Shares of Darden fell $2.20, or 4.3%, to close at $48.49 on Friday.
The deal lets Darden shed its worst-performing chain to pay off some debt and focus on its flagship Olive Garden chain, which also has been struggling.
Darden will receive net cash proceeds, after tax and transaction costs, of about $1.6 billion for the seafood chain with 700 restaurants in the U.S. and Canada. Orlando-based Darden says it will use $1 billion to pay off debt and use the rest to buy back shares.
Sales at casual dining restaurants have been sluggish, with industry analysts blaming a general lack of innovation and also less appeal for younger consumers. Darden had considered various plans for unload Red Lobster, including a spin-off. Darden also approached real estate buyers about sale-leaseback financing for the business.
Hot Communications Equipment Companies To Watch For 2015: Oaktree Capital Group LLC (OAK)
Oaktree Capital Group, LLC (Oaktree) is a global investment management firm focused on alternative markets. Oaktree manages funds in investment strategies that fall into the six asset classes, which include distressed debt, corporate debt, control investing, convertible securities, real estate and listed equities. As of June 30, 2011, the Company�� assets under management (AUM) totaled $79.5 billion. The Company�� manager is Oaktree Capital Group Holdings GP, LLC. The Company manages assets on behalf of other institutional investors in the world, including 70 of the 100 United States pension plans, 37 states in the United States, over 350 corporations, over 300 university and charitable endowments and foundations, and over 150 non-United States institutional investors, including six of the top 10 sovereign wealth fund nations.
Funds managed by Oaktree include both separate accounts and commingled funds. The commingled funds include open-end and closed-end limited partnerships for which the Company or a subsidiary serves as the general partner or, in certain limited cases, co-general partner. Oaktree makes principal investments in these funds.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Robert Rapier]
In contrast with the steady distribution at IEP, investors in Oaktree Capital (NYSE: OAK) saw a 50 percent sequential payout cut as the prior payment was boosted by the profitable liquidation of an unusually large distressed debt fund. Still, this top alternative asset manager remains on track with 30 percent year-over-year growth in distributable earnings and $3.7 billion of gross capital raised for the quarter. Oaktree units initially slumped 5 percent on earnings news, but much of that discount evaporated in a matter of hours, underscoring strong investor support for this partnership, which has given us a 10 percent capital gain in under two months. Continue buying OAK on pullbacks below $56.
Top 10 Performing Companies To Own In Right Now: (ARM)
ARM Holdings plc, together with its subsidiaries, engages in the design of microprocessors, physical IP, and related technology and software; and sale of development tools to enhance the performance of high-volume embedded applications. Its products include microprocessors cores, such as specific functions comprising video and graphics IP, fabric IP, embedded software, and configurable digital signal processing IP; physical IP components for the design and manufacture of integrated circuits, which comprise embedded memory, standard cell, and input/output components; software development tools that help software design engineers in the design and deployment of code, from applications running on open operating systems to low-level firmware. The company also offers support, maintenance, and training services, as well as design consulting services. ARM Holdings plc licenses and sells its technology and products to electronics companies, which in turn manufacture, market, and s ell microprocessors, application-specific integrated circuits, and application-specific standard processors to systems companies for incorporation into various end products, as well as licenses and sells development tools directly to systems companies and provides support services to licensees, systems companies, and other systems designers. It operates in Europe, the United States, and the Asia Pacific. The company was formerly known as Advanced RISC Machines Holdings Limited and changed its name to ARM Holdings plc in March 1998. ARM Holdings plc was founded in 1990 and is based in Cambridge, the United Kingdom.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Tom Stoukas]
ARM Holdings Plc (ARM), whose chip designs power Apple Inc.�� iPhone and iPad, plunged 5.2 percent to 995 pence. Exane BNP Paribas downgraded the shares to neutral from outperform, saying that Intel Corp.�� new platform may enable it to outperform ARM�� designs.
- [By Sarah Jones]
European stocks jumped the most in eight months as ARM (ARM) Holdings Plc and Cie. Financiere Richemont SA reported results that topped estimates and speculation grew that the region�� central bank will cut interest rates.
Top 10 Performing Companies To Own In Right Now: Coleman Cable Inc.(CCIX)
Coleman Cable, Inc. designs, develops, manufactures, and supplies electrical wire and cable products for consumer, commercial, and industrial applications primarily in the United States and Canada. It provides industrial wire and cable products, including portable cords, machine tool wiring, building wires, welding, mining, pump, control, stage/lighting, diesel/locomotive, instrumentation, tray, thermocouple, high temperature, and metal clad cables, as well as other power cord products under the Royal, Seoprene, Copperfield, Continental, Triangle, and Corra/Clad brand names. The company also offers assembled wire and cable products comprising various types of extension cords, ground fault circuit interrupters, portable lighting, retractable reels, holiday items, solar lighting, recreational vehicle cords and adapters, and surge and strip products, as well as booster cables, battery cables, and battery accessories for the automotive aftermarket. It provides assembled wire a nd cable products under the brand names of Woods, Moonrays, Polar Solar, Yellow Jacket, American Contractor, Road Power, Power Station, Booster-in-a-Bag, TRC, Shock Shield, Electra Shield, Fire Shield, and Designers Edge, as well as privately-labeled brands. In addition, the company offers electronic wire products, such as telephone, data, security, coaxial, industrial automation, instrumentation, twinaxial, fire alarm, plenum, and home automation cables that connect devices under the Signal, Plencote, Soundsational, and Clear Signal brand names. Further, it provides fabricated bare wire products consisting of stranded, bunched, and single-end copper, copper-clad steel, and various copper alloy wires under the brand name of Copperfield. The company sells its products to specialty distributors, retailers, and original equipment manufacturers. Coleman Cable, Inc. was founded in 1970 and is based in Waukegan, Illinois.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Damian Illia]
On Jan. 17, Mario Gabelli (Trades, Portfolio), the chairman and chief executive officer of GAMCO Investors Inc., bought Coleman Cable Inc. (CCIX) at an average price of $23.26 and currently holds 729,100 shares of the stock. He is betting in favor of the Electrical Components & Equipment sub-industry.
- [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 Coleman Cable (Nasdaq: CCIX ) , whose recent revenue and earnings are plotted below.
Top 10 Performing Companies To Own In Right Now: Mapfre SA (MAP)
Mapfre SA is a Spain-based holding company active in the insurance industry. It provides insurance services to businesses, professionals and individuals. The range of the Company�� products and services includes insurance policies of direct life, property and casualty, health, automotive and third party liability, among others. In addition, Mapfre SA is active in the management of pension funds, retirement plans and investment funds, as well as the provision of healthcare services in Spain. The Company is a parent of Grupo Mapfre, which comprises a number of entities active in the insurance, reinsurance, financial and real estate sectors with operations established worldwide. The Company operates such subsidiaries as Mapfre Familiar, Mapfre Vida, Mapfre Emperesas, MSG Portugal, Mapfre America, Mapfre Internatcional, Mapfre Re, Mapfre Global Risks and Mapfre Asistencia, among others. Advisors' Opinion:- [By Tom Stoukas]
Mapfre SA (MAP) slid 3.1 percent to 2.67 euros. Bankia SA sold a 12 percent stake, or 369.6 million shares, in Spain�� biggest insurer.
Centrica SlidesCentrica Plc (CNA), the largest energy supplier to U.K. homes, lost 2.3 percent to 366.9 pence. JPMorgan Chase & Co. downgraded the shares to neutral from overweight, citing proposals from Britain�� Labour Party to freeze energy bills and break up the country�� six biggest power suppliers.
- [By Ruth David]
Bankia, a Valencia-based bank that took state aid, did the third-biggest placing last quarter, when it dumped a 979 million-euro stake in Mapfre (MAP), Spain�� largest insurer. Bankia said the sale was a step in implementing its parent company�� strategy for the three years through 2015.
Top 10 Performing Companies To Own In Right Now: Mecox Lane Limited(MCOX)
Mecox Lane Limited, through its subsidiaries, engages in the design and sale of apparel, accessories, and home and healthcare products through its online platform and stores in the People?s Republic of China. Its apparel and accessories include women?s T-shirts, sweaters, jeans, dresses, outerwear, purses, and shoes, as well as offers kids? apparels and men?s apparels. The company also provides home furnishings and other small household appliances; a large-rim cup to cook instant noodles; beauty and healthcare products, such as skin care, fragrance, cosmetics, and other personal care products; and pet-related and other products. It sells its products under Euromoda and Rampage brands, as well as under third-party brands. In addition, the company involves in the telephonic sale of garments, accessories, and other products; and wholesale and retail of garments. Further, it offers software development and information technology support services. As of December 31, 2010, t he company operated 451 stores, including 327 franchised stores and 124 directly operated stores in 172 cities. Mecox Lane Limited distributes its products through company-owned and franchised stores, as well as through its M18.com e-commerce Website. The company was founded in 1996 and is headquartered in Shanghai, the People?s Republic of China. Mecox Lane Limited is a subsidiary of Mecox Lane.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Roberto Pedone]
Mecox Lane (MCOX) offers a selection of products apparel, accessories and home and health care products through its online platform and third party e-commerce websites. This stock closed up 13.5% to $4.10 in Tuesday's trading session.
Tuesday's Range: $3.62-$4.18
52-Week Range: $1.67-$7.88
Tuesday's Volume: 274,000
Three-Month Average Volume: 238,211From a technical perspective, MCOX exploded higher here right above some near-term support at $3.42 and back above its 50-day moving average of $4 with above-average volume. This stock has been trending sideways and consolidating over the last two months, with shares moving between $3.23 on the downside and $4.58 on the upside. This spike on Tuesday is quickly pushing shares of MCOX within range of breaking out above the upper-end of its recent range. That trade will hit if MCOX manages to clear Tuesday's high of $4.18 and then above more resistance at $4.58 with high volume.
Traders should now look for long-biased trades in MCOX as long as it's trending above its 200-day at $3.24 and then once it sustains a move or close above those breakout levels with volume that hits near or above 238,211 shares. If that breakout hits soon, then MCOX will set up to re-test or possibly take out its next major overhead resistance levels at $6 to its 52-week high at $7.88.
Top 10 Performing Companies To Own In Right Now: Micron Technology Inc.(MU)
Micron Technology, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, engages in the manufacture and marketing of semiconductor devices worldwide. Its products include dynamic random access memory (DRAM) products that provide data storage and retrieval, which include DDR2 and DDR3; and other specialty DRAM memory products, including DDR, SDRAM, DDR and DDR2 mobile low power DRAM, pseudo-static RAM, and reduced latency DRAM. The company also offers NAND flash memory products, which are electrically re-writeable and non-volatile semiconductor devices that retain content when power is turned off. In addition, it provides NOR flash memory products that are electrically re-writeable and non-volatile semiconductor memory devices; phase change memory products; and image sensor products. Micron Technology?s products are used in a range of electronic applications, including personal computers, workstations, network servers, mobile phones, flash memory cards, USB storage devices, digital still c ameras, MP3/4 players, and in automotive applications. It sells its products to original equipment manufacturers and retailers through internal sales force, independent sales representatives, and distributors, as well as through a Web-based customer direct sales channel. The company was founded in 1978 and is headquartered in Boise, Idaho.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Wallace Witkowski]
Micron (MU) �shares jumped 5.9% to $23.03 on heavy volume after reporting adjusted fiscal first-quarter earnings of 77 cents a share on revenue of $4.04 billion. A consensus of analysts polled by FactSet expected 44 cents a share on revenue of $3.72 billion.
- [By Lee Jackson]
Micron Technology Inc. (NASDAQ: MU) is a global leader in advanced semiconductor systems. Micron’s broad portfolio of high-performance memory technologies, including DRAM, NAND and NOR Flash, is the basis for solid state drives, modules, multichip packages and other system solutions. The company’s memory chip solutions enable the world’s most innovative computing, consumer, enterprise storage, networking, mobile, embedded and automotive applications. The Jefferies price target for the stock, which soared last year, is $30. The consensus target is posted�lower at $27.29. Micron closed Thursday at $23.64.
Top 10 Performing Companies To Own In Right Now: MGE Energy Inc (MGEE)
MGE Energy, Inc. (MGE Energy), incorporated on December 31, 2001, is a holding company and conducts all of its business operations through its subsidiaries. Madison Gas and Electric Company (MGE) is a wholly owned subsidiary of MGE Energy. The Company operates in five segments: Regulated electric utility operations, which is engaged in generating, purchasing, and distributing electricity through MGE; Regulated gas utility operations, which is engaged in purchasing and distributing natural gas through MGE; Nonregulated energy operations, which is engaged in constructing, owning, and leasing electric generating capacity that assists MGE through MGE Energy's wholly owned subsidiaries MGE Power Elm Road and MGE Power West Campus; Transmission investments, which is representing its investment in American Transmission Company LLC, and All other, which is investing in companies and property that relate to the regulated operations and financing the regulated operations, through its wholly owned subsidiaries MAGAEL and CWDC, and Corporate functions.
Electric Utility Operations
MGE distributes electricity in a service area covering a 316 square-mile area of Dane County, Wisconsin. The service area includes the city of Madison, Wisconsin. It owns or leases ownership interests in electric generation facilities located in Wisconsin and Iowa. As of December 31, 2012, MGE supplied electric service to approximately 140,000 customers, with approximately 90% located in the cities of Fitchburg, Madison, Middleton, and Monona and 10% in adjacent areas. Electric operations accounted for approximately 73.7% as of December 31, 2012. MGE is registered with two Regional Entities, The Midwest Reliability Organization and Reliability First Corporation. MGE and two other utilities jointly own Columbia, a coal-fired generating facility.
MGE owns gas fired combustion turbines. These turbines are primarily located in Madison and Marinette, Wisconsin, and have a total of 155 megawatts of net su! mmer rated capacity. MGE also owns the Blount Generating Facility located in Madison, Wisconsin, which is fueled by gas and other alternative renewable sources. MGE owns 30 megawatts, consisting of 18 turbines, in a wind-powered electric generating facility in Worth County, Iowa. MGE also owns 11 megawatts, consisting of 17 turbines, in a wind-powered electric generating facility in Kewaunee County, Wisconsin.
Gas Utility Operations
MGE transports and distributes natural gas in a service area covering 1,631 square miles in seven south-central Wisconsin counties. The service area includes the city of Madison, Wisconsin and surrounding areas. As of December 31, 2012, MGE supplied natural gas service to approximately 145,000 customers in the cities of Elroy, Fitchburg, Lodi, Madison, Middleton, Monona, Prairie du Chien, Verona, and Viroqua; 24 villages, and all or parts of 45 townships.
Nonregulated Energy Operations
MGE Energy, through its subsidiaries, has developed generation sources that assist MGE in meeting the electricity needs of its customers. MGE Power Elm Road and two other owners own undivided interests in the coal-fired Elm Road Units in Oak Creek, Wisconsin. Unit I and Unit II have the capacity to produce 615 megawatts of electricity. Wisconsin Energy Corporation owns approximately 83% of the Elm Road Units and is the operator for those units. MGE Power Elm Road owns an 8.33% ownership interest in both units.
MGE Power West Campus and the University of Wisconsin at Madison (UW) jointly own undivided interests in a natural gas-fired cogeneration facility on the UW campus. The facility has the capacity to produce 20,000 tons of chilled water, 500,000 pounds per hour of steam, and approximately 150 megawatts of electricity. The UW owns 45% of the facility, which represents its interest in the chilled-water and steam assets. MGE leases the electric generating assets owned by MGE Power West Campus and is responsible for operating the! entire f! acility.
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 MGE Energy (Nasdaq: MGEE ) , whose recent revenue and earnings are plotted below. - [By Dividends4Life]
Starting in 2013 the federal tax rates on qualified dividends are 0%, 15% and 20%. The 20% rate is for taxpayers in the 39.6% tax bracket. For those in the 10% and 15% brackets, there is no tax on qualified dividends. In contrast, ordinary income is taxed at rates up to up to 39.6%. Below are several stocks that have consistently paid dividends through depressions, recessions, world wars, and other political and economic upheavals:WGL Holdings Inc. (WGL) provides natural gas service in the Washington, DC, metropolitan area and surrounding regions, including Maryland and Virginia. Yield: 4.1% | Paid Dividends Since: 1852Exxon Mobil Corp. (XOM), formed through the merger of Exxon and Mobil in late 1999, is the world's largest publicly owned integrated oil company. Yield: 2.7% | Paid Dividends Since: 1882Consolidated Edison, Inc. (ED) is an electric and gas utility holding company serves parts of New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania. Yield: 4.4% | Paid Dividends Since: 1885The Procter & Gamble Company (PG) is a leading consumer products company that markets household and personal care products in more than 180 countries. Yield: 3.2% | Paid Dividends Since: 1891The Coca-Cola Company (KO) is the world's largest soft drink company, KO also has a sizable fruit juice business. Yield: 2.9% | Paid Dividends Since: 1893General Mills, Inc. (GIS) is a major producer of packaged consumer food products, include cereal, yogurt and Betty Crocker desserts/baking mixes. Yield: 3.0% | Paid Dividends Since: 1898Avista Corp. (AVA) generates, transmits and distributes energy as well as engages in energy-related businesses in the United States and Canada. Yield: 3.0% | Paid Dividends Since: 1899MGE Energy Inc. (MGEE) is a public utility holding company that supplies electric service to apx. 140,000 customers; and natural gas service to apx. 145,000 customers in Wisconsin (as of December 2012). Yield: 2.8% | Paid Dividends Since: 1909Xcel Energy Inc. (XEL) offers energy-related prod
- [By GURUFOCUS]
MGE Energy Inc. (MGEE) operates as a public utility holding company in Wisconsin. Aug. 16, the company increased its quarterly dividend 3.2% to $0.4076 per share on the company's common stock. The dividend is payable Sept. 15, 2013 to shareholders of record Sept. 1, 2013. The yield based on the new payout is 3.0%.
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