Bank hacktavists are at it again, and this time Regions Financial (NYSE: RF ) was the target. The large regional bank's website was down part of the day last Friday, and the bank confirmed that it had been the victim of a distributed denial of service (DDoS) attack. Online customers were unable to access their accounts, or if they could, found that their login information or debit card transactions were being denied.
Although Region's site seemed to be up and running by late Friday, these kinds of attacks are becoming the norm, and are striking regional banks more often. Are banks truly taking these attacks seriously, and what are they doing to protect themselves?
How dangerous?
Cyber attacks on websites, particularly the DDoS-type of disruption, first began in 2001. Back then, sites like eBay (NASDAQ: EBAY ) and Yahoo! (NASDAQ: YHOO ) were targeted, possibly in an attempt to disrupt e-commerce. Since then, groups like Izz ad-Din-as-Qassam or groups tied to the Iranian government have staged assaults on the websites of big banks like�Bank of America (NYSE: BAC ) , Wells Fargo (NYSE: WFC ) , and Citgroup (NYSE: C ) , as well as large regionals such as BB&T (NYSE: BBT ) and PNC Financial.
Hot Clean Energy Stocks To Buy For 2016: DryShips Inc (DRYS)
DryShips Inc. (DryShips), incorporated in September 2004, is a holding company engaged in the ocean transportation services of drybulk cargoes and crude oil worldwide through the ownership and operation of drybulk carrier vessels and oil tankers and offshore drilling services through the ownership and operation of ultra-deepwater drilling units. As of December 31, 2011, DryShips owned and operated two fifth generation ultra-deepwater, semi-submersible offshore drilling rigs, the Leiv Eiriksson and the Eirik Raude, and four sixth generation, advanced capability ultra-deepwater drillships, the Ocean Rig Corcovado, the Ocean Rig Olympia, the Ocean Rig Poseidon and the Ocean Rig Mykonos. As of December 31, 2011, the Company owned and operated four Aframax tankers, Saga, Daytona, Belmar, and Calida, and one Suezmax tanker, Vilamoura. On August 24, 2011, DryShips acquired all of their shares of OceanFreight Inc. On October 5, 2011, DryShips completed the partial spin off of Ocean Rig UDW Inc. (Ocean Rig UDW). On November 3, 2011, the merger of Pelican Stockholdings Inc. (Pelican Stockholdings), its wholly owned subsidiary, and OceanFreight, was completed. In January 2013, it sold two of its tankers under construction at Samsung Heavy Industries, Esperona and Blanca.
As of December 31, 2011, DryShips operated its tankers under pooling arrangements that are managed by Heidmar Inc. As of March 6, 2012, the Company owned, through its subsidiaries, a fleet of 36 drybulk carriers, consisting of nine Capesize, 25 Panamax and two Supramax vessels, which have a combined deadweight tonnage of approximately 3.53 million deadweight tonnage and an average age of approximately eight years; six drilling units, comprised of two modern, fifth generation, advanced capability ultra-deepwater semisubmersible offshore drilling rigs and four sixth generation, advanced capability ultra-deepwater drillships, and five tankers, comprised of four Aframax and one Suezmax tankers.
The Company�� drybulk flee! t principally carries a variety of drybulk commodities, including major bulk items, such as coal, iron ore, and grains, and minor bulk items, such as bauxite, phosphate, fertilizers and steel products. During the year ended December 31, 2011, DryShips sold the drybulk vessel Primera; contracted for and completed the sale of the drybulk vessels La Jolla, Conquistador, Brisbane, Samsara and Toro; took delivery of its four sixth-generation, ultra-deepwater advanced capability sister drillships constructed by Samsung Heavy Industries Co. Ltd. (Samsung), the Ocean Rig Corcovado, the Ocean Rig Olympia, the Ocean Rig Poseidon and the Ocean Rig Mykonos; took delivery of three newbuilding Aframax tankers, Saga, Daytona and Belmar, and one newbuilding Suezmax tanker, Vilamoura, and acquired four Capesize vessels, MV Robusto, MV Cohiba, MV Montecristo and MV Partagas, two Panamax vessels, the MV Topeka and the MV Helena. DryShips contracted for and completed the sale of the drybulk vessels Avoca and Padre, which were delivered to their new owners, on February 14, 2012 and February 24, 2012, respectively.
Drybulk Operations
The Company manages the deployment of its drybulk fleet between long-term and short-term time charters. A time charter is a contract to charter a vessel for a fixed period of time at a specified or floating daily or index-based daily rate and can last from a few days to several years. A spot charter refers to a voyage charter or a trip charter or a short-term time charter. Under a bareboat charter, the vessel is chartered for a stipulated period of time, which gives the charterer possession and control of the vessel, including the right to appoint the master and the crew.
Offshore Drilling Operations
In January 2012, following the completion of the contract with Tullow Oil plc (Tullow Oil) contract, discussed below, the Eirik Raude commenced a contract with Anadarko Cote d��voire Company (Anadarko) for the drilling of two wells offshore West ! Africa. I! ts offshore drilling operations consist of the Ocean Rig Corcovado, the Ocean Rig Olympia, the Ocean Rig Poseidon and the Ocean Rig Mykonos. As of December 31, 2011, the Ocean Rig Corcovado was employed under a three-year contract, plus a mobilization period, with Petroleo Brasileiro S.A. (Petrobras Brazil) for drilling operations offshore Brazil. The Ocean Rig Olympia is operating under contracts to drill a total of five wells for exploration drilling offshore Ghana and the Ivory Coast. The Ocean Rig Poseidon commenced a contract with Petrobras Tanzania, a company related to Petrobras Oil & Gas B.V. (Petrobras Oil & Gas).
The Ocean Rig Mykonos commenced a three-year contract, plus a mobilization period, with Petrobras Brazil, on September 30, 2011, for drilling operations offshore Brazil. DryShips�� wholly owned subsidiary, Ocean Rig AS, provides supervisory management services, including onshore management, to its operating drilling rigs and drillships. DryShips also has contracts to provide offshore drilling services and drilling units.
Tanker Operations
The Company employs its Aframax tankers Saga, Daytona, Belmar and Calida, in the Sigma tanker pool, which consists of 46 Aframax tankers, with fourteen different pool partners. It employs its Suezmax tanker, Vilamoura, in the Blue Fin tanker pool, which consists of 18 Suezmax tankers with eight different pool partners.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Dan Newman]
For example, when prices were high and companies, such as Diana Shipping� (NYSE: DSX ) and�DryShips (NASDAQ: DRYS ) , ordered more ships, these ships were finally completed a few years later when shipping prices had already cratered. Now, Diana's fleet is on average only 6.4 years old, while DryShips' fleet is on average 7.4 years old, when the typical life of a ship is 25 years. While these young fleets might be good as an investment in the future if global trade picks up, today's troubled eurozone and slowing China will leave these newer ships wanting for higher demand.
- [By Nickey Friedman]
What: Shares of DryShips (NASDAQ: DRYS ) plunged as much as 13% yesterday, and hit new 52-week lows following share price weakness from its majority-owned Ocean Rig UDW (NASDAQ: ORIG ) subsidiary, further decline in dry shipping rates, and marketwide concern about the global economy.
5 Best Regional Bank Stocks To Buy Right Now: Five Below Inc (FIVE)
Five Below, Inc. (Five Below), incorporated on January 30, 2002, is a retailer offering a range of merchandise for teen and pre-teen customer. The Company offers products, including select brands and licensed merchandise across a number of categories, which it refer to as worlds-Style, Room, Sports, Media, Crafts, Party, Candy and Seasonal (which it refer to as Now). As of October 27, 2012, The Company operated 243 stores throughout the eastern half of the United States. Its Style consists primarily of accessories such as novelty socks, sunglasses, jewelry, scarves, gloves, hair accessories and attitude t-shirts. Its beauty offering includes products such as nail polish, lip gloss, fragrance and branded cosmetics. Its Room consists of items used to complete and personalize its customer�� living space, including glitter lamps, posters, frames, fleece blankets, pillows, candles, incense and related items. The Company also offers storage options for the customer�� room and locker.
The Company�� Sports consists of an assortment of sport balls, team sports merchandise and fitness accessories, including hand weights, jump ropes and gym balls. It also offers a variety of games, including name brand board games, puzzles, toys and plush items. In the summer season, its sports offering also include pool, beach and outdoor toys, games and accessories. Its Media consists of a selection of accessories for personal computers (PCs), cell phones, Moving Picture Experts Group Layer-3 Audio (MP3) players and tablet computers. The offering includes cases, chargers, headphones and other related items. It also carries a range of media products including books, video games and Digital Versatile Disc (DVDs). It offers an assortment of craft activity kits, as well as arts and crafts supplies, such as crayons, markers and stickers. It also offer trend-right items for school, such as backpacks, fashion notebooks and journals, novelty pens and pencils, as well as everyday name brand items.
The C! ompany�� Party consists of party goods, decorations and greeting cards, as well as everyday and special occasion merchandise. Its Candy consists of branded items that appeal to teens and pre-teens. This category includes an assortment of classic and novelty candy bars and movie-size box candy, as well as gum and snack food. It also sells chilled drinks through coolers. Its Seasonal consists of seasonally-specific items used to celebrate and decorate for events such as Christmas, Easter, Halloween and St. Patrick�� Day.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Jake L'Ecuyer]
Equities Trading UP
Five Below (NASDAQ: FIVE) shares shot up 11.61 percent to $42.41 after the company reported better-than-expected fourth-quarter results. The company posted its quarterly adjusted earnings of $0.47 per share on revenue of $212 million. However, analysts were projecting earnings of $0.45 per share on revenue of $207.8 million. - [By Eric Volkman]
Investors hoping to take advantage of the planned Five Below (NASDAQ: FIVE ) secondary share issue will have to wait for another day. The company announced that, "in light of current capital market conditions," the offering has been postponed; it did not specify whether it has been rescheduled.
- [By Ben Levisohn]
We remain Neutral-rated on Sysco, believing that an ongoing challenging economic environment and pressure on gross margin to drive top-line growth (and market share) will limit EBIT growth over at least the next few quarters. The longer-term outlook could be better, as some benefit is derived from ERP, but uncertain. The shares are rising 4% pre-market (vs. a 0.40% increase in the S&P 500), possibly on lower BTS expenses as well as a greater-than-expected CP-funded share buyback. We would remain on the sidelines and expect other names, like Family Dollar (FDO), Kroger (KR), and Five Below (FIVE) to outperform from here.
5 Best Regional Bank Stocks To Buy Right Now: Drew Industries Inc (DW)
Drew Industries Incorporated, incorporated on March 20, 1984, is a supplier of components for recreational vehicle (RVs) and manufactured housing. The Company operates in two segments: the RV products segment (RV Segment), and the manufactured housing products segment (MH Segment). The Company�� operations are conducted through its wholly owned subsidiaries, Lippert Components, Inc. and its subsidiaries (Lippert) and Kinro, Inc. and its subsidiaries (Kinro), each of which has operations in both the RV Segment and the MH Segment. During the year ended December 31, 2012, the RV Segment accounted for 87% of net sales and the MH segment accounted for 13% of net sales. On February 21, 2012, the Company acquired the business and certain assets of the United States RV entry door operation of Euramax International, Inc. In February 2014, the Company's wholly-owned subsidiary, Lippert Components, Inc has acquired Innovative Design Solutions, Inc. (IDS).
RV Segment
The Company through its wholly owned subsidiaries manufactures and markets a variety of products used in the production of RVs, including steel chassis for towable RVs, axles and suspension solutions for towable RVs, slide-out mechanisms and solutions, thermoformed bath, kitchen and other products, manual, electric and hydraulic stabilizer and lifting systems, aluminum windows and screens, chassis components, furniture and mattresses, entry, baggage, patio and ramp doors, entry steps, awnings, and other accessories. The Company also supplies certain of these products to the RV aftermarket, and to adjacent industries, including manufacturers of truck caps, buses and trailers used to haul boats, livestock, equipment and other cargo. Operations of the Company's RV Segment consist primarily of fabricating, welding, painting and assembling components into finished products. The Company's RV Segment operations are conducted at 23 manufacturing and warehouse facilities throughout the United States, located in proximity to the cus! tomers they serve. Of these facilities, six also conduct operations in the Company's MH Segment. It markets extruded aluminum parts to manufacturers in other industries. The Company's RV Segment products are sold primarily to manufacturers of RVs such as Thor Industries Forest River (a subsidiary of Berkshire Hathaway, and other original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), and to distributors of aftermarket products.
MH Segment
The Company through its wholly owned subsidiaries manufactures and markets a variety of products used in the production of manufactured homes and to modular housing and mobile office units, including vinyl and aluminum windows and screens, steel chassis, steel chassis parts, axles, thermoformed bath and kitchen products, steel and fiberglass entry doors, and aluminum and vinyl patio doors. The Company also supplies windows, doors, and thermoformed bath products as replacement parts to the manufactured housing aftermarket, and to adjacent industries. MH Segment customers manufacture both manufactured homes and modular homes, and certain of the products manufactured by the Company are suitable for both types of homes. Operations of the Company's MH Segment consist primarily of fabricating, welding, thermoforming, painting and assembling components into finished products. The Company's MH Segment operations are conducted at 13 manufacturing and warehouse facilities throughout the United States, located in proximity to the customers they serve. Of these facilities, six also conduct operations in the Company's RV Segment. The Company's manufactured housing products are sold primarily to producers of manufactured homes such as Clayton Homes, Cavco Industries, Inc., Champion Home Builders, Inc., Skyline Corporation, and other OEMs, and to distributors of aftermarket products.
The Company competes with Kober Corporation and Dexter Axle Company.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Grace L. Williams]
Shares of Winnebago have gained 4.4% to $28.47 today at 3pm. Thor Industries (THO), which also makes recreational vehicles, has ticked up 0.1% to $57.56, Drew Industries (DW) has risen 0.3% to $48.74, Arctic Cat (ACAT) has advanced 1% to $59.87 and Polaris Industries (PII) has fallen 0.3% to $132.08.
- [By John Udovich]
The CEO of recreation vehicle (RV) stock Winnebago Industries, Inc (NYSE: WGO) recently appeared on CNBC to say that the economy is improving for RV makers, meaning its time to take a closer look at the stock plus take a look at the performance of other small cap RV stocks like Drew Industries, Inc (NYSE: DW), Skyline Corporation (NYSEMKT: SKY) and Thor Industries, Inc (NYSE: THO).
5 Best Regional Bank Stocks To Buy Right Now: Burlington Stores Inc (BURL)
Burlington Stores, Inc., incorporated on February 13, 2013, is a national off-price retailer of branded apparel, operating 503 stores, inclusive of an Internet store, in 44 states and Puerto Rico. The Company offers its merchandise using an Every Day Low Price (EDLP) model with savings up to 60-70% off department and specialty store regular prices. It provides its customers with a selection of fashionable branded product in women�� ready-to-wear apparel, menswear, youth apparel, baby products, footwear, accessories, home goods and coats. The Company merchandise from over 3,500 vendors, with a focus on nationally-recognized brands. This vendor breadth provides its customers with a treasure hunt experience of searching for great brands at great value.
The Company�� average store size is approximately 80,000 square feet, which is two to three times the size of its off-price competitors��stores. Its larger store size has allowed the Company to offer more categories and substantially more breadth in each product category than its off-price competitors and to establish ourselves as a destination for select categories, including coats, youth and baby, special-occasion dresses and men�� tailored apparel.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Tom Taulli]
Competition: While TJX attempts to undercut more traditional retailers, it has plenty of competition in the deep-discount game, Ross Stores (ROST), Kohl’s (KSS) and Burlington Stores (BURL). TJX also must contend with big-box operators like Target (TGT). So far, TJX has been able to dig itself a niche and remain fairly differentiated, but it’s fair to point out the danger in slipping — in retail, customers always have plenty of alternatives.
- [By Paul Ausick]
Ross Stores Inc. (NASDAQ: ROST) has said that its more than 1,100 stores will remain closed on Thanksgiving, as has The TJX Companies Inc. (NYSE: TJX), owner of the TJ Maxx, Marshall��, and other retail brands. Another off-price retailer, Burlington Stores Inc. (NYSE: BURL), owner of the Burlington Coat Factory stores, will also remain closed on the holiday.
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