Top Media Companies To Own For 2014

Where are the rock stars in the world of exchange-traded funds?

This was the big question on the minds of trend-watching ETF pundits as they brought the Morningstar ETF Invest Conference 2013 to a close on Friday.

While the pundits agreed that Bill Gross, manager of the PIMCO Total Return ETF (BOND), is the biggest “rock star” in the fixed-income space, they also concurred that active management of “smart beta” equity ETFs will be the next big trend.

So step aside, Mr. Gross, said ETF media mavens Matt Hougan of IndexUniverse and Tom Lydon of ETF Trends at Morningstar’s “Meet the Pundits” panel on Friday. Your days as the biggest rock star in the ETF universe are numbered as smart beta awaits the emergence of rock-star equity ETF managers who will make as big a splash as rock-star mutual fund managers did in the 1980s. (Think Sir John Templeton’s Growth Fund and John Neff’s Windsor Fund.)

“The ETF business is boring. Bill Gross is our rock star. We need to do better,” Lydon said at the panel that moderator Brendan Conway of Barron’s characterized as a “no-holds-barred, rapid-fire” review of all things ETF.

10 Best Growth Stocks To Buy Right Now: DIRECTV(DTV)

DIRECTV provides digital television entertainment in the United States and Latin America. The company provides direct-to-home (DTH) digital television services, as well as multi-channel video programming distribution services in the United States. It offers various channels of digital-quality video entertainment and CD-quality audio programming directly to subscribers' homes or businesses, as well as video-on-demand services; and approximately 160 national high-definition television channels and 4 3D channels. The company also provides premium professional and collegiate sports programming, such as the NFL SUNDAY TICKET package, which allows subscribers to view the NFL games. In addition, it offers DTH digital television services in Latin America and the Caribbean, including Puerto Rico. The company provides its local and international programming under the DIRECTV and SKY brand names. As of December 31, 2010, it served approximately 19.2 million subscribers in the United States; and 8.9 million subscribers in Latin America. The company was founded in 1990 and is based in El Segundo, California.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Ian Wyatt]

  And DirecTV (DTV) has shot up 20.5% as consumers flock to digital television with DVR capabilities.

  By owning shares of Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.B), you essentially own a slice of all those stocks.

• [By Richard Band]

  Sometimes the most profitable trend changes in the investment world take place while almost everybody is looking the other way. I’m beginning to think that’s what may be happening right now with the merger of AT&T (T) and DirecTV (DTV).

Top Media Companies To Own For 2014: Time Warner Cable Inc(TWC)

Time Warner Cable Inc., together with its subsidiaries, operates as a cable operator in the United States. It offers video, high-speed data, and voice services over its broadband cable systems to residential and commercial customers. The company provides a range of video services, including on-demand, high-definition (HD), and digital video recorder (DVR) services; residential high-speed data services with connection to the Internet; wireless mobile broadband Internet services; and digital phone services to residential customers. It offers video programming tiers and music services; high-speed data, networking, and transport services; and commercial digital phone service to small and medium-sized businesses under the Time Warner Cable Business Class brand. Further, Time Warner Cable Inc. sells advertising to various national, regional, and local customers. As of June 30, 2011, the company served approximately 14.5 million residential and commercial customers in the New Yor k State, the Carolinas, Ohio, southern California, and Texas. Time Warner Cable Inc. is based in New York, New York.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Demitrios Kalogeropoulos]

  Comcast (NASDAQ: CMCSA  )
  Comcast may be losing cable subscribers, but it is making up for those defections with solid growth in other areas of the business. Sure, the company shed 60,000�residential video customers last quarter. But that's actually much better than Time Warner Cable (NYSE: TWC  ) managed. Time Warner saw a steeper dip in its video subscribers of 4.5%, or over 550,000 customers.

• [By WALLSTCHEATSHEET]

  Time Warner Cable is a provider of video, high-speed data, and voice services to a large customer base across the nation. The company is planning strategic acquisitions in order to grow its network. The stock has been on a bullish run and is now trading at all-time high prices. Over the last four quarters, earnings and revenue figures have been on the rise, however, investors in the company have had mixed feelings about recent earnings announcements. Relative to its peers and sector, Time Warner Cable has been an average year-to-date performer. Look for Time Warner Cable to OUTPERFORM.

Top Media Companies To Own For 2014: Charter Communications Inc.(CHTR)

Charter Communications, Inc., through its subsidiaries, provides entertainment, information, and communications solutions to residential and commercial customers in the United States. The company offers cable video programming services, such as basic and digital video, premium channels, OnDemand, pay-per-view, high definition television, digital video recorder, and online video services; Internet services; Charter.net, which provides multiple e-mail addresses, as well as various entertainment, games, news, and sports content; and telephone services. It also provides broadband communications solutions, such as Internet access, data networking, fiber connectivity to cellular towers and office buildings, video entertainment services, and business telephone services under the Charter Business brand name to business and carrier organizations. As of December 31, 2011, the company served approximately 4.1 million video customers; approximately 3.5 million Internet customers; appr oximately 1.7 million telephone customers; and approximately 476,200 commercial primary service units. Charter Communications, Inc. was founded in 1999 and is based in St. Louis, Missouri.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Paul Ausick]

  Seeing how its initial bid of $132.50 per share ($37.3 billion) for Time Warner Cable Inc. (NYSE: TWC) produced an immediate rejection, cable operator Charter Communications Inc. (NASDAQ: CHTR) is reported to be considering sweetening its offer to somewhere in the low $140s.

• [By Pato Kehoe] o help strengthen the firm�� multi-channel subscription model by increasing the platforms for content delivery. Additionally, this strategy will balance future revenue losses in the DVD segment, as a consequence of the cheaper viewing alternatives.

  Theme Parks and Overseas Expansion

  Walt Disney Co. undoubtedly has a talent for monetizing its characters and franchises across multiple platforms, but its theme parks are the crown jewel. These are an especially attractive and unique segment in the company�� assets, mainly because they are almost impossible to replicate. The Parks and Resorts division accounts for 25% of operating profits and after the 2009 crisis, revenues have been recovering at a fast pace. During the last quarter of 2013, revenue in this segment experienced an 8.5% increase, while operating income marked a 15% rise. In fact, the company is focused on further deploying its capital towards the expansion of the Parks and Resorts business, thereby creating new growth opportunities.

  Looking forward, Walt Disney Co. is aiming to expand its operations overseas, in the emerging nations China, Russia and India. The Shanghai Disney Resort, for example, will contain a Shanghai Disneyland, two themed hotels and a retail, dining and entertainment venue, and is set to be China�� largest theme park by 2015. Despite possible unfavourable foreign currency translations, this firm should be able to sustain its growth given its multiple revenue sources. Furthermore, the entertainment giant has been highly successful at managing its cash flow, returning large sums of its free cash to shareholders via dividends and share repurchases. The 71.3 million repurchased shares in fiscal 2013, worth close to $4.1 billion, are expected to increase in 2014 and will range between $6 and $8 billion in returns.

  Despite the risks of the economy deteriorating and primetime ratings fall, which could affect advertising dollars and revenue generating capabi

• [By WWW.DAILYFINANCE.COM]

  'Interconnection' The better access that Netflix is getting from Comcast is known as "interconnection," a term referring to digital content's journey to an Internet service provider's gates. That path technically isn't covered by the current definition of Net neutrality, which refers to how service providers treat digital content once it's inside the gates. Comcast has promised to honor the previous rules governing Net neutrality through 2018. In a blog post last month, Hastings argued that future Net neutrality guidelines should be expanded to address interconnection issues, too. "Without strong Net neutrality, big ISPs can demand potentially escalating fees for the interconnection required to deliver high quality service," Hastings wrote. "The big ISPs can make these demands -- driving up costs and prices for everyone else -- because of their market position." Google's YouTube video site and many other websites were paying interconnection fees to Comcast before Netflix struck its own deal with the carrier. Even with the March improvements, Comcast's delivery of Netflix content lags behind several other major service providers. Cablevision (CVC), Cox, Suddenlink and Charter (CHTR) each delivered Netflix video at higher speeds than Comcast in March, according to Monday's breakdown. Netflix has interconnection deals with Cablevision, Cox and Suddenlink, although those arrangements don't require Netflix to pay fees.

• [By Patricio Kehoe]

  Although these efforts have given positive results, reducing customer losses and growing revenue per customer, the firm still operates at a disadvantage in relation to wireless and cable companies . Firms such as Comcast Corporation (CMCSA), Time Warner Cable Inc. (TWC) and Charter Communications Inc. (CHTR) have built superior platforms for Internet access, thus offering better data speeds as well as a full complement of services.

Top Media Companies To Own For 2014: Cablevision Systems Corporation (CVC)

Cablevision Systems Corporation provides telecommunications and media services. It operates in two segments, Telecommunications Services and Other. The Telecommunications Services segment is involved in television business, including video, high-speed data, and VoIP operations, as well as the provision of commercial data and voice services. The Other segment offers Newsday, a daily newspaper; amNewYork, a free daily newspaper; and Star Community Publishing, a group of weekly shopper publications; and newsday.com and exploreLI.com. This segment also engages in motion picture theatre business, Clearview Cinemas; provision of the News 12 Networks, a regional news programming services; and the MSG Varsity network, a network covering high school sports and activities, and other local programs, as well as cable television advertising. Cablevision Systems Corporation was founded in 1985 and is headquartered in Bethpage, New York.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Will Ashworth]

  If other cable companies — like Charter Communications (CHTR), Cablevision (CVC) and Cox Communications — decide to merge in order to keep pace with Comcast, content providers could be under the gun once more.

• [By Rich Duprey]

  Both Bow Tie and Cablevision (NYSE: CVC  ) , which owned the Clearview chain, announced yesterday they had completed the transfer of ownership of the theaters, which was first announced in April, though financial terms for the transaction were not disclosed. As the oldest cinema company in the U.S.,�Bow Tie says it now has the largest number of theater locations in the New York metropolitan area,�and operates 63 movie theaters with 388 screens in seven states.

• [By Will Ashworth]

  Losing control of the Cablevision (CVC) spinoff will ultimately be better for the Dolans than if they try to go it alone.

  This scenario�� likely a long shot, but I think it makes a lot of sense.

Top Media Companies To Own For 2014: CBS Corporation(CBS)

CBS Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, operates as a mass media company in the United States and internationally. The company?s Entertainment segment distributes a schedule of news and public affairs broadcasts, sports, and entertainment programming; produces, acquires, and distributes programming, including series, specials, news, and public affairs; produces and distributes theatrical motion pictures across various genres; and operates online content networks for information and entertainment. Its Cable Networks segment owns and operates multiplexed channels that offers subscription program services, including recently released theatrical feature films, original series, documentaries, boxing, mixed martial arts and other sports-related programming, and special events; and CBS College Sports Network, a 24-hour cable program service related to college sports. This segment also owns and manages Smithsonian Networks, which operates Smithsonian Channel, a basic cab le service in the United States. The company?s Publishing segment publishes and distributes adult and children?s consumer books in printed, audio, and digital formats. Its Local Broadcasting segment owns 29 broadcast television stations; owns and operates 130 radio stations in 28 U.S. markets and related online properties; and owns local Websites that combine television and radio local media brands online to provide the latest news, traffic, weather, and sports information, as well as local discounts, directories, and reviews. The company?s Outdoor segment sells advertising space on various media, including billboards, transit shelters and other street furniture, buses, rail systems, mall kiosks, stadium signage, and in retail stores. CBS Corporation was founded in 1986 and is headquartered in New York, New York.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Rick Aristotle Munarriz]

  Lloyd Bishop/NBCU Photo Bank/Getty ImagesStephen Colbert (left) practices his network performance with Jimmy Fallon. From a fallen dot-com darling scoring a rare hat trick to a discount retailer discounting its headcount, here's a rundown of the week's smartest moves and biggest blunders in the business world. CBS (CBS) -- Winner David Letterman is leaving his late-night talk show next year, and CBS allowed only a week to pass between that announcement and naming his replacement. Stephen Colbert will take over "The Late Show." It may seem like a gutsy call. Colbert's satirical skewering of political conservatives is polarizing, even if his talk show persona is unlikely to embrace the character that made him a Comedy Central late-night star. It's still an attention-grabbing announcement and one that should benefit CBS as well as its sister company and Comedy Central parent Viacom (VIA). Time Warner (TWX) -- Loser "Game of Thrones" kicked off its highly anticipated fourth season on Time Warner's (TWX) HBO on Sunday, but it wasn't just the show's power-hungry characters that were out for blood. Online users were incensed to find an outage on HBO Go preventing them from watching the premiere for several hours. HBO Go has been a major component of the premium movie channel's success in recent years, included at no additional cost with HBO subscriptions to justify the platform's high cost relative to Netflix (NFLX) and other growing streaming video services. Subscribers expect reliability when they're paying up for a premium service, and they just didn't get it. A big reason why this outage is making news -- as HBO Go subscribers had to stay off social media to avoid spoilers -- is because there was a similar disruption last month during HBO's "True Detective." Yelp (YELP) -- Winner Yelp may not be very popular with its investors, nor with some irate merchants, but it got some love from Wall Street this week. Three analyst firms -- Oppenheimer, SunTrust and

• [By Paul Ausick]

  And it�� not just lost subscriber revenue, but lost leverage over content providers. Time Warner blamed its disputes with CBS Corp. (NYSE: CBS) and Journal Communications over retransmission fees for its subscriber losses in the third quarter. Content producers like CBS are demanding higher retransmission payments from cable and satellite providers and dwindling subscriber numbers knock a sizeable chunk off providers��take.

• [By Vera Yuan]

  We believe the heart and soul of Colfax is a set of operational and management tools known as the Colfax Business System (CBS) which stresses continuous improvement in all aspects of the business. Danaher fine-tuned the use of these tools, compounding shareholder capital at a 20%+ Compound Annual Growth Rate, (CAGR) since 1984 by acquiring underperforming businesses, improving revenue, margins and cash flow, and employing that cash flow to fund the next acquisition. Colfax has borrowed the Danaher playbook.

• [By Craig Jones]

  © 2014 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.

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Top Media Companies To Own For 2014: DISH Network Corporation(DISH)

DISH Network Corporation, through its subsidiaries, provides direct broadcast satellite (DBS) subscription television services in the United States. It offers programming that includes approximately 280 basic video channels, 60 Sirius satellite radio music channels, 30 premium movie channels, 35 regional and specialty sports channels, 2,800 local channels, 250 Latino and international channels, and 55 channels of pay-per-view content. The company also offers local HD channels in approximately 160 markets and 215 national HD channels; and receiver systems, including a small satellite dish, digital set-top receivers, and remote controls. In addition, it provides DISHOnline.com, which enables DISH Network subscribers to watch 150,000 movies, television shows, clips, and trailers; DISH Remote Access that enables subscribers to remotely manage their DVRs using compatible mobile devices, such as smartphones, tablets, and laptops through their broadband-connected receiver; and Go ogle TV that enables DISH Network subscribers to search the Internet, check email, interact with social media, and find additional online programming content while simultaneously watching television. As of March 31, 2011, the company had approximately 14.191 million customers. DISH Network provides receiver systems and programming through direct sales channels; and independent third parties, such as small satellite retailers, direct marketing groups, local and regional consumer electronics stores, nationwide retailers, and telecommunications companies. The company was founded in 1980 and is headquartered in Englewood, Colorado.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By MONEYMORNING.COM]

  The Expedia announcement follows that of DISH Network Corp. (Nasdaq: DISH) two weeks ago that it would let its customers pay in Bitcoin. DISH, which is also using the Coinbase service, has 14 million subscribers.

• [By Rich Smith]

  Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg via Getty Images They say that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. So, Comcast (CMCSA), consider yourself flattered, because Time Warner Cable (TWC) is copying off your homework. A couple of weeks ago, we told you about Comcast's "Great New Secret Cable Plan" to try to halt the exodus of subscribers from its services. The Comcast plan allows subscribers to sign up for: A menu of 45 or so of the most-watched, most useful cable channels The premium pay-TV channel HBO -- plus included HBO GO service for mobile devices High-speed Internet access at speeds up to 25 Mbps A subscription to XFINITY Streampix, Comcast's service for streaming video of complete seasons of popular television shows from recent years past... ... all for the low, low price of just $40 or $50 a month (depending on location). The plan was "secret" because Comcast didn't make much of an effort -- or really effort -- to publicize it. There's hardly even a mention of the plan on the company's website. In other words, it seems like Comcast would prefer to keep the new plan hush-hush so you continue paying for one of their more expensive bundles. However, word of Comcast's under-the-radar new plan get out -- nearly 5,500 DailyFinance readers printed, emailed, commented on, Tweeted, or Facebooked our story on Comcast's "Internet Plus" bundle last month. So Comcast competitor Time Warner did what any good competitor does: It copied the model and, this week, began offering a similar plan of its own: Dubbed "Starter TV with HBO," Time Warner's plan is an even more slimmed-down version of Comcast's idea. It features: "20+" cable channels, including the five biggies -- ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox, and PBS HBO and HBO GO and... well, actually, that's about it. At $30 a month, Time Warner handily undercuts Comcast's Internet Plus offer on price. And yet, it's hard not to wonder if customers aren't still overpaying. For one thing, Time Warner's Starter TV with HBO offer