It's not that stock investors think that the Seahawks-ranting-cornerback Richard Sherman's verbal pronouncements have more market-moving power than future comments from incoming Federal Reserve chairwoman Janet Yellen. Or that a win for the hot Seahawks will result in a sudden burst of spending by consumers or provide a jolt of confidence to corporate CEOs.
The reason Wall Street favors the Seahawks is due to a quirky stock market indicator, known as the "Super Bowl indicator." This theory basically says the stock market will post a gain for the year if a team from the NFC, or a team that originally was in the National Football Conference, beats its rival from the American Football Conference (AFC).
Top Logistics Stocks To Watch Right Now: Newcrest Mining Ltd (NCMGF)
Newcrest Mining Limited (Newcrest) is a gold, copper and silver producer that has operations and exploration projects in Australia, the Pacific region, Asia and West Africa. The Company�� segments include Cadia Valley, Telfer, Gosowong, Lihir, Hidden Valley JV, West Africa (includes Bonikro operations and exploration and evaluation activities in Cote d��voire) and Exploration and Other. Exploration and Other mainly consists of projects in the exploration, evaluation and feasibility phase and includes Namosi in Fiji, Wafi Golpu in Papua New Guinea (PNG), and Marsden and O��allaghans in Australia. Cadia Valley Operations (CVO) is a gold mining operation and is 100% owned by Newcrest. It is located approximately 25 kilometers from the city of Orange in central west New South Wales and is 250 kilometers west of Sydney. Advisors' Opinion:- [By MARKETWATCH]
LOS ANGELES (MarketWatch) -- Australia stocks enjoyed early Monday gains after an advance for commodities and U.S. stocks since the last session, with a relatively good reception for earnings. The S&P/ASX 200 (AU:XJO) improved by 0.4% to 5,376.30, with miners tracking gains in gold and copper. Rio Tinto Ltd. (AU:RIO) (RIO) added 1.3%, and Fortescue Metals Group Ltd. (AU:FMG) (FSUMF) traded 1.1% higher, while gold miners Newcrest Mining Ltd. (AU:NCM) (NCMGF) and Kingsgate Consolidated Ltd. (AU:KCN) (KSKGF) rallied 2.2% and 4.7%, respectively. Banks rose after Wall Street shares climbed on Friday, with National Australia Bank Ltd. (AU:NAB) (NAUBF) up 1% and Australia & New Zealand Banking Group (AU:ANZ) (ANEWF) adding 0.9%, though Commonwealth Bank of Australia (AU:CBA) (CBAUF) dropped 2.4% as it traded without rights to its latest dividend. Coal transport firm Aurizon Holdings Ltd. (AU:AZJ) (QRNNF) tacked on 2.1% as its fiscal first-half underlying profit increased 18%, though net profit f
- [By MARKETWATCH]
LOS ANGELES (MarketWatch) -- Australian stocks rose in early Monday trading, helped by Wall Street's gains Friday, with the S&P/ASX 200 (AU:XJO) climbing 0.8% to 5,362.40 after closing the previous session at its highest level since before the start of the 2008 financial crisis. Miners were broadly improving, as Fortescue Metals Group Ltd. (AU:FMG) (FSUMF) rose 1.3%, BHP Billiton Ltd. (AU:BHP) (BHP) added 0.9% ahead of its quarterly production report Tuesday, and Newcrest Mining Ltd. (AU:NCM) (NCMGF) also climbed 0.9% despite a loss for gold at the end of last week. Financials saw gains as well, with many analysts now tipping the U.S. Federal Reserve to maintain its current level of easing through the end of the year. Australia & New Zealand Banking Group (AU:ANZ) (ANEWF) advanced 1.1%, while Westpac Banking Corp. (AU:WBC) (WEBNF) and Macquarie Group Ltd. (AU:MQG) (MCQEF) rose 1.2% each. On the downside, shares of Qantas Airways Ltd. (AU:QAN) (QUBSF) fell 4.2% after the company warned of rough business conditions on Friday.
5 Best Defensive Stocks To Watch Right Now: SJW Corporation (SJW)
SJW Corp., through its subsidiaries, engages in the production, purchase, storage, purification, distribution, wholesale, and retail sale of water. It also provides nonregulated water related services, including full water system operations, billing, and cash remittances under agreements with municipalities. The company?s water supply consists of groundwater from wells, surface water from watershed run-off and diversion, and imported water purchased from the Santa Clara Valley Water District. The company, through its subsidiary, SJW Land Company, owns undeveloped land in the states of California and Tennessee; owns and operates commercial buildings in the states of California, Florida, Connecticut, Texas, Arizona, and Tennessee; and holds a 70% limited partnership interest in 444 West Santa Clara Street, L.P., a real estate limited partnership that owns and operates an office building. It provides water service to approximately 226,000 connections that serve customers in p ortions of the cities of Cupertino and San Jose, as well as in Campbell, Monte Sereno, Saratoga, the Town of Los Gatos, and adjacent unincorporated territory in Santa Clara County, California. The company also provides water service to approximately 9,200 connections that serve approximately 36,000 residents in a service area comprising approximately 237 square miles in the region between San Antonio and Austin, Texas. SJW Corp. was founded in 1866 and is based in San Jose, California.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Sean Williams]
Finally, geographic diversity, or lack thereof, can be a worry for water utilities. Although demand seems to be pretty consistent over time, certain regions of the country may be called upon to ration or conserve water usage depending on a drought. This can therefore reduce demand and profits for water utilities that are confined to a region of the country prone to droughts. SJW (NYSE: SJW ) ��which actually operates in two business segments, water utility and real estate ��is one such company that could experience this shortfall. With just over 225,000 customers all located in the Cupertino and San Jose areas of California, any drought in this region could cause a serious fall in demand.
- [By Marc Bastow]
Public water utility holding company SJW (SJW) raised its quarterly dividend 2.7% to 18.75 cents per share, payable on Mar. 3 to shareholders of record as of Feb. 10.
SJW Dividend Yield: 2.62%
5 Best Defensive Stocks To Watch Right Now: IDT Corp (IDT)
IDT Corporation (IDT), incorporated on March 15, 1996, is a multinational holding company with operations primarily in the telecommunications industry. The Company operates in two segments: Telecom Platform Services and Consumer phones Services, which comprise its IDT Telecom division. Telecom Platform Services provides telecommunications services, including prepaid and rechargeable calling products and international long distance traffic termination, as well as various payment services. Consumer Phone Services provides consumer local and long distance services in the United States. All other segments include Zedge Holdings, Inc. (Zedge), which owns and operates an on-line platform, including Android app, that allows users to share and obtain content to personalize mobile phones and tablets; Fabrix T.V., Ltd. (Fabrix), a software development company specializing in cloud-based video processing, storage and delivery; IDT Spectrum, which holds, leases and sells fixed wireless spectrum; Innovative Communications Technologies, Inc. (ICTI), which holds intellectual property primarily related to voice over Internet protocol (VoIP), technology and the licensing and other businesses related to this intellectual property; the Company's real estate holdings, and other smaller businesses. On October 28, 2011, the Company completed the Genie Energy spin-off. In July 2013, Straight Path Communications Inc announced its spin-off from IDT Corporation.
Telecom Platform Services
IDT markets and distributes multiple communications and payment services across four business categories, including retail communications, wholesale termination services, payment services and hosted platform solutions. Retail Communications provides international long-distance calling products primarily to immigrant communities worldwide, with markets in the United States and Europe. These products include the Company's Boss Revolution Pinless product (an international calling service sold through the Boss Revolution ! payment platform), as well as many of its disposable calling card brands, including Boss, La Leyenda and Feliz, and mobile apps, including PennyTalk. Wholesale Termination Services is a global telecom carrier, terminating international long distance calls around the world for Tier 1 fixed line and mobile network operators, as well as other aggregators through the Company's network of 800-plus carrier interconnects. Payment Services provides payment offerings, such as international mobile top-up, or IMTU, as well as gift cards in both the United States and Europe. IMTU enables customers to purchase minutes for a prepaid mobile telephone in another country. IMTU is available in both traditional cards, as well as on the Company's Boss Revolution payment platform. Payment Services also includes reloadable prepaid debit cards and bank identification number (BIN) sponsorship services offered in Europe by IDT Financial Services through the Company's Gibraltar-based bank. Hosted Platform Solutions provides customized communications services that leverage the Company's networks, platforms and/or technology to cable companies and other operators.
The Company�� Boss Revolution payment platform is an online portal that can be accessed via a regular Web browser and utilized to sell a range of the Company's products and services. During the fiscal year ended July 31, 2012, the Company added domestic mobile top-up (DMTU) offerings. The Company sells its traditional calling cards under the La Leyenda, Boss, Playball, GOOOL, RED, Feliz, PT-1 and PennyTalk brand names, among others, providing telephone access to more than 230 countries and territories. As of July 31, 2012, IDT sold more than 1,000 different calling cards in the United States and more than 800 different cards abroad, with specific cards featuring favorable rates to specific international destinations. The Company's calling cards are marketed primarily to the ethnic and immigrant communities in the United States, Europe, Asia, Latin America! and Afri! ca.
Consumer Phone Services
The Company provides its bundled local/long distance phone service in 11 states, marketed under the brand name IDT America. The Company's bundled local/long distance service, offered predominantly to residential customers, includes unlimited local, regional toll and domestic long distance calling and popular calling features. A second plan is available, providing unlimited local service with the Company's long distance included for as low as 3.9 cents per minute. IDT also offers stand-alone long distance service throughout the United States. As of July 31, 2012, the Company had approximately 10,500 active customers for its bundled local/long distance plans and approximately 45,200 customers for its long distance-only plans.
The Company competes with AT&T,Verizon, InComm, Blackhawk Network and Coinstar.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Seth Jayson]
IDT (NYSE: IDT ) reported earnings on June 6. Here are the numbers you need to know.
The 10-second takeaway
For the quarter ended April 30 (Q3), IDT met expectations on revenues and beat expectations on earnings per share. - [By Monica Gerson]
IDT (NYSE: IDT) is projected to report its Q4 earnings at $0.28 per share on revenue of $397.40 million.
Xyratex (NASDAQ: XRTX) is expected to post its Q3 earnings at $0.05 per share on revenue of $209.31 million.
5 Best Defensive Stocks To Watch Right Now: Monolithic Power Systems Inc.(MPWR)
Monolithic Power Systems, Inc., a fabless semiconductor company, designs, develops, and markets analog and mixed-signal semiconductors. It offers direct current (DC) to DC converter integrated circuits (IC) that are used to convert and control voltages of various electronic systems, such as portable electronic devices, wireless LAN access points, computers, set top boxes, televisions and monitors, automobiles, and medical equipments. The company also provides lighting control ICs for use in systems that offer the light source for liquid crystal display (LCD) panels in notebook computers, LCD monitors, car navigational systems, and LCD televisions. In addition, it provides audio amplifier ICs to amplify sound produced by audio processors; and Class-D audio amplifiers for plasma televisions, LCD televisions, and digital versatile disk players. The company serves consumer electronics, communications, and computing markets. Monolithic Power Systems, Inc. sells its products thr ough third party distributors and value-added resellers, as well as directly to original equipment manufacturers, original design manufacturers, and electronic manufacturing service providers. The company was founded in 1997 and is headquartered in San Jose, California.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Lee Jackson]
Monolithic Power Systems Inc. (NASDAQ: MPWR) has a diverse market that includes communications, gaming and computing to continue to drive its growth, all markets that will pay a premium for its technology. The list of tech companies that use its chips is impressive. Deutsche Bank has a $30 target, the same as the consensus target.
- [By Seth Jayson]
Calling all cash flows
When you are trying to buy the market's best stocks, it's worth checking up on your companies' free cash flow once a quarter or so, to see whether it bears any relationship to the net income in the headlines. That's what we do with this series. Today, we're checking in on Monolithic Power Systems (Nasdaq: MPWR ) , whose recent revenue and earnings are plotted below. - [By Eric Volkman]
McDonald is a veteran CFO, having served in that position for a number of tech companies including eASIC, Advanced Analogic Technologies, and Monolithic Power Systems (NASDAQ: MPWR ) .
