Mortgage buyer Freddie Mac said Thursday that the average rate for a 30-year loan declined to 4.14% from 4.20% last week. The average for the 15-year mortgage eased to 3.25% from 3.29%.
Warmer weather has yet to boost home-buying as it normally does. Rising prices and higher rates have made affordability a problem for would-be buyers.
U.S home construction surged in April to its highest pace in five months, the government reported last Friday, but nearly all the increase came from the volatile apartment sector ��a sign that Americans are still struggling to buy single-family homes.
Top High Tech Stocks To Own Right Now: GSI Group Inc.(GSIG)
GSI Group Inc. designs, develops, manufactures, and sells laser-based solutions, laser scanning devices, and precision motion and optical control technologies worldwide. The company?s Laser Products segment provides lasers and laser-based systems for photonics-based applications, such as cutting, welding, marking, engraving, micro-machining, and scientific research. Its Precision Motion and Technologies segment designs, manufactures, and markets air bearing spindles, encoders, thermal printers, laser scanning devices, and light and color measurement systems to original equipment manufacturers. The company?s Semiconductor Systems segment offers laser based production systems for semiconductor, microelectronics, and electronics manufacturing. This segment?s products comprise WaferRepair for dynamic random access memory, flash memory chips, and LCDs; WaferMark for silicon suppliers and integrated circuit factories; and WaferTrim and Circuit Trim for analog and mixed signal sensor and chip resistor devices, as well as for resistor devices. The company sells its products primarily through direct sales force, resellers, distributors, and system integrators. It serves industrial, electronics, automotive, medical, packaging, aerospace, scientific, semiconductor, lighting, military, and motion picture markets. The company was formerly known as GSI Lumonics Inc. and changed its name to GSI Group Inc. in 2005. GSI Group Inc. was founded in 1970 and is based in Bedford, Massachusetts.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Eric Volkman]
Electro Scientific Industries (NASDAQ: ESIO ) has a new division under its corporate wing. The company has inked a definitive agreement to purchase the semiconductor systems unit of GSI Group (NASDAQ: GSIG ) . The terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Top High Tech Stocks To Own Right Now: HNI Corp (HNI)
HNI Corporation, incorporated in 1944, is a provider of office furniture and hearth products. The Company operates in two segments: office furniture and hearth products. A broad office furniture product offering is sold to dealers, wholesalers, national office product distributors, end-user customers, and federal, state and local governments. Hearth products include a range of gas, electric, wood and biomass burning fireplaces, inserts, stoves, facings and accessories. These products are sold through a national system of dealers and distributors, as well as Corporation-owned distribution and retail outlets. It manufactures office furniture in Alabama, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Minnesota, New York, North Carolina, Texas and China. The Company manufactures hearth products in Iowa, Maryland, Minnesota, Washington and Pennsylvania. On November 14, 2011, the Company acquired Sagus International, Inc. (Sagus), a designer and manufacturer of educational furniture solutions. In August 2012, the Company BP Ergo Limited, a manufacturer and marketer of office furniture in India.
Eight operating units, marketing under various brand names, participate in the office furniture industry. These operating units include The HON Company, Allsteel Inc., Maxon Furniture Inc., The Gunlocke Company L.L.C., Paoli Inc., Hickory Business Furniture, LLC (HBF), Sagus and HNI Hong Kong Limited (Lamex). The operating unit Hearth & Home Technologies Inc. (Hearth & Home) participates in the hearth products industry. The retail and distribution brand for this operating unit is Fireside Hearth & Home. HNI International Inc. (HNI International) sells office furniture products manufactured by the Company�� operating units in select markets outside the United States and Canada. With dealers and servicing partners located in more than 50 countries, HNI International provides project management services virtually worldwide. The Company distributes its products through a network of independent office furniture dealers,! office products dealers, wholesalers and retailers. The Company is a supplier of office furniture to the nationwide distributors of office products.
Office Furniture
The Company designs, manufactures and markets a range of office furniture in four categories: storage, including vertical files, lateral files and pedestals; seating, including task chairs, executive desk chairs, conference/training chairs, side chairs and educational chairs and desk combinations; office systems (modular and moveable workspaces with integrated work surfaces, space dividers and lighting), and desks and related products, including tables, bookcases and credenzas. Its products are sold under the brand names, such as HON, Allsteel, Maxon, Gunlocke, Paoli, HBF, Artco Bell, Midwest Folding Products, LSI Corporation of America, basyx and Lamex, as well as private labels.
The Company offers a range of storage options designed either to be integrated into its office systems products or to function as freestanding furniture in office applications. The Company sells its freestanding storage through independent office products and office furniture dealers, nationwide chains of office products dealers, wholesalers and national office product distributors. The Company's seating line includes chairs designed for all types of office work.
It offers a complete line of office panel system products for team work settings, private offices and open floor plans. The Company offers whole office solutions, movable panels, storage units and work surfaces that can be installed and reconfigured. The Company and its dealer partners also offer consultative selling and design services for its office system products.
The Company�� offering of desks and related products includes stand-alone steel, laminate and wood furniture items, such as desks, bookshelves, credenzas and mobile desking. The Company's desks and related products are sold to a range of customers from those designing office config! urations ! to small retail and home office purchasers. It offers a range of tables designed for use in conference rooms, private offices, educational institutions, training areas, team work settings and open floor plans. It is North America�� manufacturer and marketer of prefabricated fireplaces, hearth stoves and related products, primarily for the home, which it sells under Heatilator, Heat & Glo, Quadra-Fire and Harman Stove brand names.
The Company�� line of hearth products includes a range of gas, electric and wood burning fireplaces, inserts, stoves, facings and accessories. Heatilator and Heat & Glo are brand in the two segments of the home fireplace market: vented-gas and wood fireplaces. In addition, the Company is also engaged in pellet-burning stoves and furnaces with its Quadra-Fire and Harman product lines, which provide home heating solutions using renewable fuel.
The Company competes with Steelcase Inc., Haworth, Inc., Herman Miller, Inc., Knoll, Inc., The Global Group, Kimball International, Inc., KI, Virco Mfg. Corporation, Teknion Corporation, Travis Industries Inc., Lennox International Inc., Monessen Hearth Systems Co., FMI Products, LLC, Wolf Steel Ltd. (Napoleon) and FPI Fireplace Products International Ltd. (Regency).
Advisors' Opinion:- [By John Udovich]
Small cap office furniture stock Steelcase Inc (NYSE: SCS) jumped 11.66% after beating earnings expectations, meaning it might be time to take a closer look at the stock along with potential office or commercial furniture stock peers like�HNI Corp (NYSE: HNI), Knoll Inc (NYSE: KNL) and Virco Mfg. Corporation (NASDAQ: VIRC). After all, the performance of any company selling office or commercial furniture would tend to give some insights into the office or employment markets.
- [By Rich Duprey]
Fireplace and office furniture maker�HNI� (NYSE: HNI ) �announced yesterday�its second-quarter dividend of $0.24 per share, the same rate it paid for the last four quarters after it raised the payout a penny from $0.23 per share.
- [By Ben Levisohn]
Last week, HNI Corp. (HNI) beat earnings forecasts and promptly fell 3.4%. Raymond James, however, thinks the selloff was undeserved and raised its rating on the office-furniture maker, helping HNI Corp. to make back its loss.
Raymond James analysts Budd Bugatch and�Bobby Griffin explain why they upgraded HNI Corp.:
We are upgrading HNI to Outperform from a Market Perform rating and establishing a $36.00 price target following the company�� 1Q14 earnings release and management conference call. As stated in an earlier note, HNI delivered a ��lean��1Q14 EPS beat; and we are puzzled by Thursday�� trading activity. HNI historically trades at a premium to the office furniture peer group, but following the shares��recent pullback (down ~3.5% on Thursday before the Good Friday holiday and down 14% YTD compared to +0.8% for the SPX YTD), this is no longer the case and gives us reason for a more constructive rating.
Shares of HNI Corp. have gained 4.9% to $35.17 at 1:45 p.m., while Steelcase (SCS) has risen 0.8% to $16.93, Knoll (KNL) has advanced 2.5% to $18.74 and Herman Miller (MLHR) has ticked up 0.3% to $30.57.
- [By CRWE]
HNI Corporation (NYSE:HNI) reported that it has acquired BP Ergo Limited, a leading manufacturer and marketer of office furniture in India which goes to market through a national network of sales branches and dealers supported by two manufacturing locations.
Top Trucking Companies To Buy For 2015: National Western Life Insurance Company(NWLI)
National Western Life Insurance Company provides life insurance products for the savings and protection needs of policyholders and annuity contracts for the asset accumulation and retirement needs of contract holders. Its life products include universal life insurance and interest-sensitive whole life, as well as traditional products, such as term insurance coverage; and annuity products comprise flexible premium and single premium deferred annuities, fixed indexed annuities, and single premium immediate annuities. The company markets and distributes its insurance products primarily through independent national marketing organizations to residents of various countries in central and South America, the Caribbean, the Pacific Rim, eastern Europe, and Asia. It also engages in small real estate, nursing home, and other investment operations. The company was founded in 1956 and is based in Austin, Texas.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By David Merkel]
The two stocks in question are Stancorp Financial (SFG) and National Western Life Insurance (NWLI). The short cases for both are based on a naive view of how insurance companies work.
Top High Tech Stocks To Own Right Now: Eurobank Ergasias SA (EUROB)
Eurobank Ergasias SA, formerly EFG Eurobank Ergasias SA, is a banking and financial services group located in Greece. It is organized into five segments: Retail, incorporating customer current accounts, savings, deposits and investment savings products, credit and debit cards, consumer loans, small business banking and mortgages; Corporate, incorporating direct debit facilities, current accounts, deposits, overdrafts, loan and other credit facilities, foreign currency and derivative products to corporate entities; Wealth Management, incorporating private banking services, including total wealth management, to medium and high net worth individuals, insurance, mutual fund and investment savings products, and institutional asset management; Global and Capital Markets, incorporating investment banking services including corporate finance, merger and acquisition and equity brokerage, as well as International. On December 27, 2013, it merged by absorption of the New TT Hellenic Postbank SA. Advisors' Opinion:- [By Corinne Gretler]
National Bank of Greece surged 24 percent and Eurobank Ergasias SA (EUROB) more than doubled. The lenders��planned merger has been postponed and not canceled, Bank of Greece Governor George Provopoulos said, after statements on April 8 that they will be recapitalized separately.
Top High Tech Stocks To Own Right Now: Clean Diesel Technologies Inc.(CDTI)
Clean Diesel Technologies, Inc. engages in the manufacture and distribution of emissions control systems and products for heavy duty diesel and light duty vehicle markets. The company operates in two divisions, Heavy Duty Diesel Systems and Catalyst. The Heavy Duty Diesel Systems division designs and manufactures verified exhaust emissions control solutions that are used to reduce exhaust emissions created by on-road, off-road, and stationary diesel and alternative fuel engines, including propane and natural gas. Its products include closed crankcase ventilation systems, diesel oxidation catalysts, diesel particulate filters, Platinum Plus fuel-borne catalysts, ARIS selective catalytic reduction reagents, catalyzed wire mesh diesel particulate filters, alternative fuel products, and exhaust accessories. This division offers its products for original equipment manufacturers of heavy duty diesel equipment, such as mining equipment, vehicles, generator sets, and construction equipment, as well as retrofit customers consisting of school districts, municipalities, and other fleet operators. The Catalyst division produces catalyst formulations using its proprietary MPC technology for gasoline, diesel, and natural gas induced emissions. Its products comprise catalysts for gasoline engines, diesel engines, and energy applications. This division supplies its catalysts to automotive manufacturers and large heavy duty diesel engine manufacturers. The company sells its products through a network of distributors and dealers, and its direct sales force worldwide. Clean Diesel Technologies, Inc. is based in Ventura, California.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Bryan Murphy]
Look out Clean Diesel Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ:CDTI), and Cummins Inc. (NYSE:CMI), you may want to take notice too. Little HydroPhi Technologies Group, Inc. (OTCMKTS:HPTG) is about to make a big splash in your pool, which could make life very difficult and much easier (respectively) for the two of you. How's that? In simplest terms, all signs point to HydroPhi Technologies' diesel efficiency working quite well, saving those who use it money, while simultaneously saving the environment.
- [By Paul Ausick]
One Nasdaq stock posting outsized gains today is Clean Diesel Technologies Inc. (NASDAQ: CDTI) which is getting a share price boost of 68.85%. The company announced that it will begin shipping emissions control systems��catalysts to Honda in the first half of this year. The stock will close at around $4.82 in a 52-week range of $1.10 to $7.39 (the high was set today and was nearly double Monday�� closing price of $2.83). Volume was about 36-times the daily average of around nearly 525,000 shares traded.
- [By CRWE]
Clean Diesel Technologies, Inc. (Nasdaq:CDTI), a cleantech emissions control company, will be a presenter at the 3rd Annual Craig-Hallum Capital Group Alpha Select Conference. The presentation is scheduled for 2:10 p.m. ET on Thursday, September 27, 2012 at the Sentry Centers in New York.
Top High Tech Stocks To Own Right Now: Fabrinet (FN)
Fabrinet, incorporated on August 12, 1999, provides optical packaging and precision optical, electro-mechanical and electronic manufacturing services to original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) of complex products, such as optical communication components, modules and sub-systems, industrial lasers and sensors. The Company offers a range of optical and electro-mechanical capabilities across the entire manufacturing processes, including process design and engineering, supply chain management, manufacturing, advanced packaging, final assembly and test.
The products that the Company manufactures for its OEM customers includes optical communications devices, such as selective switching products, such as reconfigurable optical add-drop modules (ROADMs), optical amplifiers, modulators and other optical components and modules that collectively enable network managers to route signals through fiber traffic at various wavelengths and over various distances; tunable transponders and transceivers that eliminate the need to stock individual fixed wavelength transponders and transceivers used in voice and data communications networks; and active optical cables providing high-speed interconnect capabilities for data centers and computing clusters, as well as Infiniband, Ethernet, fiber channel and optical backplane connectivity.
Solid state, diode-pumped, gas and fiber lasers (industrial lasers) used across a array of industries, including semiconductor processing (wafer inspection, wafer dicing, wafer scribing), biotechnology (DNA sequencing, flow cytometry, hematology, antibody detection), metrology (instrumentation, calibration, inspection), and material processing (photo processing, textile cutting, annealing, marking, engraving); and sensors, including differential pressure, micro-gyro, fuel and other sensors that are used in automobiles, and non-contact temperature measurement sensors for the medical industry. The Company also designs and fabricates application-specific crystals, pri! sms, mirrors, laser components and substrates (customized optics) and other custom and standard borosilicate, clear fused quartz, and synthetic fused silica glass products (customized glass).
The Company competes with Sanmina-SCI Corporation, Celestica Inc., Venture Corporation Limited, Benchmark Electronics, Inc, Browave Corporation, Fujian Castech Crystals, Inc., Research Electro-Optic, Inc. and Photop Technologies, Inc.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Seth Jayson]
Fabrinet (NYSE: FN ) reported earnings on April 29. Here are the numbers you need to know.
The 10-second takeaway
For the quarter ended March 29 (Q3), Fabrinet beat expectations on revenues and beat expectations on earnings per share.
Top High Tech Stocks To Own Right Now: The Greenbrier Companies Inc (GBX)
The Greenbrier Companies, Inc. (Greenbrier), formerly Greenbrier Oregon, Inc., incorporated on October 24, 2005, are the designers, manufacturers and marketers of railroad freight car equipment in North America and Europe, a manufacturer and marketer of ocean-going marine barges in North America and a provider of wheel services, railcar refurbishment and parts, leasing and other services to the railroad and related transportation industries in North America. The Company operates in three business segments: Manufacturing; Wheel Services, Refurbishment & Parts; and Leasing & Services.
The Manufacturing segment, operating from facilities in the United States, Mexico and Poland, produces double-stack intermodal railcars, conventional railcars, tank cars and marine vessels.
The Wheel Services, Refurbishment & Parts segment performs wheel, axle and bearing servicing; railcar repair, refurbishment and maintenance activities; as well as production and reconditioning of a variety of parts for the railroad industry in North America. The Leasing & Services segment owns approximately 11,000 railcars and provides management services for approximately 219,000 railcars for railroads, shippers, carriers, institutional investors and other leasing and transportation companies in North America. The Company produces rail castings through an unconsolidated joint venture.
Manufacturing
The Manufacturing segment manufactures a broad array of railcar types in North America which includes railcar types other than coal cars. The primary products offered by the Company include Intermodal Railcars, Conventional Railcars, Tank Cars, European Railcar Manufacturing and Marine Vessel Fabrication. The Company manufactures a range of intermodal railcars. The important intermodal product is articulated double-stack railcar. The double-stack railcar is designed to transport containers stacked two-high on a single platform. The Company produces a range of boxcars, which are used in t! he transport of forest products, automotive, perishables, general merchandise and commodities. It also produces covered hopper cars for the grain, energy, sand and cement industries as well as gondolas for the steel and metals markets and various other conventional railcar types, including Auto-Max car.
The Company�� European manufacturing operation produces a variety of railcar (wagon) types, including a line of pressurized tank cars for liquid petroleum gas and ammonia and non-pressurized tank cars for light oil, chemicals and other products. It also produces flat cars, coil cars for the steel and metals market, coal cars for both the continental European and United Kingdom markets, gondolas, sliding wall cars and automobile transporter cars.
The Company�� Portland, manufacturing facility, located on a deep-water port on the Willamette River, includes marine vessel fabrication capabilities. It manufactures range of Jones Act ocean-going and river barges for transporting merchandise between ports within the U.S. including conventional deck barges, double-hull tank barges, railcar/deck barges, barges for aggregates and other heavy industrial products and dump barges. It focuses on the ocean-going vessels and coal carrying river barges although the facility has the capability to compete in other marine related products.
Wheel Services, Refurbishment and Parts.
Wheel Services, Railcar Repair, Refurbishment and Component Parts Manufacturing segment operates in the independent wheel services, repair, refurbishment and component parts networks in North America, operating in 39 locations. The wheel shops, operating in 12 locations, provide complete wheel services including reconditioning of wheels, axles and roller bearings in addition to new axle machining and finishing and axle downsizing. Its network of railcar repair and refurbishment shops, operating in 23 locations, performs heavy railcar repair and refurbishment, as well as routi! ne railca! r maintenance. It is engaged in the repair and refurbishment of railcars for third parties, as well as of its own leased and managed fleet. Its component parts facilities, operating in four locations, recondition railcar cushioning units, couplers, yokes, side frames, bolsters and various other parts. It also produces roofs, doors and associated parts for boxcars.
Leasing and Services
Leasing-The Company offers flexible financing programs including operating leases and by the mile leases to the customers . The Company leases are full service leases whereby the Company is responsible for maintenance and administration. Maintenance of the fleet is provided, in part, through its own facilities and engineering and technical staff.
Management Services- management services business offers a broad array of software and services that include railcar maintenance management, railcar accounting services, such as billing and revenue collection, car hire receivable and payable administration, total fleet management including railcar tracking using software, administration and railcar remarketing. The Company provide management services for a fleet of approximately 230,000 railcars for railroads, shippers, carriers, institutional investors and other leasing and transportation companies in North America.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Jake L'Ecuyer]
Top Headline
The Greenbrier Companies (NYSE: GBX) reported a 13% gain in its fiscal second-quarter earnings. Greenbrier's quarterly profit surged to $15.6 million, or $0.50 per share, versus a year-ago profit of $13.8 million, or $0.45 per share. Excluding one-time items, it earned $0.51 per share. Its revenue climbed 88% to $502.2 million. However, analysts were expecting earnings of $0.60 per share on revenue of $508.69 million. - [By Jake L'Ecuyer]
Top Headline
The Greenbrier Companies (NYSE: GBX) reported a 13% gain in its fiscal second-quarter earnings. Greenbrier's quarterly profit surged to $15.6 million, or $0.50 per share, versus a year-ago profit of $13.8 million, or $0.45 per share. Excluding one-time items, it earned $0.51 per share. Its revenue climbed 88% to $502.2 million. However, analysts were expecting earnings of $0.60 per share on revenue of $508.69 million.
Top High Tech Stocks To Own Right Now: Google Inc (GOOGL)
Google Inc. (Google), incorporated on October 22, 2002, is a global technology company. The Company�� business is primarily focused around key areas, such as search, advertising, operating systems and platforms, enterprise and hardware products. The Company generates revenue primarily by delivering online advertising. The Company also generates revenues from Motorola by selling hardware products. The Company provides its products and services in more than 100 languages and in more than 50 countries, regions, and territories. Effective September 16, 2013, Google Inc acquired Bump Technologies Inc. Effective October 22, 2013, Google Inc acquired FlexyCore, a developer of software. Effective December 6, 2013, Google Inc acquired the entire share capital of SCHAFT Inc. Effective December 14, 2013, Google Inc acquired Boston Dynamics Inc. Effective January 15, 2014, Google Inc acquired Impermium Corp, a developer of SaaS application software. Effective February 7, 2014, Google Inc acquired the remaining 88% interest in Nest Labs Inc. Effective February 21, 2014, Google Inc acquired Spider.io, a provider of online fraud detection services. Effective March 12, 2014, Google Inc acquired Green Throttle Games.
Search
The Company integrates features into its search service and offers specialized search services to help users tailor their search. The Company also offers product listing advertisements (ads), which include product information, such as product image, price, and merchant information, without requiring additional keywords or ad text. In January 2012, it launched Search plus Your World. During the year ended December 31, 2012, it also introduced Google Now and Google�� Knowledge Graph. Google Now is a search feature that gets the right information at just the right time. It tells the day�� weather before start of a day, how much traffic to expect before you leave for work or school, when the next train will arrive as you��e standing on the platform, or favorite team�! � score while they��e playing - all automatically with cards appearing throughout the day at the moment you need them. Google�� Knowledge Graph, enables the user to search for things, people or places that Google knows about-landmarks, celebrities, cities, sports teams, buildings, geographical features, movies, works of arts and more-and enhances Google Search in three ways: find the right thing, get the summary, and go deeper and broader.
Advertising
The Company�� AdWords is a primary auction-based advertising program, which delivers ads to search queries or Web content. With AdWords, advertisers create text-based ads that then appear beside related search results or Web content on its Websites and on thousands of partner Websites in its Google Network, which is the network of third parties that use its advertising programs to deliver relevant ads with search results and content. The Company also offers AdWords on a cost-per-impression basis that enables advertisers to pay the Company based on the number of times their ads appear on its Websites and the Company�� Google Network Members��Websites as specified by the advertiser. Its AdSense program enables Websites that are part of the Google Network to deliver ads from its AdWords advertisers that are relevant to the search results or content on Websites. In June 2012, the Company integrated its AdMob technology directly into its AdWords system, which enables advertisers to run campaigns across the more than 300,000 mobile applications running ads by AdMob - all from within the AdWords interface.
The Company�� Display advertising consists of videos, text, images, and other interactive ads that run across the Web on computers and mobile devices, including smart phones and handheld computers, such as net books and tablets. The Google Display Network provides advertisers services related to the delivery of display advertising across publishers participating in its AdSense program, publishers participat! ing in th! e DoubleClick Ad Exchange, and Google-owned sites, such as YouTube and Google Finance. Through its DoubleClick advertising technology, it provides to publishers, agencies, and advertisers the ad serving technology, which is the infrastructure that enables billions of ads to be served each day across the Web. Its DoubleClick Ad Exchange creates a real-time auction marketplace for the trading of display ad space. In addition, YouTube provides a range of video, interactive, and other ad formats for advertisers to reach their intended audience. YouTube�� video advertising solutions give advertisers a way to promote their content to the YouTube community, as well as to associate with content being watched by their target audience. YouTube also offers analytic tools to help advertisers understand their audience and derive general business intelligence.
The Company is focused on developing easy-to-use ad products to help advertisers extend their reach, help create revenue opportunities for its publisher partners, and deliver relevant and useful ads to users on the go. Google Mobile extends its products and services by providing mobile-specific features to mobile device users. The Company�� mobile-specific search technologies include search by voice, search by sight, and search by location. Google Mobile also optimizes a number of Google�� applications for mobile devices in both browser and downloadable form. In addition, the Company offers advertisers the ability to run search ad campaigns on mobile devices with mobile-specific ad formats, such as click-to-call ads in which advertisers can include a phone number within ad text. AdMob also offers effective ad units and solutions for application developers and advertisers. The Company provides users with relevant local information. The Company has organized information around more than 80 million places globally from various sources across the Web. Users can find addresses, phone numbers, hours of operation, directions and more for millions of! local qu! eries like shops, restaurants, parks and landmarks right on Google.com, on Google Maps and on Google Maps for mobile. Its products and services also help local business owners manage their online presence and connect with potential customers.
Operating Systems and Platforms
The Company�� Android is a free and open source mobile software platform that any developer can use to create applications for mobile devices and any handset manufacturer can install on a device. Google Chrome OS is an open source operating system with the Google Chrome Web browser as its foundation. Both the Google Chrome OS and the Google Chrome browser are built around the core tenets of speed, simplicity, and security. The Chrome browser runs on Windows, Mac, and Linux computers. Google+ is a new way to share online just like users do in the real world, sharing different things with different people. Google Play is a cloud-based, digital entertainment destination with more than 700,000 applications (apps) and games plus music, movies and books that its users can find, enjoy and share on the Web and on their Android phone or tablet. Google Drive is a place where users can create, share, collaborate, and keep all of their stuff. Google Docs is built right into Google Drive so users can work with others in real time on documents, spreadsheets and presentations and users��files go everywhere they do. Google Wallet is a virtual wallet that securely stores credit and debit cards, offers, and rewards cards. Users can tap their phone to pay in-store using Google Wallet anywhere contactless payments are accepted - at over 200,000 merchants across the United States. Google TV is a platform that gives consumers the power to experience television and the Internet on a single screen, with the ability to search and find the content they want to watch. The Google TV platform is based on the Android operating system and runs the Google Chrome browser.
Enterprise
The Company�� enterprise! products! provide Google technology for business settings. Through Google Apps, which includes Gmail, Google Docs, Google Calendar, and Google Sites, among other features, it provides hosted, Web-based applications that people can use on any device with a browser and an Internet connection. In addition, the Company provides its search technology for use within enterprises through the Google Search Appliance (real-time search of business applications, intranet applications, and public websites), on their public-facing sites with Google Site Search (custom search engine), and Google Commerce Search (for online retail enterprises). The Company also provide versions of its Google Maps Application Programming Interface (API) for businesses (including interactive Google Maps for public and internal Websites), as well as Google Earth Enterprise (a behind-the-company-firewall software solution for imagery and data visualization). Its enterprise solutions have been adopted by a variety of businesses, governments, schools, and non-profit organizations.
Motorola
The Company�� Motorola business consists of two segments: Mobile segment and Home segment. The Mobile segment is focused on mobile wireless devices and related products and services. The Home segment is focused on technologies and devices that provide video entertainment services to consumers by enabling subscribers to access a variety of interactive digital television services.
The Company competes with Facebook, Inc., Twitter Inc., Yahoo! Inc., Microsoft Corporation, eBay Inc., and Amazon.com, Inc.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Mark Girland]
Google (NASDAQ: GOOG ) (NASDAQ: GOOGL ) is making its Google Glass available to the public for the first time. The product gives users the ability to easily communicate via pictures. It also provides access to a vast amount of data. The tech company has been hard at work advancing the new product. The enormous prospects in the wearables market, Google's focus on the mass-market audience, and the efforts of third-party app developers should deliver the company a commercial success.
No comments:
Post a Comment