Your digital belongings are yours. Who do you want to be in control of them?
It's hard to trust that the companies promising to store our digital assets won't access them and use them for their own benefit. After all, Facebook has grown to a net worth of $100 billion, and Google, $300 billion, from manipulating their product��ustomers' personal information��o deliver lucrative advertising platforms, according to Mother Jones.
Brian Taptich is CEO of Bitcasa(Photo: Bitcasa)
10 Best Quality Stocks To Invest In Right Now: CVR Energy Inc (CVI)
CVR Energy, Inc. (CVR Energy), incorporated September 2006, through its wholly owned subsidiaries, acts as an independent petroleum refiner and marketer of transportation fuels in the mid-continental United States. In addition, the Company, through its majority-owned subsidiaries, acts as an independent producer and marketer of nitrogen fertilizer products in North America. As of December 31, 2011, the Company owned the general partner and approximately 70% of CVR Partners, LP (the Partnership), a limited partnership which produces nitrogen fertilizers in the form of ammonia and an aqueous solution of urea and ammonium nitrate used as a fertilizer (UAN). The Company operates in two segments: the petroleum segment and the nitrogen fertilizer segment. On December 15, 2011, the Company acquired Gary-Williams Energy Corporation and its subsidiaries (GWEC).
Petroleum Business
The Company operates a 115,000 barrels per day complex full coking medium-sour crude oil refinery in Coffeyville, Kansas and, as of December 15, 2011, a 70,000 barrels per day crude oil unit refinery in Wynnewood, Oklahoma. Its combined production capacity represents approximately 15% of its region's output during the year ended December 31, 2011. The Coffeyville facility is situated on approximately 440 acres in southeast Kansas, approximately 100 miles from Cushing, Oklahoma, a crude oil trading and storage hub. The Wynnewood facility is situated on approximately 400 acres located approximately 65 miles south of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma and approximately 130 miles from Cushing, Oklahoma. During 2011, its Coffeyville refinery's product yield included gasoline (mainly regular unleaded) (44%), diesel fuel (42%), and pet coke and other refined products, such as natural gas liquids (NGL) (propane and butane), slurry, sulfur and gas oil (14%). Its Wynnewood refinery's product yield included gasoline (54%), diesel fuel (31%), asphalt (6%), jet fuel (3%) and other products (6%) during 2011.
The Company! owns and operates a crude oil gathering system serving Kansas, Oklahoma, western Missouri and southwestern Nebraska. The system has field offices in Bartlesville, Oklahoma, Plainville, Kansas and Winfield, Kansas. The system consists of approximately 350 miles of feeder and trunk pipelines, 100 trucks, and associated storage facilities for gathering sweet crude oils purchased from independent crude oil producers in Kansas, Nebraska, Oklahoma and Missouri. It also leases a section of a pipeline from Magellan Midstream Partners, L.P. (Magellan), which is incorporated into its crude oil gathering system. During 2011, the Company�� crude oil gathering system had a gathering capacity of approximately 38,000 barrels per day. During 2011, it gathered an average of approximately 35,000 barrels per day.
CVR Energy owns a pipeline system capable of transporting approximately 145,000 barrels per day of crude oil from Caney, Kansas to its refinery. Crude oils sourced outside of its gathering system are delivered by common carrier pipelines into various terminals in Cushing, Oklahoma, where they are blended and then delivered to Caney, Kansas via a pipeline owned by Plains Pipeline L.P. (Plains). The Company also owns associated crude oil storage tanks with a capacity of approximately 1.2 million barrels located outside its Coffeyville refinery, 0.5 million barrels of crude oil storage at Wynnewood, Oklahoma, and lease an additional 3.3 million barrels of storage capacity located at Cushing, Oklahoma and other locations. In addition to crude oil storage, it owns approximately 4.5 million barrels of combined refinery related storage capacity.
CVR Energy has access to foreign crude oil from Latin America, South America, West Africa, the Middle East, the North Sea and Canada. It purchases domestic crude oil from Kansas, Oklahoma, Nebraska, Texas, North Dakota, Missouri, and offshore deepwater Gulf of Mexico production. During 2011, its Coffeyville crude oil supply blend consisted of approx! imately 8! 0% light sweet crude oil, 2% light/medium sour crude oil and 18% heavy sour crude oil. During 2011, Wynnewood's crude oil supply blend consisted of approximately 88% sweet crude oil and 12% light/medium sour crude oil.
During 2011, approximately 35% of the Coffeyville refinery's products were sold through the rack system directly to retail and wholesale customers, while the remaining 65% was sold through pipelines via bulk spot and term contracts. The Company makes bulk sales (sales into third party pipelines) into the mid-continent markets via Magellan and into Colorado and other destinations utilizing the product pipeline networks owned by Magellan, Enterprise Products Operating, L.P. (Enterprise) and NuStar Energy, LP (NuStar). Approximately 60% of the Wynnewood refinery's finished products sold are distributed in Oklahoma. Customers for its petroleum products include other refiners, convenience store companies, railroads and farm cooperatives.
The Company competes with BP, Conoco Phillips, HollyFrontier, NCRA, Valero, Flint Hills Resources, CHS and Shell.
Nitrogen Fertilizer Business
The nitrogen fertilizer business, operated by the Partnership, is the nitrogen fertilizer plant in North America. It utilizes a pet coke gasification process to produce nitrogen fertilizer. The nitrogen fertilizer facility's primary input is pet coke. The nitrogen fertilizer facility includes a 1,225 ton-per-day ammonia unit, a 2,025 ton-per-day UAN unit and a gasifier complex having a capacity of 84 million standard cubic feet per day. Linde LLC (Linde) owns, operates, and maintains the air separation plant that provides contract volumes of oxygen, nitrogen and compressed dry air to the gasifier for a monthly fee.
The primary geographic markets for the nitrogen fertilizer business' fertilizer products are Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, Iowa, Illinois, Colorado and Texas. The nitrogen fertilizer business markets the ammonia products to industrial and agricu! ltural cu! stomers and the UAN products to agricultural customers. The nitrogen fertilizer business sells ammonia to agricultural and industrial customers. Agricultural customers include distributors such as MFA, United Suppliers, Inc., Brandt Consolidated Inc., Gavilon Fertilizer LLC, Transammonia, Inc., Agri Services of Brunswick, LLC, Interchem and CHS Inc. Industrial customers include Tessenderlo Kerley, Inc., National Cooperative Refinery Association, and Dyno Nobel, Inc. The nitrogen fertilizer business sells UAN products to retailers and distributors.
The Company competes with Agrium, Koch Nitrogen, Potash Corporation and CF Industries.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Robert Rapier] In last week’s issue I discussed the basics of the refining sector. Today I will provide an overview of four MLPs that hold refining assets.
To review, the refining sector was very profitable in 2012 thanks to unusually high crack spreads, which for many US refiners are approximated by the price differential between Brent and West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude oils. For a more thorough explanation of this phenomenon, please refer to last week’s issue.
After years of trading at a $1 to $3 per barrel discount to WTI, Brent began fetching a premium a few years ago as a glut of crude developed in the mid-continent area of the US. In 2011 the Brent-WTI price differential increased to more than $25/bbl, and it remained historically high in 2012.
But pipeline capacity started to catch up this year, and the share prices of refiners retreated as the glut began to dissipate and the Brent-WTI differential shrank. In Q3 2012, the Brent-WTI differential averaged $17.43/bbl, but by Q3 of this year, the differential had fallen to $4.43/bbl. This promises bad news for refiners about to report Q3 earnings.
Many analysts downgraded the refining sector in Q3, but as the differential fell below $5/bbl it was hard to imagine that the news could get much worse. With poor Q3 results largely priced in, the differential subsequently rose back above $10/bbl, signaling better refining margins moving into Q4.
Refiners began to post earnings this past week, and as expected they were weak. Valero (NYSE: VLO) reported slightly higher revenues year-over-year, but net earnings fell more than 50 percent from a year ago. Nevertheless, they beat the extremely pessimistic expectations of analysts, and Valero shares rose on the news.
Phillips 66’s (NYSE: PSX) refining unit actually posted a loss, but its chemical business turned in a solid quarter which more than compensated for the disappointing refining results.
The rest of the refine - [By Igor Greenwald]
He paid $30 a share for refiner and fertilizer maker CVR Energy (CVI) and that stock has appreciated 43% in 18 months, earning Icahn a total return of $2.9 billion through June.
Top Promising Stocks To Watch For 2014: Boingo Wireless Inc.(WIFI)
Boingo Wireless, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, provides mobile Wi-Fi Internet solutions. The company installs, manages, and operates wireless network infrastructure to provide Wi-Fi services at its managed and operated hotspots, such as airports, hotels, coffee shops, shopping malls, arenas, stadiums, and quick service restaurants in North America, South America, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and Asia. Its solution includes software for Wi-Fi enabled devices comprising smartphones, laptops, and tablet computers, as well as back-end system infrastructure that detects and enables access to Wi-Fi network. The company provides its solutions to individual users and partners consisting of telecom operators, network operators, cable companies, technology companies, enterprise software and services companies, and communications companies. In addition, it provides billing system and customer support services. Boingo Wireless, Inc. was founded in 2001 and is headquartered in Los Angeles, California.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Rich Smith]
Boingo Wireless (NASDAQ: WIFI ) has a new president.
On Monday, the provider of Wi-Fi hotspots at airports, shopping malls, restaurants, and similar locations announced that it has hired away Rubicon Project�Chief Revenue Officer Nick Hulse to become its president. Reporting to CEO Dave Hagan, Hulse will be responsible for maximizing revenue at Boingo.
- [By CRWE]
Boingo Wireless, Inc. (NASDAQ:WIFI), the Wi-Fi industry�� leading provider of software and services worldwide, reported the launch of its managed Wi-Fi services at Beijing Capital International Airport (PEK), the second busiest airport in the world, through an agreement with Newbridge Technologies.
Top Promising Stocks To Watch For 2014: Caseys General Stores Inc.(CASY)
Casey?s General Stores, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, operates convenience stores under the Casey?s General Store, HandiMart, and Just Diesel names in 11 Midwestern states, primarily Iowa, Missouri, and Illinois. Its stores offer foods, beverages, dairy and bakery products, sandwiches, fountain drinks, donuts, cookies, brownies, Danish rolls, ham and cheese sandwiches, pork and chicken fritters, sausage sandwiches, chicken tenders, popcorn chicken, breakfast croissants and biscuits, breakfast pizza, hash browns, quarter-pound hamburgers and cheeseburgers, and potato cheese bites. The company?s stores also provide nonfood items, which include tobacco products, health and beauty aids, school supplies, house wares, pet supplies, photo supplies, and automotive products. In addition, it offers gasoline or gasohol for sale on a self-service basis. As of July 31, 2011, the company operated 1,665 stores. The company was founded in 1959 and is headquartered in Ankeny, Iowa.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Sue Chang]
Casey�� General Stores (CASY) �is likely to post fiscal fourth-quarter earnings of 53 cents a share. Strong merchandise sales were likely to have been offset by weaker fuel margin, according to analyst Ronald Bookbinder at Benchmark. He also maintained the stock�� price target at $86 on Friday.
- [By Editor , Dividend Growth Investor]
Casey’s General Stores (CASY) has managed to increase dividend for 14 consecutive years. Over the past decade, the company has managed to boost dividends by 19.10% per year.Yield: 1.10% (analysis)
- [By Seth Jayson]
Casey's General Stores (Nasdaq: CASY ) reported earnings on June 13. Here are the numbers you need to know.
The 10-second takeaway
For the quarter ended April 30 (Q4), Casey's General Stores met expectations on revenues and beat expectations on earnings per share.
Top Promising Stocks To Watch For 2014: Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated(VRTX)
Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated engages in discovering, developing, manufacturing, and commercializing small molecule drugs for the treatment of serious diseases worldwide. Its products include telaprevir, a prescription medicine used for the treatment of patients with genotype 1 hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection; and Ivacaftor, a prescription medicine used for the treatment of cystic fibrosis. The company markets its products under the INCIVEK brand name in the United States and Canada; INCIVO brand in the United Kingdom, Germany, France, Sweden, Austria, Finland, Denmark, Switzerland, and Norway; KALYDECO brand in the United States; and TELAVIC brand in Japan. Its drug candidates comprise VX-222, a Phase II clinical trial drug candidate, and ALS-2200 and ALS-2158, a Phase I clinical trial drug candidates that are designed to inhibit the replication of HCV; VX-809 and VX-661, a Phase II clinical trial drug candidates that improve the function of defective cystic fibro sis; VX-509, a Phase II clinical trial drug candidate for the treatment of patients with rheumatoid arthritis and other immune-mediated inflammatory diseases; VX-765, a Phase II clinical trial drug for the treatment of epilepsy; and VX-787, an investigational drug candidate for the treatment of influenza A. The company was founded in 1989 and is headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Investing Insight]
Innovation is the critical success factor for the biotechnology industry. As long as the companies in this industry are able to get new drugs approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) before their earlier patents expire, all is good to go. Vertex Pharmaceuticals (VRTX) is an active player in this industry. Let's take a look at how this company has been tackling the challenging economic conditions in the US and what the future holds for its shareholders.
- [By Dan Carroll]
Good was the opposite of Vertex Pharmaceuticals' (NASDAQ: VRTX ) week, as shares of the firm fell 8.8% over the past five days. Vertex scored big back in 2011 with the approval of its hepatitis-C drug Incivek, but that therapy's reliance on an injectable combination therapy has set back the drug's progress as all-oral hep-C medications have become all the rage. Vertex is working on its own all-oral therapy, VX-135.
Top Promising Stocks To Watch For 2014: Grand Canyon Education Inc.(LOPE)
Grand Canyon Education, Inc. provides postsecondary education services in the United States and Canada. It focuses on offering graduate and undergraduate degree programs in education, healthcare, business, and liberal arts disciplines. The company provides its courses through traditional ground campus in Phoenix, Arizona; online; and onsite at the facilities of employers. As of December 31, 2011, it had 43,917 students enrolled in its courses. The company was formerly known as Significant Education, Inc and changed its name to Grand Canyon Education, Inc. in May 2008. Grand Canyon Education, Inc. was founded in 1949 and is based in Phoenix, Arizona.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Jeremy Bowman]
What: Shares of Grand Canyon Education (NASDAQ: LOPE ) were riding high today, gaining as much as 16% after soaring past estimates in its earnings report.
- [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 Grand Canyon Education (Nasdaq: LOPE ) , whose recent revenue and earnings are plotted below.
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