Several folks ��regular folks ��who found themselves the unlikely stars of Super Bowl ads did, too.
We talked to three of them. They're still in the clouds ��and not remotely eager to step back on terra firma.
��The woman who quit her job. It's one thing to quit your job. It's another thing entirely to do it in front of 100 million viewers. Gwen Dean chose the latter approach Sunday night in, of all things, a GoDaddy Super Bowl commercial. In the spot, she holds up a hand puppet that she had made ��an important part of her new career ��and mouthed these words to her boss, "Ted: 'I quit.'"
Dean, 36, says she wasn't particularly happy ��or unhappy ��at her job as a highly paid engineer overseeing the air-conditioning cooling systems in Manhattan high-rises. But Dean prefers to earn a living making high-end puppets and performing puppet shows. In the New York City area, where she lives and works, she says she can pull in up to $300 for a 45-minute show. With no strings.
Hot Electric Utility Companies For 2015: Tuesday Morning Corp.(TUES)
Tuesday Morning Corporation engages in the retail sale of decorative home accessories, housewares, and gifts in the United States. The company?s merchandise primarily consists of lamps, rugs, furniture, kitchen accessories, small electronics, gourmet housewares, linens, luggage, bedroom and bathroom accessories, toys, stationary, and silk plants, as well as crystal, collectibles, and silver serving pieces. It also offers apparel and accessories. In addition, the company provides brand name merchandise, including cookware, appliances, linens, bath towels, luggage, flatware, tabletop, crystal, collectibles, dolls, china and giftware, and rugs. As of September 21, 2011, it operated 861 discount retail stores in 43 states. The company was founded in 1974 and is headquartered in Dallas, Texas.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Manoj Madhavan]
All it takes is a change of "sentiment" and this stock could easily double in value from the current "bankruptcy" price of $2.51 per share. If you do not believe what "sentiment", or "market psychology" can do to a share price, then take a look at Tuesday Morning's (TUES) numbers. Incidentally, I randomly picked TUES as one of many excellent candidates to prove my point. I could just as easily have picked one of the other retail turnaround stories such as Pier 1 Imports.
- [By John Udovich]
Its worth taking a much�closer look at small Cap specialty retail stock Tuesday Morning Corporation (NASDAQ: TUES) verses the performance of potential retail ETF peers like the SPDR S&P Retail ETF (NYSEARCA: XRT), Market Vectors Retail ETF (NYSEARCA: RTH) and Direxion Daily Retail Bull 3X Shares (NYSEARCA: RETL). In case you are not familiar with the stock, an activist shareholder (who became the Chairman of the Board) complained about the company�� performance (or rather�a wider net loss that�TUES had reported) back in 2012 and this�lead to the firing of CEO Kathleen Mason who then turned around and filed a discrimination claim claiming she was fired after 12 years in the role after she disclosed that she was being treated for breast cancer. Late in 2012, Tuesday Morning Corporation also fired�its chief merchandise officer after only five months on the job and then hired a new CEO.
- [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 Tuesday Morning (Nasdaq: TUES ) , whose recent revenue and earnings are plotted below.
Hot Performing Companies To Own In Right Now: FBR & Co (FBRC)
FBR & Co., formerly FBR Capital Markets Corporation, is a full-service investment banking, institutional brokerage and asset management company. In addition, it makes principal investments, including merchant banking investments. The Company�� subsidiaries are FBR Capital Markets & Co. (FBR & Co.), FBR Capital Markets International, Ltd. (FBRIL), Financial Services Authority (FSA), and FBR Fund Advisers, Inc. (FBR Fund Advisers). Its segments include capital markets, which include investment banking and institutional brokerage and research; asset management, and principal investing, which includes merchant banking. It provides capital raising services, including underwriting and placement of public and private equity and debt; financial advisory services, including merger and acquisition advisory, restructuring, liability management, recapitalization and strategic alternative analysis; asset management services through a family of mutual funds; institutional sales and trading services focused on equities, equity-linked securities, listed options, high-yield bonds, senior debt and bank loans; and research coverage.
Capital Markets
The Company�� capital markets business is conducted by its investment banking and institutional brokerage professionals through its United States and United Kingdom broker-dealer subsidiaries. These professionals provide investment banking services, including capital raising and financial advisory services, and institutional brokerage services, including sales, trading, and research services, to its institutional clients across its core industry sectors.
Asset Management
The Company�� investment adviser subsidiaries principally manage a family of mutual funds. At December 31, 2011, it managed client assets through its 10 mutual fund product lines that cover a range of sectors and asset classes. Through attention to relative valuation and security selection, it manages mutual funds strive both to participate in rising m! arkets and preserve capital in down markets. It focuses on expanding its asset management business.
The Company�� investing activity consists primarily of investments in merchant banking investments, investments in publicly traded companies, and investments in short-term liquid instruments. This strategy involves putting its capital to work alongside the capital of its institutional clients.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Zachary Tracer]
FBR & Co. (FBRC) is leading the sale, according to a regulatory filing today from Emeryville, California-based NMI. The company said it�� seeking to raise $25 million, a placeholder amount used to calculate registration fees, according to the document.
- [By DAILYFINANCE]
Brian Smale/Microsoft via Getty ImagesNewly named Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella. SAN FRANCISCO -- After compiling a list of more than 100 CEO candidates, Microsoft settled on Satya Nadella a homegrown leader who joined the software maker in the early 1990s. That's back when Google's founders were teenagers and Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg was in elementary school. Tuesday's hiring of Nadella as Microsoft's CEO after a five-month search is a safe move that's likely to be greeted with sighs of relief around the company's Redmond, Wash., headquarters, industry analysts say. But the methodical, almost predictable decision is likely to reinforce perceptions that Microsoft (MSFT) is a plodding company reluctant to take risks as it competes against younger rivals who relish going out on a limb. While Google (GOOG) founder and CEO Larry Page boasts about his company taking "moon shots" and Zuckerberg promises to "move fast and break things," Microsoft has fallen behind the technological curve after underestimating the importance of Internet search more than a decade ago and reacting too slowly to the rise of mobile devices during the past seven years. Meanwhile, the sales of personal computers running on Microsoft's Windows software are shrinking. Microsoft's malaise may have narrowed the field of up-and-coming visionaries interested in running a company founded in 1975. Just as Microsoft founder Bill Gates and Apple (AAPL) founder Steve Jobs would never have considered working at IBM (IBM) in the 1980s, today's entrepreneurial whiz kids scoff at Microsoft's overtures. "Going to work at Microsoft could make it look like you are going back to the dark ages," says Richard Metheny, a management coach for the executive search firm Witt/Kieffer in Chicago. "It's a well-entrenched business that has had trouble lately figuring out how to play in this new world." Despite its challenges, Microsoft remains a moneymaking machine that sits atop an $84 billion cash pile. Tha
Hot Performing Companies To Own In Right Now: Parametric Technology Corporation(PMTC)
Parametric Technology Corporation develops, markets, and supports product lifecycle management (PLM) software solutions and services that help companies design products, manage product information, and enhance product development processes worldwide. Its PLM solutions comprise Windchill, an Internet-based content and process management solution for managing data and relationships, processes, and publications; Arbortext, an enterprise solution to manage complex information assets that enhance their customer support and service center information delivery processes; Creo View, which enables enterprise-wide visualization, verification, annotation, and automated comparison of various product development data formats; and Integrity that coordinates and manages various activities and artifacts associated with developing software-intensive products. The company?s desktop solutions include Creo Parametric, a family of three-dimensional product design solutions based on a parametr ic, feature-based solid modeler that enables changes made during the design process to be associatively updated throughout the design; Creo Elements/Direct, a family of computer aided design and collaboration software used for customers to meet short design cycles and to create product designs; Mathcad, an engineering calculation software solution, which combines a computational engine, accessed through conventional math notation, and with a full-featured word processor and graphing tools; and Arbortext to help customers improve documentation accuracy, speed time to market, reduce translation requirements, and lower publishing costs. In addition, it provides consulting, implementation, training, maintenance, and computer-based training products. Parametric Technology sells its products and services through direct sales force and third-party resellers and other strategic partners. The company was founded in 1985 and is headquartered in Needham, Massachusetts.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Eric Volkman]
PTC (NASDAQ: PMTC ) results for the company's Q2 have been released. For the quarter, non-GAAP revenue was just under $315 million, which bettered the $302 million the company posted in the same period the previous year. Net profit also saw an increase, advancing to $49.6 million ($0.41 per diluted share) from Q2 2012's $35.9 million ($0.30).
- [By Northrop Puckett]
The company is facing headwinds in the broader economy. This can be seen in declining sales in many areas of their business. Regionally, the U.S was flat; Northern Europe was up; Southern Europe was down; and emerging markets were down. Autodesk also lowered quarterly and yearly revenue expectations. This lowering of guidance by Autodesk also matches the same guidance changes made by competitors Parametric Technology (PMTC) and ANSYS (ANSS), so it is not necessarily losing out to its rivals in this case.
Hot Performing Companies To Own In Right Now: Holcim Ltd (HOLN)
Holcim Ltd (Holcim) is a Switzerland-based holding company that specializes in the manufacture, distribution and marketing of building materials. The Company operates four business segments, including Cement, Aggregates, Other construction materials and services, and Corporate. The Cement segment is engaged in the development of cement and comprises clinker and other cementitious materials, among others. The Aggregates business segment includes crushed stone, gravel and sand. The Other construction materials and services business segment comprises ready-mix concrete, concrete products, asphalt, construction and paving, and trading, among others. Additionally, other construction materials and services segment provides environmental services, including waste management, among others. The Corporate segment is engaged in holding activities and general management. It operates through subsidiaries in Asia Pacific, Latin America, Europe, North America, Africa and Middle East regions. Advisors' Opinion:- [By Sofia Horta e Costa]
Holcim Ltd. (HOLN) lost 0.9 percent to 68.15 francs in Zurich. Bank of America Corp.�� Merrill Lynch unit cut its rating on the world�� largest cement maker to underperform, similar to a sell recommendation, from neutral. Merrill Lynch cited the company�� exposure to emerging markets.
Hot Performing Companies To Own In Right Now: Iron Mountain Incorporated(IRM)
Iron Mountain Incorporated, together with its subsidiaries, provides information management services primarily in North America, Europe, Latin America, and the Asia Pacific. The company offers records management services, including records management program development and implementation based on best-practices to help customers comply with specific regulatory requirements; implementation of policy-based programs that feature storage for various media comprising paper; flexible retrieval access and retention management; hybrid services to help organizations gain control over their paper records; and specialized services for vital records and regulated industries, such as healthcare, energy, government, and financial services. It also provides data protection and recovery services, such as disaster preparedness; off-site vaulting of data backup media for data recovery in the event of a disaster, human error, or virus; online backup and recovery solutions for desktop and la ptop computers, and remote servers; and technology escrow services to protect and manage source code and other proprietary information. In addition, the company offers information destruction services that primarily consist of physical secure shredding operations; and is involved in the shredding of sensitive documents to third-party recyclers. Further, it provides fulfillment services that assemble custom marketing packages and orders, as well as provide reporting on customer marketing literature inventories; and professional consulting services to develop and implement comprehensive records and information management programs. Iron Mountain Incorporated serves commercial, legal, banking, health care, accounting, insurance, entertainment, and government organizations. The company was founded in 1951 and is headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Travis Hoium]
What: Shares of Iron Mountain (NYSE: IRM ) dropped 16% today after the company revealed that the IRS is looking into its switch to a REIT structure.
- [By Rich Smith]
This series, brought to you by Yahoo! Finance, looks at which upgrades and downgrades make sense, and which ones investors should act on. Today, our headlines feature a pair of downgrades for document storage company Iron Mountain (NYSE: IRM ) and insulin treatments-equipment maker Insulet (NASDAQ: PODD ) . But the headlines aren't all bad, so before we break the bad news to you, let's start off on a bright note about...
- [By Ben Levisohn]
Last week, the IRS gave Iron Mountain (IRM) what it wanted: REIT status. Since then, the storage company’s shares have jumped 18%–and JPMorgan thinks they could head higher.
APJPMorgan’s Andrew Steinerman and Jeffrey Volshteyn explain why they now rate Iron Mountain Overweight:
Iron Mountain announced that it achieved IRS approval for REIT status retroactively as of January 1, 2014, completing a process that began in 2012.�Iron Mountain stock leaped 20% on Thursday due to the large cash tax savings and the resulting increased dividend. We still see continued upside due to valuation as yield-oriented and REIT investors are attracted to Iron Mountain. While we recognize that Iron Mountain will not prospectively trade at a full real estate valuation (due to the services side of their business), the REIT structure should help highlight the sizable valuation gap that exists today and should narrow over time.
Iron Mountain is much cheaper than the industrial, self storage and data center REITs that carry dividend yields of 3.6%, 3.3% and 4.6% respectively. We believe the dividend yields of prison stocks (also non-traditional REITs), which have dividend yields of 6.3%, provide downside protection to Iron Mountain.
Prison REIT Corrections Corp of America (CXW) yields 6.2% and trades at 24.9 times earnings, while�Geo Group (GEO) yields 6.4% on a P-E ratio of 20.8 times.
Shares of Iron Mountain have, while Correction Corp of America has and Geo Group has.
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