The resurgent U.S. housing market has sent builders calling again for Richard Vap, who owns a drywall installation company. Vap would love to help -- if he could hire enough qualified people.
"There is a shortage of manpower," says Vap, owner of South Valley Drywall in Littleton, Colo. "We're probably only hiring about 75 or 80 percent of what we actually need."
U.S. builders and the subcontractors they depend on are struggling to hire fast enough to meet rising demand for new homes. Builders would be starting work on more homes -- and contributing more to the economy -- if they could fill more job openings.
In the meantime, workers in the right locations with the right skills are commanding higher pay.
The shortage of labor ranges across occupations -- from construction superintendents and purchasing agents to painters, cabinet makers, and drywall installers. The National Association of Home Builders says its members have complained of too few framers, roofers, plumbers, and carpenters. The shortage is most acute in areas where demand for new homes has recovered fastest, notably in Arizona, California, Texas, Colorado, and Florida.
Top 5 Restaurant Stocks To Watch For 2015: Forge Group Ltd (FRGXF)
Forge Group Limited is engaged in construction, commercial building, engineering, maintenance and workshop fabrication. Forge is the holding company of Cimeco Pty Ltd, Webb Construction West Africa Ltd, Abesque Engineering Ltd (Abesque) and CTEC Pty Ltd, which provide a range of engineering and construction services to a diverse range of clients particularly to the resource and oil and gas sectors through its operating entities. Cimeco provides construction services across a range of disciplines, including, commercial building, civil, concrete, structural, mechanical, piping, tanks and electrical. Webb specializes in structural, mechanical and pipe installation, tank fabrication and erection. Abesque specializes in the provision of engineering design, project management services to the resources sector, including base metals, gold and iron ore. In January 2014, Forge Group Limited announced that BlackRock Inc. and subsidiaries had ceased to be the substantial holder of the Company. Advisors' Opinion:- [By MARKETWATCH]
LOS ANGELES (MarketWatch) -- Australia stocks started solidly lower Tuesday, weighed by large losses on Wall Street, with the S&P/ASX 200 (AU:XJO) retreating 0.8% to 5,248.90. Globally sensitive stocks were among the leading decliners after a 1.3% pullback for the S&P 500 (SPX) in the U.S., with financial major Macquarie Group Ltd. (AU:MQG) (MCQEF) falling 2.2%, News Corp. (AU:NWS) (NWS) -- the parent of MarketWatch, publisher of this report -- off 1.4%, and construction-material firm James Hardie Industries SE (AU:JHX) (JHIUF) 1.2% lower. Miners came under pressure, with BHP Billiton Ltd. (AU:BHP) (BHP) down 0.9% and Oz Minerals Ltd. (AU:OZL) (OZMLF) dropping 1%, while Forge Group Ltd. (AU:FGE) (FRGXF) tumbled 12.8% after issuing a profit warning. On the upside, mild gains overnight for Comex gold futures helped the fortunes of some gold extractors, helping Newcrest Mining Ltd. (AU:NCM) (NCMGF) and Evolution Mining Ltd. (AU:EVN) (CAHPF)
Top 10 Construction Companies To Own In Right Now: Walter Bau AG (WTB)
Walter Bau AG is an international construction group based in Augsburg, southern Germany. The Company's core construction-related services are planning, financing, project development and facilities management. It is active in the fields of turnkey construction, civil engineering, international construction and transportation infrastructure. Its subsidiary, DYWIDAG-Systems International markets the Company's products and systems worldwide, particularly in the field of post-tensioning and geotechnics, as well as special civil engineering processes. Walter Bau also provides operation and financing solutions, as well as developing commercial and residential real estate projects. Facilities Management is offered by DYWIDAG Service GmbH. Its Logistics Competence Center in Augsburg bundles the Company's Germany-wide activities as a general contractor in the planning, construction and support of distribution centers. The Company commenced insolvency proceedings in April 2005. Advisors' Opinion:- [By Sofia Horta e Costa]
Whitbread Plc (WTB) added 4.1 percent to 3,114 pence, its largest advance since September 2012. Oriel Securities Ltd. raised its rating on the shares to buy from hold, citing improvement in the U.K. hotel market.
Top 10 Construction Companies To Own In Right Now: Acuity Brands Inc (AYI)
Acuity Brands, Inc. (Acuity Brands), incorporated on September 20, 2007, is the parent company of Acuity Brands Lighting, Inc. (ABL), and other subsidiaries. Acuity Brands is a provider of lighting solutions for commercial, institutional, industrial, infrastructure, and residential applications throughout North America and select international markets. The Company's lighting solutions include devices, such as luminaires, lighting controls, power supplies, prismatic skylights, light-emitting diode (LED) lamps, and integrated lighting systems for indoor and outdoor applications utilizing a combination of light sources, including daylight, and other devices controlled by software that monitors and manages light levels while optimizing energy consumption (collectively referred to herein as lighting solutions). Effective March 14, 2013, the Company acquired eldoLED Europe BV.
The Company manufactures lighting devices primarily in North America, Europe and Asia. The Company's lighting solutions are marketed under numerous brand names, including Lithonia Lighting, Holophane, Peerless, Mark Architectural Lighting, Hydrel, American Electric Lighting, Gotham, Carandini, RELOC, Antique Street Lamps, Tersen, Winona Lighting, Synergy Lighting Controls, Sensor Switch, Lighting Control & Design, Dark to Light, ROAM, Sunoptics, acculamp, Pathway Connectivity, and Healthcare Lighting. As of August 31, 2012, the Company manufactures products in 18 facilities in North America and two facilities in Europe.
Principal customers include electrical distributors, retail home improvement centers, electric utilities, municipalities, lighting showrooms, and energy service companies located in North America and select international markets serving new construction, renovation, and facility maintenance applications. In North America, the Company's lighting solutions are sold primarily by independent sales agents, electrical wholesalers, and factory sales representatives who cover specific geographic areas! and market channels. Products are delivered directly or through a network of distribution centers, regional warehouses, and commercial warehouses using both common carriers and a company-owned truck fleet. During the fiscal year ended August 31, 2012 (fiscal 2012), North American sales accounted for approximately 98% of net sales. The Company has one operating segment serving the North American lighting market and select international markets.
The Company provides a range of lighting solutions, as well as services used in the applications, such as lighting solutions and services. Lighting solutions and services includes commercial and institutional, industrial, infrastructure, residential and services. Commercial and Institutional includes stores, hotels, offices, schools, and hospitals, as well as other government and public buildings. Lighting solutions that serve these applications include recessed, surface, and suspended lighting products, recessed down lighting, track lighting, day lighting, and lighting controls (occupancy sensors, photocontrols, relay panels, architectural dimming panels, and integrated lighting controls systems), as well as special-use lighting products. The outdoor areas associated with these applications are addressed by a range of outdoor lighting products, such as area and flood lighting, decorative site lighting, and landscape lighting. Industrial includes primarily warehouses and manufacturing facilities, which utilize a range of general purpose, day lighting, and special-use lighting solutions. Infrastructure includes highways, tunnels, airports, railway yards, and ports. Products that serve these applications include street, area, high-mast, off-set roadway, sign lighting, poles, and integrated controls systems. Residential includes a combination of decorative, utilitarian, and down lighting products. Services include monitoring and controlling of lighting systems through network technologies.
The Company competes with Cooper Industries plc, Hu! bbell Inc! orporated, Koninklijke Philips Electronics N.V., OSRAM AG, Schneider Electric and General Electric Company.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Laura Brodbeck]
Thursday
Earnings Expected From: Family Dollar Stores (NYSE: FDO), Acuity Brands (NYSE: AYI), PriceSmart (NASDAQ: PSMT) Economic Releases Expected: French trade balance, British trade balance, eurozone consumer confidence, eurozone business confidence, BoE interest rate decision, Canadian housing startsFriday
- [By Laura Brodbeck]
Tuesday
Earnings Expected: A. Schulman (NASDAQ: SHLM), Acuity Brands (NYSE: AYI), Franklin Covey (NYSE: FC) and Paychex (NASDAQ: PAYX) Economic Releases Expected: US ISM manufacturing PMI, US redbook, British manufacturing PMI, German unemployment rate, French manufacturing PMI, Italian manufacturing PMI, Spanish manufacturing PMI and Reserve Bank of Australia interest rate decisionWednesday
- [By Laura Brodbeck]
Next week investors will be waiting for several key earnings reports including�Walgreen Co. (NYSE: WAG), Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE: AYI), and Monsanto Company (NYSE: MON)
Top 10 Construction Companies To Own In Right Now: Tile Shop Holdings Inc (TTS)
Tile Shop Holdings, Inc., incorporated on June 21, 2012, is a specialty retailer of manufactured and natural stone tiles, setting and maintenance materials, and related accessories in the United States. The Company sells over 4,500 products from around the world, including ceramic, porcelain, glass, and stainless steel manufactured tiles and, marble, granite, quartz, sandstone, travertine, slate, and onyx natural tiles. It purchases its tile products and accessories directly from producers. The Company manufactures its own setting and maintenance materials, such as thinset, grout, and sealers under its brand name. The Company operates 70 stores in 22 states, with an average size of 23,000 square feet. It also sells its products on its Website. In January 2014 Tile Shop Holdings Inc launched its first retail store in Oklahoma City.
The Company offers a complete assortment of tile products, generally sourced directly from producers, including ceramic, porcelain, glass, and stainless steel manufactured tiles, and marble, granite, quartz, sandstone, travertine, slate, and onyx natural tiles. The Company also offers a range of setting and maintenance materials, such as thinset, grout and sealers, and accessories, including installation tools, shower and bath caddies, drains, and similar products.
The Company competes with Home Depot, Tile America, World of Tile, Century Tile, and Floor and Decor, Dal-Tile and Florida Tile.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Jon C. Ogg]
Tile Shop Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ: TTS)�managed to recover almost 12% on Friday to $14.50, but this one tanked on accusations of having third party transactions that would have inflated the company sales. Shares were down almost 40% on Thursday to $12.95 after having closed at $21.22 the day before. Now there are investigations and everyone is scared despite the company denying the claims and despite the company reaffirming its guidance. This one even traded 19 million shares on Thursday and 20 million on Friday, versus an average of what would be closer to 500,000 or so before the news. Anything tied to “accounting irregularities” sends investors running and brings the regulators and lawyers in.
- [By John Udovich]
The shorts appear to be trying to crack small cap Tile Shop Holdings, Inc (NASDAQ: TTS)���meaning it might be worth taking a realistic look at the stock and any potential problems surrounding it plus the performance of other home improvement retailers or peers like Lumber Liquidators Holdings Inc (NYSE: LL), which is not into tiles, and The Home Depot, Inc (NYSE: HD) and Lowe's Companies, Inc (NYSE: LOW) which would be into tiles.
- [By Tim Melvin]
Tile Shops Holdings (TTS) came public back in 2012 and was initially a hot deal, doubling in the months after the deal was priced. It has been pretty much downhill from there, and the shares have lost half their peak value and are back near the offering price.
- [By Paul Ausick]
Stocks on the Move: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Co. (NASDAQ: HMHC) is up 32.2% at $15.86 after its IPO today. Tile Shop Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ: TTS) is down 39% at $12.95 following a short seller�� claim that profits were overstated. Hewlett-Packard Co. (NYSE: HPQ) is down 5.4% at $25.07 after halting sales of its Chromebook laptop due to an overheating charger problem.
Top 10 Construction Companies To Own In Right Now: Amcol International Corp (ACO)
AMCOL International Corporation (AMCOL), incorporated on December 3, 1959, is focused on the development and application of minerals and technology products and services to various industrial and consumer markets. It operates in five segments: performance materials, construction technologies, energy services, transportation and corporate. Its performance materials segment previously referred to as its minerals and materials segment is a supplier of bentonite related products. Its construction technologies segment previously referred to as its environmental segment provides products for non-residential construction, environmental and infrastructure projects worldwide. Its energy services segment previously referred to as its oilfield services segment offers a range of patented technologies, products and services for both upstream and downstream oil and gas production. Its transportation segment serves domestic subsidiaries, as well as third parties, is a dry van and flatbed carrier and freight brokerage service provider.
Performance Materials Segment
The Company supplies chromite and leonardite, and operates more than 25 mining or production facilities worldwide. It mines chromite, an iron chromium oxide, from open cast mines in South Africa and transport it to our nearby processing facility. Its primary uses include metalcasting, drilling fluid additive, and agricultural applications. Its performance materials segment conducts its business through wholly owned subsidiaries and investments in affiliates and joint ventures throughout the world. It consists of four product lines: metalcasting; specialty materials; basic minerals, and pet products. Its principal products are marketed under various registered trade names, including VOLCLAY, PANTHER CREEK, PREMIUM GEL, ADDITROL, ENERSOL, and Hevi-Sand.
The Company�� metalcasting products include blended mineral binders containing sodium and calcium bentonite and organic additives sold under the trade name ADDITROL. I! n the ferrous casting market, the Company specializes in blending bentonite of various grades by themselves or with mineral binders containing sodium bentonite, calcium bentonite, seacoal and other ingredients. It also has a line of formulated additives that introduce silicon and carbon in the melt phase of the casting process. In the steel alloy casting market, it sells a chromite product with a particle size distribution specific to a customer�� needs.
The Company�� specialty materials products contain bentonite and synthetic additives offering solutions for consumer and industrial applications. It also offers products for bio-agricultural applications. The markets and applications of its specialty materials products include fabric care, personal care, basic materials and pet products. It supply high-grade, agglomerated bentonite and other mineral additives used in fabric care products. It manufactures adsorbent polymers and purified grades of bentonite for sale to manufacturers of personal skin care products. The adsorbent polymers are used to deliver high-value actives in skin-care products. Microsponge and Poly-Pore are the principal trade names under which these products are sold. Its basic minerals product line supplies minerals to a variety of markets and industrial applications, including drilling fluid additives, ferro alloys and other industrial.
The Company�� pet products include sodium bentonite-based scoopable (clumping), traditional and alternative cat litters, as well as specialty pet products sold to grocery and drug stores, mass merchandisers, wholesale clubs and pet specialty stores throughout the United States. It is primarily a private-label producer of cat litter, and its products are marketed under various trade names. These products are sold solely in the United States from three principal sites from which it package and distribute finished goods. Its transportation segment provides logistics services and is a component of its capability in supplyi! ng custom! ers on a national basis.
Construction Technologies Segment
The Company�� construction technologies segment serves customers engaged in a range of construction projects, including site remediation, concrete waterproofing for underground structures, liquid containment on projects ranging from landfills to flood control, and drilling applications including foundation, slurry wall, tunneling, water well and horizontal drilling. Its construction technologies segment conducts its business through wholly owned subsidiaries and joint ventures throughout the world. This segment consists of four product lines: building materials; contracting services; drilling products, and lining technologies.
The Company sells lining and other products for a variety of applications, most of which are directed to preserving or remediating environmental issues. It helps customers protect ground water and soil through the sale of geosynthetic clay liner products containing bentonite. It market these products under the BENTOMAT and CLAYMAX trade names principally for lining and capping landfills, mine waste disposal sites, water and wastewater lagoons, secondary containments in tank farms, and other contaminated sites. It also provides associated geosynthetic materials for these applications, including geotextiles and drainage geocomposites.
The Company�� lining technologies product line also includes specialized technologies to mitigate vapor intrusion in new building construction. It also provides reactive capping technologies and solutions to contain residual contamination, reduce costs associated with ex-situ remedies, and aid in environmental protection. Products offered include Liquid Boot, a liquid applied vapor barrier system; REACTIVE CORE-MAT, an in-situ sediment capping material; ORGANOCLAY, which absorbs organic containments, and QUIK-SOLID, a super absorbent media.
The Company offer a variety of active and passive waterproofing and greenroof technolog! ies for u! se in protecting the building envelope of non-residential constructions, including buildings, subways, and parkway systems. Its products include VOLTEX, a waterproofing composite comprised of two polypropylene geotextiles filled with sodium bentonite; ULTRASEAL, an advanced membrane using a active polymer core, and COREFLEX, featuring heat-welded seams for protection of critical infrastructure. In addition to these membrane materials, it also provides roofing products and a variety of sealants and other accessories required to create a functional waterproofing system.
The Company drilling products are used in environmental and geotechnical drilling applications, horizontal directional drilling, mineral exploration and foundation construction. The products are used to install monitoring wells, facilitate horizontal and water well drilling, and seal abandoned exploration drill holes. VOLCLAY GROUT, HYDRAUL-EZ, BENTOGROUT and VOLCLAY TABLETS are among the trade names for products used in these applications. It also offer a range of drilling products used in the excavation of foundations for large buildings, bridges and dams; these products include SHORE PAC and PREMIUM GEL. Contracting services, which involve installation of products, are occasionally offered to customers for select projects.
Energy Services Segment
The Company�� energy services segment provides services to improve the production, costs, compliance, and environmental impact of activities performed in the oil and gas industry. Operating as CETCO Energy Services, it offer a range of patented technologies, products and services for all phases of oil and gas production, transportation, refining, and storage throughout the world. It provide both land-based and offshore water treatment, well testing, pipeline separation, nitrogen, coil tubing and other services to the oil and gas industry. The Company provides its services through subsidiaries located in Australia, Brazil, Malaysia, Nigeria, the United Ki! ngdom, an! d the United States, principally in the Gulf of Mexico and the surrounding on-shore area. Its principal services include water treatment, coil tubing, well testing, nitrogen services and pipeline. The Company helps customers comply with regulatory requirements by providing equipment, technologies, personnel and filtration media to treat waste water generated during oil production.
The Company's coil tubing services utilize metal piping, which comes spooled on a large reel. It provide both equipment and operating personnel to perform services ranging from acid stimulation, reverse circulation, cementing, pressure control, nitrogen injection, and other operations that involve pumping fluids into a well. Horizontal wells and shale completions are a large component of its operations. It provide equipment and personnel to help customers control well production, as well as to clean up, unload, separate, measure component flow, and dispose of fluids from oil and gas wells. Nitrogen services are provided in jetting wells that are loaded with fluid; stimulating wells, including fracturizing and acidizing; displacing completion fluids prior to perforating; inflating flotation devices for offshore installations, and pressure testing and other maintenance activities.
Transportation Segment
The Company operates a long-haul trucking business through Ameri-Co Carriers, Inc., and a freight brokerage business through Ameri-Co Logistics, Inc. primarily for delivery of finished products throughout the continental United States. These services are provided to its subsidiaries, as well as third-party customers.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Jake L'Ecuyer]
Leading and Lagging Sectors
In trading on Friday, Basic Materials shares were relative leaders, up on the day by 0.78 percent. Top gainer in the sector was AMCOL International (NYSE: ACO), up 9 percent.
Top 10 Construction Companies To Own In Right Now: Jacobs Engineering Group Inc. (JEC)
Jacobs Engineering Group Inc. provides professional, technical, and construction services. Its services include engineering, design, and architectural services; construction and construction management services; operations and maintenance services; and process, scientific, and systems consulting services. The company serves a range of companies and organizations comprising industrial, commercial, and government clients across multiple markets and geographies. Jacobs Engineering Group Inc. provides its services to various industries and markets consisting of oil and gas exploration, production, and refining; environmental programs; pharmaceuticals and biotechnology; chemicals and polymers; buildings; infrastructure; power; technology and manufacturing; consumer products; and pulp and paper. The company provides its services through its offices in North America, Europe, the Middle East, Asia, and Australia. Jacobs Engineering Group Inc. was founded in 1947 and is based in Pa sadena, California.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Ben Levisohn]
Big losers included Best Buy (BBY), which fell 11% to $38.78 after it said margins would get hit by holiday discounts, Campbell Soup (CPB), which fell 6.2% to $39.20 after reporting lousy earnings, and Jacobs Engineering (JEC), which fell 5.8% to $60.03 after it reported earnings that missed analyst forecasts. Tyson Foods (TSN) gained 4.6% to $30.78 a day after beating earnings forecasts, while Boston Scientific (BSX) after one of its medical devices was approved by European regulators.
- [By Ben Levisohn]
That leaves just five big losers that have kept on losing. Those would be Darden Restaurants (DRI), which has dropped 0.1% to $46.23 at 3:29.p.m., Jacobs Engineering Group (JEC), which has fallen 0.1% to $53.21, VeriSign (VRSN), which has declined 0.3% to $48.66, Express Scripts (ESRX), which is off 0.4% at $69.08, and Urban Outfitters (URBN), which has slipped 1.2% to $33.45.
- [By Rich Duprey]
Magnox Limited is decommissioning nuclear power facilities in the U.K. Jacobs Engineering (NYSE: JEC ) has been contracted�to provide project management resources, skills development, coaching, and employment opportunities for Magnox employees�as an extension of original�protocols established with Jacobs and AMEC in 2011, the companies announced today.
- [By Rich Smith]
The U.S. Department of Defense awarded nine new contracts on Monday worth some $1.121 billion in aggregate. The largest of these awards, however, swallowed more than 85% of the funds on offer. Split among five publicly traded companies, and one privately owned, this monster IT contract envisions paying out $960 million over the course of time to contractors:
Lockheed Martin (NYSE: LMT ) Raytheon (NYSE: RTN ) Harris� (NYSE: HRS ) L-3 Communications (NYSE: LLL ) TYBRIN Corp., a subsidiary of Jacobs Engineering Group (NYSE: JEC ) SRA InternationalThe multiple award, indefinite- delivery/indefinite-quantity (IDIQ) contract was awarded under the U.S. Air Force's Network-Centric Solutions-2 (NETCENTS-2) Application Services program, which the Air Force describes as being one of its primary vehicles for purchasing "sustainment, migration, integration, training, help desk support, testing and operational support" services. Over the course of the contract, the six named contactors will be the only ones entitled to bid (against each other) for task orders awarded under the umbrella IDIQ contract.
Top 10 Construction Companies To Own In Right Now: Acciona SA (ANA)
Acciona SA is a Spain-based holding company active in the construction and engineering industry. It is engaged in renewable energy, water services and infrastructure sectors.The Company operates through six business areas; Infrastructure involves the construction, engineering and transportation, as well as hospital concessions; Real Estate is active in the development of real estate properties and parking lot operations; Energy involves the generation, distribution and sale of energy; Transportation and Logistics Services provides integrated transport services for passengers and cargo; Environmental and Urban Services is engaged in activities related to services in the urban scope and environment protection, such as the execution of all types of activities in the water supply; Other Activities is engaged in the provision of services related to funds management and financial intermediation, as well as wine production, among others. Advisors' Opinion:- [By Sarah Jones]
Iberdrola SA (IBE), Spain�� biggest power company, fell 3.4 percent to 3.87 euros. Endesa SA (ELE) slumped 4.6 percent to 16 euros, while Acciona SA (ANA), which owns more than 4 gigawatts of wind farms in the country, tumbled 8.5 percent to 37.95 euros. Red Electrica Corp. slid 7.5 percent to 38.34 euros.
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