First Quarter Earnings Season StandoutsThe chart below highlights the six of the best performing US equity ETFs over the last 4 weeks,�highlighting performances, volatility and expense ratio. Note that the size of each bubble is based on expense ratio .
NASDAQ Internet Portfolio
SPDR S&P Biotech ETF Large Cap Growth Equity Strategy Fund Dynamic Pharmaceuticals IPOX -100 Index Fund iShares U.S. Aerospace & Defense ETF The Bottom LineWith a wide representation from the equities market performing relatively well, there have�been some superb individual�standouts that have outperformed major indexes. With tech companies like Facebook beating expectations, PNQI has experienced a huge inflow of investments along with a bump in returns. Biotech and pharmaceutical ETFs have also been enjoying a strong year, with a number of manufacturers gaining FDA product approval and clients in the last quarter; both XBI and PJP have taken off. Perhaps the largest surprise came from the Airplane manufactures such as Boeing, who�� sales continued to soar even while it�� newest plane took some bad press; FPX is up over nine percent in the last four weeks.
Best Consumer Service Companies For 2015: Prosiebensat 1 Media AG (PSM)
ProSiebenSat 1 Media AG is a Germany-based broadcasting company. It owns commercial television stations, pay television (TV) channels and radio networks in numerous European countries. The Company operates in three business segments, including Free TV German-speaking, Free TV International and Diversification. Free TV German-speaking segment includes the stations SAT.1, ProSieben, kabel eins and sixx, as well as the sales companies SevenOneMedia and SevenOne AdFactory. Free TV International constitute of commercial TV stations in the Benelux countries and the CEE (Central and Eastern Europe) region. The Diversification segment includes all activities not directly dependent on the TV advertising market, such as call TV, music, commerce or Pay TV. Advisors' Opinion:- [By Jonathan Morgan]
RWE AG (RWE) jumped 6.4 percent, leading a gauge of utilities higher. Deutz AG (DEZ) plunged the most in more than two years after an investor sold a 8.4 percent stake in the manufacturer of diesel engines. ProSiebenSat.1 Media AG (PSM) dropped 1.1 percent after Telegraaf Media Groep NV sold its stake in the company.
Top 5 Integrated Utility Companies To Own In Right Now: Controladora Vuela Compania de Aviacion SAB de CV (VLRS)
Controladora Vuela Compania de Aviacion SAB de CV (Volaris Aviation Holding Company) is a Mexico-based company principally engaged in the airline passenger transportation industry. The Company is a law-cost carrier airline. Controladora Vuela Compania de Aviacion SAB de CV offers direct, point-to-point flights. The Company serves through secondary, lower cost airports and provides a single class of service. The Company utilizes such aircraft as the Airbus A319 and A320 families, among others. The Company has such subsidiaries as Comercializadora Volaris SA de CV, Servicios Corporativos Volaris SA de CV, Concesionaria Vuela Compania de Aviacion SAPI de CV, Deutsche Bank Mexico SA Trust 1484, among others. Advisors' Opinion:- [By John Udovich]
When most American investors think of discount airline stocks, they probably think of relatively large capped Southwest Airlines Co (NYSE: LUV)�or sort of small cap�JetBlue Airways Corporation (NASDAQ: JBLU) rather than�small cap Controladora Vuela Co Avcn SA CV (NYSE: VLRS) which owns Volaris���a discount airline serving the�Mexican market. However, any investor who has read Benjamin Graham�� Intelligent Investor might want to remember his sage advice about avoiding airline stocks���mainly because airlines were such a new and unproven sector that had yet to make money. But could Controladora Vuela Co Avcn SA CV actually be an airline stock worth owning?
Top 5 Integrated Utility Companies To Own In Right Now: TOR Minerals International Inc(TORM)
TOR Minerals International, Inc., a specialty chemical company, engages in the manufacture and marketing of mineral products. Its mineral products are used as pigments, pigment extenders, functional fillers, and flame retardants for the manufacture of paints, coatings, plastics, catalysts, and solid surface applications. The company?s principal product includes HITOX, a light buff-colored titanium dioxide pigment used in paints, coatings, plastics, paper, and various other types of products. It also offers ALUPREM (premium alumina) products that are used for color critical applications as fillers and flame retardants; BARYPREM, which provides whiteness for color critical applications; TIOPREM, a series of heat stable colored TiO2 hybrid pigments used in various applications, such as engineered plastics, laminates, window profiles, plastic lumber, roofing granules, and ceramic coatings; and SYNTHETIC RUTILE used as a feed stock for white TiO2 and as a component in welding rod flux. In addition, the company provides BARTEX, an inert extender pigment, which offers weight and body to products comprising powder coatings used in automotive, appliance, and office furniture finishes; rubber products, such as carpet and curtain backings; and plastics, including billiard balls and poker chips; and HALTEX/OPTILOAD used in technical applications, including thermoset composites, sheet molding compounds/bulk molding compounds, thermoplastic profiles, electrical wire and cable insulation, mining conveyor belts, specialty coatings, and adhesives and sealants. TOR Minerals International sells its products through a network of direct sales representatives and independent stocking distributors in the United States, as well as through distributors and agents internationally. The company was founded in 1973 and is headquartered in Corpus Christi, Texas.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Lisa Levin]
TOR Minerals International (NASDAQ: TORM) shares touched a new 52-week low of $9.76. TOR Minerals shares have dropped 9.95% over the past 52 weeks, while the S&P 500 index has gained 27.45% in the same period.
Top 5 Integrated Utility Companies To Own In Right Now: CenterPoint Energy Inc (CNP)
CenterPoint Energy, Inc., incorporated on February 2, 2001, is a domestic energy delivery company. The Company�� business segments include Electric Transmission and Distribution, Natural Gas Distribution, Competitive Natural Gas Sales and Services, Interstate Pipelines, Field Services and Other Operations. The Company serves metered customers primarily in Arkansas, Louisiana, Minnesota, Mississippi, Oklahoma and Texas. The company also owns a 58.3% interest in a midstream partnership it jointly controls with OGE Energy Corp. with operations in natural gas and liquids-rich producing areas of Oklahoma, Texas, Arkansas and Louisiana.
The Company is a public utility holding company. The Company�� indirect wholly-owned subsidiaries include CenterPoint Energy Houston Electric, LLC (CenterPoint Houston), which engages in the electric transmission and distribution business in a 5,000-square mile area of the Texas Gulf Coast that includes the city of Houston and CenterPoint Energy Resources Corp. (CERC Corp. and, together with its subsidiaries, CERC), which owns and operates natural gas distribution systems in six states. Subsidiaries of CERC Corp. own interstate natural gas pipelines and gas gathering systems and provide various ancillary services. A wholly owned subsidiary of CERC Corp. offers variable and fixed-price physical natural gas supplies primarily to commercial and industrial customers and electric and gas utilities.
Electric Transmission & Distribution
CenterPoint Houston is a transmission and distribution electric utility that operates wholly within the state of Texas. CenterPoint Houston delivers electricity from power plants to substations, from one substation to another and to retail electric customers taking power at or above 69 kilovolts in locations throughout CenterPoint Houston's certificated service territory. CenterPoint Houston constructs and maintains transmission facilities and provides transmission services under tariffs approved by the Pu! blic Utility Commission of Texas (Texas Utility Commission).
In the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, Inc. (ERCOT), end users purchase their electricity directly from certificated REPs. CenterPoint Houston delivers electricity for REPs in its certificated service area by carrying lower-voltage power from the substation to the retail electric customer. CenterPoint Houston's distribution network receives electricity from the transmission grid through power distribution substations and delivers electricity to end users through distribution feeders. CenterPoint Houston's operations include construction and maintenance of distribution facilities, metering services, outage response services and call center operations. CenterPoint Houston provides distribution services under tariffs approved by the Texas Utility Commission. Texas Utility Commission rules and market protocols govern the commercial operations of distribution companies and other market participants.
CenterPoint Houston is a member of ERCOT. Within ERCOT, prices for wholesale generation and retail electric sales are unregulated, but services provided by transmission and distribution companies, such as CenterPoint Houston, are regulated by the Texas Utility Commission. ERCOT serves as the regional reliability coordinating council for member electric power systems in of Texas. ERCOT membership is open to consumer groups, investor and municipally-owned electric utilities, rural electric cooperatives, independent generators, power marketers, river authorities and REPs. The ERCOT market includes of the State of Texas, other than a portion of the panhandle, portions of the eastern part of the state bordering Arkansas and Louisiana and the area in and around El Paso.
ERCOT market operates under the reliability standards set by the North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC) and approved by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC). These reliability standards are administered by the Texas Regi! onal Enti! ty (TRE), a functionally independent division of ERCOT. The Texas Utility Commission has primary jurisdiction over the ERCOT market to ensure the adequacy and reliability of electricity supply across the state's main interconnected power transmission grid. The ERCOT independent system operator (ERCOT ISO) is responsible for operating the bulk electric power supply system in the ERCOT market. The ERCOT ISO also serves as agent for procuring ancillary services for those members who elect not to provide their own ancillary services.
CenterPoint Houston's electric transmission business, along with those of other owners of transmission facilities in Texas, supports the operation of the ERCOT ISO. The transmission business has planning, design, construction, operation and maintenance responsibility for the portion of the transmission grid and for the load-serving substations it owns, primarily within its certificated area. CenterPoint Houston participates with the ERCOT ISO and other ERCOT utilities to plan, design, obtain regulatory approval for and construct new transmission lines necessary to increase bulk power transfer capability and to remove existing constraints on the ERCOT transmission grid.
CenterPoint Houston's integrated utility business was restructured in accordance with the Texas electric restructuring law and its generating stations were sold to third parties. CenterPoint Houston serves nearly all of the Houston/Galveston metropolitan area. At December 31, 2012, CenterPoint Houston's customers consisted of approximately 75 REPs, which sell electricity to over two million metered customers in CenterPoint Houston's certificated service area, and municipalities, electric cooperatives and other distribution companies located outside CenterPoint Houston's certificated service area. All of CenterPoint Houston's properties are located in Texas. Its properties consist primarily of high-voltage electric transmission lines and poles, distribution lines, substations, service ce! nters, se! rvice wires and meters.
As of December 31, 2012, CenterPoint Houston owned 28,011 pole miles of overhead distribution lines and 3,713 circuit miles of overhead transmission lines, including 373 circuit miles operated at 69,000 volts, 2,124 circuit miles operated at 138,000 volts and 1,216 circuit miles operated at 345,000 volts. As of December 31, 2012, CenterPoint Houston owned 21,151 circuit miles of underground distribution lines and 26 circuit miles of underground transmission lines, including two circuit miles operated at 69,000 volts and 24 circuit miles operated at 138,000 volts. As of December 31, 2012, CenterPoint Houston owned 233 substation sites having a total installed rated transformer capacity of 54,325 megavolt amperes. CenterPoint Houston operates 14 regional service centers located on a total of 291 acres of land. These service centers consist of office buildings, warehouses and repair facilities that are used in the business of transmitting and distributing electricity.
Natural Gas Distribution
CERC Corp.'s natural gas distribution business (Gas Operations) engages in regulated intrastate natural gas sales to, and natural gas transportation for, approximately 3.3 million residential, commercial and industrial customers in Arkansas, Louisiana, Minnesota, Mississippi, Oklahoma and Texas. The largest metropolitan areas served in each state by Gas Operations are Houston, Texas; Minneapolis, Minnesota; Little Rock, Arkansas; Shreveport, Louisiana; Biloxi, Mississippi; and Lawton, Oklahoma. Gas Operations also provides unregulated services in Minnesota consisting of heating, ventilating and air conditioning (HVAC) equipment and appliance repair, and sales of HVAC, hearth and water heating equipment. Gas Operations actively engages in commodity price stabilization pursuant to annual gas supply plans presented to and/or filed with each of its state regulatory authorities. Gas Operations uses various third-party storage services or owned natural ga! s storage! facilities to meet peak-day requirements and to manage the daily changes in demand due to changes in weather and may also supplement contracted supplies and storage from time to time with stored liquefied natural gas and propane-air plant production.
Gas Operations owns and operates an underground natural gas storage facility with a capacity of seven billion cubic feet It has a working capacity of two billion cubic feet available for use during a normal heating season and a maximum daily withdrawal rate of 50 million cubic feet . It also owns nine propane-air plants with a total production rate of 200,000 Dekatherms per day and on-site storage facilities for 12 million gallons of propane (one billion cubic feet natural gas equivalent). It owns a liquefied natural gas plant facility with a 12 million-gallon liquefied natural gas storage tank (one billion cubic feet natural gas equivalent) and a production rate of 72,000 Dekatherms per day. Gas Operations has entered into various asset management agreements associated with its utility distribution service in Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Oklahoma and Texas. As of December 31, 2012, Gas Operations owned approximately 72,000 linear miles of natural gas distribution mains, varying in size from one-half inch to 24 inches in diameter. Generally, in each of the cities, towns and rural areas served by Gas Operations, it owns the underground gas mains and service lines, metering and regulating equipment located on customers' premises and the district regulating equipment necessary for pressure maintenance.
Interstate Pipelines
CERC's pipelines business operates interstate natural gas pipelines with gas transmission lines primarily located in Arkansas, Illinois, Louisiana, Missouri, Oklahoma and Texas. CERC's interstate pipeline operations are primarily conducted by two wholly owned subsidiaries that provide gas transportation and storage services primarily to industrial customers and local distribution companies, includ! ing Cente! rPoint Energy Gas Transmission Company, LLC (CEGT) is an interstate pipeline that provides natural gas transportation, natural gas storage and pipeline services to customers principally in Arkansas, Louisiana, Oklahoma and Texas and includes the 1.9 billion cubic feet per day pipeline from Carthage, Texas to Perryville, Louisiana, which CEGT operates as a separate line with a fixed fuel rate, and CenterPoint Energy-Mississippi River Transmission, LLC (MRT) is an interstate pipeline that provides natural gas transportation, natural gas storage and pipeline services to customers principally in Arkansas, Illinois and Missouri. CenterPoint Southeastern Pipelines Holding, LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of CERC, owns a 50% interest in Southeast Supply Header, LLC (SESH). SESH owns a one billion cubic feet per day, 274-mile interstate pipeline that runs from the Perryville Hub in Louisiana to Coden, Alabama.
Field Services
CERC's field services business operates gas gathering, treating and processing facilities and also provides operating and technical services and remote data monitoring and communication services. CERC's field services operations are conducted by a wholly owned subsidiary, CenterPoint Energy Field Services, LLC (CEFS), and subsidiaries of CEFS. CERC's field services business provides natural gas gathering and processing services for certain natural gas fields in the Mid-continent region of the United States that interconnect with CEGT's and MRT's pipelines, as well as other interstate and intrastate pipelines. As of December 31,2012, CERC's field services business gathered an average of approximately 2.4 billion cubic feet per day of natural gas. In addition, CERC's field services business has the capacity available to treat up to 2.5 billion cubic feet per day and process 625 million cubic feet per day of natural gas. CEFS, through its ServiceStar operating division, provides remote data monitoring and communications services to affiliates and third parties. CERC's ! field ser! vices business owns and operates approximately 4,600 miles of gathering lines and processing plants that collect, treat and process natural gas primarily from three regions located in producing fields in Arkansas, Louisiana, Oklahoma and Texas.
Other Operations
The Company�� other operations business segment includes office buildings and other real estate. It is used in its business operations and other corporate operations that support all of its business operations.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Richard Stavros]
Among those companies that are winding down their spending programs, NextEra Energy Inc (NYSE: NEE) accounts for almost 30 percent of the projected $10 billion decline in annual spending from 2013 to 2015. Other larger-cap companies with projected 2015 budgets that are below their 2013 levels include: CenterPoint Energy Inc (NYSE: CNP), Dominion Resources Inc (NYSE: D), PPL Corp (NYSE: PPL), Public Service Enterprise Group Inc (NYSE: PEG), and Southern Company (NYSE: SO).
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