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Last August, Motley Fool�Stock Advisor�published a list of the�Top 10 Books for "Today's Well-Read Investor." It's chock-full of good recommendations, mostly from Tom and David Gardner. But in the process of putting together the list, I had the opportunity to highlight a book myself. It was an easy choice -- I recommended�The Outsiders: Eight Unconventional CEOs and Their Radically Rational Blueprint for Success�by William N. Thorndike Jr. In my opinion, it's easily the best investment or business book published in the past few years, and it's definitely one of my all-time favorites.
It's a favorite of Warren Buffett's, too, and not just because he's profiled in it. This short book chronicles eight CEOs�who�operated in different industries and dealt with different challenges over the decades but shared the same radical mindset. They set aside the status quo and applied logic and rationality to business with a particular focus on efficient operations and skillful capital allocation. The average returns generated by these CEOs have beaten the S&P 500 by a factor of 20. Buffett's run at�Berkshire Hathaway is spotlighted, along with Tom Murphy of Capital Cities, Henry Singleton of Teledyne, Bill Anders of�General Dynamics� (NYSE: GD ) , John Malone of TCI, Katharine Graham of The Washington Post, Bill Stiritz of Ralston-Purina, and Dick Smith of General Cinema.
5 Best Integrated Utility Stocks To Own Right Now: CTI Industries Corporation (CTIB)
CTI Industries Corporation develops, manufactures, and supplies flexible film products for novelty, packaging and container, and custom product applications worldwide. The company offers novelty products that comprise foil balloons, such as Superloons, Ultraloons, Miniloons, Card-B-Loons, Shape-A-Loons, and mini shapes; latex balloons under the Partyloons name; and toy balloon products consisting of punch balls, water bombs, animal twisties, and other inflatable toy items. It also provides flexible containers for home and consumer use for the storage and preservation of food and personal items, including devices for sealing and evacuating air from such containers; and packaging films and custom film products used for food, and other packaging and commercial applications. In addition, the company offers pouches and bags comprising valved and re sealable pouches for the storage of household items; vacuum sealable bags for food storage; re sealable and valved bags for the sto rage and vacuum sealing of food items in the house under the ZipVac brand; and open-top pouches, under the ZipLoc name, for use with vacuum sealing machines to vacuum seal, and store food and household items. It primarily serves various retail outlets, including general merchandise, discount and drugstore chains, grocery chains, card and gift shops, and party goods stores, as well as florists and balloon decorators through a network of distributors and wholesalers, and independent sales representatives. CTI Industries Corporation was founded in 1975 and is headquartered in Lake Barrington, Illinois.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Monica Gerson]
CTI Industries (NASDAQ: CTIB) is estimated to report its Q1 earnings at $0.02 per share on revenue of $15.75 million.
URS (NYSE: URS) is projected to post its Q1 earnings at $0.68 per share on revenue of $2.68 billion.
Hot High Tech Companies To Buy For 2014: LTX-Credence Corporation(LTXC)
LTX-Credence Corporation designs, manufactures, markets, and services automated test equipment solutions for the wireless, computing, automotive, and consumer markets. The company?s product portfolio includes Diamond platform, a package for testing microcontrollers and cost sensitive consumer devices; X-Series platform that offers configurations for optimal testing of ASSP and ASIC, power, automotive, mixed signal, and RF applications; and ASL platform, which is used for testing linear, low-end mixed signal, precision analog, and power management devices. The company also provides various services, including installation and maintenance of test systems, servicing of spare parts, parts and labor warranties on test systems, and training on the maintenance and operation of test systems. LTX-Credence Corporation sells its products through direct sales organization and distributors in the United States, Taiwan, China, Japan, Korea, and southeast Asia. The company was founded i n 1976 and is headquartered in Norwood, Massachusetts.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By CRWE]
LTX-Credence Corporation (Nasdaq:LTXC), a global provider of market focused, cost-optimized ATE solutions, reported that it will present at the Barclays Capital Global Technology, Media and Telecommunications Conference on Wednesday, May 23, 2012 at 4:15 PM EDT. This event will be available over the Internet via live webcast.
Hot High Tech Companies To Buy For 2014: AVEO Pharmaceuticals Inc.(AVEO)
AVEO Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a biopharmaceutical company, engages in the discovery and development of cancer therapeutics. The company?s lead product candidate, Tivozanib (AV-951), is a novel, highly potent and selective oral inhibitor of the vascular endothelial growth factor, or VEGF, receptors 1, 2, and 3. It is also leading the clinical development of AV-299, which includes conducting multiple Phase I clinical trials and preparing for the conduct of multiple Phase II clinical trials. The company?s product candidate in preclinical development is AV-203, a potent ErbB3 antibody that has demonstrated efficacy in vivo. It has strategic partnerships with OSI Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Merck, and Biogen Idec, Inc. AVEO Pharmaceuticals was formerly known as GenPath Pharmaceuticals, Inc. and changed its name to AVEO Pharmaceuticals, Inc. in March 2005. The company was founded in 2001 and is based in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Sean Williams]
Will AVEO be on target?
The other FDA decision that should have the attention of biotech investors this week is AVEO Pharmaceuticals' (NASDAQ: AVEO ) Tivozanib, which is set to go before the FDA's review panel on Thursday. - [By Sean Williams]
What: Shares of cancer therapeutics company AVEO Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: AVEO ) absolutely imploded, losing as much as 57% ��and dropping as much as 70% for the week at one point ��after its metastatic renal cancer carcinoma drug, Tivozanib, failed to win the backing of the Food and Drug Administrations' panel.
- [By Eric Volkman]
AVEO Oncology (NASDAQ: AVEO ) will have to plow forward with far less manpower. It announced it will reduce its headcount by around 140 people, or roughly 62% of its current workforce, across the company. The cuts are part of a strategic restructuring initiative aimed at improving the firm's viability in the immediate future.�
Hot High Tech Companies To Buy For 2014: Liberte Investors Inc. (FAC)
First Acceptance Corporation, through its subsidiaries, engages in retailing, servicing, and underwriting non-standard personal automobile insurance and related products. Its primary business involves issuing automobile insurance policies to individuals who are categorized as non-standard based primarily on their inability or unwillingness to obtain insurance coverage from standard carriers due to various factors, including their payment history or need for monthly payment plans, and failure to maintain continuous insurance coverage or driving record. The company also offers optional products that provide ancillary reimbursements and benefits in the event of an automobile accident; and underwrites a tenant homeowner policy that provides contents and liability coverage to renters. In addition, it engages in activities related to the disposition of real estate held for sale. The company distributes its products through retail locations. As of March 31, 2012, it leased and op erated 378 retail locations. First Acceptance Corporation was founded in 1969 and is based in Nashville, Tennessee.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By John Udovich]
Auto sales continue to rise and that is good news for small cap auto insurers Infinity Property and Casualty Corp (NASDAQ: IPCC), First Acceptance Corporation (NYSE: FAC) and Atlas Financial Holdings Inc (NASDAQ: AFH) which are focused on niche auto insurance markets.�A Yahoo! Autos blog post�recently noted that in August, automakers sold 1.5 million new vehicles for the highest rate in years. Moreover,�most industry forecasters expect sales to�return to the level they hit before the 2008 recession of 16 million vehicles a year. The blog post then went on to note the three forces driving auto sales:
Hot High Tech Companies To Buy For 2014: Rubicon Technology Inc.(RBCN)
Rubicon Technology, Inc. develops, manufactures, and sells monocrystalline sapphire and other crystalline products for light-emitting diodes (LED), radio frequency integrated circuits (RFICs), blue laser diodes, optoelectronics, and other optical applications. The company fabricates its products from the boules and sells them in various categories, including core, as-cut, as-ground, and polished forms in two, three, four, six, and eight inch diameter wafers. It manufactures sapphire substrates and optical windows, including two inch to four inch sapphire cores and wafers for use in LEDs and blue laser diodes for solid state lighting and electronic applications; six-inch polished sapphire wafers that are used in the LED applications and in silicon-on-sapphire RFICs; and eight inch wafers for research and development efforts, as well as sells sapphire products used for windows and lenses in military, aerospace, sensor, and other applications. The company also offers opticall y-polished windows and ground window blanks of sapphire and various fluoride compounds, such as calcium, barium, and magnesium fluoride. Rubicon Technology, Inc. sells its products primarily to wafer polishing companies and semiconductor device manufacturers in Asia, North America, and Europe. The company was incorporated in 2001 and is headquartered in Bensenville, Illinois.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Jon C. Ogg]
Rubicon Technology Inc. (NASDAQ: RBCN) was downgraded to Underperform from Perform at Oppenheimer.
Universal Display Corp. (NASDAQ: OLED) was downgraded to Sell from Hold at Canaccord Genuity.
- [By Roberto Pedone]
Rubicon Technology (RBCN), an electronic materials provider, develops, manufactures, and sells monocrystalline sapphire and other crystalline products for light-emitting diodes (LEDs), radio frequency integrated circuits (RFICs), blue laser diodes, optoelectronics, and other optical applications. This stock closed up 4% to $6.12 a share in Thursday's trading session.
Thursday's Range: $5.85-$6.16
52-Week Range: $5.52-$14.67
Thursday's Volume: 322,000
Three-Month Average Volume: 545,912From a technical perspective, RBCN ripped higher here with lighter-than-average volume. This stock recently gapped down sharply from close to $8 to $5.52 with monster downside volume. Following that move, shares of RBCN have started to bounce higher off that $5.52 low and it's quickly moving within range of triggering a major breakout trade. That trade will hit if RBCN manages to take out Thursday's intraday high of $6.16 to its gap-down-day high of $6.50 with high volume.
Traders should now look for long-biased trades in RBCN as long as it's trending above Thursday's intraday low of $5.85 or above more near-term support at $5.70 and then once it sustains a move or close above those breakout levels with volume that hits near or above 545,912 shares. If that breakout hits soon, then RBCN will set up to re-fill some of its previous gap-down-day zone that started near $8.
- [By Jake L'Ecuyer]
Leading and Lagging Sectors
Technology stocks gained Tuesday, with Ku6 Media Co (NASDAQ: KUTV) leading advancers. Among leading tech stocks, gains came from Rubicon Technology (NASDAQ: RBCN), Bitauto Holdings (NYSE: BITA) and Sify Technologies (NASDAQ: SIFY). - [By Jake L'Ecuyer]
Leading and Lagging Sectors
Technology stocks gained Tuesday, with Ku6 Media Co (NASDAQ: KUTV) leading advancers. Among leading tech stocks, gains came from Rubicon Technology (NASDAQ: RBCN), Bitauto Holdings (NYSE: BITA) and Sify Technologies (NASDAQ: SIFY). Utilities shares dropped by 0.11 percent in the US market today.
Hot High Tech Companies To Buy For 2014: Duckwall-Alco Stores Inc.(DUCK)
Duckwall-ALCO Stores, Inc. operates as a regional broad line retailer in the central United States. The company operates ALCO stores that offer a line of merchandise consisting of approximately 35,000 items, including automotive, commodities, crafts, domestics, electronics, furniture, hardware, health and beauty aids, housewares, jewelry, pre-recorded music and video, sporting goods, seasonal items, stationery, and toys, as well as ladies?, men?s, and children?s apparel and shoes. As of March 1, 2012, it operated 216 ALCO stores in 23 states. The company was founded in 1901 and is based in Abilene, Kansas.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Geoff Gannon]
Stocks trading at or below book value ��not counting goodwill ��are the easiest to understand. Whether we are talking about DreamWorks or Avalon Holdings or Duckwall ALCO (DUCK) or J.W. Mays (MAYS), if a stock is trading around book value your next step is to figure out how book value is calculated.
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