The Q1 2014 earnings report for advanced materials stock GT Advanced Technologies Inc (NASDAQ: GTAT), a potential peer of stocks like Corning Incorporated (NYSE: GLW), UniPixel Inc (NASDAQ: UNXL) and Universal Display Corporation (NASDAQ: OLED), is due out after the market closes later today. Aside from the GT Advanced Technologies earnings report, it should be said that Corning Incorporated already�reported earnings on Monday, April 28 while UniPixel Inc� and Universal Display Corporation are both�scheduled to release earnings after the market closes on Thursday. All of these stocks are interesting because all supply advanced materials to consumer electronics, mobile device, solar and organic light emitting diode (OLED) or light emitting diode (LED) makers.
What Should You Watch Out for With the GT Advanced Technologies Inc Earnings Report?First, here is a quick recap of GT Advanced Technologies��recent earnings history from Yahoo! Finance:
Top 10 Dividend Companies To Invest In 2015: Northern Tier Energy LP (NTI)
Northern Tier Energy LP, formerly Northern Tier Energy, Inc., incorporated in October 21, 2011, is an independent downstream energy company with refining, retail, and pipeline operations that serves the PADD II region of the United States. The Company operates its assets in two business segments: the refining business and the retail business. The Company owns three pipelines. The Company's operations will be conducted through, and its operating assets will be owned by, its wholly owned subsidiary, Northern Tier Energy LLC, and its subsidiaries. Effective November 12, 2013, Western Refining Inc acquired a 38.681% interest in Northern Tier Energy LP.
Refining Business
The Company�� refining business primarily consists of a 74,000 barrels per calendar day (84,500 barrels per stream day) refinery located in St. Paul Park, Minnesota. Its location allows it to distribute its refined products throughout the midwestern United States. The Company�� refinery produces a slate of refined products, including gasoline, diesel, jet fuel and asphalt, which are then marketed to resellers and consumers primarily in the PADD II region. It also owns various storage and transportation assets, including a light products terminal, a heavy products terminal, storage tanks, rail loading/unloading facilities and a Mississippi river dock. The Company�� refining business also includes its 17% interest in the Minnesota Pipe Line Company, which owns and operates the Minnesota Pipeline, a 455,000 barrels per calendar day crude oil pipeline system that transports crude oil (primarily from Western Canada and North Dakota) for approximately 300 miles from the Enbridge pipeline hub at Clearbrook, Minnesota to its refinery.
As of March 31, 2012, the Company's storage assets included 84 hydrocarbon storage tanks with a total capacity of 3.7 million barrels (156 million gallons), 0.8 million barrels of crude oil storage and 2.9 million barrels of feedstock and product storage. The Company�� r! efinery supplies all of the gasoline and diesel sold in its company-operated and franchised convenience stores, as well as all of the gasoline and diesel sold in 90 independently owned and operated Marathon branded stores in its marketing area. The Minnesota Pipe Line Company owns the Minnesota Pipeline, a crude oil pipeline system in Minnesota that transports crude oil to the St. Paul area. The Minnesota Pipeline system has multiple lines that run approximately 300 miles from Clearbrook in Clearwater County, Minnesota to Dakota County, Minnesota, transporting crude oil received through the Enbridge pipeline connections at Clearbrook from Western Canada and North Dakota to our refinery and Koch Industries�� Flint Hills Resources refinery in Minnesota.
Retail Business
As of March 31, 2012, the Company�� retail business operated 166 convenience stores under the SuperAmerica brand and also supported 67 franchised convenience stores, which are also operated under the SuperAmerica brand. These convenience stores are located primarily in Minnesota and Wisconsin and sell various grades of gasoline and diesel, tobacco products and immediately consumable items, such as non-alcoholic beverages, beer, prepared food and a range of snacks and prepackaged items. It also owns and operates SuperMom�� Bakery, which prepares and distributes baked goods and other prepared food items for sale in its company-operated and franchised convenience stores and other third party locations.
The Company has a retail-marketing network of 233 convenience stores, as of March 31, 2012, located throughout Minnesota, Wisconsin and South Dakota, of which it operates 166 stores and support 67 franchised stores. All of its company-operated and franchised convenience stores are operated under the SuperAmerica brand. It also owns and operates SuperMom�� Bakery, which prepares and distributes baked goods and other prepared items for sale in its retail outlets and for other third parties. Its refine! ry suppli! es all of the gasoline and diesel sold in its company-operated and franchised convenience stores. The Company has retail customers, which primarily include retail end-users, motorists and commercial drivers. It had a retail-marketing network of 233 convenience stores, as of March 31, 2012, located throughout Minnesota, Wisconsin and South Dakota, of which it operated 166 stores and support 67 franchised stores.
The Company competes with Koch Industries��Flint Hills Resources Refinery, Holiday, Kwik Trip and Wal-Mart.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Robert Rapier] In last week’s issue I discussed the basics of the refining sector. Today I will provide an overview of four MLPs that hold refining assets.
To review, the refining sector was very profitable in 2012 thanks to unusually high crack spreads, which for many US refiners are approximated by the price differential between Brent and West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude oils. For a more thorough explanation of this phenomenon, please refer to last week’s issue.
After years of trading at a $1 to $3 per barrel discount to WTI, Brent began fetching a premium a few years ago as a glut of crude developed in the mid-continent area of the US. In 2011 the Brent-WTI price differential increased to more than $25/bbl, and it remained historically high in 2012.
But pipeline capacity started to catch up this year, and the share prices of refiners retreated as the glut began to dissipate and the Brent-WTI differential shrank. In Q3 2012, the Brent-WTI differential averaged $17.43/bbl, but by Q3 of this year, the differential had fallen to $4.43/bbl. This promises bad news for refiners about to report Q3 earnings.
Many analysts downgraded the refining sector in Q3, but as the differential fell below $5/bbl it was hard to imagine that the news could get much worse. With poor Q3 results largely priced in, the differential subsequently rose back above $10/bbl, signaling better refining margins moving into Q4.
Refiners began to post earnings this past week, and as expected they were weak. Valero (NYSE: VLO) reported slightly higher revenues year-over-year, but net earnings fell more than 50 percent from a year ago. Nevertheless, they beat the extremely pessimistic expectations of analysts, and Valero shares rose on the news.
Phillips 66’s (NYSE: PSX) refining unit actually posted a loss, but its chemical business turned in a solid quarter which more than compensated for the disappointing refining results.
The rest of the refine - [By Ben Levisohn]
Delek US,�Western Refining and�Phillips 66 are most exposed to the consensus thinking Westlake and�Advani say. They kept Tesoro (TSO) and Northern Tier Energy (NTI) rated outperform.
- [By Robert Rapier]
Northern Tier Energy (NYSE: NTI) will report earnings this week. The partnership closed last week down less than 1 percent, but interested investors should find a cheaper entry point this week as earnings will undoubtedly be disappointing.
- [By Eric Volkman]
Northern Tier Energy (NYSE: NTI ) revenue totaled slightly over $1.1 billion in the first quarter, an improvement over the $999 million in the same period the previous year, the company announced this week.
Best Up And Coming Stocks For 2014: The9 Limited(NCTY)
The9 Limited, together with its subsidiaries, engages in the development and operation of online games, and Internet and Website related businesses in the People?s Republic of China. The company offers online games, including MMORPGs, Web, and SNS games. As of December 31, 2010, it owned or had exclusive licenses to operate SUN, EA Sports FIFA Online 2, Atlantica, World of Fighter, Kingdom Heroes 2 Online, Winning Goal, ShenXianZhuan, Planetside 2, Free Realms, and Seoyugi games in China. The9 Limited also involves in the provision of Internet protocol television services and SMS services; Website solutions and advertising services, and mobile game platform; and licensing of its proprietary games to third parties. The company was formerly known as GameNow.net Limited and changed its name to The9 Limited in February 2004. The9 Limited was founded in 1999 and is headquartered in Shanghai, the People?s Republic of China.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Sally Jones]
Here’s a look at three application software companies currently on a 52-week low and still held by a few billionaires. The9 Ltd. (NCTY), Merge Healthcare Inc. (MRGE) and FAB Universal Corp. (FU) are more than 52% off a 52-week high.
- [By Rich Duprey]
Chinese online game developer�The9� (NASDAQ: NCTY ) �says that between April 22 and April 28, its chairman and CEO, Jun Zhu, purchased 200,000 of the company's American depositary shares on the open market, and he�intends to purchase�as much as $5 million�worth of the stock in total. He is also a co-founder of the company.
Best Up And Coming Stocks For 2014: Electronic Arts Inc (EA)
Electronic Arts Inc., incorporated in 1982, develops, markets, publishes and distributes game software content and services that can be played by consumers on a variety of video game machines and electronic devices (platforms). Its offers products, such as video game consoles, such as the Sony PLAYSTATION 3, Microsoft Xbox 360 and Nintendo Wii; personal computers, including the Apple Macintosh (the Company refers to personal computers and the Macintosh together as PCs); mobile devices, such as the Apple iPhone and Google Android compatible phones; tablets and electronic readers, such as the Apple iPad and the Amazon Kindle, and Internet, including social networking sites, such as Facebook. In August 2011, it acquired PopCap Games Inc. (PopCap), a developer of casual games for mobile devices, tablets, PCs, and social networking sites.
The Company has created, licensed and acquired a portfolio of brands, which span a diverse range of categories, including action-adventure, casual, family, fantasy, first-person shooter, horror, science fiction, role-playing, racing, simulation, social, sports, and strategy. The Company�� portfolio of brands includes wholly owned brands, such as Battlefield, Mass Effect, Need for Speed, The Sims, Bejeweled, and Plants v. Zombies. Its portfolio also includes sports-based brands, such as Madden NFL and FIFA, and titles-based on other brands, such as Star Wars: The Old Republic. It provides a variety of online-delivered products and services, including through its Origin platform. Its packaged goods products are also available through direct online download through the Internet. The Company also offers online-delivered content and services that are add-ons or related to its packaged goods products, such as additional game content or enhancements of multiplayer services. It provides other games, content and services that are available only via electronic delivery, such as Internet-only games and game services, and games for mobile devices.
The Comp! any operates development studios (which develop products and perform other related functions) in North America, Europe, Asia and Australia. It also engages third parties to assist with the development of its games at their own development and production studios. Internationally, the Company conducts business through its international headquarters in Switzerland and has wholly owned subsidiaries worldwide, including offices in Europe, Australia, Asia and Latin America. The Company�� studios and development teams are organized around its Label structure. Each Label operates globally with dedicated game development and marketing teams. These Labels are supported by the Company�� Global Publishing Organization that is responsible for the distribution, sales, and marketing of its products, including planning, operations, and manufacturing functions.
EA Games
EA Games is home to a number of the Company�� studios and development teams, which together create a portfolio of games and related content and services marketed under the EA brand in categories, such as action-adventure, role playing, racing and first-person shooter games. The EA Games portfolio includes a number of franchises, such as Battlefield, Dead Space, Medal of Honor and Need for Speed. EA Games titles are developed primarily at the following EA studios, Criterion, DICE, EA Los Angeles, Visceral, and EA Montreal. EA Games also contracts with external game developers, to provide these developers with a variety of services, including development assistance, publishing, and distribution of their games.
EA SPORTS
EA SPORTS develops a collection of sports-based video games and related content and services marketed under the EA SPORTS brand. EA SPORTS games range from simulated sports titles with realistic graphics based on real-world sports leagues, players, events and venues to more casual games with arcade-style gameplay and graphics. The Company�� EA SPORTS franchises include FIFA, Fig! ht Night,! Madden NFL, NCAA Football, NHL Hockey, and Tiger Woods PGA Tour. EA SPORTS games are developed primarily at the Company�� EA Canada studio in Burnaby, British Columbia, and its EA Tiburon studio located in Orlando, Florida.
BioWare
BioWare develops role-playing games, focused on stories, characters and worlds to discover. BioWare�� portfolio includes the MMO role-playing game Star Wars: The Old Republic and the Mass Effect and Dragon Age franchises. BioWare operates in Texas, California, Canada and Ireland.
Maxis
Maxis (formerly EA Play) are focused on creating games and related content and services for a mass audience. Maxis products include wholly owned franchises, such as The Sims, SimCity, MySims, and Spore. During the fiscal year ended March 31, 2012 (fiscal 2012), the Company released titles in The Sims 3 franchise, and together with Playfish, The Sims Social game on Facebook. Maxis oversees internal studios and development teams located in California, Utah, Beijing, China and Guildford, England, and works with third-party developers.
PopCap
PopCap develops easy-to-learn games. PopCap games, including Bejeweled, Plants vs. Zombies, Zuma, Peggle, and Bookworm are gameplays. PopCap games are developed primarily in Seattle, Washington.
Social/Mobile Studios
The Company�� Social/Mobile studios is focused on developing interactive games for play on mobile devices and Internet platforms, including social networking sites, such as Facebook. Through EA Mobile, the Company is a global publisher of games for mobile devices. Its customers purchase and download the Company�� games through a mobile carrier�� e-commerce service and mobile application storefronts accessed directly from their mobile devices. EA Mobile develops games for mobile devices at studios located in the United States, Canada, Romania, Australia, India and Korea. Through Playfish, it offers free-to-play social games, in! cluding T! he Sims Social, Pet Society, EA Sports FIFA Superstars and Madden NFL Superstars that can be played on platforms, such as Facebook, Google, iPhone and Android. Playfish generates revenue through sales of digital content and Internet-based advertising.
The Company, through its Pogo online service, offers games, such as card, puzzle and word games on www.pogo.com, as well as on Facebook and other platforms. In addition to paid subscriptions, Pogo also generates revenue through Internet-based advertising and sales of digital content. In addition, it has a licensing agreement with Hasbro, which provides the Company with the rights to create digital games for all platforms based on most of Hasbro�� toy and game intellectual properties, including MONOPOLY, SCRABBLE (for United States and Canada), YAHTZEE (excluding the Nordic countries), NERF, and LITTLEST PET SHOP. Hasbro games are developed by its EA Mobile, Pogo and Social studios.
The Company competes with Activision Blizzard, Take-Two Interactive, THQ, Ubisoft, Disney, Capcom Mobile, DeNA, Gameloft, Glu Mobile, Gree, Rovio, Zynga, Big Fish, Nexon, Tencent and Facebook.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Steve Symington]
On Tuesday, both�Hasbro (NASDAQ: HAS ) and�Electronic Arts (NASDAQ: EA ) stock rose slightly after the companies announced a new four-year agreement, under which EA will develop mobile games based on several of Hasbro's most popular gaming brands.
- [By Monica Gerson]
Electronic Arts (NASDAQ: EA) soared 4.85% to $25.30 in the pre-market trading after the company reported upbeat profit for the fiscal second quarter.
- [By Timothy Boyle]
A few areas of concern for Activision Blizzard reside in the transition between gaming systems, the development of Call of Duty, and the increasing competition from Electronic Arts (NASDAQ: EA ) and Disney (NYSE: DIS ) . Sales of CoD: Ghosts are not expected to be as high as its predecessor due to the transition between systems, from PS3 and Xbox 360 to PS4 and Xbox one, respectively. After E3 in early June, critics claimed that CoD: Ghosts doesn't demonstrate nearly enough advances in the game interface, and could suffer the effects of competing with EA's Battlefield 4, whose predecessor, Battlefield 3, rivaled CoD: Modern Warfare 3 in 2011. However, Modern Warfare 3 has outsold Battlefield 3�nearly 2-to-1,�according to VGChartz. VGChartz also showed that Battlefield 4 presale has outsold CoD: Ghosts presale by about 40,000 units as of June 29. Although this appears slightly daunting to the future of CoD, this sales differential can be partially attributed to the CoD faithful who are still exploring new maps in CoD: Black Ops II and haven't decided to preorder the newest release in the series. Although Battlefield may present viable competition, based off the sales of the prior releases in the series, it's safe to say that CoD will continue to control the market.
Best Up And Coming Stocks For 2014: LoJack Corporation(LOJN)
LoJack Corporation provides technology products and services for the tracking and recovery of mobile assets, stolen vehicles, motorcycles, construction equipment, cargo, and people at risk. It offers LoJack Unit, a LoJack System component that consists of a high frequency transponder with a hidden antenna, microprocessor, and power supply, as well as a set of codes unique to the unit; and LoJack Early Warning Unit, an optional component that provides notification to vehicle owners in the event of unauthorized user operating the vehicle. The company also licenses LoJack for Laptops, a system to recover the stolen computers; and LoJack InTransit, a cargo and tracking recovery solution. In addition, it provides LoJack SafetyNet system, which comprises a personal locator unit, a search and rescue receiver used by public safety agencies. The company markets its products to owners of commercial equipment and to consumers through its sales force, telemarketing representatives, di rect mail, and automobile dealers. It operates in the United States, Africa, Latin America, the Caribbean countries, Canada, and Europe. LoJack Corporation was founded in 1978 and is headquartered in Canton, Massachusetts.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Wallace Witkowski]
Shares of LoJack Corp. (LOJN) �surged 20% to $5.30 on moderate volume after the car-security-system company said an arbitration panel dismissed claims by a Brazilian licensee over a contract dispute.