Tech Goes Higher

In This Issue: Tech Goes Higher Upstream Scrambles, Midstream Deals Investing in America's Renewal Make Big Money – Without Big Risk Investing doesn't have to be confusing – or scary. Just like a casino that makes it easy to get in and hard to get out, the labyrinth of special terms and hard-to-follow rules that Wall Street has put in place are there for one purpose only – to ensure they keep as much of your money as possible. You can skip right past that, though – if you follow the three simple rules I'd like to show you today. I've spent 26 years perfecting them. And I can tell you with absolute certainty they work. How? The first time I tested them out, I banked a cool $127,344 profit on a single trade. I'll show you how you can start using the system for yourself today. Just click here to get started. Tech Goes Higher 1/27/2015 By Thomas Scarlett As I write, the Dow Jones average is down more than 300 points due to some disappointing earnings results and concerns about the European economy. As several of our analysts have noted in recent weeks, the days of effortless high returns in the stock market are over. Picking the right investments is more crucial than ever. Here's a good one that has been largely overlooked: Tech Data Corp (NASDAQ: TECD), based in Clearwater, Florida, is one of the world's largest wholesale distributors of technology products and services. Its advanced logistics capabilities and other services enable 120,000 resellers in more than 100 countries to efficiently support the various technology needs of their customers. The company has a market cap of $2.2 billion. Its price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio is around 11, rather low for a company that has established its ability to survive and grow in the fast-moving high-tech industry. Tech Data recently revealed an exclusive distribution agreement with Microsoft to offer select mobile device accessories to national retailers and solution providers in the United States. Through the agreement, Tech Data will offer Microsoft's wide array of accessories across categories including portable power solutions, wireless charging solutions, audio solutions, connected gadgets, mobile accessories, and mobile essentials such as Bluetooth headsets, chargers, and batteries via its Tech Data Mobile Solutions division. Tech Data currently offers the same portfolio of Microsoft products through its Tech Data Mobile division in Europe. "Tech Data Mobile Solutions delivers complete end-to-end mobile solutions to enable solution providers from the device to the data center," said Patrick Stokes, vice president, Tech Data Mobile Solutions. "Through Tech Data, national retailers and solution providers can now offer Microsoft accessories in the U.S and throughout Europe. As a leader in consumer electronics, Tech Data enables productivity-enhancing solutions for use at home, on the go, at school, in the car and at work." Many of the accessories are universally compatible and work with Android and iOS devices, as well as computers, laptops and tablets. Tech Data's sales figures have increased sharply in the last few years, despite the economic doldrums. Revenues for the last fiscal year were more than $30 billion. The stock fell last year after NASDAQ penalized the company for filing a late earnings report. But the glitch does not seem to portend any long-term problem with the company, so the slight downturn is likely a buying opportunity. The company was founded in 1974 by Edward Raymund, father of the company's current chairman Steven Raymund. Its original business was to market data processing supplies directly to end users of mini- and mainframe computers. In 1983, the company expanded its target markets and redirected efforts toward servicing microcomputer resellers as a wholesale distributor. In 2011, Tech Data introduced the StreamOne Software License Selector, enabling resellers to sell and distribute software by helping them easily manage the selection and licensing process. The new service was ranked as one of the top innovations in IT for that year. Even as Tech Data was formulating its partnership with Microsoft, it has maintained a strong relationship with Apple. Tech Data is starting a pilot program to distribute the iPhone 4s, iPhone 5s, iPhone 5c and related accessories to its channel of resellers in Western Europe. Shipments are beginning this month in Germany and France, followed by other countries later. The program may expand to other world markets as well. "We are excited to distribute iPhone and a wide range of related accessories across Western Europe just in time for the key holiday season," said Nestor Cano, president of Tech Data's European division. "As the leading technology distributor in Europe, we have the right team, customer base and country coverage in place to grow our resellers' business significantly in both the consumer and commercial markets." The company is also one of the leaders in cloud computing. Tech Data today has finalized a distribution agreement with collab9, a provider of Cisco Powered hosted collaboration systems, to deliver Cisco Hosted Collaboration Solution (HCS). What this means is that Tech Data's customers will have access to a single source for all their cloud services through the TDCloud business unit. The high-tech world changes quickly, but Tech Data's established relationships with its business partners and its record of innovation make it one of the safer bets for continued growth. Tom Scarlett is an investment analyst at Personal Finance and its parent web site Investing Daily. A Once-in-a-Generation Opportunity Bridge Street sits on a patch of ground barely 1,640 feet long. At first glance, nothing sets it apart from any other city street. That's until you find out the fabulous secret behind the building at 20 Bridge Street. What's going on inside the glass façade there will turn Bridge Street into the next Wall Street. When it does, fortunes will be made. But only if you act quickly and get the details on this highly profitable story now – before you completely miss out. I'll give them to you here. Upstream Scrambles, Midstream Deals 1/27/2015 By Robert Rapier The joint monthly web chat for subscribers of The Energy Strategist (TES) and MLP Profits (MLPP) took place two weeks ago. There were a number of questions remaining at the end. I answered about half of the remaining questions in last week's MLP Investing Insider. Today I tackle four more that were left. Q: Should oil prices stay low for much of this year, are there any MLPs that will likely go out of business? This is a question that has been coming up a lot. I think it would take several years of prices like this before they would threaten any midstream businesses, but the upstream providers have been getting hit pretty hard. Most will probably be forced to cut their distributions, and many have already announced dramatically lower payouts. The ones in the most trouble will be the most highly indebted ones with insufficient commodity hedges to ride out the slump. According to the National Association of Publicly Traded Partnerships (NAPTP), there are 16 publicly traded partnerships engaged in upstream operations: Some of the upstream partnerships listed will likely be among the first casualties if oil prices remain low. Will any go out of business this year? I think it's unlikely, but it really depends on how low oil prices go and how long they stay there, the relative production split between oil, natural gas, and natural gas liquids (NGLs), the level of hedging against lower prices and the extent of debt the partnership has taken on. Q: What is your current take on ETP? With a market cap of $23 billion, Energy Transfer Partners (NYSE: ETP) is among the largest of the MLPs. If I had five MLPs in a portfolio, it would be one of them. We like it at the current price, but this week's news that ETP will buy Regency Energy Partners (NYSE: RGP) in an $11 billion cash and stock deal initially drove down the unit price of ETP by more than 6%. ETP also has just announced a $0.02 increase in its quarterly distribution to $0.995 per common unit ($3.98 annualized) for the quarter ended Dec. 31. This was the sixth consecutive quarter that ETP raised its distribution. The latest payout is up 8.2% year-over-year and puts the annualized yield at 6.5% -- not bad for a solid midstream operator with relatively modest commodity exposure. Q: Do you know when the APL merger will be completed? Atlas Pipeline Partners (NYSE: APL) is a midstream natural gas partnership operating in the Mid-Continent and Permian basin. Atlas Pipeline owns and operates gas-processing plants and multiple treating facilities, as well as two intrastate gas gathering pipeline systems. In October, Targa Resources Partners (NYSE: NGLS) agreed to acquire Atlas Pipeline Partners for $5.8 billion, including assumption of $1.8 billion of existing APL debt. Each APL common unitholder would receive 0.5846 units of Targa Resources Partners and a one-time cash payment of $1.26 per APL common unit for total consideration of $38.66 per APL common unit, which was a 15% premium to the trading price of APL at that time. Concurrently with that merger, NGLS parent Targa Resources (NYSE: TRGP) is to acquire the midstream interests of APL parent Atlas Energy (NYSE: ATLS) for approximately $1.9 billion. Last week, APL and TRP mailed proxy materials to unitholders, paving the way for votes on the merger agreements. Subject to the expected approval by unitholders, the mergers are expected to be completed on Feb. 28. Q: What is your current opinion of KMI? Kinder Morgan (NYSE: KMI) just reported quarterly results for the first time since completing the big merger with affiliated MLPs in November. For the year, the company's entities generated $7.5 billion in segment earnings before DD&A and certain items, up 9% from 2013. KMI reported distributable cash flow (DCF) of $2.6 billion, up from $1.7 billion for 2013. The company declared a quarterly dividend of $0.45 per share, a 10% increase year-over-year representing a current annualized yield of 4.3%. For 2015, the company expects to pay out $2 per share, up 15% from 2014, with $654 million of excess coverage based on its forecasts of an average $70 per barrel price for crude and $3.80 per million British thermal units (MMBtu) of natural gas. At $50/bbl crude and $3.20/mmBTU natural gas, the excess coverage would shrink to $436 million. KMI also recently announced a $3 billion acquisition of Bakken midstream operator Hiland Partners. KMI paid 10 times its estimate of Hiland's 2018 EBITDA for these midstream assets, signaling faith in a bright future for the Bakken despite the recent crude slump. KMI has a respectable cushion against falling oil prices, and the stock probably has limited downside. It is one we like and recommend, and it would be on my short list of steady income plays. This article originally appeared in the MLP Investing Insider column. Never miss an issue. Sign up to receive MLP Investing Insider by email. If You Only Buy One Stock in 2015 – Buy This One Looking for a stock with moonshot potential? Here it is… I've found a tiny $8 tech stock that has the potential to turn every $10,000 invested into $214,290. The time to get in early is NOW… and it's running out. Share price recently shot up 15% in just one day. Every day you wait could literally cost you thousands of dollars in profits. Gains of 2,042% are not out of the question. But only if you click here to get the details. Investing in America's Renewal 1/22/2015 By Richard Stavros Yet another reminder of the sad state of affairs of the nation's infrastructure:The recent collapse of a section of the Interstate 75 bridge in Cincinnati that killed one construction worker. Though crumbling roads, pipes and power grids is a global problem, the U.S. is the best place to invest in infrastructure. This according to two men who should know: Karl Kuchel, chief operating officer, Macquarie Infrastructure Partners, and Mark Weisdorf, founder of Weisdorf Associates and former CEO of J.P. Morgan Infrastructure Investments Group. These two top bankers laid out the case for the U.S. as the best place for infrastructure investment in a webinar hosted by Privcap Media, which serves private capital investors. Readers of Global Income Edge know one of our top long-term income investment themes is profits from the huge, rising demand for income-producing infrastructure investments. There's a trillion dollars needed for infrastructure investment in the U.S. over the next seven to 10 years, and $400 billion alone will go to regulated utilities, where a large portion will be used for replacing aging coal plants with natural gas power plants, and adding renewable energy sources such as solar and wind. The American Society of Civil Engineers grades the country's infrastructure a D+. The need for infrastructure investment has become more pressing in recent years. Weisdorf explained that though he has been speaking to investors around the world about infrastructure for 15 years, the problem has become particularly acute because investment in it stopped as a result of the global financial crisis. I've known firsthand about aging infrastructure, having been an adviser on multi-billion dollar energy projects. The bankers said private investment in infrastructure is surging because many governments don't have the means to pay for it, and are turning to public/private arrangements with investors. Weisdorf said that over the last two years demand by private investors has increased dramatically because those investors are interested in the income such arrangements generate. And infrastructure investments have two more things going for them. First, the pool of high-yield investments is shrinking worldwide. And second, infrastructure investments tend not to be linked to the fortunes of the stock and bond markets. This independence means adding them to your portfolio will decrease volatility. These investments are stable because they're guaranteed by the "public" half of the public/private partnerships, just as muni bonds are backed by the faith and credit of the municipality that issues them. Weisdorf said stable infrastructure investments have become more attractive to investors given swings in stock markets and low rates on government debt around the world. Source: Macquarie The Case for America Kuchel noted that U.S. infrastructure is attracting not only U.S. investors, but global investors as well. The U.S. should have many public/private infrastructure investment opportunities given many state governments are facing sizable deficits with no money to put big down payments on infrastructure investments. That's why Global Income Edge has developed portfolios that have stakes in the top energy utilities, telecoms and other infrastructure companies around the world. For subscribers of Global Income Edge, in the next section we profile two new picks that will benefit from the increased investment in U.S. and global infrastructure. This article originally appeared in the Income Without Borders column. Never miss an issue. Sign up to receive Income without Borders by email. The Houdini Bank This bank not only escaped the Great Recession – they required not a dime in bailout money and remained profitable throughout the entire financial catastrophe. Their triumphant outperformance spotlights one of the most timely investment opportunities you'll find anywhere in the world today. The 9.7% yield is just a taste of "Banking 2.0." The full story. 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