Shares of software giant Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT ) raced as much as 4.7% higher this morning. Microsoft's stock was not only the biggest gainer by far on the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJINDICES: ^DJI ) , but also the fourth-biggest gainer on the much wider S&P 500 (SNPINDEX: ^GSPC ) index. That's an impressive move for an industry titan with a bulky $285 billion market cap to push around, especially on a flat day for the Dow. It takes big news to engineer a jump like this one.
The catalyst is activist investor firm ValueAct Capital Management's disclosure of a brand-new $2 billion stake in Microsoft stock. This makes Microsoft the firm's largest holding, according to Bloomberg.
Why is this such a big deal? Well, Microsoft's management troubles have been widely documented, and a change at the top could spark new life in these listless shares. ValueAct specializes in finding turnaround avenues for failing businesses with healthy fundamentals, and Redmond fits that bill to a "T."
Best Sliver Companies To Watch For 2015: Health Net Inc. (HNT)
Health Net, Inc., through its subsidiaries, provides managed health care services. The company offers commercial health care products, such as health maintenance organization plans through contracts with participating network physicians, hospitals, and other providers; preferred provider organization plans that provide coverage for services received from health care provider; and point of service plans. It also provides Medicare products, including Medicare advantage plans with and without prescription drug coverage; and Medicare supplement products that supplement fee-for-service Medicare coverage. In addition, the company offers Medicaid and related products; indemnity insurance products; auxiliary non-health products, such as life, accidental death and dismemberment, dental, vision, and behavioral health insurance; and other specialty services and products comprising pharmacy benefits, behavioral health, dental, and vision products and services, as well as managed care products for hospitals, health plans, and other entities. Further, it engages in government-sponsored managed care federal contract with the Department of Defense under the TRICARE program in the North Region; and other health care, mental health, and behavioral health government contracts. The company provides administrative services comprising provider network and referral management, medical and disease management, enrollment, customer service, clinical support service, and claims processing service to military health system eligible beneficiaries. It serves approximately 5.4 million individuals in the United States through group, individual, Medicare, Medicaid, the U.S. Department of Defense, and Veterans Affairs programs. Health Net, Inc. was founded in 1979 and is headquartered in Woodland Hills, California.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Ben Levisohn]
United’s disappointment has helped drag down other health insurers. WellPoint (WLP) dropped 1.3% to $88.53, Health Net (HNT) has fallen 1.7% to $31.25, Aetna (AET) has declined 2.4% to $64.11 and Cigna (CI) is off 3.5% at $77.69.
- [By Brian Stoffel]
Will it carry through?
Other Fools have already covered much about this topic. Keith Speights wondered aloud if the ultimate winners would be companies that chose to participate in the plan -- like WellPoint (NYSE: WLP ) and Health Net (NYSE: HNT ) �-- or those that opted not to.
Top High Tech Companies To Watch For 2014: NeoPhotonics Corp (NPTN)
NeoPhotonics Corporation, incorporated on October 31, 1996, is a designer and manufacturer of photonic integrated circuit (PIC)-based modules and subsystems for bandwidth-intensive, high-speed communications networks. The Company has a portfolio of over 300 products, including products that enable data transmission at 10 gigabytes per second, 40 gigabytes per second and 100 gigabytes per second, agility products, such as reconfigurable optical add/drop multiplexers (ROADMs) that allocate bandwidth to adjust for volatile traffic patterns, and access products that provide high-bandwidth connections to more devices and people over fixed and wireless networks. In October 2011, the Company acquired Santur Corporation. In June 2013, it announced first shipments of optical transceiver modules out of its new, high capacity factory in Dongguan, Guangdong Province, China.
The Company�� products are categorized in 34 product families. The Company sells its products to the network equipment vendors globally, including ADVA AG Optical Networking Ltd., Alcatel-Lucent SA, Ciena Corporation (including its recent acquisition of Nortel�� Metro Ethernet Networks business), Cisco Systems, Inc., FiberHome Technologies Group, ECI Telecom Ltd., Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson, Fujitsu Limited, Harmonic, Inc., Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd., Mitsubishi Electric Corporation, NEC Corporation, Nokia Siemens Networks B.V. and ZTE Corporation.
The Company competes with Finisar Corporation, JDS Uniphase Corporation, MRV Communications, Inc., NTT Electronics Corporation and Sumitomo Electric Device Innovations, Inc.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Anders Bylund]
Close competitor NeoPhotonics (NYSE: NPTN ) soared 15% higher. Larger rival JDS Uniphase (NASDAQ: JDSU ) jumped 7.9% to become the fastest gainer on the S&P 500. If Ciena can beat its own expectations in selling Internet backbone equipment to a bevy of major telecoms, its chief rivals must eventually follow suit. JDS is only one month removed from its latest quarterly report, which sent shares diving 7% overnight (but all was forgiven a week later). NeoPhotonics also reported in early May, but didn't make any waves then.
Top High Tech Companies To Watch For 2014: First Citizens BancShares Inc.(FCNCA)
First Citizens BancShares, Inc. operates as the holding company for First-Citizens Bank & Trust Company that provides various banking products and services to retail and commercial customers in the United States. It offers transaction and savings deposit accounts, commercial and consumer loans, deposit and treasury services and products, cardholder and merchant services, wealth management services, and other commercial banking services. The company also operates as a broker-dealer in securities that provides investment services, including the sale of annuities and third party mutual funds, as well as title insurance agency services. In addition, it owns and leases real estate properties. The company provides its services through branch, telephone and online banking, and automated teller machine network. It operates branches in 17 states and the District of Columbia. The company was founded in 1893 and headquartered in Raleigh, North Carolina.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Tim Melvin]
First Citizens Bank and Trust (FCNCA) is another bank that has seen its returns slipping in the past year. The return on assets and return on equity have both dropping for three consecutive quarters. The tangible equity-to-assets ratio is improving, and now stands at 9.46 but is still below the national averages.
Top High Tech Companies To Watch For 2014: Rubicon Minerals Corp(RBY)
Rubicon Minerals Corporation, a mineral exploration company, engages in the acquisition, exploration, and development of mineral properties in Canada and the United States. It primarily explores for gold and base metal deposits. The company?s key asset is the Phoenix Gold Project located in the Red Lake gold camp, in the Province of Ontario. As of March 31, 2010, it controlled approximately 65,000 acres of prime exploration ground in the prolific Red Lake gold district of Ontario, Canada, as well as approximately 380,000 acres surrounding the Pogo Mine in Alaska and approximately 225,000 acres in northeast Nevada. The company was founded in 1996 and is headquartered in Vancouver, Canada.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Sean Williams]
Another reason this fund looks attractive (at least to me) is that Rubicon Minerals (NYSEMKT: RBY ) is one of its largest holdings at 6.02% of its assets as of May 10, 2013. Rubicon is in the late stages of the development process for the F2 Gold System, which has yielded drilling assessments as high as 767 grams/ton. F2 appears to be just as bountiful in gold well below the surface as it is near the surface, which could mean a very long and profitable mine life for Rubicon.
Top High Tech Companies To Watch For 2014: Charter Financial Corp.(CHFN)
Charter Financial Corporation operates as the holding company for CharterBank that provides various banking services to individuals and businesses in Georgia and Alabama. Its deposit products include demand, NOW, and money market accounts; savings deposits; time deposits; checking accounts; and certificates of deposit. The company's loan products comprise commercial real estate loans; one- to four-family residential mortgage loans; construction and development loans; commercial business loans; and consumer loans, such as home equity loans, lines of credit, auto loans, and second mortgage loans. It operates through 16 branch offices located in West Point, LaGrange, Newnan, Carrollton, Bremen, Covington, and Peachtree City, Georgia; and Auburn, Opelika, and Valley, Alabama, as well as through a loan production office located in Norcross, Georgia. The company was founded in 1954 and is based in West Point, Georgia. Charter Financial Corporation operates as a subsidiary of Fir st Charter, MHC.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Tim Melvin]
I get somewhat amused every day by the thousands of traders who spend all day trying to figure out what the hot stocks like Twitter (TWTR) and Facebook (FB) are going to do every day. Owning stocks like these two banks — or ones I have mentioned before, like ESSA Bancorp (ESSA) and Charter Financial (CHFN) — will be a far more profitable and relaxing endeavor over the next few years.
Top High Tech Companies To Watch For 2014: Systemax Inc.(SYX)
Systemax Inc. operates as a direct marketer of brand name and private label products. The company operates in two segments, Technology Products and Industrial Products. The Technology Products segment sells computers, computer supplies, and consumer electronics in North America and Europe. This segment offers individual technology products in categories, including computers; computer parts; television and video; audio; cameras and surveillance; car and GPS; cell phones; software; video games and toys; home and office; and other products. The Industrial Products segment sells various industrial products and supplies in North America. This segment provides products in categories, such as material handling; storage and shelving; workbench and shop desks; packaging and supplying; furniture and office; foodservice and appliances; janitorial and maintenance; tools and instruments; fasteners and hardware; motors and power transmission; HVAC/R and fans; electrical and bulbs; plumb ing supplies; and safety and medical items. The company offers its products through its relationship marketers, catalog mailings, and Internet Websites. It serves individual consumers; and business customers comprising for-profit businesses, educational organizations, and government entities. Its portfolio of catalogs comprises various brand names, such as TigerDirect.com, Global Computer Supplies, TigerDirect.ca, Misco, Global Industrial, Nexel, and Inmac WStore. As of December 31, 2011, the company operated 42 retail stores in North America; and 7 distribution centers in Europe. Systemax Inc. was founded in 1949 and is headquartered in Port Washington, New York.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Rich Duprey]
Loyalty and marketing specialist Alliance Data Systems (NYSE: ADS ) grabbed a tiger by the tail with a multiyear agreement to�provide private label credit card services�to�Systemax (NYSE: SYX ) subsidiary TigerDirect.
Top High Tech Companies To Watch For 2014: GT Advanced Technologies Inc (GTAT)
GT Advanced Technologies Inc., incorporated on September 27, 2006, is diversified technology company with crystal growth equipment and solutions for the global solar, light emitting diode (LED) and electronics industries. The Company operates in three segments: its polysilicon business, its photovoltaic (PV), business and its sapphire business. The Company's principal products are Silicon Deposition Reactors (SDR) and related equipment used to produce polysilicon, the key raw material used in silicon-based solar wafers and cells; Advanced sapphire crystallization furnaces (ASF) which are used to crystallize sapphire boules, and Directional solidification (DSS) furnaces and related equipment used to cast multicrystalline and MonoCast crystalline silicon ingots. On January 7, 2013, the Company announced the idling of its HiCz pilot manufacturing facility in Hazelwood, Missouri. On November 8, 2012, the Company acquired certain assets of Twin Creeks Technologies, Inc. (Twin Creeks). In May 2013, the Company acquired the business of Thermal Technology LLC.
PV Business
The focus of the Company's PV business is the development, manufacture and sales of crystallization growth furnaces to produce silicon ingots used in the production of solar wafers. The Company's principal product line has been the DSS family of casting furnaces that are used to produce multicrystalline ingots and MonoCast ingots. As of December 31, 2012, the Company shipped approximately 3,300 DSS crystallization furnaces. The ingots are used to make photovoltaic (PV) solar wafers and cells. HiCz, or continuous Czochralski (Cz) growth process, produces monocrystalline ingots that are designed to produce more efficient wafers. The Company�� DSS furnace is a specialized furnace used to melt polysilicon and cast multicrystalline ingots. Multicrystalline ingots are used to produce solar wafers, which ultimately become solar cells. The Company markets its DSS crystallization furnaces under the names DSS450HP and DSS6! 50. The Company's largest capacity DSS furnace, the DSS650, is capable of producing ingots that weigh up to 650 kilograms using standard silicon feedstock. In January 2012, the Company introduced its MonoCast silicon casting technology that uses the DSS furnace architecture to produce ingots comprised of a high percentage of monocrystalline material. The Company is markets MonoCast technology under the name DSS450 MonoCast.
The Company�� ancillary equipment provides operators with material handling assistance during the preparation of the crucible before it is loaded with silicon and during the loading and unloading of the crucible into the DSS furnace chamber at the start of the growth process and out of the DSS furnace chamber at the conclusion of the ingot growth process. The Company's ancillary equipment includes crucible coating stations, crucible manipulators, loaders/unloaders, extraction tools and other material handling systems required to safely transport material during the ingot growth process. The Company sells replacement parts and consumables used in its DSS furnaces and other PV equipment.
Polysilicon Business
The Company's polysilicon business offers Silicon Deposition Reactors, which utilize the chemical vapor deposition process, and related trichlorosilane (TCS) technology and equipment along with engineering services to existing polysilicon producers and new market entrants. The Company's polysilicon business focuses on product design, quality control, engineering services, project management and process development related to the production of polysilicon. It markets its SDR reactors under the names SDR300, SDR400, SDR 500 and SDR 600. The Company provides equipment, technology and engineering services for the production and purification of TCSand silane. This hydrochlorination technology eliminates the need for silicon tetrachloride converters which are required when using certain other polysilicon production technology. The Company also pr! ovides an! cillary equipment and technologies for producing seed rods used in its SDR reactors and for handling and processing the polysilicon rods into a finished product.
Sapphire Business
The Company's sapphire business markets and sells of the Company's ASF systems to customers to enable them to produce sapphire material. The Company also produces sapphire material, on a limited basis, for the LED and other specialty markets at its sapphire pilot production facility in Massachusetts. Its ASF systems produce monocrystalline sapphire material, referred to as sapphire boules. The sapphire boules are used to make sapphire wafers, a substrate for manufacturing LEDs, as well as sapphire blanks and windows for such applications as medical devices and watch crystals. The Company's ASF technology is based on the heat exchanger method (HEM), which is a directional solidification technique, which crystallizes the sapphire meltstock material during the growth process. The Company also uses the facility as a research and development (R&D) center to test new technology developments prior to commercial release. The Company markets and sells its ASF systems under the name ASF100. The Company also provides engineering and product design, quality control, process engineering, engineering services and field services related to the operation of its ASF furnaces. The Company produces sapphire material on a limited basis at its pilot production facility in Massachusetts. The Company sells this material to customers in the LED and other markets, such as the aerospace, defenses and medical device.
The Company manufactures and sells two principal types of sapphire materials: hems Sapphire Material and Titanium-doped Sapphire (Ti:Sapphire) Material. Using the material derives from the sapphire boule generated with its ASF furnaces, the Company cut the sapphire material in a number of different dimensions and crystal orientations, in form factors such as cores, rods, blanks, windows and tubes. The! Company ! generates sapphire boules that are doped with titanium. The Company provides certain finishing and polishing for its Ti:Sapphire material.
The Company competes with ALD Vacuum Technologies AG, JYT Corporation, Ferrotec Corporation, PVA TePla AG, Centrotherm Elektrische Anlagen GmbH & Co., Jing Gong Technology, Zhejiang Jingsheng Mechanical & Electrical Co., Ltd, MSA Apparatus Construction for Chemical Equipment Ltd, Centrotherm Elektrische Anlagen GmbH & Co., Morimatsu Industry Co. Ltd., Poly Plant Project, Inc., Hemlock Semiconductor Corporation, Wacker Chemie AG, MEMC Electronic Materials, Inc., Renewable Energy Corporation ASA, Thermal Technology LLC, Advanced Renewable Energy Company, LLC, Rubicon Technology, Inc., Sapphire Technology Co. Ltd. (Korea), Kyocera International Inc., Saint-Gobain, Gavish Inc., and Monocrystal.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By John Udovich]
Small cap engineered film stock UniPixel Inc (NASDAQ: UNXL) has not been rewarding investors lately but there are signs of light at the end of the tunnel, meaning its worth taking a closer look at the stock along with the performance of potential peers or benchmarks like Corning Incorporated (NYSE: GLW) and small caps Universal Display Corporation (NASDAQ: OLED) and GT Advanced Technologies Inc (NASDAQ: GTAT).
- [By MONEYMORNING.COM]
GT Advanced Technologies Inc. (Nasdaq: GTAT) has a current short float of 36.2% and shares have been down 24.8% this past month. This diversified technology company put itself on the map last October on announcements that GTAT was going to enter into a $578 million deal to supply Apple Inc. (Nasdaq: AAPL) with sapphire material. AAPL uses sapphire as a protective cover for the cameras inside their smartphones, but some speculation has abounded since the GTAT-AAPL deal that the next generation iPhone 6 will employ a virtually unbreakable sapphire screen.
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