Despite�a slow global economy and continued high unemployment in many countries, small cap payday or pawn stocks Cash Store Financial Services Inc (NYSE: CSFS), DFC Global Corp (NASDAQ: DLLR) and Cash America International, Inc (NYSE: CSH) have not exactly been performing well since the start of the year. In fact, these three stocks are the worst performers in the payday or pawn loan sector, down 38.5%, down 14.4% and up 4.6%, respectively, since the start of the year.
That might come as a surprise given the proliferation of payday or pawn loan store fronts throughout the US, but I should also mention that the Cash Store Financial Services is focused on the Canadian and UK markets, DFC Global Corp has a global presence and Cash America International is focused on the US and Mexican markets. Moreover, there have long been concerns about payday or pawn loan types of lenders ��busing��the poor with the latest indirect bad news for the industry coming yesterday with the news that New York's attorney general is suing three online lenders on allegations�they charged interest rates to low-income New Yorkers that were more than 10 times higher than state law allows.
Best Small Cap Companies To Buy For 2015: EZchip Semiconductor Limited(EZCH)
EZchip, a fabless semiconductor company, engages in the development and marketing of Ethernet network processors for networking equipment. Its products include network processor chips, evaluation boards and network-processor based systems, and development software toolkits. The company offers network processors for use in forming the silicon core of networking equipment, such as switches and routers; and for voice, video and data integration in various applications. Its network processors are single-chip solutions, which enable its customers to design multi-port line cards, such as processing and classification engines, traffic managers, media access controllers, as well as a range of specialized hardware blocks that accelerate various functions. The company offers Evaluation systems which enable customers to test NPU-based systems; and toolkits that assist customers in creating, verifying, and implementing solutions based on its network processors. It provides a library f eaturing data plane code for a range of applications, which include Metro Ethernet protocols, Multi-Protocol Label Switching, IPv4 and IPv6 routing, Access Control Lists, GPON/EPON OLT functionality, Network Address Translation, and Server Load Balancing. The company sells its products directly, and through contract manufacturers and distributors to network equipment vendors. It markets its products in Israel, China, Hong Kong, the Far East, Canada, the United States, and Europe. The company was formerly known as LanOptics Ltd. and changed its name to EZchip Semiconductor Ltd. in July 2008. EZchip Semiconductor Ltd. was founded in 1989 and is based in Yokneam, Israel.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Evan Niu, CFA]
What: Shares of EZchip (NASDAQ: EZCH ) have jumped today by as much as 13% after the company reported first-quarter earnings.
So what: Revenue in the first quarter totaled $15.3 million, topping the Street's forecast of $15.1 million. Non-GAAP net income per share came in at $0.23, which was right on target with expectations.
- [By Jake L'Ecuyer]
EZchip Semiconductor (NASDAQ: EZCH) was also up, gaining 7.16 percent to $24.11 after a Cisco (NASDAQ: CSCO) announced a new product that would not threaten the company as previously thought. Equities Trading DOWN
Shares of Cypress Semiconductor (NASDAQ: CY) were down 16.05 percent to $9.91 after the company lowered its Q3 forecast.
Best Small Cap Companies To Buy For 2015: Texas Instruments Incorporated(TXN)
Texas Instruments Incorporated engages in the design and sale of semiconductors to electronics designers and manufacturers worldwide. The company?s Analog segment offers high-performance analog products comprising standard analog semiconductors, such as amplifiers, data converters, and interface semiconductors; high-volume analog and logic products; and power management semiconductors and line-powered systems. Its Embedded Processing segment includes DSPs that perform mathematical computations to process and enhance digital data; and microcontrollers, which are designed to control a set of specific tasks for electronic equipment. The company?s Wireless segment designs, manufactures, and sells application processors and connectivity products. Its Other segment offers smaller semiconductor products, which include DLP products that are primarily used in projectors to create high-definition images; and application-specific integrated circuits. This segment also provides handhe ld graphing and scientific calculators, as well as licenses technologies to other electronic companies. The company serves the communications, computing, industrial, consumer electronics, automotive, and education sectors. Texas Instruments Incorporated sells its products through a direct sales force, distributors, and third-party sales representatives. It has collaboration agreements with PLX Technology Inc.; Neonode, Inc.; and Ubiquisys Ltd. The company was founded in 1938 and is headquartered in Dallas, Texas.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Chuck Saletta]
Speaking of results ...
United Technologies (NYSE: UTX ) reported decent numbers, with net earnings ahead of expectations but growth driven more by acquisitions than by organic improvements in its existing businesses. Given the company's conglomerate setup, growth by bolt-on acquisitions isn't surprising, but over the long haul, it'd be better to see its businesses growing internally as well as through acquisitions. The news at Mine Safety Appliances (NYSE: MSA ) wasn't quite as good, with both revenues and net earnings falling from year ago levels on a tough environment for the mining businesses it supports. That's a risk well known to the company and its shareholders, though, and while the weaker results did knock the company's stock down, the business has ridden through tough cycles before. It looks capable of riding through this one, too. Hasbro (NASDAQ: HAS ) , on the other hand, reported earnings that beat expectations on an operating basis, before restructuring charges knocked it down to a net loss. Given that the company is in the very seasonal toy business, that loss in an off-peak quarter is much less of a concern than it would have been in the make-or-break holiday quarter. UPS (NYSE: UPS ) kept on trucking, with a better-than-expected January and strength from eCommerce helping the company turn in an 8% growth in net reported earnings per share. Overall, UPS is operating efficiently, though its future success is tied to its ability to continue delivering more packages. As long as its e-commerce business continues to grow, though, UPS is wel
Right now, quarterly earnings season is well under way, which provides a perfect opportunity for one of those "check in from time to time" moments. While the iPIG portfolio did nothing last week, several of its picks did report, and those quarterly confessionals can help determine whether the companies are still worth owning. To summarize key results: - [By Mike Deane]
Before Thursday’s opening bell, Nomura Securities downgraded Texas Instruments (TXN) from “Neutral” to “Reduce” and has left TXN’s price target unchanged at $33.
Nomura believes that TXN no longer has future margin benefits, and that the price its trading too high relative to its peers.
Romit Shah, an analyst at Nomura, had the following comments about the downgrade: “While TI’s execution has been solid, we believe the company’s performance is well respected and understood. TI is trading at a 10-year high to Intel (85% premium versus an average of +3%) and Qualcomm (10% discount versus an average of -58%). Margin benefits from optimizing free cash flow that have been a big boost to the stock may have run their course. In addition, we believe that revenue growth despite a diminishing wireless drag may continue to be modest. Furthermore, we estimate that share repurchases at current levels are barely reducing share count. Our target price is unchanged at $33 and is based on a multiple of 15x 2014E EPS, excluding net cash.”
Nomura’s price target on TXN suggests a 23% downside to TXN’s current stock price.
TXN shares were inactive in pre-market trading. This year, the company’s stock is up 32.5%
Hot Bank Stocks To Buy Right Now: KongZhong Corporation(KONG)
KongZhong Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, provides wireless interactive entertainment, media, and community services to mobile phone users in the People's Republic of China. It also involves in the development, distribution, and marketing of consumer wireless value-added services, including wireless application protocol, multimedia messaging services, short messaging services, interactive voice response services, and color ring back tones. In addition, it offers interactive entertainment services, such as mobile games, pictures, karaoke, electronic books, mobile phone personalization features, entertainment news, chat, and message boards; and through Kong.net offer news, community services, games, and other interactive media and entertainment services; and sells advertising space in the form of text-link, banner, and button advertisements. Further, the company develops and publishes mobile games, including downloadable mobile games and online mobile games cons isting of action, role-playing, and leisure games. As of December 31, 2009, it had a library of approximately 300 internally developed mobile games. Additionally, it develops online games; and provides consulting and technology services, as well as media and net book services. The company was formerly known as Communication Over The Air Inc. and changed its name to KongZhong Corporation in March 2004. KongZhong Corporation was founded in 2002 and is headquartered in Beijing, the People?s Republic of China
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 Kongzhong (Nasdaq: KONG ) , whose recent revenue and earnings are plotted below. - [By Roberto Pedone]
One under-$10 wireless services player that looks poised for a big spike higher is KongZhong (KONG), which is a provider of WVAS and mobile games to mobile phone users and a wireless media company providing news, content, community and mobile advertising services through its wireless Internet sites in the PRC. This stock is off to a hot start in 2013, with shares up sharply by 53%.
If you take a look at the chart for KongZhong, you'll notice that this stock has been downtrending badly for the last two months, with shares plunging lower from its high of $14.92 to its recent low of $7.78 a share. During that downtrend, shares of KONG have been consistently making lower highs and lower lows, which is bearish technical price action. That move has now pushed shares of KONG into oversold territory, since its current relative strength index reading is 30.21. Shares of KONG are now starting to spike higher off its recent low of $7.78 a share and off its 200-day moving average of $7.95 a share. This spike could be signaling that the downside volatility for KONG is over in the short-term and the stock is ready to trend higher.
Traders should now look for long-biased trades in KONG if it manages to break out above some near-term overhead resistance at $8.50 a share with high volume. Look for a sustained move or close above that level with volume that hits near or above its three-month average action of 519,857 shares. If that breakout triggers soon, then KONG will set up to re-test or possibly take out its next major overhead resistance levels at $10 to its 50-day moving average at $11.33 a share.
Traders can look to buy KONG off any weakness to anticipate that breakout and simply use a stop that sits right below some key near-term support at $7.78 a share. One can also buy KONG off strength once it takes out $8.50 a share with volume and then simply use a stop that sits a comfortable percentage from your entry point.
Best Small Cap Companies To Buy For 2015: Achillion Pharmaceuticals Inc.(ACHN)
Achillion Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a biopharmaceutical company, engages in the discovery, development, and commercialization of treatments for infectious diseases. The company focuses on the development of antivirals for the treatment of chronic hepatitis C; and the development of antibacterials for the treatment of resistant bacterial infections. Its drug candidates for the treatment of chronic HCV include ACH-1625, a protease inhibitor, which is in phase IIa clinical trial for the treatment of chronic HCV; ACH-2684, a pangenotypic protease inhibitor, which is in phase I clinical trial for the treatment of chronic HCV infection; and NS5A inhibitors for the treatment of chronic HCV infection, including ACH-2928, which is to enter a phase I clinical trial, as well as various additional NS5A inhibitors in preclinical development. Its pipeline of product candidates also includes ACH-702 and ACH-2881 for drug resistant bacterial infections; elvucitabine for HIV infection; and AC H-1095 for HCV infection. The company was founded in 1998 and is based in New Haven, Connecticut.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Keith Speights]
Liver quivers
Achillion Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: ACHN ) ranks as the top drop of the week. Shares plunged 24% on news that the Food and Drug Administration placed a clinical hold on experimental hepatitis C drug�sovaprevir.
Best Small Cap Companies To Buy For 2015: Panera Bread Company(PNRA)
Panera Bread Company, together with its subsidiaries, owns, operates, and franchises retail bakery-cafes in the United States and Canada. Its bakery-cafes offer fresh baked goods, sandwiches, soups, salads, custom roasted coffees, and other complementary products, as well as provide catering services. The company also manufactures and supplies dough and other products to company-owned and franchise-operated bakery-cafes. As of March 29, 2011, it owned and franchised 1,467 bakery-cafes under the Panera Bread, Saint Louis Bread Co., and Paradise Bakery & Cafe names. The company was founded in 1981 and is based in St. Louis, Missouri.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Demitrios Kalogeropoulos]
The company didn't have much choice. Besides dealing with increasingly frugal consumers, Darden has had seen fast-casual restaurants such as Panera Bread (NASDAQ: PNRA ) expand into its turf. Panera this spring bulked up its food offerings by adding a line of pasta dishes to the menu. That helped the company log better than 3% sales growth for the first quarter, and an expanded operating margin to boot.
Best Small Cap Companies To Buy For 2015: Voyager Oil & Gas Inc.(VOG)
Voyager Oil & Gas, Inc. engages in the exploration and production of oil and gas in the United States. It primarily focuses on oil shale resource prospects in Montana, North Dakota, Colorado, and Wyoming. As of May 17, 2011, the company controlled approximately 141,500 net acres in the five primary prospect areas comprising 28,000 net acres targeting the Bakken/Three Forks in North Dakota and Montana; 14,200 net acres targeting the Niobrara formation in Colorado and Wyoming; 800 net acres targeting a Red River prospect in Montana; 33,500 net acres in a joint venture targeting the Heath Shale formation in Musselshell, Petroleum, Garfield, and Fergus counties of Montana; and 65,000 net acres in a joint venture in the Tiger Ridge gas field in Blaine, Hill, and Chouteau counties of Montana. It supplies energy and fuel for industrial, commercial, and individual consumers. The company is based in Billings, Montana.
Best Small Cap Companies To Buy For 2015: OCZ Technology Group Inc(OCZ)
OCZ Technology Group, Inc. designs, develops, manufactures, and distributes computer components for computing devices and systems worldwide. It primarily offers solid state drives, flash memory storage, memory modules, thermal management solutions, AC/DC switching power supply units, and computer gaming solutions. The company?s products are used in industrial equipment and computer systems; computer and computer gaming solutions; mission critical servers and high end workstations; personal computer (PC) upgrades to extend the useable life of existing PCs; high performance computing and scientific computing; video and music editing; home theatre PCs and digital home convergence products; and digital photography and digital image manipulation computers. OCZ Technology Group, Inc. offers its products to retailers, on-line retailers, original equipment manufacturers, systems integrators, and distributors. The company was founded in 2002 and is headquartered in San Jose, Califo rnia.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Rich Duprey]
The not-so-great and wonderful OCZ
There was no company-specific news that caused solid-state-drive maker OCZ Technology (NASDAQ: OCZ ) to fall almost 8% Wednesday. But an article that appeared on Seeking Alpha �questioning whether the company had six months or less to live before it filed for bankruptcy seemed to coincide with its fall.
Best Small Cap Companies To Buy For 2015: Sify Technologies Limited(SIFY)
Sify Technologies Limited provides enterprise and consumer Internet services primarily in India. The company offers various corporate network/data services comprising e-commerce and network connectivity solutions, such as end-to-end services network, application, and security services; voice origination and termination services; co-location and managed hosting services; and system integration services for data centre build, hardware distribution, security solutions, and turnkey projects. It also provides application services, including SLEMS and Microsoft Exchange messaging platforms; I-test for online assessment and LiveWire, which enable management of training processes across the organization; document management system for the management of documents electronically; and Forum, a forward supply chain solution. In addition, the company operates e-Ports that offer browsing, chat, email, gaming, utility bill payment, travel ticketing, hotel booking, mobile recharge, Intern et telephony, and online share trading services; and portals, which provide news, views, reviews, interactions, and services in the areas of movies, sports, finance, food, videos, astrology, online games, shopping, and travel, as well as offers content offerings and broadband services. Further, it provides infrastructure management services, such as network management, datacenter and helpdesk outsourcing, desktop and storage outsourcing, IT security outsourcing, LAN and WAN outsourcing, database and telecom outsourcing, and application monitoring and management services to automotive, chemical, media, and financial enterprises; and virtualization design, integration, and deployment services for servers, storage, networks, and end user clients. Sify has approximately 1,278 e-Ports in 200 towns and cities; and serves 1,06,000 broadband subscribers through 1500 cable TV Operators. The company, formerly known as Sify Limited, was founded in 1995 and is based in Chennai, India.
Best Small Cap Companies To Buy For 2015: Hot Topic Inc.(HOTT)
Hot Topic, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, operates as a mall- and Web-based specialty retailer in the United States. The company operates Hot Topic and Torrid store concepts, as well as an e-space music discovery concept, ShockHound. Its Hot Topic stores sell music/pop culture-licensed merchandise, including tee shirts, hats, posters, stickers, patches, postcards, books, novelty accessories, CDs, and DVDs; and music/pop culture-influenced merchandise comprising women?s and men?s apparel and accessories, such as woven and knit tops, skirts, pants, shorts, jackets, shoes, costume jewelry, body jewelry, sunglasses, cosmetics, leather accessories, and gift items for young men and women primarily between the ages of 12 and 22. The company?s Torrid stores sells casual and dressy jeans and pants, fashion and novelty tops, sweaters, skirts, jackets, dresses, hosiery, shoes, intimate apparel, and fashion accessories for various lifestyles for plus-size females primarily betw een the ages of 15 and 29. As of July 30, 2011, it operated 636 Hot Topic stores in 50 states, Puerto Rico, and Canada; 145 Torrid stores; and Internet stores, hottopic.com and torrid.com. The company was founded in 1988 and is headquartered in City of Industry, California.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Marshall Hargrave]
In May True Religion (TRGL) announced a buyout offer from TowerBrook Capital for $826 million. Also in May, Rue21 decided to sell itself to Apax Partners for $2.2 billion. Before that, in March, Hot Topic (HOTT) announced that Sycamore Partners was buying out it out for $600 million.
Best Small Cap Companies To Buy For 2015: InterDigital Inc.(IDCC)
Interdigital, Inc. engages in the design and development of digital wireless technology solutions. The company offers technology solutions for use in digital cellular and wireless products and networks, including 2G, 3G, 4G, and IEEE 802-related products and networks. It holds patents related to the fundamental technologies that enable wireless communications. The company licenses its patents to equipment producers that manufacture, use, and sell digital cellular and IEEE 802-related products; and licenses or sells mobile broadband modem solutions, including modem IP, know-how, and reference platforms to mobile device manufacturers, semiconductor companies, and other equipment producers that manufacture, use, and sell digital cellular products. InterDigital?s solutions are incorporated in various products comprising mobile devices, such as cellular phones, tablets, notebook computers, and wireless personal digital assistants; wireless infrastructure equipment, such as base stations; and components, dongles, and modules for wireless devices. The company was founded in 1972 and is headquartered in King of Prussia, Pennsylvania.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By James E. Brumley]
Endeavor IP isn't the only publicly-traded intellectual property enforcement company out there. It is, however, the only one to focus on quality over quantity. Whereas other players like patent portfolio names like InterDigital, Inc. (NASDAQ:IDCC) and Vringo, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRNG) will literally buy patents by the hundreds - perhaps sometimes without even knowing what some of those patents even cover - in an effort to arm itself with any and every possible patent for any and every contingency. Most are likely worthless, which means companies like InterDigital or Vringo may have wasted shareholder money by buying IP that isn't capable of bearing revenue.
Best Small Cap Companies To Buy For 2015: OmniVision Technologies Inc.(OVTI)
OmniVision Technologies, Inc. designs, develops, and markets semiconductor image-sensor devices. The company offers CameraChip image sensors, which are single-chip solutions that integrate various functions, such as image capture, image processing, color processing, signal conversion, and output of a processed image or video stream for use in various consumer and commercial mass-market applications; and CameraCube imaging devices that are image sensors with integrated wafer-level optics. It also provides companion chips used to connect its image sensors to various interfaces, including the universal serial bus and other industry standard interfaces; and companion digital signal processors that perform compression in standardized still photo and digital video formats. In addition, the company designs and develops software drivers for Linux, Mac OS, and Microsoft Windows, as well as for embedded operating systems, such as Blackberry OS, Palm OS, Symbian, Windows CE, Windows Embedded, and Windows Mobile. Its products are used in mobile phones, notebooks, Webcams, digital still and video cameras, commercial and security and surveillance, and automotive and medical applications, as well as in entertainment devices. The company sells its products directly to original equipment manufacturers and value added resellers, as well as indirectly through distributors worldwide. OmniVision Technologies, Inc. was founded in 1995 and is based in Santa Clara, California.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Brian Pacampara]
What: Shares of image sensor specialist OmniVision Technologies (NASDAQ: OVTI ) spiked 19% today after its quarterly results and outlook topped Wall Street expectations.
- [By Anders Bylund]
Shares of OmniVision Technologies (NASDAQ: OVTI ) jumped as much as 23% overnight, driven by a rock-solid fourth quarter report. The stock set a fresh 52-week high, but remains far below the $36 high-water mark that was set in 2011 when OmniVision's back side illumination, or BSI, camera chips seemed set to rule the smartphone world.
Best Small Cap Companies To Buy For 2015: FuelCell Energy Inc.(FCEL)
FuelCell Energy, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, engages in the development, manufacturing, and sale of high temperature fuel cells for clean electric power generation primarily in South Korea, the United States, Germany, Canada, and Japan. The company offers proprietary carbonate Direct FuelCell Power Plants that electrochemically produce electricity from hydrocarbon fuels, such as natural gas and biogas. Its fuel cells operate on a range of hydrocarbon fuels, including natural gas, renewable biogas, propane, methanol, coal gas, and coal mine methane. The company also develops carbonate fuel cells, planar solid oxide fuel cell technology, and other fuel cell technologies. It provides its products to universities; manufacturers; mission critical institutions, such as correction facilities and government installations; hotels; and natural gas letdown stations, as well as to customers who use renewable biogas for fuel, including municipal water treatment facilities, br eweries, and food processors. The company was founded in 1969 and is headquartered in Danbury, Connecticut.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Lauren Pollock]
FuelCell Energy Inc.'s(FCEL) fiscal fourth-quarter loss narrowed as the power-equipment maker reported broad sales growth across all segments and wider gross margins. But the loss was still steeper than expected, sending shares down 11% to $1.65 premarket.
- [By John Udovich]
Tesla Motors Inc (NASDAQ: TSLA) has a growing�battery fire mess on its hand but should investors in small cap fuel cell stock Plug Power Inc (NASDAQ: PLUG) be more worried than investors in fuel cell peers like FuelCell Energy Inc (NASDAQ: FCEL) and Ballard Power Systems Inc (NASDAQ: BLDP)? After all, Tesla Motors Inc�� battery fire problems seem to result from drivers running over debris that damage�or pierce the undercarriage rather than with the batteries�themselves (as in Boeing�� case). Nevertheless, any news about batteries or fuel cells and the like catching on fire could spill over�and impact peers - unless there are other concerns for investors. ��
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