David Fried, editor of the Buyback Letter, explains how he builds portfolios based solely on companies undergoing buyback programs, and highlights some favorite buyback bets for investors.
Steve Halpern: We're here today with David Fried, editor of the Buyback Letter. How are you doing, David?
David Fried: I'm doing well, thank you. How are you doing?
Steve Halpern: Very good. For those who aren't familiar with buybacks, could you explain a little about your interest in this area, how you got involved, and what impact that buyback has on a stock.
David Fried: Sure. Well, there's been a lot of research done on buybacks and companies typically will buy back stock when it's undervalued.
Now, it may be undervalued given an absolute outlook, or it may be undervalued given the future of what's going on with the company, and, of course, the insiders at the company have a bird's eye view for that.
We really consider the ultimate to be insider buying, because the whole Board of Directors and management, pretty much, has to be on board to agree and spend company funds to buy back shares.
10 Best Dividend Stocks To Watch Right Now: Seaspan Corporation(SSW)
Seaspan Corporation owns and operates the containerships that are engaged in the deep-sea container transportation business in Hong Kong. The company charters its containerships pursuant to long-term, fixed-rate time charters to various container liner companies. As of December 31, 2009, it owned and operated a fleet of 42 containerships. The company was incorporated in 2005 and is headquartered in Majuro, the Marshall Islands.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Jake L'Ecuyer]
Equities Trading UP
Seaspan (NYSE: SSW) shot up 10.52 percent to $21.75 after the company announced the termination of its public offerings of common shares and convertible notes. - [By Jake L'Ecuyer]
Equities Trading DOWN Shares of Seaspan (NYSE: SSW) were down 9.82 percent to $21.13 after the company priced 3,500,000 equity offering at $22.00 per share.
- [By Dan Caplinger]
The stock market suffered another up-and-down day, again finishing on the losing end as investors saw their fear levels rise dramatically after the Fed's latest minutes were released. With less clarity than ever about the Fed's eventual plans to end its quantitative easing program, investors are justifiably concerned. But big losses for Seaspan (NYSE: SSW ) , voxeljet (NYSE: VJET ) , and Direxion Daily Gold Miners Bull 3x (NYSEMKT: NUGT ) showed how vulnerable some investments are to the uncertainty. Let's look more closely at what happened to push these share prices down.
- [By Brian Pacampara]
Based on the aggregated intelligence of 180,000-plus investors participating in Motley Fool CAPS, the Fool's free investing community, containership operator Seaspan (NYSE: SSW ) has earned a coveted five-star ranking.
10 Best Healthcare Equipment Stocks To Watch Right Now: Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corp (FMCC)
Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation (Freddie Mac) conducts business in the United States residential mortgage market and the global securities market. The Company operates in three segments: Single-family Guarantee, Investments, and Multifamily. The Single-family Guarantee segment reflects results from the Company's single-family credit guarantee activities. The Investments segment reflects results from the Company's investment, funding and hedging activities. The Multifamily segment reflects results from the Company's investment (both purchases and sales), securitization, and guarantee activities in multifamily mortgage loans and securities. The Company conducts its operations in the United States and its territories.
Single-Family Guarantee Segment
In the Company�� Single-family Guarantee segment, it purchases single-family mortgage loans originated by the Company�� seller/servicers in the primary mortgage market. The Company uses the mortgage securitization process to package the purchased mortgage loans into guaranteed mortgage-related securities. The Company guarantees the payment of principal and interest on the mortgage-related security in exchange for management and guarantee fees. The Company�� customers are lenders in the primary mortgage market that originate mortgages for homeowners. These lenders include mortgage banking companies, commercial banks, savings banks, community banks, credit unions, Housing Finance Agency (HFAs), and savings and loan associations. The Company�� customers also service loans in its single-family credit guarantee portfolio.
Mortgage securitization is a process, by which the Company purchase mortgage loans that lenders originate, and pool these loans into mortgage securities that are sold in global capital markets. The United States residential mortgage market consists of a primary mortgage market that links homebuyers and lenders and a secondary mortgage market that links lenders and investors. The Company part! icipates in the secondary mortgage market by purchasing mortgage loans and mortgage-related securities for investment and by issuing guaranteed mortgage-related securities. In the Single-family Guarantee segment, it purchase and securitize single-family mortgages, which are mortgages that are secured by one- to four-family properties. The types of mortgage-related securities it issue and guarantee include PCs, REMICs and Other Structured Securities and Other Guarantee Transactions. The Company also issue mortgage-related securities to third parties in exchange for non-Freddie Mac mortgage-related securities. The non-Freddie Mac mortgage-related securities are transferred to trusts that were specifically created for the purpose of issuing securities, or certificates, in the Other Guarantee Transactions.
Investments Segment
In the Company�� Investments segment, it invests principally in mortgage-related securities and single-family performing mortgage loans, which are funded by other debt issuances and hedged using derivatives. In the Company�� Investments segment, it also provides funding and hedging management services to the Single-family Guarantee and Multifamily segments. The Company�� customers for its debt securities predominantly include insurance companies, money managers, central banks, depository institutions, and pension funds. The Company funds its investment activities by issuing short-term and long-term debt. The Company�� PCs are an integral part of its mortgage purchase program. The Company�� Single-family Guarantee segment purchases many of its mortgages by issuing PCs in exchange for those mortgage loans in guarantor swap transactions. The Company also issue PCs backed by mortgage loans that it purchased for cash.
Multifamily Segment
The Company�� multifamily segment issues Other Structured Securities, but does not issue REMIC securities. The Company multifamily segment also enters into other guarantee commitments for mult! ifamily H! FA bonds and housing revenue bonds held by third parties. The Company acquires a portion of its multifamily mortgage loans from several large seller/servicers.
The Company competes with Federal National Mortgage Association (Fannie Mae), Government National Mortgage Association (Ginnie Mae), Mae Federal Housing Administration/the United States Department of Veteran Affairs (FHA/VA) and Federal Home Loan Bank (FHLB).
Advisors' Opinion:- [By John Kell and Lauren Pollock var popups = dojo.query(".socialByline .popC"); ]
Bank of America Corp.(BAC) on Wednesday said it would pay about $9.5 billion to settle all litigation by a top U.S. federal regulator over mortgage securities sold to Fannie Mae(FNMA) (FNMA) and Freddie Mac(FMCC) (FMCC). Shares edged up 13 cents to $17.31 premarket.
10 Best Healthcare Equipment Stocks To Watch Right Now: Western Digital Corp (WDC)
Western Digital Corporation (WD) is a provider of solutions for the collection, storage, management, protection and use of digital content, including audio and video. Its principal products are hard drives, which are devices that use one or more rotating magnetic disks (magnetic media) to store and allow access to data. Its hard drives are used in desktop and notebook computers, corporate and cloud computing data centers, home entertainment equipment and stand-alone consumer storage devices. In addition to hard drives, its other products include solid-state drives and home entertainment and networking products. The Company operates as the parent company of its hard drive business, Western Digital Technologies, Inc. Effective March 8, 2012, the Company acquired Viviti Technologies Ltd. In May 2012, the Company completed the divestiture of certain 3.5-inch hard drive assets to Toshiba Corporation. As part of its deal with Toshiba, WD also completed its purchase of Toshiba Storage Device (Thailand) Company Limited (TSDT), which manufactured hard drives.
The Company offers a line of storage devices. Its hard drives include 3.5-inch and 2.5-inch form factors, capacities ranging from 80 gigabytes to three terabytes, nominal rotation speeds up to 10,000 revolutions per minute, and interfaces, such as Serial Advanced Technology Attachment (SATA) and Serial Attached SCSI (Small Computer System Interface) (SAS). In addition, the Company offers a family of hard drives specifically designed to consume less power than standard drives, utilizing its WD GreenPower Technology. Its solid-state drives include 2.5-inch and Compact Flash form factors, capacities ranging from 1 gigabyte to 256 gigabytes, and interfaces, such as SATA and PATA.
Client Compute Storage Products
Client compute consists of hard drives and solid-state drives for desktop and mobile personal computers (PC��). During the fiscal year ended July 1, 2011 (fiscal 2011), it shipped 151 million hard drive clie! nt compute unit. Its client compute storage products include WD Caviar, WD Scorpio and WD Silicon Edge. WD Caviar family of hard drives is designed for use in desktop PCs. WD Scorpio family of hard drives is designed for use in mobile PCs. WD Silicon Edge family of solid-state drives is designed for both read-intensive client/consumer applications and write-intensive original equipment manufacturer (OEM) applications.
Client Non-Compute Storage Products
Client non-compute consists of branded products and consumer electronics products. Its hard drive client non-compute unit shipments were 46 million, during fiscal 2011.
Branded Products
Branded products consists of hard drives embedded into WD-branded external storage appliances with capacities ranging from 250 gigabytes to 8 terabytes and using interfaces, such as Universal Serial Bus (USB) 2.0, USB 3.0, external SATA, FireWire and Ethernet network connections. Certain branded products models include software that assists customers with back up, remote access and management of digital content. Branded products also include its home entertainment and networking products. Its branded products include My Book and WD Elements Desktop family of storage appliances. My Passport and WD Elements Portable family of storage appliances include WD ShareSpace, WD TV and WD Livewire.
My Book and WD Elements Desktop family of storage appliances are designed to add external capacity to desktops and digital video recorders (DVRs), allow for the transfer and storage of videos directly from certain camcorders, and connect to networks to simplify storage for consumers. My Passport and WD Elements Portable family of storage appliances are designed for external portability weighing less than one-half of a pound and allow for the transfer and storage of videos directly from certain camcorders. WD ShareSpace is a network-attached storage system designed for home office or small office applications. WD TV m! edia play! ers connect to a user�� television or home theater system and play digital movies, music and photos from an integrated hard drive, network hard drives, any of its WD-branded external hard drives, other USB mass storage devices or content services accessed over the Internet. WD Livewire, which enables consumers to use their existing electrical outlets to extend Internet connections throughout the home.
Consumer Electronics Products
WD AV family of hard drives is designed for use in products, such as DVRs and audio and video applications. WD AV drives deliver the characteristics CE manufacturers.
Enterprise Storage Products
Enterprise consists of hard drives for traditional enterprise and nearline storage applications, as well as solid-state drives for embedded applications. Its hard drive enterprise unit shipments were 10 million, for fiscal 2011. Its enterprise storage products include WD S25 hard drive, WD VelociRaptor, WD RE and WD SiliconDrive. WD S25 hard drive is designed for mission-critical enterprise server and storage applications, such as data centers and data arrays. WD VelociRaptor hard drive is designed for enterprise server and storage applications. This hard drive is also used in the high-end desktop PC market for applications including gaming, servers and advanced computer-aided design/computer-aided manufacturing (CAD/CAM) systems. WD RE family of hard drives is designed for nearline storage enterprise applications. WD SiliconDrive family of solid-state drives features fast read/write speeds in high capacities and is designed for embedded system OEM applications.
The Company competes with Hitachi Global Storage Technologies, Intel Corporation, Micron Technology, Inc., Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd., Seagate Technology, STEC, Inc. and Toshiba Corporation.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Shauna O'Brien]
On Monday, storage solution company Western Digital Corp (WDC) announced that it has agreed to acquire Virident Systems, Inc. for $685 million.
The flash storage solutions company will be purchased by HGST, which is a subsidiary of WDC, for a total of $685 million in cash. This amount represents approximately $645 million in enterprise value.
This deal will allow WDC to expand its presence in the solid state drives market. This market is expected to grow from $2.5 billion in revenue in 2012 to $7 billion in revenue by 2017.
Mike Cordano, president of Western Digital unit HGST commented: “Virident’s server-side flash storage helps datacenter customers solve their most significant data infrastructure challenges, including application performance across diverse workloads, power efficiency, and total cost of ownership.”
Western Digital shares were up 37 cents, or 0.57%, during pre-market trading Monday. The stock is up 53% YTD.
10 Best Healthcare Equipment Stocks To Watch Right Now: Trex Company Inc.(TREX)
Trex Company, Inc. manufactures and distributes wood/plastic composite products, and related accessories primarily for the residential and commercial decking and railing applications in the United States. The company offers decking products, including Trex Transcend and Trex Enhance protective shells for protection against fading, staining, and scratching; Trex Accents that provides a smooth surface on one side and subtle wood grain on the other; Trex Escapes, a cellular PVC deck board; and Trex Hideaway, a hidden fastening system for specially grooved boards. It also provides railing products comprising Trex Designer Series Railing, which consists of a decorative top and bottom rail, refined balusters, and post caps and skirts; and Trex Transcend Railing for use with Trex decking products, as well as other decking materials. In addition, the company offers Trex Transcend Porch Flooring and Railing System, an integrated system of porch components and accessories; and fenci ng products, such as Trex Seclusions fencing product that uses interlocking pickets for privacy, and Trex Surroundings fencing that uses traditional pickets. Further, it provides TrexTrim product, a cellular PVC residential exterior trim product; steel deck framing systems under Trex Elevations name; and Trex DeckLighting, a line of energy-efficient LED dimmable deck lighting, which is designed for use on posts, floors, and steps. Additionally, the company acts as a licensor in various licensing agreements with third parties to manufacture and sell various products, including Trex Outdoor Furniture; Trex RainEscape, an above joist deck drainage system; Trex CustomCurve, an on-site system that allows contractors to heat and bend Trex products; and Trex Pergolas, a cellular PVC trim product. The company sells its products through wholesale distributors, retail lumber dealers, and Home Depot and Lowe?s stores. Trex Company, Inc. was founded in 1996 and is headquartered in Winc hester, Virginia.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Jason Hall]
Tesla Motors (NASDAQ: TSLA ) �and Trex� (NYSE: TREX ) have almost nothing in common. One is an innovative leader with expertise in a product that reduces greenhouse gas emissions versus its competitors, generally caters to an upscale clientele, and grew like crazy last year.�
- [By Rick Munarriz]
The report naturally bodes well for Trex (NYSE: TREX ) . The leading provider of wood-alternative decking posts next week, and what's good for one has been good for the other. Trex has also blasted through Wall Street estimates, beating quarterly profit targets by a double-digit percentage margin every single period over the past year.
- [By Rick Munarriz]
Shares of Trex (NYSE: TREX ) hit an eight-year high today after posting blowout quarterly results this morning.
The leading maker of wood-alternative decking and railing products saw its net sales climb 12% to $107.9 million, exceeding both the $107.4 million that analysts were targeting and its own earlier guidance of $107 million.
10 Best Healthcare Equipment Stocks To Watch Right Now: Otoc Ltd (OTC)
OTOC Limited through its wholly owned subsidiaries OTOC Group Pty Ltd and Whelans (WA) Pty Ltd (Whelans) provides construction and turnkey camp/ village installations, environmental, surveying, mapping, town planning, engineering, project delivery and specialist consulting services across the infrastructure, resources and energy sectors. The Company operates in two segments: OTOC Operations and Whelans Consulting Operations. OTOC Operations (OTOC) provides camp/village installations to the Western Australian resources and infrastructure sector. Whelans Consulting Operations (Whelans) provides surveying, mapping and town planning services throughout Western Australian. In July 2013, the Company announced that its wholly owned subsidiary OTOC Australia has expanded its Facilities Division through the acquisition of full ownership of a 700 person commercial kitchen/diner facility. Advisors' Opinion:- [By Cesc]
��pproximately two-thirds of external Software segment revenue is annuity based, coming from recurring license charges and ongoing post-contract support. The remaining one-third relates to one-time charge (OTC) arrangements in which clients pay one, up-front payment for a perpetual license.��/p>
- [By Holly LaFon]
Perrigo (PRGO) is a global manufacturer of over-the-counter (OTC) store brand and generic prescription pharmaceuticals, infant formulas, nutritional products and active pharma ingredients. The company is the dominant player in the OTC drug market with the largest distribution network and broadest range of product offerings. The OTC store brands have increased their market share by about 1-2% annually at the expense of national name product given their superior value proposition to both the consumer and retailers. Perrigo has numerous growth drivers over the next few years including the continued penetration of OTC store brands and introduction of new product categories. The stock sells at a reasonable valuation, in our opinion, given the company's strong management team, financial returns and long-term growth prospects.
10 Best Healthcare Equipment Stocks To Watch Right Now: Greenhunter Resources Inc (GRH)
GreenHunter Resources, Inc., formerly GreenHunter Energy, Inc., incorporated on June 7, 2005, is engaged in providing Total Water Management Solutions to oil and gas operators who are active in the Marcellus, Eagle Ford and Bakken shale plays. The Company operates in three segments: Wind Energy, Water Management and Biomass. All of the Company�� segments are in development stages with no operations. The Company assembled a suite of water management products and services and markets them under the Total Water Management Solutions brand. The Company�� operations includes Total Water Management Solutions, Frac-Cycle, remote access management compliance asset tracking (RAMCAT), equipment and tank rentals, disposal wells, MAG Tank and salt water disposal animation. On February 17, 2012, the Company closed on the acquisition of 100% of the ownership interest of three fully operational commercial salt water disposal (SWD) wells and associated facilities located in Washington County, Ohio and Lee County, Kentucky. In March 2013, GreenHunter Water, LLC closed the purchase of a 10.8 acre barging terminal facility located in Wheeling, Ohio County, West Virginia. In February 2014, its wholly owned subsidiary, GreenHunter Water, LLC, sold its Kenedy Hunter salt water disposal (SWD) facilities and a SWD permit and surface acreage located at another South Texas property to Sable Environmental, LLC.
The Company�� subsidiary GreenHunter Water, LLC (GreenHunter Water) is focused on water resource management specifically as it pertains to the unconventional oil and natural gas shale resource plays with its business operations in the Appalachian and South Texas basins. GreenHunter Water engaged in providing a full range of solutions to address producers��needs and is built upon an identified need in the oilfield, to deliver a Total Water Management Solution to its customer base through long term agreements. The Company�� Total Water Management Solutions are custom developed to meet producers��wat! er resource planning needs. These solutions include owning and operating saltwater disposal facilities, fluids handling and hauling and logistics services, frac tank and next-generation modular above-ground tank rentals, mobile water treatment technologies and remote asset tracking to provide as value added services to its customers.
The Company�� asset included a fleet of nine water hauling vacuum trucks, and 37 frac tanks (500 barrel capacity each). As of December 31, 2011, total salt water disposal capacity is 9,000 barrels per day, of which 6,000 barrels per day is from two wells located in Ohio and approximately 3,000 barrels per day is from one well located in Kentucky. The Company is engaged in exploring various alternative means of water transport that include temporary and permanent above-ground or below-ground pipeline systems, and the use of rail and barge transport.
GreenHunter Water has assembled a variety of equipment and tanks for rental. Products available in the Eagle Ford and Marcellus Shale areas include 500 barrel frac Tanks, 425 barrel Weir Tanks, modular above-ground temporary storage tanks to replace frac ponds, available up to 41,000 barrel in capacity, frac manifolds and glass lined steel tanks, up to 100,000 barrel. During the year ended December 31, 2011, the Company Completed a project, that included the removal of chemicals and impurities in a sufficient amount for reuse in new wells that were scheduled for fracture stimulation. The project also included the treatment of a gel frac flowback and multiple sources of flowback water blended together. The Company purchased equipment assets to be used to service a long term contract to haul and dispose produced water for several oil companies that control mineral leasehold acreage positions in the Marcellus and Utica Shale plays located in Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Ohio. The equipment consists of five Peterbilt 388 trucks, five 130 barrel Vacuum Trailers and five vacuum pumps and related equipme! nt.
The Company�� water treatment services name is Frac-Cycle. Frac-Cycle�� flexible design allows the user to take in flow-back or produced water and recycle to either clean brine or fresh water. Recycled water can be used in subsequent frac jobs and in some cases an NPDES permit can be obtained to discharge fresh water into a stream. The Company�� RAMCAT is a system and compliance tool that bundles a combination of its software, advanced hardware and communications technologies to provide a method for remote activity observation via a Web-based portal for management of well-head fluids. RAMCAT includes online data monitoring, which provides oil and natural gas producers near real-time dynamic information on fluid levels, tank temperature, recent transactions, date and time of on-load and off-load, truck and driver identification, H2S and critical condition alarms and battery voltage.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By James E. Brumley]
In a perfect world, a stock's price is merely a reflection of a predictable combination of a company's history and forward-looking prospects. We don't live - or trade - in a perfect world though. In the real world, a chart not only tells a story, but illustrates traders' changing opinion of a stock. The good news is, traders move, thing, buy, and sell in fairly predictable patterns, and when you see certain hints fall in place, you can make a very good trade. Enter Authentidate Holding Corp. (NASDAQ:ADAT) and Greenhunter Resources Inc. (NYSEMKT:GRH). Both GRH as well as ADAT have taken on a bullish shape as of today, and both are apt to be at much higher levels in the foreseeable future.
10 Best Healthcare Equipment Stocks To Watch Right Now: Enventis Corp (ENVE)
Enventis Corporation, formerly HickoryTech Corporation, is an integrated communications provider. The Company has a five-state fiber network spanning more than 3,250 route miles with facilities-based operations across Minnesota and into Iowa, North Dakota, South Dakota and Wisconsin. Enventis Telecom, Inc. (Enventis) provides business Internet protocol (IP) voice, data and video solutions, Multi-Protocol Label Switching (MPLS) networking, data center and managed hosted services and communication systems. HickoryTech delivers broadband, Internet, digital television (TV), voice and data services to businesses and consumers in southern Minnesota and northwest Iowa. The Company�� operations are conducted through nine subsidiaries. Its Fiber and Data and Equipment Segments subsidiaries include Enventis, Enterprise Integration Services, Inc. (EIS) and IdeaOne. Its Telecom Segment subsidiaries include Mankato Citizens Telephone Company (MCTC), Mid-Communications, Inc. (Mid-Com), Heartland Telecommunications Company of Iowa, Inc. (Heartland), Cable Network, Inc. (CNI), Crystal Communications, Inc. (Crystal) and National Independent Billing, Inc. (NIBI). The Company operates in three segments: Fiber and Data, Equipment and Telecom. The Company formed Enterprise Integration Services, Inc. (EIS) on January 2, 2012. On March 1, 2012, the Company acquired IdeaOne Telecom Group, LLC.
Fiber and Data and Equipment segments portion of its business serves customers across a five-state region with IP-based voice, transport, data and network solutions, managed services, equipment, network integration and support services. Through its regional fiber network, the Company provides wholesale fiber and data services to regional and national service providers, including interexchange and wireless carriers. It also specializes in providing integrated unified communication solutions for businesses, such as enterprise multi-office organizations, small and medium-sized businesses (SMB), primarily in the Upper Midwes! t. Residential customers are not targeted by the Fiber and Data or Equipment Segments. Its Telecom Segment provides residential and business services, including high-speed Internet, broadband services, digital TV and voice services in its legacy telecom markets. Telecom consists of the operation of local telephone companies or incumbent local exchange carriers (ILEC) and the operation of a competitive local exchange carrier (CLEC). All of its telecom operations are operated as one integrated unit. Its ILECs and CLEC are the primary users of the services provided by its subsidiary, National Independent Billing, Inc. (NIBI). NIBI also sells its services externally to other companies in the communications industry.
Fiber and Data and Equipment Segments
The Company, through its two business-to-business segments, Fiber and Data and Equipment, provides integrated data services and fiber based communication solutions, including IP-based voice, data and network solutions to business customers in the Upper Midwest. The product portfolio includes fiber, data and Internet, Voice and Voice over IP (VoIP), Managed and hosted services and data center services. As of December 31, 2011, it owned or had long-term leases to approximately 2,175 fiber route miles of fiber optic cable, including 225 miles acquired with the IdeaOne acquisition and has metro fiber optic rings that directly connect the network with businesses (interexchange carriers, wireless carriers, retail, health care, Government and education customers). Additional local fiber rings connect its network to local telephone central offices along with the Telecom Sector network, which has 1,155 fiber optic miles. It also serves customers through interconnections that are leased from third party service providers.
The Company�� product portfolio includes SingleLink Unified Communications (SingleLink), a hosted or managed IP communications service, which includes local and long distance voice, business IP telephony via ! a hosted ! IP private branch exchange, unified messaging and Internet access. The SingleLink solution is primarily targeted at SMB customers but also has enterprise customer applications. IdeaOne Telecom Group, LLC is a metro fiber network provider in Fargo, North Dakota. IdeaOne provides data networking, Internet, colocation, phone and hosting services to approximately 3,600 customers in the Fargo area. The acquisition added 225 fiber route miles to HickoryTech�� regional network. It has Minnesota offices located in Minneapolis, Duluth and Rochester and operates data centers in Edina, Duluth and Mankato. It also has an office located in the Des Moines, Iowa area. The Equipment segment product portfolio includes equipment solutions, total care support and monitoring and professional services. The Company provides converged IP services that allow all communications (voice, video and data) to use the same IP data infrastructure. Equipment solutions include TelePresence, Unified Communications, Data Center and Virtualization, Professional Services, Total Care and Security.
Telecom
The Telecom Segment provides local telephone service, long distance, calling features, digital subscriber line (DSL), Internet, digital TV, data services and a phone book directory to residents and businesses in its legacy markets. As an auxiliary business, the data processing services of NIBI are also included within this Sector. Telecom includes three ILECs: MCTC, Mid-Com and Heartland. MCTC and Mid-Com provide telephone services in south central Minnesota, specifically the Mankato, Minnesota region, and 11 rural communities surrounding Mankato. Heartland, its third ILEC, provides telephone services for 11 rural communities in northwest Iowa. In total, there are 23 ILEC exchanges within this Segment. Also included is a CLEC, Crystal, which provides services in south central Minnesota and near Des Moines, Iowa. There are eight Minnesota CLEC exchanges and two Iowa CLEC exchanges. NIBI provides data processing an! d related! services for its affiliated companies, as well as for other ILECs, CLECs, interexchange network carriers, wireless companies and cable TV providers throughout the United States and Canada.
The Company owns and operates a 1,075 mile fiber optic network and facilities in Minnesota and Iowa. These facilities are used to transport voice, data and video services between the Company�� exchanges, to connect customers to interexchange carriers and to provide service directly to end users. This network is interconnected with its 2,175 fiber mile network in the Fiber and Data Segment. Its Minnesota ILECs and CLEC are the primary users of these fiber optic cable facilities. The Company provides interexchange telephone access by connecting the communications networks of interexchange carriers and wireless carriers with the equipment and facilities of end users through its switched networks or private lines. As local exchange telephone companies, it provides end office switching and circuits to long distance interexchange carriers. The Company provides access to its network for interexchange carriers to conduct long distance business with individual customers who select a long distance carrier for the origination and termination of calls to all customers.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Anna Prior]
Consolidated Communications Holdings Inc.(CNSL) has agreed to acquire broadband communications provider Enventis Corp.(ENVE) in an all-stock deal that values Enventis at about $228 million. The deal values Enventis at about $16.50 a share, a 17% premium to Friday’s close.
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