Monday, October 6, 2014

Top 10 Services Stocks To Watch Right Now

Global financial services giant�JPMorgan Chase� (NYSE: JPM  ) �announced yesterday�its second-quarter dividend of $0.38 per share, a 27% increase from the payout made last quarter of $0.30 per share.

The board of directors said the quarterly dividend is payable on July�31�to the holders of record at the close of business on July 5.�During the financial crash of 2009, JPMorgan was forced to cut its dividend to $0.05 per share, but it has increased the payout annually since.

It also said shareholders at its annual meeting approved all five company proposals, including the election of the bank's directors, ratification of PricewaterhouseCoopers as its independent registered public accounting firm, approval of the company's executive compensation plan, authorizing shareholder action by written consent, and reapproval of the performance plan for key executives.

There were also four shareholder proposals put forth, none of which was approved.

The regular dividend payment equates to a $1.52-per-share annual dividend yielding 2.9% based on the closing price of JPMorgan Chase's stock on May 21.

Hot Restaurant Companies For 2015: Insignia Systems Inc.(ISIG)

Insignia Systems, Inc. markets in-store advertising products, programs, and services to consumer packaged goods manufacturers and retailers in the United States and internationally. The company focuses on providing in-store services through the Insignia Point-Of-Purchase Services (POPS) in-store advertising program. Its Insignia POPSign program is a national account-specific in-store shelf-edge advertising program, which allows manufacturers to deliver vital product information to consumers at the point-of-purchase together with each retailer?s store-specific prices. The company also offers Stylus software, which allows retailers to create signs, labels, and posters by manually entering the information or by importing information from a database; and laser printable cardstock and vinyl labels, including adhesive and non-adhesive supplies in various colors, sizes, and weights to retailers for their in-store signage and shelf-edge product information needs. The company dire ctly markets its Insignia POPSign program to food and drug manufacturers and retailers; and markets its Stylus software through resellers. Insignia Systems, Inc. was founded in 1990 and is based in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Advisors' Opinion:
  • [By CRWE]

    MINNEAPOLIS- October 26, 2013 -(CRWE Press Release) -Insignia Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:ISIG) announced that it intends to hold a conference call on Wednesday, October 30 at 4:00 PM Central Time to discuss the Company’s financial performance for the third quarter of 2013, which will be released Wednesday, October 30 at 3:05 PM Central Time.

    Participants may access the live call by dialing the toll-free number 877-268-1608 and provide Conference ID 98094181. Please be sure to call in about 5-10 minutes before the call is scheduled to begin. Audio replay will be available approximately two hours after the call until November 6, 2013 by dialing 855-859-2056 and referencing Conference ID 98094181. The audio recording will also be archived on the Company�� website approximately two days after the call until November 30, 2013. Financial information to be provided in the conference call, as well as information pertaining to the Company�� past financial performance, may be accessed on the Investor Relations page of the Company�� website at www.insigniasystems.com.

    Insignia Systems, Inc. is a developer and marketer of in-store media solutions, programs and services to retailers and consumer goods manufacturers. Through its Point-Of-Purchase Services (POPS) business, Insignia inspires shoppers and delivers value by providing at-shelf advertising solutions in over 13,000 chain retail supermarkets, over 1,700 mass merchants and 7,000 dollar stores. Through the nationwide POPS network, over 200 major consumer goods manufacturers, including Armour-Eckrich, General Mills, Hormel, Kellogg Company and Nestl茅, have taken their brand messages to the point-of-purchase. For additional information, contact (888) 474-7677, or visit the Insignia website at www.insigniasystems.com.

    Contact

Top 10 Services Stocks To Watch Right Now: Elisa Oyj (ELI1V)

Elisa Oyj is a Finland-based Company engaged in the provision of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) services in Finland and Estonia. The Company operates within two business segments: Consumer Customers and Corporate Customers. The Consumer Customers segment provides consumers and households with telecommunications services, such as voice and data services. The Corporate Customers segment provides to the corporate and community customers voice and data services, ICT solutions and contact center services. All the services are provided under the Elisa and Saunalahti brands. The Company�� global alliance partners are Vodafone and Telenor. The Company operates through its subsidiaries, including Appelsiini Finland Oy, Arediv Oy, Ecosite Oy and Elisa Eesti As, among others. Advisors' Opinion:
  • [By Adam Ewing]

    A sale would provide the shareholders with cash, while potentially strengthening DNA against larger rivals Elisa Oyj (ELI1V) and TeliaSonera AB. (TLSN) The IPO could be the biggest in Finland, home of Nokia Oyj (NOK1V) and ��ngry Birds��maker Rovio Entertainment Oy, since 2005.

Top 10 Services Stocks To Watch Right Now: MICROS Systems Inc (MCRS)

MICROS Systems, Inc. (MICROS), incorporated on September 8, 1977, is a global designer, manufacturer, marketer, and servicer of enterprise information solutions for the global hospitality and retail industries. The Company operates in two segments: the United States/Canada and International. The retail industry consists of retail operations selling directly to consumers, including retailers of clothing, shoes, food, hardware, jewelry, and other specialty items. Its enterprise information solutions consists three areas: hotel information systems, restaurant information systems and retail information systems. In addition to its software enterprise solutions and hardware products, it offers a range of services and other products for its hotel, restaurant and retail information systems. The hotel information systems consist of software, encompassing property based management systems (PMS), related property-specific modules and applications, and central systems, including central reservation systems (CRS). The restaurant information systems consist of hardware and software for point-of-sale (POS) and operational applications, a range of back office applications, including inventory, labor and financial management, and centrally hosted enterprise applications. The retail information systems consist of hardware and software encompassing POS, loss prevention, Web commerce applications, business analytics, customer gift cards, electronic payments and enterprise applications. Its retail solutions are provided through its MICROS-Retail group of subsidiaries, which includes Datavantage, CommercialWare, Advance Retail Systems (Mexico), MICROS Retail and Manufacturing Ltd. (United Kingdom), eOne, Fry, Fortech (Italy), MICROS eCommerce EAME (London), and MICROS Retail Austria GmbH. On May 31, 2012, MICROS acquired Torex Retail Holdings, Ltd. of Dunstable, England (Torex).

Hotel Information Systems

For the hotel and resort industry, the Company develops, distributes, and supports a range of ! hotel software products and services under the OPERA brand name. Its OPERA suite includes PMS, sales and catering, CRS, customer information system, revenue management, sales support, data mining, financial statements, condominium reservations and accounting, golf reservations, spa management, and quality management. It also offers a range for OPERA, which enables guest check-in and check-out, and other interactive features, through a kiosk.

The PMS software provides for hotel room check-in and checkout, reservations, guest accounting, travel agent accounting, and engineering management. The PMS software also interfaces to central reservation systems, to on-line travel services, and to global distribution systems. The OPERA sales and catering software enables hotel sales staff to evaluate, reserve and invoice meetings, banquets and related events for a property. The OPERA CRS software enables hotels to coordinate, process, track, and analyze hotel room reservations at a central facility for electronic distribution to the appropriate lodging site. The OPERA revenue management software enables hotels to manage room rates, occupancy, and the mix of business between corporate and transient customers. It also offers an Internet-based hotel reservation service through its myfidelio.net service. This service enables corporations, tourist representation services, and consumers to reserve rooms and manage reservations directly with designated hotels. This service also enables those hotel properties without internal reservation capabilities to outsource to us the maintenance of their connectivity to the global distribution systems and certain alternative distribution systems. The Company offers limited versions of the OPERA property management system called OPERA Xpress, OPERA Lite, and Operetta. As of June 30, 2012, approximately 20,200 hotel sites have installed either OPERA, OPERA Xpress PMS, OPERA Lite, or Operetta.

OPERA runs on two operating systems: Microsoft Windows (Server and X! P) and IB! M AIX, and uses an Oracle database. It offers hosting services for hotel customers in various data centers globally (including Ashburn and Manassas, Virginia; Buenos Aires, Argentina; Frankfurt, Germany, and Singapore) with the OPERA applications accessed through Internet or high speed connections. In addition to OPERA, it supports a range of hotel software products (PMS and other modules) under the Fidelio Version 7.0 brand name. Fidelio Version 7.0 uses the Microsoft Windows graphical user interface and runs on an Oracle database. As of June 30, 2012, approximately 2,875 hotels were using Fidelio Version 7.0. The Company also markets a PMS product in Europe under the brand name Fidelio Version 8. This product uses the Windows operating system with an Oracle database. As of June 30, 2012, the product was installed in over 3,750 hotel sites.

Through the Company�� subsidiary Fidelio Cruise, it markets the Ships Property Management System (SPMS) suite of applications, which includes a PMS product designed for use by the cruise industry. The SPMS application enables cruise operators to manage passenger, visitor, group, and crew information at various stages from check-in to check-out, invoicing, credit card handling with online functionality, safety and security, and automated check-in with picture taking for passengers, crew, and visitors. The software maintains the count of passengers and staff on-board, as required by international industry regulations. In addition SPMS modules support the operation of on-board health spas, on-board MICROS point-of-sale systems, on-board business centers, on-board medical centers, and on-board casinos, as well as shore excursions. It also markets Fidelio Cruise Crew Management System, which supports the shore side and shipboard crew resource operations for a cruise ship, and the Fidelio Cruise Fleet Management System, which enables fleet-wide data analysis for cruise ship operators. Fidelio Cruise software is installed on approximately 220 cruise ships.

Restaurant Information Systems

The Company�� restaurant systems include POS applications, kitchen product applications, mobile applications, marketing applications, and hardware. Its front-of-house restaurant products operate on either industry standard personal computers (PCs) or terminals that have additional functionality and design appropriate for food service environments. The workstations the Company has designed, and which it markets and sells, are the Workstation 5A and 2015 PC Workstation. It also integrates other hardware devices into its complete product offerings.

Workstation 5A is a PC based POS terminal using Microsoft�� Embedded CE 6.0 and POSReady 2009 operating systems. The MICROS 2015 PC Workstation is a POS terminal designed to operate its restaurant applications and other third party PC-based software applications. The product uses Intel chip architecture. It can be configured to accommodate memory and storage requirements. The product supports Microsoft operating systems and Linux.

The Protege Customer Display System and MICROS Order Confirmation Systems are designed for the quick service restaurant market, and provide information to a restaurant�� customers regarding their order. The Protege Customer Display System is connected to a MICROS Workstation. It is a Microsoft Windows CE client equipped with a touchscreen allowing for interactive use. The MICROS Order Confirmation System is also a Microsoft Windows CE client, and provides order detail through a remote 15 inches daylight viewable display. It also markets a product named the Keyboard Workstation 270. This product enables orders to be entered through the MICROS Simphony and 9700 HMS through a workstation with a keyboard interface in lieu of a touchscreen. The Keyboard Workstation is used in institutional food service environments, convention centers, and sports complexes. Through its JTECH subsidiary, it offers pagers, wireless systems, alert software, and related products for! use in r! estaurants, retail, medical, and other environments.

The Company resells various other hardware products, including personal computers, servers, printers, network cards, and other related computer equipment. The Company�� restaurant POS software systems are Simphony, the MICROS Restaurant Enterprise Series (3700 POS) system, the MICROS 9700 Hospitality Management System (HMS), Hospitality Solution�� Profit Series, and the MICROS e7 Series. These systems provide transaction control for table service, quick service and food service and entertainment venues. Its design architecture enables existing users of MICROS POS products to access third party software applications in conjunction with their existing MICROS POS systems. In addition, MICROS restaurant information system products interface with back office accounting and property management systems, including its hotel PMS products.

The Simphony software solution is designed to be an all-inclusive software application for use by table service restaurants, quick service restaurants, and enterprise operations. It is capable of operating at single site venues, such as airport and other travel-related food service concessions, casinos, theme parks, and resorts as well multi-unit quick service and table service restaurant operations. The enterprise Simphony database is supported either by Microsoft SQL Server or Oracle. As of June 30, 2012, MICROS has installed over 9,300 sites with Simphony, and hosts approximately 800 of those sites.

The MICROS 9700 HMS is designed for leisure and entertainment venues, which include resorts, casinos, airport and other travel-related food service concessions, stadiums/arenas, theme parks, table service and quick service restaurants in hotels, and restaurants. The MICROS 3700 POS is designed for table service and quick service restaurants. It has an open systems architecture using the Microsoft�� Windows operating system and a Sybase relational database, and can run on standard PCs! or works! tations. It uses a color touch screen with a Microsoft Windows based graphical user interface.

The Company markets a range of back office and operation focused software solutions, which extend beyond point-of-sale. The suite is called the MICROS Restaurant Enterprise Series (RES). The MICROS RES software solutions include point-of-sale transaction control, restaurant operations, data analysis, and communications. The POS software comprises the front-end application for the RES system. The restaurant operations modules include inventory, product forecasting, labor management, financial management, gift cards, customer loyalty and enterprise data management. Other components include Mobile MICROS and MICROS RES Kiosk, which enables customer information and self-ordering on third-party kiosks or directly through the use of smart phones and tablets.

For management of multiple restaurants, MICROS RES includes a range of software products called Enterprise Management. This suite enables data to be transmitted to a remote site for data collection and analysis. In addition, pricing and menu changes can be made from a remote site and downloaded to specified restaurant locations. It also markets a POS system called MICROS e7. This product runs on the MICROS Workstation 5 and 5A series and uses the Microsoft Windows CE Operating system. The Company markets an Internet-based portal product called mymicros.net. The mymicros.net product posts restaurant transaction POS detail to a centralized data warehouse in near real time. This product enables the customer to view reports and charts for a single site, a group of restaurants, or the entire enterprise from any location that has an Internet connection. In addition, mymicros.net incorporates additional products for inventory management, labor scheduling and control, gift cards, loyalty cards and other marketing programs. The mymicros.net software product can either be purchased through a perpetual use license or by an annual or multi-year so! ftware-as! -a-service (SaaS) subscription contract. It hosts mymicros.net, Simphony, and other hosted POS-related applications in the same data centers where it offers hosting services for its OPERA PMS. As of June 30, 2012, it hosted applications supporting over 29,000 restaurants.

Retail Information Systems

Through the Company�� MICROS-Retail group of subsidiaries (MICROS-Retail), it markets retail store software systems, direct commerce solutions and business intelligence applications. The retail store software systems are called Store21 Store Management System (Store21), Tradewind Store Management System (Tradewind) and Xstore Store Management System (Xstore). Store21 is a POS product designed for specialty retailers. The products operate on Microsoft�� Windows NT and 2000 and 2003 operating systems and use a Sybase database. Both products can be integrated with the retailer�� back office systems, and it also offers additional back office, communications, and reporting modules for use with Tradewind and Store21.

Xstore is the Company�� retail POS software system. It is a full service oriented architecture (SOA) compliant architecture. It runs on the Sun Microsystems Java operating system, and its architecture enables it to be integrated to both Windows and Linux-based back office systems. It can operate on any Java compatible operating system and database. Like Store21 and Tradewind, its predecessor products, Xstore is a front-end POS software system. Xstore is designed to run in a Windows or a Linux environment, while Store21 and Tradewind, as designed, can operate only in a Windows environment.

The Company offers the MICROS-Retail Home Office Business Intelligence Suite for retail stores, which includes loss prevention (marketed under the trade name XBR), customer relationship management, gift cards (marketed under the trade name Relate), and audit control (marketed under the trade name Balance). It also offers XBR to its restaurant customers throug! h MICROS ! provided centrally hosted or self-hosted environment. MICROS-Retail also offers in-store mobile solutions with Apple Corporation�� iPod Touch, iPhone and iPad systems. These solutions enable the store associate to ring up sales, handle inventory and service customers using the mobile devices. MICROS-Retail offers an eCommerce platform with features, marketed under the trade name Open Commerce Platform, as well as creative and design services to help customers create custom Websites.

MICROS-Retail offers order management and order broker software and services (marketed under the trade names CW Serenade and Locate, respectively), which enable a retailer to manage customer purchase transactions through multiple sources, including a store, the Internet, catalog phone-in orders, call centers, kiosks, and wireless devices. MICROS-Retail develops, supports, and distributes software solutions, which provides for collaborative end-to-end product and supplier lifecycle management and ingredient legal compliance tracking under the names Creations and myCreations. Creations and myCreations customers include accounts, such as Tesco, Sainsbury��, Wm Morrison, Sobeys, H.E. Butt, Metro, Kodak, Bodyshop and Booker.

The Company provides a range of services to its customers, including system installation, operator and manager training, on-site hardware maintenance, customized software development, application software support and credit card software support. During the fiscal year ended June 30, 2012 (fiscal 2012), service revenue constituted approximately 65.6% of its total revenue. Maintenance service contracts include on-site and depot hardware maintenance, application software support, credit card software support, and software hosting. The Company provides on-site hardware maintenance and software support through a combination of direct and indirect channels. The on-site hardware maintenance is provided to customers using MICROS POS hardware and software systems. It also operates other! more lim! ited help desk operations, including Fidelio Cruise support desks in Hamburg, Germany and Fort Lauderdale, Florida, the JTECH help desk in Boca Raton, Florida, and a help desk in Scottsdale, Arizona for certain legacy POS products. Its corporate customer support center in Columbia, Maryland provides back-up support for its regional centers in Buenos Aires, Singapore, and Galway, and its research and development operation in Naples, Florida, provides support for its hotel software products. The regional support centers also provide back-up support and guidance for local and in-country support providers.

The Company operates data centers in Ashburn and Manassas, Virginia, Buenos Aires, Chicago, Frankfurt, Nottingham, England, and Singapore in conjunction with third-party vendors to serve as hosting centers for customers deploying its hosted and application service products. It offers Website design and portal management services, for the retail industry. These include the development and management a customer�� Website for ordering, sales promotion, and marketing. It also offers Web based marketing services to hotels, restaurants and retail companies.

The Company competes with NCR, Panasonic, Par Technology, Sharp, Agilysys, Positouch, Xpient Solutions, Casio, Dell, HP, IBM, Toshiba, Multi-Systems, Newmarket, Northwind, Par Technology, Protel, Softbrands, Pegasus, Trust International/TravelPort, Vantis, Sabre, TravelClick, Epicor, Escalate Retail, JDA Software, Oracle, SAP, DemandWare and eBay.

Advisors' Opinion:
  • [By Vera Yuan]

    On June 23, 2014, MICROS Systems, Inc. (MCRS) announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement to be acquired by Oracle Corporation at a premium to the Fund�� cost. Following the news of the announcement, the Fund sold its remaining holdings in MICROS Systems, Inc., believing the acquirer paid a fair price.From Robert Olstein (Trades, Portfolio)�� The Olstein Strategic Opportunities Fund�� 2014 Second Quarter Letter to Shareholders.Also check out: Robert Olstein Undervalued Stocks Robert Olstein Top Growth Companies Robert Olstein High Yield stocks, and Stocks that Robert Olstein keeps buying Currently 0.00/512345

    Rating: 0.0/5 (0 votes)

Top 10 Services Stocks To Watch Right Now: Korn/Ferry International (KFY)

Korn/Ferry International, together with its subsidiaries, provides talent management solutions that help clients to design strategies in building and attracting their talent. It operates in three segments: Executive Recruitment, Leadership & Talent Consulting (LTC), and High-Impact Recruitment Solutions. The Executive Recruitment segment focuses on recruiting board-level, chief executive, and other senior executive positions primarily in the consumer, financial services, and industrial, as well as in life sciences/healthcare, and technology industries. The LTC segment provides leadership and talent management solutions to assist clients with their ongoing assessment, organizational design, and leadership development efforts. The High-Impact Recruitment Solutions segment engages in enterprise-wide consulting and recruitment solutions, including recruitment process outsourcing, talent acquisition and management consulting services, project-based recruitment, mid-level recrui tment, and interim professionals. The company serves public and private companies, middle market and emerging growth companies, government agencies, and nonprofit organizations in North America, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, the Asia Pacific, and South America. Korn/Ferry International was founded in 1969 and is headquartered in Los Angeles, California.

Advisors' Opinion:
  • [By Anna Prior]

    Korn/Ferry International's(KFY) fiscal second-quarter profit surged due in large part to a big revenue boost in the company’s leadership and talent consulting business, as well as a favorable comparison to the year-ago period. Shares rose 5.3% to $23.70 premarket as the company’s earnings beat its expectations.

  • [By DAILYFINANCE]

    Brian Smale/Microsoft via Getty ImagesNewly named Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella. SAN FRANCISCO -- After compiling a list of more than 100 CEO candidates, Microsoft settled on Satya Nadella a homegrown leader who joined the software maker in the early 1990s. That's back when Google's founders were teenagers and Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg was in elementary school. Tuesday's hiring of Nadella as Microsoft's CEO after a five-month search is a safe move that's likely to be greeted with sighs of relief around the company's Redmond, Wash., headquarters, industry analysts say. But the methodical, almost predictable decision is likely to reinforce perceptions that Microsoft (MSFT) is a plodding company reluctant to take risks as it competes against younger rivals who relish going out on a limb. While Google (GOOG) founder and CEO Larry Page boasts about his company taking "moon shots" and Zuckerberg promises to "move fast and break things," Microsoft has fallen behind the technological curve after underestimating the importance of Internet search more than a decade ago and reacting too slowly to the rise of mobile devices during the past seven years. Meanwhile, the sales of personal computers running on Microsoft's Windows software are shrinking. Microsoft's malaise may have narrowed the field of up-and-coming visionaries interested in running a company founded in 1975. Just as Microsoft founder Bill Gates and Apple (AAPL) founder Steve Jobs would never have considered working at IBM (IBM) in the 1980s, today's entrepreneurial whiz kids scoff at Microsoft's overtures. "Going to work at Microsoft could make it look like you are going back to the dark ages," says Richard Metheny, a management coach for the executive search firm Witt/Kieffer in Chicago. "It's a well-entrenched business that has had trouble lately figuring out how to play in this new world." Despite its challenges, Microsoft remains a moneymaking machine that sits atop an $84 billion cash pile. Tha

  • [By alicet236]

    Korn/Ferry International (KFY): CEO Gary D Burnison sold 205,219 Shares

    CEO of Korn/Ferry International (KFY) Gary D Burnison sold 205,219 shares during the past week at an average price of $24.89. Korn/Ferry International was originally formed as a California corporation in November 1969 and reincorporated in Delaware in 2000. Korn/ferry International has a market cap of $1.28 billion; its shares were traded at around $25.96 with a P/E ratio of 24.20 and P/S ratio of 1.35.

  • [By Jake L'Ecuyer]

    Leading and Lagging Sectors
    Industrials stocks gained Friday, with ATA (NASDAQ: ATAI) leading advancers. Meanwhile, gainers in the sector included Plug Power (NASDAQ: PLUG), with shares up 22 percent, and Korn/Ferry International (KFY), with shares up 12 percent. In trading on Friday, basic materials shares were relative laggards, down on the day by about 1.36 percent.

Top 10 Services Stocks To Watch Right Now: ServiceNow Inc (NOW)

ServiceNow, Inc., incorporated in June 2004, is a provider of cloud-based services to automate enterprise information technology (IT) operations. The Company�� service includes a suite of applications built on its platform that automates workflow and integrates related business processes. It focuses on transforming enterprise IT by automating and standardizing business processes and consolidating IT across the global enterprise. Organizations deploy its service to create a single system of record for enterprise IT. It helps transform IT organizations from reactive, manual and task-oriented, to pro-active, automated and service-oriented organizations. Its on-demand service enables organizations to define their IT strategy, design the systems and infrastructure. It provides a set of integrated applications that are configurable and can be implemented and upgraded. In July 2013, ServiceNow Inc announced that it has acquired Mirror42.

The Company offers its service under a Software-as-a-Service (SaaS), business model. Its suite of applications was developed to address core ITIL processes, as well as additional business processes, and runs on a single extensible platform. Its platform includes workflow automation, notification, assignment and escalation, third-party integration capabilities, reporting and administration capabilities. Its cloud-based service is designed to be deployed in a modular fashion, allowing customers to solve immediate business needs and access new application functionality as needs evolve. Its service automates the documentation, categorization, prioritization, assignment, notification and escalation of IT and other business processes. Additionally, its service automates routine and repeatable data center operations, such as rebooting a server, cloning a database or deploying a virtualized environment.

The Company�� services include core ITIL applications and extended IT applications. Its incident management manages the process of restoring a failed se! rvice to an operational state; problem management manages the process of resolving the root cause of recurring service outages or issues affecting multiple users; change management manages the proposal and approval process for changes to be made to the IT infrastructure; release management assigns, manages and monitors the various tasks comprising the actual implementation or execution of a proposed change; configuration management database (CMDB), serves as the inventory repository of all hardware, software and network equipment comprising the IT infrastructure; service catalog displays the various goods and services an IT department makes available to the rest of the organization; knowledge management stores and displays knowledge articles or documents for use by the IT staff or broader supported employee base; service portfolio management presents business services offered to the enterprise by the IT organization in consumer-oriented fashion, and service level agreement management monitors and manages progress being made by IT staff on the completion of assigned tasks which have specific due dates.

The Company�� project and portfolio Management tracks and manages projects planned or being worked on by the IT staff. IT Cost Management tracks and monitors staff work time, project-related expenses and labor costs. IT Asset and Contract Management tracks the financial elements of IT infrastructure. Software development lifecycle Management tracks and manages new features and functions to be developed in upgrades or new software applications. Field Service Management manages the process of dispatching field based technicians and routing of field-based spare parts to a customer location. Social IT provides users with a collaboration capability to interact with a set of users to enable IT self-service, as well as a chat functionality for one-to-one online communication with IT staff. Discovery discovers the various hardware and software assets comprising the IT infrastructure, as well as mapp! ing the o! perational dependencies between those assets, and then populates and maintains that inventory in the CMDB application. Runbook Automation is designed to execute routine and repeatable projects in the datacenter.

The Company provides technical training and implementation services to customers through its professional services and through a network of certified partners. Its professional services include customer guidance on implementation, as well as integration and implementation projects, and can include the development of custom applications.

The Company competes with BMC Software, Inc., CA, Inc., Hewlett-Packard Company and International Business Machines Corporation.

Advisors' Opinion:
  • [By Michael Cintolo]

    ServiceNow (NOW) makes Cloud-based software that keeps work flowing, consolidates data, automates the administration of new computers, and lets the IT department monitor activities.

  • [By MarketWatch]

    Discussing cloud-computing stocks, the Barron�� article also said: ��ndustry leader Salesforce.com (CRM) � doesn�� earn a profit based on GAAP earnings that includes its stock compensation expense and yet it has a market value of $34 billion. Other hot plays with 2014 price/sales ratios above 10 and no GAAP earnings include Workday, NetSuite (N) , and ServiceNow (NOW) .��

  • [By Rob DeFrancesco]

    Steve Halpern: Okay. Next on your list is a company called ServiceNow (NOW). What's the attraction there?

    Rob DeFrancesco: ServiceNow is disrupting the IT management space. They're cloud-based. They're going against legacy vendors like BMC (BMC). And ServiceNow, that's another strong revenue grower, up 50% expected for this year, 38% for next year.

Top 10 Services Stocks To Watch Right Now: Big 5 Sporting Goods Corporation(BGFV)

Big 5 Sporting Goods Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, operates as a sporting goods retailer in the western United States. The company offers athletic shoes, apparel, and accessories, as well as a selection of outdoor and athletic equipment for team sports, fitness, camping, hunting, fishing, tennis, golf, snowboarding, and roller sports. It also provides various private label merchandise, including shoes, apparel, binoculars, camping equipment, fishing supplies, and snow sport equipment. The company sells private label merchandise under its owned labels comprising Court Casuals, Golden Bear, Harsh, Pacifica, Rugged Exposure, and Triple Nickel; and licensed trademarks, including Avet, Body Glove, Fila, GoFit, Hi-Tec, Maui & Sons, Morrow, and Realm and The Realm. As of February 28, 2012, it operated 406 stores in 12 states under the Big 5 Sporting Goods name. The company was founded in 1955 and is headquartered in El Segundo, California.

Advisors' Opinion:
  • [By Peter Graham]

    The Q1 2014�earnings report for Dicks Sporting Goods Inc (NYSE: DKS), a competitor of other sporting goods stocks like Big 5 Sporting Goods Corporation (NASDAQ: BGFV) and�Hibbett Sports, Inc (NASDAQ: HIBB), is scheduled for before the market opens on Tuesday, May 20. Aside from the Dicks Sporting Goods's earnings report, it should be said that Big 5 Sporting Goods Corporation reported Q1 2014 earnings on April 29 (earnings were weak and they hinted at continued troubles ahead due the weak sales trends) while Hibbett Sports, Inc will report Q1 2015 earnings before the market opens on Friday, May 23.�However, Dicks Sporting Goods is heading into earnings this week with positive coverage form analysts.

  • [By Lisa Levin]

    Sporting Goods Stores: This industry jumped 1.38% by 10:40 am. The top performer in this industry was Big 5 Sporting Goods (NASDAQ: BGFV), which rose 3.2%. Big 5 Sporting's trailing-twelve-month revenue is $978.32 million.

  • [By John Udovich]

    Last Thursday, outdoor sporting goods retailer Sportsman's Warehouse Holdings Inc (NASDAQ: SPWH) had an IPO that was priced�below expectations, meaning its worth taking a closer look at the stock along with the performance of peers like mid cap Cabelas Inc (NYSE: CAB) and Dicks Sporting Goods Inc (NYSE: DKS) and small cap Big 5 Sporting Goods Corporation (NASDAQ: BGFV).

  • [By John Udovich]

    Yahoo! Finance recently noted once again�how the hit reality show ��uck Dynasty��along with fears about Obama�� gun control policies have rural enthusiasts flocking to Cabela�� Inc (NYSE: CAB), but how does its performance compare with that of mid cap peer�Dicks Sporting Goods Inc (NYSE: DKS) along with small caps Big 5 Sporting Goods Corporation (NASDAQ: BGFV)�and Hibbett Sports, Inc (NASDAQ: HIBB)? After all, the same trends should be lifting all boats that sell outdoor related merchandise, guns or sporting goods (Note: Bass Pro, Inc, which is much closer to being a true�peer of Cabela�� Inc as its also focused on the outdoors, is�privately held) . �

Top 10 Services Stocks To Watch Right Now: Pharma-Bio Serv Inc (PBSV.PK)

Pharma-Bio Serv, Inc.( Pharma-Bio), incorporated on June 8, 2006, is a compliance and technology transfer services consulting firm with a laboratory testing facility, servicing the Puerto Rico, United States and Europe markets. The Company is engaged in providing technical compliance consulting service, and microbiological and chemical laboratory testing services primarily to the pharmaceutical, chemical, medical device and biotechnology industries. The Company�� operating segments include Puerto Rico technical compliance consulting, United States technical compliance consulting, Ireland technical compliance consulting and a Puerto Rico microbiological and chemical laboratory testing division (Lab). These segments provide services primarily to the pharmaceutical, chemical, medical device and biotechnology industries in their respective markets. As on April 30, 2012, the Company acquired 100% interest in its subsidiary, Pharma-IR.

The Company provides a broad range of compliance related consulting services. It also provides microbiological testing services and chemical testing services through its laboratory testing facility in Puerto Rico. It provides information technology consulting services and technical training/seminars. The Company offers services to its core industries already serviced as well as the cosmetic and food industries. The Company seeks opportunities in markets that could yield profitable margins using its professional consulting force and also provide services such as those performed by its microbiological testing laboratory facility, its information technology service division, Integratek, and its technical training division, Pharma Serv Academy.

The Company�� information technology services and consulting division based in Puerto Rico (Integratek) provides a variety of information technology services, such as Web pages and portals development, digital art design, intranets, extranets, software development including database integration, Window! s and Web applications development, software technical training and learning management systems, technology project management, and compliance consulting services, among others.

Advisors' Opinion:
  • [By The Specialist]

    Normally when one of my stocks reports its earnings results after hours on a Friday, I cringe in anticipation of a bad report. Normally Friday after hours is a time slot reserved for companies who have disappointing results to deliver and wish to stay off radar. Naturally, when I got the alert on a Friday afternoon that Pharma-Bio Serv (PBSV.PK) had just reported its earnings results, I had one eye shut when opening the press release, fearing what would be inside.

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