closer look at the whole picture and what you might be missing:
Top Information Technology Stocks To Invest In Right Now: Kite Realty Group Trust (KRG)
Kite Realty Group Trust is a publicly owned real estate investment trust. The firm invests in real estate markets of the United States. It engages in ownership, operation, management, leasing, acquisition, construction, expansion, and development and redevelopment of operating retail properties, retail properties under development, operating commercial properties, parking garage, commercial property under development, parcels of land, shopping, dining, and entertainment properties. Kite Realty Group was founded in 1968 and is based in Indianapolis, Indiana.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Lauren Pollock]
Kite Realty Group Trust ag(KRG)reed to merge with fellow real-estate firm Inland Diversified Real Estate Trust in a stock-for-stock deal that will create a company worth $2.1 billion. Kite Realty shares climbed 5.7% to $6.50 premarket.
Top Information Technology Stocks To Invest In Right Now: j2 Global Inc (JCOM)
j2 Global, Inc., incorporated on December 14, 1995, is a provider of services delivered through the Internet. The Company provides cloud services to businesses of all sizes, from individuals to enterprises. The Company operates in two segments: Business Cloud Services and Digital Media. The Company's Digital Media business segment consists of the Web properties and business operations of Ziff Davis, Inc. (Ziff Davis). The Company�� cloud services and solutions include fax, voice and unified communications, email and customer relationship management, online backup, global network and operations, and customer support services. In February 2013, it acquired IGN Entertainment, Inc. On November 9, 2012, the Company acquired Ziff Davis. Effective March 18, 2013, it acquired MetroFax Inc. In April 2013, the Company acquired Backup Connect BV.
Business Cloud Services
The Company's eFax and MyFax online fax services enable users to receive faxes into their email inboxes and to send faxes via the Internet. eVoice and Onebox provides the Company's customers a virtual phone system with various available enhancements. The Company's FuseMail service provides the Company's customers email, archival and perimeter protection solutions, while Campaigner provides its customers email marketing solutions. KeepItSafe enables the Company's customers to securely backup their data and dispose of tape or other physical systems. The Company's CampaignerCRM business provides customer relationship management solutions designed to increase the Company's customers' sales and increase efficiency. The Company also generates Business Cloud Services revenues from patent licensing and sales and advertising. The Company�� Business Cloud Services and solutions are of two types: direct inward-dial number (DID) -based, which are services provided in whole or in part through a telephone number and non-DID-based, which are its other cloud services for business. As of December 31, 2012, the Company had DIDs issued! to approximately 2.1 million paying subscribers.
The Company's services allow individuals to receive and send faxes as email attachments. In addition to eFax , the Company offers online fax services under a variety of alternative brands, including MyFax , eFax Plus , eFax Pro, eFax Corporate and eFax Developer . eVoice is a virtual phone system that provides small and medium-sized businesses on-demand voice communications services, featuring a toll-free or local company DID, auto-attendant and menu tree. With these services, a subscriber can assign departmental and individual extensions that can connect to multiple United States or Canadian DIDs, including land-line and mobile phones and Internet protocol (IP) networks. These services also include advanced integrated voicemail for each extension, unifying mobile, office and other separate voicemail services and improving efficiency by delivering voicemails in both native audio format and as transcribed text. Onebox is a unified communications suite. It combines the features of many of the Company's other branded services, plus added functionality, to provide a virtual office. Onebox includes a virtual phone system, hosted email, online fax, audio conferencing and Web conferencing.
FuseMail offers hosted email, email encryption and email archival services to businesses. These solutions are hosted offsite and seamlessly integrated into a customer's existing email system. The services include hosted email, VirusSMART virus scanning, CypherSMART encryption services, SpamSMART SPAM filtering and VaultSMART / PolicySMART archiving, which delivers a secure, scalable email archiving and customizable compliance tool to correspond with a company's retention policy. Campaigner is an email marketing service that enables businesses to easily create and send personalized one-to-one email communications to subscribers and customers to build better relationships. Campaigner also helps businesses increase the size of their mailing lists, compl! y with em! ail regulations like CAN-SPAM and get more emails to more inboxes. CampaignerCRM is a cloud-based CRM solution specifically designed to help small/medium-sized businesses close more deals, reduce the sales cycle and sell larger deals. CampaignerCRM has a sales checklist capability that gives sales representatives a step-by-step plan to closing a deal. With CampaignerCRM's Social CRM capabilities, companies can seamlessly integrate a customer's latest information from Twitter, LinkedIn, and Facebook directly into their Contact profile. KeepItSafe provides managed and monitored online backup solutions for businesses, using its ISO-certified platform.
The Company's Business Cloud Services business operates multiple physical Points of Presence (POPs) worldwide, a central data center in Los Angeles and several remote disaster recovery facilities. The Company connects its POPs to its central data centers through redundant, and often times diverse, Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) using the Internet. The Company's network is designed to deliver value-added user applications, customer support and billing services for the Company's customers anywhere in the world and a local presence for its DID-based service customers from thousands of cities in 49 countries on six continents. The Company offers DIDs covering all major metropolitan areas in the United States, United Kingdom and Canada, and such other major cities as Berlin, Hong Kong, Madrid, Manila, Mexico City, Milan, Paris, Rome, Singapore, Sydney, Taipei, Tokyo and Zurich. The Company has customers located throughout the world.
The Company's Business Cloud Services customer service organization supports the Company's cloud services customers through a combination of online self-help, email communications, interactive chat sessions and telephone calls. The Company's Internet-based online self-help tools enable customers to resolve simple issues on their own, eliminating the need to speak or write to the Company's customer service re! presentat! ives. The Company's Business Cloud Services segment customer service organization provides email support seven days per week, 24 hours per day to all subscribers. Paying subscribers have access to live-operator telephone support seven days per week, 24 hours per day. Dedicated telephone support is provided for corporate customers 24 hours per day, seven days per week. Live sales and customer support services are available in nine languages, including English, Spanish, Dutch, German, French and Cantonese.
Digital Media
The Ziff Davis portfolio of Web properties, including PCMag.com, ExtremeTech.com, Geek.com, ComputerShopper.com, LogicBuy.com and Toolbox.com features reviews of technology products, technology-oriented news and commentary, professional networking tools for IT professionals and online deals and discounts for consumers. The Company generates Digital Media revenues from the sale of display advertising targeted to in-market technology buyers and from the sale of customer leads to online merchants and business-to-business leads to IT vendors. During the year ended December 31, 2012, Digital Media Web properties attracted 345 million visits and 1.1 billion page views.
PCMag is a trusted online resource for laboratory-based product reviews, technology news and buying guides. Toolbox.com is a network of online communities that allows experienced technology professionals to share collective knowledge and collaborate to resolve problems more efficiently. Toolbox.com includes professional networking tools, blogs, collaboration tools and reference guides. Geek.com is an online technology resource and community for technology enthusiasts and professionals. Its gaming site includes IGN.com and men's lifestyle site includes AskMen.com.
The Company competes with Google AdSense, DoubleClick Ad Exchange, AOL's Ad.com and Microsoft Media Network.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Rick Munarriz]
Finally, we have j2 Global (NASDAQ: JCOM ) keeping a welcome streak alive. The provider of Internet services declared a quarterly distribution of $0.24 a share. This may be a mere 3% uptick, but j2 has come through with rate hikes in each of the past seven quarters. The total increase over the course of that run is a solid 20% advance.
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