In early November, we wrote about how Australia�� new government was aggressively pushing to revive stalled free-trade agreements (FTA) with regional neighbors, such as China, Japan, and South Korea. After several years of negotiations, Australia successfully concluded a trade deal with South Korea in mid-December.
The deal was initialed on Feb. 10 by the negotiators, and the text was released to the public early last week. Formal ratification by the two countries is expected within about four months, and the agreement will come into force by the year�� end.
In the past, the primary obstacle to a deal had been Australia�� refusal to include an international arbitration clause, which grants investors the right to sue a foreign government if a trade agreement is breached. But Australia compromised on this front, and the resulting deal includes explicit safeguards protecting the country�� right to regulate in areas such as health and the environment.
Top International Stocks To Buy For 2015: Empire State Realty Trust Inc (ESRT)
Empire State Realty Trust, Inc., incorporated on July 29, 2011, is a self-administered and self-managed real estate investment trust (REIT), which owns, manages, operates, acquires and repositions office and retail properties in Manhattan and the greater New York metropolitan area. The Company operates in two segments: real estate and construction contracting. As of June 30, 2013, the Company owned 12 office properties (including one long-term ground leasehold interest) encompassing approximately 7.7 million rentable square feet of office space, which were approximately 83.5% leased (or 86.2% giving effect to leases signed but not yet commenced as of that date). Seven of these properties are located in the midtown Manhattan market and encompass in the aggregate approximately 5.9 million rentable square feet of office space, including the Empire State Building. Its Manhattan office properties also contain an aggregate of 440,615 rentable square feet of retail space on their ground floor and/or lower levels. Its remaining five office properties are located in Fairfield County, Connecticut and Westchester County, New York, encompassing in the aggregate approximately 1.8 million rentable square feet.
The Company has entitled land at the Stamford Transportation Center in Stamford, Connecticut, adjacent to one of its office properties, that supports the development of an approximately 380,000 rentable square foot office building and garage, which refers to herein as Metro Tower. As of June 30, 2013, its portfolio also included four standalone retail properties located in Manhattan and two standalone retail properties located in the city center of Westport, Connecticut, encompassing 204,452 rentable square feet in the aggregate. As of June 30, 2013, its standalone retail properties were 100% leased in the aggregate. In addition, the Company has an option to acquire from affiliates of its predecessor two additional Manhattan office properties encompassing approximately 1.5 million rentable squar! e feet of office space and 153,209 rentable square feet of retail space at the base of the buildings.
The Empire State Building is the Company�� flagship property. The 102-story building consists of 2,701,938 rentable square feet of office space and 167,788 rentable square feet of retail space. The building also includes its observatory and broadcasting operations. The Company�� portfolio includes retail properties located in retail corridors in Manhattan and Westport, Connecticut. Tenants at 10 Union Square in Manhattan include Best Buy Mobile, Starbucks, A&P, Panera Bread, FedEx/Kinko��, Au Bon Pain, Chipotle Mexican Grill, and GameStop. In the greater New York metropolitan area, its portfolio includes high quality suburban office properties in densely populated metropolitan communities in Fairfield County, Connecticut and Westchester County, New York. tenants of the greater New York metropolitan area flagship Metro Center (at the Transportation Center in Stamford, Connecticut) include Thomson Reuters, Jefferies Group, Columbus Circle Investors, Torm Shipping, Olympus Partners, BP Energy, Tweedy, Browne Company and Susquehanna International.
The Company approximately has 242 million square feet of rentable space, which are contained within Midtown�� multi-tenant office buildings. Downtown Chicago and the Washington, D.C. CBD combine has a total of 230 million square feet of office space. Three-quarters 75.3% of Midtown�� office stock is classified as Class A with total square footage of 182 million square feet. The Company approximately has 43.9 million square feet of Midtown office space is counted as Class B stock, accounting for 18.2% of the total market. The remaining 6.5% of Midtown office space (15.8 million square feet) is categorized as Class C space. The Grand Central submarket is a office submarket in Midtown Manhattan with 44 million square feet and is located on the east side of Midtown Manhattan, to the north of Murray Hill and to the south of the Park ! Avenue co! rridor.
The West Side office submarket, located to the south and west of Central Park and including the area around Columbus Circle, consists of 25.8 million square feet of office space. Westchester County contains approximately 28.9 million square feet of office space and is split into six submarkets: White Plains CBD and non-CBD, Northern, Central, Eastern and Southern. The White Plains CBD is situated in south central Westchester County, along the Cross-Westchester Expressway (Interstate 287) corridor between the Sprain Brook Parkway and the Hutchinson River Parkway. The submarket consists of approximately 6.3 million square feet of office space and is defined to include the area south of Barker Avenue, north of Quinby Avenue, east of the Bronx River Parkway and west of South Broadway/Post Road. Westchester�� Eastern office submarket consists of 6.5 million square feet of space and is located to the east of White Plains, between New Rochelle and the Connecticut state border.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Reuters]
John Moore/Getty Images NEW YORK -- Investors in the Empire State Building have filed a lawsuit accusing the real estate magnates who took it public of short-changing them $300 million by refusing to sell the iconic skyscraper at a premium price. According to a complaint filed Tuesday in a New York state court in Manhattan, Peter Malkin and his son Anthony put their own interests ahead of the building's investors by spurning all-cash offers of as much as $2.3 billion for the building and $1.4 billion for Empire State Building Associates, which held the title and master lease. Instead, the Malkins put the landmark building and 17 other properties into Empire State Realty Trust Inc., whose Oct. 1 IPO valued the property at just $1.89 billion and ESBA at just $1.1 billion, according to the complaint. The lawsuit by plaintiff Marc Postelnek seeks class-action status on behalf of more than 2,800 investors who hold shares in ESBA, which was created in 1961 and was supervised by a Malkin company, Malkin Holdings. It claimed the Malkins acted in bad faith by aborting a "bidding war" for the building, and instead enriched themselves by hundreds of millions of dollars through an IPO. "Given their positions of control and authority over the fate of the Empire State Building, the Malkins had a duty to act in the best interests of their investors," the plaintiffs' lawyer, John Rizio-Hamilton, a partner at Bernstein Litowitz Berger & Grossmann, representing Postelnek, told Reuters. "By failing to properly consider offers to maximize the building's value, the Malkins breached that duty." The lawsuit seeks to recover profit that building investors allegedly lost because of the Malkins' refusal to sell. Empire State Realty Trust, a real estate investment trust, is a successor to Malkin Holdings. "These claims are wholly without merit and we will respond to them in court," a spokeswoman for the REIT said Thursday. ESBA had been created by Lawrence Wien, the father
Top International Stocks To Buy For 2015: Turkiye Garanti Bankasi AS (GARAN)
Turkiye Garanti Bankasi AS (the Bank) is a Turkey-based financial services company. The Bank provides retail, commercial, corporate and small and medium size enterprises (SME) banking, leasing, insurance, asset management and factoring services. Other operation heading under the banking segment include mainly treasury and investment banking activities as well as unallocated income and expense items. It has a network of 822 domestic branches, seven foreign branches, three representative offices abroad and 104 offices. In addition to its branches, the Bank has 100% ownership in three banks each of which is located in Amsterdam, Bucharest and Moscow. The Bank and its affiliates operate principally in Turkey, but also have operations in the Netherlands, Romania, Russia, Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, Malta, Luxembourg and Germany. Advisors' Opinion:- [By Halia Pavliva]
Turkiye Garanti (GARAN) Bankasi AS, the largest Turkish lender by market value, led gains on the Borsa Istanbul National 100 Index, which rose 1.5 percent. Garanti climbed 1.3 percent after slumping 4.1 percent to the lowest level since Sept. 13 yesterday. The government is selling $1.25 billion of five-year Islamic bonds today, according to a person with direct knowledge of the transaction, who asked not to be identified because the information is private.
- [By Julia Leite]
The Borsa Istanbul Stock Exchange National 100 Index climbed from a six-month low. Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said he was ready to listen to the demands of anti-government protesters. The lira strengthened for the first time in three days and bonds gained. Lenders Turkiye Garanti Bankasi AS (GARAN) and Akbank T.A.S. added at least 3.2 percent.
Top Biotech Stocks For 2015: Geron Corporation (GERN)
Geron Corporation, a biopharmaceutical company, develops therapies for cancer. Its clinical development product candidates include Imetelstat, a telomerase inhibitor, which is in Phase II clinical trials for the treatment of metastatic breast cancer, advanced non-small cell lung cancer, thrombocythemia, and myeloma. The company was founded in 1990 and is based in Menlo Park, California.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Rich Bieglmeier]
It's not every day that a stock gets upgraded by a major broker with a price target of nearly 100% higher and the stock falls. Well, that's what happened so far with Geron Corporation (GERN).
- [By John Udovich]
On Tuesday, small cap biopharmaceutical company Epizyme Inc (NASDAQ: EPZM) surged 75.56% after the company announced that its�EPZ-5676, a DOT1L inhibitor for acute leukemias, had reached its proof-of-concept milestone, meaning its worth taking a closer look at the stock as well as look at the share performance of cancer stocks like large cap Celgene Corporation (NASDAQ: CELG) and small caps�Dendreon Corporation (NASDAQ: DNDN) and Geron Corporation (NASDAQ: GERN).
Top International Stocks To Buy For 2015: KiOR Inc (KIOR)
KiOR, Inc. (KiOR), incorporated on July 23, 2007, is development- stage company. KiOR is a renewable fuels company engaged in producing cellulosic gasoline and diesel from abundant non-food biomass. Cellulosic fuel is derived from lignocellulose found in wood, grasses and the non-edible portions of plants. The Company generates hydrocarbons from renewable sources . Its end products are fungible hydrocarbon-based gasolines and diesels that can be used as components in formulating finished gasoline and diesel fuels, rather than alcohols or fatty acid methyl esters (FAME) such as ethanol or biodiesel. During the year ended December 31, 2011, the Company commenced construction of its initial-scale commercial production facility in Columbus, Mississippi, designed to process 500 bone dry ton per day (BDT) of feedstock per day, As of December 31, 2011, the Company had not generated any revenues.
The Company has developed a process that converts non-food lignocellulose into gasoline and diesel that can be transported using the existing fuels distribution system for use in vehicles on the road. Its biomass-to-cellulosic fuel technology platform combines catalyst systems with fluid catalytic cracking (FCC) processes that have been used in crude oil refineries to produce gasoline. The biomass fluid catalytic cracking (BFCC) process operates at moderate temperatures and pressures to convert biomass in a matter of seconds into the renewable crude oil that can be processed using standard refining equipment into its cellulosic gasoline and diesel. In its demonstration unit the Company varies its volume output of gasoline from 37% to 61%, diesel from 31% to 55% and fuel oil from 8% to 9% from its renewable crude oil. The Company focuses on its commercialization efforts with respect to its gasoline and diesel. As of December 31, 2011, the Company had 76 pending original patent application families containing over 2,300 pending claims.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Bryan Murphy]
To say KiOR Inc. (NASDAQ:KIOR) is one of today's biggest winners would still be an understatement. This clean-fuels company's stock is up nearly 60% in Thursday's trade on news of plans to grow its production capability significantly within the foreseeable future. Traders responded accordingly, rewarding the corporation's initiative by bidding up KIOR to a price of $2.86, as of the last look.
- [By Nickey Friedman]
It has not been a good year for biofuel producer KiOR (NASDAQ: KIOR ) . Aside from the stock being down over 75%, the company has badly missed its guidance targets virtually every time, and its CFO quit without any explanation. Then, to top off the 12 months of disappointment, KiOR ended the year with another resignation and more production shortfalls.
- [By Maxx Chatsko]
KiOR (NASDAQ: KIOR ) Here's a company that often gets associated with industrial biotech companies, but there are very few comparisons. Rather than encouraging microbes to pump out useful chemicals and fuels in biochemical processes, KiOR uses standard thermocatalytic reactions to turn wood chips and waste into drop-in fuels. The company does not produce cellulosic ethanol or biodiesel. The company produces chemically identical cellulosic gasoline and diesel, although current operations churn out fuel blendstocks. KiOR's first facility has an annual capacity of between 11-13 million gallons of fuels, while a larger facility will be three times that size. A modular platform and catalytic improvements will help boost economics and scale for future production.
Top International Stocks To Buy For 2015: Christopher & Banks Corporation (CBK)
Christopher & Banks Corporation, through its subsidiaries, operates retail stores that provide women�s apparel and accessories in the United States. The company designs, sources, and sells apparel catering to customers generally ranging in age from 45 to 60. Its stores offer knit tops, woven tops, jackets, sweaters, skirts, denim bottoms, bottoms made of other fabrications, and dresses in various sizes, as well as jewelry and accessories. As of March 13, 2013, the company operated 605 stores in 44 states, including 381 Christopher & Banks stores, 158 C.J. Banks stores, 41 dual stores, and 25 outlet stores. It also operates e-Commerce Web sites christopherandbanks.com and cjbanks.com. The company was formerly known as Braun�s Fashions Corporation and changed its name to Christopher & Banks Corporation in July 2000. Christopher & Banks Corporation was founded in 1956 and is headquartered in Plymouth, Minnesota.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Laura Brodbeck]
Wednesday
Earnings Expected From: Christopher & Banks Corporation (NYSE: CBK), Brown Forman Corporation (NYSE: BFB), Express, Inc. (NYSE: EXPR), Avago Technologies (NASDAQ: AVGO) Economic Releases Expected: US nonfarm employment change, US trade balance, Canadian trade balance, US new home sales, US ISM non-manufacturing PMIThursday
- [By Sarah Jones]
Commerzbank (CBK) added 2.6 percent to 11.09 euros. Germany�� second-largest lender reported a first-quarter loss of 94 million euros after booking costs associated with firing staff, compared with a profit of 355 million euros a year earlier. That still beat the average loss estimate of 153.7 million euros of seven analysts surveyed by Bloomberg.
- [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 Christopher & Banks (NYSE: CBK ) , whose recent revenue and earnings are plotted below. - [By Jonathan Morgan]
Bayer AG (BAYN) and BASF SE gained, following their European peers higher. Commerzbank AG (CBK), the country�� second-biggest lender, slid 3.7 percent. Deutsche Bank AG (DBK) dropped the most in more than a month after JPMorgan Chase & Co. downgraded the shares.
Top International Stocks To Buy For 2015: Ku6 Media Co. Ltd.(KUTV)
Ku6 Media Co., Ltd. operates as an online video company in the People?s Republic of China. It operates ku6.com, an online video portal that provides news, reports, and other interactive entertainment programs for its users, as well as offers a video platform for sharing and watching user-generated content. The company also operates juchang.com that provides copyrighted content, such as movies, television series, and other video programs sourced from its content partners. In addition, it offers Internet audio solutions, including online radio channels, built-in radio for online games, and other services to customers through its online audio advertising business. The company is based in Beijing, China.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Bryan Murphy]
There's little doubt that merely suggesting it will enflame some traders, but truth is truth - Ku6 Media Co Ltd (NASDAQ:KUTV) is overbought and ripe for a pullback, soon. Anyone worried about not having a place to park those proceeds, however, need not fret. There's a brand new breakout finally underway that still has plenty of proverbial meat on the bone... Star Scientific, Inc. (NASDAQ:STSI), which just blasted past a key resistance line around $2.11 today. In so doing, it became free to rally without restraint.
Top International Stocks To Buy For 2015: Cbeyond Inc.(CBEY)
Cbeyond, Inc. provides managed information technology (IT) and communications services to small businesses in the United States. Its services include local and long-distance voice, broadband Internet, mobile services, broadband laptop access, voicemail, email, Web hosting, fax-to-email, data backup, file-sharing, virtual private networking, and cloud servers; and cloud applications, data center infrastructure as a service, cloud private branch exchange phone systems, metro Ethernet, multi-protocol label switching, information security, administration management, and professional services to migrate and manage customer environments. It sells its products and services through direct sales; value-added resellers, local area network consultants, and other IT and communications consultants; and managed services providers, systems integrators, and software vendors. The company was formerly known as Cbeyond Communications, Inc. and changed its name to Cbeyond, Inc. in July 2006. Cbeyond, Inc. was founded in 2000 and is headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Monica Gerson]
Cbeyond (NASDAQ: CBEY) soared 6.29% to $6.76 in the pre-market trading. Cbeyond shares have dropped 10.67% over the past 52 weeks, while the S&P 500 index has gained 26.42% in the same period.
- [By Lisa Levin]
Cbeyond (NASDAQ: CBEY) shares reached a new 52-week low of $6.07. Cbeyond's PEG ratio is -1.19.
Swisher Hygiene (NASDAQ: SWSH) shares touched a new 52-week low of $0.732. Swisher Hygiene appointed William Pierce as its new president and CEO.
Top International Stocks To Buy For 2015: Quad Graphics Inc(QUAD)
Quad/Graphics, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, engages in the provision of print and related products and services in North America, Latin America, and Europe. It offers print solutions, including catalogs, consumer magazines, special interest publications, direct mail, packaging and other commercial and specialty printed products, retail inserts, books, and directories. The company also provides media solutions comprising creative, digital imaging, video, photography, workflow solutions, mobile and social media, and response data analytics services. In addition, it offers logistics services, such as mailing, distribution, logistics, and data optimization and hygiene services; and printing-related auxiliary equipment for original equipment manufacturers and printing companies, as well as provides ink. The company markets its products and services to various companies that operate in a range of industries and serve businesses and consumers consisting of retailers, pub lishers, and direct marketers. Quad/Graphics, Inc. was founded in 1971 and is headquartered in Sussex, Wisconsin.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Brian Stoffel]
Quad/Graphics (NYSE: QUAD )
This Wisconsin-based company has contracts to print magazines for many of the country's biggest customers -- including magazines from Hearst (Redbook, Cosmopolitan, Esquire, etc.) and Meredith (Better Homes and Gardens) -- as well as for clothiers such as J.Crew, L.L. Bean, and American Eagle Outfitters. - [By Roberto Pedone]
Another stock that's starting to trend within range of triggering a near-term breakout trade is Quad/Graphics (QUAD), which provides print and related services in the U.S., Europe and South America. This stock has is down notably over the last three months, with shares off by 12.2%.
If you look at the chart for Quad/Graphics, you'll notice that this gapped down sharply last November from $36.45 to under $29 with heavy downside volume. Following that gap down, shares of QUAD continued to trend lower, and the stock hit a new low at $23.48 a share a few trading sessions later. That said, shares of QUAD have now started to uptrend since printing that low, with shares moving higher from $23.48 to its recent high of $27.67 a share. During that uptrend, shares of QUAD have been making mostly higher lows and higher highs, which is bullish technical price action. That move has now pushed shares of QUAD within range of triggering a near-term breakout trade.
Traders should now look for long-biased trades in QUAD if it manages to break out above its 50-day moving average of $27.29 a share to more near-term overhead resistance at $27.67 a share with high volume. Look for a sustained move or close above those levels with volume that hits near or above its three-month average action of 185,427 shares. If that breakout hits soon, then QUAD will set up to re-fill some of its previous gap down zone that started at $36.45 a share.
Traders can look to buy QUAD off any weakness to anticipate that breakout and simply use a stop that sits just below more near-term support at $25 to $24.50 a share. One can also buy QUAD off strength once it starts to clear those breakout levels with volume and then simply use a stop that sits a comfortable percentage from your entry point.
- [By Roberto Pedone]
My first earnings short-squeeze play is commercial printing services player Quad/Graphics (QUAD), which is set to release numbers on Tuesday after the market close. Wall Street analysts, on average, expect Quad/Graphics to report revenue of $1.32 billion on earnings of 92 cents per share.
The current short interest as a percentage of the float Quad/Graphics is very high at 17.1%. That means that out of the 26.02 million shares in the tradable float, 5.18 million shares are sold short by the bears. This is a high short interest on a stock with a relatively low tradable float. Any bullish earnings news could easily set off a monster short-squeeze for shares of QUAD post-earnings.
From a technical perspective, QUAD is currently trending above both its 50-day and 200-day moving averages, which is bullish. This stock has been uptrending strong for the last month, with shares moving higher from its low of $28.44 to its intraday high of $35.99 a share. During that uptrend, shares of QUAD have been consistently making higher lows and higher highs, which is bullish technical price action.
If you're bullish on QUAD, then I would wait until after its report and look for long-biased trades if this stock manages to break out above its 52-week high at $35.99 a share (or Tuesday's intraday high if higher) with high volume. Look for volume on that move that hits near or above its three-month average action of 149,155 shares. If that breakout hits, then QUAD will set up to enter new 52-week-high territory, which is bullish technical price action. Some possible upside targets off that move are $45 to $50 a share.
I would simply avoid QUAD or look for short-biased trades if after earnings it fails to trigger that breakout, and then drops back below some near-term support levels at $34 to $33 a share with high volume. If we get that move, then QUAD will set up to re-test or possibly take out its next major support areas at its 50-day moving average o
Top International Stocks To Buy For 2015: News Corporation(NWS)
News Corporation operates as a diversified media company worldwide. Its Cable Network Programming segment produces and licenses news, business news, sports, general entertainment, and movie programming for distribution through cable television systems and direct broadcast satellite operators primarily in the United States, Latin America, Europe, and Asia. The company?s Filmed Entertainment segment produces and acquires live-action and animated motion pictures for distribution and licensing in entertainment media, as well as produces and licenses television programming worldwide. Its Television segment operates 27 broadcast television stations in the United States. The company?s Direct Broadcast Satellite Television segment distributes programming services via satellite and broadband directly to subscribers in Italy. Its Publishing segment provides newspapers and information services, such as publishing national newspapers in the United Kingdom, approximately 146 newspape rs in Australia, and a metropolitan and a national newspaper in the United States; book publishing services, including the publishing of English language books worldwide; and integrated marketing services comprising the publishing of free-standing inserts, which are marketing booklets containing coupons, rebates, and other consumer offers, as well as provides in-store marketing products and services, primarily to consumer packaged goods manufacturers in the United States and Canada. The company also sells advertising, sponsorships, and subscription services on the company?s various digital media properties and outdoor advertising space on various media primarily in Russia and eastern Europe; and provides data systems and professional services that enable teachers to use data to assess student progress and deliver individualized instructions. News Corporation was founded in 1922 and is headquartered in New York, New York.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Lawrence Meyers]
In retrospect, all of these purchases make sense. Would News Corporation (NWS) studio subsidiary 20th Century Fox have made more sense for Indy’s new home? What about Time Warner (TWX) conglomerate�� Warner Bros.? Or maybe Lionsgate Entertainment (LGE)? No, no, and no.
- [By Chris Isidore]
In June, the former News Corp. took the name 21st Century Fox (FOX) and spun off its print publications such as the Wall Street Journal, the New York Post and several London newspapers into a new News Corp. (NWS)
- [By Julianne Pepitone]
The Times isn't the only newspaper to lose its star tech columnist recently. Last month, news broke that Walt Mossberg will leave his post covering consumer tech at Wall Street Journal. The move comes after the newspaper's parent company News Corp. (NWS) did not renew its contract with AllThingsD, the tech site that Mossberg co-created with Kara Swisher.
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