Richard Drew/AP WASHINGTON -- The total value of the claims that market makers can recover after suffering losses due to Nasdaq OMX Group's (NDAQ) botched handling of Facebook Inc.'s (FB) initial public offering is $41.6 million, the exchange operator said Friday. The claims figure, which was calculated by Wall Street's industry-funded watchdog the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority -- better known as Finra -- falls short of the $62 million that Nasdaq had initially set aside to repay brokerages that lost money. Nasdaq said the figure is lower in part because some claims didn't qualify for compensation under its plan. The main reason for the lower figure, however, was because one firm opted to try to recover funds through arbitration. The announcement didn't name the brokerage, which was UBS (UBS). UBS has pegged its losses from the glitch-ridden IPO at $350 million and was vocal in its decision to file an arbitration demand which claimed Nasdaq had violated a contract agreement. U.S. District Judge Robert Sweet, however, blocked the bank's arbitration proceeding over the summer on several grounds, including a determination that the bank's claims didn't fall within the scope of the arbitration provision in their services agreement. Facebook's problematic debut on the Nasdaq exchange on May 18, 2012, resulted from a systems failure that prevented the timely delivery of order confirmations and left more than 30,000 Facebook orders stuck in Nasdaq's system for more than two hours. Many brokerages were left in the dark wondering if their trades went through. Major market makers estimated they lost collectively up to $500 million in the IPO. Nasdaq devised a plan to compensate firms up to $62 million, and laid out the criteria for how firms can be eligible to file claims. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission approved the compensation plan in March, and Finra was put in charge of processing the claims for restitution. Several months after approving the plan, the SEC in May filed civil charges against Nasdaq, saying the exchange's "ill-fated decisions" on the day of the Facebook IPO led to a series of regulatory violations. Nasdaq settled the charges and agreed to pay a $10 million fine.
Top 10 Services Stocks To Own For 2015: Health Management Associates Inc.(HMA)
Health Management Associates, Inc., through its subsidiaries, engages in the operation of general acute care hospitals and other health care facilities in non-urban communities in the United States. Its hospitals provide services, including general surgery, internal medicine, obstetrics, emergency room care, radiology, oncology, diagnostic care, coronary care, and pediatric services. The company also offers outpatient services, such as one-day surgery, laboratory, x-ray, respiratory therapy, cardiology, and physical therapy. In addition, its hospitals provide specialty services in cardiology, neuro-surgery, oncology, radiation therapy, computer-assisted tomography scanning, magnetic resonance imaging, lithotripsy, and full-service obstetrics. As of December 31, 2011, the company operated 66 hospitals with a total of 10,330 licensed beds in non-urban communities in Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi, Missouri, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Washington, and West Virginia. Health Management Associates was founded in 1977 and is based in Naples, Florida.
Advisors' Opinion: - [By Rich Smith]
HMA is looking for a new CEO. On Tuesday, hospital operator Health Management Associates (NYSE: HMA ) announced that President and Chief Executive Officer Gary D. Newsome intends to retire from the company on July 31, in order to do missionary work for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, as president of the church's Uruguay-Montevideo Mission in South America.
- [By Sean Williams]
What: Shares of Health Management Associates (NYSE: HMA ) , an acute-care hospital and health care facility operator in the U.S., jumped as much as 11% after a hedge fund noted interest in raising its stake in the company and following two analyst upgrades.
- [By Keith Speights]
Maybe somebody needs to go to the hospital
Large hospital systems operator Health Management Associates (NYSE: HMA ) saw its shares fall 13% this week. That's the biggest drop for the stock in four years.�
Top 10 Services Stocks To Own For 2015: Agility Public Warehousing Co KSC (AGLTY)
Agility Public Warehousing Company KSC is a Kuwait-based company engaged, along with its subsidiaries, in the provision of global integrated logistics solutions. The Company is organized into two business segments: the Logistic and Related services segment provides logistics offering to its clients, including freight forwarding, transportation, contract logistics, project logistics and fairs and events logistics, and the Infrastructure segment provides other services, which include industrial real estate airport and airplane ground handling and cleaning services, customs consulting, private equity and waste recycling. The Company operates under the brand name of Agility. The Company�� subsidiaries include Global Express Transport Co. WLL, PWC Transport Company WLL, Agility DGS Logistics Services KSCC and Gulf Catering Company for General, among others.
Advisors' Opinion: - [By Fiona MacDonald]
The Kuwait SE Price Index rose for a sixth day, climbing 0.5 percent to 6,851.17 at the close. Kuwait Real Estate Co. (KRE) climbed to the highest level in a month. Agility (AGLTY) advanced 1.7 percent after winning a $190 million UN contract in Sudan�� Darfur region. The Bloomberg GCC 200 Index, which tracks the biggest 200 companies in the Gulf Cooperation Council, fell 0.1 percent.
5 Best High Tech Stocks To Own For 2015: Lamar Advertising Company(LAMR)
Lamar Advertising Company, together with its subsidiaries, provides outdoor advertising services. Its outdoor advertising displays include billboards, such as bulletins, posters, and digital billboards; and logo signs to advertise nearby gas, food, camping, lodging, and other attractions. The company also offers transit advertising displays that provide advertising space on the exterior and interior of public transportation vehicles, transit shelters, and benches. As of December 31, 2011, it owned and operated approximately 143,000 billboard advertising displays in 44 states, Canada, and Puerto Rico; operated approximately 112,000 logo advertising displays in 21 states and the province of Ontario, Canada; operated approximately 30,000 transit advertising displays in 16 states, Canada, and Puerto Rico; and owned and operated approximately 1,400 digital billboard advertising displays in 40 states, Canada, and Puerto Rico. The company was founded in 1989 and is headquartered in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
Advisors' Opinion: Top 10 Services Stocks To Own For 2015: Pazoo Inc (PZOO)
Pazoo, Inc., formerly IUCSS, Inc., incorporated on November 16, 2010, is a development-stage company. The Company is an online retailer and distributer of nutritional foods/supplements, wellness goods, and fitness apparel.
As of December 31, 2011, the Company�� source of revenue was through www.pazoo.com. The Company offers a range of products through various catalogs, such as health and beauty, vitamins and supplements, apparel, accessories, food and beverages, fitness and sports equipments, gifts, videos and books, and pet wellness.
Advisors' Opinion: - [By Bryan Murphy]
For those traders who were lucky and smart enough to be in an Arotech Corporation (NASDAQ:ARTX) before today, then congratulations - you're up at least 38% on your position. Now it's time to get out. Conversely, if you're looking for a new name to get into (or perhaps looking for a place to park your ARTX proceeds), then you may want to consider Pazoo Inc. (OTCBB:PZOO)... a tiny online retailer of health and fitness goods. PZOO has dropped several tell-tale hints that more upside is on the way.
Top 10 Services Stocks To Own For 2015: Blackhawk Network Holdings Inc (HAWK)
Blackhawk Network Holdings, Inc., incorporated on January 27, 2006, is a prepaid payment network utilizing technology to offer a range of gift cards, other prepaid products and payment services in the United States and 18 other countries. The Company is a third-party distributor of gift. Its product offerings include gift cards, prepaid telecom products and prepaid financial services products (including general purpose reloadable (GPR), cards and its reload network). In addition, it sells physical and electronic gift cards to consumers through both online distributors and its Website, GiftCardMall.com. It offers gift cards from consumer brands, such as Amazon.com, Applebee��, iTunes, Lowe��, Macy�� and Starbucks and from payment networks, such as American Express, MasterCard and Visa. In addition, it distributes GPR, cards provided by Green Dot and NetSpend, as well as PayPower, its own GPR card. REloadit, its reload network, allows consumers to reload funds onto certain of their previously purchased GPR cards. In November 2013, Blackhawk Network Holdings Inc completed the acquisition of InteliSpend Prepaid Solutions. Effective December 2013, Blackhawk Network Holdings Inc, a unit of Safeway Inc, acquired Retailo AG.
The Company also offers prepaid solutions, including functionality and connectivity for digital wallet products within digital payments space, as well as an online gift card exchange called Cardpool. The Company�� extensive prepaid network provides benefits to its three primary constituents: consumers who purchase the products and services it offers, content providers who offer branded gift cards and other prepaid products that are redeemable for goods and services, and distribution partners who sell those products. Its extensive network connects to more than 500 content providers and over 100,000 active retail distribution locations, providing access to over 160 million consumer visits per week. For consumers, the Company provides a variety of brands and content at ! retail distribution locations and online. For its content providers, it provides access to millions of consumers and creates new customer relationships. For its distribution partners, it provides product category that drives incremental store traffic and customer loyalty. It also distributes prepaid telecom products offered by prepaid wireless telecom brands. The Company distributes its products across multiple traffic channels, such as grocery, convenience, specialty and online retailers.
Advisors' Opinion: - [By Ploutos]
U.S. Stocks
The S&P 500 (SPY) makes a new all-time high, but closes beneath that plateau for the year. The S&P 500 eclipsed its former all-time high close of 1565 on March 28th, faster than I anticipated. With the index now ending the week above 1700 for the first time, closing below 1565 for the year seems a distant memory. Not everyone was calling for a new all-time high to be reached in 2013, and investment bank equity analysts were targeting on average high single digit annual gains at the beginning of the year. I did not expect a 19.9% return through the beginning of August, but I will take it. Grade: BThe equal-weighted S&P 500 (RSP) outperforms its capitalization-weighted alternative. The equal weighted index has produced a total return of 23.34%, besting the market capitalization-weighted S&P 500. Long-time readers know that I have long extolled the virtues of equal weighting. The lagging performance of former top holding Apple (AAPL), which has 1/14th of the weight in the equal weighted index has contributed to the outperformance of the equal weighted strategy. Grade: AThe Russell 2000 (IWM) outperforms the S&P 500 as small caps outpace large caps. The Russell 2000 has bested the S&P 500 by nearly five percent with the small cap index producing an impressive 24.8% return year-to-date. Grade: AThe shares of Bank of America (BAC) outperform J.P. Morgan (JPM) and Wells Fargo (WFC) on both an absolute and risk-adjusted basis. Bank of America has outperformed the broader market, producing a 28% total return year-to-date, but it has lagged Wells Fargo (32.1%) and J.P. Morgan (31.1%) while exhibiting higher volatility. Grade: C-The banking sector (XLF) outperforms the S&P 500. The Financial Selector Sector SPDR has produced a 27.9% year-to-date, besting the S&P 500 by roughly 8%. Grade: AHomebuilders (XHB) outperform the S&P 500, but not when adjusting for their variability of returns, which is over twice that of the broad
Top 10 Services Stocks To Own For 2015: Strategem Capital Corp (SGE)
Strategem Capital Corporation (Strategem) is a Canada-based company. It is a publicly-traded merchant bank involved in acquiring interests in and developing companies. The Company takes early debt and/or equity positions in such emerging growth companies. As of December 31, 2009, the Company is focused on companies that explore or develop precious or base metals.
Advisors' Opinion: - [By Corinne Gretler]
ThyssenKrupp AG (TKA) slumped 9.3 percent after Germany�� largest steelmaker raised 882.3 million euros ($1.21 billion) through a share sale. Standard Chartered Plc lost 8.1 percent. Sage Group (SGE) Plc, the U.K.�� biggest software maker, rose 6.8 percent after reporting revenue growth that exceeded analysts��estimates. AZ Electronic Materials SA surged 43 percent after Merck KGaA (MRK) agreed to buy it for about 1.6 billion pounds ($2.6 billion).
Top 10 Services Stocks To Own For 2015: Genesco Inc. (GCO)
Genesco Inc. engages in the retail and wholesale of footwear, apparel, and accessories. The company operates in five segments: Journeys Group, Schuh Group, Lids Sports Group, Johnston & Murphy Group, and Licensed Brands. The Journeys Group segment operates the Journeys, Journeys Kidz, Shi by Journeys, and Underground by Journeys retail stores that provide footwear and accessories for men, women, and younger children. It also sells footwear and accessories through direct-to-consumer catalog and e-commerce operations. The Schuh Group segment operates Schuh retail footwear stores, which offer casual and athletic footwear for 15 to 30 year old men and women, as well as engages in the e-commerce operations. The Lids Sports Group segment operates headwear and accessory stores under the Lids, Hat World, and Hat Shack banners; sports-oriented fan shops that offer licensed merchandise, such as apparel, hats and accessories, sports decor, and novelty products under the Lids Locker R oom, Sports Fan-Attic, and Sports Avenue banners; and as a Lids Team Sports athletic team dealer, as well as in e-commerce operations. The Johnston & Murphy Group segment is involved in Johnston and Murphy retail, catalog and e-commerce, and wholesale distribution operations. Its stores provide footwear, luggage, and accessories for business and professional customers. The Licensed Brands segment markets casual and dress footwear under the Dockers brand for men aged 30 to 55. As of May 31, 2013, the company operated 2,455 retail stores in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, and the Republic of Ireland. The company also sells its products through journeys.com, journeyskidz.com, shibyjourneys.com, undergroundbyjourneys.com, schuh.co.uk, and johnstonmurphy.com. Genesco Inc. was founded in 1924 and is headquartered in Nashville, Tennessee.
Advisors' Opinion: - [By , Zacks Investment Research]
Genesco (GCO) is a specialty retailer that sells footwear, headwear, sports apparel and accessories in more than 2,550 retail stores and leased departments through brands like Journeys and Lids. It is headquartered in Nashville, Tenn., and has a market cap of $1.8 billion.
- [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 Genesco (NYSE: GCO ) , whose recent revenue and earnings are plotted below.
- [By Eric Volkman]
Genesco (NYSE: GCO ) results for the company's fiscal Q1 2014 have been released. For the quarter, net sales came in at $591 million, a drop of 1.5% from the $600 million in the same period the previous year. Net profit also saw a slip, to $18.4 million ($0.77 per diluted share) from Q1 2013's figure of $20.6 million ($0.85). On an adjusted basis, those numbers were $22.2 million ($0.94 per diluted share) and $23.8 ($0.98), respectively.
Top 10 Services Stocks To Own For 2015: Marlin Midstream Partners LP (FISH)
Marlin Midstream Partners, LP, incorporated on April 19, 2013, develops, owns, operates and acquires midstream energy assets. The Company provides natural gas gathering, transportation, treating and processing services and One million cubic feet (NGL) transportation services, which it refer to as its midstream natural gas business, and crude oil transloading services, which it refer to as its crude oil logistics business. The Company operates in two segments: Midstream Natural Gas and Crude Oil Logistics. Its primary midstream natural gas assets consist of two related natural gas processing facilities located in Panola County, Texas; a natural gas processing facility located in Tyler County, Texas; two natural gas gathering systems connected to its Panola County processing facilities, and two NGL transportation pipelines that connect its Panola County and Tyler County processing facilities to third party NGL pipelines.
Midstream Natural Gas
The Company's primary midstream natural gas assets consist of two related natural gas processing facilities located in Panola County, Texas with an approximate design capacity of 220 One million cubic feet per day (MMcf/d), a natural gas processing facility located in Tyler County, Texas with an approximate design capacity of 80 MMcf/d, two natural gas gathering systems connected to its Panola County processing facilities that include approximately 65 miles of natural gas pipelines with an approximate design capacity of 200 MMcf/d, and two NGL transportation pipelines with an approximate design capacity of 20,000 Stock tank barrel per day (Bbls/d) that connect its Panola County and Tyler County processing facilities to third party NGL pipelines. Its primary midstream natural gas assets are located in long-lived oil and natural gas producing regions in East Texas and gather and process NGL-rich natural gas streams associated with production primarily from the Cotton Valley Sands, Haynesville Shale, Austin Chalk and Eaglebine formations. ! p>
Crude Oil Logistics
The Company's crude oil logistics assets consist of two crude oil transloading facilities: its Wildcat facility located in Carbon County, Utah, where it operates one skid transloader and two ladder transloaders, and its Big Horn facility located in Big Horn County, Wyoming, where the Company operates one skid transloader and one ladder transloader. Its transloaders are used to unload crude oil from tanker trucks and load crude oil into railcars and temporary storage tanks. It�� Wildcat and Big Horn facilities provide transloading services for production originating from well-established crude oil producing basins, such as the Uinta and Powder River Basins. Its skid transloaders each have a transloading capacity of 475 Stock tank barrel per hour (Bbls/hr), and its ladder transloaders each have a transloading capacity of 210 Bbls/hr.
Advisors' Opinion: - [By Marc Bastow]
Mid-stream energy asset manager Marlin Midstream Partners (FISH) raised its quarterly dividend 1% to 35.5 cents per share payable May 6 to shareholders of record May 1. At nearly an 8% dividend yield, FISH is the highest yielder of this week’s dividend stocks.
FISH Dividend Yield: 7.85%
- [By Robert Rapier] In last week’s MLP Investing Insider (MLPII) I took a look at the MLP IPOs from the first half of 2013. Today I review the half dozen that have debuted in the second half of 2013.
Phillips 66 Partners (NYSE: PSXP) launched on July 23 as one of the most anticipated IPOs this year. PSXP owns some of the midstream logistics assets of its sponsor, Phillips 66 (NYSE: PSX). PSXP has yet to announce its first distribution, but according to the IPO prospectus the minimum yield will be $0.85 per unit on an annualized basis. At the current unit price, this equates to a minimum annual yield of 2.8 percent, which is mainly a function of the huge run-up in unit price between the IPO pricing and today’s unit price. If the distribution does come in near the minimum, the unit price will almost certainly correct downward following the announcement.
Marlin Midstream Partners (Nasdaq: FISH) launched on July 26. The partnership provides natural gas gathering, transportation, treating and processing services, NGL transportation services and crude oil transloading services. Marlin’s assets include three natural gas processing facilities in Texas, two natural gas gathering systems, two NGL transportation pipelines, and two crude oil transloading facilities. Marlin expects most of the gross margin to be generated under fee-based, minimum volume commercial agreements.
Marlin targets a coverage ratio of 1.10x to support distributions. Marlin’s partnership agreement provides for a minimum quarterly distribution of $0.35 per unit for each whole quarter, or $1.40 per unit on an annualized basis. The prorated distribution for the two months of the recently concluded quarter since tje IPO should be announced soon. The minimum annual yield based on the current unit price is projected at 7.7 percent. The unit price has declined 6 percent since the IPO.
- [By Aimee Duffy]
The surge of master limited partnership initial public offerings continued this week, as Phillips 66 Partners (NYSE: PSXP ) and Marlin Midstream Partners� (NASDAQ: FISH ) commenced trading. In this video, Fool.com contributor Aimee Duffy looks at both of these IPOs, breaking down the potential opportunities for investors.
- [By Robert Rapier]
Performance so far has been consistent with the advances enjoyed by most of the MLP IPOs over the past year. In fact a few of them made major advances. As discussed in last week�� article No Letup for Last Year�� Top IPO, the best performing MLP of the year so far is Phillips 66 Partners (NYSE: PSXP), which came public last summer and is up 48 percent year-to-date. Of course, there are some exceptions. Marlin Midstream Partners (Nasdaq: FISH) conducted its IPO three days after Phillips 66 Partners last year, and it has traded below its IPO price since. �
Top 10 Services Stocks To Own For 2015: Media General Inc. (MEG)
Media General, Inc. operates as a television broadcasting and digital media company in the United States. The company provides news, information, and entertainment for consumers and advertisers. It owns and operates 31 network-affiliated broadcast television stations and their associated digital media and mobile platforms in 28 markets that reach 16.5 million households. The company was founded in 1850 and is headquartered in Richmond, Virginia.
Advisors' Opinion: Top 10 Services Stocks To Own For 2015: CBS Corporation(CBS)
CBS Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, operates as a mass media company in the United States and internationally. The company?s Entertainment segment distributes a schedule of news and public affairs broadcasts, sports, and entertainment programming; produces, acquires, and distributes programming, including series, specials, news, and public affairs; produces and distributes theatrical motion pictures across various genres; and operates online content networks for information and entertainment. Its Cable Networks segment owns and operates multiplexed channels that offers subscription program services, including recently released theatrical feature films, original series, documentaries, boxing, mixed martial arts and other sports-related programming, and special events; and CBS College Sports Network, a 24-hour cable program service related to college sports. This segment also owns and manages Smithsonian Networks, which operates Smithsonian Channel, a basic cab le service in the United States. The company?s Publishing segment publishes and distributes adult and children?s consumer books in printed, audio, and digital formats. Its Local Broadcasting segment owns 29 broadcast television stations; owns and operates 130 radio stations in 28 U.S. markets and related online properties; and owns local Websites that combine television and radio local media brands online to provide the latest news, traffic, weather, and sports information, as well as local discounts, directories, and reviews. The company?s Outdoor segment sells advertising space on various media, including billboards, transit shelters and other street furniture, buses, rail systems, mall kiosks, stadium signage, and in retail stores. CBS Corporation was founded in 1986 and is headquartered in New York, New York.
Advisors' Opinion: - [By John Kell and Lauren Pollock var popups = dojo.query(".socialByline .popC"); ]
CBS(CBS) Outdoor Americas Inc. will start trading Friday as a standalone company, after pricing Thursday night at the top of its expected range. The billboard-advertising company offered 20 million shares at $28 each in its initial public offering. The company is splitting off from CBS Corp., as the media giant tries to lessen its reliance on ad dollars for its revenue.
- [By Damian Illia]
The company owns Kaplan, a leading global provider of educational services to individuals, schools and businesses, across more than 30 countries, Post-Newsweek Stations in Detroit (NBC), Houston (NBC), Miami (ABC), Orlando (CBS), San Antonio (ABC) and Jacksonville, Cable ONE, digital video, Internet and phone services provider to homes and businesses, the Slate Group, a daily online magazine, Trove, a digital team focused on innovation and experimentation with new technologies, Social Code, leading social marketing solutions partner, Celtic Healthcare, and Forney Corporation. The company has recently sold most of its newspaper operations.
- [By Blake Bos]
A prime example is the show Under the Dome, adapted from Stephen King's novel, which has been the biggest summer success for a CBS (NYSE: CBS ) television series since 1992.