When it comes to dealing with business clients, Bank of America's (NYSE: BAC ) Merrill Lynch section knows exactly what it's doing: Give the customer what he wants, and make some money in the process. A perfect example of this tenet is a new line of online products called Cash Management Essentials, something the bank developed by using direct feedback from the very customers it is now serving.
Reaching out to small businesses
While the retail side of the bank has a plethora of customer-service issues, the commercial side is the exact opposite. In fact, Bank of America Merrill Lynch was recently cited by J.D. Power for superior client service. So, when its clients said they wanted a suite of products tailored to their special needs, BAML listened.
The result is a solution much like that of larger companies, but with the smaller business in mind. The beauty of this subscription-based offering�is that it will make current customers happy by giving them the services they asked for -- as well as the tools they need to personalize the experience -- and it also has potential as an enticement to bring new customers on board.
Hot Freight Stocks To Watch Right Now: KNOT Offshore Partners LP (KNOP)
KNOT Offshore Partners LP, incorporated on February 21, 2013, is a limited partnership formed to own, operate and acquire shuttle tankers under long-term charters. Its initial fleet of shuttle tankers contribute to the Company by Knutsen NYK Offshore Tankers AS (KNOT), which is jointly owned by TS Shipping Invest AS, (TSSI), and Nippon Yusen Kaisha (NYK). NYK is a Japanese public company with a fleet of approximately 800 vessels, including bulk carriers, containerships, tankers and specialized vessels. The Company is a holding entity and is conduct its operations and business through subsidiaries KNOT is an independent owner of crude oil shuttle tankers. Its general partner is KNOT Offshore Partners GP LLC. In August 2013, KNOT Offshore Partners LP's wholly owned subsidiary KNOT Shuttle Tankers AS completed its acquisition of all interests in Knutsen Shuttle Tanker 13 AS that owns and operates the Carmen Knutsen from KNOT Offshore Tankers AS.
The Company's initial fleet consists of four shuttle tankers, which are vessels designed to transport crude oil and condensates from offshore oil field installations to onshore terminals and refineries. The shuttle tankers include , Fortaleza Knutsen, Recife Knutsen, Bodil Knutsen and Windsor Knutsen. Its shuttle tankers are equipped with loading systems and dynamic positioning systems that allow the vessels to load cargo safely and reliably from oil field installations, even in harsh weather conditions.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Aimee Duffy]
But this too is starting to shift. If you look at the most-recent IPOs on the New York Stock Exchange, you'll find many corners of the energy industry represented:
Tallgrass Energy Partners�-- Natural gas midstream, debuted May 14 KNOT Offshore Partners (NYSE: KNOP ) -- Shuttle tankers, debuted April 10 SunCoke Energy Partners (NYSE: SXCP ) -- Coal/coke making, debuted Jan. 18 CVR Refining (NYSE: CVRR ) -- Mid-continent refining, debuted Jan. 17There have also been a few MLP-related funds to hit the market this year, including Global X Junior MLP ETF�and Neuberger Berman MLP Income Fund.
Top 5 Services Stocks To Own For 2015: Healthcare Realty Trust Inc (HR)
Healthcare Realty Trust Incorporated (Healthcare Realty), incorporated in 1993, is a self-managed and self-administered real estate investment trust (REIT) that owns, acquires, manages, finances and develops income-producing real estate properties associated with the delivery of outpatient healthcare services throughout the United States. During the year ended December 31, 2011, the Company disposed of five real estate properties. In January 2012, the Company purchased a 58,295 square foot medical office building in South Dakota. In February 2012, the Company purchased a 23,312 square foot medical office building in North Carolina. The property is 100% leased by two tenants. In January 2012, the Company disposed of two medical office buildings located in Texas. In January 2012, the Company disposed of a medical office building located in Florida. In January 2012, an inpatient facility under construction in South Dakota that was being funded by the Company through a mortgage note was sold. On March 15, 2011, the Company acquired Lakewood MOB, LLC. On March 31, 2011, it acquired HR Ladco Holdings, LLC. Effective October 22, 2013, Healthcare Realty Trust Inc acquired First Hill Medical Building.
As of December 31, 2011, the Company provided property management services for 150 healthcare-related properties nationwide, totaling approximately 10.3 million square feet. The Company�� portfolio of properties is focused on medical office and outpatient sector of the healthcare industry and is diversified by geographic location, tenant and facility type.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Dividends4Life]
Memberships and Peers: UHT is, a member of the Broad Dividend Achievers��Index and a Dividend Champion. The company's peer group includes: Hersha Hospitality Trust (HT) with a 4.4% yield, Healthcare Realty Trust Incorporated (HR) with a 5.2% yield and LTC Properties Inc. (LTC) with a 5.4% yield.
Top 5 Services Stocks To Own For 2015: Virtual Piggy Inc (VPIG)
Virtual Piggy Inc., formerly Moggle, Inc., incorporated on February 11, 2008, is a development-stage company. The Company is a technology development company that delivers an online security platform, which consists of three separate products: Virtual Piggy, ParentMatch and ParentPlayback, and Age Verification Service. Its Virtual Piggy product enables online businesses to interact and transact with the Under 18 market in a manner consistent with the Children�� Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA). The Company�� Platform is designed to solve the friendly fraud problem for Website operators, providers, and online retailers, and permitting Website operators and online retailers to transact online business with children between the ages of 8 and 13 in compliance with COPPA.
Virtual Piggy
Virtual Piggy was developed in response to the growing need for parents/guardians to allow their children to transact online in a controlled manner in light of an increasing number of online services and products targeted towards children. Virtual Piggy provides an online payment profile that allows parents to set up, monitor and control their children�� online spending. Parents can establish how much a child can spend in a single transaction, or over time, and also control the merchants with which the child can transact business. Parents also have the ability to set up approval rules and notification methods. The Virtual Piggy product tracks all spending and parents can receive alerts and reports on spending patterns. Virtual Piggy has been certified by the Chase Paymentech system and can process transactions from all major credit and debit card systems, including MasterCard, Visa, and American Express.
ParentMatch and ParentPlayback
The ParentMatch and ParentPlayback Web services are designed to provide the parent/guardian with a higher level of control than is provided by nanny type services. In addition, the Web service ID will follow the child whenever he or! she is on a computer, as opposed to traditional controls that are resident on a personal computer (PC) by PC basis. ParentMatch will provide filtering for the parent or guardian to be able to control, such areas as the Web sites a child may access; the types of content they may view, and who they can interact with online. ParentPlayback will provide the parent or guardian with a video transcript of their child�� online session.
Age Check
Age Check will be a persistent software system and service designed to provide a verification mechanism for the age of a person online. The system and service will provide a secure checking mechanism to determine a person�� age. The main purpose of this system and service is to determine whether setup information supplied by a person to gain access to a social network or other online site is correct. The invention will provide an Application Programming Interface (API) that exposes software functions that Websites, Web services and Internet enabled desktop applications can utilize to enforce age checks when a person attempts to create an online account and/or gain access to a Website.
The Company competes PayPal and Teen Visa.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By CRWE]
Today, VPIG has shed (-4.37%) down -0.10 at $2.19 with 144,475 shares in play thus far (ref. google finance Delayed: 1:26PM EDT June 26, 2013), but don�� let this get you down.
Virtual Piggy, Inc. previously reported it has reached a membership of over 250,000 users.
Virtual Piggy promotes financial management while empowering youth under 18 to make purchasing, saving and other money management decisions for themselves, within the boundaries setup by parents. The technology serves as a family wallet that is available online or via mobile, and is always 100% free to use.
- [By CRWE]
Last Friday, VPIG previously surged (+7.27%) up +0.16 at $2.33 with 89,577 shares in play at the close (ref. google finance June 28, 2013 ��Close).
Virtual Piggy, Inc. previously reported it has reached a membership of over 250,000 users.
Virtual Piggy promotes financial management while empowering youth under 18 to make purchasing, saving and other money management decisions for themselves, within the boundaries setup by parents. The technology serves as a family wallet that is available online or via mobile, and is always 100% free to use.
Top 5 Services Stocks To Own For 2015: Carrols Restaurant Group Inc.(TAST)
Carrols Restaurant Group, Inc., through its subsidiary, Carrols Corporation, owns and operates quick-casual and quick-service restaurants. It operates restaurants under the Burger King, Pollo Tropical, and Taco Cabana names. As of January 1, 2012, the company owned and operated 547 restaurants, including 298 Burger King, 91 Pollo Tropical and 158 Taco Cabana restaurants in 17 states in the United States. It also franchised 36 restaurants in Puerto Rico, Ecuador, Honduras, Trinidad, the Bahamas, and Venezuela, as well as in college campuses in Florida. The company was formerly known as Carrols Holdings Corporation and changed its name to Carrols Restaurant Group, Inc. in November 2006. Carrols Restaurant Group, Inc. was founded in 1960 and is headquartered in Syracuse, New York.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By James Brumley]
Larger restaurant chains can handle the lull. A less liquid small-cap name like Carrols Restaurant Group (TAST), however, feels the pain pretty intensely. That’s why shares are down about 8% this month.
- [By Bloomberg Businessweek]
Alamy McDonald's (MCD) may recently have struggled to lure customers, but it still does far more business at each location than rival burger chains. The average McDonald's restaurant in the U.S. drew $2.6 million in revenue last year. Average sales for No. 2 chain Burger King (BKW): $1.2 million, according to data from its largest franchisee, Carrols Restaurant Group (TAST). What accounts for this more-than-a-million gap? "Everything from marketing and site selection to product initiatives and franchisee selection have been historical factors," said Nick Setyan, vice president in charge of equity research at Wedbush Securities, in an email. Here are four factors that drive higher sales volumes at McDonald's: 1. McDonald's gets more customers during off-peak hours. Look no further than the strength of its breakfast business relative that of Burger King, says Darren Tristano, executive vice president at restaurant consultancy Technomic. Egg McMuffin is part of the fast-food vocabulary in a way Burger King can't match. And beverage and snack offerings such as McCafe and wraps have helped increase McDonald's sales between meals. The dramatic impact from off-peak business explains why chains such as Taco Bell (YUM) are entering the battle for morning customers, while others such as Starbucks (SBUX) are seeking more afternoon and evening business. 2. The power of the Happy Meal. McDonald's has the largest share of kids meal sales in the fast-food industry and gets about 10 percent of total sales from Happy Meals, the most commonly advertised child-oriented fast-food item on television. Burger King, meanwhile, is still trying to win back "parties with kids and seniors and women," said Josh Kobza, Burger King's chief financial officer, at a conference last year. One way to do that: "We got rid of the creepy king character that tended to scare away women and children." 3. McDonald's has an edge on efficiency. Despite recent operational challenges at McDonald's,
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