Barclays’ Venu Krishna and Elias Krauklis have come up with a list of 11 small and mid-sized companies that have improving fundamentals and solid risk/reward characteristics, including Buffalo Wild Wings (BWLD), Terex (TEX) and Eclipse Resources (ECR).
Kirshna and Krauklis explain how they made their selections:
…we continue to see a greater focus on improving fundamentals (top line acceleration and margin/multiple expansion) gained through acquisitions and divestitures. Again, the companies in this edition�� Selections are placing more of an emphasis on redeploying capital via investments in technology instead of share buybacks and dividends…
Our Small & Mid Cap Selections of 11 stocks offer a median upside potential of 35%: The median upside case is 66.4% while the median downside case is -11.2%….
Top Gas Utility Stocks To Buy For 2015: Thomson Reuters Corp(TRI)
Thomson Reuters Corporation provides intelligent information for businesses and professionals worldwide. The company allows market participants to connect, access content, and trade in a secure environment through Thomson Reuters Eikon desktop, Thomson Reuters Elektron network, content integration and management technology, content feeds and databases, and transactions infrastructure solutions that support buy- and sell-side customers to trade in foreign exchange, fixed income and derivatives, equities, exchange-traded instruments, and commodities and energy markets. It also offers information, analytics, workflow, and technology solutions to buy-side and off-trading floor customers; access to liquidity in over-the-counter markets, trade execution, and connections for market participants and financial professionals? communities; and a suite of solutions offering informed outcomes to regulated industries and law firms. In addition, the company provides critical information , decision support tools, and software and services to legal, investigation, business, and government professionals; integrated tax compliance and accounting software and services for accounting and law firms, corporations, and government professionals; intellectual property and scientific resources that enable its customers to discover, develop, and deliver innovations; and data analytics, and performance benchmarking solutions and services to healthcare sector. Further, it offers coverage of global, regional, and national news in 20 languages covering politics, business, finance, entertainment, lifestyle, technology, health, science, and sports; and engages in advertising-supported direct-to-consumer publishing activities of Reuters.com and its network of Websites, mobile applications, and electronic out-of-home displays. The company was formerly known as The Thomson Corporation and changed its name to Thomson Reuters Corporation in April 2008. The company is headquartered in New York, New York.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Monica Wolfe]
Thomson Reuters (TRI)
On Feb. 11, Thomson Reuters declared a dividend of $0.330 per share, representing 3.80% dividend yield for the company. This dividend is payable on March 17 to shareholders of the record at the close of business on Feb. 24, 2014.
Top 5 Media Companies To Invest In Right Now: Time Warner Inc.(TWX)
Time Warner Inc. operates as a media and entertainment company in the United States and internationally. It operates in three segments: Networks, Filmed Entertainment, and Publishing. The Networks segment provides domestic and international networks, premium pay and basic tier television programming services, and digital media properties, which primarily consist of brand-aligned Websites. Its premium pay television services consist of the multi-channel HBO and Cinemax premium pay television services. This segment provides programming to cable system operators, satellite service distributors, telephone companies, and other distributors; sells advertising; and licenses original programming to domestic and international television networks. The Filmed Entertainment segment produces and distributes feature films, television and other programming, and videogames; distributes home video products; and licenses rights to its feature films, television programming, and characters. T he Publishing segment publishes magazines and books; and operates various Websites, as well as engages in marketing services and direct-marketing businesses. This segment publishes magazines on style and entertainment, lifestyle, news, and sports. The company?s brands include TNT, TBS, CNN, HBO, Cinemax, Warner Bros., New Line Cinema, People, Sports Illustrated, and Time. Time Warner Inc. was founded in 1985 and is headquartered in New York, New York.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By WWW.DAILYFINANCE.COM]
Evan Agostini, Invision/APCBS president and CEO Leslie Moonves ranked No. 2 on a list of highest paid CEOs. LOS ANGELES -- Once again, media company CEOs are among the highest paid executives in the nation, occupying six of the top 10 earning spots, according to an Associated Press/Equilar study. Compensation experts say a variety of factors are at play, including the gain in media stocks, the intangible value of talent in a hit-or-miss business, the control of shareholder power in very few hands, and the decline of the financial sector. Stock Outperformers Outsized stock growth boosts the value of stock and option grants. Media companies' shares have rebounded strongly since the 2008 recession, mainly because advertising spending grows in tandem with a growing economy. That means higher-priced ads and higher-priced execs. Stocks of the six media companies on the list all outperformed the Standard & Poor's 500 index (^GPSC), which grew 128 percent in the five years through December 2013, according to FactSet. CBS (CBS) shares grew a whopping 699 percent in that period; Discovery Communications (DISCA) went up 539 percent; Viacom (VIA) rose 377 percent; Walt Disney (DIS) rose 250 percent; Time Warner (TWX) climbed 259 percent and Comcast (CMCSA) grew 223 percent. "If shareholders are happy they don't care how much a person makes," said Paul Dorf, managing director of consulting firm Compensation Resources. "When they complain most is when the market doesn't do well and their stock is going down the tubes." Talent Quotient Making it big in media means generating hits. And while top executives may not be hands-on with every decision, they are where the buck stops. Take Disney's animated blockbuster "Frozen," which grossed $1.2 billion at box offices worldwide. While Disney CEO Bob Iger didn't make the movie, he did orchestrate Disney's $7.4 billion acquisition of Pixar in 2006, which brought in talented executives to help reform Disney's faltering a
- [By WALLSTCHEATSHEET]
Time Warner provides media and entertainment through a variety of mediums to consumers and businesses all around the world. The stock has tripled its prices in the last four years but is currently trading near a multi-year selling price level. Earnings have been increasing while revenue has decreased over the last four quarters which has kept investors happy. Relative to its strong peers and sector, Time Warner has been an average year-to-date performer. Look for Time Warner to OUTPERFORM.
Top 5 Media Companies To Invest In Right Now: Comcast Corporation(CMCSA)
Comcast Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, provides entertainment, information, and communications products and services in the United States and internationally. Its Cable Communications segment provides video, high-speed Internet, and phone services to residential and business customers. As of June 30, 2011, its cable systems served approximately 22.5 million video customers, 17.5 million high-speed Internet customers, and 9.1 million phone customers. The company?s Cable Networks segment operates cable entertainment networks, such as USA Network, Syfy, E!, Bravo, Oxygen, Style, G4, Chiller, Sleuth, and Universal HD; news and information networks, including CNBC, MSNBC, and CNBC World; cable sports networks comprising Golf Channel and VERSUS; regional sports and news networks; international entertainment, and news and information networks, such as CNBC Europe, CNBC Asia, and Universal Networks International portfolio of networks; cable television production oper ations; and digital media properties consisting primarily of brand-aligned Websites and other Websites, such as DailyCandy, Fandango, and iVillage. Its Broadcast Television segment operates the U.S. broadcast networks, NBC and Telemundo; 10 NBC and 15 Telemundo owned local television stations; broadcast television productions; and related digital media properties. The company?s Filmed Entertainment segment operates Universal Pictures, which produces, acquires, markets, and distributes filmed entertainment and stage plays worldwide in various media formats for theatrical, home entertainment, television, and other distribution platforms. Its Theme Parks segment operates Universal Studios Hollywood park and Wet ?n Wild water park, as well as licenses intellectual properties and provides services to third parties that own and operate Universal Studios Japan and Universal Studios Singapore. Comcast Corporation was founded in 1963 and is based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Reuters]
Cassandra Hubbart, AOL NEW YORK -- Hulu has failed to persuade a federal judge to dismiss a lawsuit accusing the video streaming service of illegally sharing users' viewing history with Facebook (FB) and business metrics company ComScore (SCOR) U.S. Magistrate Judge Laurel Beeler in San Francisco on Friday rejected Hulu's argument that viewers needed to show actual injury to recover damages, even if they qualified as "aggrieved" persons under a 1988 federal law protecting the privacy of video renters. That law, the Video Privacy Protection Act, was adopted after a newspaper in 1987 published an article about movies that the Supreme Court nominee Robert Bork had rented. Hulu had argued that the law "was not adopted to impose multibillion dollar liability on the transmission of anonymous data where no one suffers any actual injury." Beeler, however, concluded that "the statute requires only injury in the form of a wrongful disclosure" before damages might be available. She didn't rule on the merits of the case. Hulu is a joint venture owned by Comcast's (CMCSA) NBCUniversal, 21st Century Fox's (FOX) Fox Broadcasting, and Walt Disney's (DIS) ABC. Chief Executive Officer Mike Hopkins on Dec. 18 said Hulu will post $1 billion of revenue in 2013, up from $695 million in 2012. The lawsuit seeks class-action status on behalf of Hulu users nationwide. It was brought by several people in California, Illinois and New York seeking damages of at least $2,500 per violation, plus punitive damages and other sums. These plaintiffs claimed that Hulu let third parties engaged in marketing, advertising, and social networking track their video choices without permission. They claimed that Hulu sent such information to Scorecard Research, a comScore market research unit, and sent "Facebook IDs that linked their video choices to personally identifiable Facebook registration information." Hulu didn't immediately respond on Monday to a request for comment. Its lawyer Robert
- [By David Dittman]
And so will be the proposed $45.2 billion engagement of Comcast Corp (NSDQ: CMCSA) and Time Warner Cable Inc (NYSE: TWC) before they can be joined as one.
- [By Tim Brugger]
A dose of reality
Along with airlines, the cable industry consistently ranks among the worst for customer service, year in, year out. The animosity consumers feel toward the cable industry is across the board -- Time Warner Cable finds itself on most of these lists, along with competitors including Comcast (NASDAQ: CMCSA ) and Charter Communications (NASDAQ: CHTR ) . Both Comcast and Charter have the distinction of owning even lower customer service ratings than Time Warner Cable, and that's saying something. - [By Eric Volkman]
Getty Images He might be a humble yellow cleaning accessory, but one Hollywood studio expects to extract big silver-screen profits from SpongeBob SquarePants. The upcoming feature-film sequel "SpongeBob SquarePants 2" will be the first effort from Viacom's (VIA) (VIAB) Paramount Animation unit. The division's debut movie will feature an unusual slant -- it will be a relatively rare blend of animation and live action. Drawing Its Own Future Viacom has been at this for a while. It launched Paramount Animation in mid-2011, on the back of its go-it-alone success "Rango" (which was branded under the umbrella Paramount name). The out-there Western was not only a box office hit, raking in $246 million in global ticket sales against an estimated production budget of $135 million. It also collected an Oscar for Best Animated Feature. The following year, the studio's distribution deal with DreamWorks Animation (DWA) expired, leaving it without a steady flow of cartoon titles. Bringing animation in-house was a natural move to stay in the game. But apparently not an easy one. Less than six months after being born, Paramount Animation lost its top executive when the division's president, David Stainton, resigned for "personal reasons." Still, the company was clearly determined to push ahead, and development of the "SpongeBob" sequel rolled along. Cleaning Up at the Box Office Mr. SquarePants is an obvious choice for a debut. Paramount Animation doesn't have to worry about pricey licensing fees, because parent Viacom already holds the rights. SpongeBob has been a longtime staple of the company's Nickelodeon TV network, where it's one of the highest-rated kid shows on basic cable. And Paramount knows the franchise can succeed on the big screen. "The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie" (like "Rango," made under the Paramount name) sold more than $140 million worth of tickets worldwide during its 2004 theatrical release -- nearly five times its estimated production budget. I
Top 5 Media Companies To Invest In Right Now: Charter Communications Inc.(CHTR)
Charter Communications, Inc., through its subsidiaries, provides entertainment, information, and communications solutions to residential and commercial customers in the United States. The company offers cable video programming services, such as basic and digital video, premium channels, OnDemand, pay-per-view, high definition television, digital video recorder, and online video services; Internet services; Charter.net, which provides multiple e-mail addresses, as well as various entertainment, games, news, and sports content; and telephone services. It also provides broadband communications solutions, such as Internet access, data networking, fiber connectivity to cellular towers and office buildings, video entertainment services, and business telephone services under the Charter Business brand name to business and carrier organizations. As of December 31, 2011, the company served approximately 4.1 million video customers; approximately 3.5 million Internet customers; appr oximately 1.7 million telephone customers; and approximately 476,200 commercial primary service units. Charter Communications, Inc. was founded in 1999 and is based in St. Louis, Missouri.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Michael Lewis]
In case you haven't noticed, there are some serious consolidation efforts going around the cable and telecom industries. On one end, there are satellite TV providers chasing spectrum as if it's the gold rush of 1849. Now, it appears that Time Warner Cable (NYSE: TWC ) may be courting Liberty Media (NASDAQ: LMCA ) for a merger in an attempt to leverage Charter Communications' (NASDAQ: CHTR ) �highly coveted network. Let's determine who is the biggest winner in this latest media M&A dance, and where you should be putting your funds.
- [By Will Ashworth]
If other cable companies — like Charter Communications (CHTR), Cablevision (CVC) and Cox Communications — decide to merge in order to keep pace with Comcast, content providers could be under the gun once more.
- [By Jayson Derrick]
Analysts at Barclays maintained an Equal-weight rating on Charter Communications (NASDAQ: CHTR) with a price target lowered to $127 from a previous $133. Separately, analysts at Northland Securities upgraded shares to Outperform from Market Perform with a $146 price target. Shares gained 0.16 percent, closing at $126.84.
- [By Jon C. Ogg]
What 24/7 Wall St. wanted to do was evaluate this based upon past coverage and future pricing. The latest report of merit was that Comcast Corp. (NASDAQ: CMCSA) would make a joint offer with Charter Communications, Inc. (NASDAQ: CHTR) to acquire Time Warner Cable. The question was, is, and likely will remain in place… At what price?
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