Watch out, grocery chain investors: The $250 billion freight train that is Wal-Mart (NYSE: WMT ) is looking to push you off the rails.
On Monday Wal-Mart announced changes across its sourcing, training, and operations "that will ensure the quality and freshness of the fruits and vegetables that it offers customers."
The plan
So how, exactly, does this corporate behemoth intend to achieve its goal?�
First, the initiative includes plans to purchase produce directly from growers with the guidance of new produce experts hired by the company. As a result, Wal-Mart will be able to take greater advantage of its own industry-leading network of distribution centers and trucking systems to bring fruits and vegetables to store shelves even faster than its current system allows.
Next, Wal-Mart will be performing "independent weekly checks in its more than 3,400 Supercenters, Neighborhood Markets and Express Stores that sell produce," the reports for which will be sent to "every level of store management" to help benchmark itself and competitors on a week-over-week basis.
Top Penny Stocks To Invest In Right Now: Rhoen Klinikum AG (RHK)
Rhoen Klinikum AG is a Germany-based provider of health care services. It is primarily engaged in building, acquiring and operating privately owned hospitals. The Company�� portfolio comprises basic and standard care, intermediate care, maximum care, specialist care, medical care centers (MVZ) at hospitals, portal clinics, university hospitals and academic teaching hospitals. These hospitals offer treatment in several specialist fields, including psychiatry, anesthesiology, dermatology, ophthalmology, various types of surgery, women�� medicine and obstetrics, geriatrics, neurology, rehabilitation, urology and internal medicine, among others. The Company operated a number of hospitals and medical care centers. In addition to the hospitals in Bad Berka, Frankfurt, Hildesheim, Karlsruhe, Munich, Pforzheim and Wiesbaden, among others, it has MVZ companies located in Germany, as well as two research and education companies and service companies. Advisors' Opinion:- [By Corinne Gretler]
Fresenius rose 3.6 percent after its Helios subsidiary agreed to buy 43 hospitals from Rhoen-Klinikum (RHK) AG. BHP Billiton Ltd. and Anglo American Plc both dropped at least 2 percent, contributing the most to a decline by a gauge of commodity producers. TDC A/S fell 3.1 percent as a group of private-equity firms sold its stake in Denmark�� biggest phone company.
Best Trucking Stocks To Watch For 2014: Accor SA (AC)
Accor SA is a France-based hotel operator. The Hotels division manages more than 531,000 bedrooms in more than 4,200 hotels across 90 countries. Accor's portfolio consists of such hotel brands as Sofitel, Pullman, Novotel, Mercure, Suite Novotel, Adagio, ibis Styles, all seasons, Etap Hotel, Formule 1, hotelF1, Studio 6 and Motel 6, and its related activities, Thalassa sea & spa and Lenotre that provide an offer ranging from luxury to budget class. It operates through a number of subsidiaries, including SH Danton Michelet, Ste De Constructiondes Holets Suites, SIET, The Newgen Hotels, Chammans, Profid, SPFH, IBL, Soluxury HMC and SNC SH 61 QG; LA THERMALE DE FRANCE, PIH and HOTEXCO, among others. On July 30, 2012, it divested its stake in Ascendas Australia Hospitality Fund and Beijing Sanyuan Novotel and Ibis. In February 2013, it sold the Sofitel Paris Le Faubourg. In August 2013, it opened a new hotel in Thailand. In September 2013, it opened new resort in Dubai. Advisors' Opinion:- [By Holly LaFon]
Investing in small or micro cap funds will be more volatile and loss of principal could be greater than investing in large cap or more diversified funds.Investing in foreign securities, especially in frontier and emerging markets, entails special risks, such as currency fluctuations and political uncertainties, which are described in more detail in the prospectus.For the period ended March 31, 2014, the average annual total returns of the Wasatch International Growth (Trades, Portfolio) Fund for the one-, five- and ten-year periods were 12.71%, 28.72%, and 10.73%, and the returns for the MSCI AC World Ex-U.S.A. Small Cap Index were 16.28%, 21.18%, and 9.31%. Expense ratio: Gross 1.57% / Net 1.57%.Recent stock market performance has caused atypical short-term returns for some asset classes,which may not continue in the future. Fund performance may be subject to substantial short-term changes due to market volatility.Data shows past performance, which is not indicative of future performance. Current performance may be lower or higher than the data quoted. To obtain the most recent month-end performance data available, please click on the ��erformance��tab of the individual fund under the ��ur Funds��section. The Advisor may absorb certain Fund expenses, without which total return would have been lower. Investment returns and principal value will fluctuate and shares, when redeemed, may be worth more or less than their original cost.Wasatch Funds will deduct a 2.00% redemption proceeds fee on Fund shares held 60 days or less. Performance data does not reflect the deduction of fees, including sales charges, or the taxes you would pay on fund distributions or the redemption of fund shares. Fees and taxes, if reflected, would reduce the performance quoted. Wasatch does not charge any sales fees. For more complete information including charges, risks and expenses, read the prospectus carefully.Wasatch Funds are subject to risks, including loss of principal.Over
- [By Corinne Gretler]
Accor (AC) dropped 4.4 percent to 27.52 euros, the biggest loss since June 2012. Europe�� largest hotel operator posted first-half earnings before interest and taxes of 198 million euros ($265 million), missing the average analyst projection of 212 million euros. The company predicted 2013 Ebit of between 510 million euros and 530 million euros, compared with the average 534 million-euro analyst estimate.
- [By Namitha Jagadeesh]
Accor SA (AC) declined 4.2 percent to 25.62 euros after Credit Suisse Group AG downgraded Europe�� largest hotel operator to underperform, the equivalent of sell, from outperform, citing the increasing risk of disappointing first-quarter earnings.
- [By Inyoung Hwang]
Accor (AC) dropped 3.9 percent to 32.27 euros, its biggest decline since Aug. 28. Europe�� largest hotel operator said it will reorganize its business into two separate units. The HotelServices unit will operate about 460,000 hotel rooms under 14 brands. The HotelInvest unit will act as the owner and investor in hotels.
Best Trucking Stocks To Watch For 2014: Wausau Paper Corp. (WPP)
Wausau Paper Corp. manufactures, converts, and sells paper and paper products in the United States and internationally. It operates in two segments, Tissue and Paper. The Tissue segment produces and sells paper towel and tissue products for the ?away-from-home? market, including washroom roll and folded towels, windshield folded towels, industrial wipers, dairy towels, household roll towels, and various towel, tissue, and soap dispensers, as well as other premium towel and tissue products to paper and sanitary supply distributors under the DublSoft, EcoSoft, OptiCore, Revolution, Dubl-Nature, and Dubl-Tough names. The Paper segment focuses on four core markets comprising food, industrial and tape, coated and liner, and print and color. This segment manufactures products for food processing, food packaging, and foodservice, such as products used for baking applications, microwave popcorn, and other cheese and meat processing products; products for interleaving, saturating, coating, unsaturated crepe base, and a range of micro markets; specialty liners, and siliconized release papers for use in pressure sensitive tapes, specialty label applications, the production of fiber composite applications, and casting sheets used in the production of solar cells; and uncoated printing, writing, text, cover, and board grades for commercial printers, in-plant print shops, quick printers, copy centers, and office supply and mass merchandisers under the Wausau Paper, EcoSelect, ExperTec, DuraTec, InvenTec, ProGard, ProRedi, ProPly, ProTec, Astrobrights, Royal, Exact, Professional Series, Intrigue, and Creative Collection names. This segment also produces a range of custom color products, which include matte board, end leaf, and luxury packaging applications. Wausau Paper Corp. was founded in 1899 and is headquartered in Mosinee, Wisconsin.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Mariko Yasu]
Dentsu paid 3.16 billion pounds ($4.8 billion) for Aegis as Japan�� biggest agency competes with global firms including WPP Plc (WPP) and Omnicom Group Inc. (OMC) With Japan�� benchmark Topix index on pace for its best result since 2005, the 112-year-old company is tapping an equities boom to fund the deal that added the largest independent buyer of advertising space and reduced its reliance on the domestic market.
- [By Holly LaFon]
In the second half of the year, Crescent established new positions in a few companies that have more such global footprints. We initiated investments in Google (GOOG), as well as the advertising agencies Interpublic (IPG) and WPP (WPP). The fortunes of all three are tied directly to the level of global advertising spend, and they all saw their shares prices decline due to concerns of a recession-related slowdown. At our purchase price, we believe we were buying each at roughly 11-13x our estimated earnings for 2012 should the fears of a macroeconomic slowdown prove correct. This strikes us as a very reasonable multiple to pay for asset-light global businesses that generate strong free cash flow across the business cycle and have the capability to grow earnings greater than GDP in a normal economic environment.
- [By Jonathan Morgan]
WPP Plc (WPP), the world�� biggest advertising company, advanced 3.6 percent to 1,210 pence in London trading.
LSE advanced 7.4 percent to 1,590 pence, the highest price since February 2008, as the operator of Europe�� oldest independent bourse reported a 39 percent increase in first-quarter revenue.
- [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 Wausau Paper (NYSE: WPP ) , whose recent revenue and earnings are plotted below.
Best Trucking Stocks To Watch For 2014: Agilysys Inc.(AGYS)
Agilysys, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, provides information technology (IT) solutions to corporate and public-sector customers primarily in North America. It operates in three segments: Hospitality Solutions Group (HSG), Retail Solutions Group (RSG), and Technology Solutions Group (TSG). The HSG segment offers application software and services that streamline management of operations, property, and inventory for customers in the gaming, hotel and resort, cruise lines, food management services, and sports and entertainment markets. The RSG segment provides solutions for retailers to enhance productivity, operational efficiency, technology utilization, customer satisfaction, and in-store profitability that comprise customized pricing, inventory, and customer relationship management systems. This segment also offers implementation plans and supplies the hardware package required to operate the systems, including servers, receipt printers, point-of-sale terminals, and wireless devices for in-store use by retail store associates. The TSG segment provides various solutions that comprise enterprise architecture, infrastructure optimization, storage and resource management, identity management, and business continuity for the finance, government, healthcare, telecommunications, education, and other industries. The company was founded in 1963 and is headquartered in Solon, Ohio.
Advisors' Opinion:- [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 Agilysys (Nasdaq: AGYS ) , whose recent revenue and earnings are plotted below. - [By Evan Niu, CFA]
What: Shares of Agilysys (NASDAQ: AGYS ) have soared today by as much as 11% after the company reported earnings.
So what: Revenue in the fiscal fourth quarter rose 21% to $63 million, with the company's retail segment driving nearly all of those gains. Non-GAAP net income per share came in at $0.15, swinging into the black relative to the $0.16 per share adjusted loss a year ago. CEO James Dennedy said the company outperformed its expectations for the year.
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