Bridging the gap between�voice, on-board applications, and connected third-party applications and content, voice recognition expert Nuance Communications (NASDAQ: NUAN ) announced today it is acquiring the�Tweddle Connect business from privately held Tweddle Group for $80 million in cash.
Tweddle Connect provides a communication link between�popular third-party applications and content and�a car's electronic system, while integrating smartphone applications into the system.
The platform will be enmeshed into Nuance's Dragon Drive voice command system giving automakers�a complete, "end-to-end" solution offering voice, natural language understanding, dialog management, expressive text-to-speech, in-car connectivity, apps, and content while allowing consumers the ability�to "automatically connect to their favorite apps and services as soon as they enter the car."
Nuance expects the transaction to close in the third quarter with revenues contributed by the acquisition to be negligible. However, next year, Tweddle Connect is expected to generate approximately $25 million in non-GAAP revenue and to add approximately $13 million to cash flow from operations.
5 Best Clean Energy Stocks To Buy For 2015: STR Holdings Inc(STRI)
STR Holdings, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, designs, develops, manufactures, and sells encapsulants for the solar industry worldwide. Its encapsulants protect the embedded semiconductor circuits of solar panels. The company sells its products to crystalline silicon and thin-film solar module manufacturers. STR Holdings, Inc. was founded in 1944 and is headquartered in Enfield, Connecticut.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By John Udovich]
Solar stocks have not exactly given buy and hold investors a smooth ride, but small cap�GT Advanced Technologies Inc (NASDAQ: GTAT) could be an interesting materials play on the solar sector���meaning its worth taking a closer look at the stock along with potential peers like Ascent Solar Technologies, Inc (NASDAQ: ASTI) and STR Holdings, Inc (NYSE: STRI) plus solar ETF Guggenheim Solar ETF (NYSEARCA: TAN). I should mention that just last week, we added GT Advanced Technologies to our�SmallCap Network Elite Opportunity (SCN EO) portfolio for both�fundamentals and technical reasons and we are already up almost 9%.
Top 5 Consumer Stocks To Invest In 2014: Smithfield Foods Inc.(SFD)
Smithfield Foods, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, engages in the production and marketing of fresh meat and packaged meats products in the United States and internationally. The company involves in the production of hog; and produces various fresh pork, beef, poultry, and packaged meats products. It sells fresh pork to retail customers as unprocessed and trimmed cuts, such as butts, loins, picnics, and ribs; packaged meats products, including smoked and boiled hams, bacon, sausage, hot dogs, and deli and luncheon meats; specialty products, such as pepperoni and dry meat products; and ready-to-eat prepared foods comprising pre-cooked entrees, and pre-cooked bacon and sausages. The company offers its products to supermarket chains; wholesale distributors; the foodservice industry, including fast food, restaurant and hotel chains, hospitals, and other institutional customers; export markets; and other further processors. It sells its products through its salespersons an d independent commission brokers. Smithfield Foods, Inc. was founded in 1961 and is headquartered in Smithfield, Virginia.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Victor Mora]
Smithfield Foods is a provider of fresh and packaged meat products that are seen as a staple food item for many consumers and growing populations worldwide. A takeover of the company is believed to be going through after a shareholder vote scheduled for Tuesday. The stock has been moving higher in recent years and is now trading slightly below all-time high prices. Over the last four quarters, investors have had mixed feelings about the company, as earnings have been decreasing and revenues have been rising. Relative to its peers and sector, Smithfield Foods has been a year-to-date performance leader. WAIT AND SEE if a vote to acquire Smithfield Foods goes through.
- [By Rich Duprey]
The last thing Smithfield Foods (NYSE: SFD ) needs right now is a new pig virus outbreak. The sale of its business to a Chinese company is already being put through the grinder on Capitol Hill on national security grounds and food safety concerns, so a virus that has typically been endemic to China and Europe, but suddenly appeared here with particular virulency, won't help its cause.
- [By Chris Hill]
On Wednesday, Shuanghui International Holdings reached an agreement to buy Smithfield Foods (NYSE: SFD ) for $4.7 billion. Smithfield Foods is the world's largest pork producer. The deal is the largest ever purchase of a U.S. company by a Chinese firm. In this installment of Motley Fool Money, our analysts discuss what it means for investors.
- [By Jeremy Bowman]
What: Shares of Smithfield Foods (NYSE: SFD ) were smoking today, gaining as much as 31% after a Chinese company agreed to buy the meat processor for $7.1 billion.
Top 5 Consumer Stocks To Invest In 2014: Brown-Forman Corp (BF.B)
Brown-Forman Corporation, incorporated on October 19, 1933, primarily manufactures, bottles, imports, exports, markets, and sells a variety of alcoholic beverage brands. The Company�� principal brands are Jack Daniel�� Tennessee Whiskey, Jack Daniel�� Tennessee Whiskey, Pepe Lopez Tequilas, Jack Daniel�� Single Barrel, Woodford Reserve Bourbons, Jack Daniel�� Ready-to-Drinks, Canadian Mist Blended Canadian Whiskies, Jack Daniel�� Tennessee Honey, Chambord Liqueur, Jack Daniel�� Winter Jack Chambord Vodka, Gentleman Jack, Collingwood Canadian Whisky, Southern Comfort, Early Times Bourbon, Southern Comfort Ready-to-Drinks, Early Times flavored line extensions, Southern Comfort flavored line extensions, Early Times Kentucky Whisky, Finlandia Vodkas, Korbel California Champagnes, Finlandia Ready-to-Drinks, Little Black Dress Vodkas, Antiguo Tequila, Maximus Vodkas, el Jimador Tequilas, Old Forester Bourbon, el Jimador New Mix Ready-to-Drinks, Sonoma-Cutrer Wines, Herradura Tequilas, and Tuaca Liqueur.
The Company�� products are sold in more than 150 countries around the world. The Company�� international markets include Australia, the United Kingdom, Mexico, Germany, Poland, France, Russia, Japan, Turkey, Canada, Spain, Czech Republic, South Africa, Brazil and Italy.
The Company competes with Bacardi Limited, Beam Inc., Davide Campari-Milano S.p.A., Diageo plc, LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton S.A., Pernod Ricard S.A., and Remy Cointreau S.A.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Sue Chang and Saumya Vaishampayan]
BFB: Brown-Forman Corp. (BF.B) �Class B shares gained 3.7%. The alcoholic beverage maker reported fiscal third-quarter earnings Wednesday that beat expectations and boosted its full-year view on per-share earnings to between $2.95 and $3.05.
- [By Seth Jayson]
Calling all cash flows
When you are trying to buy the market's best stocks, it's worth checking up on your companies' free cash flow once a quarter or so, to see whether it bears any relationship to the net income in the headlines. That's what we do with this series. Today, we're checking in on Brown-Forman (NYSE: BF.B ) , whose recent revenue and earnings are plotted below.
Top 5 Consumer Stocks To Invest In 2014: Pepsico Inc.(PEP)
PepsiCo, Inc. engages in the manufacture, marketing, and sale of foods, snacks, and carbonated and non-carbonated beverages worldwide. The company operates in four divisions: PepsiCo Americas Foods (PAF); PepsiCo Americas Beverages (PAB); PepsiCo Europe; and PepsiCo Asia, Middle East, and Africa (AMEA). The PAF division offers Lay?s and Ruffles potato chips, Doritos and Tostitos tortilla chips and dips, Cheetos cheese flavored snacks, Fritos corn chips, Quaker Chewy granola bars, and SunChips multigrain snacks in North America; Quaker oatmeal, Aunt Jemima mixes and syrups, Cap?n Crunch cereal, Quaker grits, and Life cereal, as well as Rice-A-Roni, Pasta Roni, and Near East side dishes in North America; and various snack foods under Doritos, Marias Gamesa, Cheetos, Ruffles, Emperador, Saladitas, Sabritas, and Lay?s brands in Latin America. The PAB division provides carbonated soft drinks, beverage concentrates, fountain syrups, and finished goods under Pepsi, Mountain Dew, Gatorade, 7UP, Tropicana Pure Premium, Electropura, Sierra Mist, Epura, and Mirinda brands; ready-to-drink tea, coffee, and water products through joint ventures with Unilever and Starbucks; and sells concentrate to authorized bottlers, and branded finished goods directly to independent distributors and retailers. This division also manufactures third-party brands, such as Dr Pepper, Crush, Rock Star, and Muscle Milk. The PepsiCo Europe division offers Frito Lay Snacks, Pepsi-Cola beverages, Gatorade sports drinks, Tropicana juices, and Quaker foods in Europe. The AMEA division provides snack food under the Lay?s, Kurkure, Chipsy, Doritos, Smith?s, Cheetos, Red Rock Deli, and Ruffles brands; Quaker-brand cereals and snacks; and beverage concentrates, fountain syrups, and finished goods under the Pepsi, Mirinda, 7UP, and Mountain Dew brands. PepsiCo, Inc. was founded in 1898 and is headquartered in Purchase, New York.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Ben Levisohn]
In the past, most M&A speculation regarding SodaStream has centered on potential strategic partnerships (Coca-Cola (KO), PepsiCo (PEP), Starbucks (SBUX)). However, with Coca-Cola’s equity stake in Keurig Green Mountain (GMCR), PepsiCo’s bruited alliance with Bevyz and Starbucks moving into the fizzy drink space themselves, each of these strategic partnerships has seemed increasingly unlikely to us. However, given the still-robust outlook in our view for the at-home carbonation category, we can see why private equity might be interested in playing a role. We also consider the timing to be attractive from a potential acquirer’s perspective given that SodaStream is trading at less than 10x 2013 EBITDA owing to its recent execution slip-ups and investor anxiety about increasing competition in the category. Further, given both SodaStream’s unleveraged balance sheet and the outlook for stronger profit margins ahead as the company’s new manufacturing facility is set to come online next year, we think that raising debt to fund an LBO of the business would be relatively easy to do.
- [By Matt Egan]
PepsiCo (PEP) also rallied nearly 3% after the food-and-beverage behemoth beat the Street and boosted its outlook for the year.
Microsoft (MSFT, Tech30) ticked higher as investors focused on the tech giant's revenue, which beat Wall Street's expectations.
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