Wells Fargo & Co. (NYSE: WFC)�may be Warren Buffett’s favorite bank hands down and it may be the safest of the money center and banking giants now. It turns out that if you work for that bank in the mortgage services unit, it might not be the safest bank when it comes to job security. Reports hit late in the day on Wednesday from Bloomberg, CNBC, and other media outlets�that Wells Fargo was laying off some 2,300 mortgage related jobs. It turns out that the refinancing boom has been crushed by a 100 to 125 basis point rise in mortgages.
The home-lending unit is based in Des Moines, Iowa and the cuts are being spread out around the nation. Frankly, this is not that surprising when you consider what has happened with interest rates. In fact, refinancings were peaking even before mortgage rates hit a low because those who could refinance had already done so.
It turns out that this will make the total layoffs since July come to roughly 3,000. Wells Fargo is the king of mortgage banking, which means it also has the most to lose in opportunity costs. The bank’s total headcount of almost 275,000 workers implies that just over 1% will have been let go. Whether or not more jobs will be terminated if rates keep rising and/or if housing slows is up to you to decide.
Top 10 Semiconductor Stocks To Watch Right Now: TruLan Resources Inc (TRLR)
Trulan Resources, Inc. (Trulan), incorporated on March 12, 1971, is a natural resource mineral exploration company. The Company�� focus is to locate and acquire mineral concessions and properties that have experienced various degrees of previous exploratory work where anomalous values of gold, silver and Platinum Group Metals (PGM��) projects in North and South America.
The IGP Project totals 885 Hectares (2,186 Acres) of wide spread mineralization and ore bodies that contain high grades of Iron, Gold, Platinum and high value industrial metals. There are eight known deposits in close proximity which have been tested to the point where an Indicated Ore resource has been delineated. There are four ore bodies with an Indicated Reserve in excess of 247 Million Metric Tons. Its Eureka Placer Claim is located on Eureka Creek in California�� Sierra City Mining District. This district covers a area in Sierra County, extending through Furnier, Loganville, Church Meadows, Gold Valley, and the Sierra City-Buttes areas.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Peter Graham]
Small cap mining stocks Brazil Gold Corp (OTCMKTS: BRZG) and Trulan Resources (OTCMKTS: TRLR) were either active on the charts last week (in the case of the former) or recently the subject of paid promotions (in the case of the latter). However, mining is not exactly an easy business for a small and usually undercapitalized small cap mining stock given the amount it can cost to get a mine up and running. On the other hand, they could always be sitting on the next mother lode just waiting to come out of the ground. With that in mind, here is a quick reality check about these two small cap mining stocks:
Best Safest Companies To Invest In Right Now: Plug Power Inc.(PLUG)
Plug Power Inc., an alternative energy technology provider, involves in the design, development, commercialization, and manufacture of fuel cell systems for the industrial off-road markets and stationary power markets worldwide. It develops and sells a range of fuel cell systems comprising hydrogen-fueled Proton Exchange Membrane (PEM) systems. The company?s product line includes PEM GenDrive power unit for sale on commercial terms for industrial off-road consisting of forklift or material handling applications, with a focus on multi-shift high volume manufacturing and high throughput distribution sites. It sells its products to business, industrial, and government customers through direct product sales force, original equipment manufacturers, and their dealer networks. The company was founded in 1997 and is headquartered in Latham, New York.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Paul Ausick]
The most heavily traded Nasdaq stock today is Plug Power Inc. (NASDAQ: PLUG). The fuel cell maker has been riding a wave of buying based on its deal with Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (NYSE: WMT). Today, however, competitor FuelCell Energy Inc. (NASDAQ: FCEL) announced an increase in a federal contract Plug Power is getting a big coattail effect. Shares are set to close up 29.89% at $8.26 in a 52-week range of $0.15 to $8.30 (a new 52-week high today). Share volume was approaching 5-times more than the daily average of around 26 million shares traded.
Best Safest Companies To Invest In Right Now: ARC Document Solutions Inc (ARC)
ARC Document Solutions, Inc., formerly American Reprographics Company, provides specialized document solutions to businesses of all types, with a focus on the non-residential segment of the architecture, engineering and construction (AEC) industry. The Company offers reprographic services, as well as managed print services, digital color printing, and document management technology products and services. It also has operations in Canada, China, India and the United Kingdom. It is a document solutions company serving the AEC industry that provides document management services through a combination of local service facilities in more than 40 states, 12 digital color service centers, online channels, including Web-based applications, and software. The Company conducts its operations through a wholly owned subsidiary, American Reprographics Company, L.L.C. and its subsidiaries.
The Company offers three general categories of service: Reprographics Services, Facilities Management, and Equipment and Supplies. Reprographics Services sales include operational activities, such as document management services, document logistics, large- and small-format print-on-demand services in color and black and white, and digital document management services. Facilities Management sales are primarily composed of onsite services, where it provides document production equipment, technology solutions and sometimes staff to its customers in their offices. These services include both traditional reprographics services focused on large-format printing, as well as managed print services (MPS). Under an MPS contract, it supplies, maintains and manages a customer�� entire print networks, including office printing equipment, on an outsourced basis. Equipment and Supplies sales involve the resale of printing and imaging equipment and supplies from a variety of suppliers.
As of December 31, 2011, the Company operated 220 reprographics service centers, of which 199 were in the United States, seven were in ! Canada, 11 were in China, two were in India and one in London, England. It also occupied a technology center in Silicon Valley, California, a software programming facility in Kolkata, India, as well as other facilities, including its offices located in Walnut Creek, California. The Company�� products and services are available from any of ARC�� 220 service centers worldwide. The Company supplies reprographics services to project architects, engineers, general contractors and others. In addition to the AEC industry, ARS also provides document management and printing services to the retail, aerospace, technology, entertainment, and healthcare industries, among others.
The Company competes with Oce, Xerox, Canon, Konica Minolta, Ricoh and Sharp.
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 ARC Document Solutions (NYSE: ARC ) , whose recent revenue and earnings are plotted below.
Best Safest Companies To Invest In Right Now: Intrawest Resorts Holdings Inc (SNOW)
Intrawest Resorts Holdings, Inc. (New Intrawest), incorporated on August 30, 2013, is a North American mountain resort and adventure company. The Company owns interests in seven four-season mountain resorts with more than 11,000 skiable acres and more than 1,150 acres of land available for real estate development. The Company�� mountain resorts are geographically diversified across North America�� ski regions, including the Eastern United States, the Rocky Mountains, the Pacific Southwest and Canada. As of January 21, 2014, its portfolio of resorts received more than six million visitors from all 50 states and more than 100 countries. The Company also operates an adventure travel business, Canadian Mountain Holidays (CMH), the heli-skiing adventure company in North America. CMH provides helicopter accessed skiing, mountaineering and hiking. New Intrawest operates a real estate business through which it manages, markets and sells vacation club properties; manages condominium hotel properties, and sells and markets residential real estate. The Company operates in three segments: Mountain, Adventure and Real Estate.
The Company�� Mountain segment includes its mountain resort and lodging operations at Steamboat Ski & Resort, Winter Park Resort, Mont Tremblant Resort, Stratton Mountain Resort and Snowshoe Mountain Resort. It also holds a 50% interest in Blue Mountain Ski Resort within its Mountain segment. The Adventure segment includes its CMH business. Within its Adventure segment, the Company also owns and operates aviation businesses that support CMH and provide services to third parties. New Intrawest�� Real Estate segment includes its real estate development activities, as well as its real estate management, marketing and sales businesses, including Intrawest Resort Club Group (IRCG), Intrawest Hospitality Management (IHM) and Playground. Its mountain resorts offer activities for individuals of all ages that combine outdoor adventure and fitness with a variety of resort-based se! rvices and amenities, including retail, equipment rental, dining, lodging, ski school, spa services, golf, mountain biking and other summer activities.
The Company�� Steamboat Ski & Resort is located in the Colorado Rocky Mountains, 157 miles northwest of Denver. The Winter Park Resort is located in the Colorado Rocky Mountains, 67 miles west of Denver. The resort is comprised of Winter Park Mountain, Mary Jane Mountain, Vasquez Cirque and Vasquez Ridge. The Mont Tremblant Resort is located in Quebec. The Stratton Mountain Resort is located in Southern Vermont, approximately 220 miles north of New York City and approximately 150 miles northwest of Boston. The Snowshoe Mountain Resort is located in West Virginia and is a ski resorts in the Southeast region of the United States.
In the Blue Mountain Ski Resort the Company owns a 50% equity interest and is located in Ontario, approximately 90 miles northwest of Toronto. Blue Mountain also operates a year round conference center and offers a summer amenities, including an 18-hole golf course, an open-air gondola, a mountain biking facility and a waterfront park. The Company�� Mammoth Mountain, of which the Company owns a 15% equity interest, is located south of Yosemite National Park in California and primarily draws customers from Southern California�� approximately 22.0 million residents. The Company also owns a 50% equity interest in Mammoth Hospitality Management, LLC, which runs the hospitality and lodging operations at Mammoth. The Company�� other business interests at Mammoth include managing the commercial village, as well as the Westin Monache Resort at Mammoth Lakes, California. CMH provides helicopter-accessed skiing, mountaineering and hiking on 3.1 million powder-filled acres of terrain in British Columbia. The Company has a portfolio of more than 1,150 acres of development parcels surrounding the bases of its Steamboat, Winter Park, Tremblant, Stratton and Snowshoe resorts, much of which is located adjacent ! or proxim! ate to the ski trails, including ski-in ski-out parcels.
The Company�� competes with Breckenridge Ski Resort, Park City Mountain Resort, Copper Mountain Resort, Keystone Resort, Mont-Sainte-Anne, Mont Blanc, Le Massif, Mont Saint-Sauveur, Okemo, Mount Snow, Killington Resort, Seven Springs Mountain Resort, Bryce Resort, Wintergreen Resort, Horseshoe Valley Resort, Mount St. Louis and Holiday Valley Resort.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Monica Gerson]
Intrawest Resorts Holdings (NYSE: SNOW) is expected to post its Q3 earnings at $2.69 per share on revenue of $294.89 million.
Cosan (NYSE: CZZ) is estimated to post its Q1 earnings at $0.16 per share.
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