Anglo-Dutch oil supermajor Royal Dutch Shell PLC (NYSE: RDS-A) announced Monday that it will sell its assets in the Eagle Ford shale play in south Texas. The sale follows an announcement in August that Shell would write down $2.1 billion in the value of its North American assets.
Shell holds leases on 106,000 acres in the Eagle Ford play and currently operates 192 wells in the region. But the company did not acquire the leases until 2010, by which time the price of natural gas had begun falling. Shell said its Eagle Ford assets did not meet the company’s targets for scale and profitability.
When the company took the write-down on its North American assets, it laid the blame squarely on the low price of natural gas. At the same time, the company dropped its production targets for oil production from the shale formations. The writing was on wall at that point.
Some natural gas producers, like Exxon Mobil Corp. (NYSE: XOM) and Chesapeake Energy Corp. (NYSE: CHK), have successfully ridden recent high oil prices from the liquids-rich plays in the Eagle Ford play. Shell has been unable to do so.
Top 5 Consumer Companies To Own For 2015: Network Exploration Ltd (NET)
Network Exploration Ltd. is an exploration and development-stage company. The Company�� principal business activities include the exploration of minerals in its mineral properties. It focuses on base and precious metal properties in North and South America. Its activities include the process of exploring its mineral properties, reviewing and subsequently acquiring mineral properties and conducting exploration programs to determine whether these properties contain ore reserves that are recoverable. The Picha copper-silver project is located within the Tertiary Volcanic Arc of Southern Peru. The Pistala project is located east of the NW-SE trending Incapquio fault system in the Department of Tacna, Southern Peru. The Company is in the business of mineral exploration in Canada, Chile and Peru. Network Exploration Chile Limitada is its wholly owned subsidiary. Advisors' Opinion:- [By Holly LaFon]
The MSCI World ex U.S. Small Cap Index (Net) is a free float-adjusted market capitalization index that is designed to measure global developed market equity performance, excluding the U.S. The MSCI Small Cap Indices target 40% of the eligible Small Cap universe within each industry group, within each country. MSCI defines the Small Cap universe as all listed securities that have a market capitalization in the range of USD200-1,500 million. This benchmark calculates reinvested dividends net of withholding taxes using Luxembourg tax rates. This index is unmanaged and investors cannot invest directly in this index.
10 Best Low Price Stocks For 2014: Allison Transmission Holdings Inc (ALSN)
Allison Transmission Holdings, Inc. (Allison), incorporated on June 22, 2007, designs and manufactures commercial and military fully-automatic transmissions. The Company is a manufacturer of fully-automatic transmissions for medium- and heavy-duty commercial vehicles, medium- and heavy-tactical the United States military vehicles and hybrid-propulsion systems for transit buses. Allison transmissions are used in a range of applications, including on-highway trucks (distribution, refuse, construction, fire and emergency), buses (primarily school and transit), motorhomes, off-highway vehicles and equipment (energy and mining) and military vehicles (wheeled and tracked). In January 2014, the Company opened a facility in the Netherlands to serve customers across Europe, the Middle East and Africa.
Allison transmissions are sold under the Allison Transmission brand name and remanufactured transmissions are sold under the ReTran brand name. The Company has 12 transmission product lines with over 100 different product models. Allison transmissions are included in more than 2,500 vehicle configurations, which are compatible with more than 500 combinations of engine brands, models and ratings globally. In addition to the Company's product offerings, the Company has products under development, including the TC10, a Class 8 metro truck fully-automatic transmission, and the H 3000 and the H 4000 hybrid-propulsion systems designed for use in medium- and heavy-duty commercial trucks and buses.
North America
The Company is a manufacturer of fully-automatic transmissions for the on-highway medium- and heavy-duty commercial vehicle markets in North America. The Company's core North American on-highway market includes Class 4-5, Class 6-7 and Class 8 straight trucks, conventional transit, shuttle and coach buses, school buses and motorhomes. Class 8 trucks are subdivided into two markets: straight and tractor. The Company sells its transmissions in the North American on-highway mar! ket to original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), including Blue Bird, Daimler, Hino, Navistar, PACCAR, Spartan Motors and Volvo. These OEMs, in turn, install the Company's transmissions in vehicles in which its transmission is either the exclusive transmission available or is specifically requested by end users who are choosing between a manual transmission, an AMT or a fully-automatic transmission. The Company's vehicle class in North America include Class 4-5 Trucks, Class 6-7 Trucks, Class 8 Straight Trucks, Buses and
Motorhomes
Class 4-5 trucks are used in urban applications, including distribution, commercial lease and rental, as well as ambulance. The Company is the transmission supplier to the Navistar Class 4-5 TerraStar truck. Class 6-7 trucks are used in urban applications, including larger distribution, commercial lease and rental, ambulance, rescue and fire trucks. The Company's transmissions are used in Class 6-7 buses. The Company supplies its transmissions for all of the school buses produced in North America. The bus market also encompasses non-hybrid transit and conventional coach and shuttle buses. The Company sells its transmissions for use in larger motorhomes ( types A). The Company typically sells to the chassis manufacturers, such as Navistar and Daimler, that supply body manufacturers, such as Thor Industries, Winnebago Industries and Fleetwood RV. As of December 31, 2012, the Company has delivered over 5,000 H 40/50 EP hybrid-propulsion transit bus systems globally to 246 cities in 14 countries. The Company's customers in this North American end market are typically city, state and federal governmental entities. The Company has provided products used in vehicles and equipment, which serve energy, mining and construction applications. Its customers include Halliburton Company, Baker Hughes, Weatherford International, National Oilwell Varco, and Key Energy Services. The Company also provides heavy-duty transmissions used in mining trucks, specialty and co! nstructio! n vehicles. Mining applications include trucks used to haul various commodities and other products, including rigid dump trucks, underground trucks and long-haul tractor trailer trucks with load capacities between 40 to 110 tons. Specialty vehicles using the Company's heavy-duty transmissions include airport rescue and firefighting vehicles and heavy-equipment transporters.
Outside North America
The Company is a manufacturer of fully-automatic transmissions for the commercial vehicle markets outside of North America. Within Europe, the Company serves Western European developed markets, as well as Russian and Eastern European emerging markets. The Company's on-highway customers in these markets are Daimler, Iveco, Scania, and Volvo. Fully-automatic transmission technology has approximately a 6% market share in European truck applications. The Company supplies transmissions to European OEMs. The Company is the exclusive transmission in refuse chassis with Daimler, Dennis Eagle and Renault SA. The Company also supply mining OEMs, such as Atlas Copco UK, Perlini Equipment, Sandvik AB and Terex. As of December 31, 2012, in China, the Company is the provider of fully-automatic commercial vehicle transmissions with a substantial installed base of over 45,000 Allison transmissions, including 30,000 units in transit buses, operated by 90 different bus fleets in 55 cities. The Company's off-highway transmissions are also used in China for energy, mining and construction, by OEM customers including 4th Petroleum and Yantai Jereh Oilfield Services Group Co. in energy applications and Qinhuangdao Tolian Speciality Transporter Co., Sany Group Co. and North Hauler in mining and construction applications. Australia and South Korea have OEMs with domestic production capabilities for which the Company is a supplier, including Iveco, Hyundai Motor Company and Daewoo International Corporation.
Military
The Company sells all of the transmissions for medium- and heavy-tac! tical whe! eled vehicle platforms, including the Family of Medium Tactical Vehicles, Armored Security Vehicles, Heavy Expanded Mobility Tactical Trucks, Heavy Equipment Transporters, Palletized Loading Systems, M915 Series Trucks, Medium Tactical Vehicle Replacements and the Logistic Vehicle System Replacement. In addition, the Company supplied transmissions for Mine-Resistant Ambush Protected (MRAP) Vehicles and the MRAP All Terrain Vehicle and for all three potential manufacturers of the Joint Light Tactical Vehicles. Transmissions for the Company's wheeled vehicle platforms are sold to OEMs, including BAE, Daimler, General Dynamics Land Systems, Oshkosh, Navistar and Textron Marine & Land Systems.
The Company is the supplier on two of the three key tracked vehicle platforms, the Abrams tank and the M113 family of vehicles, which are sold directly to the United States military. Additionally, the Company sells parts kits to licensees for the production of transmissions for tracked vehicles manufactured outside North America. The Company has been selected as the transmission supplier for the prime contractors bidding for the United States Army ground combat vehicle.
Service Parts, Support, Equipment and Other (Aftermarket)
Aftermarket provides the Company with a source of revenues as the installed base of vehicles and equipment utilizing the Company's transmissions. The Company has assembled a global network of approximately 1,400 distributor and dealer locations to sells, service and support its transmissions. As part of the Company's brand strategy, its independent distributors and dealers are required to sell genuine Allison-branded parts. The Company offers remanufactured transmissions under its ReTran brand. The Company also provides support equipment to its OEMs to assist in installing new Allison transmissions into vehicles.
The Company competes with Ford Motor Company, Eaton Corp., Voith GmbH, ZF Friedrichshafen AG, BAE, Caterpillar Inc., Twin Disc, Inco! rporated,! Komatsu, Ltd., Aisin Seiki Co., Ltd., JATCO Ltd, Mitsubishi Fuso Truck and Bus Corporation, Hino, Isuzu and Nissan Diesel, Danyang Winstar Auto Parts Co., Ltd., Tata, Ashok Leyland, JCBL Ltd., Asia Motor Works Limited, BEML, Renk AG and L-3 Communications Corporation.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Rich Duprey]
Approving an increase in the quarterly cash dividend paid to shareholders, transmission manufacturer Allison Transmissions (NYSE: ALSN ) �announced today that its board of directors doubled the payout from�$0.06�per share to�$0.12�per share while also providing preliminary estimates for its first quarter, which ended March 31.
- [By Ben Levisohn]
2Q14 Machinery results are likely to reflect what we view as a still mixed but improving macroeconomic environment that we think could support pockets of strength in Machinery end markets. In particular, we think both North American truck and North American energy markets continue to improve while global construction markets look supportive of continued solid/better-than-expected results (mostly from improved margin) in Caterpillar’s Construction segment. Solid truck, energy and construction markets seem supportive of earnings for Caterpillar as well as truck suppliers Cummins (CMI) and Allison Transmission Holdings (ALSN)…
10 Best Low Price Stocks For 2014: Home Inns & Hotels Management Inc.(HMIN)
Home Inns & Hotels Management Inc. develops, leases, operates, franchises, and manages a chain of economy hotels in the People?s Republic of China. The company operates its hotels under the Home Inn brand name. As of April 28, 2011, it had approximately 800 Home Inns in operation and 1,000 Home Inns sealed in franchise agreements. The company was incorporated in 2001 and is headquartered in Shanghai, the People?s Republic of China.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Monica Gerson]
Home Inns & Hotels Management (NASDAQ: HMIN) is estimated to post its Q4 earnings at $2.18 per share on revenue of $1.54 billion.
Qiwi plc (NASDAQ: QIWI) is expected to report its Q4 earnings at $0.28 per share on revenue of $50.00 million.
- [By Belinda Cao]
The Bloomberg China-US Equity Index (CH55BN) of the most-traded Chinese companies in the U.S. slumped 3.4 percent last week to a seven-month low of 89.04. The gauge traded at 13.5 times estimated earnings, 3.6 percent below the S&P�� valuation, data compiled by Bloomberg show. China Southern Airlines Co. (ZNH) and China Eastern Airlines Corp. (CEA) lost more than 6 percent April 5, while Home Inns & Hotels Management Inc. (HMIN) tumbled 16 percent in the week.
- [By Jim Jubak]
We��e been down this road with Home Inns and Hotels Management (HMIN) before. Which doesn�� make it any less scary.
The stock is down 22.2% in the last ten days��espite solid��ut certainly not spectacular��esults for the fourth quarter, reported on March 12.
10 Best Low Price Stocks For 2014: SPDR S&P Midcap 400 ETF (MDY)
MidCap SPDRS, Standard & Poor's Depository Receipts, represent ownership interests in the MidCap SPDR Trust, Series 1 (the Trust), which is a unit investment trust that seeks to match the total return of the Standard & Poor's Midcap 400 Composite Price Index (the S&P MidCap Index). To accomplish this, the Trust utilizes a full replication approach.
The Trust's holdings comprise 400 stocks in the S&P MidCap 400 Index, which is designed to capture the price performance of the middle capitalization segment of the United States publicly traded stock market. All 400 securities of the S&P MidCap 400 Index are owned by the Trust in their approximate market capitalization weight.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Dan Caplinger]
Where the best gains are
The SPDR S&P 500 ETF (NYSEMKT: SPY ) weighs in with 20% gains with its exposure to 500 of the largest companies in the U.S. market. When you step down to mid-cap stocks, though, you'll get even better returns, with the SPDR S&P MidCap 400 ETF (NYSEMKT: MDY ) posting returns of 21% so far in 2013, based on the performance of 400 mid-sized companies domestically. The smallest companies in the market have done better still, as the SPDR S&P SmallCap 600 ETF (NYSEMKT: SLY ) has given investors impressive 24% returns since Jan. 1.
In fact, when you compare returns across stocks of various sizes, you'll get some surprising results:Why are smaller companies outperforming the largest stocks in the market? Historically, smaller stocks have posted better long-term returns than their larger counterparts, with theoreticians pointing to the greater risk involved in small-cap stocks as justifying the higher risk premium that investors should demand in order to hold them over the long run.
- [By Dan Caplinger]
Similarly, diversification within stocks didn't work well. The performance of iShares Russell 2000 (NYSEMKT: IWM ) and SPDR S&P MidCap 400 (NYSEMKT: MDY ) showed that there wasn't shelter available in small- and mid-cap stocks. International stocks often help protect against losses, but massive capital flight from emerging markets socked popular ETFs Vanguard Emerging Market (NYSEMKT: VWO ) and iShares MSCI Emerging Markets (NYSEMKT: EEM ) for single-day percentage losses that were nearly double the Dow's decline. Even developed markets suffered more than the U.S., as iShares MSCI EAFE (NYSEMKT: EFA ) posted losses 50% greater than the U.S. market's.
10 Best Low Price Stocks For 2014: Yoc AG (YOC)
Yoc AG is a German provider of mobile marketing and e-mail marketing service. It operates through two main segments: Mobile Technology and Media. The Mobile Technology segment encompasses the product areas Mobile Marketing and Mobile Internet, as well as the unit Mobile Business-to-Consumer (B2C). It also includes the licensing and implementation of technological products for target-oriented communication via mobile end devices. The Media segment covers the marketing of mobile websites and applications on Cost-per-thousand-impressions (CPM), media penetration and performance basis. The Company serves clients from the consumer goods, automobile, trading and service industries. The Company offers its clients advertising campaigns that integrate mobile phones and the Internet into classic advertising. As of December 31, 2011, it operated through 11 subsidiaries located in Germany, the United Kingdom, Belgium, Austria and France. Advisors' Opinion:- [By Sofia Horta e Costa]
ThyssenKrupp AG (TKA), Germany�� largest steelmaker, rose to a five-week high. YOC AG (YOC) surged the most in more than three months after the mobile-phone advertising company said it sold 1.3 million euros ($1.7 million) of shares to increase capital. Lanxess AG (LXS), the chemical maker that joined the DAX in September, retreated 3.4 percent.
10 Best Low Price Stocks For 2014: Encore Wire Corp (WIRE)
Encore Wire Corporation (Encore), incorporated on April 5, 1989, is a manufacturer of electrical building wire and cable. The Company is a supplier of building wire for interior electrical wiring in commercial and industrial buildings, homes, apartments, and manufactured housing. Encore offers an electric building wire product line that consists of nonmetallic-building ( NM-B) cable, underground feeder-building (UF-B) cable, thermoplastic high heat resistant nylon coated/thermoplastic heat and water resistant nylon coated (THHN/THWN)-2 and other types of wire products, including metal clad and armored cable. All of these products are manufactured with copper or aluminum as the conductor. The principal customers for Encore�� wire are wholesale electrical distributors, who sell building wire and a variety of other products to electrical contractors. The Company sells its products primarily through 31 manufacturers��representatives located throughout the United States. The Company also purchases small quantities of other types of wire to re-sell to customers that buy products that the Company manufactures. The manufacturing process for the Company�� various products involves multiple steps, including: casting, drawing, stranding, compounding, insulating, jacketing and armoring.
The Company�� non-metallic sheathed cable is used primarily as interior wiring in homes, apartments and manufactured housing. NM-B cable is composed of either two or three insulated copper wire conductors, with an un-insulated ground wire, all sheathed in a polyvinyl chloride (PVC) jacket. UF-B cable is an underground feeder cable is used to conduct power underground to outside lighting and other applications remote from buildings. UF-B cable is composed of two or three PVC insulated copper wire conductors, with an un-insulated ground wire, all jacketed in PVC. THHN/THWN-2 cable is used primarily as feeder, circuit and branch wiring in commercial and industrial buildings. It is composed of a copper or aluminu! m single conductor, either stranded or solid, and insulated with PVC, which is further coated with nylon.
Cross-linked high heat water resistant insulated wire (XHHW)-2 Cable is a XHHW-2 wire used for general purpose applications utilized in conduit or other recognized raceways for service, feeders, and branch-circuit wiring. It�� composed of a copper or aluminum single conductor, either stranded or solid, and with a single layer of cross-linked polyethylene (XLPE) insulation. Underground service entrance (USE)-2 Cable. USE-2 or rubber high heat-resistant (RHH) or RHW-2 wire is used for general purpose applications utilized in conduit or installed in underground applications or in recognized raceways for service, feeders, and branch-circuit wiring. It�� composed of a copper or aluminum single conductor, either stranded or solid, and with a single layer of cross-linked polyethylene (XLPE) insulation suitable for wet locations.
Metal clad and armored cable is used primarily as feeder, circuit and branch wiring, primarily in commercial and industrial buildings. It is composed of multiple conductors, either stranded or solid, and insulated with PVC, which are further coated with nylon and then fully encased in a flexible aluminum or steel armored protective sheath that eliminates the need to pull the wire through pipe or conduit. The Company�� photovoltaic style cables are designed to meet the different needs of the emerging solar industry by providing connections between photovoltaic (PV) panels, collector boxes and inverters; and where also allowed by the National Electric Code (NEC). Its bare copper conductors are used in overhead electrical transmission and distribution systems for grounding electrical systems and circuit grounding.
The Company competes with Southwire Company, Cerro Wire LLC, United Copper Industries, BICC General and AFC Cable Systems, Inc.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Seth Jayson]
Basic guidelines
In this series, I examine inventory using a simple rule of thumb: Inventory increases ought to roughly parallel revenue increases. If inventory bloats more quickly than sales grow, this might be a sign that expected sales haven't materialized. Is the current inventory situation at Encore Wire (Nasdaq: WIRE ) out of line? To figure that out, start by comparing the company's inventory growth to sales growth. How is Encore Wire doing by this quick checkup? At first glance, not so great. Trailing-12-month revenue decreased 9.2%, and inventory increased 0.3%. Comparing the latest quarter to the prior-year quarter, the story looks decent. Revenue grew 3.9%, and inventory expanded 0.3%. Over the sequential quarterly period, the trend looks healthy. Revenue dropped 4.1%, and inventory dropped 5.1%. - [By Eric Volkman]
Encore Wire (NASDAQ: WIRE ) , like a strip of its namesake product, seems to believe in keeping its shareholder payouts long and straight. The company has declared a quarterly dividend of $0.02 per share, to be paid on July 19 to shareholders of record as of July 5. That amount is in line with every one of the firm's previous distributions stretching back to early 2007.�
10 Best Low Price Stocks For 2014: Dollar Financial Corp.(DLLR)
DFC Global Corp. provides retail financial services to unbanked and under-banked consumers, and small businesses. Its primary products and services include short-term consumer loans, single-payment consumer loans, check cashing services, secured pawn loans, and gold buying services. The company also provides other retail services and products comprising money order and money transfer products, foreign currency exchange, VISA and MasterCard branded reloadable debit cards, electronic tax filing, bill payment, and prepaid local and long-distance phone services. In addition, it offers military installment loan and education services, such as fee based services to enlisted military personnel applying for loans to purchase new and used vehicles. The company provides its products and services through storefront locations, as well as via the Internet. As of August 25, 2011, it operated through a network of approximately 1,300 retail storefront locations. It operates its locations principally under the Money Mart, The Money Shop, mce, Insta-Cheques, Suttons and Robertson, The Check Cashing Store, Sefina, Helsingin Panttism, Optima, and Money Now in Canada, the United Kingdom, the United States, Poland, the Republic of Ireland, Sweden, and Finland. The company was formerly known as Dollar Financial Corp. and changed its name to DFC Global Corp. in August 2011. DFC Global Corp. was founded in 1990 and is headquartered in Berwyn, Pennsylvania.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Anna Prior]
Among the companies with shares expected to actively trade in Wednesday’s session are Apollo Education Group Inc.(APOL), DFC Global Corp.(DLLR) and MannKind Corp.(MNKD)
- [By John Udovich]
Despite�a slow global economy and continued high unemployment in many countries, small cap payday or pawn stocks Cash Store Financial Services Inc (NYSE: CSFS), DFC Global Corp (NASDAQ: DLLR) and Cash America International, Inc (NYSE: CSH) have not exactly been performing well since the start of the year. In fact, these three stocks are the worst performers in the payday or pawn loan sector, down 38.5%, down 14.4% and up 4.6%, respectively, since the start of the year.
- [By John Kell]
DFC Global Corp.'s(DLLR) fiscal second-quarter profit tumbled 88% as the operator of check-cashing stores was hurt by weaker gold prices and a weaker Canadian dollar. Results for the period badly missed Wall Street’s expectations, and DFC cut its expectations for the fiscal year. Shares dropped 24% to $8 premarket.
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