Top 10 Trucking Companies For 2014

Dana Holding Corp. (DAN)(0.3%) (DAN - $23.27 - NYSE) is a Maumee, Ohio based supplier of axles, drivelines and thermal products for the automotive and trucking industries. Dana's new CEO, Roger Wood, has begun to emphasize the company's strong technological expertise in thermal management technology, including advanced battery cooling products for next generation vehicles. Additionally, the company is beginning to reap the benefits of efforts to improve customer pricing as well as internal manufacturing efficiencies, both of which are expected to improve margins amid robust demand in the company's core auto and trucking markets.From Mario Gabelli (Trades, Portfolio)'s Gabelli Asset Fund's first quarter 2014 shareholder commentary.Also check out: Mario Gabelli Undervalued Stocks Mario Gabelli Top Growth Companies Mario Gabelli High Yield stocks, and Stocks that Mario Gabelli keeps buying Currently 0.00/512345

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Best Construction Material Stocks To Watch Right Now: Rvue Holdings Inc (RVUE)

rVue Holdings, Inc., incorporated on November 12, 2008, is an advertising technology company and operate rVue, a demand-side platform (DSP) for planning, buying and managing digital place-based networks and digital billboards and signage (DOOH) advertising. It provides media services, including an online, Internet based DSP that connects advertisers and/or advertising agencies with third party DOOH media or networks, that allows the advertiser to create a targeted advertising campaign and media plan, and negotiate that media plan simultaneously with all the third-party networks selected. The Company provides network services and receive fees under contract or on a monthly basis, from Accenture.

The Company's rVue DSP is accessible via the Internet. Through rVue, once an advertising campaign has been agreed to between the advertiser and the DOOH network owner, the DOOH networks receive the display advertising to be shown on their installed base of digital media displays. rVue allows programming and advertising to be customized for display in specific venues, at specific times, and for demographic targeting. It provides the tools for advertisers and advertising agencies to customize campaigns for details as specific as location, customer preference, product availability, current events and other needs. It provides Proof-of-Play analytics and the network statistics necessary to monitor advertising on the networks and assist in evaluating the performance or refinements required for an advertising campaign, in some cases real time. As of December 31, 2012, 182 networks, which consists approximately 770,000 screens and delivering over 250 million daily impressions representing 50 market areas accessible through rVue.

In connection with the Transaction, the Company acquired from Argo all of its assets related to the rVue business, which included all of the common stock of rVue, Inc. as well as software, contracts and technology. Such software and technology included the rVue DSP t! echnology and software as well as legacy rVue client and server software, which allows an end user to manage and operate a DOOH network. The client software is used to manage each screen or site and the server software is used to manage the client software. The Company�� services provide a digital advertising solution that streamlines the process of planning, buying and optimizing display advertising on DOOH display networks. rVue is designed to simplify the process of buying and selling digital display ads while connecting all the market players networks, advertisers, agencies, partners and developers from a unified platform to do business more efficiently and effectively.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By CRWE]

  Today, RVUE has shed (-0.25%)�0.000 at $.199 with�5,000 shares in play thus far (ref. google finance Delayed: 9:39AM EDT July 17, 2013), but don�� let this get you down.

  rVue Holdings, Inc. previously reported its financial results for the full year ended December 31, 2012.

  Summary Results for the Full Year of 2012: Total revenue was $602,363 for fiscal 2012; down slightly from $643,483 in the prior year. Core Fees: This is the focus of our business and source of future growth. Core revenue for the years ended December 31, 2012 and 2011 were, $197,444 and $203,276, respectively.
  Non-Core Fees: For the years ended December 31, 2012 and 2011 were $404,919 and $440,207, respectively. The decline was due to the end of a management relationship with Auto Nation. This trend will continue in 2013 as we focus more resources on core business efforts. In addition the Mattress Firm merged with Mattress Giant and we respectfully agree not to renew for 2013 (this represented approximately $230,000 in revenue).

• [By CRWE]

  Today, RVUE remains (0.00%) +0.000 at $.14 thus far (ref. google finance Delayed: 11:58AM EDT August 28, 2013).

  rVue Holdings, Inc. previously reported its financial results for the quarter ended March, 31 2013.

  Summary Results for First Quarter of 2013: Total revenue was $137.5K for the first fiscal quarter of 2013; up slightly from $131.5K the prior year.
  Core Revenue: This is the focus of our business and source of future growth. Core revenue for the quarter ended March 31, 2013 was $79.3K up sharply (+63K) over Q1 2012 when it was $16.3K. Non-Core Revenue: For the quarters ended March 31, 2013 and 2012 were $58.2K and $115.2K, respectively. As stated earlier, the decline was due to the end of a management relationship with Auto Nation. This downward trend in non-core revenue is expected to continue through 2013 as we focus more resources on core business efforts. In addition, the Mattress Firm merged with Mattress Giant and we respectfully agreed not to renew for 2013.

Top 10 Trucking Companies For 2014: VolitionRX Ltd (VNRX)

VolitionRX Limited, formerly Standard Capital Corporation, incorporated on September 24, 1998, through its wholly owned subsidiary Singapore Volition Pte Limited (Volition), is a life sciences company focused on developing blood-based diagnostic tests. As of October 12, 2011, Volition was developing a range of blood-based epigenetic cancer screening tests, which will be released for research then clinical use in Europe, North America and globally. The tests will enable doctors to screen for the general presence of cancer in the body with a single blood test, and investigate, which cancer is present in many of those cancer positive patients using a panel of tests. On October 6, 2011, the Company announced the closure of the share exchange agreement with the Company. On October 6, 2011, Volition became a wholly owned subsidiary of the Company.

Volition�� HyperGenomics technology will determine specific epigenetic signatures from cancer biopsies. The HyperGenomics range of tests will be used as a second line once cancer has been diagnosed, to determine the specific subtype of disease and to help decide the most appropriate therapy. Volition is developing a non-invasive blood test for endometriosis, based on its Nucleosomics technology.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Peter Graham]

  At the end of last week, small cap stocks Senesco Technologies, Inc (OTCBB: SNTI), VolitionRX Ltd (OTCMKTS: VNRX) and Micromem Technologies Inc (OTCBB: MMTIF) were all trending upwards ��ending up 13.65%, 8.73% and 7.61%, respectively, on Friday. However, it�� a new trading week with the last two trading days for the year. So what direction will these three small caps head in for the end of this year and into next year? Here is a quick look to help you decide on a trading or investment strategy:

Top 10 Trucking Companies For 2014: Banner Corporation(BANR)

Banner Corporation operates as the holding company for Banner Bank and Islanders Bank that provide commercial banking and financial products and services to individuals, businesses, and public sector entities. It generates various deposit instruments, including demand checking accounts, negotiable order of withdrawal accounts, money market deposit accounts, regular savings accounts, certificates of deposit, cash management services, and retirement savings plans. The company also originates commercial business and commercial real estate loans, agricultural business loans, construction and land development loans, one to four-family residential loans, and consumer loans. In addition, it engages in mortgage banking operations primarily through the origination and sale of one to four-family residential loans. As of December 31, 2010, Banner Bank operated 86 branch offices and 7 loan production offices in Washington, Oregon, and Idaho; and Islanders Bank conducted business from 3 locations in San Juan County, Washington. The company was founded in 1890 and is based in Walla Walla, Washington.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Lauren Pollock]

  Bank-holding company Banner Corp.(BANR) on Tuesday said it had agreed to buy Home Federal Bancorp Inc.(HFBL) (HOME) for $197 million in cash and stock. The deal, expected to close in the first quarter of 2014, will result in a combined company with about $5.2 billion in assets, making it the fourth-largest bank in the Pacific Northwest by assets, the companies said.

• [By Marc Bastow]

  Bank holding company Banner (BANR) raised its quarterly dividend 20% to 18 cents per share, payable April 15 to shareholders or record as of April 7.
  BANR Dividend Yield: 1.75%

Top 10 Trucking Companies For 2014: Brookfield Infrastructure Partners LP (BIP)

Brookfield Infrastructure Partners L.P. engages in the utilities, transportation and energy, and timber businesses. It operates through Utilities, Transport, Energy, and Timber segments. The company operates a port facility that exports metallurgical and thermal coal mined in the central Bowen Basin region of Queensland, Australia; approximately 9,900 kilometers of electricity transmission lines in North and South America; and approximately 2.5 million electricity and natural gas connections in the United Kingdom, New Zealand, and Colombia. It is also involved in the transportation of freight, bulk commodities, and passengers through a platform of approximately 5,100 kilometers of tracks in southwest region of Western Australia; 3,200 kilometres of toll roads in Brazil and Chile; and approximately 30 port terminals primarily in Europe. In addition, the company provides energy transportation, distribution, and storage services through 15,500 kilometers of natural gas transm ission lines primarily in the United States. Further, it engages in the timberland operations with approximately 343,000 net acres of freehold timberlands located in the coastal region of British Columbia, Canada; and the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. Brookfield Infrastructure Partners Limited serves as a general partner of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners L.P. The company was founded in 2007 and is based in Toronto, Canada. Brookfield Infrastructure Partners L.P. is a subsidiary of Brookfield Asset Management Inc.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Federico Zaldua]

  I expect the Brookfield Group of Companies, which is composed of no fewer than 15 publicly traded entities, to be very active acquisitive in the near-term future. Here I focus my attention on three members of the Brookfield Group that are going to be the most active with M&A. While Brookfield Asset Management (BAM) will concentrate its M&A efforts into all geographies and all asset classes, Brookfield Renewable Energy Partners (BEP) and Brookfield Infrastructure Partners (BIP) will concentrate on their respective industries. Let's see whether you should go long on any of this separate -although related - entities.
  
  Good Operational Performance
  
  Brookfield Asset Management, held by Lou Simpson and Ron Baron, counts with a liquidity position of more than $5 billion at the parent and principal subsidiaries along with nearly $10 billion drawable private fund commitments. More importantly, the company has expressed its interest into using this liquidity to make acquisitions. Management clearly stated in its letter to shareholders:

Top 10 Trucking Companies For 2014: StellarOne Corporation(STEL)

StellarOne Corporation operates as the bank holding company for StellarOne Bank that provides various retail and small business banking, commercial banking, consumer lending, mortgage banking, and wealth management services to individuals, and small and middle-market businesses in Virginia. It generates various deposit products, including demand and time deposit accounts, money market accounts, checking accounts, certificates of deposit, and savings accounts. The company?s loan portfolio comprises consumer and commercial real estate loans, real estate and construction loans, commercial lines of credit, commercial term loans, home equity loans, consumer loans, and commercial, financial, and agricultural loans. It also provides credit cards, automated teller machine networks, and telephone and Internet banking, and online bill payment services. In addition, the company provides various wealth management and personal trust services, including estate administration and employ ee benefit plan administration, and planning specifically addressing the investment and financial management needs of its customers. As of December 31, 2009, StellarOne Corporation operated 56 financial centers, 1 loan production office, and approximately 60 automated teller machines in New River Valley, Roanoke Valley, Shenandoah Valley, and central and north central Virginia. The company was formerly known as Virginia Financial Group, Inc. and changed its name to StellarOne Corporation in February 2008. StellarOne Corporation was founded in 1911 and is headquartered in Charlottesville, Virginia.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Sean Williams]

  What: Shares of StellarOne (NASDAQ: STEL  ) , a commercial, mortgage, and wealth management bank servicing small and medium-sized businesses in Virginia, jumped as much as 20% after agreeing to be purchased by Union First Market Bancshares (NASDAQ: UBSH  ) .

Top 10 Trucking Companies For 2014: Pike Electric Corp.(PIKE)

Pike Electric Corporation provides energy solutions for investor-owned, municipal, and co-operative utilities in the United States. The company?s services include siting, permitting, engineering, designing, planning, constructing, maintaining, and repairing power delivery systems, including renewable energy projects. Its planning and siting process leverages technology and the collection of environmental, cultural, land use, and scientific data to facilitate negotiations and permitting for powerlines, substations, pipelines, and renewable energy installations. The company also provides design, engineering, procurement and construction, owner engineer, project management, multi-entity coordination, grid integration, balance-of-plant, and thermal rate solutions for individual or turnkey powerline, substation, and renewable energy projects. In addition, it offers overhead and underground powerline construction, up gradation, and extension services for distribution networks a nd transmission lines with voltages up to 345kV, energized maintenance work for voltages up to 500kV; and substation construction and service. Further, Pike Electric Corporation provides a total energy solution platform, including preliminary studies, planning, siting and permitting, engineering and design, construction, procurement, and grid interconnection services. Additionally, it offers storm restoration services, which include the repair or reconstruction of parts of a distribution or sub-500 kV transmission network comprising substations, power lines, utility poles, or other components damaged during flash floods, hurricanes, tornadoes, and snow, ice, or wind storms, as well as other natural disasters. The company was founded in 1945 and is headquartered in Mount Airy, North Carolina.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Selena Maranjian]

  More than a handful of smart-grid-related companies�had strong performances over the past year. Solar energy inverter maker Power-One (NASDAQ: PWER.DL  ) , and utility contractor Pike Electric (NYSE: PIKE  ) , both surged 44%. Power-One's gain is in large part due to its being acquired, at a premium, by Switzerland-based power and automation technology giant ABB. Some have worried about inverters becoming commoditized, but others have admired Power-One's profitability and solid balance sheet.

• [By WWW.DAILYFINANCE.COM]

  Alamy There are plenty of stocks going up -- and down -- in any given week. The gainers inspire us to keep investing. The decliners keep greed in check while reminding us about the risks of the equity markets. Let's go over some of last week's best and worst performers. Pike (PIKE) -- Up 49 percent last week The market's biggest winner of last week was Pike, a specialty construction and engineering firm that received a bid to be taken private. J. Eric Pike -- the firm's chairman and CEO -- is teaming up with private equity firm Court Square Capital Partners to buy out shareholders at $12 a share. It's a fair premium, pricing the buyout at a better than 50 percent premium to where the stock was trading when it was announced. A few attorneys are trying to smoke out investors who feel that the CEO-led privatization push isn't fair, but it's likely to stick at that kind of healthy markup. Pike shares may have traded in the low teens last summer, but that was before revenue and earnings began heading the wrong way. Most shareholders should be more than happy to take the money and run. RadNet (RDNT) -- Up 34 percent last week Operating a network of 251 facilities that perform outpatient diagnostic imaging services is looking good for RadNet. The stock moved sharply higher after a strong quarterly report. Revenue inched slighting higher as MRI and CT scan volume increased modestly during the period. However, the real star in the report was RadNet's bottom line. Its cost-cutting and debt-slashing efforts paid off with net income soaring to $0.12 a share after clocking in at a $0.07 a share a year earlier. Analysts were only holding out for $0.05 a share. RadNet also helped improve its standing by boosting its guidance for all of 2014. You don't need any of RadNet's fancy imaging equipment to see that that's a healthy sign. Trex (TREX) -- Up 25 percent last week It was a good week for a pair of home improvement specialists. Shares of CaesarStone (CSTE) moved 20

• [By Damian Illia]

  Finally, I always like to see one of the most important financial ratios applying to stockholders, the best measure of performance for a firm's management: the return on equity. The ratio has decreased when compared to its ROE from the same quarter one year prior. This is a signal of major weakness. Moreover, it is worse than those shown in the table like Aegion Corporation (AEGN), EnerNOC Inc. (ENOC), MYR GroupInc. (MYRG) and Pike Corporation (PIKE).

• [By Rebecca McClay]

  In earnings news today, a few companies are reporting after the closing bell, including H & R Block Inc. (NYSE: HRB), which is up about 1%. Pike Electric Corp. (NYES: PIKE), Guidewire Software Inc. (NYSE: GWRE), and Sigma Designs Inc. (Nasdaq: SIGM) are also reporting quarterly earnings late this afternoon.

Top 10 Trucking Companies For 2014: K12 Inc (LRN)

K12 Inc. (K12), incorporated in December 1999, is a technology-based education company. K12 offers curriculum, software systems and educational services designed to facilitate individualized learning for students primarily in kindergarten through 12th grade, or K-12. The Company provides a continuum of technology-based educational products and solutions to districts, public schools, private schools, charter schools and families. Its products include Curriculum, Pre-K and K-8 Courses, Online School Platform-Learning Management System, High School Courses, Innovative Learning Applications, School Management Systems and PEAK12. Its managed public schools includes Full-time virtual schools and Blended schools, which includes Flex schools, Passport schools, Discovery schools and Other blended schools. Its institutional Business includes K12 curriculum, Aventa curriculum, A+ curriculum, Middlebury joint venture, Pre-kindergarten and Post-secondary. Its international and private pay business includes Managed private schools, The Keystone School, George Washington University Online HS, K12 International Academy, IS Berne, WEB and Independent course sales (Consumer). In April 2011, it acquired the operations of the International School of Berne (IS Berne).

Curriculum

K12 has the digital curriculum portfolio for the K-12 online education industry. The K12 curriculum consists of online lessons, offline instructional kits and materials, and lesson guides and other ancillaries. The Company offers a catalog of courses designed to teach concepts to students from pre-kindergarten through 12th grade, as well as curriculum for use in post-secondary online programs. A single year-long K12 course generally consists of 120 to 180 instructional lessons. Each lesson is designed to last approximately 45 to 60 minutes, although students are able to work at their own pace. With the acquisition of the curriculum portfolios of KCDL (Aventa), AEC (A+) and Kaplan Virtual Education (KVE), as well as the MI! L joint venture, the Company has nearly 700 courses across kindergarten, elementary, middle and high school, including world languages. This combined portfolio contains over 100,000 hours of instructional content and over one million visual, audio and interactive instructional elements in the Company's asset repository.

The Company's K12 online lessons or curricula are accessed through a learning management platform, which the Company calls its Online School (OLS) for K- 8students and the eCollege platforms for high school students, as well as a number of other common industry platforms for students who access Aventa and A+ curricula. Many of the Company's courses utilize learning kits in conjunction with the online lessons to maximize the effectiveness of its learning systems. In addition to receiving access to the Company's online lessons through the Internet, each K-8 student receives a shipment of materials, including textbooks, art supplies, laboratory supplies (such as microscopes, scales, science specimens) and other reference materials which are referred to and incorporated in instruction throughout its curriculum. The Company's courses are generally paired with a lesson guide. Lesson guides work in coordination with the online lessons and include overview information for learning coaches, lesson objectives, lesson outlines and activities, answer keys to student exercises and suggestions for explaining difficult concepts to students.

Pre-K and K-8 Courses

From pre-kindergarten through 8th grade, the Company's courses are generally categorized into seven major subject areas: English and language arts, mathematics, science, history, art, music and world languages. The Company's curriculum includes all of the courses that students need to complete their core kindergarten through 8th grade education; a new pre-K offering students to core subjects through cross-curricular thematic units, building initial and fundamental relationships among concepts. Its learning! systems ! offer the flexibility for each student to take courses at different grade levels in a single academic year, providing flexibility for students to progress at their own level and pace within each subject area.

The first phase of the Company's K12 second generation elementary language arts program is designed to deliver interactivity and make instruction even more engaging while integrating rewards, interactive practice and a virtual world. The Company's Fundamentals of Geometry and Algebra course completes its K-8 math offering. These courses support students at various skill levels through targeted, timely remediation, embody the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) and include media integration. In addition, the flexibility of the Company's learning systems allows the Company to tailor its curriculum to state specific requirements. For example, the Company has developed 62 courses specifically created for the public schools standards in 13 states. In addition to the ongoing evolution of the Company's K-5 Math+ program, the Company has also created over 80 custom Math+ sequences to serve specific state needs. The Company continues to migrate K12 K-8 courses from its legacy content management system (CMS) to its new CMS.

Online School Platform-Learning Management System

For the Company's K12 curriculum users in grades K-8, the Company provides a learning management system, its OLS platform. The OLS platform is an adaptive, intuitive, Web-based software platform that provides access to the Company's online lessons, its lesson planning and scheduling tools, as well as its progress tracking tool which serves a key role in assisting parents and teachers in managing each student's progress. The OLS is also the central structure through which students, parents, teachers and administrators interact using K-mail and Class Connect (the Company's integrated synchronous session scheduler). Students, parents and teachers can access the Company's online tools and lessons through t! he OLS fr! om anywhere with an Internet connection. The Company licenses a third-party learning management system for uses in its high school program.

High School Courses

The curriculum available to high school students is broader and varies from student to student. Students also are able to select from a range of electives. The Company has augmented its lab program for lab science courses with the creation of alternate kit-free science labs for the formerly kit-based high school science labs in order to provide a more flexible and robust lab program across its physical science, earth science, biology, chemistry and physics courses. The Company's overall lab program includes traditional kit-based labs based on either shipped-in or household materials, virtual labs, video-based labs, data-collection and data-manipulation labs, and field studies. Across all subject areas, the K12 core curriculum accounts for approximately 90% of the Company's high school course enrollments. It also offers curriculum marketed as its Aventa Learning by K12 product line. Aventa courses are written to national academic standards and each of Aventa's 22 AP courses has been reviewed and approved by The College Board. Aventa's online courses are developed by subject matter experts designed by multimedia teams and delivered by high school instructors. Aventa classes are primarily delivered over the Internet and use a variety of interactive elements to keep students engaged throughout.

The Company has A+ courseware, which is in use in over 5,000 public and private K-12 schools, charter schools, colleges, correctional institutions, centers of adult literacy, military education programs and after-school learning centers. The A+nyWhere Learning System provides an integrated offering of instructional software and assessment for reading, mathematics, language arts, science, writing, history, government, economics and geography for grade levels K-12. In addition, AEC provides assessment testing and instructi! onal cont! ent for the General Educational Development (GED) test. AEC products are designed to provide for LAN, WAN and Internet delivery options and support Windows and Macintosh platforms. Spanish-language versions are available for mathematics and language arts for grade levels 1-6.

The Company offers online world language courses and summer immersion language instruction programs through its MIL joint venture. In addition to offering powerspeaK12 language courses, this venture also offers innovative, online language programs for high school and middle school students based on the Middlebury College pedagogy. The new courses use instructional tools such as animation, music, videos and other elements that immerse students in new languages. Beginner French, Chinese and Spanish for high school students, as well as Chinese, French, Latin, Spanish and German courses for middle and high school students are available and additional courses are in development. The joint venture has expanded the Middlebury-Monterey Language Academy (MMLA), a foreign language immersion summer program for middle and high school students, which includes a day academy for middle school students, as well as the Company's four-week residential academy with instruction in Arabic, Chinese, French, German, Italian and Spanish at multiple college campuses.

Innovative Learning Applications

The Company has created tools that allow for more rapid mobile and tablet curriculum or content deployment across platforms for deeper markets penetration. Seven additional mobile applications were delivered during the fiscal year ended June 30, 2012 (fiscal 2012), for a total of 15 applications available for download. These apps have been downloaded over 400,000 times. It offers applications for the iPhone, Android phones and Android tablet marketplaces, adapting many of its curriculum features for the mobile application space. An active educational games initiative is delivering new methods for engagement, practice and r! eview of ! K-12 concepts, including narrative/immersive styles, rewards, persistent data, complex algorithms. The Company has delivered a total of nine interactive games and an innovative review and practices portal called Noodleverse. Noodleverse includes over 1,700 activities and is designed for K-2 students in conjunction with a new language arts program.

The Company has delivered alternatives for its educational partners who desires materials-free curriculum. This includes converting over 59 existing materials-based high school Science labs into interactive virtual labs and video lab This laboratory is performed at a lab bench with all the materials and with the same procedures high school students would use in a physical chemistry laboratory. During fiscal 2012, the Company had converted 35 K12 textbooks used across 57 courses into an electronic format, including textbooks, reference guides, literature readers and lab manuals. This digital delivery ability enables the Company to offer options to the Company's customers through interactive online books that enhance the student's reading experience reinforce the student's learning approach and create a new method for delivering book and print materials. Each offline book is converted into an electronic book format with a custom user interface to be viewed through a standard Web browser or a commercially available electronic reader (Kindle and Nook).

The Company has learning management systems and can build courses that are adaptive, which enable individualized learning experiences as the course adapts at key points to student behavior and input. The Company's MARK12 reading remediation product captures individual students' successes and challenges as they practice phonemic awareness, alphabetic principles, accuracy and fluency, vocabulary and comprehension. The program serves the individual student more exercises, practice and review in areas of difficulty. During fiscal 2012, the Company launched a pilot program for school year call! ed Nation! al Math Lab, designed as a controlled study with randomly selected treatment and control groups from a pool of students in grades 5-10 identified as significantly below grade level in math. The Company continues to explore opportunities to enhance student engagement through strategic use of relevant multimedia. Multimedia is specifically used as appropriate for the subject matter.

School Management Systems

School Management Systems (SAMS) is the Company's student information system. SAMS is integrated with the OLS and several other systems, including the Company's Online Enrollment System that allows parents to complete school enrollment forms online and its order management system that generates orders for learning kits and computers to be delivered to students. SAMS stores student-specific data and is used for a range of functions, including enrolling students in courses, assigning progress marks and grades, tracking student demographic data, and generating student transcripts. The Company has TotalView a range of online applications that provides administrators, teachers, parents and students a unified view of student progress, attendance, communications, and learning kit shipment tracking. TotalView includes a means of documenting student engagement in required classroom activities, identification of those students struggling with grade level state content standards, and previous year's performance on state tests. TotalView also includes K-mail, the Company's internal communications system. Through K-mail, administrators and teachers can communicate electronically with learning coaches and students. TotalView also includes an enrollment processing and tracking tool that allows it to closely monitor and manage the enrollment process for new students.

PEAK12

The Company has an online learning solution called PEAK12. This solution simplifies a district's management of online learning by consolidating multiple solutions on a single platform. It allow! s adminis! trators and teachers to manage enrollments, programs and performance tracking, alerts and reporting across multiple online solutions from a single solution. In addition, through the PEAK12 library, districts can search, build, provision and publish content or course modifications or new course solutions using various online learning assets. PEAK12 provides unparalleled capabilities for districts wanting to operate multiple solutions or catalogs from a single place and offers personalization features that can be managed at the district, school or teacher level.

The Company competes with DeVry, Inc., Pearson PLC, White Hat Management, LLC, National Network of Digital Schools Management Foundation Inc., Apex Learning Inc., Compass Learning, E2020 Inc., OdysseyWare, PLATO Learning, Inc., Rosetta Stone Inc., Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, McGraw-Hill Companies, Pearson PLC., The Laurel Springs School, the National Connections Academy and Florida Virtual School.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Rick Aristotle Munarriz]

  Bloomberg via Getty Images Companies can make brilliant moves, but there are also times when things don't work out quite as planned. From an online educator getting schooled to a PC dinosaur showing signs of coming back to life, here's a rundown of the week's best and worst in the business world. Hewlett-Packard (HPQ) -- Winner PC sales continue to slide, but market leader HP is turning things around. Industry tracker IDC may have served up some grim metrics for the state of desktops and laptops -- global PC shipments were down by nearly 8 percent, making this the sixth consecutive quarter of slipping sales -- but IDC estimates that HP bucked the trend by shipping more computers than it did a year earlier. The trend is even better domestically. HP was already having a good week when CEO Meg Whitman explained why she felt her company was well-positioned to thrive in the future. The IDC report suggests that HP's rosy future is now. K12 (LRN) -- Loser Online learning has come under fire in recent years. Are the students engaged enough? Is the education effective? Are the cost savings worth the shortcomings of the virtual classroom? We still don't have all of the answers, but we may be seeing enrollments peaking. Shares of K12 were slammed this week after the provider of Web-based curriculums for grade school students posted a disappointing outlook. K12 saws enrollments increased by a softer than expected 6 percent in its latest quarter. K12 also now sees revenue for the entire fiscal year that ends in June clocking in between $905 million and $925 million. Analysts were perched at $988 million. Ouch. That's not a passing grade. Microsoft (MSFT) -- Winner HP wasn't the only winner in IDC's review of the PC industry during the third quarter. Four of the five largest PC makers in this country saw their shipments increase. The lone holdout was Apple (AAPL) experiencing an 11 percent slide in Mac and MacBook sales during the period. That's sweet news for Mic

• [By Brian Stoffel]

  Investors in K12 Inc (NYSE: LRN  ) should have been rejoicing when the company reported earnings yesterday. Instead, the stock fell by as much as 14%.

• [By Garrett Cook]

  Non-cyclical consumer goods & services shares dropped around 0.20 percent in today’s trading. Top decliners in the sector included K12 (NYSE: LRN), China Nepstar Chain Drugstore (NYSE: NPD), and Du Pont (NYSE: DD).