Berkshire Hathaway just released its equity portfolio. Here is the summary. Warren Buffett (Trades, Portfolio) and his CIOs buy Wal-Mart Stores Inc, Verizon Communications Inc, Liberty Global PLC, Liberty Global PLC, sells Phillips 66, General Motors Co, Directv, Starz during the 3-months ended 03/31/2014, according to the most recent filings of his investment company, Berkshire Hathaway. As of 03/31/2014, Berkshire Hathaway owns 45 stocks with a total value of $105.8 billion. These are the details of the buys and sells.
New Purchases: VZ, Added Positions: WMT, LBTYA, LBTYK, Reduced Positions: PSX, GM, DTV, STRZA,For the details of Warren Buffett (Trades, Portfolio)'s stock buys and sells, go to http://www.gurufocus.com/StockBuy.php?GuruName=Warren+Buffett
This is the sector weightings of his portfolio:
Financial Services 44.2% Consumer Defensive 24.4% Technology 13% Energy 6.3% Communication Services 3.6% Healthcare 2.6% Consumer Cyclical 2.1% Industrials 2% Basic Materials 1.1%These are the top 5 holdings of Warren Buffett (Trades, Portfolio)
Top 5 Construction Stocks To Invest In 2015: Nelnet Inc (NNI)
Nelnet, Inc.,incorporated on December 21, 1977,is an education services company focused primarily on providing fee-based processing services and education-related products and services in four core areas: asset management and finance, loan servicing, payment processing, and enrollment services (education planning). The Company's products and services help students and families plan, prepare and pay for their education and make the administrative and financial processes more efficient for schools and financial organizations.
In addition, the Company earns interest income on a portfolio of federally insured student loans. The Company's operating segments include: Student Loan and Guaranty Servicing, Tuition Payment Processing and Campus Commerce, Enrollment Services and Asset Generation and Management.
Student Loan and Guaranty Servicing
The primary service offerings of Student Loan and Guaranty Servicing segment includes Servicing FFELP loans, Originating and servicing non-federally insured student loans, Servicing federally-owned student loans for the Department of Education, Servicing and outsourcing services for FFELP guaranty agencies, including FFELP guaranty collection services and Providing student loan servicing software and other information technology products and services. The Student Loan and Guaranty Servicing operating segment provides for the servicing of the Company's student loan portfolio and the portfolios of third parties. The loan servicing activities include loan conversion activities, application processing, borrower updates, payment processing, due diligence procedures, funds management reconciliations, and claim processing.
Although similar in terms of activities and functions as FFELP servicing (i.e., disbursement processing, application processing, payment processing, statement distribution, and reporting), non-federally insured loan servicing activities are not required to comply with provisions of the Higher Education Act ! and may be more customized to individual client requirements. The Company serviced non-federally insured loans on behalf of approximately 20 third-party servicing customers as of December 31, 2012.
The Student Loan and Guaranty Servicing operating segment provides servicing support for guaranty agencies, which are the organizations that serve as the intermediary between the United States federal government and FFELP lenders, and are responsible for paying the claims made on defaulted loans. The Department has designated approximately 30 guarantors that have been formed as either state agencies or non-profit corporations that provide FFELP guaranty services in one or more states. Approximately half of these guarantors contract externally for operational or technology services. The services provided by the Company include providing software and data center services, borrower and loan updates, default aversion tracking services, claim processing services, and post-default collection services. A portion of guaranty servicing revenue earned by the Company relates to rehabilitating delinquent loans (collection services).
The Student Loan and Guaranty Servicing operating segment provides student loan servicing software, which is used internally by the Company and licensed to third-party student loan holders and servicers. These software systems have been adapted so that they can be offered as hosted servicing software solutions that can be used by third-parties to service various types of student loans, including Private, Federal Direct Loan Program, and FFEL Program loans. The Company earns a monthly fee from its remote hosting customers for each borrower on the Company's platform, with a minimum monthly charge for contracts.
Tuition Payment Processing and Campus Commerce
The Company's Tuition Payment Processing and Campus Commerce operating segment provides products and services to help students and families manage the payment of education costs at all leve! ls.It als! o provides education-focused technologies, services, and support solutions to help schools with the everyday challenges of collecting and processing commerce data. The Company's financial needs assessment service serves over 3,600 schools and dioceses, helps schools evaluate and determine the amount of grants and financial aid to disburse to the families it serves. The Company's donor services allow schools to assess and deliver strategic fundraising solutions using the latest technology.
The higher education market consists of nearly 4,400 colleges and universities. The Company offers two principal products to the higher education market: actively managed tuition payment plans, and campus commerce technologies and payment processing.
The Company has actively managed tuition payment plans in place at approximately 650 colleges and universities. Higher education institutions contract with the Company to administer payment plans that allow the student and family to make monthly payments on either a semester or annual basis. The Company collects a fee from the student or family as an administration fee.
The Company's suite of campus commerce solutions provides services that allow for families' electronic billing and payment of campus charges. Campus commerce includes cashiering for face-to-face transactions, campus-wide commerce management, and refunds management, among others.
Enrollment Services
The Enrollment Services segment offers products and services that are focused on helping colleges recruit and retain students and helping students plan and prepare for life after high school and military service. The primary products and services the Company offers as part of the Enrollment Services segment: Inquiry Generation - Inquiry generation services include delivering qualified inquiries or clicks to third-party customers, primarily higher education institutions, Inquiry Management (Agency) services, which include managing the marketin! g activit! ies for third-party customers, primarily higher education institutions, in order to provide qualified inquiries or clicks, Inquiry Management (Software) services, which include the licensing of software to third-party customers, primarily higher education institutions, Digital marketing services include interactive services to connect students to colleges and universities and are sold primarily based on subscriptions. Digital marketing services also include editing services for admission essays. Content Solutions - Content solutions includes test preparation study guides, school directories and databases, career exploration guides, on-line courses, scholarship search and selection data, career planning, and on-line information about colleges and universities. Its Content solutions includes providing list marketing services to help higher education institutions and businesses reach the middle school, high school, college bound high school, college, and young adult market places.
Asset Generation and Management Operating Segment
The Asset Generation and Management segment includes the acquisition, management, and ownership of the Company's student loan assets, which was historically the Company's product and service offering. The Company generates a substantial portion of its earnings from the spread, referred to as the Company's student loan spread, between the yield it receives on its student loan portfolio and the associated costs to finance such portfolio. The student loan assets are held in a series of education lending subsidiaries and associated securitization trusts designed specifically for this purpose. In addition to the student loan spread earned on its portfolio, all costs and activity associated with managing the portfolio, such as servicing of the assets and debt maintenance, are included in this segment.
Student loans consist of federally insured student loans and non-federally insured student loans. Federally insured student loans were made un! der the F! FEL Program. The Higher Education Act regulates every aspect of the federally insured student loan program, including certain communications with borrowers, loan originations, and default aversion.
The Company competes with SLM Corporation, reat Lakes Educational Loan Services Inc. (Great Lakes), Pennsylvania Higher Education Assistance Agency (PHEAA), and Sallie Mae.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Victor Selva]
We can appreciate that Capital One麓s ROE is lower than that of American Express, Discover Financial Services, First Cash Financial Services (FCFS) and Nelnet Inc. (NNI).
Hot Defensive Stocks To Invest In Right Now: Nuverra Environmental Solutions Inc (NES)
Nuverra Environmental Solutions, Inc., formerly Heckmann Corporation, incorporated on May 29, 2007, provides environmental solutions to protect, enhance and advance environmental sustainability. Nuverra provides full-cycle environmental solutions to a national customer base consisting of two distinct end markets: Shale Solutions and Industrial Solutions.
The Company is focused on the removal, treatment, recycling, transportation and disposal of restricted solids, fluids and hydrocarbons for E&P customers. It also provides a one-stop-shop for energy recovery, re-refining and recycling of used motor oil and oily wastewater; plus a closed loop spent antifreeze program for retail, automotive and manufacturing customers. Nuverra specializes in providing environmentally compliant and sustainable solutions to a national footprint of customers.
Shale Solutions
Shale Solutions provides environmental solutions for unconventional oil and gas exploration and production, including the delivery, collection, treatment, recycle, and disposal of restricted environmental products used in the development of unconventional oil and natural gas fields. The Company operates in select shale areas in the United States, including the Marcellus/Utica, Eagle Ford, Bakken, Haynesville, Barnett, Permian, Mississippian Lime and Tuscaloosa Marine Shale areas. It serves customers seeking fresh water acquisition, temporary water transmission and storage, transportation, treatment or disposal of fresh water and complex water flows, such as flowback and produced brine water, in connection with shale oil and gas hydraulic fracturing drilling or hydrofracturing operations. The Company also transports fresh water for production and provides services for site preparation, water pit excavations and remediation.
Industrial Solutions
Industrial Solutions provides environmental and waste recycling solutions to its customers through collection and recycling services for waste prod! ucts, including UMO, which the Company processes and sells as RFO, oily water, spent antifreeze, used oil filters and parts washers, and provision of complementary environmental services for a diverse commercial and industrial customer base. Industrial Solutions operates a scalable network infrastructure of 34 processing facilities, approximately 385 tanker trucks, vacuum trucks and trailers and over 200 railcars. With a geographic presence in 19 states in the Western United States stretching from Washington to Texas, Industrial Solutions provides its services to a diverse range of more than 20,000 commercial and industrial customer locations.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Matt DiLallo]
More than anything I wanted to learn how to use options prudently, and I discovered that writing options to buy stocks cheaper or sell them dearer led to much more frequent profits. Today you'll often find me writing puts on stocks like Heckmann� (NYSE: NES ) or Seadrill� (NYSE: SDRL ) in order to buy shares cheaper. I want to own a piece of Heckmann's business because I can get behind its model, which is dedicated to solving the environmental issues surrounding fracking. Meanwhile, Seadrill is perfectly positioned to benefit from the amazing growth of deepwater drilling.
- [By Brian Stoffel]
The only company focusing all of its energy on meeting the needs of this booming industry is Nuverra Environmental Services (NYSE: NES ) . Formerly known as Heckmann, the company has spent the last few years building out its infrastructure to seamlessly handle the energy industry's water demands.
- [By Matt DiLallo]
On Heckmann's (NYSE: NES ) recent conference all, the frack-water treatment specialist made mention of the weather nearly two dozen times. The executive chairman led off the call by saying, "As you can see by our release, we had a very strong quarter in the face of fairly tough weather." The company missed analyst estimates on both the top and bottom lines, and "without question weather was the biggest factor for the first quarter," according to CEO Mark Johnsrud.
Hot Defensive Stocks To Invest In Right Now: Vodafone Group PLC (VOD)
Vodafone Group Plc (Vodafone), incorporated in 1984, is a mobile communications company operating across the globe providing a range of communications services. The Company offers a range of products and services, including voice, messaging, data and fixed-line solutions and devices to assist customers in meeting their total communications needs. Vodafone has a global presence, with equity interests in over 30 countries and over 40 partner markets worldwide. It operates in three geographic regions: Europe, Africa and Central Europe; Asia Pacific, and the Middle East, and has an investment in Verizon Wireless in the United States. In October 2010, Vodafone Global Enterprise, the business within Vodafone, announced the acquisition of two telecom expense management (TEM) companies, Quickcomm and TnT Expense Management. In November 2011, the Company sold 24.4% interest in Polkomtel in Poland. In March 2012, Verizon Wireless, which is a joint venture of Verizon Communications Inc. and Vodafone, purchased the operating assets of Cellular One of Northeast Pennsylvania from the Company. In April 2012, its Netherlands-based division, Vodafone Libertel BV, acquired Telespectrum-DJ. On October 31, 2012, the Company acquired TelstraClear Limited. In May 2013, Vodafone Group Plc announced launch of its carrier services business unit.
In Europe, the Company�� mobile subsidiaries and joint venture operate under the brand name Vodafone. Its associate in France operates as SFR and Neuf Cegetel, and its fixed-line communication businesses operate as Vodafone, Arcor, Tele2 and TeleTu. Vodafone�� subsidiaries in Africa and Central Europe operate under the Vodafone brand, or in the case of Vodacom and its mobile subsidiaries, the Vodacom and Gateway brands. Its joint venture in Poland operates as Polkomtel and its associate in Kenya operates as Safaricom. The Company�� subsidiaries and joint venture in Fiji operate under the Vodafone brand, and its joint venture in Australia operates under the brands V! odafone and 3. The Company�� associate in the United States operates under the brand Verizon Wireless.
Vodafone has an international customer base with 370 million mobile customers across the world as of March 31, 2011. Vodafone also caters to all business segments ranging from small-office-home-office (SoHo) and small-medium enterprises (SMEs) to corporates and multinational corporations. Through its subsidiaries, Vodafone directly owns and manages approximately 2,200 stores around the world. The Company also has around 10,300 Vodafone-branded stores run through franchise and exclusive dealer arrangements.
The Company�� range of handsets covers all its customer segments and price points, and is available in a variety of designs. During the fiscal year ended March 31, 2011 (fiscal 2011), 14 new handsets were released under its own brand and it shipped 5.8 million. In addition to handsets, it supplies a range of connected smart devices. It supplies the iPhone in 19 markets. During fiscal 2011, the Company launched its USB stick based on 4G/LTE technology in Germany and Verizon Wireless launched in the United States.; Vodafone WebBox; a smartphone roaming data plan that allows the European customers to use their home data plan abroad for only 2 a day to access the Internet, emails and applications; the Android-powered Vodafone 845 and 945 devices; Vodafone TV services; Vodafone 252, which comes pre-loaded with Vodafone M-Pesa for mobile payment services and a prepaid balance indicator that helps customers to keep track of their phone credit to avoid overspending; Vodafone M-Pesa in South Africa, Qatar and Fiji; 3G services in India, and LTE services by acquiring LTE spectrum in Germany.
The Company is a carrier of mobile voice traffic in the world providing domestic, international and roaming voice services to more than 370 million customers. Its networks sent and received over 292 billion text, picture, music and video messages during fiscal 2011. The Company ! serves mo! re than 75 million customers with data services, which allow access to the Internet, email and applications on their phones, tablets, laptops and netbooks. The Company provides a range of data products, including Machine-to-machine (��2M�� connections, which allow devices to communicate with one another via built-in mobile SIM cards; Third party billing; Financial services; Near field communication (��FC��, and Mobile advertising. The Company, as of March 31, 2011, served 5.3 million M2M connections around the world. NFC allows communication between devices when they are touched together or brought within a few centimetres of each other. The Company has mobile advertising business in 18 countries with a range of capabilities. Over six million customers use its fixed broadband services in 13 markets to meet their total communications needs. In addition, through Gateway, it provides wholesale carrier services to more than 40 African countries. Other service revenue includes business managed services, such as secure remote network access, and revenue from mobile virtual network operators generated from selling access to its network at the wholesale level. The Company�� enterprise customers range from small-office-home-office (��oHo�� businesses and small to medium-sized enterprises (��MEs��, through to domestic and multinational companies. The Company has 34 million enterprise customers accounting for around 9% of all customers and around 23% of service revenue. The Company focuses on SoHos and SMEs to provide customers with integrated fixed and mobile communications solutions. Vodafone Global Enterprise manages the communication needs of over 560 of the multinational corporate customers. It provides a range of managed services, such as Central Ordering, Device Manager, Spend Manager Solutions, Invoice Manager, Vodafone Neverfail and Telecoms management. The Company offers a range of total communications applications, as well as services for enterprise and consumer customers. Vodafone Alw! ays Best ! Connected software enables customers to stay connected to the Internet on the available connection wherever they are by automatically managing the switching between connection types including mobile broadband, Wi-Fi and LAN. Vodafone PC Backup is an online back-up and restores service that enables users to remotely store data securely and automatically via their Internet connection.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By WALLSTCHEATSHEET]
Vodafone seems undervalued given that it is trading at a relatively low forward price to earnings multiple of 11.40, pays an industry-leading 7 percent dividend, and is exposed to several upcoming positive catalysts. There is downside risk in that the European economy��here the majority of Vodafone�� operations are located��ill not recover as quickly as expected. Additionally, those bearish on the stock argue that Vodafone�� high dividend is not sustainable; however, there has been no evidence that its solid dividend history will cease. Given that investors can purchase exposure to several upcoming beneficial catalysts and a high dividend yield for a relatively low price, Vodafone is an OUTPERFORM.
- [By Alan Oscroft]
Secondly, if the fundamental nature of the company, including any of the factors that led to the original purchase decision, have changed, it's also time for a reevaluation. And�Vodafone (LSE: VOD ) (NASDAQ: VOD ) �has changed!
- [By Rebecca McClay]
In a second major deal in tech, Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE: VZ) announced plans to buy Vodafone Group's (Nasdaq ADR: VOD) principal asset of 45% of Verizon Wireless for $130 billion in a cash and stock deal. VZ shares are down about 3% in morning trade.
Hot Defensive Stocks To Invest In Right Now: U.S. Geothermal Inc. (HTM)
U.S. Geothermal, Inc. engages in the acquisition, development, and utilization of geothermal resources in the western region of the United States. It constructs and manages power plants that utilize geothermal resources to produce energy. The company operates two power plants, including the Raft River geothermal power project located in the Raft River area of southern Idaho; and a 3.6 MW operating geothermal power plant and approximately 30,734.21 acres of geothermal energy leases and certain ground water rights located north of Reno, Nevada. It also holds interests in the Neal Hot Springs project located in eastern Oregon, which is under construction; Raft River project with 10 parcels comprising 783.93 acres of fee land and 4,736.79 acres of contiguous leased geothermal rights located on private property in Cassia County, Idaho; and lease contracts for approximately 21,905 acres of land and geothermal rights located in the San Emidio Desert, Nevada. In addition, the comp any has a geothermal lease contract for Granite Creek assets comprising approximately 2,443 acres of land and geothermal water rights located in the northwestern Nevada; and owns a geothermal concession consisting of 24,710 acres located southwest of Guatemala City, the Republic of Guatemala. Further, it has a joint venture agreement for geothermal rights for 3,615 acres located in northwestern Nevada. U.S. Geothermal, Inc. was founded in 2002 and is based in Boise, Idaho.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By John Udovich]
In addition, there are some other good articles (U.S. Geothermal: When Opportunity Knocks.... (HTM)�and U.S. Geothermal is a "Buy"... For the Right Kind of Investor (HTM)) about U.S. Geothermal Inc that were just published on our site. So I won�� recover the same territory and there appears to be no news to explain yesterday�� jump.
- [By Bryan Murphy]
If traders are leery of wading into a U.S. Geothermal Inc. (NYSEMKT:HTM) position, that's understandable. HTM has been touted repeatedly for years, sometimes paying off for a while, but usually imploding before any rally has a chance to get going. That may be about to change, however. In fact, it may have already changed, of a would-be owner is willing to take a step back and look at U.S. Geothermal for what it is rather than what it isn't.
- [By Bryan Murphy]
By most accounts, it's an all-American dream come true. U.S. Geothermal Inc. (NYSEMKT:HTM), working hard - for years - to make something out of nothing can finally see the light at the end of the tunnel. HTM has swung to a profit, and is strong enough now that it's probably going to remain in the black in perpetuity. Shareholders who got into U.S. Geothermal anytime during or after 2012 have finally been handsomely rewarded, with most of that reward materializing in just the past three weeks. Regardless of when an investor got into a position in HTM though, there's just one thing left to do at this point.... get out. Lock in your gain and walk away, at least for a little while.
Hot Defensive Stocks To Invest In Right Now: Gold Resource Corporation (GORO)
Gold Resource Corporation engages in the exploration for and production of gold and silver in Mexico. The company also explores for copper, lead, and zinc. It holds interest in the El Aguila project comprising 10 mining concessions aggregating approximately 20,055 hectares located in the State of Oaxaca. The company also holds interests in the El Rey property covering approximately 2,773 hectares; Las Margaritas property that covers an area of approximately 925 hectares; Alta Gracia property comprising approximately 5,175 hectares; El Chamizo property; Solaga property that include 2 mining concessions totaling 618 hectares; and El Fuego property covering approximately 2,554 hectares. Gold Resource Corporation was founded in 1998 and is headquartered in Colorado Springs, Colorado.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Ben Levisohn]
We continue to recommend Newmont, [Coeur Mining (CDE)] and [Gold Resource Corp. (GORO)] as large cap, silver and small cap picks, respectively.
Sterne Agee’s comments come one day after Ned Davis Research upgraded the gold sector to Neutral from Underweight. “…gold miners look to be finally bottoming,” John Laforge and Waren Pies wrote, though they say it’s too early to know if a new uptrend has begun.
- [By Lisa Levin]
Gold Resource (NYSE: GORO) dropped 20.90% to $6.44. Gold Resource shares have dropped 63.35% over the past 52 weeks, while the S&P 500 index has gained 16.18% in the same period.
- [By Rich Duprey]
Gold and silver miner Gold Resource (NYSEMKT: GORO ) announced yesterday its June monthly distribution of $0.03 per share, the same rate it's paid for the past two months after it cut the payout in half from $0.06 per share due to precious metal price volatility.�
Hot Defensive Stocks To Invest In Right Now: Hickory Tech Corporation (HTCO)
Hickory Tech Corporation provides integrated communications services to business and residential customers in the Midwest. The company operates in two segments, Business Sector and Telecom Sector. The Business Sector segment offers integrated data services, such as fiber, data and Internet, voice and voice over Internet protocol, managed and hosted, data center, equipment, and total care support services. This segment also distributes telecommunications and data processing equipment, as well as provides network and equipment monitoring, maintenance, and equipment consulting services; and offers fiber-based transport for regional and national telecommunications carriers, wireless carriers, and other providers. It serves businesses primarily in the upper Midwest. The Telecom Sector segment offers network access services; and broadband services, such as residential and business DSL access, high-speed Internet, digital TV, and business Ethernet services. It also provides local telephone, long distance, and calling features services; and directory assistance, operator service, and long distance private lines. In addition, this segment offers directory publishing, customer premise equipment sales, bill processing, and add/move/change services. It owns and operates approximately 900 mile fiber optic network and facilities in Minnesota. Hickory Tech Corporation was founded in 1898 and is headquartered in Mankato, Minnesota.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Marc Bastow]
Hickory Tech (HTCO), a communications provider in several Midwest states, announced a 3% dividend increase to 15 cents per share, payable Dec. 5 to shareholders of record as of Nov. 15.
HTCO Dividend Yield: 5.5%
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