Top 5 Healthcare Equipment Companies To Watch For 2015

So now we know what lies beneath the recent Bulgarian bank runs. Fraud.

The Bulgaria National Bank (BNB) has conducted an audit on the books of both CorpBank and its recently-acquired Credit Agricole Credit Agricole-Bulgaria subsidiary. According to BNB the subsidiary is sound, but CorpBank itself is anything but:

Findings of the Corporate Commercial Bank audit are, speaking mildly, actions incompatible with the law and best banking practices. Missing, and most likely to have been destroyed in the days before conservatorship, is a material credit record of a credit portfolio amounted to 3.5 billion lev out of a 5.4 billion lev total loan portfolio. A significant part of this portfolio shows a very high connectivity between debtors and majority shareholder Mr. Tsvetan Vassilev.

As a result of lack of information, the auditors express an opinion that they cannot evaluate the financial condition of the debtors��ability to service their loans. The availability and quality of collateral also cannot be evaluated, which in turn makes it impossible to draw a final conclusion on the status of the loan portfolio amounting to 3.5 billion lev. Unfortunately, these actions cannot be registered with the tools of off-site bank supervision and are suggestive of intentional abuse.

Best Oil Companies To Invest In 2016: Urban Outfitters Inc.(URBN)

Urban Outfitters Inc. operates lifestyle specialty retail stores under the Urban Outfitters, Anthropologie, Free People, Terrain, and BHLDN brand names in the United States, Canada, and Europe. Its Urban Outfitters stores sell women?s and men?s fashion apparel, footwear, accessories, and gifts, as well as apartment wares, such as rugs, pillows, shower curtains, books, candles, and novelties to young adults aged 18 to 28; and Anthropologie stores provide women?s casual apparel and accessories, shoes, gifts, and decorative items, as well as home furnishings, including furniture, rugs, lighting, antiques, table top items, and bedding to women aged 28 to 45. The company?s Free People stores primarily offer Free People branded merchandise mix of casual women?s apparel, intimates, shoes, accessories, and gifts to young contemporary women aged 25 to 30; Terrain store provides lifestyle home and garden products, antiques, live plants, flowers, wellness products, and accessori es, as well as landscape and design service solutions; and BHLDN store offers a range of weeding collections consisting of wedding gowns, bridesmaid frocks, party dresses, assorted jewelry, headpieces, footwear, lingerie, and decorations. As of January 31, 2012, it operated 197 Urban Outfitters stores, 168 Anthropologie stores, 62 Free People stores, 1 Terrain garden center, and 1 BHLDN store. The company also operates a wholesale business under the Free People brand name that distributes apparel to other retailers and department stores in the United States. In addition, it markets its brands directly to consumers through its e-commerce Websites, including urbanoutfitters.com, anthropologie.com, freepeople.com, urbanoutfitters.co.uk, urbanoutfitters.de, urbanoutfitters.fr, anthropologie.eu, shopterrain.com, and bhldn.com, as well as through its Urban Outfitters, Anthropologie, and Free People catalogs. The company was founded in 1970 and is based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvani a.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By WWW.DAILYFINANCE.COM]

  Kevin Britland/Alamy There were plenty of winners and losers this week, with the world's largest software company making a major gaming acquisition and one mall retailer once again turning to notoriety to draw attention. Here's a rundown of the week's smartest moves and biggest blunders. Netflix (NFLX) -- Winner Netflix took the next step in its global invasion by launching its service in France, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Belgium and Luxembourg this week. These will be competitive markets in Old World territories that are protective of their homegrown talent, but it's important for Netflix to keep stamping its passport by pushing into new countries. Netflix is also beefing up its catalog of original content. This week it struck a deal to carry two seasons of a new show that Judd Apatow co-created and wrote. The initial 10-episode season of "Love" won't be made available until 2016. The 12-episode second season will follow in 2017. However, it's one more reason that Netflix should be able to retain its growing subscriber base. Urban Outfitters (URBN) -- Loser The edgy mall retailer has gone too far again. Urban Outfitters took down the product page for a vintage Kent State University sweatshirt that it was selling online on Monday. It featured splattered red splotches that make it seem as if they are blood stains. Obviously this will hit too close to home to anyone who remembers the tragic 1970 massacre at Kent State. Urban Outfitters knew what it was doing. It had priced the sweatshirt at $129, claiming that only one was available. Urban Outfitters has left the public shaking its head at some of its edgier decisions, which have included an outfit that mocks depression and shirts that read "Eat less" and "Jesus, I'm drunk." This one seems to have outdone those earlier stunts in its pursuit for negative publicity. Microsoft (MSFT) -- Winner Microsoft is a company that has never shied away from 10-figure acquisitions, and it's at it again with the $2.

• [By Laura Brodbeck]

  Monday

  Earnings Releases Expected: Urban Outfitters, Inc. (NASDAQ: URBN), United Natural Foods, Inc (NASDAQ: UNFI), Hill International, Inc. (NYSE: HIL) Economic Releases Expected: �Spanish CPI, Italian industrial production, eurozone investor confidence

  Tuesday

• [By Alyce Lomax]

  All in the family
  For several years, activist shareholders have pushed for board diversity at Urban Outfitters (NASDAQ: URBN  ) . Although the retailer caters to a heck of a lot of female customers, not one woman has served on the company's board of directors.

• [By Ben Levisohn]

  The next time you set foot into your nearest Urban Outfitters (URBN), Anthropologie or Free People, don�� expect to find the abundance of clothing you��e gotten used to��he company announced it has chosen to chuck apparel and ��tuff��will reign supreme.

  At its analyst day last week, management rolled out plans for growth that include reducing the amount of clothing it sells and upping its stake in non-clothing merchandise.

  Credit Suisse analyst Christian Buss weighed remains cautious even as he calls Urban Outfitters��moves as a step in the right direction. He writes:

  The team laid out the next phase of its growth strategy, which boils down to: 1) Expansion of the product line into new categories; 2) Dramatically expanding existing stores in key 25-50 locations; and 3) Extending the company’s lead in eCommerce. These first two strategies raise a number of questions about the company’s long-term margin profile and return on invested capital. While we are ultimately more cautious on the three to five year outlook as a result, we believe that the outlook for earnings power in the short-term (two-three years) is likely to be enhanced, not diluted as accretive new categories are added to the mix.

  eCommerce, however, is one strength that sets Urban Outfitters apart from its competition, Buss says:

  We view Urban Outfitters as one of the leading retailers in the United States with respect to their eCommerce strategy, with penetration higher than that of any major specialty retailer, and the company shifting investments into margin-accretive emphasis on conversion. To this end, the company is looking to find ways to improve their capabilities by unifying store and online inventories. This unified inventory approach should allow the company to improve in-stock rates, reduce the working capital drag from having unproductive pools of restocking inventory and misalignment of store inventories with demand. This ef

Top 5 Healthcare Equipment Companies To Watch For 2015: CPFL Energia SA (CPFE3)

CPFL Energia SA is Brazil-based holding company engaged in the distribution, generation and commercialization of electric energy in Brazil. The Company is involved in the generation of electric energy through hydroelectric plants, small hydropower plants and thermoelectric power stations. Through eight distribution subsidiaries, as of December 31, 2011, it served 559 municipalities and distributed electrical energy to approximately 6.9 million clients in Brazilian states of Sao Paulo, Rio Grande do Sul, Parana and Minas Gerais. As of December 31, 2011, the Company had a number of subsidiaries, such as Companhia Paulista de Forca e Luz, Rio Grande Energia SA, CPFL Geracao de Energia SA, CPFL Comercializacao Brasil SA and CPFL Jaguariuna SA, among others. Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Patricia Lara]

  Tractebel leapfrogged Cia. Energetica de Minas Gerais, CPFL Energia SA (CPFE3) and Centrais Eletricas Brasileiras SA (ELET6) in the fourth quarter to become the biggest utility after sidestepping pressure to cut rates because its contracts don�� expire for at least 14 years. Florianopolis, Brazil-based Tractebel has gained 11 percent in the past year, less than Sabesp�� 36 percent rally, which is the most of any utility on the Bovespa index.

Top 5 Healthcare Equipment Companies To Watch For 2015: Oil States International Inc.(OIS)

Oil States International, Inc., through its subsidiaries, provides specialty products and services to the oil and gas drilling and production companies worldwide. It operates in four segments: Accommodations, Offshore Products, Well Site Services, and Tubular Services. The Accommodations segment offers temporary and permanent work force accommodation services for people working in remote locations. The Offshore Products segment designs and manufactures flexible bearings and connector products; sub sea pipeline products; marine winches, mooring systems, and cranes and rig equipment; and conductor casing connections and pipes, as well as provides blowout preventer stack assembly, integration, testing, and repair services; and drilling riser and related repair services. The Well Site Services segment offers a range of products and services that are used to drill for, and establish and maintain the flow of oil and gas from a well throughout its lifecycle. This segment engages in the rental of wireline and coiled tubing pressure control equipment; wellhead isolation equipment; pipe recovery systems; thru-tubing fishing services; hydraulic chokes and manifolds; blow out preventers; well testing and flowback equipment; gravel pack operations on well bores; and surface control equipment and down-hole tools utilized by coiled tubing operators. This segment also provides land drilling services. The Tubular Services segment distributes a range of casing and tubing products; and offers threading, logistical, and inventory management services. The company serves national oil companies, independent oil and gas companies, onshore and offshore drilling companies, and other oilfield service and mining companies. Oil States International, Inc. was founded in 1995 and is based in Houston, Texas.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Johanna Bennett]

  Civeo�� share price was already under severe pressure before the profit warning. The shares hit a previous 52-week low of $6.81 on Dec. 17, a fall of more than 75% since it hit a high in June following its spinoff from Oil States International (OIS).

• [By Michael J. Carr]

  Einhorn selects investments with a traditional value approach, although he may not be as patient as a typical value investor. Einhorn took Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL) to court in an effort to force the company to return cash to shareholders, and more recently challenged Oil States International (NYSE: OIS) to unlock shareholder value.

• [By Holly LaFon]

  Another area that is intriguing to us is the North American energy sector which looks to have a number of interesting catalysts currently. While the energy sector is at present only a modest overweight in the portfolios, we have been encouraged by several trends taking place for a number of years. These positive developments are also having an impact that goes far beyond the energy sector itself. Many believe that the U.S. will become energy independent and possibly a net exporter of natural gas and oil (currently restricted by law) in the next decade. This opinion is based primarily on the development of new drilling techniques (i.e. horizontal drilling, and high pressure fracking) that have enabled companies to access oil and natural gas reserves in shale formations that were previously not economically viable. The ability to tap into this acreage is a game-changer in our view and is already having a tremendous impact on the economy. Employment rates in these mostly rural areas surrounding the shale basins are very high and companies thus find hiring extremely competitive. Strong labor markets tend to create strong local economies. Oil States International (OIS) has been able to capitalize on this trend by providing housing and other services to oil service workers that are in demand in the area. CST Brands (CST) operates gas stations in Texas, but it is increasingly looking to broaden its product offering beyond fuel. Rail companies like Union Pacific (UNP), Canadian Pacific (CP), Kansas City Southern (KSU) and Genesee and Wyoming (GWR) have also benefited substantially. Given that shale areas are rural and often lacking infrastructure, substantial investment must be made to support drilling and production activities. Without pipelines in place, railroads have been the primary takeaway mechanism for moving production to the various clusters of refining capacity around the United States. In order to serve this demand, massive investment in railcars has been nee

Top 5 Healthcare Equipment Companies To Watch For 2015: FARO Technologies Inc.(FARO)

FARO Technologies, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, designs, develops, manufactures, markets, and supports software-based three-dimensional measurement and imaging systems for manufacturing, industrial, building construction, and forensic applications. The company?s articulated electromechanical measuring devices include FaroArm, a combination of six or seven-axis, instrumented articulated measurement arm, a computer, and CAM2 software programs; FARO Laser ScanArm, a FaroArm equipped with a combination of a hard probe and non-contact line laser probe to measure products without touching them and offers a seven-axis contact/non-contact measurement device with an integrated laser scanner; and FARO Gage, an accuracy version of the FaroArm product. Its laser-based measuring devices comprise FARO Laser Tracker ION that combines a laser measurement tool, a computer, and CAM2 software programs; FARO Focus3D to measure and collect data points; and FARO 3D Imager AMP, a non-c ontact 3D Imager capable of collecting millions of points to generate infinitely-focused fringe patterns. The company also provides CAM2 Software, a proprietary CAD-based measurement and statistical process control software comprising CAM2 Q, CAM2 Measure X, Soft Check Tool, FARO Gage Software, and FARO Focus3D Software. In addition, it offers extended warranties, as well as support, training, and technology consulting services. The company sells its products through direct sales and distributors. It serves the automobile, aerospace, and heavy equipment markets, as well as law enforcement agencies in the Americas, Europe, Africa, and the Asia Pacific. FARO Technologies, Inc. was founded in 1981 and is headquartered in Lake Mary, Florida.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Alex Planes]

  What: Shares of FARO Technologies (NASDAQ: FARO  ) are down over 11% today after the company reported underwhelming earnings for the fiscal first quarter.

• [By John Udovich]

  Yesterday, shares of small cap 3D stock FARO Technologies, Inc (NASDAQ: FARO) fell 4.77% to $40.54 after Needham & Company downgraded the stock from Buy to Hold and said that a recovery appears priced into the stock already���meaning it might be time to take a closer look at the stock and whether it still offers something to existing or new investors.

• [By James E. Brumley]

  With a market cap of only $1.0 billion, FARO Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ:FARO) may not be able to make as much noise as bigger industry peers like FLIR Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:FLIR) or Teledyne Technologies Incorporated (NYSE:TDY). On the other hand, opportunity is all relative, and right now, FARO may offer new investors a better opportunity than TDY and FLIR can.