Saturday, December 20, 2014

Top 5 Consumer Service Stocks To Watch Right Now

We've seen quite a long, and somewhat, complex bull market over the past few years, writes Tom Bradley, of The Globe and Mail, who analyzes it through a three-pronged approach.

A long stock market run goes through many phases. There's a healthy debate going on right now as to where this one is at��oes it have further to go, or is it over? In assessing where we are, it's useful to look back at how things unfolded over the last four and a half years, and understand why markets have gone up so much.

I'm going to look at it through three lenses��undamentals (the outlook for profits and dividends); valuation (what we're paying for those profits and dividends) and investor sentiment (how bullish or bearish investors are).

When this bull market started on March 9, 2009, the fundamentals didn't look very good. The banks were teetering, a recession was imminent, and the outlook for earnings was poor, to say the least.

In hindsight, it was as good a starting point for a bull market as you'll ever see. The necessary requirements were all there�� poor short-term outlook, rock-bottom price to earnings multiples (P/Es), forced selling from margin accounts and liquidity-strained pensions funds, and a feeling that we'll never make a decent return in the stock market again.

Best Low Price Stocks To Invest In 2015: Rudolph Technologies Inc.(RTEC)

Rudolph Technologies, Inc. designs, develops, manufactures, and sells process control defect inspection, metrology, and process control software systems to microelectronics device manufacturers. The company provides yield management solutions for use in wafer processing and final manufacturing through a range of standalone systems for macro-defect inspection, test systems, and transparent and opaque thin film measurements. It also offers a range of process control software solutions for semiconductor, solar, and LED manufacturing. It provides products for various applications in the areas of macro-defect detection and classification, diffusion, etch, lithography, CVD, PVD, and CMP. The company sells its products and solutions to logic, memory, data storage, and application-specific integrated circuit device manufacturers. It sells its products in the United States, Taiwan, China, Singapore, South Korea, Japan, and Europe. The company was founded in 1940 and is based in Fla nders, New Jersey.

Advisors' Opinion:
  • [By Seth Jayson]

    Basic guidelines
    In this series, I examine inventory using a simple rule of thumb: Inventory increases ought to roughly parallel revenue increases. If inventory bloats more quickly than sales grow, this might be a sign that expected sales haven't materialized. Is the current inventory situation at Rudolph Technologies (Nasdaq: RTEC  ) out of line? To figure that out, start by comparing the company's inventory growth to sales growth. How is Rudolph Technologies doing by this quick checkup? At first glance, not so great. Trailing-12-month revenue increased 17.6%, and inventory increased 32.2%. Comparing the latest quarter to the prior-year quarter, the story looks potentially problematic. Revenue dropped 8.9%, and inventory grew 32.2%. Over the sequential quarterly period, the trend looks worrisome. Revenue dropped 23.3%, and inventory grew 10.8%.

  • [By John Emerson]

    Orbotech (ORBK) and Rudolph Technologies (RTEC) Sizable Net-Nets in the AOI Sector

    As noted previously, I rode the elevator up and then back down on Camtek (CAMT), a tiny Israeli automated optical inspection (AOI) company. By late 2008 the company had fallen to below $1 per share. Both of Camtek�� larger rivals, RTEC and ORBK, had dropped to absurdly low levels by November 2008. I used the opportunity to switch out of CAMT and some of my other losing propositions in favor of these superior companies. In the process, I created a large amount of tax loss carry-forwards which would allow me to minimize my future taxation when I decided to sell these cyclical entities.

Top 5 Consumer Service Stocks To Watch Right Now: Coty Inc (COTY)

Coty Inc., incorporated on January 20, 1995, is engaged in manufacturing, marketing and distribution of women�� and men�� fragrances, color cosmetics and skin and body care related products globally. The Company operates in three segments: Fragrances, Color Cosmetics and Skin & Body Care. The Company�� power brands consist of adidas, Calvin Klein, Chloe, Davidoff, Marc Jacobs, OPI, philosophy, Playboy, Rimmel and Sally Hansen. The Company sells products in each of its segments through retailers, including hypermarkets, supermarkets, independent and chain drug stores and pharmacies, upscale perfumeries, upscale and mid-tier department stores, nail salons, specialty retailers, duty-free shops and traditional food, drug and mass retailers.

The Company�� Fragrance products include a range of men�� and women�� products, with brands associated with fashion designers, celebrities and lifestyle brands. Color Cosmetics products include nail, lip, eye and other facial color products. Skin & Body Care products include shower gels, deodorants, skin care and sun treatment products.

Advisors' Opinion:
  • [By Michael Lewis]

    As happens all too often in the markets, an IPO has come out with lots of hype and, ultimately, little in the way of delivered expectations. Women's fragrance giant Coty (NYSE: COTY  ) raised one of the largest IPOs in consumer product history last week, earning more than $1 billion. In the days prior, Wall Street played up the IPO in classic fashion -- citing large brand product awareness and celebrity endorsements as cause for investment. While Fools already know this is not a real reason to buy, apparently the market was either inundated with quick-flipping traders, or just unimpressed by the scent of Coty.

  • [By Maria Armental var popups = dojo.query(".socialByline .popC"); popups.forEach]

    Li & Fung(LFUGY) will distribute some of Coty Inc.'s(COTY) key brands in China, including Adidas, Rimmel and Playboy, as part of an agreement between the two companies. The move is part of Coty’s efforts to reorganize its business in China and focus on growing its business in the world’s second largest economy, the company said in a statement Tuesday.

  • [By Sue Chang]

    Coty Inc. (COTY) �is forecast to post third-quarter earnings of 9 cents a share.

  • [By Anna Prior]

    Coty Inc.(COTY) unveiled a new organizational structure built around categories and regions, as the beauty-products maker looks to improve profitability.

Top 5 Consumer Service Stocks To Watch Right Now: Redrow PLC (RDW)

Redrow PLC is a United Kingdom-based company engaged in residential development, which includes mixed use development. The Company�� operations are primarily focused on house building. Its completed projects include Signature, In the City/Regeneration and Debut. The Company's land holdings consist of both a current and forward land bank. As of June 30, 2010, the current land bank consisted of 11,600 plots owned with planning and 1,570 contracted plots, and its forward lank bank stood at around 22,000 plots. Its subsidiaries include Redrow Homes (Scotland) Ltd, Redrow Homes (Yorkshire) Ltd, Redrow Homes (Lancashire) Ltd, Redrow plc & Redrow Homes (NW) Ltd, Redrow Homes (Midlands) Ltd, Redrow Homes (South Midlands) Ltd, Redrow Homes (South West) Ltd, Redrow Homes (South Wales) Ltd and Redrow Homes (Eastern) Ltd. Advisors' Opinion:
  • [By Namitha Jagadeesh]

    Redrow Plc (RDW) rallied 3.2 percent to 245.6 pence as Deutsche Bank AG increased its 12-month share-price estimate and profit forecasts for 2013 and 2014. The U.K. builder yesterday jumped the most in five months after saying pretax profit for the year ended June will beat analysts��estimates.

Top 5 Consumer Service Stocks To Watch Right Now: Oi SA (OIBR)

Oi S.A., formerly Brasil Telecom S.A., incorporated on November 27, 1963, is a telecommunication service provider in Region II in Brazil. The Company offers a range of integrated telecommunication services that includes fixed-line and mobile telecommunication services, data transmission services (including broadband access services), Internet service provider (ISP) services and other services, for residential customers, small, medium and large companies, and governmental agencies. The Company provides services, which include Fixed-Line Telecommunications Services and Data Transmission Services, Mobile Telecommunications Services and other services.

Local Fixed-Line Services

As of December 31, 2010, the Company had approximately 7.2 million local fixed-line customers in Region II. Local fixed-line services include installation, monthly subscription, metered services, collect calls and supplemental local services. Metered services include local calls that originate and terminate within a single local area. ANATEL has divided Region II into 1,772 local areas. Local fixed-line services also include in-dialing services (direct transmission of external calls to extensions) for corporate clients. For corporate clients in need of lines, the Company offers digital trunk services, which optimize and increase the speed of the customer�� telephone system.

Long-Distance Services

The long distance services include fixed line-to-fixed line and mobile long distance services. It provides domestic long-distance services for calls originating from Region II through interconnection agreements, mainly with Telemar in Region I and Telecomunicavoes de Sao Paulo S.A. (Telesp), in Region III permit the Company to interconnect directly with their local fixed-line networks, and through its network facilities in Sao Paulo, Rio de Janeiro and Belo Horizonte. It provides international long-distance services originating from Region II through agreements to interconnect its netw! ork with those of the main telecommunication service providers worldwide. It provides mobile long-distance services originating from Region II through interconnection agreements, with Telemar in Region I, Telesp in Region III, and each of the principal mobile services providers operating in Brazil that permit it to interconnect directly with their local fixed-line and mobile networks. It provides international long-distance services originating or terminating on its customer�� mobile handsets through agreements to interconnect its network with those of the main telecommunication service providers worldwide.

Mobile Telecommunication Services

As of December 31, 2010, the Company had approximately 7.8 million subscribers located in 1,281 municipalities in Region II. As of December 31, 2010, 87.5% of the Company�� customers subscribed to pre-paid plans and 12.5% subscribed to post-paid plans. The Company markets Oi Ligador subscriptions to its pre-paid customers, which allow these customers to receive bonus minutes with each purchase of additional credits. It charges a nominal subscription fee to enroll a customer in the Oi Ligador program and provide bonus minutes to these customers that may be used for local calls to its fixed-line or mobile subscribers, long-distance calls to its fixed-line subscribers, and sending Short Message Service (SMS, messages to mobile subscribers of any Brazilian mobile service provider.

The Company has roaming agreements with TNL PCS S.A., a wholly owned subsidiary of Telemar which provides mobile services and which it refers to as Oi, Companhia de Telecomunicacoes do Brasil Central (CTBC), and Sercomtel S.A. Telecomunicacoes (Sercomtel), providing its customers with automatic access to roaming services when traveling outside of Region II in areas of Brazil where mobile telecommunication services are available on the GSM standard. As of December 31, 2010, it had launched third generation (3G) services in a total of 84 municipalities, ! including! the nine state capitals in Region II and the Federal District. As of December 31, 2010, it had approximately 175,200 3G mobile broadband customers.

Data Transmission Services

The Company provides Internet access services using ADSL technology, which it refers as broadband services, to residential customers and businesses in the primary cities in Region II under the brand name Oi Velox. As of December 31, 2010, the Company offered broadband services in 1,810 municipalities in Region II and it had 1.9 million ADSL customers. Its network supports ADSL2+, VDSL2 and FTTx technologies. ADSL2+ is a data communications technology that allows data transmission at speeds of up to 24 megabits per second downstream and 1 megabits per second upstream. ADSL2+ permits offer a range of services than ADSL, including Internet protocol television (IPTV). As of December 31, 2010, approximately 50% of its fixed-line network had been updated to support ADSL2+. Very-high-bitrate digital subscriber line (VDSL2), is a DSL technology providing faster data transmission, up to 100 megabits per second upstream (downstream and upstream). Fiber to the x (FTTx), is a broadband network architecture that uses optical fiber to replace all or part of the usual metal local loop used for last mile telecommunications.

The Company provides a range of data transmission services through various technologies and means of access. Its commercial data transmission services include Industrial Exploitation of Dedicated Lines (Exploracao Industrial de Linha Dedicada (EILD)), under which it leases trunk lines to other telecommunication services providers, primarily mobile services providers, which use these trunk lines to link their radio base stations to their switching centers; Dedicated Line Services (Servicos de Linhas Dedicadas (SLD)), under which it leases dedicated lines to other telecommunication services providers, Internet service providers (ISPs) and corporate customers for use in private networks that! link dif! ferent corporate Websites; Internet Protocol (IP) services, which consist of dedicated private lines and dial-up Internet access, which it provides to the ISPs in Brazil, as well as Virtual Private Network (VPN), services that enable its customers to operate private Intranet and extranet networks, and frame relay services, which the Company provides to its corporate customers to allow them to transmit data using protocols based on direct use of its transmission lines, enabling the creation of VPNs.

The Company provides these data transmission services using its service network platform in Region II and its nationwide fiber optic cable network and microwave links. In addition, it provides services at the six cyber data centers located in Brasilia, Sao Paulo, Curitiba, Porto Alegre and Fortaleza. It provides hosting, collocation and information technology (IT) outsourcing at these centers, permitting its customers to outsource their IT structures to it or to use these centers to provide backup for their IT systems. It also owns and operates a submarine fiber optic network, which connects Brazil with the United States, Bermuda, Venezuela and Colombia. Through this network, it offers international data transportation services, primarily leased lines to other telecommunication services providers.

Network Usage Services (Interconnection Service)

The Company is authorized to charge for the use of its local fixed-line network on a per-minute basis for all calls terminated on its local fixed-line network in Region II that originate on the networks of other local fixed-line, mobile and long-distance service providers, and all long-distance calls originated on its local fixed-line network in Region II that are carried by other long-distance service providers. In addition, the Company charges network usage fees to long-distance service providers and operators of trunking services that connect switching stations to its local fixed-line networks.

Traffic Transporta! tion Serv! ices

The Company offers a long-distance usage service, called national transportation, under which it provides discounts to its long-distance network usage fees based on the volume of traffic and geographic distribution of calls generated by a long-distance or mobile services provider. The Company also offers international telecommunication service providers the option to terminate their Brazilian inbound traffic through its network, as an alternative to Embratel and Intelig Telecomunicacoes Ltda. (Intelig). The Company charges international telecommunication service providers a per-minute rate, based on whether a call terminates on a fixed-line or mobile telephone and the location of the local area in which the call terminates.

Public Telephone Services

The Company owns and operates public telephones throughout Region II. As of December 31, 2010, the Company had approximately 266,100 public telephones in service, which are operated by pre-paid cards.

Value-Added Services

Value-added services include voice, text and data applications, including voicemail, caller identification (ID), and other services, such as personalization (video downloads, games, ring tones and wallpaper), short message service (SMS)subscription services (horoscope, soccer teams and love match), chat, mobile television, location-based services and applications (mobile banking, mobile search, email and instant messaging). The Company also provides advanced voice services to its corporate customers, mainly 0800 (toll free) services, as well as voice portals where customers can participate in real-time chats and other interactive voice services. The Company also operates an Internet portal under the brand name iG.

The Company competes with Empresa Brasileira de Telecomunicacoes, GVT S.A., Vivo Participacoes S.A., Telecom Americas Group, TIM Participacoes S.A., Telesp and Intelig.

Advisors' Opinion:
  • [By Roberto Pedone]

     

    Oi (OIBR) provides integrated telecommunication services for residential customers, companies and governmental agencies in Brazil. This stock closed up 2.5% to 85 cents per share in Thursday's trading session.

     

    Thursday's Range: $0.82-$0.86

    52-Week Range: $0.76-$2.34

    Thursday's Volume: 22.83 million

    Three-Month Average Volume: 14.72 million

     

    From a technical perspective, OIBR jumped modestly higher here right above some near-term support at 80 cents per share with heavy upside volume. This stock has been downtrending badly for the last five months, with shares sliding lower from its high of $1.97 to its recent 52-week low of 76 cents per share. During that downtrend, shares of OBIR have been making mostly lower highs and lower lows, which is bearish technical price action. That said, shares of OIBR now look ready to rebound and potentially trigger a near-term breakout trade. That trade will hit if OIBR manages to take out Thursday's intraday high of 86 cents to more near-term overhead resistance at 90 cents per share with high volume.

     

    Traders should now look for long-biased trades in OIBR as long as it's trending above some key near-term support levels at 80 cents to 76 cents per share and then once it sustains a move or close above those breakout levels with volume that hits near or above 14.72 million shares. If that breakout triggers soon, then OIBR will set up to re-test or possibly take out its next major overhead resistance levels at $1.02 to $1.08 a share. Any high-volume move above those levels will then give OIBR a chance to tag its 50-day moving average of $1.18 to more resistance at $1.27.

     

  • [By alicet236]

    Oi SA (OIBR) Reached the Five-Year Low of $1.63

    The prices of Oi SA (OIBR) shares have declined to close to the five-year low of $1.63, which is 87.6% off the five-year high of $11.48. Oi SA is owned by three Gurus we are tracking. Among them, zero have added to their positions during the past quarter. 3 reduced their positions. Oi SA is a telecommunication service providing company in Brazil. Oi Sa has a market cap of $2.67 billion; its shares were traded at around $1.63 with a P/E ratio of 4.50 and P/S ratio of 0.14. The dividend yield of Oi Sa stocks is 23.36%. Oi Sa had an annual average earnings growth of 10.00% over the past 10 years.

  • [By Roberto Pedone]

    Oi (OIBR), through its subsidiaries, provides integrated telecommunication services for residential customers, companies and governmental agencies in Brazil. This stock closed up 8.6 % to $1.89 in Thursday's trading session.

    Thursday's Range: $1.73-$1.91

    52-Week Range: $1.44-$4.69

    Thursday's Volume: 5.48 million

    Three-Month Average Volume: 3.91 million

    From a technical perspective, OIBR bounced sharply higher here back above its 50-day moving average of $1.83 with heavy upside volume. This move is quickly pushing shares of OIBR within range of triggering a near-term breakout trade. That trade will hit if OIBR manages to take out some near-term overhead resistance levels at $1.94 to $2.29 with high volume.

    Traders should now look for long-biased trades in OIBR as long as it's trending above its 50-day at $1.83 or above more key near-term support at $1.72 and then once it sustains a move or close above those breakout levels with volume that hits near or above 3.91 million shares. If that breakout triggers soon, then OIBR will set up to re-test or possibly take out its next major overhead resistance levels at $2.44 to its 200-day at $3.06.

  • [By Roberto Pedone]

    Oi (OIBR) provides telecommunication services in Brazil. This stock closed up 1.6% to $1.87 in Tuesday's trading session.

    Tuesday's Range: $1.83-$1.89

    52-Week Range: $1.42-$4.51

    Tuesday's Volume: 2.61 million

    Three-Month Average Volume: 4.32 million

    From a technical perspective, OIBR rose modestly higher here right above its 50-day moving average of $1.72 with lighter-than-average volume. This stock has been uptrending strong for the last few weeks, with shares moving higher from its low of $1.42 to its intraday high of $1.89. During that move, shares of OIBR have been consistently making higher lows and higher highs, which is bullish technical price action. That move is quickly pushing shares of OIBR within range of triggering a near-term breakout trade. That trade will hit if OIBR manages to take out some near-term overhead resistance levels at $1.89 to $2.04 with high volume.

    Traders should now look for long-biased trades in OIBR as long as it's trending above its 50-day at $1.72 or above more support at $1.60 and then once it sustains a move or close above those breakout levels with volume that's near or above 4.32 million shares. If that breakout hits soon, then OIBR will set up to re-test or possibly take out its next major overhead resistance levels at $2.25 to $2.29. Any high-volume move above those levels will then give OIBR a chance to tag $2.50 to $2.75.

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