Wednesday, July 16, 2014

Best Services Companies To Watch In Right Now

The NCDs have been rated AA/stable by CRISIL and AA+ by CARE. The rating of the NCDs by CRISIL indicates high degree of safety with regard to timely servicing of financial obligations and carrying very low credit risk, while the rating of NCDs by CARE indicates high safety as regards timely servicing of financial obligations and carrying very low credit risk.

The issue shall be open from July 16, 2013 to July 29, 2012 with an option to close earlier and/or extend up to a period at the discretion of the duly authorised committee of directors of the company subject to necessary approvals.

The funds raised through this issue will be used for various financing activities including lending and investments, to repay existing loans and for business operations including capital expenditure and working capital requirements.

JM Financial Institutional Securities Private Limited, A K Capital Services Limited, HDFC Bank Limited and ICICI Securities Limited are the lead managers to the issue, while Karvy Investor Services Ltd, RR Investors Capital Services Private Limited, SMC Capitals Ltd and Trust Investment Advisors Private Ltd are the co-lead managers to the issue.

Top 10 International Companies To Invest In Right Now: Diana Containerships Inc.(DCIX)

Diana Containerships Inc. owns and operates containerships in Greece. The company engages in the seaborne transportation of semi-finished and finished consumer and industrial products. As of February 23, 2012, its fleet consisted of 8 containerships with a carrying capacity of approximately 32,693 twenty-foot equivalent units. Diana Containerships Inc. was founded in 2010 and is based in Athens, Greece.

Advisors' Opinion:
  • [By Monica Gerson]

    Diana Containerships (NASDAQ: DCIX) is projected to report its Q1 earnings at $0.01 per share on revenue of $13.22 million.

    Intrawest Resorts Holdings (NYSE: SNOW) is expected to post its Q3 earnings at $2.69 per share on revenue of $294.89 million.

Best Services Companies To Watch In Right Now: Geospace Technologies Corp (GEOS)

Geospace Technologies Corporation, formerly OYO Geospace Corporation, incorporated on September 13, 1997, designs and manufactures instruments and equipment used in the acquisition and processing of seismic data, as well as in the characterization and monitoring of producing oil and gas reservoirs. The Company also manufactures and distributes thermal imaging equipment and dry thermal film products to a variety of markets including the screenprint, point of sale, signage and textile markets. As of September 30, 2011, OYO Corporation U.S.A. (OYO USA) owned approximately 20.3% of the Company�� common stock. The Company operates in two segments: Seismic and Thermal Solutions. The seismic segment of its business accounts for the majority of its sales. Its thermal solutions product technologies were developed for seismic data processing applications.

Seismic Products

Geoscientists use seismic data primarily in connection with the exploration, development and production of oil and gas reserves to map hydrocarbon bearing formations and the geologic structures that surround them. The Company provides many of the components of seismic data recording systems, including data acquisition systems, geophones, hydrophones, multi-component sensors, seismic leader wire, geophone strings, connectors, seismic telemetry cables and other seismic related products. Its marine seismic products help steer streamers while being towed and help recover streamers if they become disconnected from the vessel.

The Company has developed permanently installed high-definition reservoir characterization products for ocean-bottom applications in producing oil and gas fields. It also produces a retrievable version of this ocean-bottom system for use on fields where permanently installed systems are not appropriate or economical. Seismic surveys repeated over selected time intervals show dynamic changes within the reservoir and can be used to monitor the effects of production. In addition, it produc! es seismic borehole acquisition systems which employ a fiber optic augmented wireline capable of high data transmission rates. These systems are used for several reservoir characterization applications, including an application pioneered by it allowing operators and service companies to monitor and measure the results of fracturing operations.

The Company designs and manufactures power and communication transmission cable products for offshore applications and market these products to the offshore oil and gas and offshore construction industries. These products include a variety of specialized cables, primarily used in deepwater applications, such as remotely operated vehicle (ROV) tethers, umbilicals and electrical control cables. These products also include specially designed and manufactured cables, including armored cables, engineered to withstand harsh offshore operating environments. In addition, it designs and manufactures industrial sensors for the vibration monitoring, security and earthquake detection markets. The Company also design and manufacture other specialty cable and connector products, such as those used in connection with global positioning products and water meter applications.

Its seismic product lines consists of land and marine nodal seismic data acquisition systems, high-definition reservoir characterization products and services, geophones and hydrophones, including multi-component geophones and hydrophones, seismic leader wire, geophone string and acquisition system connectors, seismic telemetry cables, marine seismic cable retrieval and steering devices and specialized data acquisition systems targeted at conventional and niche markets.

The Company�� high-definition reservoir characterization products include the HDSeis product line and a suite of borehole and reservoir characterization products and services. Its HDSeis System is a high-definition seismic data acquisition system with architecture that allows it to be configured as a bo! rehole se! ismic system or as a subsurface system for both land and marine reservoir-monitoring projects. Its multi-component seismic product developments include an omni-directional geophone for use in reservoir monitoring, a compact marine three-component or four-component gimbaled sensor and special-purpose connectors, connector arrays and cases. Its products used in marine seismic data acquisition include its marine seismic streamer retrieval devices (SRDs). Its SRDs, which are attached to the streamer cables, contain air bags which are designed to inflate automatically at a given depth, bringing the severed streamer cables to the surface. It also produces seismic streamer steering devices, or birds, which are finlike devices that attach to the streamer cable. These birds help maintain the streamer cable at a certain desired depth as it is being towed through the water.

The Company competes with CGGVeritas, ION Geophysical, INOVA, Amphenol Corporation, Fairfield Industries, Petroleum Geo-Services ASA, Avalon, Mitcham Industries, Inc. and Seismic Equipment Solutions.

Thermal Solutions Products

The Company thermal printers include both thermal imagesetters for graphics applications and thermal plotters for seismic applications. In addition, its thermal solutions products include direct-to-screen systems, thermal printheads, dry thermal film, thermal transfer ribbons and other thermal media. Its thermal imaging solutions produce images ranging in size from 12 to 54 inches wide and in resolution from 400 to 1,200 dots per inch. It markets its thermal imaging solutions to a variety of industries, including the screen printing, point-of-sale, signage, flexographic and textile markets. It also distributes private label dry thermal media for use in its thermal printers and direct-to-screen systems. In addition, the Company is engaged in efforts to develop new lines of dry thermal film and ribbon in order to improve the image quality of its media for use with printheads.

The! Company thermal solutions products include thermal imagesetters for graphics applications and thermal plotters for seismic applications. In addition, its thermal solution products include thermal printheads and thermal media products. It markets these products to a variety of industries, including the screen print, point of sale, signage and textile markets. It also sells these products to seismic customers.

The Company competes with KIWO USA, Inc., Colour Scanned Technology and iSys Group.

Advisors' Opinion:
  • [By Seth Jayson]

    Geospace Technologies (Nasdaq: GEOS  ) reported earnings on May 2. Here are the numbers you need to know.

    The 10-second takeaway
    For the quarter ended March 31 (Q2), Geospace Technologies whiffed on revenues and whiffed on earnings per share.

Best Services Companies To Watch In Right Now: IDT Corp (IDT)

IDT Corporation (IDT), incorporated on March 15, 1996, is a multinational holding company with operations primarily in the telecommunications industry. The Company operates in two segments: Telecom Platform Services and Consumer phones Services, which comprise its IDT Telecom division. Telecom Platform Services provides telecommunications services, including prepaid and rechargeable calling products and international long distance traffic termination, as well as various payment services. Consumer Phone Services provides consumer local and long distance services in the United States. All other segments include Zedge Holdings, Inc. (Zedge), which owns and operates an on-line platform, including Android app, that allows users to share and obtain content to personalize mobile phones and tablets; Fabrix T.V., Ltd. (Fabrix), a software development company specializing in cloud-based video processing, storage and delivery; IDT Spectrum, which holds, leases and sells fixed wireless spectrum; Innovative Communications Technologies, Inc. (ICTI), which holds intellectual property primarily related to voice over Internet protocol (VoIP), technology and the licensing and other businesses related to this intellectual property; the Company's real estate holdings, and other smaller businesses. On October 28, 2011, the Company completed the Genie Energy spin-off. In July 2013, Straight Path Communications Inc announced its spin-off from IDT Corporation.

Telecom Platform Services

IDT markets and distributes multiple communications and payment services across four business categories, including retail communications, wholesale termination services, payment services and hosted platform solutions. Retail Communications provides international long-distance calling products primarily to immigrant communities worldwide, with markets in the United States and Europe. These products include the Company's Boss Revolution Pinless product (an international calling service sold through the Boss Revolution ! payment platform), as well as many of its disposable calling card brands, including Boss, La Leyenda and Feliz, and mobile apps, including PennyTalk. Wholesale Termination Services is a global telecom carrier, terminating international long distance calls around the world for Tier 1 fixed line and mobile network operators, as well as other aggregators through the Company's network of 800-plus carrier interconnects. Payment Services provides payment offerings, such as international mobile top-up, or IMTU, as well as gift cards in both the United States and Europe. IMTU enables customers to purchase minutes for a prepaid mobile telephone in another country. IMTU is available in both traditional cards, as well as on the Company's Boss Revolution payment platform. Payment Services also includes reloadable prepaid debit cards and bank identification number (BIN) sponsorship services offered in Europe by IDT Financial Services through the Company's Gibraltar-based bank. Hosted Platform Solutions provides customized communications services that leverage the Company's networks, platforms and/or technology to cable companies and other operators.

The Company�� Boss Revolution payment platform is an online portal that can be accessed via a regular Web browser and utilized to sell a range of the Company's products and services. During the fiscal year ended July 31, 2012, the Company added domestic mobile top-up (DMTU) offerings. The Company sells its traditional calling cards under the La Leyenda, Boss, Playball, GOOOL, RED, Feliz, PT-1 and PennyTalk brand names, among others, providing telephone access to more than 230 countries and territories. As of July 31, 2012, IDT sold more than 1,000 different calling cards in the United States and more than 800 different cards abroad, with specific cards featuring favorable rates to specific international destinations. The Company's calling cards are marketed primarily to the ethnic and immigrant communities in the United States, Europe, Asia, Latin America! and Afri! ca.

Consumer Phone Services

The Company provides its bundled local/long distance phone service in 11 states, marketed under the brand name IDT America. The Company's bundled local/long distance service, offered predominantly to residential customers, includes unlimited local, regional toll and domestic long distance calling and popular calling features. A second plan is available, providing unlimited local service with the Company's long distance included for as low as 3.9 cents per minute. IDT also offers stand-alone long distance service throughout the United States. As of July 31, 2012, the Company had approximately 10,500 active customers for its bundled local/long distance plans and approximately 45,200 customers for its long distance-only plans.

The Company competes with AT&T,Verizon, InComm, Blackhawk Network and Coinstar.

Advisors' Opinion:
  • [By Seth Jayson]

    IDT (NYSE: IDT  ) reported earnings on June 6. Here are the numbers you need to know.

    The 10-second takeaway
    For the quarter ended April 30 (Q3), IDT met expectations on revenues and beat expectations on earnings per share.

  • [By Monica Gerson]

    IDT (NYSE: IDT) is projected to report its Q4 earnings at $0.28 per share on revenue of $397.40 million.

    Xyratex (NASDAQ: XRTX) is expected to post its Q3 earnings at $0.05 per share on revenue of $209.31 million.

Best Services Companies To Watch In Right Now: Euronet Worldwide Inc.(EEFT)

Euronet Worldwide, Inc. provides payment and transaction processing and distribution solutions to financial institutions, retailers, service providers, and individual consumers. The company operates in three segments: EFT Processing, epay, and Money Transfer. The EFT Processing segment provides electronic payment solutions consisting of automated teller machine (ATM) network participation, outsourced ATM and point-of-sale (POS) management solutions, credit and debit card outsourcing, card issuing, and merchant acquiring services; advertising, customer relationship management, currency conversion, mobile top-up, bill payment, fraud management, and foreign remittance payout services; and integrated software solutions for electronic payments and transaction delivery systems. As of December 31, 2011, it processed transactions for a network of 14,224 ATMs and approximately 57,000 POS terminals in Europe, the Middle East, and the Asia Pacific. The epay segment engages in the ele ctronic distribution of prepaid mobile airtime and other electronic payment products, and provides collection services for various payment products, cards, and services. This segment operates a network of approximately 615,000 POS terminals to enable electronic processing of prepaid mobile airtime top-up services and other electronic payment products in Europe, the Middle East, the Asia Pacific, North America, and South America, as well as distributes vouchers and physical gifts in Europe. The Money Transfer segment provides consumer-to-consumer money transfer services through a network of sending agents and company-owned stores in North America and Europe; customers bill payment services; payment alternatives, such as money orders and prepaid debit cards; check cashing services for various issued checks; and foreign currency exchange services. The company serves customers in approximately 150 countries worldwide. Euronet Worldwide, Inc. was founded in 1994 and is headquarte red in Leawood, Kansas.

Advisors' Opinion:
  • [By John Udovich]

    Small cap money transfer stock Euronet Worldwide, Inc (NASDAQ: EEFT) and Wal-Mart Stores, Inc (NYSE: WMT) have announced an exclusive money transfer service called "Walmart-2-Walmart,��meaning its time to take a closer look at the stock along with the performance of peers like Moneygram International Inc (NASDAQ: MGI), Xoom Corp (NASDAQ: XOOM) and The Western Union Company (NYSE: WU) which fell 17.68%, 4.32% and 4.98%, respectively.

Best Services Companies To Watch In Right Now: Bridgepoint Education Inc (BPI)

Bridgepoint Education, Inc. (Bridgepoint), incorporated in May 1999, is a provider of postsecondary education services. The Company�� academic institutions include Ashford University and University of the Rockies. Its institutions deliver programs primarily online, as well as at their traditional campuses. As of December 31, 2011, the Company had 86,642 total students enrolled in its institutions. Bridgepoint�� institutions conduct ongoing faculty and student assessment processes and provide a range of student services. The Company is also focused on developing new technologies, such as through Waypoint Outcomes, Constellation, and the development of its institutions' mobile learning platforms. The Company has developed Constellation to replace third party textbooks with digital course materials. Constellation materials are displayed in a browser-based platform. In January 2012, Bridgepoint introduced Thuze.

Ashford University offers associate's, bachelor's and master's degree programs online, as well as bachelor's degree programs at its campus in Clinton, Iowa. Ashford University consists of four colleges: the College of Business and Professional Studies, the College of Education, the College of Health, Human Services and Sciences, and the College of Liberal Arts. University of the Rockies is a graduate institution that offers master's and doctoral degree programs in the social and behavioral sciences. Classes at University of the Rockies are presented in a progressive online format, as well as at its campus in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Waypoint Outcomes provides learning and assessment software to K-12 and higher education institutions nationwide.

Constellation provides mobile access to students over the Internet, as well as on a variety of devices, including Web-enabled smartphones and tablet devices. Constellation is a cloud-based and is compatible across operating systems, browsers and mobile technologies. The Company has developed Constellation-enabled courses pri! marily in core classes to reach students. As of December 31, 2011, approximately 76% of Bridgepoint�� institutions' students had taken a Constellation-enabled course. As of December 31, 2011, it had 32 Constellation titles available. Thuze is a cloud-based, multi-platform, collaborative learning environment for students to interact with their course digital materials and with each other. Thuze provides students with the resources to work from both their desktop computers and also from their tablets and smartphones. It launched Thuze as a pilot program with publishers in higher education. During the year ended December 31, 2011, the Company deployed new mobile application technology at Ashford University. The Company has online students from all 50 states and from the District of Columbia. It has students from 69 different countries. As of December 31, 2011, over 34,400 students have graduated from the Company�� institutions, with approximately 15,200 students graduating from its institutions, during 2011.

Students finance their education at the Company's institutions through Title IV programs and Non-Title IV funding sources. Title IV programs includes The Federal Family Education Loan (FFEL) and Federal Direct Loan Programs. FFEL and Federal Direct Loan Programs consist of two loans: Stafford loans, which are either subsidized or unsubsidized, and PLUS loans, which are made available to graduate and professional students, as well as parents of dependent undergraduate students. Non-Title IV funding sources include other funding sources, which consist of cash, private loans, state grants, corporate reimbursement, military benefits and institutional loans. The Company has engaged Affiliated Computer Services, Inc. (ACS) to provide call center and transactional processing services for the online financial aid student populations at its institutions, including services related to disbursement eligibility review and Title IV fund returns. If Bridgepoint�� engagement with ACS were terminate! d, it wou! ld handle these processing services using its own resources or engage another third party vendor.

The Company�� institutions provide student support services, including academic, administrative and technology support. As of December 31, 2011, Bridgepoint�� institutions offered approximately 1,430 courses, 85 degree programs and 140 specializations. Its institutions offer programs and specialization areas through Ashford University's four colleges: the College of Business and Professional Studies; the College of Education; the College of Health, Human Services and Science; and the College of Liberal Arts, and through the University of the Rockies' two schools: the School of Organizational Leadership and the School of Professional Psychology. The Company�� leads are primarily generated from online sources. Its main source of leads is third party online lead aggregators. It also purchases keywords from search providers to generate online leads directly. In addition, the Company has an in-house team focused on generating online leads.

Advisors' Opinion:
  • [By Dan Newman]

    Debt
    Another factor to take into account is weighing the extra two years of college costs versus an extra two years of wages. According to College Reality Check, the net price for a bachelor's degree at�Bridgepoint Education's (NYSE: BPI  ) Ashford University is about $17,300, only about $1,000 less than the cost of Harvard. An Ashford graduate can expect to earn $36,400 annually in his or her early career,�about $14,000 less than a Harvard grad.

  • [By Jim Royal]

    One of my favorite reasons to reinvest in stocks I already own is when an uncertain, but favorable catalyst occurs, but the stock does little. So my Special Situations portfolio is adding $1,000 to each of the following three stocks: Cincinnati Bell (NYSE: CBB  ) , Bridgepoint Education (NYSE: BPI  ) , and First Financial Northwest (NASDAQ: FFNW  ) . Read on to see why.

  • [By Jim Royal]

    Earlier this week, Bridgepoint Education (NYSE: BPI  ) revealed that the Western Association of Schools and Colleges had approved the company's Ashford University application for accreditation for five years. Investors had been concerned about this accreditation issue for the last year or so, and shares jumped on the news. They're now up about 50% from where my Special Situations portfolio bought in late April.

  • [By Jake L'Ecuyer]

    Bridgepoint Education (NYSE: BPI) shares tumbled 11.37 percent to $14.11 after the company announced a Q1 preliminary loss of $0.10 per share on sales of $160.5 million. The company also reported that it will be unable to file 10Q by May 12th.

Best Services Companies To Watch In Right Now: Trovagene Inc (TROV)

TrovaGene, Inc. (TrovaGene), incorporated on April 26, 2002, is a development-stage molecular diagnostic company that focuses on the development and marketing of urine-based nucleic acid tests for patient/disease screening and monitoring. The Company's novel tests predominantly use transrenal DNA (Tr-DNA) and transrenal RNA (Tr-RNA). The Company's technology is used to all transrenal nucleic acids (Tr-NA). The Company�� urine-based test addresses market needs, such as women�� healthcare-fetal medicine-down syndrome, infectious diseases, cancer testing, transplantation, drug development and monitoring of therapeutic outcomes, ultra-sensitive analytical and detection system, technologies for the collection, shipment and storage of urine specimens, and transrenal nucleic acid extraction, and instrumentation/system platform.

On January 18, 2011, the Company entered into an asset purchase agreement pursuant to which the Company acquired a hybridoma able to produce a monoclonal antibody targeting the NPM1 biomarker. On February 8, 2011, the Company entered into a sublicense agreement with MLL Munchner Leukamielabor (MLL). In July, 2011, the Company entered into a sublicense agreement with Fairview Health Services (Fairview) for NPM1 patent rights.

In October 2011, the Company entered into a license agreement pursuant to which the Company licensed the patent rights to a specific gene mutation with respect to chronic lymphoblastic leukemia. On December 12, 2011, the Company entered into a license agreement pursuant to which the Company licensed the patent rights to hairy cell leukemia biomarkers. On February 1, 2012, the Company acquired the clinical laboratory improvement amendments (CLIA) laboratory assets of MultiGEN Diagnostics, Inc. (MultiGEN).

Advisors' Opinion:
  • [By David Goodboy]

    Fortunately, diagnostic issues may soon be a thing of the past. Several publicly traded companies are currently making great strides in the field of medical diagnostics, and my favorite company right now in that arena is TrovaGene (Nasdaq: TROV).

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