Top 10 Life Sciences Companies To Watch For 2015

kurhan/Shutterstock The maker of a line of diet supplements sold at the nation's largest pharmacies with the false promise that the pills would magically make users slender (they didn't) was banned -- at least, for now -- from selling weight loss products under a just-finalized agreement, the Federal Trade Commission said on Friday. HealthyLife Sciences and its principal sold Healthe Trim supplements with the claim you could "get high school skinny." Apparently, it only worked as advertised if its users had never gained weight after graduation. John Matthew Dwyer III (aka Matthew Dyer), the co-founder of the Atlanta-based company, agreed to stay out of the weight-loss industry under the terms of the settlement of deceptive advertising charges. Dwyer claimed the pills had ingredients that combined to burn fat, speed up the metabolism and suppress appetite. No Penalty, No Restitution The FTC said the company took in about $76 million between 2009 and 2013. Healthe Trim supplements were sold at CVS (CVS), Walgreens (WAG) and at GNC (GNC) stores. It cost consumers who bought into the spiel $50 to $65 for a month's supply, the FTC said. The key to the sales were customer testimonials featuring claims that, for example, using the pills helped one user to drop 54 pounds and go from a size 12 dress to a size 2. "Losing weight is rarely easy, and it would be a miracle if a pill made it so," Jessica Rich, director of the FTC's Bureau of Consumer Protection, said in a statement. "Consumers should be skeptical when a product like this one claims to make weight loss easy." The company itself (if it continues to operate without Dwyer) is barred from making a host of what the FTC describes as "scientifically infeasible" claims about its supplements. And it can no longer make any weight-loss-related claims at all about them until it has in hand two legitimate, scientifically rigorous human clinical-trial studies to support its statements. Unlike many settlements of this type, there is no financial penalty and no provision for consumer restitution. More from Mitch Lipka
•Texting Scammers to Pay $10 Million to Settle FTC Suit •The Plague of Ebola-Related Scams Is Spreading Like a Virus •Costco Flat Screen Wall Mounts Recalled Because TVs Can Fall

Top 10 Life Sciences Companies To Watch For 2015: Nuance Communications Inc.(NUAN)

Nuance Communications, Inc. provides voice and language solutions for businesses and consumers worldwide. It offers dictation and transcription solutions and services, which automate the input and management of medical information; and speech recognition solutions for radiology, cardiology, pathology, and related specialties that help healthcare providers dictate, edit, and sign reports without manual transcription. The company also offers mobile and consumer solutions and services comprising an integrated suite of voice control and text-to-speech solutions, desktop and portable computer dictation applications, predictive text technologies, mobile messaging services, and emerging services, such as dictation, Web search, and voicemail-to-text for manufacturers and suppliers of mobile phones, automotive products, personal navigation devices, computers, and other consumer electronics. In addition, it provides customer service business intelligence and authentication solutions for enterprises in the telecommunications, financial services, travel, entertainment, and government sectors to support, understand, and communicate with their customers. Further, the company offers document imaging, print management, and PDF solutions to multifunction printer manufacturers, home offices, small businesses, and enterprise customers; software development toolkits for independent software vendors; and licenses its software to multifunction printer manufacturers. Nuance Communications, Inc. markets and sells its products through direct sales force; its e-commerce Web site; and a network of resellers, including system integrators, independent software vendors, value-added resellers, hardware vendors, telecommunications carriers, and distributors. The company was formerly known as ScanSoft, Inc. and changed its name to Nuance Communications, Inc. in November 2005. Nuance Communications, Inc. was founded in 1992 and is headquartered in Burlington, Massachusetts. Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Evan Niu, CFA]

  Ever since 2011, virtual voice assistants have been all the rage. First,�Apple's (NASDAQ: AAPL  ) Siri came out to much fanfare, followed by�Google� (NASDAQ: GOOG  ) Now.�Nuance Communications� (NASDAQ: NUAN  ) , which powers the voice recognition behind Siri, even has its own Nina assistant.�Amazon.com� (NASDAQ: AMZN  ) has now reportedly purchased Evi, a mobile assistant app for iOS and Android. The e-tailer has also separately acquired several small voice recognition companies over the years.

• [By Tim Beyers]

  Nuance Communications (NASDAQ: NUAN  ) also took a beating, falling 19% after reporting fiscal third-quarter results well below consensus estimates. Revenue fell more than $30 million short while profit came in $0.06 below projections.

• [By Sue Chang , Saumya Vaishampayan]

  $NUAN: Shares of Nuance Communications Inc. (NUAN) �retreated 1.8%. The company on Tuesday named Brett Icahn and David Schechter to the board, effective immediately. The appointments mean Icahn and his affiliates, which hold a combined 16.7% stake in Nuance, agree to support the board director nominees at the coming annual meeting. Carl Icahn said in a tweet he thinks the new directors could help boost Nuance�� stock price.

Top 10 Life Sciences Companies To Watch For 2015: Nuveen Credit Strategies Income Fund (JQC)

Nuveen Multi-Strategy Income & Growth Fund 2 (the Fund), formerly Nuveen Preferred and Convertible Income Fund 2, is a diversified, closed-end management investment company. The Fund intends to invest in a portfolio of preferred securities, securities and, to a lesser degree, high yield securities. The Fund may also invest in other debt instruments and common stocks acquired upon conversion of a convertible security.

On January 1, 2005, Nuveen Institutional Advisory Corp. (NIAC), the Funds' previous adviser, and its affiliate, Nuveen Advisory Corp. (NAC), were merged into Nuveen Asset Management (NAM), each wholly owned subsidiaries of Nuveen Investments, Inc. (Nuveen). As a result of the merger, NAM is the Adviser to all funds previously advised by either NIAC or NAC. The investment portfolio of the Fund includes JPMorgan Chase & Company, ING Group NV, Union Planters Corporation, HBSC Holdings Public Limited Company, Wachovia Corporation, Omnicare Capital Trust II, Hanover Compressor Capital Trust and CIT Group Incorporated.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By John Dowdee]

  The following 10 funds satisfied all of these conditions:

  BlackRock Float Rate Strategies (FRA). This CEF sells at a discount of 3%, which is low compared to an average premium of 2% over the past year. The distribution has been managed at 6.1% and a small amount (less than 10%) has been return of capital (ROC). However, this has not negatively affected net asset value (NAV) so has not been destructive. The fund holds 447 securities, with 90% in floating rate loans. FRA utilizes 27% leverage and has an expense ratio of 1.7%, including interest payments. Eaton Vance Floating Rate (EFR). This CEF sells at a 1% premium, which is low compared to an average premium of 5% over the past year. The distribution is 6.2%, none of which was ROC. The fund holds 800 securities, with 90% in floating rate loans. About 85% of the securities are from U.S. companies. EFR utilizes 35% leverage and has an expense ratio of 1.8% including interest payments. ING Prime Rate Trust (PPR). This CEF sells for a premium of 2%, which is below the average premium of 5%. It has a distribution of 6.8%, none of which was ROC. The fund has 350 holdings, virtually all in senior loans and from US companies. PPR utilizes 29% leverage and has a high expense ratio of 2.1%, including interest payments. Invesco VK Dynamic Credit Opportunities (VTA). This CEF sells for a discount of 5%, which is below the average discount of 1%. It has a distribution of 7.1%, none of which was ROC. The fund has 495 holdings, with 76% in floating rate loans. About 25% of the loans are from non-US companies. VTA utilizes a relatively low 20% leverage but still has a high expense ratio of 2.1%, including interest payments. Invesco VK Senior Income (VVR). This CEF sells for a discount of 1%, which is below the average premium of 3%. It has a distribution of 7.1%, none of which was ROC. The fund has over 500 holdings, with 89% in floating rate loans. Almost all (95%) securities are from US companies. VVR ut

Top 5 Restaurant Stocks To Own Right Now: Bridgepoint Education Inc (BPI)

Bridgepoint Education, Inc. (Bridgepoint), incorporated in May 1999, is a provider of postsecondary education services. The Company�� academic institutions include Ashford University and University of the Rockies. Its institutions deliver programs primarily online, as well as at their traditional campuses. As of December 31, 2011, the Company had 86,642 total students enrolled in its institutions. Bridgepoint�� institutions conduct ongoing faculty and student assessment processes and provide a range of student services. The Company is also focused on developing new technologies, such as through Waypoint Outcomes, Constellation, and the development of its institutions' mobile learning platforms. The Company has developed Constellation to replace third party textbooks with digital course materials. Constellation materials are displayed in a browser-based platform. In January 2012, Bridgepoint introduced Thuze.

Ashford University offers associate's, bachelor's and master's degree programs online, as well as bachelor's degree programs at its campus in Clinton, Iowa. Ashford University consists of four colleges: the College of Business and Professional Studies, the College of Education, the College of Health, Human Services and Sciences, and the College of Liberal Arts. University of the Rockies is a graduate institution that offers master's and doctoral degree programs in the social and behavioral sciences. Classes at University of the Rockies are presented in a progressive online format, as well as at its campus in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Waypoint Outcomes provides learning and assessment software to K-12 and higher education institutions nationwide.

Constellation provides mobile access to students over the Internet, as well as on a variety of devices, including Web-enabled smartphones and tablet devices. Constellation is a cloud-based and is compatible across operating systems, browsers and mobile technologies. The Company has developed Constellation-enabled courses pri! marily in core classes to reach students. As of December 31, 2011, approximately 76% of Bridgepoint�� institutions' students had taken a Constellation-enabled course. As of December 31, 2011, it had 32 Constellation titles available. Thuze is a cloud-based, multi-platform, collaborative learning environment for students to interact with their course digital materials and with each other. Thuze provides students with the resources to work from both their desktop computers and also from their tablets and smartphones. It launched Thuze as a pilot program with publishers in higher education. During the year ended December 31, 2011, the Company deployed new mobile application technology at Ashford University. The Company has online students from all 50 states and from the District of Columbia. It has students from 69 different countries. As of December 31, 2011, over 34,400 students have graduated from the Company�� institutions, with approximately 15,200 students graduating from its institutions, during 2011.

Students finance their education at the Company's institutions through Title IV programs and Non-Title IV funding sources. Title IV programs includes The Federal Family Education Loan (FFEL) and Federal Direct Loan Programs. FFEL and Federal Direct Loan Programs consist of two loans: Stafford loans, which are either subsidized or unsubsidized, and PLUS loans, which are made available to graduate and professional students, as well as parents of dependent undergraduate students. Non-Title IV funding sources include other funding sources, which consist of cash, private loans, state grants, corporate reimbursement, military benefits and institutional loans. The Company has engaged Affiliated Computer Services, Inc. (ACS) to provide call center and transactional processing services for the online financial aid student populations at its institutions, including services related to disbursement eligibility review and Title IV fund returns. If Bridgepoint�� engagement with ACS were terminate! d, it wou! ld handle these processing services using its own resources or engage another third party vendor.

The Company�� institutions provide student support services, including academic, administrative and technology support. As of December 31, 2011, Bridgepoint�� institutions offered approximately 1,430 courses, 85 degree programs and 140 specializations. Its institutions offer programs and specialization areas through Ashford University's four colleges: the College of Business and Professional Studies; the College of Education; the College of Health, Human Services and Science; and the College of Liberal Arts, and through the University of the Rockies' two schools: the School of Organizational Leadership and the School of Professional Psychology. The Company�� leads are primarily generated from online sources. Its main source of leads is third party online lead aggregators. It also purchases keywords from search providers to generate online leads directly. In addition, the Company has an in-house team focused on generating online leads.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Jim Royal]

  Earlier this week, Bridgepoint Education (NYSE: BPI  ) revealed that the Western Association of Schools and Colleges had approved the company's Ashford University application for accreditation for five years. Investors had been concerned about this accreditation issue for the last year or so, and shares jumped on the news. They're now up about 50% from where my Special Situations portfolio bought in late April.

Top 10 Life Sciences Companies To Watch For 2015: Gastar Exploration Ltd (GST)

Gastar Exploration Ltd (Gastar) is an independent energy company engaged in the exploration, development and production of natural gas and oil in the United States. The Company�� principal business activities include the identification, acquisition, and subsequent exploration and development of natural gas and oil properties with an emphasis on unconventional reserves, such as shale resource plays. As of December 31, 2011, it is pursuing the development of liquids-rich natural gas in the Marcellus Shale in the Appalachia area of West Virginia and, to a lesser extent, central and southwestern Pennsylvania. The Company also holds prospective acreage in the deep Bossier play in the Hilltop area of East Texas and conduct limited coal bed methane (CBM) development activities within the Powder River Basin of Wyoming and Montana. The Company is a holding company. Advisors' Opinion:

• [By David Smith]

  Earlier, the company had pocketed $75.2 million by selling to Gastar Exploration (NYSEMKT: GST  ) leasehold acreage in Oklahoma's Kingfisher and Canadian counties. It'll obviously require a passel of sales of that magnitude to shore up an overweight balance sheet.

Top 10 Life Sciences Companies To Watch For 2015: Sina Corporation(SINA)

SINA Corporation provides online media and mobile value-added services (MVAS) in the People?s Republic of China. It provides advertising, non-advertising, and free services through SINA.com, Weibo.com, and SINA Mobile. SINA.com offers free interest-based channels that provide region-focused format and content, including news, sports, automobile-related news, finance, entertainment, luxury, technology, digital, tools, collectibles, video, music, and wireless application protocol, as well as interactive platform for fashion-conscious users to share comments and ideas on a range of topics, such as health, cosmetics, and beauty. The company's microblogging platform, Weibo.com, enables its users to follow the hottest topics being discussed online, as well as discussions related to people they know. Weibo accounts consist of celebrities, commercial enterprises, government entities, and grass root Internet users. Its SINA Mobile service allows users to receive news and informatio n, download ring tones, mobile games and pictures, and participate in dating and friendship communities. The company also offers SINA Game, which serves as an interactive platform that provides users with downloads and gateway access to popular online games; SINA eReading, a shop for book reviews; SINA.net, an enterprise solutions platform to assist businesses and government bodies; and SINA Mall, an online shopping Website. In addition, it provides a platform for Chinese bloggers; photo-sharing platform; free email, VIP mail, and corporate email for enterprise users; audio and video-based instant messaging tools; proprietary search technology; and classified advertising services, as well as hosts topic-specific discussion forums in Chinese language; and creates user-maintained and supported online communities. The company has strategic cooperation agreement with China Unicom (Hong Kong) Limited. SINA Corporation was founded in 1997 and is headquartered in Shanghai, the Peop le?s Republic of China.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Lauren Pollock]

  Sina Corp.'s(SINA) third-quarter profit more than doubled, while the Chinese Internet company’s social-media platform, Weibo, continued to post revenue growth. Shares of Sina rose as the company’s third-quarter earnings and fourth-quarter revenue guidance surpassed Wall Street expectations.

Top 10 Life Sciences Companies To Watch For 2015: Ishares Msci Switzerland (EWL)

iShares MSCI Switzerland Index Fund (the Fund) seeks to provide investment results that correspond generally to the price and yield performance of publicly traded securities in the aggregate in the Swiss market, as measured by the MSCI Switzerland Index (the Index). The Index seeks to measure the performance of the Swiss equity market. The Index is a capitalization-weighted index that aims to capture 85% of the (publicly available) total market capitalization. Component companies are adjusted for available float and must meet objective criteria for inclusion in the Index. The Index is reviewed quarterly.

The Fund invests in a representative sample of securities included in the Index that collectively has an investment profile similar to the Index. The Fund�� investment advisor is Barclays Global Fund Advisors.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Carlton Delfeld]

  The iShares Switzerland (EWL) is a wonderful way to gain exposure to a basket of Switzerland's leading multinationals and has an expense ratio of only 0.59%. In addition, while a rising Swiss franc puts pricing pressure on Swiss exporters, a strong Swiss franc supercharges returns for investors in EWL.

Top 10 Life Sciences Companies To Watch For 2015: Equity Lifestyle Properties Inc. (ELS)

Equity LifeStyle Properties, Inc. is a publicly owned real estate investment trust (REIT). The firm engages in the ownership and operation of lifestyle oriented properties. Its portfolio of properties include various amenities and common facilities, such as a clubhouse, a swimming pool, laundry facilities, and cable television service, sauna/whirlpool spas, golf courses, tennis, shuffleboard and basketball courts, and exercise rooms. The firm leases developed sites to owners of manufactured homes referred to as resort homes, park models referred to as resort cottages, and recreational vehicles. It primarily invests in the markets of the United States. The firm primarily invests in land with lower maintenance costs and customer turnover costs, high quality real estate in and around major metropolitan areas, high barriers to entry, retirement and vacation destinations, growth markets, and appreciating component of real estate2. It was formerly known as Home Communities, Inc. The firm was founded in 1992 and is based in Chicago, Illinois with additional offices in Clearwater, Florida, Phoenix, Arizona, and Aurora, Colorado.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Rich Duprey]

  Real estate investment trust Equity Lifestyle Properties (NYSE: ELS  ) announced yesterday�that it's splitting its stock 2-for-1 on July 15 for holders of record on July 5.�

• [By Lawrence Meyers]

  I�� talking about manufactured home communities. In the case of Equity LifeStyle Properties (ELS), 70% are communities for those 55 years of age or older. It�� a great niche, and this REIT has grown into 370 communities and resorts in 32 states and British Columbia, which contain 140,000 actual sites. The properties certainly look nice on the company�� home page, and community living for seniors has taken on increased popularity over the past twenty years.

• [By John Udovich]

  Trailer parks may have a bad reputation, but Yahoo! Finance�� Breakout segment was recently touting trailer parks as a hot new investment area���meaning its time for retail investors who don�� want to invest in physical parks to start taking a closer look at trailer park stocks Equity Lifestyle Properties, Inc (NYSE: ELS), Sun Communities Inc (NYSE: SUI) and UMH Properties, Inc (NYSE: UMH). According to the segment, roughly 6% of Americans lived in trailer homes as of 2012 with the�supply of designated trailer parks being quite low because no one wants one in their backyard. Anthony Effinger, the author of another article about trailer parks for Bloomberg, was quoted as saying:

Top 10 Life Sciences Companies To Watch For 2015: Bonanza Creek Energy Inc (BCEI)

Bonanza Creek Energy, Inc., incorporated in December 2010, is an oil and natural gas company engaged in the acquisition, exploration, development and production of onshore oil and associated liquids-rich natural gas in the United States. The Company�� assets and operations were focused primarily in southern Arkansas (Mid-Continent region) and the Denver Julesburg (DJ) and North Park Basins in Colorado (Rocky Mountain region) during the year ended December 31, 2010. In addition, it owns and operates oil producing assets in the San Joaquin Basin (California region). It operated approximately 99.4% and held an average working interest of approximately 85.8% of its proved reserves as of December 31, 2010. As of December 31, 2010, its net proved reserves was 32,860 million barrels of oil equivalent (MBoe).

The Company�� proved reserves and its drilling locations in its Mid-Continent acreage are located in the Dorcheat Macedonia field and the McKamie Patton field. In the Dorcheat Macedonia field the Company averages a 83.3% working interest and 68.5% net revenue interest, and all of the Company�� acreage is held by production. It had approximately 78 gross (65.0 net) producing wells and its average net daily production during April 2011, was approximately 1,249 barrels of oil equivalent per day (Boe/d) from a proved reserves base of 15,247 million barrels of oil equivalent, of which about 64.5% was oil and natural gas liquids. As of April 30, 2011, the Company had drilled 13 gross (10.2 net) wells. Immediately northwest of the Dorcheat Macedonia field, it owns and operates the McKamie gas processing facility, which processes all of the gas from the field. It owns additional interests in the Mid-Continent region near the Dorcheat Macedonia field. These include interests in the McKamie-Patton, Atlanta and Beach Creek fields. Its estimated proved reserves in these fields as of December 31, 2010, were approximately 1,947.8 million barrels of oil equivalent, and average net daily production du! ring April 2011, was approximately 239 barrels of oil equivalent per day.

The McKamie processing facility is located in Lafayette County, Arkansas and is located to serve its production in the region. The Company�� facility has a processing capacity of 15 million cubic feet per day (MMcf/d) of natural gas and 30,000 gallons per day of natural gas liquids. The facility processes natural gas and natural gas liquids, fractionates liquids into three components for sale, and sells four products at the facility's tailgate: propane, butane, natural gasolines and natural gas. It also owns approximately 150 miles of natural gas gathering pipeline that serves the facility and surrounding field areas and 32 miles of right-of-way crossing Lafayette County that can be utilized to connect the facility to other gas fields or future sales outlets. Natural gas is sold at the tailgate of the facility into a CenterPoint pipeline connection. Fractionated natural gas liquids are held on site and trucked out by the buyer, Dufour Petroleum. The McKamie processing facility had an average net output of 749 barrels of oil equivalent per day based on the facility contracts in April, 2011.

The two main areas in which the Company operates in the Rocky Mountain region include the DJ Basin in Weld County, Colorado and the North Park Basin in Jackson County, Colorado. The DJ Basin is a structural basin centered in eastern Colorado that extends into southeast Wyoming, western Nebraska, and western Kansas. Its operations in the DJ Basin are in the oil window of the Niobrara and as of December 31, 2010, consisted of approximately 42,698 gross (29,742 net) total acres. The Company�� estimated proved reserves in the DJ Basin were 8,402 million barrels of oil equivalent at December 31, 2010. As of April 30, 2011, it had a total of 141 gross (133.6 net) producing wells and its net average daily production during April 2011, was approximately 1,124 barrels of oil equivalent per day. The Company�� working inter! est for a! ll producing wells averages is 94.8% and its net revenue interest was approximately 76.5% in 2010. The Codell sandstone and Niobrara oil shale are blanket deposits in the DJ Basin.

The Company controls 47,003 gross (39,030 net) acres in the North Park Basin in northern Jackson County, Colorado. The Basin is divided into three principal opportunities: the North and South McCallum units and the non-unit acreage. The Company operates the North and South McCallum fields. The McCallum field covers 10,277 gross (8,606 net) acres of federal land with the majority of the oil production coming from a waterflood in the Pierre B formation and the carbon dioxide production coming from naturally flowing Dakota wells. Oil production is trucked to the market while carbon dioxide production is sent to a Praxair plant for processing and delivery to the market. In the North Park Basin, its estimated proved reserves as of December 31, 2010, were approximately 696.1 million barrels of oil equivalent, of which 100% were oil. Its average net production during April 2011, was approximately 140 barrels of oil equivalent per day. All of the Company�� 47,003 gross (39,030 net) acres in the North Park Basin are prospective for the Niobrara oil shale.

In California the Company owns acreage in four fields: Kern River, Midway Sunset and Greeley, which the Company operates, and Sargent, which it does not. Its estimated proved reserves in California were 886 million barrels of oil equivalent at December 31, 2010. As of April 30, 2011, we had a total of 57 gross (48.7 net) producing wells and its average net daily production was approximately 218 barrels of oil equivalent per day. Its working interest for all producing wells averages 85.4% and its net revenue interest is approximately 71.9%. As of December 31, 2010, it had identified approximately 18 gross (13.6 net) PUD locations in California.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Robert Rapier] For those who are unaware, each month there is a joint web chat for subscribers of The Energy Strategist (TES) and MLP Profits. The chat is conducted by Igor Greenwald, managing editor for TES and chief investment strategist for MLP Profits, and myself. This month’s chat took place on Sept. 10.
  
  We place a priority on answering questions about portfolio holdings and recommendations during the chat, but often we get questions about companies we don’t currently recommend. Or, we sometimes get questions or comments about a company that require an extended answer. In these cases we push those questions to the end, and attempt to answer them if time allows. For this past chat there were several questions remaining at the end, which I will address here today. For each company, a brief background is presented for readers who may not be familiar with the company.
  
  Q: What is your view of BCEI at the present price?
  
  Bonanza Creek Energy (NYSE: BCEI) is a Denver-based oil and gas company with operations in Colorado and southern Arkansas. While the Bakken Formation in North Dakota and the Eagle Ford Shale in Texas get more press, oil and gas plays in the Denver-Julesburg Basin have helped turn Colorado into one of the fastest growing energy producing states in the country and the fastest growing oil producer in the Rocky Mountains. Since 2008 oil production in Colorado has risen by an impressive 63 percent to a 50-year high.
  
  BCEI is well-positioned with acreage in the Wattenberg Gas Field north of Denver. The field is one of the largest natural gas plays in the US. Wattenberg represents 60 percent of BCEI’s proved reserves, with 59 percent of those reserves classified as liquid. Of the company’s remaining reserves, 39 percent are located in the oil-bearing Cotton Valley Sands in Southern Arkansas (68 percent liquids) and 1 percent in Colorado’s North Park Basin (100 percent liquids).
  
  BCEI has grown reserves at a 45

Top 10 Life Sciences Companies To Watch For 2015: FactSet Research Systems Inc. (FDS)

FactSet Research Systems Inc. provides financial and economic information to investment community worldwide. FactSet offers fundamental financial data on various companies, analytical applications, and client services to the portfolio managers, research and performance analysts, risk managers, marketing professionals, sell-side equity research professionals, investment bankers, and fixed income professionals. The company?s applications provide users access to company analysis, multicompany comparisons, industry analysis, company screening, portfolio analysis, predictive risk measurements, alphatesting, portfolio optimization and simulation, news and quotes, and tools to value and analyze fixed income securities and portfolios. FactSet combines commercial databases, including content regarding companies and securities from various markets into a single online platform of information and analytics. The company?s solutions for investment management professionals include analy zing market, sector, and fundamental series; offering applications for portfolio attribution, risk management, and quantitative analysis; building quant models and calculating risk; analyzing the nuances of the debt-driven market; viewing event transcripts and corporate event calendars; researching and analyzing companies, benchmarks, debt instruments, and economic series; integrating the client?s own data, such as portfolio holdings and research notes; and creating reports and presentations. FactSet?s solutions for investment banking professionals comprise creating models and presentations; tracking market performance and headlines; providing deal analytic and corporate governance servies; researching on public and private companies; auditing financials underlying SEC filings and annual reports; and providing access to reports via wireless handheld device. The company was founded in 1978 and is headquartered in Norwalk, Connecticut.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Shauna O'Brien]

  Shares of financial research company FactSet Research Systems Inc. (FDS) were down on Tuesday morning after the company reported quarterly earnings below analysts’ views.�

  FDS Earnings in Brief

  FDS reported Q2 earnings of�$52.43 million, or $1.22 per share, up from $44.54 million, or $1.00 per share, a year ago. Excluding special items, earnings were�$52.43 million, or $1.22 per share, �up from $49.28 million, or $1.11, per share last year, but below analysts’ estimate of $1.21 per share. Revenue for the quarter rose to $226.93 million from $213.08 million last year. Analysts expected revenue of�$226.36 million. Looking forward, FDS expects Q2 earnings to be between�$1.24 and$1.26 per share, while analysts expect to see $1.26 per share. The company expects revenue to be between�$229 million and $233 million, while analysts are estimating�$228.70 million.

  CEO Commentary

  Chairman and CEO Philip Hadley commented:�”Our second quarter results reflect an improving buy-side client base, and include acquiring the remaining 40% interest in Matrix. I’m pleased to see that our net client growth in the past three months was the highest quarterly total since 2006 and buy-side users grew at a level we’ve not seen since 2004.”

  FDS Dividend

  FDS paid its last quarterly dividend of 35 cents on March 18. We expect the company to declare its next dividend sometime in May. It is likely that shareholders will see an increased dividend next quarter.

  Stock Performance�

  FactSet shares were down $2.54, or 2.43%, during pre-market trading Tuesday. The stock is down 4% YTD.

Top 10 Life Sciences Companies To Watch For 2015: Tremor Video Inc (TRMR)

Tremor Video, Inc.( Tremor Video), incorporated on November 22, 2005, is a provider of technology-driven video advertising solutions enabling brand advertisers to engage consumers across multiple Internet-connected devices, including computers, smartphones, tablets and connected televisions. The Company�� clients include brand advertisers globally, including automakers and consumer packaged goods companies. The Company�� technology, VideoHub, analyzes in-stream video content, detects viewer and system attributes, and leverages its repository of stored data to optimize video ad campaigns for brand-centric metrics. VideoHub also provides advertisers and agencies with analytics and measurement tools enabling them to understand why, when and where viewers engage with their video ads.

VideoHub

VideoHub powers the Company�� video advertising solutions. Through VideoHub it delivers brand-centric key performance indicators, distinct signals to drive optimization, brand-centric optimization, in-stream video analysis and categorization, ad performance transparency, ad placement transparency, and cross site and channel measurement.

The Company has a range of brand-centric key performance indicators (KPIs), such as engagement (that is, the interaction of a viewer with a video ad), brand lift (that is, a positive shift in preference towards a brand or branded product driven by exposure to a video ad and brand education), and time spent (that is, the amount of time a viewer spends with a video ad), which are tailored to the needs of brand advertisers. Throughout a campaign VideoHub analyzes and stores data for all KPIs in its suite. Using a training algorithm, VideoHub trains a series of statistical predictive models to build a decision tree, which predicts performance of the video ad campaign for the chosen KPI.

VideoHub performs an analysis on every video stream and categorizes it among one of approximately 72 video content categories. It also has the ab! ility to scan and categorize content by analyzing the audio track and certain visual elements. VideoHub offers advertisers transparency into the workings of its decision tree. VideoHub tracks the number of impressions served to a specific publisher site and whether a video ad placement is fully, partially or not visible to a viewer, which it refer to as viewability.

The Company�� metric, eQ score+, allows advertisers to compare video inventory quality across different publisher sites by measuring attributes such as viewability, the size of the video player and ad completion rate. When coupled with pricing information, these insights help advertisers compare the relative value of video inventory across publishers.

Tremor Video Network

The Tremor Video Network offers advertisers access to video inventory at scale across multiple devices in brand safe environments. Through the Tremor Video Network it delivers scale and reach across multiple devices, premium video content, brand safety, in-stream video focus, advanced ad formats, and pricing models. The Tremor Video Network delivers scale and reach across multiple Internet-connected devices, including computers, smartphones, tablets and connected television, enabling its clients to use its solutions to address their online video advertising needs across these devices.

The Company�� technology scans and categorizes every video within the Tremor Video Network and prevents video ads from being served within content, which is identified as objectionable for the brand advertiser, including content which contains accidents, distasteful or obscene language, substance abuse, violence, gambling, sex or crime. It specializes in delivering in-stream video advertisements, which can be served to viewers prior to or during the publisher's content when they are the most engaged.

The Company�� ad formats include Super Pre-Roll, Pre-Roll Plus and Pre-Roll Extended Play. The Company offers brand perform! ance-base! d pricing models for in-stream video advertisements, which are tied to the effectiveness of the Tremor Video Network, as advertisers using these models pay the Company only if their video ad campaigns perform.

VideoHub for Advertisers (VHA)

The Company is licensing VHA, a software platform, which client access through a Web portal. By licensing VHA, advertisers and their agencies can use VHA across the entirety of their video ad buys, including on publisher sites. In order to analyze video ad campaigns running outside the Tremor Video Network, VideoHub generates a tracking code which is associated with the video ad unit that the advertiser or agency wishes to analyze through VHA. Advertisers and agencies can then access VideoHub's advanced analysis of this data through VHA in order to gain valuable insights into campaign performance, including the performance of the campaign on a particular publisher's site.

The Company competes with Hulu, LLC, Google Inc., BrightRoll, Inc., YuMe, Inc., CBS, CNN, ESPN, Adap.tv, Inc., Videology, Inc., Facebook, Inc., Microsoft Corporation, Yahoo! Inc. and Adobe Systems Incorporated.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By John Udovich]

  Yesterday, small cap advertising solutions stock�Rocket Fuel Inc (NASDAQ: FUEL) jumped 13.55% while peer Tremor Video Inc (NYSE: TRMR) rose 8.24%. So what is going on with these two small caps and which one might be the better deal?