Related CDE Top 4 NYSE Stocks In The Silver Industry With The Highest Revenue Worst Performing Industries For July 22, 2014 Related SYNA Pacific Crest: Apple-Visa Hookup For Mobile Payments On The Horizon? Synaptics Beats On Earnings, Moves Higher On Smartphone Fingerprint ID Products
At 10:45 am, the Dow gained 0.11% to 16,448.10, the broader Standard & Poor's 500 index moved up 0.12% to 1,922.50 and the NASDAQ composite index rose 0.13% to 4,358.40.
The industries that are supporting the market today are:
Silver: This industry rose 1.76% by 10:45 am ET. The top performer in this industry was Coeur Mining (NYSE: CDE), which gained 5.8%. Coeur Mining is expected to release its quarterly earnings after the closing bell.
Computer Peripherals: The industry gained 1.72% by 10:45 am. The top performer in this industry was Synaptics (NASDAQ: SYNA), which gained 3.7%. Synaptics' PEG ratio is 0.81.
Music & Video Stores: This industry moved up 1.60% by 10:45 am. The top performer in this industry was Netflix (NASDAQ: NFLX), which gained 1.5%. Netflix shares have jumped 69.68% over the past 52 weeks, while the S&P 500 index has gained 13.56% in the same period.
Northern Tier Energy LP, formerly Northern Tier Energy, Inc., incorporated in October 21, 2011, is an independent downstream energy company with refining, retail, and pipeline operations that serves the PADD II region of the United States. The Company operates its assets in two business segments: the refining business and the retail business. The Company owns three pipelines. The Company's operations will be conducted through, and its operating assets will be owned by, its wholly owned subsidiary, Northern Tier Energy LLC, and its subsidiaries. Effective November 12, 2013, Western Refining Inc acquired a 38.681% interest in Northern Tier Energy LP.
Refining Business
The Company�� refining business primarily consists of a 74,000 barrels per calendar day (84,500 barrels per stream day) refinery located in St. Paul Park, Minnesota. Its location allows it to distribute its refined products throughout the midwestern United States. The Company�� refinery produces a slate of refined products, including gasoline, diesel, jet fuel and asphalt, which are then marketed to resellers and consumers primarily in the PADD II region. It also owns various storage and transportation assets, including a light products terminal, a heavy products terminal, storage tanks, rail loading/unloading facilities and a Mississippi river dock. The Company�� refining business also includes its 17% interest in the Minnesota Pipe Line Company, which owns and operates the Minnesota Pipeline, a 455,000 barrels per calendar day crude oil pipeline system that transports crude oil (primarily from Western Canada and North Dakota) for approximately 300 miles from the Enbridge pipeline hub at Clearbrook, Minnesota to its refinery.
As of March 31, 2012, the Company's storage assets included 84 hydrocarbon storage tanks with a total capacity of 3.7 million barrels (156 million gallons), 0.8 million barrels of crude oil storage and 2.9 million barrels of feedstock and product storage. The Company�� r! efinery supplies all of the gasoline and diesel sold in its company-operated and franchised convenience stores, as well as all of the gasoline and diesel sold in 90 independently owned and operated Marathon branded stores in its marketing area. The Minnesota Pipe Line Company owns the Minnesota Pipeline, a crude oil pipeline system in Minnesota that transports crude oil to the St. Paul area. The Minnesota Pipeline system has multiple lines that run approximately 300 miles from Clearbrook in Clearwater County, Minnesota to Dakota County, Minnesota, transporting crude oil received through the Enbridge pipeline connections at Clearbrook from Western Canada and North Dakota to our refinery and Koch Industries�� Flint Hills Resources refinery in Minnesota.
Retail Business
As of March 31, 2012, the Company�� retail business operated 166 convenience stores under the SuperAmerica brand and also supported 67 franchised convenience stores, which are also operated under the SuperAmerica brand. These convenience stores are located primarily in Minnesota and Wisconsin and sell various grades of gasoline and diesel, tobacco products and immediately consumable items, such as non-alcoholic beverages, beer, prepared food and a range of snacks and prepackaged items. It also owns and operates SuperMom�� Bakery, which prepares and distributes baked goods and other prepared food items for sale in its company-operated and franchised convenience stores and other third party locations.
The Company has a retail-marketing network of 233 convenience stores, as of March 31, 2012, located throughout Minnesota, Wisconsin and South Dakota, of which it operates 166 stores and support 67 franchised stores. All of its company-operated and franchised convenience stores are operated under the SuperAmerica brand. It also owns and operates SuperMom�� Bakery, which prepares and distributes baked goods and other prepared items for sale in its retail outlets and for other third parties. Its refine! ry suppli! es all of the gasoline and diesel sold in its company-operated and franchised convenience stores. The Company has retail customers, which primarily include retail end-users, motorists and commercial drivers. It had a retail-marketing network of 233 convenience stores, as of March 31, 2012, located throughout Minnesota, Wisconsin and South Dakota, of which it operated 166 stores and support 67 franchised stores.
The Company competes with Koch Industries��Flint Hills Resources Refinery, Holiday, Kwik Trip and Wal-Mart.
Advisors' Opinion: - [By Jon C. Ogg]
Northern Tier Energy L.P. (NYSE: NTI) was raised to Outperform from Neutral and the price target was raised to $29 from $28 at Credit Suisse.
Phillips 66 (NYSE: PSX) was downgraded to Perform from Outperform at Oppenheimer.
Top Performing Companies To Buy Right Now: Peoples Bancorp Inc.(PEBO)
Peoples Bancorp Inc. operates as a holding company for Peoples Bank, National Association that provides financial products and services. It offers commercial and retail banking, insurance, brokerage, and trust services. The company accepts various deposit products, including demand deposit accounts, savings accounts, money market accounts, and certificates of deposit; and provides commercial, consumer, and real estate mortgage loans, as well as lines of credit. It also offers debit and automated teller machine (ATM) cards; corporate and personal trust services; safe deposit rental facilities; travelers checks, money orders, and cashier?s checks; and telephone and Internet-based banking services. In addition, the company provides a range of life, health, and property and casualty insurance products; and fiduciary and wealth management services. Further, it offers brokerage services through an unaffiliated registered broker-dealer; and credit cards to consumers and business es, as well as provides merchant credit card processing services through joint marketing arrangements with third parties. The company offers its financial products and services through 47 financial service locations and 40 ATMs in southeastern Ohio, northwestern West Virginia, and northeastern Kentucky. Peoples Bancorp Inc. was founded in 1902 and is based in Marietta, Ohio.
Advisors' Opinion: - [By Marc Bastow]
Marietta, Ohio-based bank holding company Peoples Bancorp (PEBO) raised its quarterly dividend 7% to 15 cents per share, payable on Feb. 18 to shareholders of record as of Feb. 3.
PEBO Dividend Yield: 2.60%
Top Performing Companies To Buy Right Now: West Corp (WSTC)
West Corporation, incorporated on February 22, 1994, is a provider of technology-driven, communication services. The Company offers a broad portfolio of services, including conferencing and collaboration, unified communications, alerts and notifications, emergency communications, business process outsourcing and telephony / interconnect services. The scale and processing capacity of its technology platforms, combined with its managing voice and data transactions, enables them to provide reliable, mission-critical communications designed to maximize return on investment for its clients.
Its clients include Fortune 1000 companies, along with small and medium enterprises in a variety of industries, including telecommunications, retail, financial services, public safety, technology and healthcare. It focuses on addressable markets with attractive growth characteristics have allowed them to deliver steady and profitable growth.
Unified Communications
The Company provides its clients with an integrated global suite of meeting services. Conferencing and Collaboration Services include On-Demand Audio Conferencing, which is an automated conferencing service that allows clients to initiate an audio conference at any time, without the need to make a reservation or rely on an operator; Web Conferencing and Collaboration Tools allow clients to connect remote employees and bolster collaboration among groups. These tools provide clients with the capability to make presentations and share applications and documents over the Internet, these services are offered through product, InterCall Unified Meeting, as well as through the resale of Cisco, Microsoft and Adobe products, Web conferencing services can be customized to each client�� individual needs; Video Managed Services and Video Bridging allows clients to experience real-time face-to-face conferences. These services are offered through its products, InterCall Video Conferencing and InterCall Video Managed Services in conj! unction with third-party equipment, and can be used for a wide variety of events, including training seminars, sales presentations, product launches and financial reporting calls.
InterCall offers multimedia platforms designed to give its clients the ability to create, manage, distribute and reuse content internally and externally. Through a combination of products and strategic partnerships, its clients have the tools to support diverse internal and external multimedia requirements. Event Services solutions include Audio and Video Webcasting Services, which allows users to broadcast small or multimedia presentations over the Internet. It offers its clients the flexibility of broadcasting any combination of audio, video (desktop or high-end) or PowerPoint slides using any operating system; Virtual Event Design and Hosting offers clients consulting, project management and implementation of hosted and managed virtual event and virtual environment solutions. Clients are able to provide audiences easy and instant access to content, experts and peers. Examples of virtual events include trade shows, user groups, job fairs, virtual learning environments and town hall meetings, and Operator-Assisted Audio Conferencing Services are pre-scheduled conferences for complex or important events. Operator-assisted services are customized to a client�� needs and provide a wide range of scalable features and enhancements, including the ability to record, broadcast, schedule and administer meetings.
The Company provides its clients with enterprise class IP-based communications solutions including Hosted IP-PBX and Enterprise Call Management, which allows an enterprise to upgrade its use of communications technology with a suite of cloud-based, on-demand services including full private branch exchange (PBX) functionality, advanced enterprise and personal call management tools and edge unified communications features. These services can be fully integrated with a client�� existing IP o! r legacy ! time-division multiplexing (TDM) infrastructure where required, leveraging investments already made in telephony infrastructure and providing a seamless enterprise-wide solution; Hosted and Managed Multiprotocol Label Switching (MPLS) Network, which is a suite of IP trunking solutions designed to provide enterprise clients with carrier-grade service, along with the benefits of IP-based service that allows their business to run more efficiently. These solutions deliver a consistent set of voice services across an enterprise�� infrastructure, with flexible IP and TDM trunking options for clients��on-site PBX; Unified Communications Partner Solution Portfolio, which enables them to engineer flexible and scalable solutions suitable to an enterprise�� needs, leveraging a portfolio of Microsoft and Cisco offerings integrated with its products, applications and services; Cloud-Based Security Services aggregate a set of technologies into one simple and scalable cloud-based solution that provides clients with network protection. This service can help protect the client�� network from spam and viruses, unauthorized intrusions and inappropriate Web content, while providing simplicity and consistency of security policy management and eliminating single points of failure and bottlenecks that can occur with premise-based security solutions, and Professional Services and System Integration provides its clients with advice and solutions to integrate their unified communication systems. It offers consulting, design, integration, and implementation of voice, video, messaging, and collaboration systems and services.
The Company�� technology platforms allow clients to manage and deliver automated, proactive and personalized communications. It uses multiple delivery channels (voice, text messaging, email, social media and fax), based on the preference of the recipient. For example, it delivers patient notifications, confirm appointments and send prescription reminders on behalf of its healthca! re client! s; send and receive automated outage notifications on behalf of its utility clients and transmit emergency evacuation notices on behalf of municipalities. It offers Automated Voice Notifications are customized voice messages sent on behalf of its clients that are delivered with personalized information. Its systems provide accurate detection of voice mail versus live answer, customized caller ID and retry logic; Short Message Service (SMS)/Email Alerts and Notifications are customized electronic notifications sent on behalf of its clients directly to their customers��handheld devices, wireless phones, two-way pagers or email inboxes; Social Media Messaging enables clients to deliver targeted, personalized messaging to social media sites; Multichannel Preference Management and Campaign Management Solutions allow its clients to create and manage customer information in a real-time environment. Its Web-based user interface tool allows clients to upload customer contact information, create reusable notification templates and customize campaigns, and Website and Customer Portal Management , which is a Web design service whereby it creates custom-built, interactive websites for clients. It also provides a variety of additional features and services, including hosting, search engine optimization and maintenance.
The Company competes with AT&T, Verizon, PGi, BT Conferencing, NTT, Cisco Systems, Microsoft, IBM, ON24, Thomson Reuters, Sonic Foundry, TalkPoint, Adobe, BT Conferencing, PGi, Arkadin , INXPO, 6Connex, WebEx, Verizon, BT, ShoreTel, IBM, Hewlett-Packard, XO Communications, 8x8, M5, Varolii, SoundBite Communications, PhoneTree , Silverlink Communications, Patient Prompt, Sesame Communications and Google
Communication Services
The Company is one of the providers of emergency communications services, based on the number of 9-1-1 calls that the Company and other participants in the industry facilitate. Its services are critical in facilitating public safety! agencies! ��ability to receive emergency calls from citizens. Its clients generally enter into long-term contracts and fund their obligations through monthly charges on users��telephone bills. It offers 9-1-1 Network Services are the systems that control the routing of emergency calls to the appropriate 9-1-1 centers. Its next generation 9-1-1 call handling solution is an IP-based system designed to significantly improve the information available to responders by integrating capabilities such as the ability to text, send photos or video to 9-1-1 centers as well as providing stored data such as building blueprints or personal medical data to responders. Its carrier-grade Location Based Services process over 125,000 daily requests in support of its clients��Enhanced 9-1-1 (E9-1-1) and commercial applications and 9-1-1 Telephony Systems and Services include its fully-integrated desktop communications technology solutions which public safety agencies use to enable E9-1-1 call handling. Its next generation 9-1-1 solution can be deployed in a variety of local, hosted and remote configurations, allowing public safety agencies to grow with minimal incremental investment. It operates in approximately 5,000 call-taking positions in more than 1,000 Public Safety Answering Points (PSAPs) in North America.
The Company�� services allow its clients to effectively communicate with their customers through inbound and outbound IVR applications using natural language speech recognition, automated voice prompts and network-based call routing services. In addition to these front-end customer service applications, it also provide analyses that helps its clients improve their automated communications strategy. Its open standards-based platform allows the flexibility to integrate new capabilities, such as mobility, social media and cloud-based services. Its Automated Call Processing includes Automated Customer Service Solutions range from speech/IVR applications and mobile solutions to SMS, chat and email. It helps ! its clien! ts engage their customers through the channels they prefer. Examples of self-service applications used by its clients are: access account balances, activation of credit cards, placing orders, FAQ�� and stop/start utility service and Voice and Data Network Management Services assist its clients as they manage or update their own contact center communications networks. It offers hosted or managed services for the operation, administration and management of voice and data networks such as Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) network management, network automated call distribution (ACD)/multi-channel contact routing, workforce management, monitoring and predictive dialing.
The Company's telephony / interconnect Services support the merging of traditional telecom, mobile and IP technologies to service providers and enterprises. It is a provider of local and national tandem switching services to carriers throughout the United States. It leverages its customer traffic information system, sophisticated call routing and control facility to provide tandem interconnection services to the competitive marketplace, including wireless, wire-line, cable telephony and VoIP companies. Toll-Free Origination transports and switches toll free traffic originated by traditional wireline, VoIP, cable, and wireless carriers to all inter-exchange carriers (IXC) in the United States. This service provides a scalable and efficient means to pass toll free traffic to IXCs. Termination Services using its soft switch platform, national optical backbone and direct network interconnections allow for the termination of outbound toll traffic. Termination Services using its soft switch platform, national optical backbone and direct network interconnections allow for the termination of outbound toll traffic.
The Company provide its clients with agent-based services. It target opportunities that allow its agent-based services to be a part of larger strategic client engagements and with clients for whom these serv! ices can ! add value. It believes that it is known in the industry as a provider of these services. It offers a flexible model that includes on-shore, off-shore and virtual home-based agent capabilities to fit its clients needs. Agent-Based Services include Customer Care and Acquisition Services support its clients with their consumer-based communications needs. It provides customer acquisition and retention, customer care, technical support and sales services. Its customized process strategically matches its client�� goals to the appropriate solutions to maximize results; Business-to-Business and Account Management Services combines its experience, sales methodologies and technology to deliver an integrated suite of solutions that allow its clients to overcome a variety of common sales challenges across a multitude of business segments. Examples of these services include lead management, team sell, account management and sole territory coverage; Receivables Management Services support many of businesses and institutions with a fully licensed collection agency that has integrated partnerships across the telecommunications, financial services, government, healthcare and utilities industries, and Overpayment Identification and Recovery Services provides cost containment programs to organizations including: health insurance payers, third party administrators, managed care organizations, hospitals/physicians and self-insured companies. It analyzes data from multiple healthcare sources, identify incorrectly paid claims, provide targeted communications and collect funds on behalf of its clients.
The Company competes with Cassidian Communications, EmergiTech, 911-Inc, Inteliquent (formerly Neutral Tandem), Peerless Network, Competitive Local Exchange Carriers (CLEC), Convergys, TeleTech, Sykes, NCO, GC Services, Infosys Limited and Aegis Global.
Advisors' Opinion: - [By Ben Levisohn]
Abbvie (ABBV)
Ameren Corp. (AEE)
Arthur J. Gallagher (AJG)
E.I. DuPont de Nemours & Co. (DD)
ENSCO (ESV)
Enterprise Products Partners LP (EPD)
General Mills (GIS)
H&R Block (HRB)
Hancock Holding (HBHC)
Kraft Foods Group (KRFT)
Lorillard (LO)
Magellan Midstream Partners LP (MMP)
MarkWest Energy Partners L P (MWE)
McDonald’s (MCD)
Microchip Technology (MCHP)
NextEra Energy (NEE)
Regency Centers (REG)
TELUS Corp. (TU)
West Corp. (WSTC)
Williams Companies (WMB)
- [By Garrett Cook]
West Corp (NASDAQ: WSTC) shares tumbled 3.66 percent to $26.65 after the company announced an offering of $1 billion senior notes. Analysts at Morgan Stanley downgraded West Corp from Overweight to Equal-Weight.
- [By Travis Hoium]
What: Shares of communication service provider West Corporation (NASDAQ: WSTC ) jumped as much as 10% today after the company got positive ratings from analysts.
Top Performing Companies To Buy Right Now: Yelp Inc (YELP)
Yelp Inc., incorporated on September 03, 2004, connects people with great local businesses. Its users have contributed a total of approximately 36.0 million cumulative reviews of almost every type of local business, from restaurants, boutiques and salons to dentists, mechanics and plumbers. Its platform provides local businesses with a range of free and paid services, which help them to engage with consumers at moment when they are deciding where to spend their money. The Company generates revenue from local advertising, brand advertising and other services. As of December 31, 2012, the Company was active in 53 Yelp markets in the United States and 44 Yelp markets internationally. Effective July 18, 2013, Yelp Inc acquired SeatMe Inc, which is a developer of restaurant and nightlife categories reservation applications.
Local Business
The Company enables businesses to create a free online business account and claim the page for each of their business locations. Business representatives can verify their affiliation with the business through an automated telephone verification process, which requires that they be reachable at the phone number, which is publicly displayed for their business listing on its platform. With their free business accounts, businesses can view business trends, message customers, update information and offer Yelp Deals. Its listing solution eliminates search advertising from the businesses��profile pages and allows them to incorporate a video clip or photo slide show on the pages. It allows local businesses to promote themselves as a sponsored search result on its platform or on related business pages.
The Company�� Yelp Deals product allows local business owners to create promotional discounted deals for their products and services, which are marketed to consumers through its platform. Yelp Deals have a fee structure based solely on transaction volume with no upfront costs, and it earns a fee based on the discounted price of each deal so! ld. It processes all customer payments and remits to the business the revenue share of any Yelp Deal purchased. It offers both e-mail deals, which are focused on demand generation and deals on its platform that are focused on demand fulfillment where businesses can target intent-driven consumers who are specifically searching for a product or service on its platform.
The Company�� Gift Certificates product allows local business owners to sell full price gift certificates directly to customers through their business profile page. The business chooses the price points to offer, and the buyer may purchase a Gift Certificate in one of those amounts. The Company earns a fee based on the amount of the Gift Certificate sold. The Company processes all consumer payments and remit to the business the revenue share of any Gift Certificate purchased.
National/Brand Advertisers
The Company offers its advertising solution for national brands that want to improve their local presence. These solutions consist of search and display ads (both graphic and text) on its Website, which are typically sold to advertisers on a per-impression basis. Its national advertisers include brands in the automobile, financial services, logistics, consumer goods and health and fitness industries.
Transaction Partners
The Company�� partnership, through a written agreement, with OpenTable provides consumers the ability to reserve seats directly on the business listing pages of restaurants, which participate in OpenTable�� network. Its partnership, through a written agreement, with Orbitz allows consumers to book rooms directly on the business listing pages of hotels, which affiliate with Orbitz.
The Company competes with Google, Yahoo! and Bing.
Advisors' Opinion: - [By John Kell]
Yelp Inc.(YELP) said fourth-quarter loss narrowed as revenue soared, as the internet company continued to attract more visitors and added local business accounts. Shares rose 8% to $81.25 premarket.
- [By Chris Hill]
WebMD (NASDAQ: WBMD ) climbs on raised guidance and news of the CEO's departure. Zillow (NASDAQ: Z ) slips despite better-than-expected earnings. Yelp (NYSE: YELP ) gives back some of its recent gains. And Delta Airlines (NYSE: DAL ) flies higher after announcing a dividend and stock buyback. In this installment of Investor Beat, Jason and Matt talk about four stocks making moves.
- [By Eric Volkman]
Yelp (NYSE: YELP ) is about to add a new asset to its portfolio. The company announced that is has inked an agreement to acquire SeatMe, which Yelp describes as "an exciting tech start-up that has developed a web and app-based solution to enable online reservations for restaurants and nightlife locations." The terms of the deal were not disclosed.
- [By WWW.DAILYFINANCE.COM]
www.yelp.com Shares of Yelp (YELP) opened sharply lower on Thursday. The website that prides itself on user-submitted reviews of local establishments posted blowout quarterly results, but any good sentiment there was washed out by a weak outlook for the current quarter. It was a strong third quarter. Revenue soared 67 percent over the prior year's third quarter to hit $102.5 million. Analysts were only holding out for $99 million. Yelp's adjusted profit of 5 cents a share was also comfortably ahead of expectations. The pitfall in the report came from Yelp only targeting $107 million to $108 million in revenue for the holiday quarter. Top-line growth is decelerating. Most companies would kill for the 52 percent in year-over-year growth that Yelp is modeling, but Wall Street was forecasting 57 percent growth. When you're a market darling trading at a lofty multiple -- and Yelp was fetching a whopping 175 times next year's projected profit -- a miss can be brutal. Sometimes 52 percent growth isn't enough. Cry for Yelp Wall Street wasn't impressed. Pacific Crest Securities, Barclays Capital, and JMP Securities all lowered their price targets on Yelp. Stifel Nicolaus downgraded the stock. You don't win friends among the Wall Street pros following you when you make them look like chumps. Where does Yelp go from here? There's no denying that Yelp is succeeding in getting merchants to pay more for enhanced access to the site's growing user base. However, it has to be a little problematic to see revenue -- again, up 67 percent over the past year -- grow a lot faster than its user base. Yelp closed out the quarter with an average of 139 million unique monthly visitors, up just 19 percent over the past year. Users are contributing more reviews than they used to, but can the faster-growing base of active advertisers justify the marketing expenditures if the audience growth doesn't keep up? Yelp may also have a problem with Google (GOOG). The world's largest search e
Top Performing Companies To Buy Right Now: Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena SpA (BMPS)
Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena SpA is an Italy-based company engaged in the banking sector. It provides traditional banking services, asset management and private banking, including life insurance, pension funds and investment trusts. It operates though three business segments. The Retail Banking segment covers consumer lending, insurance, provision of financial and non-financial services to retail customers, wealth management, tax planning, financial advisory and planning for private customers. The Corporate Banking division oversees the Group's business strategies targeted to small and medium enterprises, institutions and large corporate for which it offers leasing, factoring, lending and financial products, among others. The Corporate Center segment includes the cancellation of intergroup entries, treasure, governance and support functions. In January 2014, the Company completed the sale of its entire shareholding in Sorin SpA, equal to approximately 5.7%.
Advisors' Opinion: - [By Corinne Gretler]
Kesko Oyj, Finland�� biggest publicly traded retailer, rallied 9 percent. Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena SpA (BMPS) added 2 percent as Italy�� third-largest lender set out a plan to return to profit after cutting costs and raising capital as part of its restructuring plan. Speedy Hire Plc sank the most since 2009 after the construction-equipment leasing company said it found evidence of false accounting at one of its units.
Top Performing Companies To Buy Right Now: Le Gaga Holdings Limited (GAGA)
Le Gaga Holdings Limited engages in cultivating, processing, and distributing vegetables, fruits, and tea leaves in the People�s Republic of China and Hong Kong. The company is also involved in cultivating and selling fir trees. It offers solanaceous vegetables, including sweet peppers, tomatoes, eggplants, pumpkins, and cucumbers; leafy vegetables comprising flowering Chinese cabbage, baby bok choy, and baby Chinese cabbage; and cruciferous vegetables, such as broccoli and Chinese cabbage. As of March 31, 2012, the company operated 11 farms with an aggregate area of 1,671 hectares in Fujian, Guangdong, and Hebei provinces. It sells approximately 50 varieties of vegetables primarily to wholesalers, institutional customers, and supermarket chains. The company was founded in 2004 and is based in Kowloon, Hong Kong.
Advisors' Opinion:
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Alamy It's beginning to feel like the retail industry expects us to wrap up our Thanksgiving dinners and take them to go. Toys R Us, Best Buy (BBY), and Target (TGT) became the latest retailers to announce that they would be opening on Thursday -- or opening on Thursday -- this pivotal holiday shopping season. Toys "R" Us will open at 5 p.m. on Thanksgiving, three hours earlier than last year. Best Buy will greet turkey-fueled shoppers at 6 p.m. with its slate of deals on consumer electronics. Target -- after opening at 9 p.m. on Thanksgiving last year -- will kick open the doors to its cheap chic stores at 8 p.m. With so many retailers breaking into their holiday selling seasons on Thanksgiving, is it time to retire Black Friday? Creeping Earlier Last month it was Walmart (WMT) and Macy's (M) turning heads with their Thanksgiving night openings. Critics argued that it wasn't fair to make employees come in early on the holiday -- or to disrupt festive family fetes to woo shoppers -- but there's naturally another side to the story. Employees hungry for more hours welcome the additional time on the clock that's often paid at a higher rate than their hourly wages. They have holiday gifts to shop for too, after all. Nor are Shoppers universally panning the earlier "Black Thursday" sales. Many didn't consider it a treat to head out to stores at midnight or during the wee hours on Friday morning. Missing out on pumpkin pie, Uncle Nestor's story about how he was almost a member of The Beatles, or what should be meaningless game between the Ravens and Steelers may be easy sacrifices to make in exchange for the ability to sleep in Friday morning and still get the deals. Blame It On the Calendar Sears Holdings' (SHLD) Kmart has been opening on Thanksgiving for 22 years, and rivals didn't seem to care until the past few years. However, even Kmart came under attack earlier this year for its decision to open at 6 a.m. on Thanksgiving. Why is Kmart leading retailers to open earlier this holiday season? You may as well blame the calendar. Thanksgiving falls on the fourth Thursday of November, and this year, that just happens to be Nov. 28. That's the latest possible day for the holiday, making Nov. 29 the latest possible Black Friday. It goes without saying that retailers live for the holiday shopping season. An attempt to combat the late start this year by opening their doors a day -- or at the very least a few hours -- earlier than usual almost makes sense. Looking Out to Next Yeat Retailers won't divulge their plans for 2014 until at least next October. Thanksgiving 2014 will also happen relatively late -- Nov. 27 -- giving stores plenty of incentive to do anything possible to milk sales early in the season. If one retailer or another looks poised to lock up some holiday shopping lists with an earlier-than-ever sale, you can be sure that rivals will be quick to keep up. However, the biggest factor determining if retailers' operating hours continue to creep earlier into Thanksgiving Thursday will be if the move was successful this time. Chains that opened on Thanksgiving last year didn't necessarily see dramatic upticks in comparable-store sales. Walmart and Sears didn't even keep pace with inflation. However, with so many chains giving it a go this year, the retail market will have plenty of data to answer the question of whether or not opening on Thanksgiving was a win -- or a waste.
