Tuesday, January 6, 2015

Top 10 Low Price Companies To Own In Right Now

The most recent data coming out of the Eagle Ford shale play in South Texas indicates record-breaking production. This data is from February, and by all accounts, records will continue to be broken as we continue to get updated numbers. The result is that there are many, many companies hitting it big in the Eagle Ford. In this video, Fool.com contributor Aimee Duffy looks at all the different opportunities investors have in South Texas.

The growing production of natural gas from hydraulic fracturing and horizontal drilling is flooding the North American market and resulting in record-low prices for natural gas. Enterprise Products Partners, with its superior integrated asset base, can profit from the massive bottlenecks in takeaway capacity by taking on large-scale projects. To help investors decide whether Enterprise Products Partners is a buy or a sell today, click here now to check out The Motley Fool's brand new premium research report on the company.

Top 10 Biotech Companies To Invest In Right Now: UnitedHealth Group Incorporated(UNH)

UnitedHealth Group Incorporated provides healthcare services in the United States. Its Health Benefits segment offers consumer-oriented health benefit plans and services to national employers, public sector employers, mid-sized employers, small businesses, and individuals; and non-employer based insurance options for purchase by individuals. It also provides health and well-being services for individuals aged 50 and older; and for services dealing with chronic disease and other specialized issues for older individuals, as well as health plans for the beneficiaries of acute and long-term care Medicaid plans. This segment offers its services through a network of 730,000 physicians and other health care professionals, and 5,300 hospitals. Its OptumHealth segment provides health, financial, and ancillary services and products that assist consumers through personalized health management solutions; benefit administration, and clinical and network management; health-based financi al services; behavioral solutions; and specialty benefits, such as dental, vision, life, critical illness, short-term disability, and stop-loss product offerings. The company?s Ingenix segment offers database and data management services, software products, publications, consulting and actuarial services, business process outsourcing services, and pharmaceutical data consulting and research services. Its Prescription Solutions segment provides integrated pharmacy benefit management services comprising retail network pharmacy contracting and management, claims processing, mail order pharmacy services, specialty pharmacy, benefit design consultation, rebate contracting and management, drug utilization review, formulary management programs, disease therapy management, and adherence programs to employer groups, union trusts, managed care organizations, Medicare-contracted plans, Medicaid plans, and third party administrators. The company was founded in 1974 and is based in Minne tonka, Minnesota.

Advisors' Opinion:
  • [By Ben Levisohn]

    The Jones Industrials rose 0.6% to 16,064.77, a record high, while the S&P 500 gained 0.4% to 1.804.76, also an all-time high. Big Dow winners this week include JPMorgan Chase (JPM), which rose 4.7% this week after agreeing to a $13 billion settlement with the government, Chevron (CVX), which gained 3.3% to $124.03 after it suspended a North Sea oil project, and United Health Group (UNH), which advanced 2.6% to $73.74. In the S&P 500, Biogen Idec (BIIB) rose 17% to $285.62 after the European Union protected one of its drugs from competition and Tyson Foods (TSN), finished up 11% at $31.82 after reporting surprisingly good earnings.

Top 10 Low Price Companies To Own In Right Now: KongZhong Corp (HOA)

KongZhong Corporation, incorporated on May 6, 2002, is a provider of digital entertainment services for consumers in the People�� Republic of China. The Company operates in three main business units: Wireless Value-Added Services (WVAS), mobile games and Internet games. In addition to developing and operating its self-developed Internet games, such as Loong, Demon Code and Kung Fu Hero, it is an operator of the World of Tanks game for the People�� Republic of China Internet games market. In addition, it is also the licensee in the People�� Republic of China for the Guild Wars 2 game developed by ArenaNet, Offensive Combat game developed by U4iA Games and Hawken game developed by Meteor Entertainment.

The Company conducts substantially all of its business in the People�� Republic of China through its wholly owned subsidiaries KongZhong Beijing, KongZhong China and Simlife Beijing. It operates WVAS, mobile games and Internet games through Beijing AirInbox, Beijing WINT, Beijing Chengxitong, BJXR, Mailifang, Xinreli and Dacheng, all of which are based in the People�� Republic of China.

Wireless Value-Added Services (WVAS) Business

The Company provides interactive entertainment, media and other interactive services to mobile phone users in China through various second generation (2G) standard, technology platforms, including short message services (SMS), Interactive Voice Response services (IVR) and color ring back tone (CRBT), and through various second and a half generation standard (2.5G), technology and operating platforms, including wireless application protocol (WAP) and multimedia messaging services (MMS), which offer graphics, richer content and more interactivity than 2G wireless services. Its WVAS are tailored to the technical or other requirements of its telecommunications operator partners, through whom it deliver most of its WVAS, and to various billing systems for WVAS. Its WVAS are also delivered and marketed through various media partners, i! ncluding handset manufacturers, television stations, radio stations, print media and Internet sites. Its WVAS revenues accounted for 41.7% of its total revenues during the year ended December 31, 2012.

The Company offers a variety of WVAS, such as mobile games, pictures, karaoke, electronic books, mobile phone personalization features, entertainment news, chat and message boards. It provides its services mainly pursuant to its cooperation arrangements with the telecommunications operators and their provincial subsidiaries, the terms of which are generally for one year or less.

Mobile Games Business

The Company is a developer and publisher of mobile games for mobile phone users in the People�� Republic of China (PRC). The mobile games it develops include action, role-playing and leisure games. During 2012, it acquired Noumena, a developer of cross-platform smartphone mobile game engines.

Internet Games Business

The Company develops Internet games internally based mainly on its technologies, which include its game engine (Dazzler three dimension (3D)), game development platforms and online game billing system, all developed by its internal team. In particular, its Dazzler 3D game engine enables the Company to create 3D graphics and visual effects, and provides the technical foundation for creating features in its games. Its game development platforms give the Company the capacity to develop Internet games within approximately six to 24 months and to update Its Internet games frequently in response to players��preferences.

The Company uses an item-based revenue model for its games, whether internally developed or licensed, under which players can play its games on the Internet free of charge, but have to pay for purchases of in-game virtual items, such as in-game currencies, performance-enhancing clothing, weapons, accessories and pets. It distributes its electronic prepaid game cards and game points, which can be used to pur! chase in-! game virtual items, to players through multiple payment channels.

The Company competes with Sina Corporation, Sohu.com Inc., TOM Online Inc., Phoenix New Media Limited, Wireless Arts, Perfect World Co. Ltd, Shanda Interactive Entertainment Limited, Netease.com, Inc., Changyou.com Limited, Giant Interactive Group Inc. and Tencent Holdings Limited.

Advisors' Opinion:
  • [By Konrad Kuhn]

    The company also has a minority interest in the privately-held Hooters of America (HOA), the operator and franchisor of over 430 Hooters restaurants; HOTR's CEO Mike Pruitt is a member of the HOA Board of Directors.

Top 10 Low Price Companies To Own In Right Now: Rutter Inc (RUT)

Rutter Inc. (Rutter) focuses on providing technologies and manufacturing solutions. The Company supplies technologies to improve efficiency and safety in the marine, defense, transportation, oil and gas sectors. The Company produces and globally markets enhanced radar systems, including oil spill detection, ice navigator, small target detection and wave-monitoring systems. The Company also offers a full range of outsource manufacturing services including: product engineering and design; materials management; manufacturing; sub-assembly; systems integration; project management; testing; logistics and documentation and provides full cycle customer support for all Company products and selected third party components/products that it manufactures under contract. Rutter�� sigma S6 radar signal processing products are designed to enable end users to detect and track objects which would not be visible with conventional radar equipment only. Advisors' Opinion:
  • [By Mark Hulbert]

    Fosback nevertheless favors the microcap category for the seasonal portfolio he recommends to clients, though not by buying and selling individual stocks. Instead, he prefers the iShares Micro-Cap ETF (IWC) �, with an expense ratio of 0.72%. The fund replicates the performance of the smallest 1,000 stocks in the Russell 2000 Index (RUT) �; the average market cap of the stocks it owns is $420 million.

Top 10 Low Price Companies To Own In Right Now: Tanger Factory Outlet Centers Inc.(SKT)

Tanger Factory Outlet Centers, Inc. operates as a real estate investment trust (REIT). The company, through its subsidiary, Tanger Properties Limited Partnership, engages in acquiring, developing, owning, operating, and managing factory outlet shopping centers. As of September 30, 2005, Tanger owned and operated 33 factory outlet centers in 22 states totaling 8.7 million square feet of gross leasable area. It also provides development, leasing, and management services for its outlet centers. The company has elected to be taxed as a REIT under the Internal Revenue Code. As a REIT, it would not be subject to Federal income taxes provided it distributes at least 90% of its taxable income to its shareholders. Tanger Factory Outlet Centers was founded by Stanley K. Tanger in 1981. The company is headquartered in Greensboro, North Carolina.

Advisors' Opinion:
  • [By Shauna O'Brien]

    Jefferies announced on Wednesday that it has cut its rating on Tanger Factory Outlet Centers Inc. (SKT).

    The firm has downgraded SKT from “Buy” to “Hold,” and has lowered the company’s price target from $40 to $35. This price target suggests an 8% upside from the stock’s current price of $32.22.

    Analyst Omotayo Okusanya commented: “We expect near-term headwinds for the mall and outlet mall segment as tenant sales growth appears to be slowing.”

    “At SKT, development yields on two projects have also been reduced. Further, rising interest rates negatively impact our DDM-derived PT. Our lowered PT of $35 represents a 10% total return over the next-twelve-months (NTM); we are downgrading to Hold,” added the analyst.

    Tanger Factory Outlet shares were mostly flat during pre-market trading Wednesday. The stock is up more than 5% YTD.

  • [By U.S. News]

    Linda Davidson/The Washington Post via Getty ImagesShoppers at the Tanger Outlet Mall in Oxon Hill, Md. There are few forms of shopping I enjoy more than outlet shopping. There is something about all of those discount stores packed so closely together that makes me super excited! But I am not going to tell you that all outlet stores are a good deal, because some of them are not. Also, brands sometimes create cheaper items to sell specifically in their outlet locations, and those are not always a smart buy. But for the most part, outlet malls are still an excellent way to save some money while picking up items for the entire family. Here are five ways to make the most of your trip to an outlet: 1. Figure out the outlet 'brand.' There are a couple of management companies that own quite a few outlet malls in the United States, including Premium Outlets (SPG) and Tanger Factory Outlet Centers (SKT). Before heading out, be sure to check the website for the entire outlet mall for any possible deals or coupons. Premium and Tanger Outlets also have Facebook (FB) pages where they will occasionally post coupons that you can print from home. 2. Look for an outlet discount card or VIP program. Many outlet malls have VIP savings programs that can save you big bucks throughout the year and also give you special access to new promotions and sales. The Fashion Outlets of Chicago opened last year and offer a Green Savings Card that costs $5 for a yearly membership. Those with a Green Savings Card receive extra discounts at a huge number of stores and restaurants in the mall, which is on top of the already low prices. 3. 'Like' the outlet store on Facebook. If there is an outlet store that you frequent, go ahead and like its Facebook page so that you will be one of the first to know about sales and promotions. The Kate Spade Outlet (KATE) will frequently post promotions to Facebook before emailing subscribers. The J. Crew Factory Store has offered special promotions th

Top 10 Low Price Companies To Own In Right Now: Nustar Energy L.P.(NS)

NuStar Energy L.P. engages in the terminalling, storage, and transportation of petroleum products primarily in the United States, Canada, the Netherlands, St. Eustatius in the Caribbean, the United Kingdom, and Mexico. The company operates in three segments: Storage, Transportation, and Asphalt and Fuels Marketing. The Storage segment operates terminal and storage facilities for petroleum products, specialty chemicals, crude oil, and other liquids; and crude oil storage tanks. Its terminals also offer pilotage, tug assistance, line handling, launch, emergency response, and other ship services. The Transportation segment transports refined petroleum products, crude oil, and anhydrous ammonia. This segment operates refined product pipelines in Texas, Oklahoma, Colorado, New Mexico, Kansas, Nebraska, Iowa, South Dakota, North Dakota, and Minnesota; and owns anhydrous ammonia pipelines located in Louisiana, Arkansas, Missouri, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, and Nebraska. The Asphalt and Fuels Marketing segment refines crude oil to produce asphalt and other refined products. This segment also purchases gasoline and other refined petroleum products for resale. As of December 31, 2010, the company had 65 terminal and storage facilities providing approximately 80.4 million barrels of storage capacity; 5,605 miles of refined product pipelines with 21 associated terminals that offer storage capacity of 4.6 million barrels, as well as 2 tank farms providing storage capacity of 1.2 million barrels; 2,000 miles of anhydrous ammonia pipelines; 812 miles of crude oil pipelines with 16 associated storage tanks comprising storage capacity of 1.9 million barrels; and 2 asphalt refineries with a combined capacity of 104,000 barrels per day, as well as 2 associated terminal facilities with a combined storage capacity of 5.0 million barrels. Riverwalk Logistics, L.P. serves as the general partner of the company. NuStar Energy L.P. was founded in 1999 and is based in Sa n Antonio, Texas.

Advisors' Opinion:
  • [By Rich Smith]

    Only five privately held firms will participate in this two-year contract (extendable up to five years). No publicly traded firms at all were chosen to participate -- but publicly traded firms did still win a few of the day's smaller contracts, among them:

    A $76.1 million contract modification awarded to the Bell-Boeing Joint Project Office, a joint venture between Textron� (NYSE: TXT  ) and Boeing (NYSE: BA  ) , which instructs the JPO to delivery one single additional CV-22 tiltrotor aircraft to the U.S. Air Force by December 2016. A $39.4 million fixed-price with economic-price-adjustment contract for Sysco (NYSE: SYY  ) to provide "prime vendor food and beverage support" to the U.S. Army, Navy, Air Force, and Job Corps in Florida through April 16, 2019. A $32.3 million option exercise for NuStar Energy L.P. (NYSE: NS  ) subsidiary Shore Terminals LLC to provide "petroleum storage services" to the U.S. Army, Air Force, and Marine Corps through Nov. 30, 2016. A $7.7 million undefinitized contract modification compensating Lockheed Martin (NYSE: LMT  ) for "non-recurring sustainment activities" performed on behalf of the government of the United Kingdom, related to the latter's purchase of F-35 Lightning II stealth fighter jets. This contract has a completion date of June 201
  • [By Roberto Pedone]

    One technology player that insiders are active in here is Jive Software (NS), which provides a social business software platform to businesses, government agencies, and other enterprises. Insiders are buying this stock into massive weakness, since shares are down sharply by 43% so far in 2014.

     

    Jive Software has a market cap of $446 million and an enterprise value of $365 million. This stock trades at a fair valuation, with a price-to-sales of 2.68 and a price-to-book of 5.67. Its estimated growth rate for this year is 45.5%, and for next year it's pegged at 30%. This is a cash-rich company, since the total cash position on its balance sheet is $98.18 million and its total debt is $6.60 million.

     

    A director just bought 260,819 shares, or about $1.71 million worth of stock, at $6.53 to $6.60 per share.

     

    From a technical perspective, JIVE is currently trending just above its 50-day moving average and below its 200-day moving average, which is neutral trendwise. This stock recently pulled back off its short-term high of $7.14 a share with heavy downside volume flows. That drop has now pushed the stock to right above its 50-day moving average at $6.10 a share.

    If you're bullish on JIVE, then I would look for long-biased trades as long as this stock is trending above its 50-day at $6.10 a share and then once it breaks out above some key near-term overhead resistance levels at $7.14 a share to its 200-day moving average of $7.43 a share with high volume. Look for a sustained move or close above those levels with volume that hits near or above its three-month average action of 557,678 shares. If that breakout triggers soon, then JIVE will set up to re-test or possibly take out its next major overhead resistance levels $8.50 to $9 a share, or even $9.50 to $10 a share.

    Must Read: 10 Stocks George Soros Is Buying

  • [By Laura Brodbeck]

    Tuesday

    Earnings Expected From: Five Star Quality Care, Inc. (NYSE: FVE), Maximus, Inc. (NYSE: MMS), Nustar Energy (NYSE: NS), D.R. Horton, Inc. (NYSE: DHI), DISH Network Corporation (NASDAQ: DISH) Economic Releases Expected: German CPI, British CPI, British PPI, US Redbook, Indian manufacturing output, Indian industrial production

    Wednesday

  • [By Robert Rapier]

    But it is important to note that ETE also has interests in Sunoco Logistics Partners (NYSE: SXL) and Regency Energy Partners (NYSE: RGP).

    Finally, consider NuStar Energy (NYSE: NS) and its general partner NuStar GP Holdings (NYSE: NSH). Like ETE, NSH went public in 2006 and has also significantly outperformed its limited partner since:


    The vast majority of partnerships don’t have a publicly-traded GP. But in each of these three cases in which the GP is publicly traded, the GP tends to outperform the LP units on long-term gains, an advantage somewhat offset by the typically higher LP yield.

Top 10 Low Price Companies To Own In Right Now: Hooker Furniture Corporation(HOFT)

Hooker Furniture Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, designs, develops, imports, and markets residential wood, metal, and upholstered furniture products in North America. The company offers wood furniture products, including home entertainment, home office, accent, dining, bedroom, and bath furniture in the upper-medium price points sold under the Hooker Furniture brand, and sold at moderate price points under the Envision Lifestyle Collections by Hooker Furniture brand. It also provides youth bedroom furniture under the Opus Designs by Hooker brand; and motion and stationary leather furniture. In addition, the company offers various residential leather and fabric upholstered furniture under the Bradington-Young and Seven Seas upholstery brand; specializes in leather reclining and motion chairs, sofas, club chairs, and executive desk chairs; and offers upscale occasional chairs and other seating under the Sam Moore upholstery brand. It serves retailers of resident ial home furnishings, including independent furniture stores, specialty retailers, department stores, catalog and Internet merchants, interior designers, and national and regional retail chains. The company was founded in 1924 and is headquartered in Martinsville, Virginia.

Advisors' Opinion:
  • [By Peter Graham]

    The Q4 2014 earnings report for La-Z-Boy Incorporated (NYSE: LZB), a potential peer of other furniture stocks like Hooker Furniture Corporation (NASDAQ: HOFT) and Flexsteel Industries, Inc (NASDAQ: FLXS), is due out after the market closes on Tuesday. Aside from the La-Z-Boy Incorporated earnings report, it should be said that Hooker Furniture Corporation reported Q1 2015 on June 5th (they reported a double-digit income rise on higher sales in first quarter) and Flexsteel Industries, Inc reported Q3 2014 earnings on April 16th (they record net sales and net income). However and the last time around, investors did not like it when La-Z-Boy Incorporated reported quarterly profit of 32 cents a share that missed forecasts calling for a profit of 35 cents a share and they really did not like revenue�missing expectations by 7.7%. The company is also doing some restructuring.

  • [By Dividends4Life]

    Memberships and Peers: LEG is a member of the S&P 500, a Dividend Aristocrat, a member of the Broad Dividend Achievers��Index and a Dividend Champion. The company's peer group includes: Hooker Furniture Corp. (HOFT) with a 2.7% yield, Flexsteel Industries Inc. (FLXS) with a 1.8% yield and Ethan Allen Interiors Inc. (ETH) with a 1.6% yield.

Top 10 Low Price Companies To Own In Right Now: Salesforce.com Inc (CRM)

Salesforce.com, inc., incorporated in February 1999, is a provider of enterprise cloud computing and social enterprise solutions. The Company provides a customer and collaboration relationship management (CRM), applications through the Internet or cloud. Cloud computing refers to the use of Internet-based computing, storage and connectivity technology to deliver a variety of different services. The Company delivers its service through Internet browsers and mobile devices. It markets its social enterprise applications and platforms to businesses on a subscription basis, primarily through its direct sales efforts and indirectly through partners. In January 2011, it acquired Heroku, Inc. and DimDim, Inc. In May 2011, the Company acquired Radian6 Technologies Inc. In September 2011, the Company acquired Assistly. In August 2012, the Company acquired Buddy Media. In May 2013, SalesForce.com Inc acquired Clipboard Inc.

The Company introduced Chatter, a collaboration application for the enterprise to connect and share information securely and in real-time. It serves its customers from third-party data center hosting facilities located in the United States and other countries. The Company�� primary applications are sales cloud, service cloud, salesforce chatter, Salesforce Radian6 and Salesforce Data.com.

The Company�� customers are able to establish a system and process for recording, tracking, and sharing information about sales opportunities, sales leads, sales forecasts, the sales process, and closed business, as well as managing sales territories. Customers are able to create social profiles of their customers, based on information from social networking services like Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. Its customers are also able to manage unstructured information, such as sales collateral, presentations, price lists, and video assets. In addition, the Sales Cloud encompasses partner relationship management functionality (including channel management and partner portals) and m! arketing automation (including campaigns, and return-on-investment tracking).

The Company�� customer service and support automation features are marketed under its Service Cloud brand and allow its customers to service and engage with their customers. Using the Service Cloud, companies can access a solution for their customer service interactions across every service channel: call centers with phone, email, and chat; Web portals for self-service and customer collaboration; and community interactions within social networks. In addition, built-in collaboration tools enable customer service agents to share information on how to better service customers.

The Company�� Chatter application enables customers to create private employee social networks for companies of all sizes in order to improve employee collaboration. For customers of its Sales and Service Cloud editions, Chatter is included free for all subscribers. In addition, it offers Chatter Plus edition, designed to provide access to Chatter for employees in customers��organizations who are not subscribers of a Sales or Service Cloud edition. It delivered features, including Chatter Now for real-time collaboration, and Chatter Customer Groups enabling users to invite people outside their organizations, such as customers and partners, into their Chatter network to collaborate in a secure environment. Chatter is a core attribute of its Force.com platform and its social capabilities are an integral part of each of its application offerings and its Social Enterprise solution.

The Company�� Radian6 application provides its customers a tool for social media monitoring and marketing. The application allows companies to listen, analyze, engage and measure their brand�� presence within social media. It provides companies with a database of business contacts, company profiles and social insights. Delivered as a service, data.com integrates with its applications to provide the business data that helps companies in! crease th! eir pipeline of sales leads.

The Company�� cloud platforms provide application developers access to new capabilities that can be built into their business applications. These platforms include features popularized by social networking companies, such as profiles, status updates and feeds, and also the capability to extend applications for use on mobile devices. In addition, they run on its Database.com offering, an open enterprise database built for social and mobile computing. Its cloud platforms allow both information technology (IT) departments and independent software vendors (ISV) developers to use several programming languages to build their applications. Developers are able to use the programming languages on its cloud platforms, such as Java and Ruby, to build their applications, and its cloud platforms support multiple other languages to provide developers openness and choice.

The Company has two platform offerings: Force.com and Heroku, and offer additional developer tools, such as Database.com and the AppExchange. The Force.com cloud computing platform provides a feature set and technology environment for building business applications, including data models and objects to manage data, a workflow engine for managing collaboration of data between users, a user interface model to handle forms and other interactions, and a Web services API for programmatic access and integration. Heroku is a cloud platform for application developers to build and deploy social and mobile applications. Built on open standards, Heroku supports multiple frameworks, databases, and languages, including Java and Ruby. The AppExchange is an online directory that provides customers a way to browse, sample, share, and install applications developed on its Force.com platform. Partners and developers can offer their applications and services for a fee on the AppExchange directory. This directory gives its users a way to find and install applications to expand their use of the Force.com platform t! o areas t! hat are complementary to its social enterprise solution.

The Company offer consulting, deployment and training services to our customers to facilitate the adoption of its social enterprise services. Consulting services consist of services, such as business process mapping, project management services and guidance on best practices in using its service. Deployment services include systems integration, technical architecture and development, configuration and data conversion, as well as developing and delivering customized education programs for its customers. Most of its consulting and deployment engagements are billed on a time and materials basis. It offer a number of traditional classroom and online educational classes that address topics, such as deploying, using, administering and developing on its service. It also offers classes for its partners who deploy its service on behalf of its customers.

Advisors' Opinion:
  • [By Jonas Elmerraji]

    Salesforce.com (CRM), on the other hand, has had a slightly less blockbuster year. The $27 billion customer relationship management software maker is only up around 7.3% since the calendar flipped over to January, strong performance for a normal year, but far less strong performance for a year when the S&P 500 is up close to 19%.

    But investors aren't just betting on underperformance from CRM. By and large, they're betting on a drop. Currently, the firm's short interest ratio weighs in at 13.04.

    At its most simple, Salesforce makes software applications that help its 100,000 customers interact with their own customer lists, handling everything from sending newsletter to tracking sales. Because the firm's applications have a direct and measurable correlation with sales, switching costs are higher than most business apps. After all, customers are a lot less likely to stop paying for software when they can see exactly how much it's contributed to their top line.

    Because CRM sells its software as a service hosted in "the cloud" rather than an application hosted on users' computers, it boasts an attractive subscription-based model. That model provides recurring revenues with limited effort in periods subsequent to picking up new customers -- and because integration with the Salesforce.com platform is deep, customers can't simply jump ship without investing heavily in new systems.

    Even though CRM has prioritized reinvestment over profitability in the last few years, it generates enough cash to turn the ship around quickly if the capital markets so dictate.

  • [By Sue Chang]

    Salesforce.com (CRM) �is projected to report third-quarter earnings of 9 cents a share, according to a consensus survey by FactSet.

  • [By Alex Planes]

    Last month, Oracle decided to use its hefty cash flow and powerful brand name to muscle its way into the sector. The software leader recently announced three cloud-computing partnerships that may allay investor fears. Perhaps the most intriguing of these partnerships is between Oracle and rival salesforce.com (NYSE: CRM  ) . This could turn out to be quite lucrative for both companies, as Oracle gains a high-profile market for some of its second-tier products (such as the Exadata data management platform), and Salesforce gets a very committed partner for its back-end operations.

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