NEW YORK (The Deal) After his long-fought battle with Carl Icahn, one might think Michael Dell would rest on his laurels and keep Dell (DELL) the private, nimble startup he is promising the world. However, buried in the financing details for the nearly $25 billion leveraged buyout, backed by Silver Lake, is a hint that options are being kept open for a return trip to the public markets.
The roadshow for Dell's $3.25 billion bond offering backing its buyout is kicking off this week. The offering includes $2 billion of first-lien seven-year senior notes and $1.25 billion of second-lien eight-year senior notes.
Both tranches have three years of call protection, but the second-lien notes have a clawback that would allow 50% of the notes to be called at par plus half the coupon in case of an initial public offering.
Top 10 Gas Utility Companies For 2015: A-Cap Resources Ltd (ACB)
A-Cap Resources Limited is an Australia-based mineral exploration company. The Company�� principal activity during the fiscal year ended June 30, 2012 (fiscal 2012), is exploration of its tenement portfolio in Botswana and the ongoing feasibility studies into the Letlhakane Uranium Project. The Company focuses on investment in Botswana in Southern Africa, where it holds over 5000 square kilometer of exploration licenses. The Company�� projects include Botswana project, Letlhakane project, Mea-Coal project, Bolau-Coal project and Southern Pans project. The Company�� 100% owned Letlhakane Uranium Project is located in northeast Botswana. In July 2012, A-Cap announced the discovery of two new coal projects in Botswana, transforming the Company into a multi-commodity exploration outfit. Advisors' Opinion:- [By John Heinzl]
You'll notice that these numbers don't add up to $1.4988. That's because the 2012 distribution also contained a hefty chunk of return of capital (70.489 cents). ROC isn't taxable immediately; rather, it is subtracted from the adjusted cost base (ACB) of the units, which gives rise to a larger capital gain, or smaller capital loss, when the units are ultimately sold. Many REITs and mutual funds also distribute ROC. ROC can be a bit of a headache for investors. If you hold BIP in a non-registered account, you (or your accountant), will need to track those ROC payments in order to keep your ACB up to date. Knowing the ACB is necessary to calculate your capital gain, or loss, when it comes time to sell.
Top Net Payout Yield Companies For 2014: Quiksilver Inc.(ZQK)
Quiksilver, Inc. designs, develops, produces, and distributes apparel, footwear, accessories, and related products. The company offers shirts, walkshorts, T-shirts, fleece, pants, jackets, snowboard wear, footwear, hats, backpacks, wetsuits, watches, eyewear, and other accessories to men, women, boys, girls, toddlers, and infants under the brand Quiksilver. It also provides sportswear, swimwear, footwear, backpacks, snowboard wear, snowboards, bedroom furnishings, and other accessories for girls, toddlers, and infants under the brand Roxy. In addition, the company offers skateboard shoes, snowboard boots, sandals, and apparel for young men and juniors under the brand DC. Further, it provides skateboard products, and snowboards and accessories under the brands Hawk, Lib Technologies, and Gnu. The company sells its products in approximately 90 countries in the Americas, Europe, and the Asia/Pacific, through surf shops, skateboard shops, snowboard shops, select department sto res, independent specialty or active lifestyle stores, and specialty chains, as well as through its 770 owned or licensed company stores. Quiksilver, Inc. was founded in 1976 and is headquartered in Huntington Beach, California.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Lauren Pollock]
Quiksilver Inc.(ZQK) unveiled plans to pursue the sale and exit of several more noncore businesses, following the sports outfitter’s $58 million divestiture of its Mervin snowboard unit last month. The businesses Quiksilver plans to shed include Surfdome Shop Ltd., Hawk Designs, Inc., its Moskova brand�and its business under license with Maui & Sons.
- [By Jake L'Ecuyer]
Quiksilver (NYSE: ZQK) was also up, gaining 7.63 percent to $8.32 after the company posted a loss in the fourth quarter. B. Riley upgraded the stock from Neutral to Buy.
- [By Maria Armental var popups = dojo.query(".socialByline .popC"); popups.forEach]
Quiksilver Inc.(ZQK) said its fiscal second-quarter loss widened as the sport outfitter’s sales declined across its brands. Shares dropped 41% to $3.42 premarket.
Top Net Payout Yield Companies For 2014: Equifax Inc. (EFX)
Equifax Inc. collects, organizes, and manages various financial, demographic, employment, and marketing information solutions for businesses and consumers. The company�s U.S. Consumer Information Solutions segment provides consumer information services, such as credit information, credit scoring, credit modeling, locate, fraud detection and prevention, identity verification, and other consulting services; mortgage loan origination information, appraisal, title, and closing services; consumer financial marketing services; and identity management services. Its International segment provides information services products, which include consumer and commercial services, such as credit and financial information, and credit scoring and modeling services; and credit and other marketing products and services. The company�s Workforce Solutions segment offers employment, income, and social security number verification services, as well as employment tax and talent management servi ces. Its North America Personal Solutions segment sells credit information, credit monitoring, and identity theft protection products directly to consumers through the Internet and hard-copy formats. The company�s North America Commercial Solutions segment offers commercial products and services comprising business credit and demographic information, credit scores, and portfolio analytics, which are derived from its databases of business credit, financial, and demographic information. It serves customers in financial services, mortgage, human resources, consumer, commercial, telecommunications, retail, automotive, utilities, brokerage, healthcare, and insurance industries; and state and federal governments. The company has operations in Argentina, Canada, Chile, Costa Rica, Ecuador, El Salvador, Honduras, Paraguay, Peru, Portugal, Spain, the United Kingdom, Uruguay, the United States, and the Republic of Ireland. Equifax Inc. was founded in 1899 and is headquartered in Atla nta, Georgia.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Keith Speights]
Two other contractors also testified before the committee. Equifax (NYSE: EFX ) corporate counsel�Lynn Spellecy said that her firm had only a limited role in the overall Obamacare exchange system and that the company's software worked properly. Serco's John Lau emphasized that his company didn't work on the website at all. Serco provides�eligibility support services that support processing of paper applications.
Top Net Payout Yield Companies For 2014: Hovnanian Enterprises Inc (HOV)
Hovnanian Enterprises, Inc. (Hovnanian), incorporated in 1967, designs, constructs, markets, and sells single-family detached homes, attached townhomes and condominiums, mid-rise condominiums, urban infill and active adult homes in planned residential developments. The Company consists of two distinct operations: homebuilding and financial services. Its homebuilding operations consist of six segments: Northeast,including New Jersey and Pennsylvania; Mid-Atlantic, including Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia, and Washington, D.C; Midwest, including Illinois, Minnesota and Ohio; Southeast, including Florida, Georgia, North Carolina and South Carolina; Southwest, including Arizona and Texas, and West, including California. Its financial services operations provide mortgage loans and title services to the customers of its homebuilding operations. During fiscal year ended October 31, 2011 (fiscal 2011), the Company had delivered 4,216 homes.
As of October 31, 2011, the Company was, excluding unconsolidated joint ventures, offering homes for sale in 192 communities in 37 markets in 16 states throughout the United States. It markets and builds homes for first-time buyers, first-time and second-time move-up buyers, luxury buyers, active adult buyers and empty nesters. It offers a product range to provide housing to a range of customers. Its diverse product array includes single-family detached homes, attached townhomes and condominiums, mid-rise condominiums, urban infill and active adult homes.
The Company�� residential development activities include site planning and engineering, obtaining environmental and other regulatory approvals and constructing roads, sewer, water, and drainage facilities, recreational facilities and other amenities and marketing and selling homes. These activities are performed by its associates, together with independent architects, consultants, and contractors.
The Company sells its homes to customers who finance their purchases th! rough mortgages. It originates loans in Arizona, California, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Maryland, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Texas, Virginia, Washington, D.C. and West Virginia.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Ben Levisohn]
Hovnanian Enterprises’ (HOV) earnings report was ho-hum–but more than enough to lift the stock and other homebuilders.
ReutersThe Wall Street Journal reports:
For the period ended July 31, Hovnanian reported a profit of $8.5 million, or six cents a share, down from $34.7 million, or 25 cents a share, a year earlier. The year-earlier period included a $36.5 million income tax benefit and $6.2 million in debt-extinguishment gains.
Revenue jumped 24% to $478.4 million.
Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters recently expected per-share earnings of seven cents and revenue of $505 million.
Adjusted home-building gross margin rose to 20.3% from 18.2%.
The initial reaction to those numbers was ho-hum as well, as Hovnanian’s shares opened down 0.2%. Still, it didn’t take long for investors to realize there were more to them a simple earnings miss. Hovnanian predicted a profitable year for the first time since 2006, for instance, and it also helped that CEO Ara Hovnanian was feeling pretty good during the company’s conference call. Comments like these (courtesy of FactSet):
…we’re confident that the any hesitancy our consumers have seen or felt or acted with the higher rates will be a temporary bump in the road to housing recovery.
Our confidence is bolstered by analysis of long-term home ownership affordability…Even though there’s some sticker shock for consumers with the recent increase in mortgage rates and the increase in home prices, we’re still very comfortable at the affordability levels compared to historic standards.
Even if the 30-year mortgage rates were to increase 100 basis points to 5.4%, and if home prices on top of that went up another 6% from the June 13 levels…affordability would still be better than at any point in the period [from] 1975 through 2007, notwithstanding the current two-month record high affordability� levels.
- [By Rebecca McClay]
In major earnings news, Hovnanian Enterprises Inc. (NYSE: HOV) is up 2% today as it reports its third-quarter earnings fell to $0.06 per share from $0.25 the year earlier. Its earnings missed the Street consensus of $0.07 by $0.01 per share.
- [By Rick Aristotle Munarriz]
Craig Warga/Bloomberg via Getty Images You can never know in advance all the news that will move the market in a given week, but some things you can see coming. From earnings reports to a new "Hobbit" film, let's take a look at the business news that will break in the week ahead. Monday -- Let it Snow, Let it Snow, Let it Snow: Ski resorts are open for the season, and we'll get a great early read on how the business is holding up when Vail Resorts (MTN) reports fresh financials after Monday's market close. True to its name, Vail Resorts operates a ski property in Vail as well as nearby slopes in Beaver Creek, Breckenridge and Keystone in Colorado. It also owns resorts in six different snowy states. Don't expect a quarterly profit out of Vail Resorts. The months of August, September, and October are naturally forgettable for ski resorts. Vail expects to generate four times as much revenue during the next three months as it did during the period that ended in October. However, Vail Resorts should be able to offer a glimpse about how the new ski season is starting to shape up. It has enough advance booking information to know what folks are willing to pay this year for a trek out to the slopes. Tuesday -- For Whom the Bell Tolls: It's once again great time to be a real estate developer. Home prices are moving higher, and those increases are moving at a headier clip than the costs to build new digs. We'll get a good snapshot of the housing industry when Toll Brothers (TOL) reports on Tuesday. The builder of upscale properties is typically blunt about its assessment, and naturally the news has been good in recent quarters as home buyers aren't walking away from their contracts, and asking prices keep inching up. Hovnanian (HOV) -- another developer that offers more accessibly priced properties -- reports two days later. Analysts see revenue surging 56 percent at Toll and 19 percent at Hovnanian. It's good to be a builder right now, but that won't remain that way i
Top Net Payout Yield Companies For 2014: Telus Corporation(TU)
TELUS Corporation provides telecommunications products and services primarily in Canada. Its telecommunications products and services include wireless, data, Internet protocol (IP), voice, and television. The company operates through two segments, Wireless and Wireline. The Wireless segment provides digital personal communications, equipment sales, and wireless Internet services. The Wireline segment offers voice local and voice long distance services; data services, which include television, and managed and legacy data services, as well as Internet, enhanced data, and hosting services; and other telecommunications services. TELUS Corporation was founded in 1993 and is based in Burnaby, Canada.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Ben Levisohn]
Abbvie (ABBV)
Ameren Corp. (AEE)
Arthur J. Gallagher (AJG)
E.I. DuPont de Nemours & Co. (DD)
ENSCO (ESV)
Enterprise Products Partners LP (EPD)
General Mills (GIS)
H&R Block (HRB)
Hancock Holding (HBHC)
Kraft Foods Group (KRFT)
Lorillard (LO)
Magellan Midstream Partners LP (MMP)
MarkWest Energy Partners L P (MWE)
McDonald’s (MCD)
Microchip Technology (MCHP)
NextEra Energy (NEE)
Regency Centers (REG)
TELUS Corp. (TU)
West Corp. (WSTC)
Williams Companies (WMB) - [By Tom Taulli]
Big competitors for BCE include Rogers Communications (RCI) and Telus (TU), though it also faces niche players such as Public Mobile, Wind Mobile and Mobilicity. Until recently, there was buzz that Verizon (VZ) might enter the market by buying up the latter two, though VZ apparently scrapped plans for Canadian expansion until 2014.
- [By Rich Duprey]
Continuing with its practice of raising its dividend payment every year, Canadian telecom�Telus� (NYSE: TU ) �announced today�its second-quarter dividend of $0.34 Canadian per share. Last quarter�the payout was $0.32 Canadian per share. That's a 6.25% increase.
Top Net Payout Yield Companies For 2014: K&S AG (KPLUY)
K&S AG is a Germany-based holding company which is active in the chemical sector. The Company divides its activities into four main business segments. The Potash and Magnesium Products segment is engaged in the crude potash and magnesium salts extraction and in processing raw materials into products for industrial, pharmaceutical, cosmetics and food industries. The Nitrogen Fertilizers business segment distributes fertilizers for almost all agricultural crops, and products for home and garden, plant care and plant protection, specialty fertilizers for public green areas, tree nurseries, horticulture and various special crops are offered. The Salt segment offers food grade salt, industrial salt and salt for chemical use, as well as de-icing salt applied to ensure road safety. The Complementary Business segments include recycling activities and the disposal and reutilization of waste salt mines, granulation of CATASAN, logistics, and trading in different basic chemicals. Advisors' Opinion:- [By Rich Duprey]
Yet, Europe's leading potash player K+S (NASDAQOTH: KPLUY ) just said that, because of the upheaval that's occurred in the market, it was slashing its dividend by 82% for 2013,�reducing the payout ratio to just 11% of adjusted after tax�earnings, a far cry from the miner's usual�ratio of between 40% and 50%. Could this signal a new era of austerity that will ultimately see Potash,�Agrium (NYSE: AGU ) , and Mosaic (NYSE: MOS ) �end up whacking their payouts, as well?
Zach Dilgard/A&E/AP Maybe you think the A&E reality show "Duck Dynasty" is fake or low-brow, or you disagree with the clan's often-controversial beliefs. But you can't argue the admitted redneck Robertsons of West Monroe, Louisiana, haven't made Scrooge McDuck bucks from "faith, family and facial hair." Already a million-dollar business before the show started six seasons and four years ago, the Robertson family enterprise has grown via deals with Walmart (WMT) totaling $400 million in merchandise, books, themed cruises, music CDs and speaking gigs. The family fortune was an estimated $83 million as of last August, and A&E salaries are reportedly $200,000 per episode. So what can you about money by watching the camo-clad camaraderie of Uncle Si, Phil and sons Willie, Jase and Jep? Live Your Dream From a duck call that flinty eyed patriarch Phil Robertson patented in the early 1970s emerged a multimillion dollar empire. Phil turned down a career with the Washington Redskins and also left a secure teaching job (he has a master's degree in education) to build a better duck call. The first year the business barely netted $8,000. As years went by, he incorporated the family into the business, keeping overhead low by selling products from home, going on sales trips himself and putting money back in the business Lesson: Find a niche you are passionate about, keep overhead low and go build that better mousetrap. Don't Be Afraid to Try New Things Phil and Miss Kay are tech Luddites, but they were discovered through the company's homemade hunting videos on YouTube, which son Jep still shoots and directs. Last year, CEO Willie Robertson bought a winery and of course, hilarity ensued on the grape-stomping episode, but it resulted in undrinkable vino. Since then, they partnered up with a winemaker, and the stuff is selling at select Walmarts for $10 a pop. Lesson: New endeavors may not work out immediately but keep trying. Rich is Better, but You Don't Need a Lot Miss Kay may tell high school sweetheart and husband Phil, "I've been poor with you, and I've been rich with you. Rich is better." The couple still lives in the modest house they bought decades ago that's worth $100,000. Other family members have bought themselves redneck toys: ATVs, a custom RV and a Ninja sword (of which Si quipped it was so sharp it could take "the hair off a dolphin's chest"). But for the most part they're just as happy to go hunting on the land that Phil bought years ago, his one big splurge. Lesson: You don't need a lot of money to be, "happy, happy, happy," as Phil's often says. Play to Your Strengths Phil picked Willie (who doubled his net worth of $10 million to $20 million this year) as CEO after he show his entrepreneurship at age 10 racking up sales with his own candy concession. Uncle Si may nap more than Willie likes, but he is the man when it comes to making the reeds that create the distinctive duck sounds. Jase takes the expression "play to your strength" maybe too literally and usually leads the work-shirking hijinks. Yet, he sees the calls get made eventually. Other family members also have important roles and until very recently, family made up 80 per cent of their workforce. Lesson: In a family business, or any business, everyone needs to know they have a valued role that suits their talents. Give Back Yes, they are a self-professed family of faith. The laconic Jase sums up their beliefs as "God, family, ducks, in that order." They speak for free at churches nationwide. Willie and wife Korie are big believers in adoption. "The best decision we ever made -– that made the biggest impact on our life --was the adoption of our son Will," Willie said when they were honored by the Congressional Coalition on Adoption Institute. The family, known in the West Monroe community as generous benefactors, recently created their own Duck Commander Worldwide Foundation.