The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJINDICES: ^DJI ) was down 98 points early in the Tuesday afternoon trading session. The Consumer Price Index ticked up 0.2% in March, slightly higher than the expected 0.1% boost, driven by shelter and food prices. Overnight, Japanese markets were up, while Europe saw flat-to-moderate weakness across the continent's stock exchanges.
Domestically, headlines again revolved around earnings as the markets entered the heart of the first-quarter releases.
Big names report earnings on Tuesday
Johnson & Johnson� (NYSE: JNJ ) reported fantastic numbers before the bell, beating analyst expectations on revenue and earnings. Earnings were�particularly�strong, rising 35%, primarily on the back of the�company's pharmaceutical division. The stock opened the trading session up over 2% but retreated to a 1.1% gain as of 1 p.m. EDT.�
Hot Integrated Utility Companies To Own In Right Now: Markwest Energy Partners LP (MWE)
MarkWest Energy Partners, L.P. (MarkWest Energy) is a master limited partnership engaged in the gathering, processing and transportation of natural gas; the transportation, fractionation, storage and marketing of natural gas liquids (NGLs), and the gathering and transportation of crude oil. It provides services in the midstream sector of the natural gas industry. The Company also provides processing and fractionation services to crude oil refineries in the Corpus Christi, Texas area through its Javelina gas processing and fractionation facility. As of December 31, 2011, the Company operated in four segments: Southwest, Northeast, Liberty and Gulf Coast. Effective December 31, 2011, the Company acquired the remaining 49% interest in MarkWest Liberty Midstream. On February 1, 2011, the Company acquired Langley processing plant.
Southwest Segment
The Company owns a system in East Texas that consists of natural gas gathering pipelines, centralized compressor stations, a natural gas processing facility and an NGL pipeline. The East Texas system is located in Panola, Harrison and Rusk Counties and services the Carthage Field. Producing formations in Panola County consist of the Cotton Valley, Pettit, Travis Peak and Haynesville formations. During the year ended December 31, 2011, approximately 77% of its natural gas volumes in the East Texas System result from contracts with six producers. The Company sells substantially all of the purchased and retained NGLs produced at its East Texas processing facility to Targa Resources Partners, L.P. (Targa) under a long-term contract. Such sales represent approximately 19.4% of its consolidated revenue in 2011.
The Company owns a natural gas gathering system in the Woodford Shale play in the Arkoma Basin of southeast Oklahoma. The liquids-rich natural gas gathered in the Woodford system is processed through Centrahoma Processing LLC (Centrahoma), its equity investment, or other third-party processors. In addition, it owns the Foss Lake! natural gas gathering system and the Western Oklahoma natural gas processing complex, all located in Roger Mills, Beckham, Custer and Ellis Counties of western Oklahoma. The gathering portion consists of a pipeline system that is connected to natural gas wells and associated compression facilities. The Company also owns a gathering system in the Granite Wash formation in Wheeler County in the Texas panhandle that is connected to its Western Oklahoma processing complex. The Company completed the expansion of the Western Oklahoma natural gas processing plant in October 2011.
Approximately 70% of its Oklahoma volumes result from contracts with three producers in 2011. The Company sells substantially all of the NGLs produced in the Western Oklahoma processing complex to ONEOK Hydrocarbon L.P. (ONEOK) under a long-term contract. Such sales represent approximately 13.2% of its consolidated revenue in 2011. The Company owns a number of natural gas gathering systems located in Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi and New Mexico, including the Appleby gathering system in Nacogdoches County, Texas. It gathers a portion of the gas produced from fields adjacent to its gathering systems, including from wells targeting the Haynesville Shale. In addition, it owns four lateral pipelines in Texas and New Mexico.
Northeast Segment
The Company�� Northeast segment assets include the Kenova, Boldman, Cobb, Kermit and Langley natural gas processing plants, an NGL pipeline and the Siloam NGL fractionation plant. In addition, it has two caverns for storing propane at its Siloam facility and additional propane storage capacity under a long-term firm-capacity agreement with a third party. The Northeast segment operations include fractionation and marketing services on behalf of the Liberty segment. The Company owns and operates a crude oil pipeline in Michigan (Michigan Crude Pipeline) providing transportation service for three shippers.
Liberty Segment
The Company pr! ovides na! tural gas midstream services in southwestern Pennsylvania and northern West Virginia through MarkWest Liberty Midstream. It is a processor of natural gas in the Marcellus Shale, with gathering, processing, fractionation, storage and marketing operations.
Utica Segment
Effective January 1, 2012, the Company and The Energy and Minerals Group (EMG) formed MarkWest Utica EMG, a joint venture focused on the development of natural gas processing and NGL fractionation, transportation and marketing infrastructure to serve producers' drilling programs in the Utica shale in eastern Ohio. During 2011, the Utica Segment did not have any operations.
Gulf Coast Segment
The Company owns and operates the Javelina processing facility, a natural gas processing facility in Corpus Christi, Texas that treats and processes off-gas from six local refineries operated by three different refinery customers. As of December 31, 2011, the Company owned a 40% interest in Centrahoma Processing LLC (Centrahoma), a joint venture with Cardinal Midstream, LLC (Cardinal). Centrahoma owns certain processing plants in the Arkoma Basin and Cardinal operates an additional processing plant that is not owned by Centrahoma but is located adjacent to and operates in conjunction with the Centrahoma plants.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Dr. Kent Moors]
From the Editor: Shares of MarkWest Energy Partners (NYSE: MWE) are up 63% since Kent recommended them in Energy Advantage. Genesis Energy LP (Nasdaq: GEL) is up 71%. But the MLP market is about to get much more interesting, according to Kent. That's why he's targeting the "clones" now...
- [By David Dittman]
Question: Thoughts on MarkWest Energy Partners LP (NYSE: MWE)? I live in Western Pennsylvania, and MarkWest hass been laying pipeline everywhere.
Answer: The pullback since mid-March offers a good opportunity to buy MarkWest Energy under 66. Management recently boosted the quarterly distribution rate by 1.2 percent and increased the MLP’s revolving credit facility to $1.3 billion and extended its maturity by 18 months to March 2019.
Top Japanese Companies To Buy For 2015: Raytheon Company(RTN)
Raytheon Company, together with its subsidiaries, provides electronics, mission systems integration, and other capabilities in the areas of sensing, effects, and command, control, communications, and intelligence systems, as well as mission support services in the United States and internationally. It operates in six segments: Integrated Defense Systems, Intelligence and Information Systems, Missile Systems, Network Centric Systems, Space and Airborne Systems, and Technical Services. The Integrated Defense Systems segment provides integrated naval, air, and missile defense and civil security response solutions. The Intelligence and Information Systems segment offers intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance, advanced cyber solutions, weather and environmental solutions, and information-based solutions for law enforcement and homeland security. The Missile Systems segment develops and produces weapon systems, including missiles, smart munitions, close-in weapon systems, projectiles, kinetic kill vehicles, and directed energy effectors for the armed forces of the U.S. and other allied nations. The Network Centric Systems segment provides net-centric mission solutions, including integrated communications systems, command and control systems, combat systems, and operations and precision components for the U.S. federal, state, and local government customers, as well as civil customers. The Space and Airborne Systems segment designs and develops integrated systems and solutions for missions, including intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance; precision engagement; unmanned aerial operations; and space. The Technical Services segment provides training, logistics, engineering, product support, and operational support services for the mission support, homeland security, space, civil aviation, counterproliferation, and counterterrorism markets. Raytheon Company was founded in 1922 and is based in Waltham, Massachusetts.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Rich Smith]
Raytheon (NYSE: RTN ) landed a trio of Pentagon contracts Friday, worth more than $105 million combined. In ascending order of value, they consisted of:
Top Japanese Companies To Buy For 2015: Lufkin Industries Inc.(LUFK)
Lufkin Industries, Inc. manufactures and supplies oilfield and power transmission products for use in energy infrastructure and industrial applications. The company operates through two segments, Oil Field and Power Transmission. The Oil Field segment manufactures and services artificial lift products, including reciprocating rod lift equipment, including air-balanced, beam-balance, crank-balanced, Mark II Unitorque, and hydraulic units. It also transports and repairs pumping units; and refurbishes used pumping units. In addition, this segment designs, manufactures, installs, and services computer control equipment and analytical services for artificial lift equipment, as well as operates an iron foundry to produce castings for new pumping units. Further, the Oil Field segment provides gas lift, plunger lift, and completion equipment. The Power Transmission segment designs, manufactures, and services speed increasing and reducing gearboxes. It also manufactures capital spa res for customers in conjunction with the production of new gearboxes, as well as produces parts for after-market service. In addition, this segment provides on and off-site repair and service for its own products, and also those manufactured by other companies. Further, the Power Transmission segment is involved in analysis, design, and manufacture of precision, custom-engineered tilting-pad bearings and related components for high-speed turbo equipment operating in critical duty applications, as well as services, repairs, and upgrades turbo-expander process units for air and gas separation. The company markets its products and services primarily in the United States, Europe, Canada, Latin America, the Middle East, and north Africa. Lufkin Industries, Inc. was founded in 1902 and is based in Lufkin, Texas.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Reuters]
Richard Drew/APA board overlooking the floor of the New York Stock Exchange shows an intraday number above 1,600 for the S&P 500 on Friday. A big gain in the job market lifted the stock market to a record high. NEW YORK -- The Dow and S&P 500 advanced to all-time closing highs on Friday, with major indexes jumping 1 percent after an unexpectedly strong April jobs report eased concerns about an economic slowdown. The S&P closed above 1,600 and the Dow briefly traded above 15,000 for the first time as stocks extended this year's rally. Bellwether companies, including Chevron Corp. (CVX), Boeing Co. (BA) and Johnson & Johnson (JNJ), reached 52-week highs. The Russell 2000 stock index of mid- and small cap companies also hit a record, confirming the broadness of the rally. About 70 percent of stocks on both the New York Stock Exchange and the Nasdaq ended in positive territory. Non-farm payrolls rose by 165,000 last month and the unemployment rate fell to 7.5 percent, a four-year low, from 7.6 percent, the government said. In addition, hiring was much stronger than previously thought in February and March. Investors welcomed the gains after weeks of disappointing data, including tepid manufacturing reports, that suggested the economic recovery was losing steam. "We were all wringing our hands over the past month but this alleviates fears about a sharp spring slowdown," said Brad Sorensen, director of market and sector analysis at Charles Schwab in Denver. The Dow Jones industrial average (^DJI) was up 140.61 points, or 0.95 percent, at 14,972.19. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index (^GSPC) was up 16.63 points, or 1.04 percent, at 1,614.22. The Nasdaq Composite Index (COMPX) was up 38.01 points, or 1.14 percent, at 3,378.63. Both the Dow and S&P ended at all-time closing highs. For the week, the Dow rose 1.8, the S&P gained 2 percent and the Nasdaq rose 3 percent in its biggest weekly climb since the first week of the year. Sectors ti
Top Japanese Companies To Buy For 2015: Chino Commercial Bancorp (CCBC)
Chino Commercial Bancorp, incorporated on March 2, 2006, is a bank holding company of Chino Commercial Bank, N.A. (the Bank). The Bank provides a wide variety of lending products for both businesses and consumers. The Bank offers an array of personal, consumer and commercial services generally offered by a locally-managed, independently-operated bank. The Bank provides a range of deposit instruments and general banking services, including checking, savings accounts (including money market demand accounts), certificates of deposit for both business and personal accounts; Internet banking services, such as cash management and Bill Pay; telebanking (banking by phone); and courier services. The Bank operates three full-service banking offices.
Lending Activities
Commercial loan products include lines of credit, letters of credit, term loans, equipment loans, commercial real estate loans, construction loans, accounts receivable financing, working capital financing. Financing products for individuals include auto, home equity, overdraft protection lines and, through a third party provider, MasterCard debit cards. Real estate loan products include construction loans, land loans, mini-perm commercial real estate loans, and home mortgages. As of December 31, 2011, the Company had total assets of $109.7 million and net loans of $55.2 million. Its lending activity is concentrated primarily in real estate loans, which constituted 81.3% of the Company�� loan portfolio as of December 31, 2011, and commercial loans, which constituted 17.6%, of the Company�� loan portfolio as of December 31, 2011.
Investment activities
The Company�� investment security portfolio consists of United States government agency securities, mortgaged-backed securities, municipal bonds and corporate bonds. Investment securities held to maturity are carried at cost, which equates to the unpaid principal balances adjusted for amortization of premium and accretion of discounts.
Sources of funds
Deposits are the Company�� primary source of funds. As of December 31, 2011, the Company�� total deposits were $98.1 million. As of December 31, 2011, its deposits included demand deposits, negotiable order of withdrawal (NOW), savings deposits, money market and time deposits.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Lisa Levin]
Regional - Pacific Banks: This industry rose 1.54% by 10:40 am ET. The top performer in this industry was Chino Commercial Bancorp (OTC: CCBC), which gained 10.2%. Chino Commercial Bancorp's trailing-twelve-month operating margin is 27.57%.
Top Japanese Companies To Buy For 2015: Discovery Minerals Ltd (DSCR)
Discovery Minerals Ltd., formerly Dhanoa Minerals Ltd., incorporated on July 11, 2005, is an exploration-stage company. The Company�� principal business is the acquisition and exploration of menial resources located in the United States, Central and South America. The Company operates in only one business segment, namely natural resource exploration, mining and recovery.
The Company does not own any properties that contain mineral reserves that are economically recoverable. The Company's projects include Turquoise Mountain Project and Yukon Mining Project.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Peter Graham]
Small cap mining stocks Discovery Minerals Ltd (OTCMKTS: DSCR), Zinco Do Brasil Inc (OTCMKTS: ZNBR) and Amalgamated Gold and Silver Inc (OTCMKTS: BCHS) have been getting some extra attention lately as one stock surged last Friday while the other two are or have been in the past, the subject of paid promotions. It goes without saying though that small cap mining stocks tend to be riskier than your average stock. But do these three small cap mining stocks have what it takes to produce a mother lode for investors? Here is a deeper dig into all three:
Discovery Minerals Ltd (OTCMKTS: DSCR) Is Branching Out Into Mining AppsSmall cap Discovery Minerals Ltd is a production stage company formed to acquire and develop natural resource properties. Activities include gold, precious metals and petroleum minerals, including rare earth minerals production and sales. In addition, the company has initiated a new program to evaluate undervalued assets, including clean tech and alternative energy investments, for potential addition to its portfolio. On Friday, Discovery Minerals Ltd surged 25% to $0.001 for a market cap of $1.66 million plus DSCR is down 73% over the past year and down 97.1% over the past five years according to Google Finance.
Top Japanese Companies To Buy For 2015: Inergy L.P. (NRGY)
Inergy, L.P. engages in the storage and transportation of natural gas and natural gas liquids (NGL) in the United States and Canada. The company is also involved in the fractionation and distribution of NGL; and processing of natural gas and distribution of propane, marketing, and price risk management services to users, retailers, and resellers. In addition, it engages in the production and sale of salt products. The company owns and operates four natural gas storage facilities that include Stagecoach, Thomas Corners, Steuben, and Seneca Lake; natural gas transportation assets in New York and Pennsylvania; NGL storage facility in New York; and solution-mining and salt production company in New York. Its customers primarily include natural gas local distribution companies, electric generation companies, natural gas producers, other natural gas pipelines, and natural gas marketing companies. Inergy, L.P. founded in 2001 and is headquartered in Kansas City, Missouri.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Dan Caplinger]
Consolidation has been the name of the game for growth in the propane industry lately, with some deals having made big changes to the industry over the past year. Last spring, Inergy (NYSE: NRGY ) decided to sell off its retail propane business to Suburban Propane (NYSE: SPH ) , vastly increasing Suburban's size while giving Inergy a big stake in its former rival. Meanwhile, Ferrellgas has continued its string of more modest acquisitions, with the company's buyout of privately held Western Petroleum marking the fifth purchase Ferrellgas has made since last August.
Top Japanese Companies To Buy For 2015: Rentech Nitrogen Partners LP (RNF)
Rentech Nitrogen Partners, L.P. is a provider of clean energy solutions and nitrogen fertilizer, to own, operate and grow its nitrogen fertilizer business. The Company primarily produces anhydrous ammonia, or ammonia, and urea ammonium nitrate solution (UAN), at the Company�� facility, using natural gas as its primary feedstock. In November 2012, the Company acquired Agrifos LLC.
The Company�� facility is located in the center of the Mid Corn Belt. The Mid Corn Belt includes the States of Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Missouri, Nebraska and Ohio. The Company considers its market to be consisted of the States of Illinois, Iowa and Wisconsin.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Neha Chamaria]
That should help Mosaic grow its gross margin in the future even as nitrogen-centric companies like CF Industries (NYSE: CF ) and Rentech Nitrogen Partners (NYSE: RNF ) battle rising input costs. While CF's stock has lost nearly 17% in the past six months because of the recent uptick in natural gas prices, Rentech's shares plummeted 37% over the period for the same reasons. Both companies are relying on forward booking of gas prices to reduce risk.
- [By Robert Rapier] While the MLP space is dominated by the oil and gas sector, in last week’s article we began to explore some of the more exotic master limited partnership offerings. This week we continue our exploration of nontraditional MLPs by looking at the partnerships supplying fertilizer.
Rentech (Nasdaq: RTK) has been around for more than a decade, and it has shifted strategies several times. Full disclosure: Rentech’s Chief Technology Officer Harold Wright is a former manager of mine when we were both at ConocoPhillips, and I have visited Rentech’s facility in Commerce City, Colorado.
For most of Rentech’s existence, the company has sought to commercialize alternative fuels. At one time it had ambitions to build a large coal-to-liquids (CTL) plant, but federal legislation ultimately nudged it instead into the biomass-to-liquids (BTL) space. The company did build a BTL demonstration plant, but ultimately shut it down and has now refocused its efforts on becoming “one of the largest wood processing companies in the world.”
During its interesting journey as a company, Rentech acquired two ammonia nitrogen fertilizer facilities, which turned out to be a profit center that funded the alternative energy research. In November 2011, Rentech spun off this fertilizer business into an MLP called Rentech Nitrogen Partners LP (NYSE: RNF).
In the months leading to the spin-off, RTK’s market capitalization was about $200 million. Rentech maintained 60 percent ownership of RNF, and three months after the spin-off RTK’s market cap had risen to $400 million, while investors had bid RNF up to $1 billion. Interestingly, RTK’s share of RNF was worth more than RTK’s entire market cap, a situation that persists. The market currently values Rentech at $482 million, while the valuation of Rentech Nitrogen Partners makes RTK’s 60 percent stake in RNF worth slightly more than $600 million — another illu - [By Tim Gallagher]
Mosaic (MOS), Agrium (AGU), Intrepid Potash (IPI) and CF Industries (CF) have been moving and trading hand-in-hand, with AGU, BHP and Rentech Nitrogen Partners LP (RNF) trading the best, losing the least and rebounding the most since July 30th. IPI has sold off a lot more in the post-news period, as would be expected from a smaller, less established company with mine projects still in development. BHP Billiton Ltd. (BHP) announced plans to proceed with its Jansen Mine Project in Saskatchewan, Canada, potentially tapping the largest and longest-lasting supply in the world known at this time. Scotiabank (BNS) recently commented on Jansen, stating that the added supply "could add the equivalent of 18%-20% of the potash market over recent years." Nearly all of the companies mentioned have had a pretty predictable mix of upgrades and downgrades. That's what makes a market.
- [By Neha Chamaria]
That being said, hedging remains inevitable. After all, it is better to be safe than sorry. And it's not just CF that believes so. Rentech Nitrogen (NYSE: RNF ) , a smaller but pure-nitrogen player, has already locked in 43% of its full-year gas requirements at an average cost of $4 per MMBtu. Rentech paid $3.98 per MMBtu of gas this past quarter. As for CF, it has hedged 90% of requirements through July. So investors shouldn't panic if gas prices rise.
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