"The critical investment factor is determining the intrinsic value of a business and paying a fair or bargain price." - Warren Buffett
Jim Cramer, the host of CNBC's Mad Money, loves to talk about potential takeover targets. He always adds that stocks should never be purchased solely on takeover speculation. Instead, Cramer states, investors should pay attention to company fundamentals and the market.
Whether or not a company is bought out for a premium, if an investor takes a position in a stock for a "fair or bargain price," then both Warren Buffett's critical investment factor and Cramer's advice have been followed. It is interesting for those in the spotlight, as well as individual investors, to discuss takeover as there are relatively only a few leaders who are actually in the position to consult on, purchase or merge with a multi-million to multi-billion dollar, publicly-traded company.
The Takeover Target
Top 10 Consumer Service Companies To Watch In Right Now: Garmin Ltd.(GRMN)
Garmin Ltd., together with its subsidiaries, designs, develops, manufactures, and markets global positioning system (GPS) enabled products and other navigation, communication, and information products for the automotive/mobile, outdoor, fitness, marine, and general aviation markets worldwide. The company offers a range of automotive navigation products, and various products and applications designed for the mobile GPS market; GPS enabled handheld products for hunters, hikers, geocachers, outdoors enthusiasts, cyclists, and golfers; dog tracking systems; tracker systems; and training assistants for athletes. It also provides handhelds, network products and multifunction displays, fixed-mount GPS/chartplotter products, instruments, fish finders, radars, autopilots, VHF radios, marine networking products, and sounder products. In addition, the company offers GPS-enabled navigation, VHF communications transmitters/receivers, multi-function displays, electronic flight instrumen tation systems, automatic flight control systems, traffic advisory systems and traffic collision avoidance systems, terrain awareness and warning systems, instrument landing system receivers, surveillance products, audio panels, and cockpit datalink systems. The company?s sells its products through a network of independent dealers and distributors, as well as through original equipment manufacturers. Garmin Ltd. was founded in 1990 and is based in Schaffhausen, Switzerland.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Paul Ausick]
Garmin Ltd. (NASDAQ: GRMN) reported fourth-quarter and full-year 2013 results before markets opened Wednesday. For the quarter, the GPS equipment maker posted adjusted diluted earnings per share (EPS) of $0.76 on revenues of $759.7 million. In the same period a year ago, the company reported EPS of $0.68 on revenues of $768.5 million. The quarterly results also compare to the Thomson Reuters consensus estimates for EPS of $0.62 and $712.78 million in revenues.
- [By Daniel Kline]
There are a number of watches and wearables already available. Fredric Paul wrote about the many companies that showed wearables at the 2014 Consumer Electronic Show on Broadcom's blog. He pointed out that companies ranging from fashion brands including Skechers (NYSE: SKX ) to technology companies including�Magellan and Garmin (NASDAQ: GRMN ) (among many others) were all showing off wearables.
- [By Sy Harding]
Garmin, Ltd. (GRMN)
Garmin is a well-known maker of navigation systems and devices used in automobiles, boats, and the aviation industry, as well as ��and-held��portable units used in outdoor and fitness applications.
10 Best Warren Buffett Stocks To Invest In 2014: Flow International Corporation(FLOW)
Flow International Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, operates as a technology-based company providing waterjet cutting, surface preparation, and cleaning solutions in the United States, Europe, Asia, and internationally. The company?s products include ultrahigh-pressure water pumps and power waterjet systems used to cut and clean materials. It also offers ultrahigh-pressure surface preparation and industrial cleaning systems used in waterjet cleaning for coating removal; and consumable parts used by the pump and cutting heads during operations, such as seals and orifices, as well as provides related services. The company sells its consumable parts online through flowparts.com in the United States and floweuropeparts.com in Europe. It offers its products to various end-user applications and industries, including automotive, aerospace, paper, job shop, and stone and tile industries. The company was founded in 1974 and is headquartered in Kent, Washington.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Ben Levisohn]
Flow International (FLOW) has gained 9.6% to $3.99 after it reported a loss of 2 cents a share, below forecasts for a 1 cent profit. Profits were hit by currency fluctuations and a $1.6 million charge.
10 Best Warren Buffett Stocks To Invest In 2014: UPM-Kymmene Corporation (UPM1V)
UPM-Kymmene Corporation is a Finland-based paper and forest products company. The Company operates, along with its subsidiaries, in three segments: the Energy and Pulp segment is divided into three units: Energy, which includes the Company�� hydropower plant and shares in energy companies; Pulp, which includes the Company�� pulp mills, and Foster and Timber, which includes forests, wood procurement, sawmills and further processing; the Paper segment includes the Company�� paper mills, producing magazine paper, newsprint, fine papers, and specialty papers, and the Engineered materials segment is structured into two units: Label, which includes label-stock factories and slitting, and distribution terminals, and Plywood, which includes plywood mills. The Company�� other operations include the wood plastic composite unit, development units and logistic services. On October 2, 2013, it completed the sale of the wood processing mill in Aigrefeuille d'Aunis, to Groupe FP Bois. Advisors' Opinion:- [By Tom Stoukas]
UPM-Kymmene (UPM1V), a rival maker of paper, dropped 1.9 percent to 10.23 euros.
Aryzta surged 4 percent to 60.45 Swiss francs, the biggest gain since March 28. The owner of bakery brands including Delice de France and Otis Spunkmeyer posted full-year revenue of 4.5 billion euros ($6.1 billion), beating analysts��estimates of 4.43 billion euros. The company also forecast a double-digit percentage gain in 2014 earnings.
- [By Corinne Gretler]
UPM-Kymmene Oyj (UPM1V) fell 3.9 percent to 12.18 euros. UBS AG lowered Europe�� second-largest papermaker to sell from neutral. The brokerage said that demand for the company�� product will not recover in Europe and that the industry will probably reduce its capacity next year.
10 Best Warren Buffett Stocks To Invest In 2014: Jacobs Engineering Group Inc. (JEC)
Jacobs Engineering Group Inc. provides professional, technical, and construction services. Its services include engineering, design, and architectural services; construction and construction management services; operations and maintenance services; and process, scientific, and systems consulting services. The company serves a range of companies and organizations comprising industrial, commercial, and government clients across multiple markets and geographies. Jacobs Engineering Group Inc. provides its services to various industries and markets consisting of oil and gas exploration, production, and refining; environmental programs; pharmaceuticals and biotechnology; chemicals and polymers; buildings; infrastructure; power; technology and manufacturing; consumer products; and pulp and paper. The company provides its services through its offices in North America, Europe, the Middle East, Asia, and Australia. Jacobs Engineering Group Inc. was founded in 1947 and is based in Pa sadena, California.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Jake L'Ecuyer]
Top losers in the sector included Chart Industries (NASDAQ: GTLS), Jacobs Engineering Group (NYSE: JEC), and ABB (NYSE: ABB).
Top Headline
Merck & Co (NYSE: MRK) reported a 7% rise in its first-quarter profit. Merck's quarterly profit surged to $1.71 billion, or $0.57 per share, compared to a year-ago profit of $1.59 billion, or $0.52 per share. Excluding certain items, Merck earned $0.88 per share, up from $0.85 per share Its revenue dropped 4% to $10.26 billion versus $10.67 billion. However, analysts were estimating earnings of $0.79 per share on revenue of $10.43 billion. Merck reiterated its full-year earnings forecast of $2.15 to $2.47 per share. - [By Ben Levisohn]
URS Corp, which competes with the likes of Fluor (FLR), Jacobs Engineering (JEC) and Tetra Tech (TTEK), said it would earn between $3.20 and $3.30 a share in 2013–the previous range had been between $4.10 and $4.25 a share–and also offered guidance for 2014 that was well below analyst forecasts. On the plus side, URS said it would buy its shares back at a faster pace than previously announced.
- [By Ben Levisohn]
That leaves just five big losers that have kept on losing. Those would be Darden Restaurants (DRI), which has dropped 0.1% to $46.23 at 3:29.p.m., Jacobs Engineering Group (JEC), which has fallen 0.1% to $53.21, VeriSign (VRSN), which has declined 0.3% to $48.66, Express Scripts (ESRX), which is off 0.4% at $69.08, and Urban Outfitters (URBN), which has slipped 1.2% to $33.45.
- [By Ben Levisohn]
Big losers included Best Buy (BBY), which fell 11% to $38.78 after it said margins would get hit by holiday discounts, Campbell Soup (CPB), which fell 6.2% to $39.20 after reporting lousy earnings, and Jacobs Engineering (JEC), which fell 5.8% to $60.03 after it reported earnings that missed analyst forecasts. Tyson Foods (TSN) gained 4.6% to $30.78 a day after beating earnings forecasts, while Boston Scientific (BSX) after one of its medical devices was approved by European regulators.
10 Best Warren Buffett Stocks To Invest In 2014: Petrosonic Energy Inc (PSON)
Petrosonic Energy, Inc, incorporated on June 11, 2008, is a development-stage company. The Company focused on the treatment and upgrading of heavy oil by sonicated solvent de-asphalting. On July 27, 2012, the Company completed the acquisition of 60% ownership in Petrosonic Albania, SHA. from Sonoro.
The Company�� core technology is an industrial scale sonic reactor that transfers sonic energy on an industrial scale to physical, chemical or biological processes. As of December 31, 2012, the Company had not generated any revenue.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Inyoung Hwang]
Pearson (PSON) jumped 6.2 percent to 1,329 pence, the highest price since May 2001. The media and education company said first-half revenue climbed 7 percent to 2.76 billion pounds ($4.3 billion), surpassing the 2.69 billion-pound average prediction of analysts. Profit fell 26 percent as the company invested in new products.
- [By Namitha Jagadeesh]
Pearson Plc (PSON) surged 6.2 percent to 1,329 pence, its highest price since 2001. The publisher of the Financial Times newspaper posted first-half sales of 2.76 billion pounds ($4.2 billion), exceeding the 2.69 billion pounds estimated by analysts in a Bloomberg survey.
10 Best Warren Buffett Stocks To Invest In 2014: Darden Restaurants Inc (DRI)
Darden Restaurants, Inc. (Darden), incorporated in March 1995, is a company owned and full-service restaurant company. As of May 27, 2012, the Company operated through subsidiaries 1,994 restaurants in the United States and Canada. In the United States, it operated 1,961 restaurants in all 50 states, including 677 Red Lobster, 786 Olive Garden, 386 LongHorn Steakhouse, 46 The Capital Grille, 30 Bahama Breeze, 23 Seasons 52, eight Eddie V's Prime Seafood and three Wildfish Seafood Grille restaurants, and two test synergy restaurants, which house both a Red Lobster and Olive Garden restaurant in the same building. In Canada, the Company operated 33 restaurants, including 27 Red Lobster and six Olive Garden restaurants. Through subsidiaries, it owns and operates all of its restaurants in the United States and Canada, except for three restaurants located in Central Florida that is owned by joint ventures it manages. On November 14, 2011, it acquired eight Eddie V's Prime Seafood restaurants and three Wildfish Seafood Grille restaurants.
As of May 27, 2012, the Company had 28 restaurants outside the United States and Canada operated by independent third parties pursuant to area development and franchise agreements, including five LongHorn Steakhouse restaurants in Puerto Rico, 22 Red Lobster restaurants in Japan, and one Red Lobster restaurant in Dubai. During fiscal year ended May 27, 2012, it opened 89 net new restaurants in the United States and Canada.
Red Lobster
Red Lobster is a full-service dining seafood specialty restaurant operator in the United States. It offers a menu featuring fresh fish, shrimp, crab, lobster, scallops and other seafood. The menu includes a variety of specialty seafood and non-seafood entrees, appetizers and desserts. Red Lobster maintains different lunch and dinner menus and different menus across its trade areas.
Olive Garden
Olive Garden is a full service dining Italian restaurant operator in the United Stat! es. Olive Garden�� menu includes a range of authentic Italian foods featuring fresh ingredients and a wine list that includes a selection of wines imported from Italy. The menu includes flatbreads and other appetizers, soups, salad and garlic bread sticks, baked pastas, sauted specialties with chicken, seafood and fresh vegetables, grilled meats, and a variety of desserts. Olive Garden also uses coffee imported from Italy for its espresso and cappuccino.
LongHorn Steakhouse
LongHorn Steakhouse restaurants are full-service establishments serving both lunch and dinner. With locations in 35 states, primarily in the Eastern half of the United States, LongHorn Steakhouse restaurants feature a range of menu items, including signature fresh steaks, as well as salmon, shrimp, chicken, ribs, pork chops, burgers and prime rib.
The Capital Grille
The Capital Grille has locations in metropolitan cities in the United States. The Capital Grille offers seafood flown in daily and culinary specials created by its chefs. The restaurants feature a wine list offering over 350 selections, personalized service, and private dining rooms.
Bahama Breeze
Bahama Breeze restaurants bring guests the feeling of a Caribbean escape, offering the food, drinks and atmosphere found in the islands. The menu features Caribbean-inspired seafood, chicken and steaks, as well as signature specialty drinks. During fiscal 2012, it opened four Bahama Breeze restaurant.
Seasons 52
Seasons 52 is a grill and wine bar with seasonally inspired menus offering ingredients to meals that are lower in calories than comparable restaurant meals. It offers a wine list of more than 90 wines with approximately 60 available by the glass. As of May 27, 2012, there were 23 Seasons 52 restaurants in the United States.
Synergy restaurant
Synergy restaurant houses both a Red Lobster and Olive Garden restaurant in the same building, but ! with sepa! rate front doors, dining rooms and brand-specific menus. It opened a second synergy test location during fiscal 2012.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By John Maxfield]
Rich Duprey's article "Will Obamacare Carve up the Restaurant Industry?" builds on these concerns. Rich cites statements from CEOs of multiple restaurant chains about the possibility that worker hours will be cut to avoid the added premiums. The head of Papa John's (NASDAQ: PZZA ) said that it's "common sense" to do so, and Darden Restaurants (NYSE: DRI ) , the parent company of Olive Garden and Red Lobster, experimented with a plan to hire more part-time workers last year before abandoning it in the face of a customer backlash.
- [By Demitrios Kalogeropoulos]
Darden Restaurants (NYSE: DRI ) just closed out a tough year. Sales at the company's flagship Red Lobster, Olive Garden, and LongHorn Steakhouse locations fell hard this past winter as value-minded customers flocked to cheaper alternatives.
10 Best Warren Buffett Stocks To Invest In 2014: Fairchild Semiconductor International Inc (FCS)
Fairchild Semiconductor International, Inc. (Fairchild) focuses on developing, manufacturing and selling power analog, power discrete and certain non-power semiconductor solutions to a range of end market customers. The Company is a supplier of power analog products, power discrete products and energy-efficient solutions, according to iSuppli. Its products are used in a range of electronic applications, including sophisticated computers and Internet hardware; communications, including wireless phones; networking and storage equipment; industrial power supply and instrumentation equipment; consumer electronics, such as digital cameras, displays, audio/video devices and household appliances, and automotive applications.
The Company�� product groups are organized by the end markets, which include Mobile, Computing, Consumer and Communication (MCCC), Power Conversion, Industrial and Automotive (PCIA) and Standard Discrete and Standard Linear (SDT). It invested in the wafer fabrication power semiconductor technology, including low and mid voltage PowerTrench, advanced insulated gate bipolar transistor (IGBT), as well as advanced high power metal oxide semiconductor field effect transistors (MOSFET) fabrication technologies.
Mobile, Computing, Consumer and Communication (MCCC)
The Company designs, manufactures and markets high-performance analog and mixed signal integrated circuits, low voltage power MOSFETs for mobile, consumer, computing, and communication applications. It has a portfolio of PowerTrench technology products. Its analog and mixed signal products are focused on the mobile end- markets.
Analog products monitor, interpret, and control continuously variable functions, such as light, color, sound, and energy. It forms the interface with the digital world. It provides a range of analog products that perform such tasks as voltage regulation, audio amplification, power and signal switching and system management. Analog voltage regulation circ! uits are used to provide constant voltages, as well as step up or step down voltage levels on a circuit board. These products enable improvements in power efficiency, lighting management, and improve charge times in ultraportable products. These products are used in a variety of mobile, computing, communications and consumer applications.
In addition to the power analog and interface products, it also offers signal path products. These include analog and digital switches, universal serial bus (USB) switches, video filters and high performance audio amplifiers. The analog switch functions are typically found in cellular handsets and other ultra portable applications. The video products provide a single chip solution to video filtering and amplification. Video filtering applications include set top boxes and digital television. Its solutions include surface mount devices, tiny packages, chip scale packages, and leadless carriers.
The Company also design, manufacture and market power semiconductor solutions for computing, communications, mobile, consumer and industrial applications. Power semiconductor solutions include, power discrete MOSFETs, analog integrated circuits, and fully integrated multi-chip and monolithic power solutions. Its power MOSFETs are primarily used in power delivery and power control applications. Power delivery and control applications are ubiquitous across data consumption, processing and communication applications. It produces advanced low power MOSFETs under its PowerTrench brands. The advanced power MOSFETs applications are used in smartphones, tablets, notebook personal computer, high performance gaming, home entertainment systems, servers, data communication, and routers.
The Company competes with Analog Devices, Inc., Linear Technology Corporation, Maxim Integrated Product, Inc., Micrel Inc, ON Semiconductor Corporation, ST Microelectronics N.V., Intersil Corporation, International Rectifier Corporation, Infineon Technologies AG and T! exas Inst! ruments Incorporated.
Power Conversion, Industrial and Automotive (PCIA)
Fairchild design, manufacture and market power discrete semiconductors, analog and mixed signal integrated circuits (ICs) for broad power conversion/power management, industrial, and automotive applications. Its products are building blocks that help convert a semi-regulated energy source (alternating current (AC)or direct current (DC)) to a regulated output for electronic systems (AC-DC, DC-AC, and DC-DC conversion). Its discrete devices are individual diodes or transistors that perform power switching, power conditioning and signal amplification functions in electronic circuits. The Company�� analog and mixed signal integrated circuits (IC) are used to control discrete semiconductors in applications, such as power switching, conditioning, signal amplification, power distribution and power consumption. It manufacture discrete products using vertical DMOS MOSFETs, Insulated Gate Bipolar Transistors (IGBT), Bipolar, and ultrafast rectifier technologies. It manufacture analog and mixed signal ICs using a range of bipolar (Bi), complementary metal oxide (CMOS), BiCMOS, and bipolar/CMOS/DMOS (BCDMOS) processes up to 1,200 volts and down to 0.35um (microns) minimum geometry.
Power MOSFETs are used in applications to switch, shape or transfer energy. These products are used in a range of high-growth applications, including solar inverters, uninterruptible power supplies (UPS), data centers and communications, motors, lighting, automotive, computing, displays and industrial supplies. It produce advanced power MOSFETs under its SupreMOS, SuperFET, PowerTrench, UniFET and QFET brands. IGBTs are high-voltage power discrete devices. They are used in switching applications for solar inverters, uninterruped power supply, data centers and communications, motors, industrial, power supplies, displays, television and automotive ignition systems. These applications require lower switching frequencies, highe! r power, ! and/or higher voltages than a power MOSFET can provide. It is a supplier of IGBTs. Rectifier products work with IGBTs and MOSFETs in many applications to provide power conversion and conditioning. Its product is the STEALTH rectifier, providing industry performance and efficiencies in data communications, industrial power supply, displays, television, and motor applications.
Leveraging its power MOSFET and IGBT technologies, it also design and manufacture modules for the industrial, automotive, and home appliance end markets. It design and develop a line of smart power modules (SPM) products targeted to various end applications in consumer white goods and industrial applications, which include room air conditioners, industrial power supplies, solar inverters, pumps, and industrial motors. These are multi-chip modules containing up to 28 components in a single package that includes diodes, power discrete IGBTs or MOSFETs, high voltage power management driver ICs and current and temperature sensors. Similar modules, called APM, are used in automotive applications.
The Company design and manufacture power management semiconductors for line-powered and off-line powered systems that integrate its Power MOSFETs. It sell and market off-line and isolated DC-DC ICs, MOSFET and IGBT gate driver ICs, and power factor correction ICs to the consumer, computing, display, television, lighting and industrial segments.
The Company competes with Infineon Technologies AG, ST MicroelectronicsN.V., International Rectifier Corporation, Toshiba Corporation, Mitsubishi Corporation, Texas Instruments Incorporated, Power Integrations, Inc., ON Semiconductor Corporation, NXP Semiconductors N.V. and Vishay Intertechnology, Inc.
Standard Linear and Standard Discrete (SDT)
Standard Diodes and Transistors products cover a range of semiconductor products, including MOSFET, junction field effect transistors (JFETs), high power bipolar, discrete small signal transistors, TVS,! Zeners, ! rectifiers, bridge rectifiers, Schottky devices and diodes. The Company design, manufacture and market analog integrated circuits for computing, consumer, communications, ultra-portable and industrial applications. These products are manufactured using bipolar, CMOS and BiCMOS technologies. Standard Linear solutions range from bipolar regulators, shunt regulators, low drop out regulators, standard op-amp/comparators, low voltage op-amps, and others. Analog voltage regulator circuits are used to provide constant voltages, as well as to step up or step down voltage levels on a circuit board. Op-amps/comparators are designed specifically to operate from a single power supply over a range of voltages. It also offer low-voltage op-amps that provide a combination of low power, rail-to-rail performance, low voltage operation, and tiny package options which are well suited for use in personal electronics equipment. Its solutions include surface mount devices, tiny packages and leadless carriers.
The Company competes with International Rectifier Corporation, Diodes Incorporated, NXP Semiconductors N.V., ST Microelectronics N.V., ON Semiconductor Corporation, Texas Instruments Incorporated, Vishay Intertechnology, Inc., Vishay Intertechnology, Inc, Osram Opto Semiconductors, OPTEK Technology, OMRON Corporation, Avago Technologies Ltd. and Kodenshi Corp.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Alex Planes]
The Atari 2600 launched at a cost of $199 (equal to about $750 today) in the fall of 1977. The console's first two years on the market almost sent it the way of the Osyssey, since Atari managed to sell less than one million units by the end of 1978�. However, Fairchild Semiconductor's (NYSE: FCS ) decision to abandon console gaming in 1979 (it had actually beaten Atari to market with the Channel F in �1976, but sold fewer units than the 2600), coupled with the launch of a Space Invaders cartridge for the 2600 in 1980, gave Atari a clear path to huge sales. Two years later, the 2600 had reached ten million households, and console gaming had a foothold. Atari was briefly the crown jewel in Warner's entertainment empire, but this success wouldn't last.
- [By Brian Pacampara]
What: Shares of power chip specialist Fairchild Semiconductor (NYSE: FCS ) sank 10% today after its quarterly results and outlook missed Wall Street expectations.
- [By Alex Planes]
In an epochal paper published in Electronics magazine on April 19, 1965 and simply titled "Cramming more components onto integrated circuits," Fairchild Semiconductor (NYSE: FCS ) director of research Gordon E. Moore wrote (emphasis mine):
- [By Alex Planes]
British radar engineer Geoffrey Dummer first made public the concept of integrated circuits on May 7, 1952. This was still years before practical transistor-based electronics would hit the consumer market, but the notion caught on with two very talented engineers: Robert Noyce, founder of Fairchild Semiconductor (NYSE: FCS ) , and Jack Kilby of Texas Instruments. Working independently, the two men would help build the entire semiconductor industry from the ground up, using Dummer's concepts as a starting point.
No comments:
Post a Comment