Research by NSS Labs indicates that in its testing, Microsoft� (NASDAQ: MSFT ) �Internet Explorer and Google� (NASDAQ: GOOG ) �Chrome are the safest browsers.
NSS, which bills itself as "the world's leading information security research and advisory company," recenlty unveiled the results of its Browser Security Comparative Analysis: Socially Engineered Malware. Over the course of 28 days, from March 13 through April 9, the firm tested the five, most popular browsers against 754 samples of real-world malicious software. The browsers were�Apple� (NASDAQ: AAPL ) Safari 5,�Google�Chrome 25/26, Microsoft�Internet Explorer 10, Mozilla Firefox 19, and Opera 12.
The results revealed significant safety differences.
Blocking technologies used by browsers (higher is better).
Source: NSS-Browser Security Comparative Analysis
Top Sliver Stocks To Watch For 2015: Harsco Corp (HSC)
Harsco Corporation, incorporated on February 28, 1956, is a diversified, multinational provider of industrial services and engineered products serving global industries. The Company operates in four segments: Harsco Metals & Minerals, Harsco Infrastructure, Harsco Rail and Harsco Industrial. The Company's principal lines of business include outsourced, on-site services to steel mills and other metals producers; resource recovery technologies for the re-use of industrial waste stream by-products; industrial abrasives and roofing granules; engineered scaffolding, concrete forming and shoring, and other access-related services, rentals and sales; railway track maintenance services and equipment; industrial grating products; air-cooled heat exchangers, and heat transfer products. In January 2014, the Company acquired Hammco Corp.
Harsco Metals & Minerals Segment
The Harsco Metals & Minerals Segment is a provider of on-site, outsourced services to the global metals industries. The Metals business provides its services and solutions on a long-term contract basis, supporting each stage of the metal-making process from initial raw material handling to post-production slag processing and metal recovery. The Minerals business extracts metallic content from stainless steel by-products and also specializes in the development of minerals technologies for commercial applications, including agriculture fertilizers. The Minerals business also produces industrial abrasives and roofing granules from power-plant utility coal slag at a number of locations throughout the United States. Harsco Minerals' BLACK BEAUTY abrasives are used for industrial surface preparation, such as rust removal and cleaning of bridges, ship hulls and various structures. Roofing granules are sold to residential roofing shingle manufacturers, primarily for the replacement roofing market. As of December 31, 2012, the Harsco Metals & Minerals Segment operated in approximately 35 countries. During the year ended December 3! 1, 2012, the Harsco Metals & Minerals Segment generated 46% of the Company�� total revenue.
Harsco Infrastructure Segment
The Harsco Infrastructure Segment is global organization for the rental and sale of engineered scaffolding, shoring, concrete forming and other access-related solutions for construction projects as well as industrial plant maintenance programs. The Segment operates from a network of branches throughout the world, including North America, Latin America, Europe, the Gulf Region of the Middle East, Africa and Asia-Pacific. The services include the provision of concrete shoring and forming systems; scaffolding for non-residential and infrastructure construction projects and industrial maintenance requirements, and a variety of other infrastructure services including project engineering and design, equipment erection and dismantling services, industrial insulation and painting services and equipment sales. During 2012, the Harsco Infrastructure Segment generated 31% of the Company�� total revenue.
Harsco Rail Segment
The Harsco Rail Segment is a global provider of equipment and services for the maintenance, repair and construction of railway track. The Segment's equipment and services support private and government-owned railroads and urban transit systems worldwide. The Segment's rail products are produced in three countries and products and services are provided worldwide. During 2012, the Harsco Rail Segment generated 11% of the Company�� total revenue.
Harsco Industrial Segment
Harsco Industrial Segment includes the Harsco Industrial IKG, Harsco Industrial Air-X-Changers and Harsco Industrial Patterson-Kelley businesses. Approximately 90% of this Segment's revenues originate in North America. Harsco Industrial IKG manufactures a line of industrial grating products at several plants in the United States and international plants located in Mexico and China. These products include a range of bar grating c! onfigurat! ions, which are used mainly in industrial flooring, as well as safety and security applications in the energy, paper, chemical, refining and processing industries.
Harsco Industrial Air-X-Changers is a supplier of custom-designed and manufactured air-cooled heat exchangers for the natural gas industry from plants in the United States and Australia. Harsco Industrial Air-X-Changers' heat exchangers are the primary apparatus used to condition natural gas during recovery, compression and transportation from underground reserves through the pipeline distribution channels. Harsco Industrial Patterson-Kelley is a manufacturer of heat transfer products, such as boilers and water heaters for commercial and institutional applications. During 2012, the Harsco Rail Segment generated 12% of the Company�� total revenue.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Ben Levisohn]
Shares of Harsco (HSC) have gained today after BB&T Capital Markets upgraded its shares to Buy from Hold.
Analysts Robert Norfleet III and Basil Jones III explain the decision to raise their rating:
�We believe that the strategic transformation of HSC’s portfolio, as evidenced by the recently announced sale of its Infrastructure segment, as well as additional best practices and productivity enhancements (LEAN, etc.) should result in improved financial metrics, valuation, and, ultimately, a less complex business structure. While our non-consensus call is not primarily based on an expedited improvement in financial performance, it is a reflection of our confidence in the new management team and its ability to deliver value to shareholders through asset repositioning, improved ROICs and free cash flow generation. HSC remains a “turnaround story,” but we believe the market is underestimating out-year earnings growth, which will be driven by the Brand Energy JV, lower corporate expenses, improved margins in Metals & Minerals and the likelihood of an accretive acquisition.
Shares of Harsco have gained 4.7% to $26.43 today at 1:16 p.m., outpacing other construction & engineering companies. Dycom (DY) has advanced 0.5% to $30, KBR Inc. (KBR) has ticked up 0.1% to $33.03, Worthington Industries�(WOR) has risen 2.8% to $38.85�and Tutor Perini (TPC) has rallied 3.6% to $22.46.
Top 5 Safest Stocks For 2014: OncoGenex Pharmaceuticals Inc.(OGXI)
OncoGenex Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a biopharmaceutical company, engages in the development and commercialization of new cancer therapies that address treatment resistance in cancer patients. The company?s clinical stage products include Custirsen, a phase III clinical stage product for treatment in men with metastatic castrate-resistant prostate cancer; OGX-427, which is in phase II clinical development stage is designed to inhibit heat shock protein 27; and SN2310 that completed phase I stage of clinical development is designed to evaluate safety in patients with advanced cancer. Its pre clinical stage products include GX-225 that is focused on reducing the production of IGFBP-2 and IGFBP-5; and CSP-9222, lead compound from a family of caspase activators. OncoGenex Pharmaceuticals, Inc. is based in Bothell, Washington.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Lauren Pollock var popups = dojo.query(".socialByline .popC"); popups.forEach]
Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd.(TEVA) and OncoGenex Pharmaceuticals Inc.(OGXI) said their experimental drug for hard-to-treat cases of prostate cancer didn’t result in statistically significant improvement in overall survival in a Phase 3 study. OncoGenex shares dropped 48% to $5 premarket.
- [By John McCamant]
2014 is shaping up to be the most important year for OncoGenex Pharmaceuticals (OGXI), and, we believe, it can very well represent a major inflection point for the company with positive Synergy results.
Top 5 Safest Stocks For 2014: InterXion Holding N.V. (INXN)
InterXion Holding N.V. provides carrier-neutral colocation data center services in Europe. It enables its customers to connect to a range of telecommunications carriers, Internet service providers, and other customers. The company�s data centers act as content and connectivity hubs that facilitate the processing, storage, sharing, and distribution of data, content, applications, and media among carriers and customers. The company offers colocation services, including space and power to enable customers to deploy IT infrastructure in its data centers; connectivity services; cross connect services; and monitoring services. It also provides managed services comprising systems monitoring, systems management, engineering support services, data back-up, and storage services. The company serves the digital media and distribution sector, enterprises, the financial services sector, managed services providers, and network providers. It serves 1,200 customers through 31 data centers in 11 countries. The company was founded in 1998 and is headquartered in Schiphol Rijk, the Netherlands.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Lee Jackson]
Interxion Holding N.V. (NYSE: INXN) provides data colocation services through its 34 data centers in 11 European countries. In 2012, the company generated approximately 62% of its total revenues from France, Germany, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom, which represents Interxion’s “Big 4″ markets. The remaining 38% revenue came from seven other European countries. The company�� data centers act as content and connectivity hubs that facilitate processing, storage, sharing and distribution of data, content and applications. The consensus price target for the stock is $20.78. Interxion closed at $22.52.
Top 5 Safest Stocks For 2014: GATX Corp (GMT)
GATX Corporation (GATX) leases, operates, manages and remarkets assets primarily in the rail and marine markets. GATX has three segments: Rail, American Steamship Company (ASC) and Portfolio Management. Rail and its affiliates lease tank cars, freight cars and locomotives in North America and Europe. ASC operates a fleet of United States flagged vessels on the Great Lakes. Portfolio Management has investments in affiliated companies. As of December, 31, 2011, the Company held 37.5% interest in AAE Cargo AG (AAE), a 12.5% interest in Adler Funding LLC (Adler) and a 50% interest in Southern Capital Corporation (ACC). In January 2012, ASC entered into a five-year lease for a newly constructed articulated tug-barge. The tug is diesel powered and the barge is 740 feet in length with a carrying capacity of 34,000 gross tons. During the year ended December 31, 2011, the Clipper Fourth Limited and Clipper Fourth APS marine joint ventures, in each of which GATX held a 45% interest, were dissolved.
Rail
Rail is exploring leasing opportunities in Asia through both wholly owned subsidiaries, as well as joint venture arrangements. As of December 31, 2011, Rail�� worldwide fleet, consisted of wholly owned and leased-in railcars, totaled approximately 130,000 railcars. Rail offers customers financial, operational, management and maintenance expertise. In addition, Rail actively manages fleets for an affiliate and other third-party owners of approximately 8,000 railcars, in aggregate.
Rail�� customers primarily operate in the chemical, petroleum, food/agriculture and transportation industries. Rail�� fleet consists of a diverse selection of railcar types that are used by its customers to ship approximately 700 different commodities. Rail also had an ownership interest in approximately 32,000 railcars through investments in affiliated companies. Affiliate fleets consist primarily of freight and intermodal railcars. Additionally, Rail manages approximately 2,000 railcars f! or third-party owners. Rail primarily provides railcars pursuant to full-service leases under which it maintains the railcars, pays ad valorem taxes and insurance and provides other ancillary services. Rail also offers net leases for railcars under which the lessee is responsible for maintenance, insurance and taxes.
In North America, Rail leases railcars for terms that generally range from three to 10 years. Rail�� North American operations also include a locomotive leasing business. As of December 31, 2011, Rail�� locomotive fleet totaled 572 locomotives. The majority of Rail�� leases are full-service contracts under which Rail maintains the railcars. Rail operates an extensive network of service facilities across North America that perform repair, maintenance, modification and regulatory compliance work on the fleet. Maintenance services include interior cleaning of railcars, general repairs to the car body and safety appliances, regulatory compliance work, wheelset replacements, exterior blast and painting, and car stenciling.
Rail leases standard gauge railcars to customers throughout Europe. Lease terms generally range from one to seven years and at December 31, 2011, the average remaining lease term of the fleet was approximately two years. Rail acquires new railcars primarily from the IRS Group and VRZ Karlovo. The owned service centers are supplemented by a number of third-party repair facilities.
ASC
ASC operates a fleet of United States flagged vessels on the Great Lakes, providing waterborne transportation of dry bulk commodities primarily for customers in the steel, electric utility and construction industries. The primary commodities carried by ASC�� vessels are iron ore, coal, limestone aggregates and metallurgical limestone. End markets for these commodities include domestic automobile manufacturing, electricity generation and non-residential construction. At December 31, 2011, ASC�� fleet consisted of 17 vessels. Fourteen ! of the ve! ssels are diesel powered. The diesel vessels range in size from 635 to 1,004 feet in length with maximum load capacities between 23,800 and 80,900 gross tons. The three remaining vessels are steam powered. The steamer vessels range in size from 690 to 767 feet in length with maximum load capacities between 22,300 and 26,300 gross tons. In 2011, ASC carried 28.4 million net tons of cargo including both contracted volume and spot business.
Portfolio Management
Portfolio Management leverages its equipment knowledge by managing portfolios of assets for third parties. Portfolio Management generates fee and residual sharing income through portfolio administration and remarketing of these assets. Affiliate activities include aircraft spare engine leasing, shipping operations and gas compression equipment leasing. Rolls-Royce and Partners Finance (RRPF) is a collection of 50%-owned domestic and international joint ventures with Rolls-Royce plc, a manufacturer of commercial aircraft jet engines. RRPF leases spare engines to Rolls-Royce plc and commercial airlines. The RRPF portfolio in aggregate is comprised of approximately 370 Rolls-Royce and International Aero Engine aircraft engines. Cardinal Marine Investments LLC (Cardinal Marine) is a 50%-owned marine joint venture with IMC Holdings, a subsidiary of the IMC Pan Asia Alliance Group (IMC).
Cardinal Marine owns six chemical parcel tankers (each with 45,000 dead weight tons that operate under a pooling arrangement with IMC�� other chemical tankers in support of the movement of liquid bulk chemicals in the Middle East Gulf/Far East and United States Gulf/Far East trades. Somargas II Private Limited (Somargas) and Singco Gas Pte, Limited (Singco), respectively, are 35% and 50%-owned joint ventures with IM Skaugen ASA (Skaugen). Clipper Third Limited (Clipper Third) is a 50%-owned joint venture with Clipper Group Invest Ltd. (the Clipper Group). Clipper Third owns two handysize vessels that support the worldwide movement! of dry b! ulk products, such as grain, cement, coal and steel. Enerven Compression, LLC (Enerven) is a 45.6%-owned joint venture with ING Investment Management and Enerven management. Enerven provides natural gas compression equipment leasing through its subsidiary, Enerven Compression Services (ECS) and third-party maintenance and repair services through its subsidiary, Worldwide Energy Solutions Company (WESCO).
The Company competes with Union Tank Car Company, General Electric Railcar Services Corporation, American Railcar Leasing, CIT Group Inc., Trinity Leasing, First Union Rail, Helm Financial Corporation, National Railway Equipment Corporation, Relco Locomotives, Inc., VTG Aktiengesellschaft, Ermewa, CTL Logistics Group, PCC Rail Group, Interlake Steamship Company, VanEnkevort Tug and Barge, Grand River Navigation, Great Lakes Fleet, Inc. and Central Marine Logistics.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Dividends4Life]
Fair Value: In calculating fair value, I consider the NPV MMA Differential Fair Value along with these four calculations of fair value, see page 2 of the linked PDF for a detailed description:
1. Avg. High Yield Price
2. 20-Year DCF Price
3. Avg. P/E Price
4. Graham Number
GWW is trading at a premium to all four valuations above. The stock is trading at a 10.0% premium to its calculated fair value of $219.95. GWW did not earn any Stars in this section.
Dividend Analytical Data: In this section there are three possible Stars and three key metrics, see page 2 of the linked PDF for a detailed description:
1. Free Cash Flow Payout
2. Debt To Total Capital
3. Key Metrics
4. Dividend Growth Rate
5. Years of Div. Growth
6. Rolling 4-yr Div. > 15%
GWW earned three Stars in this section for 1.), 2.) and 3.) above. A Star was earned since the Free Cash Flow payout ratio was less than 60% and there were no negative Free Cash Flows over the last 10 years. The stock earned a Star as a result of its most recent Debt to Total Capital being less than 45%. GWW earned a Star for having an acceptable score in at least two of the four Key Metrics measured.
Rolling 4-yr Div. > 15% means that dividends grew on average in excess of 15% for each consecutive 4 year period over the last 10 years (2003-2006, 2004-2007, 2005-2008, etc.) I consider this a key metric since dividends will double every 5 years if they grow by 15%. The company has paid a cash dividend to shareholders every year since 1965 and has increased its dividend payments for 42 consecutive years.
Dividend Income vs. MMA: Why would you assume the equity risk and invest in a dividend stock if you could earn a better return in a much less risky money market account (MMA) or Treasury bond? This section compares the earning ability of this stock with a high yield MMA. Two items are considered in this section, see page 2 of the linked
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