MINNEAPOLIS (AP) -- Douglas Dayton, who led the transformation of a family department store into retailing giant Target Corp. (NYSE: TGT ) , has died at the age of 88.
Dayton's wife, Wendy Dayton, confirmed his death Sunday. She said the resident of Wayzata, west of Minneapolis, died Friday after a long battle with cancer.
Douglas James Dayton was the youngest of George Nelson Dayton's five sons who took over the family's downtown Minneapolis department store from their father in 1948. Douglas Dayton started working in the family business after serving in an Army infantry division in Europe during World War II, where he was injured and received a Purple Heart.
Having worked as a store manager, Dayton sensed the threat posed by discount retailers such as Kmart. In 1960, he became the first president of Target, and within two years, the company had opened four Target stores in the Twin Cities suburbs.
"Target was the best job I had," he recalled in a May interview with the (Minneapolis) Star Tribune.
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.
Hot Prefered Stocks To Buy Right Now: Student Transportation Inc (STB)
Student Transportation Inc. (STI) is a provider of school bus transportation services in North America, conducting operations through wholly owned operating subsidiaries. The Company operates in two segments: a transportation segment and an oil and gas segment. The transportation segment provides school bus and management services to public and private schools in North America. The oil and gas segment represents its investments as a non-operator in oil and gas interests. During the fiscal year ended June 30, 2012 (fiscal 2012), it acquired certain assets of Schumacher Bus Lines; certain assets and contracts of S&K Transportation Inc.; A&B Bus, Co.; School Transportation Services, LLC.; Dairyland Bus, Inc., Dairyland-Hamilton, Inc., Lakeland Area Bus Service, Inc. and Lakeside Buses of Wisconsin, Inc., and certain assets and contracts of Safe Start Transportation of New Jersey, LLC. On May 24, 2012, the Company acquired certain assets and contracts of National Express Corporation.
Advisors' Opinion: - [By Charles Sizemore]
Finally, for an off-the-wall pick, consider picking up shares of Student Transportation (STB), North America�� third-largest operator of school buses.� Student Transportation doesn’t just operate more than 10,000 school buses and transport more than a million students daily across the United States and Canada. It’s a monthly dividend stock with a solid yield.
Hot Prefered Stocks To Buy Right Now: Cameco Corporation(CCJ)
Cameco Corporation operates as a uranium producer, supplier of conversion services, and fuel manufacturer. The company?s Uranium segment is involved in the exploration for, mining, milling, purchase, and sale of uranium concentrate. Its operating uranium properties include the McArthur River and Key Lake, and Rabbit Lake located in Saskatchewan, Canada; the Crow Butte located in Nebraska and the Smith Ranch-Highland located in Wyoming; and the Inkai uranium deposit located in Kazakhstan. Cameco Corporation?s Fuel Services segment engages in the refining, conversion, and fabrication of uranium concentrate; and the purchase and sale of conversion services. Its products include uranium trioxide, uranium hexafluoride, and uranium dioxide. This segment also manufactures fuel bundles, reactor components, and monitoring equipment to Candu reactors; and provides nuclear fuel and consulting services to Candu operators. The company?s Electricity segment engages in the generation and sale of nuclear electricity, through its 31.6% interest in Bruce Power L.P. This segment operates four nuclear reactors at the Bruce B generating station in southern Ontario, Canada. The company was founded in 1987 and is headquartered in Saskatoon, Canada.
Advisors' Opinion: - [By Brian Pacampara]
Based on the aggregated intelligence of 180,000-plus investors participating in Motley Fool CAPS, the Fool's free investing community, uranium producer Cameco (NYSE: CCJ ) has earned a respected four-star ranking.
- [By The Energy Report]
JH: There are several companies that are in production that we follow in the U.S., such as Cameco Corp. (CCJ). Cameco produces at the Smith Ranch-Highland in the Powder River Basin. There's Uranium One, also in the Powder River Basin. There's Uranium Energy Corp. (UEC). A few near-term producers are rapidly coming online. Ur-Energy Inc. (URG) is one company we like in Wyoming.
- [By Reuben Brewer]
Relatively weak demand for thermal coal in China has pushed coal prices lower in Australia. That's a problem for big miners like Rio Tinto (NYSE: RIO ) , BHP Billiton (NYSE: BHP ) , and Peabody Energy (NYSE: BTU ) . However it could add to the allure of uranium miner Cameco (NYSE: CCJ ) .
Hot Prefered Stocks To Buy Right Now: Technip (TKPPY)
Technip SA (Technip), incorporated on April 21, 1958, is a holding company. Technip is engaged in project management, engineering and construction for the energy industry, and holds a portfolio of solutions and technologies. The Company operates in two segments: Subsea, and Onshore/Offshore. Its main markets include onshore plants, offshore platforms and subsea construction. As of December 31, 2011, the Company was present in 48 countries, and had industrial assets on continents and operates a fleet of vessels for pipeline installation and subsea construction. As of February 29, 2012, its production facilities (for flexible pipes and umbilicals), manufacturing yards and spoolbases were located in Angola, Brazil, France, the United States, Finland, Indonesia, Malaysia, Norway and the United Kingdom. As of December 31, 2011, its fleet consisted of 34 vessels in subsea rigid and flexible pipelines, subsea construction and diving support, four of which were under construction. Technip operates in seven regions, which include Middle East, Europe, Russia, Central Asia, Americas, Asia Pacific and Africa. On August 31, 2012, the Company announced the completion of the Stone & Webster process technologies and associated oil and gas engineering capabilities acquisition from The Shaw Group Inc.
On December 1, 2011, Technip acquired 100% of the shares of Global Industries, Ltd (Global Industries). On November 14, 2011, Technip acquired 45.70% of Cybernetix S.A. On July 28, 2011, Technip acquired 100% of AETech. On February 28, 2011, Genesis Oil and Gas Consultants Ltd, a subsidiary of the Company, acquired EPD. On January 26, 2011, Technip acquired all of the assets of the Subocean group, a United Kingdom-based subsea cable-installation company engaged in marine renewable energies. On January 24, 2011, Technip acquired Front End Re, a reinsurance company.
Technip provides integrated design, engineering, manufacturing and installation services for infrastructures and subsea pipe systems! used in oil and gas production and transportation. With respect to hydrocarbon field development, Technip�� subsea operations include the design, manufacture and installation of rigid and flexible subsea pipelines, as well as umbilicals. The Company offers a range of subsea pipe technologies and solutions, and holds industrial and operational assets. As of December 31, 2011, Technip had three flexible pipe manufacturing plants, four umbilical production units, four reeled rigid pipe spoolbases and a evolving fleet of vessels for pipeline installation and subsea construction. The Company�� services include the turnkey delivery of these subsea systems, particularly, offshore work (pipelay and subsea construction) and the manufacture of critical equipment, such as umbilicals and flexible pipes.
Technip also handles the supply of other subsea equipment and the procurement of rigid pipes that the Company acquires from third parties on an international bid. In addition, to the engineering and installation of systems, Subsea activities also include the maintenance and repair of existing subsea infrastructures and the replacement or removal of subsea equipment. Technip performs the engineering and manufacturing of the flexible pipes. Its flexible pipes engineering centers are in Rio de Janeiro, Paris, Oslo, Aberdeen, Kuala Lumpur, Perth and Houston. It has manufacturing units in Vitoria (Brazil), in Le Trait (France) and it has Asiaflex Products center in Johor Bahru (Malaysia). During the year ended December 31, 2011, Technip initiated the fabrication of a second flexible plant in Brazil, within the Porto do Acu development.
The Company is engaged in engineering and construction for the range of onshore facilities for the oil and gas industry, including refining, hydrogen, gas treatment and liquefaction, ethylene and petrochemicals, onshore pipelines, as well as non-oil facilities, including mining and metallurgical projects, biofuels, wind offshore and renewable energy. Techni! p holds s! everal technologies and it designs and constructs of liquefied natural gas (LNG) and gas treatment plants. The Company also designs and builds infrastructures related to hydrogen production units, electricity units and sulfur recovery units, as well as storage units. It designs and builds types of facilities for the development of onshore oil and gas fields, from wellheads to processing facilities and product export systems. In addition to participating in the development of onshore fields, Technip also renovates existing facilities. Technip builds pipeline systems chiefly for natural gas, crude oil and oil products, water and liquid sulfur.
Technip offers a range of services to clients who wish to produce, process, fractionate and market the products of natural gas. The majority of business conducted pertains to the liquefaction of methane. Services provided by Technip to its customers range from feasibility studies to construction of entire industrial complexes. The Company manages aspects of projects from the preparation of feasibility studies to the design, construction and start-up of complex refineries or single refinery units. In 2011, Technip had been engaged in developing its footprint in the fast growing renewable energies market. Technip also offers its engineering and construction services to industries other than oil and gas, principally to mining and metal companies. As of February 29, 2012, its clients included oil companies, such as BP, Chevron, ConocoPhillips, ExxonMobil, Shell, Statoil and Total, and number of national companies, such as ADNOC, PDVSA, Petrobras, Petronas, Qatar Petroleum, Saudi Aramco and Sonatrach, as well as independent companies, such as Anadarko.
Technip designs, manufactures and installs fixed and floating platforms that support surface facilities for the drilling, production and processing of oil and gas reserves located in offshore shallow water fields, as well as deep water fields. Technip is also builds complex facilities, including ! the float! ing production, storage and offloading (FPSO) units and floating LNG (FLNG). Fixed platforms include topsides supported by conventional jackets, gravity base structure (GBSs) and the TPG 500 (a jack-up production platform). Floating platforms include topsides supported by Spars, tension leg platforms (TLPs), semi-submersibles, as well as solutions, such as the extendable draft platform (EDP). In addition, Technip owns technologies for installing topsides using the floatover method for fixed and floating platforms. During 2011, in the North Sea area, Technip started engineering on Statoil�� Valemon project in the Norwegian sector.
The Company competes with Subsea 7, Aker Solutions, Allseas, Heerema, Helix, McDermott, Saipem, Sapura-Clough, NKT-Flexibles, Prysmian, Nexans, Oceaneering, Wellstream, Bechtel, CB&I, Fluor, Foster Wheeler, Jacobs, KBR, Chiyoda, JGC, Toyo, Petrofac, Saipem, Tecnicas Reunidas, GS, Samsung Engineering, SK, Aker Solutions, Hyundai, Daewoo, Samsung Heavy Industry, SBM and Modec.
Advisors' Opinion: - [By Ben Rooney]
Political risks lurk: The big risk for Europe's recovery remains an escalation in the dispute with Russia over Ukraine. EU officials are due to present options for much tougher sanctions Thursday, including measures that could restrict Russia's access to European financial markets, as well as arms and energy technology. France's Technip (TKPPY) said sanctions may hurt its profit margins this year.
Hot Prefered Stocks To Buy 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 Aimee Duffy]
1. CVR Refining (NYSE: CVRR ) -- 22.5% yield
As its name suggests, CVR Refining is a downstream master limited partnership in the CVR Energy (NYSE: CVI ) family. It controls two refineries, one in Kansas and one in Oklahoma, as well as a pipeline and storage network.
- [By Eric Volkman]
CVR Energy (NYSE: CVI ) is reaching into its coffers to provide additional cash for shareholders. The company has declared a special dividend of $6.50 per share. This will be paid on June 10 to stockholders of record as of June 3. All told, the extraordinary payout will cost CVR Energy roughly $564 million. So far this year, it has dispensed around $1.1 billion in dividends.
- [By Robert Rapier]
CVR Partners’ fertilizer plant is located in Coffeyville, Kansas, adjacent to the refinery owned by CVR Refining (NYSE: CVRR). CVR Energy (NYSE: CVI), majority-owned by Carl Icahn via Icahn Enterprises (NYSE: IEP), is the general partner and owns most of the units for both CVR Partners and CVR Refining.
- [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.
Hot Prefered Stocks To Buy Right Now: Market Vectors Steel ETF (SLX)
Market Vectors Steel ETF (the Fund) seeks to replicate as closely as possible the price and yield performance of the NYSE Arca Steel Index (STEEL or the Index) by investing in a portfolio of securities that generally replicates STEEL. STEEL, calculated by the NYSE Alternext, is a modified market capitalization-weighted index consisting of publicly traded companies predominantly involved in the production of steel products or mining and processing of iron ore. The Index includes companies primarily involved in a variety of activities related to steel production, including the operation of manufacturing mills and fabrication of steel products. Companies eligible for inclusion in Index should be engaged in solar power and related products and services, deriving at least 66% of revenues from it with market cap exceeding $100 million, and should have three-month trading volume equal to or greater than $1 million per day. Its investment advisor is Van Eck Associates Corporation.
Advisors' Opinion: - [By Ben Levisohn]
In our late October report on X, we noted the Company was “scratching the surface” on operational improvement, and we expected shares to edge higher over the near term. While X shares have appreciated by 16% since that report vs. the S&P 500 of +4% and the [Market Vectors Steel ETF (SLX)] of +3%, we believe shares have more room to run based on our positive carbon hot-rolled steel pricing revisions for 2014: meaningful raw material cost tailwinds (coal, scrap, iron ore); low Street EPS and EBITDA expectations for 2014-2015; an ever-increasing interest rate environment (benefits for pension exposure); more evidence of European macro stability; and above-average likelihood of incremental operational efficiency announcements such as a joint venture or tolling agreement with Allegheny Technologies Incorporated (ATI).
- [By John Udovich]
On Monday, Goldman Sachs upgraded the whole steel sector from Cautious to Neutral and specifically upgraded small cap and mid cap steel stocks AK Steel Holding Corporation (NYSE: AKS), United States Steel Corporation (NYSE: X) and Steel Dynamics Inc. (NASDAQ: STLD) to Buy with price targets of $6, $30 and $22, respectively, but should you go for one of these individual steel stocks or for the Market Vectors Steel ETF (NYSEARCA: SLX)? To begin with, Goldman Sachs says that the�supply-demand fundamentals for steel are starting to look more appealing as some supply has been taken out plus they have a very bearish view on input costs (as in iron ore)���which bodes well for steel producers in the long run. Moreover, recently filed trade cases could provide some tailwind���if they are successful.�Of course a rising tide can lift all ships, but Goldman Sachs suggests that you go for the following�small cap or mid cap steel stocks:�
