Amazon's Fire HD Kid's Edition is a clear shot at LeapFrog's LeapPad tablet line. Credit: Amazon.com
Look out LeapFrog (NYSE: LF ) , because Amazon.com� (NASDAQ: AMZN ) has its eyes on one of your most lucrative revenue streams.
Amazon just unveiled its new Fire HD Kids Edition tablet, which will set parents back $149 for the 6-inch display version, or $189 for the 7-inch model. That's certainly not a bad price, but at first glance it seems LeapFrog might even have the advantage given the $100 price tag on its 5-inch LeapPad3, and the $130 cost of the 7-inch LeapPad Ultra XDi.
LeapFrog's LeapPad Ultra XDi Learning Tablet could face huge competition from Amazon. Credit: LeapFrog
That's also not to mention�LeapFrog has gone to great lengths to cater both to kids and parents alike by developing easy-to-use parental controls, an educator-approved library of more than 1,000 apps, LeapPad's own drop-tested design, and a one-year "kid-proof warranty" that covers up to one replacement of the device -- as long as it was purchased from LeapFrog.com, anyway -- even in the case of accidental damage.�.
Top International Stocks To Invest In Right Now: Ceres Inc (CERE)
Ceres, Inc. (Ceres), incorporated in March 1996, is an agricultural biotechnology company selling seeds to produce renewable biomass feedstocks that can enable the large-scale replacement of petroleum and other fossil fuels. The Company�� large-scale commercial products are sweet sorghum varieties that can be used as a drop-in feedstock to extend the operating season of Brazilian sugarcane-to-ethanol mills. Its products include sweet sorghum, high biomass sorghum, switchgrass, miscanthus and row crops. Its energy crops can also be used for the production of second-generation biofuels and bio-based chemicals, including cellulosic ethanol, butanol, jet fuel, diesel-like molecules and gasoline-like molecules, from non-food biomass. Baseload utility scale electric power can also be generated from the biomass feedstocks grown from its seeds. Ceres has started marketing sweet sorghum seeds in Brazil and has sold switchgrass and high biomass sorghum seeds in the United States under its brand, Blade Energy Crops (Blade). In January 2010, the Company incorporated a subsidiary, Ceres Sementes do Brasil Ltda.
The Company generates its revenues from government grants, research and development collaboration agreements and from product sales. Product sales primarily consists of sales of seeds. Collaborative research revenues consist of payments for research and development activities for specific projects. Government grant revenues consist of payments from government entities. Ceres markets its seeds and traits directly to ethanol mills, utilities, independent power producers, cellulosic biofuel companies, individual growers and grower cooperatives. It also works with technology providers and other market participants, such as equipment manufacturers and enzyme or fermentation technology companies. The Company markets its products to biorefineries and biopower facilities.
Ceres�� activities in cellulosic biofuels encompass a range of activities, including field trials, co-evolution agr! eements, and commercial sales. Its products have been tested in the conversion processes of EdeniQ, Inc., Choren USA LLC, Gruppo M&G, ICM, Inc., and UOP, LLC (a Honeywell company), among others. The Company has also conducted joint trials with, or sold seed to, AGCO Corporation, EdeniQ, Inc. and Hawai�� BioEnergy, LLC, among others. It has begun collaboration with Valero Services, Inc. to further evaluate feedstock supply strategies with energy crops. Ceres also works with refining technology companies to optimize feedstock for their refining processes. These collaborators include Novozymes North America, Inc. and ThermoChem Recovery International, Inc.
Drop-in Products
The Company�� products are drop-in solutions as they can be planted, harvested and processed using existing agricultural equipment with little or no modification and are being developed to be drop-in for all conversion technologies using sugarcane or biomass feedstocks, facilitating their rapid adoption. In collaboration with Boa Vista/Nova Fronteira, which is a joint venture of ethanol producers Grupo Sao Martinho, S.A. and Petrobras Biofuels, the Company has completed a commercial-scale trial on approximately 250 hectares of its sweet sorghum, which was planted and harvested using existing planting and harvesting equipment, fermented into ethanol without retrofitting or altering the existing mill and the remaining biomass combusted for electricity production, using existing boilers. It has also conducted smaller trials using its other energy crops with numerous industry participants engaged in cellulosic biofuels and biopower production. The Company�� products have been tested in the conversion processes of Amyris Biotechnologies, Inc., Choren USA LLC, EdeniQ, Inc., Gruppo M&G, ICM, Inc., Novozymes North America, Inc., ThermoChem Recovery International, Inc. and UOP, LLC (a Honeywell company), among others. DuPont Danisco Cellulosic Ethanol LLC (DDCE) also plans to validate the Company�� products in th! eir conve! rsion process.
Sweet Sorghum
Sweet sorghum is a type of sorghum that accumulates free sugars in its stalk. It is sown by seed, and requires less water and nitrogen fertilizer to grow to harvestable maturity. Sweet sorghum plants can be harvested in 90 to 140 days after sowing. Because sweet sorghum is an annual crop, multiple harvests or crop rotations may be possible during the season.
High Biomass Sorghum
High biomass sorghum is a type of sorghum, which is primarily developed for biomass yield. As such, high biomass sorghum is suited for the generation of renewable electric power and the creation of cellulosic biofuels. High biomass types are seed propagated, and requires less water and nitrogen fertilizer. As an annual crop, sorghum is harvested the year it is planted. This provides bioenergy facilities with a growing and flexible source of biomass, and a complementary feedstock to perennials, such as sugarcane or switchgrass. The Company�� ES 5200 and ES 5201 products contains its Skyscraper trait. These hybrids, developed through its partnership with Texas A&M University, are designed for single-cut production systems.
Switchgrass
Switchgrass is a perennial grass indigenous to North America that offers high biomass yield potential. It requires less water and nitrogen fertilizer, and can grow under semi-arid conditions. Switchgrass is seed propagated. As a perennial, switchgrass is not harvested for sale during the first year when the crop is being established. A properly managed stand of switchgrass may persist for a decade. During the year ended December 31, 2010, it introduced three products: EG 1101, EG 1102 and EG 2101. These high-yielding varieties is developed through its partnership with The Samuel Roberts Noble Foundation.
Miscanthus
Miscanthus x giganteus is a tall perennial grass that grows well in cooler climates. It is vegetatively propagated. It has been used as an energy crop on ! a small s! cale across Europe. The Miscanthus genus includes several perennial species that has energy crops. The variety adopted in the United States and Europe, miscanthus x giganteus, is a sterile hybrid of M. sinensis and M. sacchariflorus. This miscanthus hybrid requires about the same water as corn, but up to two-thirds less nitrogen depending on crop management practices. As a perennial crop, miscanthus is not harvested for sale during the first year when the crop is being established. Ceres is also working on extending the region of adaptation. To these ends, the Company is collaborating with the Institute of Biological, Environmental, and Rural Sciences of Aberystwyth University in Wales, the United Kingdom.
The Company competes with Advanta India Limited, The Dow Chemical Company, Monsanto Company, Pioneer Hi-Bred (DuPont), KWS and Syngenta.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Maxx Chatsko]
Shares of energy crop developer Ceres (NASDAQ: CERE ) surged more than 100% from the opening bell Monday to early trading on Thursday. In fact, over one-third of the total outstanding shares traded hands on Thursday. Even with the move the company is trading for "only" $100 million. With some of the biggest names in industrial biotech on its side -- such as Syngenta (NYSE: SYT ) , Petrobras, Amyris, Valero, Novozymes, Gruppo M&G, and Mascoma, to name a few -- this must be a good buy right? Not so fast.
- [By Roberto Pedone]
Another renewable energy player that looks ready to trigger a big breakout trade is Ceres (CERE), which sells seeds to produce renewable biomass feedstocks that can enable the large-scale replacement of petroleum and other fossil fuels. This stock has been hammered by the bears so far in 2013, with shares off sharply by 66%.
If you take a look at the chart for Ceres, you'll notice that this stock has just started to trend back above its 50-day moving average of $1.45 a share with heavy upside volume flows. Volume so far today has already registered over 1.15 million shares, which is well above its three-month average action of 670,538 shares. This spike back above its 50-day is now quickly pushing shares of CERE within range of triggering a big breakout trade.
Traders should now look for long-biased trades in CERE if it manages to break out above some near-term overhead resistance levels at $1.67 to $1.68 a share with high volume. Look for a sustained move or close above those levels with volume that hits near or above its three-month average action of 670,538 shares. If that breakout hits soon, then CERE will set up to re-test or possibly take out its next major overhead resistance levels at $2 to $2.50 a share. Shares of CERE could even tag $3 if this breakout triggers with strong volume.
Traders can look to buy CERE off any weakness to anticipate that breakout and simply use a stop that sits right below $1.40 a share. One could also buy CERE off strength once it takes out those breakout levels with volume and then simply use a stop that sits a comfortable percentage from your entry point.
- [By James E. Brumley]
Despite the fact that markets are right around breakeven levels for Wednesday, there are relatively few stocks that are up today, and even fewer that are up on strong volume. For the NYSE, 54% of its listed equities are in the red this morning, and 58% of the total volume seen so far has been bearish volume. That's what makes Ceres Inc. (NASDAQ:CERE) so interesting early Wednesday. As one of the few tickers that's not only up, but up on higher volume, CERE is a standout worth a closer look. And, that closer look reveals something even more compelling about the way things are coming together for this small cap stock.
Hot Prefered Stocks To Invest In 2015: Arrowstar Resources Ltd (AWS)
Arrowstar Resources Ltd is a Canada-based mineral exploration company. The Company is primarily engaged in exploring for iron ore in Alaska, the United States of America. The Company's flagship propery is in the State of Alaska. The Company�� Snettisham Iron Ore (magnetite) Deposit is located on the Snettisham Peninsula on the south side of Port Snettisham and west of Gilbert Bay. The Port Snettisham property consists of 49 mineral claims 30 miles southeast of Juneau, Alaska. Its Roberts Lake consists of 128 claims in Northern Quebec along the extensive and important Ungava Bay Iron Formation. Its Rannie Lake consists of 172 claims in Labrador. Advisors' Opinion:- [By Quick Pen]
There is a very interesting aspect of Amazon�� Q2. During the quarter the company spent as much as $4.3 billion in capital expenditures and still managed to report free cash flows worth $1 billion. Even the revenue from the web service (AWS) segment showed promising growth. CEO Jeff Bezoz believes one day the segment can overshadow the retail segment revenue and claim the place of the top contributor.
Hot Prefered Stocks To Invest In 2015: Dun & Bradstreet Corp (DNB)
The Dun & Bradstreet Corporation (D&B), incorporated on April 25, 2000, is the source of commercial information and insight on businesses, enabling customers to Decide with Confidence. As of December 31, 2012, the Company�� global commercial database contained more than 220 million business records. The database is enhanced by its DUNSRight Quality Process, which transforms commercial data into valuable insight which is the foundation of its global solutions. Customers use D&B Risk Management Solutions to mitigate credit and supplier risk, increase cash flow and drive profitability; D&B Sales & Marketing Solutions to provide data management capabilities that provide marketing solutions to increase revenue from new and existing customers, and D&B Internet Solutions to convert prospects into clients by enabling business professionals to research companies, executives and industries.
The Company operates in three segments: North America (which consists of its operations in the United States and Canada); Asia Pacific (which primarily consists of its operations in Australia, Greater China, India and Asia Pacific Worldwide Network), and Europe and other International Markets (which primarily consists of its operations in the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Belgium, Latin America and its European Worldwide Network). The Company conducts its business internationally through its wholly owned subsidiaries, majority-owned joint ventures, independent correspondents, strategic relationships through its D&B Worldwide Network and minority equity investments.
Risk Management Solutions
The Company provides traditional, value-added and supply management solutions. The Company�� Traditional Risk Management Solutions, which primarily includes its core DNBi product line, as well as reports from its database which are used primarily for making decisions about new credit applications, constituted 74% of its Risk Management Solutions revenue and 47% of its total revenue for the ye! ar ended December 31, 2012. Its Value-Added Risk Management Solutions, which constituted 20% of its Risk Management Solutions revenue and 12% of its total revenue for the year ended December 31, 2012, generally support automated decision-making and portfolio management through the use of scoring and integrated software solutions. The Company�� Supply Management Solutions, which can help companies understand the financial risk of their supply chain, constituted 6% of its Risk Management Solutions revenue and 4% of its total revenue in 2012. Risk Management Solutions accounted for 63% of its total revenue in 2012.
Effective January 1, 2013, the Company began managing and reporting its North America Risk Management Solutions business as DNBi subscription plans, Non-DNBi subscription plans, and projects and other risk management solutions.
The Company�� principal Risk Management Solutions are DNBi, various business information reports, eRAM, and D&B Direct. DNBi is the Company�� interactive, customizable online application that offers customers a subscription based real time access to its complete and up-to-date global DUNSRight information, comprehensive monitoring and portfolio analysis. It is also focused on helping more customers protect their business from risk through additions of DNBi products: DNBi Corporate, offering flexible pricing options allowing credit departments of all sizes to get data and options they need and Portfolio Risk Manager for DNBi, a module which allows DNBi users to create strategic one -click analytic reports to see risk and opportunity across their customer base. Various business information reports include Business Information Report, its Comprehensive Report, and its International Report that are consumed in a transactional manner across multiple platforms, such as DNB.com. eRAM is an enterprise solution for large global and domestic customers for automated decisioning and portfolio analytics. D&B Direct is a software application programming inter! face (API! ) that enables data integration inside enterprise applications, such as ERP, and enables master data management.
Sales & Marketing Solutions
The Company�� Sales & Marketing Solutions is a customer solution set, which accounted 29% of its total revenue in 2012. Within this customer solution set, it offers traditional and value-added solutions. Its Traditional Sales & Marketing Solutions generally consist of its marketing lists and labels used by the Company�� customers in direct mail and marketing activities, its education business and its electronic licensing solutions. These solutions constituted 30% of its Sales & Marketing Solutions revenue and 9% of its total revenue in 2012. Effective January 1, 2013, The Company began managing and reporting its Internet Solutions business as part of its Traditional Sales & Marketing Solutions set. Its Value-Added Sales & Marketing Solutions generally include decision-making and customer information management solutions, including data management solutions like Optimizer (its solution to cleanse, identify and enrich its customers' client portfolios) and products introduced as part of its Data-as-a-Service (DaaS) Strategy, which integrates the Company�� data directly into the applications and platforms that its customers use every day. The Value-Added Sales & Marketing Solutions constituted 70% of Sales & Marketing Solutions revenue and 20% of its total revenue in 2012
Internet Solutions
The Company�� Internet Solutions business provides organized and easy-to-use products that address the online sales and marketing needs of professionals and businesses, including information on companies, industries and executives. Internet Solutions, primarily representing the results of its Hoover's business, accounted for 7% of its total revenue in 2012. Effective January 1, 2013, the Company began managing and reporting its Internet Solutions business as part of its Traditional Sales & Marketing Solutions set.
T! he Company competes with Equifax, Inc., Experian Information Solutions, Inc., infoGROUP, Graydon, and Sinotrust.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Geoff Gannon] s. All have great track records for business and stock price growth long term so this appears to be a strategic decision to finance through debt rather than equity. My question is at what point can an investor judge that this practice is no longer creating value but adding risk to the investment? There can obviously be too much leverage. However when money is cheap to borrow and ROIC is high this seems like a great way to create value for shareholders, to just borrow at 3% and buy stock with an ROIC over 20%, but how much is too much?
Thank you,
- [By Geoff Gannon] d a few good businesses but Moody's was a great business. And it was splitting up.
And then he goes on to talk about how he can't evaluate management at Moody's because it is such a great business that it is hard to know whether management is any good when you put someone in charge of a business like that.
He focused on the idea of pricing power. At the Buffalo Evening News he focused on the fact that they were the dominant weekday paper and they weren't doing a Sunday edition. He knew they could knock their competitor out if they went ahead with a Sunday paper. He knew how important that was to a newspaper's economics.
Doing a common sense qualitative analysis ��like a reporter on a news story ��is what can give you these insights. For example, Quan recently wrote a blog post where he casually mentions that Games Workshop ��a small U.K. company ��raises prices every June. It is an annual ritual for them. Just like at See's Candies.
If you remember my discussion of George Risk (RSKIA), one of the things I said was that I knew George Risk's materials cost was higher than some competitors' selling price. The fact that any company could survive under conditions like that immediately suggested that dollars paid for the product was not the key concern for this product.
Perceived costs had to involve other concerns like customization, shipping speed, reliability, etc. Because it was a low cost product going into a higher cost product going into very high cost projects it seemed likely there was the opportunity to raise prices if needed. And that's what they ended up doing. The important clue for me in that investigation was the severe cost disadvantage George Risk had. You couldn�� compete at such a cost disadvantage unless price was less important than I initially thought.
I think you will find that most of these insights are not available in the financial statements. They come from reading the 10-Ks of all companies in the
Hot Prefered Stocks To Invest In 2015: SciClone Pharmaceuticals Inc.(SCLN)
SciClone Pharmaceuticals, Inc. engages in the development and commercialization of novel therapeutics for the treatment of oncology, infectious diseases, cardiovascular, urological, respiratory, and central nervous system disorders in the People?s Republic of China and internationally. Its principal product is ZADAXIN for the treatment of hepatitis B and hepatitis C viruses, and certain cancers, as well as for use as a vaccine adjuvant or as a chemotherapy adjuvant for cancer patients with weakened immune systems. ZADAXIN has approval in approximately 30 countries, primarily China, the Pacific Rim, Latin America, eastern Europe, and the Middle East. The company markets and sells ZADAXIN principally through its distributors. It is also developing SCV-07, which is in Phase 2 clinical trials for the treatment of oral mucositis and hepatitis C virus. In addition, the company markets partnered products in China, including Depakine, an anti-convulsant; Tritace, an ACE inhibitor for the treatment of hypertension; Stilnox, a hypnotic for the short-term treatment of insomnia; and Aggrastat, a cardiology product. SciClone Pharmaceuticals also has commercialization rights for DC Bead, a product candidate for the treatment of advanced liver cancer in China, as well as for ondansetron RapidFilm, an oral thin film formulation of ondansetron to treat and prevent nausea and vomiting caused by chemotherapy, radiotherapy, and surgery in China and Vietnam. The company was founded in 1989 and is headquartered in Foster City, California.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Eric Volkman]
SciClone (NASDAQ: SCLN ) has a new man leading its finance team. The company announced that it hired Wilson Cheung to be its new CFO. Cheung is a longtime executive who most recently served as chief compliance officer, Asia Pacific, at digital marketing agency Velti, following a stint as that company's CFO. Before that, he was CFO and corporate secretary at AXT (NASDAQ: AXTI ) and served in various managerial positions in firms such as KPMG and Yahoo!
Hot Prefered Stocks To Invest In 2015: Exponent Inc.(EXPO)
Exponent, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, provides engineering and scientific consulting services worldwide. Its services include analysis of products, people, property, processes, and finances related to litigation, product recall, regulatory compliance, research, development, and design. The company offers approximately 90 different technical disciplines to solve complicated issues facing industry and government. It offers services in the areas of biomechanics, biomedical engineering, buildings and structures, civil engineering, construction consulting, defense technology development, ecological and biological sciences, electrical engineering and computer science, engineering management consulting, environmental and earth sciences, health sciences, human factors, industrial structures, materials and corrosion engineering, mechanical engineering, polymer science and materials chemistry, statistical and data sciences, thermal sciences, and vehicle analysis. The compa ny provides its services through a team of scientists, physicians, engineers, and business and regulatory consultants. It serves clients in automotive, aviation, chemical, construction, consumer products, energy, government, health, insurance, manufacturing, and technology sectors. The company was formerly known as The Failure Group, Inc. and changed its name to Exponent, Inc. in 1998. Exponent, Inc. was founded in 1967 and is based in Menlo Park, California.
Advisors' Opinion:- [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 Exponent (Nasdaq: EXPO ) , whose recent revenue and earnings are plotted below.
Hot Prefered Stocks To Invest In 2015: 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:
