Top 10 Diversified Bank Stocks To Watch Right Now

LPL Financial (LPLA) said late Monday that it is building a regional headquarters in Fort Mill, S.C., and will move its 1,000 employees in the Charlotte, N.C., area to the new facility.

The independent broker-dealer also says it will invest about $150 million in the region, which is located about 30 miles south of Charlotte, over the next eight years.

"We plan to create a work environment that supports innovation, collaboration, and engagement — a space that promotes employees' overall well-being and a place that they will feel proud and excited to come to work every day,” said Chairman and CEO Mark Casady, in a press release. “We believe that by building such an exciting workplace, our employees will be further empowered to do their best to support our clients."

Construction of the new building will begin in 2015, with completion expected in fall 2016.

Earlier this year, the IBD opened a new regional San Diego headquarters, which it says is among the largest net-zero energy commercial office buildings in the United States. About 1,600 LPL Financial employees, who previously worked in seven office buildings in the La Jolla area of San Diego, are now based in the new 13-story facility.

Top 10 Diversified Bank Stocks To Watch Right Now: NeoPhotonics Corp (NPTN)

NeoPhotonics Corporation, incorporated on October 31, 1996, is a designer and manufacturer of photonic integrated circuit (PIC)-based modules and subsystems for bandwidth-intensive, high-speed communications networks. The Company has a portfolio of over 300 products, including products that enable data transmission at 10 gigabytes per second, 40 gigabytes per second and 100 gigabytes per second, agility products, such as reconfigurable optical add/drop multiplexers (ROADMs) that allocate bandwidth to adjust for volatile traffic patterns, and access products that provide high-bandwidth connections to more devices and people over fixed and wireless networks. In October 2011, the Company acquired Santur Corporation. In June 2013, it announced first shipments of optical transceiver modules out of its new, high capacity factory in Dongguan, Guangdong Province, China.

The Company�� products are categorized in 34 product families. The Company sells its products to the network equipment vendors globally, including ADVA AG Optical Networking Ltd., Alcatel-Lucent SA, Ciena Corporation (including its recent acquisition of Nortel�� Metro Ethernet Networks business), Cisco Systems, Inc., FiberHome Technologies Group, ECI Telecom Ltd., Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson, Fujitsu Limited, Harmonic, Inc., Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd., Mitsubishi Electric Corporation, NEC Corporation, Nokia Siemens Networks B.V. and ZTE Corporation.

The Company competes with Finisar Corporation, JDS Uniphase Corporation, MRV Communications, Inc., NTT Electronics Corporation and Sumitomo Electric Device Innovations, Inc.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Anders Bylund]

  Close competitor NeoPhotonics (NYSE: NPTN  ) soared 15% higher. Larger rival JDS Uniphase (NASDAQ: JDSU  ) jumped 7.9% to become the fastest gainer on the S&P 500. If Ciena can beat its own expectations in selling Internet backbone equipment to a bevy of major telecoms, its chief rivals must eventually follow suit. JDS is only one month removed from its latest quarterly report, which sent shares diving 7% overnight (but all was forgiven a week later). NeoPhotonics also reported in early May, but didn't make any waves then.

Top 10 Diversified Bank Stocks To Watch Right Now: Empire State Realty Trust Inc (ESRT)

Empire State Realty Trust, Inc., incorporated on July 29, 2011, is a self-administered and self-managed real estate investment trust (REIT), which owns, manages, operates, acquires and repositions office and retail properties in Manhattan and the greater New York metropolitan area. The Company operates in two segments: real estate and construction contracting. As of June 30, 2013, the Company owned 12 office properties (including one long-term ground leasehold interest) encompassing approximately 7.7 million rentable square feet of office space, which were approximately 83.5% leased (or 86.2% giving effect to leases signed but not yet commenced as of that date). Seven of these properties are located in the midtown Manhattan market and encompass in the aggregate approximately 5.9 million rentable square feet of office space, including the Empire State Building. Its Manhattan office properties also contain an aggregate of 440,615 rentable square feet of retail space on their ground floor and/or lower levels. Its remaining five office properties are located in Fairfield County, Connecticut and Westchester County, New York, encompassing in the aggregate approximately 1.8 million rentable square feet.

The Company has entitled land at the Stamford Transportation Center in Stamford, Connecticut, adjacent to one of its office properties, that supports the development of an approximately 380,000 rentable square foot office building and garage, which refers to herein as Metro Tower. As of June 30, 2013, its portfolio also included four standalone retail properties located in Manhattan and two standalone retail properties located in the city center of Westport, Connecticut, encompassing 204,452 rentable square feet in the aggregate. As of June 30, 2013, its standalone retail properties were 100% leased in the aggregate. In addition, the Company has an option to acquire from affiliates of its predecessor two additional Manhattan office properties encompassing approximately 1.5 million rentable squar! e feet of office space and 153,209 rentable square feet of retail space at the base of the buildings.

The Empire State Building is the Company�� flagship property. The 102-story building consists of 2,701,938 rentable square feet of office space and 167,788 rentable square feet of retail space. The building also includes its observatory and broadcasting operations. The Company�� portfolio includes retail properties located in retail corridors in Manhattan and Westport, Connecticut. Tenants at 10 Union Square in Manhattan include Best Buy Mobile, Starbucks, A&P, Panera Bread, FedEx/Kinko��, Au Bon Pain, Chipotle Mexican Grill, and GameStop. In the greater New York metropolitan area, its portfolio includes high quality suburban office properties in densely populated metropolitan communities in Fairfield County, Connecticut and Westchester County, New York. tenants of the greater New York metropolitan area flagship Metro Center (at the Transportation Center in Stamford, Connecticut) include Thomson Reuters, Jefferies Group, Columbus Circle Investors, Torm Shipping, Olympus Partners, BP Energy, Tweedy, Browne Company and Susquehanna International.

The Company approximately has 242 million square feet of rentable space, which are contained within Midtown�� multi-tenant office buildings. Downtown Chicago and the Washington, D.C. CBD combine has a total of 230 million square feet of office space. Three-quarters 75.3% of Midtown�� office stock is classified as Class A with total square footage of 182 million square feet. The Company approximately has 43.9 million square feet of Midtown office space is counted as Class B stock, accounting for 18.2% of the total market. The remaining 6.5% of Midtown office space (15.8 million square feet) is categorized as Class C space. The Grand Central submarket is a office submarket in Midtown Manhattan with 44 million square feet and is located on the east side of Midtown Manhattan, to the north of Murray Hill and to the south of the Park ! Avenue co! rridor.

The West Side office submarket, located to the south and west of Central Park and including the area around Columbus Circle, consists of 25.8 million square feet of office space. Westchester County contains approximately 28.9 million square feet of office space and is split into six submarkets: White Plains CBD and non-CBD, Northern, Central, Eastern and Southern. The White Plains CBD is situated in south central Westchester County, along the Cross-Westchester Expressway (Interstate 287) corridor between the Sprain Brook Parkway and the Hutchinson River Parkway. The submarket consists of approximately 6.3 million square feet of office space and is defined to include the area south of Barker Avenue, north of Quinby Avenue, east of the Bronx River Parkway and west of South Broadway/Post Road. Westchester�� Eastern office submarket consists of 6.5 million square feet of space and is located to the east of White Plains, between New Rochelle and the Connecticut state border.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Reuters]

  John Moore/Getty Images NEW YORK -- Investors in the Empire State Building have filed a lawsuit accusing the real estate magnates who took it public of short-changing them $300 million by refusing to sell the iconic skyscraper at a premium price. According to a complaint filed Tuesday in a New York state court in Manhattan, Peter Malkin and his son Anthony put their own interests ahead of the building's investors by spurning all-cash offers of as much as $2.3 billion for the building and $1.4 billion for Empire State Building Associates, which held the title and master lease. Instead, the Malkins put the landmark building and 17 other properties into Empire State Realty Trust Inc., whose Oct. 1 IPO valued the property at just $1.89 billion and ESBA at just $1.1 billion, according to the complaint. The lawsuit by plaintiff Marc Postelnek seeks class-action status on behalf of more than 2,800 investors who hold shares in ESBA, which was created in 1961 and was supervised by a Malkin company, Malkin Holdings. It claimed the Malkins acted in bad faith by aborting a "bidding war" for the building, and instead enriched themselves by hundreds of millions of dollars through an IPO. "Given their positions of control and authority over the fate of the Empire State Building, the Malkins had a duty to act in the best interests of their investors," the plaintiffs' lawyer, John Rizio-Hamilton, a partner at Bernstein Litowitz Berger & Grossmann, representing Postelnek, told Reuters. "By failing to properly consider offers to maximize the building's value, the Malkins breached that duty." The lawsuit seeks to recover profit that building investors allegedly lost because of the Malkins' refusal to sell. Empire State Realty Trust, a real estate investment trust, is a successor to Malkin Holdings. "These claims are wholly without merit and we will respond to them in court," a spokeswoman for the REIT said Thursday. ESBA had been created by Lawrence Wien, the father

• [By Jonas Elmerraji]

   

   

  We're seeing a similar setup in shares of Empire State Realty Trust (ESRT), the $1.5 billion commercial landlord that counts Manhattan's Empire State Building among its 7.7 million leasable square feet of office space. ESRT is a relative newcomer to the public markets, trading for the first time back in October.

   

  But just like PEB, Empire State is forming an ascending triangle setup -- in this case, with the resistance level to watch at $15.50. In fact, that $15.50 level has acted like a ceiling for shares five times now since last December; each of those times, shares have gotten swatted lower. That means that a breakout above $15.50 is a materially significant buy trigger.

   

  When $15.50 does get taken out, I'd recommend keeping a protective stop at the 50-day moving average. That level has been a good proxy for ESRT's support line over the course of the whole pattern.

   

5 Best Small Cap Stocks To Buy Right Now: Rostelekom OAO (ROSYY)

Rostelecom is a telecommunications services provider and carrier of domestic long distance (DLD) and international long distance (ILD) traffic in the Russian Federation. The Company owns and operates a trunk telecommunications network and carries the bulk of Russia's long-distance and international traffic. The Company renders domestic and international long-distance telecommunications services to end users and provides traffic throughput services to Russian operators, including each of Russia's seven inter-regional companies (IRCs) and alternative operators. In addition, the Company provides telecommunications services to various government entities across Russia and ensures the operation of the ground-based network of television and radio broadcasting channels. In December 2008, through Westelcom, its wholly owned subsidiary, Rostelecom acquired an additional 15.2% interest in CJSC Incom (Incom). Subsequently Incom became a wholly owned subsidiary of the Company. In December 2008, it sold 10.87% interest in CJSC Expo-Telecom.

In February 2008, the Company sold its 10.97% interest in Golden Telecom. In March 2008, the Company sold its 10.30% interest in OJSC AVIANET. In July 2008, Rostelecom acquired a 68.42% interest in OJSC RTComm.RU (RTComm.RU). In September 2008, the Company sold its 15% interest in CJSC Transportation Digital Networks.

The Company has entered into service contracts with the IRCs and other operators of local and intra-regional networks to act as its regional agents. In this capacity, the Company�� agents bill end users, prepare, print and deliver invoices and collect payments from end users and perform customer service functions. Its trunk network, which transmits a Russia's domestic and international long-distance traffic, comprises approximately 150,000 kilometers of digital and analog lines.

The Company�� primary network consists of trunk cables linked to the IRCs networks and to its international exchanges for connections with for! eign operators, as well as a satellite communications network. As of December 31, 2008, the Company�� digital network comprised 49,987 kilometers, including 35,291 kilometers of fiber optic lines (FOLs) and 14,696 kilometers of digital radio-relay lines.

As of December 31, 2008, the Company owned 13 international exchanges, which allow for ILD traffic management, including four in Moscow, two in St. Petersburg (Lyuban) and one each in Rostov-on-Don, Samara, Ekaterinburg, Novosibirsk, Khabarovsk, Kaliningrad and Murmansk. The combined capacity of these switches was 235,500 channels. In addition, the Company had 15 transit and six multi-transit domestic long-distance exchanges interconnected to its telecommunications network for traffic transit that provide access to DLD services to local users. The domestic long-distance exchanges and their connecting digital channels constitute an integrated services digital network (ISDN) with channel switches, to which the networks of IRCs and alternative operators are connected. The trunk exchanges of Moscow and Pavlov Posad route domestic long-distance traffic between switching centers, as well as directly to and from end users.

As of December 31, 2008, the Company�� domestic long-distance trunk network consisted of 675,300 digital and 900 analog channels. Rostelecom provides domestic and international ISDN services through 76 trunk exchanges. The Company has an open network of multimedia communications. Connected to this network are subscriber units in 76 Russian regions and 13 retail outlets.

Rostelecom�� main satellite communications network is operated by 16 nodal land-based stations located in Russia. The Company also operates a second satellite communications network, Reserv, which comprises one central and one periphery land-based station. To enable its operation, it leases channels from OJSC Gazcom, which operates earth satellite vehicle Yamal-200. The Company rents domestic and international fixed satellite chan! nels from! FSUE Space Communications, CJSC SatComLine, CJSC SvyazContactInform, OJSC YamalTelecom and CJSC Zond Holding, which are Russian satellite telecommunications companies that operate satellites in the FSUE Space Communications and Intelsat systems.

The Company competes with TransTelecom, Synterra, FSUE Space Communications, TeliaSonera and Golden Telecom.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Halia Pavliva]

  The Bloomberg Russia-US gauge slipped 0.4 percent to 104.16, paring its advance this month to 7.7 percent. CTC Media Inc. (CTCM), the Nasdaq-listed Russian television company, rallied 2.6 percent to $12.86, the highest level since April 25. The stock has climbed 22 percent this month, making it the best performer on the Bloomberg-Russia gauge. VimpelCom is the second-biggest gainer on the index this month, followed by OAO Rostelecom (ROSYY), which has increased 17 percent after two months of declines.

Top 10 Diversified Bank Stocks To Watch Right Now: Panasonic Corporation(PC)

Panasonic Corporation develops, manufactures, and sells electronic products worldwide. The company offers video and audio equipment, and information and communications equipment; imaging equipment, such as flat-panel TVs and LCDs; digital AVC network equipment, including blu-ray disc recorders, digital cameras, and digital camcorders; business-use audiovisual (AV) equipment; notebook PCs; printers; security-related products comprising network cameras and POS system solutions; mobile phones; motors; car navigation systems, cameras, and digital terrestrial tuners. It also provides home appliances consisting of refrigerators, room air conditioners, washing machines and clothes dryers, and vacuum cleaners; and lighting and environmental systems, as well as components and devices for use in various products ranging from digital AV equipment, and information and communication devices to home appliances and industrial equipment; and offers electronic-parts-mounting machines, indu strial robots, and industrial equipment. In addition, the company provides solar photovoltaic systems and rechargeable batteries; electrical supplies, electric products, and building materials and equipment; personal care products, such as massage sofa, men?s shavers, hair dryers, and vibration toothbrushes; EV relays, and back and corner sensors; living station modular kitchen systems; home appliance- and communications-use relays and printed circuit board materials, and factory-automation -related products; and solar power generation systems and all-electric home design fixtures. It serves consumer, industrial and business corporations, governments, and other institutions, such as electric and electronic equipment manufacturers, automotive manufacturers, and various machinery makers. The company was formerly known as Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd. and changed its name to Panasonic Corporation in October 2008. Panasonic Corporation is founded in 1918 and is based in Kadoma-shi, Japan.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Kyle Woodley]

  The short, sucky answer? A lot:

  Plans for a ��igafactory��meant to produce millions of electric-car batteries ginned up excitement, but also raised eyebrows. The Wall Street Journal reported on skepticism in the space — including from heads at Volkswagen (VLKAY) and battery maker Highpower International (HPJ). Now, even planned investment partner Panasonic (PC) now sounds iffy on the project, with company Kazuhiro Tsuga saying “the investment risk is definitely larger.” Not good. There also was Tesla�� direct sales snafu. New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie huffed and puffed and (on March 11) successfully blew down Tesla�� direct sales model, with the Motor Vehicle Commission approving a measure to enforce an already-existing ban on direct sales. On the flip side, Tesla has scored victories in New York and Ohio in the past month, and is making progress in Arizona (which has a little incentive on the board). Production of the Model X has been pushed further back, to 2015. Musk’s reasons — mostly having to do with focusing on bolstering Model S sales — are valid, but that doesn�� really soften the blow of a longer wait for the much-anticipated addition to Tesla�� line. To address the issue of battery fires in the Model S, TSLA added titanium shields and aluminum deflector plates to new vehicles and offered to install them for free in all its existing cars. Tesla�� margins are excellent, and there�� no hard number on the cost impact of the fix, but titanium ain�� cheap. This definitely isn�� going to add to Tesla�� bottom line. What Now?

  I won�� belabor you with my bullish position on TSLA stock, but if you want, you can see it here. In short, Musk is a genius; Tesla products are quality and appeal to (and are priced for) the all-important luxury segment; and just given size and scale, TSLA has oh-so-much room to grow.

Top 10 Diversified Bank Stocks To Watch Right Now: Pembina Pipeline Corp (PBA)

Pembina Pipeline Corporation (Pembina) is a Calgary-based company, engaged in providing transportation and midstream services. It owns and operates: pipelines that transport conventional and synthetic crude oil and natural gas liquids produced in western Canada; oil sands, heavy oil and diluent pipelines; gas gathering and processing facilities; and, an oil and natural gas liquids infrastructure and logistics business. It has facilities located in western Canada and in natural gas liquids markets in eastern Canada and the United States. Pembina also offers a spectrum of midstream and marketing services. Pembina�� Midstream business is organized into two segments: crude oil and NGL. The crude oil segment represents the Company�� midstream operations. The NGL segment includes two operating systems: Redwater West and Empress East. Pembina's Conventional Pipelines business consists of a pipeline network, located 7,850 kilometers, that extends across much of Alberta and British Columbia. Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Rich Duprey]

  Midstream operator�Pembina Pipeline� (NYSE: PBA  ) �announced yesterday its monthly dividend for May of $0.135 per share,�which is designated an "eligible dividend" for Canadian income tax purposes. For non-resident shareholders, Pembina's dividends are considered "qualified dividends" and are subject to Canadian withholding tax.

• [By Vanin Aegea]

  Two companies that have been around for some time now are Imperial Oil (IMO) and Pembina Pipeline (PBA). Political instability in the Middle East has also given an extra relevance to the reserves found at this region, so let us see what the future holds and what gurus think of them.

• [By Rich Duprey]

  Midstream operator Pembina Pipeline (NYSE: PBA  ) announced yesterday its monthly dividend for July, of $0.135 per share, which is designated an "eligible dividend" for Canadian income tax purposes. For non-resident shareholders, Pembina's dividends are considered "qualified dividends," subject to Canada's withholding tax.

Top 10 Diversified Bank Stocks To Watch Right Now: Scholastic Corporation(SCHL)

Scholastic Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, operates as a children?s publishing, education, and media company primarily in the United States. The company?s Children?s Book Publishing and Distribution segment publishes and distributes children?s books through school-based book clubs and book fairs, ecommerce, and the trade channel in the United States. Its Educational Publishing segment publishes and distributes educational technology products and services, curriculum materials, children?s books and collections, classroom magazines, and print and online reference and non-fiction products for grades pre-K to 12 to schools and libraries in the United States. The company?s Media, Licensing, and Advertising segment creates and produces programming and digital content for various platforms, including television, DVDs, audio, movies, interactive games, applications, and Websites. This segment produces and sells a television library consisting of approximately 50 0 half-hour productions; produces television programming, including the animated series; creates audiovisual adaptations of classic children?s picture books; produces young adult and children?s audio recordings; and creates original and licensed consumer software, including handheld and console products with accessories and mobile applications for grades pre-K to 8. This segment also develops sponsored educational materials and supplementary classroom programs in partnership with government agencies, nonprofit organizations, and business organizations; and operates a direct-to-home catalog business specializing in children?s toys. Its International segment publishes and distributes products and services in Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Ireland, India, China, Singapore, and other parts of Asia, as well as includes its export and foreign rights businesses. Scholastic Corporation was founded in 1920 and is headquartered in New York, New York.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Jon C. Ogg]

  Teradyne will replace Scholastic Corp. (NASDAQ: SCHL) in the S&P MidCap 400, and Scholastic will replace Lincoln Education Services Corp. (NASDAQ: LINC) in the S&P SmallCap 600. Lincoln Education Services currently ranks 600th in the S&P SmallCap 600 and is no longer representative of the small cap market space.

• [By Dividends4Life]

  Scholastic Corporation (SCHL) operates as a children�� publishing, education, and media company in the United States and internationally. Sept. 18, the company increased its dividend 20% to $0.15 per share. The dividend is payable Dec. 16, 2013 to all shareholders of record as of the close of business on Oct. 31, 2013. The yield based on the new payout is 2.0%.

• [By Roberto Pedone]

  Another potential earnings short-squeeze trade idea is children'�s publishing, education, and media company Scholastic (SCHL), which is set to release its numbers on Thursday before the market open. Wall Street analysts, on average, expect Scholastic to report revenue $299.70 million on a loss of 68 cents per share.

  The current short interest as a percentage of the float for Scholastic is very high at 13.3%. That means that out of the 27.7 million shares in the tradable float, 3.41 million shares are sold short by the bears. The bears have also been increasing their bets from the last reporting period by 12.9%, or by about 388,000 shares. If the bears get caught pressing their bets into a strong quarter, then shares of SCHL could rip sharply higher post-earnings as the bears rush to cover some of their short bets.

  From a technical perspective, SCHL is currently trending above its 200-day moving average and just below its 50-day moving average, which is neutral trendwise. This stock has been trending sideways for the last two months, with shares moving between $28.68 on the downside and $31.44 on the upside. Any high-volume move above the upper-end of its recent range could trigger a near-term breakout trade for shares of SCHL post-earnings.

  If you're in the bull camp on SCHL, then I would wait until after its report and look for long-biased trades if this manages to break out above its 50-day moving average at $30.43 a share and then once it takes out more resistance at $31.44 a share high volume. Look for volume on that move that hits near or above its three-month average action of 170,081 shares. If that breakout hits, then SCHL will set up to re-test or possibly take out its next major overhead resistance levels at $33 to its 52-week high at $34.55 a share. Any high-volume move above those levels will then give SCHL a chance to tag $40 a share.

  I would simply avoid SCHL or look for short-biased trades if after earnings it fail

• [By Mark Lin]

  What implications does this have for Amazon and peers such as Barnes & Noble (NYSE: BKS  ) and Scholastic Corporation (NASDAQ: SCHL  ) ?

Top 10 Diversified Bank Stocks To Watch Right Now: Commercial Metals Co (CMC)

Commercial Metals Company, incorporated on August 29, 1946, and its subsidiaries manufacture, recycle and market steel and metal products, related materials and services through a network, including steel mini mills, steel fabrication and processing plants, construction-related product warehouses, a copper tube mini mill, metal recycling facilities and marketing and distribution in the United States and in international markets. The Company Americas Division operates utilizing three segments: Americas Recycling, Americas Mills and Americas Fabrication. The Company�� International Division operates utilizing two segments: International Mill and International Marketing and Distribution, which includes all marketing and distribution operations located outside the United States, as well as two United States-based trading and distribution divisions, CMC Cometals, located in Fort Lee, New Jersey and CMC Cometals-Steel, located in Irving, Texas. In October 2013, Commercial Metals Company completed the sale of Howell Metal Company, to Mueller Copper Tube Products, Inc., a subsidiary of Mueller Industries, Inc.

Americas Recycling

The Americas Recycling segment processes scrap metals for use as a raw material by manufacturers of new metal products. This segment operates 33 scrap metal processing facilities with 16 locations in Texas, eight in Florida, two locations in Missouri and one location in each of Arkansas, Georgia, Kansas, Louisiana, North Carolina, Oklahoma and Tennessee. The Company purchases ferrous and nonferrous scrap metals, processed and unprocessed, from a range of sources in a range of forms for its metals recycling plants. Sources of metal for recycling include manufacturing and industrial plants, metal fabrication plants, electric utilities, machine shops, factories, railroads, refineries, shipyards, ordinance depots, demolition businesses, automobile salvage firms and wrecking firms.

The Company's scrap metal recycling plants typically consist of an o! ffice and warehouse building equipped with specialized equipment for processing both ferrous and nonferrous metal located on several acres of land that the Company uses for receiving, sorting, processing and storing metals. Several of the Company's scrap metal recycling plants use a small portion of their site or a nearby location to display and sell metal products that may be reused for their original purpose without further processing. Americas Recycling operates five shredding machines, three in Texas, one in Florida, and one in Oklahoma capable of pulverizing obsolete automobiles or other sources of scrap metal. The Company sells scrap metals to steel mills and foundries , aluminum sheets and ingot manufacturers, brass and bronze ingot makers, copper refineries and mills, secondary lead smelters, specialty steel mills, high temperature alloy manufacturers and other consumers.

Americas Mills

The Americas Mills segment includes the Company's domestic steel mills, including scrap metal shredders and processing facilities that directly support these mills and the domestic copper tube minimill. The Company conducts its Americas Mills operations through a network, which includes five steel mills, commonly referred to as minimills, that produce one or more of reinforcing bar, angles, flats, rounds, small beams, fence-post sections and other shapes; two scrap metal shredders and processing facilities that directly support the steel minimills, and The Company operates five steel minimills, which are located in Texas, Alabama, South Carolina, Arizona and Arkansas.

The Company's Texas minimill manufactures a line of bar size products, including reinforcing bar, angles, rounds, channels, flats, and special sections used primarily in building highways, reinforcing concrete structures and manufacturing. It sells primarily to the construction, service center, energy, petrochemical, and original equipment manufacturing industries. The Company's South Carolina minimill manufac! tures a l! ine of bar size products, which primarily includes steel reinforcing bar. The minimill also manufactures angles, rounds, squares, fence post sections and flats. The South Carolina minimill ships its products to customers located in the Southeast and mid-Atlantic regions, which include the states from Florida through southern New England.

Americas Fabrication

The Americas Fabrication segment consists of the Company's rebar fabrication operations, fence post manufacturing plants and construction-related and other product facilities. The Company conducts its Americas Fabrication operations through a network include steel plants that bend, cut, weld and fabricate steel, primarily reinforcing bar; warehouses that sell or rent products for the installation of concrete; plants that produce steel fence posts, and plants that heat-treat steel to strengthen and provide flexibility. The Company's Americas Fabrication segment operates 49 facilities that the Company considers to be engaged in the various aspects of steel fabrication.

The Company conducts steel fabrication activities in 16 locations in Texas, five each in California and South Carolina, three in Florida, two each in Arkansas, Colorado, Illinois, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, and Virginia, and one each in Arizona, Georgia, Nevada, New Mexico, Tennessee and Utah. Fabricated steel products are used primarily in the construction of commercial and non-commercial buildings, hospitals, convention centers, industrial plants, power plants, highways, bridges, arenas, stadiums, and dams. Generally, the Company sells fabricated steel in response to a bid solicitation from a construction contractor or the project owner. The Company sells and rent construction related products and equipment to concrete installers and other construction businesses.

The Company has 23 locations in Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Oklahoma, where the Company store and sell these products which, with the exception of a s! mall port! ion of steel products, are purchased from third-party suppliers. The Company operates plants in Chicora, Pennsylvania, Struthers, Ohio and Pell City, Alabama which manufactures armor plate for military vehicles, high strength bar for the truck trailer industry and special bar quality steel for the energy market.

International Mill

The Company's International Mill segment includes the Company's minimill and recycling operations in Poland and its fabrication operations. The Company's subsidiary, CMC Zawiercie S.A. (CMCZ), owns a steel minimill and conducts its operations at Zawiercie, Poland. CMCZ, along with the Company's international recycling and fabrication operations, constitute the International Mill segment. CMCZ operates equipment similar to the Company's domestic steel minimills. The Company operates three rolling mills, one wire-rod mill and two bar mills including a specialty rod finishing mill. In addition, the Company operates a fabrication facility in Dabrowa Gornicza, Poland, that produces welded steel mesh, cold rolled wire rod and cold rolled reinforcing bar.

International Marketing and Distribution

International Marketing and Distribution includes international operations for the sales, distribution and processing of steel products, ferrous and nonferrous metals and other industrial products. In addition, the Company's International Marketing and Distribution segment includes the Company's United States based trading and distribution divisions, CMC Cometals and CMC Cometals Steel. The Company's International Marketing and Distribution business buys and sells primary and secondary metals, fabricated metals, semi-finished, long, flat steel products and other industrial products. The Company sells its products to customers, primarily manufacturers, in the steel, nonferrous metals, metal fabrication, chemical, refractory, construction and transportation businesses. This segment also operates a recycling facility in Singapore.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Ben Levisohn]

  Then the upgrades started coming, and shares of U.S. Steel started to run. Its shares have returned 44% during the past three months, outpacing Commercial Metals Company’s (CMC) 21% gain, Steel Dynamics (STLD) 18% rise, and Nucor’s (NUE) 9.7% advance .

• [By Monica Gerson]

  Commercial Metals Company (NYSE: CMC) is estimated to report its Q3 earnings at $0.29 per share on revenue of $1.85 billion.

  Finish Line (NASDAQ: FINL) is projected to report its Q1 earnings at $0.21 per share on revenue of $394.47 million.

• [By Ben Levisohn]

  We are downgrading shares of [Commercial Metals (CMC) and�Steel Dynamics] to HOLD from BUY based on valuation and what we see as heightened near-term EPS expectations…

Top 10 Diversified Bank Stocks To Watch Right Now: FARO Technologies Inc.(FARO)

FARO Technologies, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, designs, develops, manufactures, markets, and supports software-based three-dimensional measurement and imaging systems for manufacturing, industrial, building construction, and forensic applications. The company?s articulated electromechanical measuring devices include FaroArm, a combination of six or seven-axis, instrumented articulated measurement arm, a computer, and CAM2 software programs; FARO Laser ScanArm, a FaroArm equipped with a combination of a hard probe and non-contact line laser probe to measure products without touching them and offers a seven-axis contact/non-contact measurement device with an integrated laser scanner; and FARO Gage, an accuracy version of the FaroArm product. Its laser-based measuring devices comprise FARO Laser Tracker ION that combines a laser measurement tool, a computer, and CAM2 software programs; FARO Focus3D to measure and collect data points; and FARO 3D Imager AMP, a non-c ontact 3D Imager capable of collecting millions of points to generate infinitely-focused fringe patterns. The company also provides CAM2 Software, a proprietary CAD-based measurement and statistical process control software comprising CAM2 Q, CAM2 Measure X, Soft Check Tool, FARO Gage Software, and FARO Focus3D Software. In addition, it offers extended warranties, as well as support, training, and technology consulting services. The company sells its products through direct sales and distributors. It serves the automobile, aerospace, and heavy equipment markets, as well as law enforcement agencies in the Americas, Europe, Africa, and the Asia Pacific. FARO Technologies, Inc. was founded in 1981 and is headquartered in Lake Mary, Florida.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Alex Planes]

  What: Shares of FARO Technologies (NASDAQ: FARO  ) are down over 11% today after the company reported underwhelming earnings for the fiscal first quarter.

• [By John Udovich]

  Yesterday, shares of small cap 3D stock FARO Technologies, Inc (NASDAQ: FARO) fell 4.77% to $40.54 after Needham & Company downgraded the stock from Buy to Hold and said that a recovery appears priced into the stock already���meaning it might be time to take a closer look at the stock and whether it still offers something to existing or new investors.

Top 10 Diversified Bank Stocks To Watch Right Now: CNH Global N.V. (CNH)

CNH Global N.V. manufactures, markets, and distributes a line of agricultural and construction equipment and parts worldwide. It operates in three segments: Agricultural Equipment, Construction Equipment, and Financial Services. The Agricultural Equipment segment provides tractors, combine harvesters, hay and forage equipment, seeding and planting equipment, tillage equipment, and sprayers, as well as cotton picker packagers, and sugar cane and grape harvesters primarily under the Case IH and New Holland brands. The Construction Equipment segment offers heavy construction equipment, such as crawler and wheeled excavators, wheel loaders, graders, dozers, and articulated haul trucks; and light construction equipment, including backhoe loaders, skid steer and tracked loaders, mini and midi excavators, compact wheel loaders, and telehandlers primarily under the Case and New Holland Construction brands. This segment serves construction companies, municipalities, local governmen ts, rental fleet owners, quarrying and aggregate mining companies, waste management companies, forestry-related concerns, contractors, residential builders, utilities, road construction companies, landscapers, logistics companies, and farmers. The Financial Services segment provides financial products and services, including retail financing for the purchase or lease of the company�s and other manufacturers� new and used products; and facilitates the sale of insurance products and other financing programs to retail customers. This segment also offers wholesale financing to its dealers and rental equipment operators, as well as financing options to dealers to finance working capital, real estate, and other fixed assets and maintenance equipment. CNH Global N.V. sells and distributes its products through dealers and distributors in approximately 170 countries. The company was founded in 1991 and is based in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. CNH Global N.V. is a subsidiary of Fiat Netherlands Holding N.V.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Dan Caplinger]

  Kubota isn't the only company aggressively challenging Deere. AGCO (NYSE: AGCO  ) has made aggressive expansion efforts in Africa, working with specialty agricultural lender Rabobank to try to help farmers on the continent buy more farming equipment. Moreover, both AGCO and CNH Global (NYSE: CNH  ) have made emerging markets like Latin America a high priority, reaping benefits from the more rapidly expanding economies among Latin American nations. Deere has targeted Latin America as well, but it hasn't been as aggressive with its international efforts as its peers. Deere's stock price has reflected its lack of initiative in expanding globally:

• [By Mike the PhD]

  Historically the stock prices of Deere (DE) and other agricultural equipment firms and retailers like Case-New Holland (CNH), Titan Machinery (TITN), AGCO (AGCO), Tractor Supply (TSCO), Valmont (VAL), and Lindsay (LNN) have tended to closely track the price of corn. When corn prices go up, farmers tend to make more money, and they spend that money on new equipment from Deere and other firms. This relationship is especially strong for Deere and Corn, but it holds true for all of the stocks above to some extent. (Correlation coefficients between all of the stock prices above and corn are statistically significant to at least the 5% level, see my blog here for more details.)

• [By vaninaegea]

  In august, the Association of Equipment Manufacturers (AEM) published the mid-year review for the agricultural sector. Their findings point to a slowdown for the industry, highlighting a 9.5% decline on exports through the first half of 2013. Also, late soybean planting in the USA is expected to compound the industry�� slowdown. So, what are the prospects for AGCO (AGCO), CNH Global (CNH), and Deere & Co. (DE) under such conditions?

Top 10 Diversified Bank Stocks To Watch Right Now: Real Goods Solar Inc (RGSE)

Real Goods Solar, Inc., incorporated on January 29, 2008, is a solar energy company. The Company serves commercial, residential, and utility customers. The Company provides a solar solution, from design, financing, permitting and installation to ongoing monitoring, maintenance and support. The Company offers free home solar quotes, as well as solar system financing, design, engineering, permitting, installation, rebate acquisition, maintenance, and monitoring. Effective May 14, 2014, the Company acquired Elemental Energy LLC, doing business as Sunetric.

The Company�� solar power installation services are available in California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Massachusetts, Missouri, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, and Vermont. The Company's customers include homeowners, small to large businesses and corporations, universities and schools, and government agencies, such as Aetna Insurance, Stop & Shop, Timex, St. Louis Housing Authority, and Yale University.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Anna Prior]

  Real Goods Solar Inc.(RGSE) said it has agreed to raise about $7 million in a private placement financing transaction. Under the terms of the agreement, RGS will issue units consisting of an aggregate of about 2.9 million shares of its Class A common stock and warrants to purchase up to 1.31 million additional shares, at a price of $2.40 a unit. Shares fell 9.7% to $2.62 premarket.