Among recent enforcement actions, the Department of Labor oversaw the restoration of nearly $2 million in 401(k) benefits to the employees of Lange Trucking Inc., a contractor with the U.S. Postal Service.
In addition, the SEC charged Diamond Foods for boosting earnings growth via an accounting scheme to inflate the price of walnuts.
DOL Sees Nearly $2 Million Restored to U.S. Postal Contractors
After an investigation by the Wage and Hour Division of the Department of Labor, Lange Trucking Inc. was on the hook for nearly $2 million in unpaid 401(k) contributions for its employees.
Lange, which had a contract with the U.S. Postal Service that employed 515 drivers, had failed to make the contributions — and had been previously investigated several times by Wage and Hour. It was acquired, subsequent to its violations, by Eagan, Minn.-based Hoovestal Inc., which voluntarily agreed to provide the bulk of the missing benefit contributions — $1.48 million — while Lange itself agreed to provide $500,000.
Top 10 Up And Coming Companies To Own For 2015: Genius Brands International Inc (GNUS)
Genius Brands International, Inc., formerly Pacific Entertainment Corporation, provides music-based products, which entertains and educates infants and young children under its brands, including Baby Genius. It creates, markets and sells children�� digital versatile discs (DVDs), compact disc (CD) music and book products in the United States by distribution at wholesale to retail stores and outlets and direct to consumers through various deal for a day sites. It also licenses the use of its brands, both domestically and internationally, to others to manufacture, market and sell products based on its characters and brand, whereby the Company receives advances and royalties. In addition to the distribution of its CD and DVD products, the Company has developed and will continue to develop multiple revenue streams, which include worldwide licensing and merchandising opportunities for toys, books, and other customer products. During the year ended December 31, 2011, Pacific Entertainment Corporation, which is a California corporation, merged into the Company. On July 25, 2012, it sold approximately 500,000 Baby Genius DVDs and CDs and over 50,000 Little Genius CDs through its campaigns on Groupon.
Distribution
In 2008, the Company began self-distributing its DVD and CD products through direct relationships with customers. It also has third party licensing agreements under which it has developed musical products under other brands and receives revenue and pay a royalty for distributing those products through its distribution channels. The Company has licensed its brands for production of additional product lines, such as toys, books and other products, the products are primarily distributed by the licensee through the licensee�� marketing channels. As of December 31, 2011, it had one exclusive license agreement, which is with Jakks Pacific�� Tollytots (Tollytots) division.
Products
The Company�� products consist primarily of family and children��! DVD and CD music products. These products are manufactured and sold under brand names, such as Baby Genius, Kid Genius, Wee Worship, 123 Favorite Music and Pacific Entertainment Presents. The Company�� music products also include 50 Classic Lullabies & Soothing Songs and Favorite Guitar and Piano Melodies. During 2011, it released three new music titles, Best of Baby Genius, Sleighbells and Snowflakes and Favorite Country Christmas Music. The entire library of Baby Genius DVD and CD music products includes both English and Spanish versions. It also licenses its Baby Genius brand for various product lines, including toys, books, games and puzzles, sippy cups, and early learning aids, as well as others, and receives royalties based on sales of these products.
The Company has third party licensing agreements under which it has developed musical products under other brands, such as Guess How Much I Love You, The Snowman and Precious Moments. It also licensed the rights to eight DVDs previously created by Precious Moments in exchange for royalty payments on net sales of the DVD products. Through an exclusive licensing agreement with the San Diego Zoological Society, the Company created a series of Baby Genius DVD�� featuring footage from the San Diego Zoo and San Diego Wild Animal Park.
The Company competes with Baby Einstein, Brainy Baby, So Smart, The Wiggles, Sesame Baby, Disney, Universal Studios, Playskool, Fisher Price, Little Tykes and Leapfrog.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Lisa Levin]
Music & Video Stores: This industry jumped 1.68% by 10:25 am. The top performer in this industry was Genius Brands International (OTC: GNUS), which rose 8.7%. Genius Brands' trailing-twelve-month revenue is $2.00 million.
Best Trucking Companies To Watch In Right Now: Shiner International Inc.(BEST)
Shiner International, Inc., through its subsidiaries, engages in the research and development, manufacture, sale, and distribution of technology driven advanced packaging film products. Its products include coated films, tobacco films, anti-counterfeit laser holographic films, color printed products, and water-based latex products. The company also offers biaxially-oriented polypropylene (BOPP) films for printing, lamination, and over-wrap packaging; and BOPP tobacco films for packaging appearance, product freshness, and clear optics. In addition, it provides color printing services that consist of surface printing and reverse printing services for consumer goods manufacturers and beverage companies. The company sells its products to companies in the various industries, such as food, tobacco, chemical, agribusiness, medical, pharmaceutical, personal care, electronics, automotive, construction, graphics, music and video publishing, and other consumer goods in China, Asia, A ustralia, Europe, the Middle East, and North America. Shiner International has a strategy alliance with The Treofan Group. The company based in Haikou City, China.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Sally Jones]
Looking through a kaleidoscope of facts about J. Kyle Bass, this guru quickly takes on a colorful and larger-than-life mythos. Hailing from the big-thinking state of Texas, Bass is often described as a big dreamer with a studious and practical streak. His career blossomed almost overnight when he reportedly made around a half a billion dollars betting against subprime CDOs in 2007. Bass comes across as a visionary who asks why not instead of why. He told CNBC that he likes to reduce email time and cut out the noise by learning about world markets through symbiotic relationships with friends like Alan Fournier and other billionaires. Every year Bass invites his notable friends to his ranch in Larue, Texas, for a special event called The Barefoot Economic Summit, Texas (BEST). Bass said he learns more in two days of the summit than in two months of emails.
Best Trucking Companies To Watch In Right Now: Morgan Stanley(MS)
Morgan Stanley, a financial holding company, provides various financial products and services to corporations, governments, financial institutions, and individuals worldwide. It operates in three segments: Institutional Securities, Global Wealth Management Group, and Asset Management. The Institutional Securities segment offers financial advisory services on mergers and acquisitions, divestitures, joint ventures, corporate restructurings, recapitalizations, spin-offs, exchange offers, and leveraged buyouts and takeover defenses, as well as shareholder relations, capital raising, corporate lending, and investments. This segment also engages in sales, trading, financing, and market-making activities, including equity trading, commodities, and interest rates, credit, and currencies, as well as financing services, such as prime brokerage, consolidated clearance, settlement, custody, financing, and portfolio reporting services. The Global Wealth Management Group segment provide s brokerage and investment advisory services covering various investment alternatives comprising equities, options, futures, foreign currencies, precious metals, fixed income securities, mutual funds, structured products, alternative investments, unit investment trusts, managed futures, separately managed accounts, and mutual fund asset allocation programs; education savings programs, financial and wealth planning services, and annuity and insurance products; credit and other lending products; cash management services; retirement services; and trust and fiduciary services. The Asset Management segment offers products and services in equity, fixed income, and alternative investments, such as hedge funds, fund of funds, real estate, private equity, and infrastructure to institutional and retail clients through proprietary and third party distribution channels. This segment also involves in investment and merchant banking activities. The company was founded in 1935 and is headq uartered in New York.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Anora Mahmudova]
Shares of other investment banks were hit as well. Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (GS) � fell 1.8%, Morgan Stanley (MS) �dropped 2.3%.
- [By WWW.DAILYFINANCE.COM]
Peter Foley/Bloomberg via Getty Images Goldman Sachs Group (GS) reported an 11 percent drop in quarterly profit as client activity remained constrained and fixed-income revenue shrank, but both earnings and revenue beat market estimates and the Wall Street bank's shares rose. Goldman said net income fell to $1.95 billion, or $4.02 a share, in the first three months of the year from $2.19 billion, or $4.29 a share, in the same period of 2013. Analysts on average had expected earnings of $3.45 a share, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S. Total net revenue fell 8 percent to $9.33 billion, but beat the average estimate of $8.70 billion. Goldman's shares, which had fallen more than 20 percent since the start of the year to Wednesday's close, were up 2.31, or 1.4 percent, to $159.53 in early trading. "Investment Banking and Investment Management generated solid results, while market sentiment shifted throughout the quarter, constraining client activity in various parts of our franchise," Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Lloyd Blankfein said in a statement. Most of Goldman's rivals also reported a drop in revenue from fixed-income trading in the quarter, but Goldman has more at stake than others because it has a less diverse business mix. Goldman's revenue from fixed income, currency and commodities trading fell 11 percent from a year earlier to $2.85 billion in the quarter ended March 31. Fixed income investors have been holding off on trading in the face of uncertainty about how quickly the U.S. Federal Reserve will tighten monetary policy. Goldman makes most of its money from trading and investing in capital markets. This sets it apart from JPMorgan Chase (JPM), Citigroup (C) and Bank of America (BAC), which have big consumer lending businesses, and Morgan Stanley (MS), which has a large wealth-management arm. The bank trades securities for clients, underwrites stocks and bonds, advises on mergers and has an investment-management business that
- [By Ben Levisohn]
Nearly everyone passed the bank stress tests, but if this is passing, I would hate to see what happens to banks like JPMorgan Chase (JPM), Citigroup (C), Morgan Stanley (MS), Goldman Sachs (GS) and Bank of America (BAC) if they’d failed.
Best Trucking Companies To Watch In Right Now: Buckeye Partners L.P. (BPL)
Buckeye Partners, L.P. owns and operates refined petroleum products pipeline systems in the United States. Its Pipelines & Terminals segment transports refined petroleum products; and provides bulk storage and terminal throughput services in the continental United States. This segment owns and operates approximately 6,000 miles of pipeline serving approximately 110 delivery locations; and has 100 active products terminals with aggregate storage capacity of approximately 40 million barrels. The company’s International Operations segment provides marine terminal throughput, marine bulk storage, and other related services. This segment operates through two petroleum product terminals located on Grand Bahama Island, in The Bahamas and in Puerto Rico with an aggregate storage capacity of approximately 30 million barrels. Its Natural Gas Storage segment provides natural gas storage services through a facility with approximately 30 billion cubic feet of working natural gas storage capacity located in Northern California. The company’s Energy Services segment engages in the wholesale distribution of refined petroleum products, including gasoline; propane; ethanol; biodiesel; and petroleum distillates, such as heating oil, diesel fuel, and kerosene to wholesalers and commercial users. Its Development and Logistics segment provides contract operations, construction management, and asset development services to third-party pipeline and energy assets, and energy companies in the United States. This segment owns and operates 2 underground propane storage caverns with approximately 800,000 barrels of throughput and storage capability in Indiana and Illinois; and a 30-mile ammonia pipeline and 25 miles of pipeline in Texas. Buckeye GP LLC serves as the general partner of the company. Buckeye Partners, L.P. was founded in 1886 and is headquartered in Houston, Texas.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Aimee Duffy]
Buckeye Partners (NYSE: BPL ) is another company hoping to exploit alternative transportation from its rail and barge hub at the Port of Albany, on the Hudson River.
- [By Richard Band]
After a disappointing 2012, Buckeye Partners (BPL) seems to be regaining its stride. On October 9, Buckeye announced it had signed a pact to buy 20 petroleum storage terminals, mostly on the East Coast, from Hess Corp. for $850 million. I expect this deal to give a noticeable lift to BPL�� cash flow in 2014, enabling the partnership to pick up the pace of its quarterly distributions. Current yield: 6.4%. Look for the cash payout to grow 4%��% a year over the long run, slightly below the industry average (because Buckeye�� pipelines mainly transport refined products like gasoline and jet fuel, as opposed to crude oil direct from the fields). Nearly all of BPL�� debt carries a fixed rate�� helpful ��nsurance policy��if interest rates go up.
- [By David Dittman]
Question: If I’m relying on dividends for income, does it make sense to sell some or all shares because the price went up 50 percent, Buckeye Partners LP (NYSE: BPL) for example?
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