Hot Asian Companies To Invest In Right Now

LOS ANGELES (MarketWatch) -- Japanese stocks inched downward Wednesday, with action quiet as most other Asian markets were closed for the Christmas holiday. The Nikkei Stock Average (JP:NIK) eased 0.1% to 15,874.40, with the Topix 0.2% lower, failing to get a bump from gains in Wall Street's abbreviated session Tuesday. Shares of Softbank Corp. (JP:9984) (SFTBF) slipped 0.3%, showing little reaction to an article in the Nikkei Asian Review saying that previously reported plans by the firm to buy T-Mobile US Inc. (TMUS) through its newly acquired Sprint (S) unit would value the transaction at more than 2 trillion yen ($19 billion) and would take place as early as next spring. Seven & I Holdings Co. (JP:3382) (SVNDF) , operators of the 7-Eleven convenience-store chain, rose 0.5% as a separate Nikkei report said it planned to pay about 楼5 billion yen to purchase nearly half of Bals, which runs home-and-kitchen-furnishings retailer Francfranc. On the upside, Renesas Electronics Corp. (JP:6723) (RNECY) rallied 5.3% after suffering a sizeable drop in the previous session.

Hot Asian Companies To Invest In Right Now: Horsehead Holding Corp.(ZINC)

Horsehead Holding Corp., together with its subsidiaries, produces and sells specialty zinc and zinc-based products in North America. The company?s products include PW zinc metal, which is used to provide a protective coating to various fabricated products, including pipe and guard rails, heat exchangers, and telecommunications towers, as well as for the production of brass; and SSHG zinc metal that is used as feed for the manufacture of high-purity zinc powder and zinc alloys. It also offers zinc oxide for the production of tire and rubber products, chemicals, ceramics, plastics, paints, lubricating oils, and pharmaceuticals. In addition, the company recycles electric arc furnace dust, a hazardous waste generated by steel mini-mills. Further, it provides special zinc powders, which are used in general chemical and metallurgical applications, as well as in friction applications, such as brake linings for automobiles; battery grade zinc powders that are used in alkaline, me rcuric oxide, silver oxide, and zinc-air batteries; and copper-based powders, including brass, bronze, and nickel-silver powders, which are used in various applications comprising brazing, infiltrating, and powdered metallurgical hardware, such as lock bodies, valves, and gears. Additionally, the company offers short-line railroad service for the movement of materials. It primarily serves galvanizers and brass producers; alkaline battery industries; and manufacturers of tire and rubber products, lubricating oils, chemicals, paints, ceramics, plastics, and pharmaceuticals. The company was incorporated in 2003 and is based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

Hot Asian Companies To Invest In Right Now: Costain Grp(COST.L)

Costain Group PLC, together with its subsidiaries, engages in the provision of consultancy, engineering, construction and operations, and maintenance services in Spain. The company operates in four segments: Environment, Infrastructure, Energy and Process, and Land Development. The Environment segment offers engineering solutions in water, waste, education, and retail sectors. The Infrastructure segment provides engineering solutions for various infrastructure providers, such as highways, rail, and airports markets. The Energy and Process segment offers consultancy, engineering, project delivery, and asset support services for power, nuclear process, and hydrocarbons and chemicals. The Land Development segment is involved in the land and marina development activities. The company was founded in 1865 and is headquartered in Maidenhead, the United Kingdom.

Hot Asian Companies To Invest In Right Now: AXT Inc(AXTI)

AXT, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, designs, develops, manufactures, and distributes compound and single element semiconductor substrates for use in wireless communications, lighting display applications, fiber optic communications, and solar cell. It offers semi-insulating substrates made from gallium arsenide, which are used in power amplifiers and radio frequency integrated circuits of wireless handsets, direct broadcast televisions, high-performance transistors, and satellite communications applications. The company also provides semi-conducting substrates made from gallium arsenide that are used for applications in light emitting diodes, lasers, and optical couplers; substrates made from indium phosphide used in broadband and fiber optic communications; and substrates made from germanium used in satellite and terrestrial solar cells, and for optical applications. It manufactures its semiconductor substrates using its proprietary vertical gradient freeze technol ogy. In addition, the company, through its joint venture agreements, manufactures and sells gallium, arsenic, germanium, germanium dioxide, paralytic boron nitride crucibles, and boron oxide. AXT, Inc. sells its products through direct sales force in the United States, as well as through independent sales representatives in France, Germany, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, and the United Kingdom. The company was formerly known as American Xtal Technology, Inc. and changed its name to AXT, Inc. in July 2000. AXT, Inc. was founded in 1986 and is headquartered in Fremont, California.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Eric Volkman]

  SciClone (NASDAQ: SCLN  ) has a new man leading its finance team. The company announced that it hired Wilson Cheung to be its new CFO. Cheung is a longtime executive who most recently served as chief compliance officer, Asia Pacific, at digital marketing agency Velti, following a stint as that company's CFO. Before that, he was CFO and corporate secretary at AXT (NASDAQ: AXTI  ) and served in various managerial positions in firms such as KPMG and Yahoo!

Hot Asian Companies To Invest In Right Now: Reliance Industries Ltd (RELIANCE)

Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) is a conglomerate with business in the energy and materials value chain. The Company operates in three segments: petrochemicals, refining and oil & gas. The petrochemicals segment includes production and marketing operations of petrochemical products which include, polyethylene, polypropylene, polyvinyl chloride, poly butadiene rubber, polyester yarn, polyester fibre, purified terephthalic acid, paraxylene, ethylene glycol, olefins, aromatics, linear alkyl benzene, butadiene, acrylonitrile, caustic soda and polyethylene terephthalate. The refining segment includes production and marketing operations of the petroleum products. The oil and gas segment includes exploration, development and production of crude oil and natural gas. Its others segment includes textile, retail business, special economic zone (SEZ) development and telecom / broadband business.

Hot Asian Companies To Invest In Right Now: Equinix Inc.(EQIX)

Equinix, Inc. provides data center services for the protection and connection of information assets to enterprises, financial service companies, and content and network service providers worldwide. It connects businesses with partners and customers through a platform of high performance data centers, containing dynamic ecosystems and the broadest choice of networks. The company operates International Business Exchange (IBX) centers, or IBX data centers, across 38 markets in the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and the Asia-Pacific. Equinix offers data center services, including premium data center co-location; interconnection and exchange services; network connectivity; business continuity; and outsourced IT infrastructure services. The company connects approximately 4,000 enterprises, cloud, digital content, and financial companies, including 680 network service providers to help them grow their businesses, improve application performance, and protect their vita l digital assets. It markets its products and services through direct sales force and channel marketing program. Equinix was founded in 1998 and is headquartered in Redwood City, California.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Paulo Santos]

  Using Equinix (EQIX) and Rackspace Hosting (RAX) as comparables, I was pumped up. CONE was projecting $135 million in EBITDA for 2013 (at the midpoint of guidance). On a $445 million market capitalization with $277.7 million in net debt, it traded at an EV/EBITDA of just 5.4 times. Compare that to EQIX at 13 times or RAX at 15 times. This was a bargain and growing revenues at a 18% clip year-on-year, too, above EQIX's 10% or RAX's 15%.

• [By Holly LaFon]

  Equinix, Inc. (EQIX) is a leading Internet exchange service provider, serving communications, content and enterprise customers in state-of-the-art data centers. Equinix also offers interconnection services to customers seeking to connect directly with other Equinix customers. We believe that this "tethering" of customers in a network neutral environment creates important competitive barriers that distinguish Equinix from other data center business models. Last year, management indicated its intention to convert the company to a REIT. Shares were pressured this quarter, as the market grew concerned about the company's ability to make this REIT conversion. In addition, REIT shares themselves were under pressure on concerns that rising interest rates would depress their relative valuations in the stock market. We believe that Equinix remains an attractive investment, whether or not a REIT conversion eventually occurs.

• [By Steve Sears]

  New stocks in what Goldman calls the “Hedge Fund VIP list,”�include Actavis (ACT), Baidu (BIDU), Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.B), Crown Castle International (CCI), Entergy Louisiana (ELB), �Equinix (EQIX), Facebook (FB), Fleetcor Technologies (FLT), W.R. Grace (GRA), MetLife (MET), Macquarie Infrastructure (MIC), Micron (MU), Time Warner Cable (TWC), and Time Warner (TWX).

Hot Asian Companies To Invest In Right Now: China Unicom (CHU)

China Unicom (Hong Kong) Limited (Unicom), incorporated on February 8, 2000, is an integrated telecommunications operator in China providing mobile voice and value-added, fixed-line voice and fixed-line broadband, data communications and other telecommunications services to its customers. The Company operates in two business segments consisting of mobile services and fixed-line services. The Company is engaged in global system for mobile communications (GSM) and wideband code division multiple access (WCDMA) cellular business in 31 provinces, municipalities and autonomous regions in China, the provision of fixedline voice, broadband and other Internet-related services, information and communications technology services, business and data communications services, and other related telecommunication value-added businesses. As of 30 June 2011, Unicom Group held 57.81% of the shares in the Company through China United Network Communications Limited (A Share Company), China Unicom (BVI) Limited and China Netcom Group Corporation (BVI) Limited, and Telefonica Internacional S.A.U. held 9.01% of the shares in the Company.

Mobile Business

Unicom�� mobile business consists of GSM and third generation (3G) mobile business. As of December 31, 2010, the Company had a total of 167.43 million mobile subscribers. As of December 31, 2010, its total number of mobile subscribers included 167.43 million. Unicom operates the 3G business based on the WCDMA technology nationwide in China. As of December 31, 2010, the total number of its 3G subscribers included 14.06 million, and had 1.35 million wireless data card subscribers, 2.41 million mobile television (TV) subscribers and over seven million mobile reading subscribers. During the year ended December 31, 2010, the total 3G voice usage was 55.47 billion minutes and the average data usage per subscriber per month was 178M. GSM mobile business primarily consists of GSM voice business and value-added business.

The Company�� mobile ! voice business enables its subscribers to make and receive phone calls with a mobile handset at any point within the coverage area of its mobile telecommunications networks. Its mobile voice business includes local calls, domestic long distance calls, international long distance calls, intra-provincial roaming, inter-provincial roaming and international roaming. As of December 31, 2010, the Company�� total number of GSM mobile subscribers was 153.37 million. Unicom offers a range of GSM value-added services nationwide, including short message service (SMS), Cool Ringtone (a personalized ring-back tone service), mobile Internet and other wireless information services. During 2010, a total of 78.31 billion SMSs were transmitted by its GSM mobile subscribers. As of December 31, 2010, the Company had a total number of 67.26 million subscribers to its Cool Ringtone service. In addition, as of December 31, 2010, it had a total number of 55.81 million mobile Internet subscribers.

Fixed-Line Business

Unicom is a fixed-line broadband and communications operator in northern China. The Company offers a range of fixed-line services nationwide in China, including fixed-line broadband services and data communications services; fixed-line voice services, include local and long distance fixed-line voice services and value-added services, and other services. The Company is a provider of fixed-line broadband services in its fixed-line northern service region. Unicom is a provider of data communications services in its fixed-line northern service region. It offers managed data products, such as those based on digital data networks (DDN), frame relay, asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) and Internet protocol-virtual private network (IP-VPN). The Company also offers leased line products, including domestic and international leased circuits. Its customers for these services include government entities, large financial institutions and other domestic and multinational businesses, Internet service prov! iders and! other telecommunications operators.

As of December 31, 2010, the Company had established business cooperation relationships with more than 160 overseas operators to provide various international data communications products and services, such as international voice and data services. During 2010, it continued to offer full-scale data communications services to international operators and domestic and international corporate customers. The Company�� fixed-line voice services consist of local voice, domestic long distance, international long distance, value-added, interconnection and personal handyphone system (PHS) services. In addition to fixed-line telephone voice services, it offers a range of value-added services on its fixed-line networks. The Company�� fixed-line, value-added services include Personalized Ring and caller identification services. Personalized Ring services enable its fixed-line subscribers to personalize the ring-back tone for incoming calls. As of December 31, 2010, the number of its Personalized Ring subscribers reached 23.79 million.

Interconnection and Roaming Arrangements

The Company earns interconnection fees for terminating or transiting calls that originate from other domestic telecommunications operators��networks and pay interconnection fees to other operators for calls originating from its networks that are terminated on their networks. It earns and pays such fees in respect of mobile calls, local and domestic and international long distance calls and Internet services, except for the interconnection by fixed-line subscribers calling its mobile subscribers in the same region where no interconnection fee will be charged.

The Company provides roaming services, which allow its subscribers to access its mobile services while they are physically outside of their registered service area or in the coverage areas of other mobile networks in other countries and regions with which it has roaming arrangements. As of April 30! , 2011, U! nicom had roaming arrangements for GSM international voice and SMS services with 242 operators in 521 countries and regions; GPRS international inbound data services with 179 operators in 400 countries and regions and for international GPRS outbound data services with 164 operators in 357 countries and regions, and 3G services with 104 WCDMA operators in 245 countries and regions.

Mobile Networks

The Company�� mobile network consists of cell sites, which are physical locations, each equipped with a base station that houses transmitters, receivers and other equipment used to communicate through radio channels with subscribers��mobile handsets within the range of a cell; base station controllers, which connect to, and control, the base stations, and mobile switching centers, which control the base station controllers and the routing of telephone calls. Its mobile network also consists of a transmission network, which links the mobile switching centers, base station controllers, base stations and the public switched telephone network. It has deployed GSM and WCDMA mobile networks. The Company�� GSM mobile network mainly operates at 900 megahertz. It has also deployed GSM technology that operates at 1,800 megahertz in metropolitan areas to supplement the capacity of its existing mobile network. As of December 31, 2010, the Company had approximately 329,000 GSM base stations.

The Company competes with China Mobile and China Telecom.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Doug Young]

  I've been writing about the VNO development for awhile now, as it's really quite exciting with the potential to instantly triple the number of telecoms service providers in the market from the current three to a new field of 8-9 operators. Equally important, most of those new operators, which would lease network capacity from the existing three telcos, are private sector firms. That means they should be much more nimble and innovative than the current monopoly of three big state-run companies, China Mobile, China Unicom (CHU) and China Telecom (CHA).

• [By WWW.MARKETWATCH.COM]

  LOS ANGELES (MarketWatch) -- Hong Kong stocks inched lower early Friday, with mainland Chinese banks and energy shares among the weak spots. The Hang Seng Index (HK:HSI) lost 0.1% to 22,824.44, with the Hang Seng China Enterprises Index down 0.4%, even as the Shanghai Composite (CN:SHCOMP) rose 0.1%. Concerns about the fiscal health of the top mainland lenders loomed again over the shares, with Bank of China Ltd. (HK:3988) (BACHY) down 0.9%, Bank of Communications Co. (HK:3328) (BKFCF) 1.3% lower, and China Construction Bank Corp. (HK:939) (CICHF) off 0.7%. In the energy sector, Cnooc Ltd. (HK:883) (CEO) gave up 0.9% after posting a 17% gain in third-quarter revenue but not reporting its profit for the period. Its peers also lost ground, as China Petroleum & Chemical Corp. (HK:386) (SNP) and PetroChina Co. (HK:857) (PTR) fell 1% apiece. On the upside, China Unicom Hong Kong Ltd. (HK:762) (CHU) added 1.6% after announcing a gain of more than 50% for its quarterly profit compared to a year earlier. Rival China Mobile Ltd. (HK:941

• [By David Goldman]

  Until now, Apple had sold the iPhone there through China Mobile's much-smaller competitors, China Unicom (CHU)and China Telecom (CHA), which have about 425 million subscribers between them.

Hot Asian Companies To Invest In Right Now: Super Group Ltd. (S10.SI)

Super Group Ltd, an investment holding company, engages in manufacture and distribution of beverages and food products. Its products include instant coffee mixes, soluble coffee powder, instant cereal, instant soymilk, instant tea-mixes, instant cup noodles, canned drinks, and non-dairy creamers. It also manufactures and distributes botanical herbal extracts; and provides vending machine services. Super Group Ltd offers its products under the brand names of Super, Caf茅 Nova, Super Power, Owl, Y茅 Y茅, Coffee King, Gold Eagle, Negresco, Eagle King, Superkids�, and Liang Bao primarily in Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Myanmar, Vietnam, and the People�s Republic of China. The company, formerly known as Super Coffeemix Manufacturing Ltd, was founded in 1987 and is headquartered in Singapore.

Hot Asian Companies To Invest In Right Now: Tennant Company(TNC)

Tennant Company engages in the design, manufacture, and marketing cleaning solutions worldwide. The company offers floor maintenance and outdoor cleaning equipment; chemical-free cleaning technologies; and specialty surface coatings and related products for protecting, repairing, and upgrading floors. Its products are used to clean and coat surfaces in factories, office buildings, parking lots and streets, airports, hospitals, schools, warehouses, shopping centers, and other retail environments. The company also provides parts, consumables, and service maintenance and repair; business solutions, such as pay-for-use offerings, and rental and leasing programs; and cleaning technologies that enhance the performance of its cleaning equipment. In addition, it offers Green Machine 500ze, an electric vacuum street sweeper to clean crowded urban areas. The company serves building service contract cleaners, end-user businesses, healthcare facilities, and schools, as well as local, state, and federal governments through its direct sales and service organization, and authorized distributors. Tennant Company was founded in 1870 and is based in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Seth Jayson]

  Tennant (NYSE: TNC  ) reported earnings on April 22. Here are the numbers you need to know.

  The 10-second takeaway
  For the quarter ended March 31 (Q1), Tennant missed estimates on revenues and missed estimates on earnings per share.

Hot Asian Companies To Invest In Right Now: Shiloh Industries Inc.(SHLO)

Shiloh Industries, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, manufactures and sells first operation blanks, engineered welded blanks, stampings, and modular assemblies for the automotive, heavy truck, and other industrial markets. The company offers blanks for use in structural and exterior steel components, such as support brackets, frame sides, fenders, hoods and doors; and stampings primarily for use as components in mufflers, seat frames, structural rails, window lifts, heat shields, vehicle brakes, and other structural body components. It builds modular assemblies, including components in the structural and powertrain systems of vehicles. The company also designs, engineers, and sells precision tools and dies, and welding and assembly equipment to original equipment manufacturers, automotive suppliers, and other industrial customers. In addition, it offers a range of intermediate steel processing services, such as oiling, leveling, cutting-to-length, multi-blanking, slitt ing, edge trimming of hot and cold-rolled steel coils, and inventory control services for automotive and steel industry customers. The company supplies its products to automotive manufacturers and automotive suppliers, as well as to manufacturers in the lawn and garden, and heavy duty truck and trailer industries. Shiloh Industries was founded in 1950 and is based in Valley City, Ohio. Shiloh Industries, Inc. is a subsidiary of MTD Holdings Inc.