Sunday, July 6, 2014

Best Safest Companies To Own In Right Now

As Jeff Clark expected would happen in late June, gold stocks have put in a bottom... and staged a huge rally.   The benchmark gold index is up 36% off its lows.   Like Jeff, I expect gold stocks will work higher over the longer-term. Of course, there will be corrections along the way, which is why you should stick to some of the world's safest gold stocks.   The key to safety is to focus on "all-in" costs. This is the total cost of an ounce of gold production. It includes the cost of mining at each mine the company owns, plus the costs of running the company.   It is a way to look at gold-mining companies as businesses, instead of simply a way to play rising gold prices. It's a critical idea for making money in the gold-stock sector...   In my most recent issue of the S&A Resource Report, I presented a proprietary, in-depth analysis of the gold sector. I showed readers a selection of the best companies from the gold sector with our estimated "all-in" costs.

Best Forestry Stocks To Buy For 2015: Herbalife Ltd (HLF)

Herbalife Ltd., incorporated on April 4, 2002, is a global network marketing company that sells weight management, nutritional supplements, energy, sports and fitness products and personal care products through a network of approximately 2.7 million independent distributors, except in China, where the Company sells its products through retail stores. The Company is a network marketing company that sells a range of weight management products, nutritional supplements and personal care products. As of December 31, 2011, the Company sold products in 79 countries throughout the world. Herbalife�� products are grouped in four principal categories: weight management, targeted nutrition, energy, sports and fitness and Outer Nutrition, along with literature and promotional items. The Company�� generates revenue from its six regions: North America, Mexico, South and Central America; EMEA, which consists of Europe, the Middle East and Africa, Asia Pacific (excluding China), and China. On December 31, 2012, the Company acquired a manufacturing facility in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.

The Company�� products are manufactured by third party providers and by the Company in its Suzhou, China facility and in its manufacturing facility located in Lake Forest, California, and then are sold to independent distributors who sell Herbalife products to retail consumers or other distributors. As of December 31, 2011, Herbalife marketed and sold 138 products encompassing over 4,400 stock keeping units (SKUs) through its distributors.

Weight Management

Weight Management is the Company�� largest product category representing 62.5% of its net sales during the year ended December 31, 2011. Formula 1, its product, is a healthy meal with soy protein, essential vitamins, minerals, herbs and nutrients that is available in seven flavors and can help support weight management. Personalized Protein Powder is a soy and whey protein product designed as a boost to Formula 1 to personalize a pe! rson�� daily protein intake to help achieve their desired weight and shape. Weight-loss enhancers, including Herbal Tea Concentrate, Total Control and Prolessa Duo address specific challenges associated with dieting, such as lack of energy, hunger and food craving, fluid retention, decreased metabolism and digestive challenges, by building energy, boosting metabolism, curbing appetite and helping to promote weight loss. Healthy snacks are formulated to provide between-meal nutrition and appetite satisfaction.

Targeted Nutrition

Herbalife markets numerous dietary and nutritional supplements designed to meet its customers��specific nutritional needs. Each of these supplements contains botanicals, vitamins, minerals and other natural ingredients and focuses on specific life stages of its customers, including women, men, children and those with health concerns, including heart health, healthy aging, digestive health, or immune solutions. Niteworks is a product that supports energy, circulatory and vascular health and enhances blood flow to the heart, brain and other vital organs. Garden 7 is designed to provide the phytonutrient benefits of seven servings of fruits and vegetables and has anti-oxidant and health-boosting properties. Best Defense is an effervescent drink that helps boost immunity. In 2011, the Company expanded distribution of its Active Fiber line by introducing its Apple flavored Active Fiber Complex in the South and Central America region.

Energy, Sports and Fitness

Herbalife entered into the energy drink with the introduction of Liftoff, an energy drink containing a blend of B-vitamins, guarana, ginseng, ginkgo and caffeine to increase energy and improve mental clarity for better performance throughout the day. It launched H3Otm Fitness Drink to provide hydration, sustained muscle energy plus antioxidant protection for people living a healthy, active lifestyle. It also introduced H30 Pro in EMEA to provide an isotonic drink to indivi! duals par! ticipating in high activity sports.

Outer Nutrition

The Company�� Outer Nutrition products complement its weight management and targeted nutrition products and aim to improve the appearance of the body, skin and hair. These products include skin cleansers, toners, moisturizers and facial masks, shampoos and conditioners, body-wash items and a selection of fragrances for men and women. Its Herbal Aloe line is its introductory line providing distributors with cleansers, lotions and soaps that help sooth the skin. NouriFusion Multivitamin skin care products are formulated with antioxidant Vitamins A, C and E. It launched a line of anti-aging products as an extension of its Skin Activator product, an advanced face cream that contains a collagen-building Glucosamine Complex to reduce the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles. It also launched a number of regional products including a Soft Green Body Care line in Brazil, the Whitening Serum under the NouriFusion brand in the Asia Pacific region, and the Lively Fragrances perfume line.

Literature, Promotional and Other Products

Herbalife also sells literature and promotional materials, including sales aids, informational audiotapes, videotapes, compact discs (CDs) and digital versatile discs (DVDs) designed to support its distributors��marketing efforts, as well as start-up kits called International Business Packs for new distributors. It introduced BizWorks, a customizable retail Website for its distributors to enhance the on-line experience.

The Company competes with NuSkin Enterprises, Nature�� Sunshine, Alticor/Amway, Melaleuca, Avon Products, Oriflame, Tupperware and Mary Kay, Weight Watchers, Jenny Craig, General Nutrition Centers and Wal-Mart.

Advisors' Opinion:
  • [By John Kell]

    Among the companies with shares expected to actively trade in Wednesday’s session are Zale Corp.(ZLC), Herbalife Ltd.(HLF) and Devon Energy Corp.(DVN)

  • [By Holly LaFon]

    Question: Ackman questions the legitimacy of Herbalife (HLF). Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.A)(BRK.B) owns Pampered Chef. Has there been any impact on Pampered Chef? It�� a multi-level marketing company.

Best Safest Companies To Own In Right Now: Proofpoint Inc (PFPT)

Proofpoint, Inc. (Proofpoint), incorporated in 2002, is a security-as-a-service vendor that delivers data protection solutions, which helps medium- and large-sized organizations worldwide. Proofpoint�� security-as-a-service platform consists of an integrated suite of on-demand data protection solutions, including threat protection, regulatory compliance, archiving and governance, and secures communication. It provides a multi-tiered security-as-a-service platform consisting of solutions, platform technologies and infrastructure. The Company�� security-as-a-service platform includes four solutions bundled for the convenience of its customers: Proofpoint Enterprise Protection, Proofpoint Enterprise Privacy, Proofpoint Enterprise Archive and Proofpoint Enterprise Governance. Its platform services consist of content inspection, reputation, encryption and key management, notification and workflow, and analytics and search. During the year ended December 31, 2011, the Company acquired NextPage, Inc. In September 2013, Proofpoint Inc completed its acquisition of Armorize Technologies Inc. In October 2013, the Company acquired Silicon Valley based Sendmail, Inc.

The Company�� solutions are used by approximately 2,400 customers worldwide, including 26 of the Fortune 100, protecting tens of millions of end-users. It markets and sells its solutions worldwide both directly through the sales teams and indirectly through a hybrid model. It also distributes its solutions through International Business Machines Corp. (IBM), Microsoft Corporation and VMware, Inc.

Proofpoint Enterprise Protection

Proofpoint Enterprise Protection is the Company�� communications and collaboration security suite designed to protect customers' mission-critical messaging infrastructure from outside threats including spam, phishing, unpredictable e-mail volumes, malware and other forms of objectionable or dangerous content before they reach the enterprise. Key capabilities within proofpoint en! terprise protection include threat detection, virus protection, zero-hour threat detection and smart search.

Proofpoint Enterprise Privacy

The Company�� data loss prevention, encryption and compliance solution defends against leaks of confidential information, and helps ensure compliance with common United States, international and industry-specific data protection regulations, including HIPAA, GLBA, PIPEDA and PCI-DSS. Key capabilities within Proofpoint Enterprise Privacy include Advanced data loss prevention, Flexible remediation and supervision, Policy-based encryption and Secure file transfer.

Proofpoint Enterprise Archive

Proofpoint Enterprise Archive is designed to ensure accurate enforcement of data governance, data retention and supervision policies and mandates; cost effective litigation support through discovery, and active legal hold management. Proofpoint Enterprise Archive can store, govern and discover a range of data, including e-mail, instant message conversations, social media interactions, and other files throughout the enterprise. The key capabilities within Proofpoint Enterprise Archive include Secure cloud storage, Search performance, Flexible policy enforcement, Active legal-hold management and End-user supervision.

Proofpoint Enterprise Governance

Proofpoint Enterprise Governance provides organizations the ability to track, classify, monitor, and apply governance policies to unstructured information across the enterprise. The key capabilities within Proofpoint Enterprise Governance include Document Tracking-Digital Thread, Cloud-based Search and Analytics, and Flexible policy enforcement.

The Company competes with Cisco Systems, Inc., EMC Corporation, Google Inc., Hewlett-Packard Company, Intel and Microsoft.

Advisors' Opinion:
  • [By John Kell]

    Security services provider Proofpoint Inc.(PFPT) shares popped after the company posted better-than-expected fourth-quarter results and issued optimistic revenue guidance. Shares jumped 10% to $40.24 premarket.

  • [By Sean Williams]

    One company in particular I'd suggest putting back on the sales rack is Proofpoint (NASDAQ: PFPT  ) , a threat and regulatory security-as-a-service provider. The profit potential is certainly there. Proofpoint's SaaS model is built around getting the client hooked on its products and making it inconvenient and cost-inefficient for them to switch to a competitor. In other words, it's setting up its own razor-and-blades model that should fuel recurring revenue for years to come.

Best Safest Companies To Own In Right Now: Electronic Arts Inc (EA)

Electronic Arts Inc., incorporated in 1982, develops, markets, publishes and distributes game software content and services that can be played by consumers on a variety of video game machines and electronic devices (platforms). Its offers products, such as video game consoles, such as the Sony PLAYSTATION 3, Microsoft Xbox 360 and Nintendo Wii; personal computers, including the Apple Macintosh (the Company refers to personal computers and the Macintosh together as PCs); mobile devices, such as the Apple iPhone and Google Android compatible phones; tablets and electronic readers, such as the Apple iPad and the Amazon Kindle, and Internet, including social networking sites, such as Facebook. In August 2011, it acquired PopCap Games Inc. (PopCap), a developer of casual games for mobile devices, tablets, PCs, and social networking sites.

The Company has created, licensed and acquired a portfolio of brands, which span a diverse range of categories, including action-adventure, casual, family, fantasy, first-person shooter, horror, science fiction, role-playing, racing, simulation, social, sports, and strategy. The Company�� portfolio of brands includes wholly owned brands, such as Battlefield, Mass Effect, Need for Speed, The Sims, Bejeweled, and Plants v. Zombies. Its portfolio also includes sports-based brands, such as Madden NFL and FIFA, and titles-based on other brands, such as Star Wars: The Old Republic. It provides a variety of online-delivered products and services, including through its Origin platform. Its packaged goods products are also available through direct online download through the Internet. The Company also offers online-delivered content and services that are add-ons or related to its packaged goods products, such as additional game content or enhancements of multiplayer services. It provides other games, content and services that are available only via electronic delivery, such as Internet-only games and game services, and games for mobile devices.

The Comp! any operates development studios (which develop products and perform other related functions) in North America, Europe, Asia and Australia. It also engages third parties to assist with the development of its games at their own development and production studios. Internationally, the Company conducts business through its international headquarters in Switzerland and has wholly owned subsidiaries worldwide, including offices in Europe, Australia, Asia and Latin America. The Company�� studios and development teams are organized around its Label structure. Each Label operates globally with dedicated game development and marketing teams. These Labels are supported by the Company�� Global Publishing Organization that is responsible for the distribution, sales, and marketing of its products, including planning, operations, and manufacturing functions.

EA Games

EA Games is home to a number of the Company�� studios and development teams, which together create a portfolio of games and related content and services marketed under the EA brand in categories, such as action-adventure, role playing, racing and first-person shooter games. The EA Games portfolio includes a number of franchises, such as Battlefield, Dead Space, Medal of Honor and Need for Speed. EA Games titles are developed primarily at the following EA studios, Criterion, DICE, EA Los Angeles, Visceral, and EA Montreal. EA Games also contracts with external game developers, to provide these developers with a variety of services, including development assistance, publishing, and distribution of their games.

EA SPORTS

EA SPORTS develops a collection of sports-based video games and related content and services marketed under the EA SPORTS brand. EA SPORTS games range from simulated sports titles with realistic graphics based on real-world sports leagues, players, events and venues to more casual games with arcade-style gameplay and graphics. The Company�� EA SPORTS franchises include FIFA, Fig! ht Night,! Madden NFL, NCAA Football, NHL Hockey, and Tiger Woods PGA Tour. EA SPORTS games are developed primarily at the Company�� EA Canada studio in Burnaby, British Columbia, and its EA Tiburon studio located in Orlando, Florida.

BioWare

BioWare develops role-playing games, focused on stories, characters and worlds to discover. BioWare�� portfolio includes the MMO role-playing game Star Wars: The Old Republic and the Mass Effect and Dragon Age franchises. BioWare operates in Texas, California, Canada and Ireland.

Maxis

Maxis (formerly EA Play) are focused on creating games and related content and services for a mass audience. Maxis products include wholly owned franchises, such as The Sims, SimCity, MySims, and Spore. During the fiscal year ended March 31, 2012 (fiscal 2012), the Company released titles in The Sims 3 franchise, and together with Playfish, The Sims Social game on Facebook. Maxis oversees internal studios and development teams located in California, Utah, Beijing, China and Guildford, England, and works with third-party developers.

PopCap

PopCap develops easy-to-learn games. PopCap games, including Bejeweled, Plants vs. Zombies, Zuma, Peggle, and Bookworm are gameplays. PopCap games are developed primarily in Seattle, Washington.

Social/Mobile Studios

The Company�� Social/Mobile studios is focused on developing interactive games for play on mobile devices and Internet platforms, including social networking sites, such as Facebook. Through EA Mobile, the Company is a global publisher of games for mobile devices. Its customers purchase and download the Company�� games through a mobile carrier�� e-commerce service and mobile application storefronts accessed directly from their mobile devices. EA Mobile develops games for mobile devices at studios located in the United States, Canada, Romania, Australia, India and Korea. Through Playfish, it offers free-to-play social games, in! cluding T! he Sims Social, Pet Society, EA Sports FIFA Superstars and Madden NFL Superstars that can be played on platforms, such as Facebook, Google, iPhone and Android. Playfish generates revenue through sales of digital content and Internet-based advertising.

The Company, through its Pogo online service, offers games, such as card, puzzle and word games on www.pogo.com, as well as on Facebook and other platforms. In addition to paid subscriptions, Pogo also generates revenue through Internet-based advertising and sales of digital content. In addition, it has a licensing agreement with Hasbro, which provides the Company with the rights to create digital games for all platforms based on most of Hasbro�� toy and game intellectual properties, including MONOPOLY, SCRABBLE (for United States and Canada), YAHTZEE (excluding the Nordic countries), NERF, and LITTLEST PET SHOP. Hasbro games are developed by its EA Mobile, Pogo and Social studios.

The Company competes with Activision Blizzard, Take-Two Interactive, THQ, Ubisoft, Disney, Capcom Mobile, DeNA, Gameloft, Glu Mobile, Gree, Rovio, Zynga, Big Fish, Nexon, Tencent and Facebook.

Advisors' Opinion:
  • [By Steve Symington]

    Besides, as I also mentioned a few weeks ago, thanks to its recent Star Wars video-game deal with�Electronic Arts, w (NASDAQ: EA  ) e already know Disney isn't new to the licensing game.

  • [By Leo Sun]

    However, Take Two (NASDAQ: TTWO  ) has no plans to release Grand Theft Auto V for the Wii U, and Electronic Arts (NASDAQ: EA  ) has stated that it doesn't plan to support the console at all, citing its lack of focus on online multiplayer games.

Best Safest Companies To Own In Right Now: Dassault Systemes SA (DASTY.PK)

Dassault Systemes SA provides software solutions and consulting services. The Company�� global customer base includes companies primarily in 11 industrial sectors: automotive; industrial equipment; aerospace; consumer goods; consumer packaged goods; energy; high-tech; shipbuilding; life sciences; construction, and business services. It organizes its business and markets its products and services in two types of applications: the Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) market, to support product development, production, maintenance and lifecycle management, and the Mainstream three-dimensional (3D) market, which is primarily focused on product design. Its software applications address a range of products, from apparel, consumer goods, machine parts and semiconductors to automobiles, aircraft, ships and factories. In March 2011, the Company acquired Intercim. In April 2011, the Company acquired Enginuity PLM. On March 31, 2010, it acquired the IBM PLM. On June 8, 2010, the C ompany acquired Exalead, a French company providing Search Platforms and Search-Based Applications (SBA). In June 2010, the Company acquired Geensoft, a provider of embedded systems development solutions.

The Company has developed a software applications portfolio, organized in brands, in order to provide solutions responding to the requirements of product development: Design, Realistic Simulation, Digital Manufacturing and Production, Collaborative Innovation, and Lifelike Experiences. The Company�� principal brands include SolidWorks , CATIA, SIMULIA, DELMIA, ENOVIA and Universal Services.

SolidWorks

SolidWorks applications include 3D tools to design, manage, simulate, sustain and communicate. SolidWorks include 3D Design, Data management, Simulation and Environmental assessments. SolidWorks 3D�� include complex part and assembly modeling, production drawing creation, data management, design validation and simulation of motion, f low and structural performance, environmental impact evalu! at! ion and publishing. SolidWorks Data Management solutions enable control over all design information, eliminating concerns about version control or data loss. SolidWorks simulation technology ensures the quality and performance of the design before users commit to production. SolidWorks Sustainability technology enables users to assess the environmental impact of their design to create more sustainable products.

CATIA

CATIA is the Company�� PLM solution for 3D collaborative creation. CATIA addresses the complete product development process, from early product concept specification through product in service. CATIA V6 is designed to enable the spectrum of next generation collaborative virtual design. Its product portfolio is consists of four main domains, which include systems, shape design, mechanical design and equipment engineering. CATIA Systems captures, manages, and tracks product requirements with traceability, ensuring that early requiremen ts are met accurately all along the product development cycle. CATIA Shape provides a line of surfacing, reverse engineering, and visualization solutions to create, modify, and validate any type of complex shapes and help streamline the transition and collaboration among industrial designers. CATIA Mechanical delivers a collaborative and flexible design environment with concurrent engineering and change management through relational design. CATIA Equipment provides an integrated environment that enables the collaborative detailed design of electronic, electrical, and fluidic systems in context of a virtual product.

SIMULIA

SIMULIA provides a scalable portfolio of realistic simulation solutions designed to enable companies across a range of industries to improve product performance, reduce the number of physical prototypes and drive innovation. SIMULIA�� V6 portfolio spans include finite element analysis, multi-physics solutions, optimization analy sis, and simulation lifecycle management. Its finite e! lement! a! nalysis! software companies are able to create and test virtual prototypes of products and processes. Its multi-physics solutions enable companies to reach beyond the boundaries of a single domain. SIMULIA also provides design exploration and optimization technology, enabling designers and engineers to perform rapid trade-off studies of real-world behavior and accelerate product development. SIMULIA offers simulation lifecycle management, based upon the Company�� ENOVIA architecture offering an open collaborative platform for management of simulation data, processes and intellectual property.

DELMIA

DELMIA covers the Company�� PLM digital manufacturing solutions ranging from virtual process definition, workcell set-up, optimization, scheduling, and operation, to maintenance of real-time production systems. DELMIA V6 covers four principal domains, including Manufacturing planning, with 3D process and resource planning tools for creating and optimizing bu ild-to-order and lean production manufacturing systems; plant and resources engineering, with tools to virtually define and optimize manufacturing assets concurrently with manufacturing planning; program and control engineering, to virtually program, validate and simulate manufacturing systems for the virtual commissioning of production facilities, and control and production execution, which offers an accurate virtual production system to enable companies to track real time production activities, perform schedule changes, launch new programs and introduce model changeovers, and schedule maintenance operations.

ENOVIA

ENOVIA addresses business process needs across a broad spectrum of industries, managing simple, as well as engineered, complex products. The ENOVIA V6 products are organized by business processes, which include governance, global sourcing, global sourcing, and unified live collaboration. The Governance domain is designed to help compan ies launch enterprise new product introductions on! time and! ! on budget! . Governance includes these sub-processes: Requirements Management, Portfolio Configuration, Program Management, Decision Support Business Intelligence, and Compliance. The Global Sourcing domain allows companies to leverage supply chain capabilities throughout the product lifecycle. The IP Lifecycle domain helps eliminate costly product development errors as it is designed to enable improved cross-functional product design, manufacturing planning and performance simulation. The Unified Live Collaboration domain allows companies to deploy product lifecycle processes across the extended enterprise by providing a single, real-time view of information protocol (IP) across all business process domains, collaborative process management capabilities, and a service-oriented architecture that integrates with other enterprise system

The Company competes with Parametric Technology Corporation, ANSYS, Inc., MSC Software Corporation, Oracle Corporation, SAP AG, Siemens PLM Software, Adobe, Altair Engineering, Autonomy, Aveva, Bentley, Google, Intergraph, MathWorks, Nemetschek AG, Right Hemisphere, and Autodesk, Inc.

Advisors' Opinion:
  • [By Markus Aarnio]

    Autodesk's competitors include Adobe Systems (ADBE), Dassault Systemes SA (DASTY.PK), and Parametric Technology Corporation (PMTC). Here is a table comparing these companies.

Best Safest Companies To Own In Right Now: Cohu Inc.(COHU)

Cohu, Inc. engages in the development, manufacture, sale, and servicing of test handling and burn-in related equipment, and thermal sub-systems for the semiconductor industry worldwide. The company operates in three segments: Semiconductor Equipment, Microwave Communication Systems, and Video Cameras. The Semiconductor Equipment segment develops, manufactures, and sells pick-and-place semiconductor test handlers, burn-in related equipment, and thermal sub-systems to semiconductor manufacturers and semiconductor test subcontractors. It also develops, manufactures, and sells gravity-feed and test-in-strip semiconductor test handling equipment used in final test operations. The Microwave Communication Systems segment develops, manufactures, and sells microwave communications equipment, antenna systems, and associated equipment, which are used in the transmission of video, audio, and telemetry. These products have applications in unmanned aerial vehicles, law enforcement, secu rity and surveillance, and electronic news gathering. Its customers include government agencies, law enforcement and public safety organizations, unmanned air vehicle program contractors, television broadcasters, entertainment companies, professional sports teams, and other commercial entities. The Video Cameras segment develops, manufactures, and sells closed circuit video or CCTV cameras, equipment, and systems for security, surveillance, and traffic monitoring. It also offers accessories, which include monitors, lenses, and camera test equipment. This segment serves end-users, government agencies, original equipment manufacturers, contractors, and value-added resellers. Cohu, Inc. markets its products through direct sales force and independent sales representatives. The company was formerly known as Cohu Electronics, Inc. and changed its name to Cohu, Inc. in 1972. Cohu, Inc. was founded in 1947 and is based in Poway, California.

Advisors' Opinion:
  • [By John Udovich]

    Small cap stocks Vimicro International Corporation (NASDAQ: VIMC), Cohu, Inc (NASDAQ: COHU) and View Systems Inc (OTCBB: VSYM) are also surveillance and security stocks because they�also offer products that can be used to keep an eye on us���for better or for worst. After all and go to any public space (whether its a shopping mall, entertainment venue or even a street corner), you will probably see (or maybe not see) some sort of security or surveillance equipment. With that in mind, here is a look at three small cap surveillance and security stocks you may have overlooked:

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