Essent Group Ltd.: Serving the Housing Finance Industry

Essent Group is a parent company of several businesses that offer mortgage insurance, reinsurance and risk management products. This holding company is based in Hamilton, Bermuda and offers its products to investors and mortgage lenders.

There are two principal subsidiaries of the company: Essent Reinsurance, Ltd. and Essent Guaranty, Inc. Through the private capital that they provide, mortgage lenders and investors are then able to provide homeowners mortgage financing that bears mortgage credit risks. The company primarily serves originators of residential mortgage loans. These entities include credit unions, mortgage banks, depository institutions and other forms of lenders. Essent continues to forge a strong relationship with its clients by delivering their products with world class customer service coupled with their strong capital position.

Essent is a publicly owned company with common stocks traded on the New York Stock Exchange. It conducts its business under the ticker symbol ESNT. The company was formed in 2008.

Federal Realty Investment Trust: A Real Estate Investment Trust

The properties owned and managed by the Federal Realty Investment Trust are high quality retail estates that are mostly located in the best markets in the country. Founded in 1962, the business is registered as a real estate investment trust that has been strongly engaged in the ownership, development, redevelopment and management of properties that are categorized as retail and mixed-use ownership.

Currently, the company has properties that are located in 14 states, including the District of Columbia. It is always on the prowl for possible takeover of assets that have the probable higher return of investment due to its location. The majority of these assets are sitused in the states of California, Florida and the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic regions of the country. The company’s calculated approach in the acquisition of properties has always been grounded on the solid demographics, stable resources and broad experience. These three considerations have led the company to greater success when it comes to turning these locations into exciting destination retail centers.

The development and redevelopment strategies of the company have also created very high shareholder value. Through this approach, they are able to create potential opportunities from already existing properties. This business strategy entails that the company follows some guidelines that are set by the government, market conditions and tenant consents. Current opportunities created by Federal Realty include pad site opportunities, where they create single and or multi-tenant stand alone pad buildings within the perimeter of existing retail properties. Property expansion or conversion is another strategy that the business uses in order to maximize the space they currently operate. They also see residential opportunities that they inject in existing retail and mixed-use properties and at the same time, create mixed opportunities from these ownerships.

Since Federal Realty Investment Trust operates as a REIT, it has created a company that is devoid of any liabilities to federal income tax. This is granting that the business continues to distribute at least 90% of its generated revenue back to its shareholders.

Education Management Corporation: Operator of Higher Education Systems

Although currently in deep financial problems, Education Management Corporation continues to provide the best education they can deliver to its students through its four higher education systems. The business is based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

Created in 1962, the business is owned in part by Goldman Sachs, who currently has about 43% voting stake in the venture. As of, there are about 110 schools that the company operates, although it has significantly cut off about 2,600 positions across its managed universities. Its education systems include the South University, Argosy University, Brown Mackie College and The Art Institutes. In total, they have about 120,920 students who are currently enrolled in their numerous degree programs.

With over 23,000 associates currently employed, the business continues to survive in the education industry. By the end of the last quarter of 2014, Education Management Corporation is slated to be delisted from the NASDAQ, where it publicly trades under the symbol EDMC.

EnerNOC: Technology for Energy Conservation

Running a business entails a lot of expenses that owners need to control. The biggest chunk of the generated sales would likely go to the maintenance of the operations and to the utility bills. With the emergence of smart technology, the latter can be easily controlled. Companies like EnergNOC, Inc. offers energy intelligence software (EIS) that provide businesses the applications that would help them manage their utility bills, purchase energy better, manage peak demands and optimize their energy consumption.

Considered as one of the largest providers of energy intelligence software in the world, the company offers their products and services to various institutional, industrial and commercial customers. Even utility and power grid operators have advocated the usage of the applications provided by the company. Their services strongly underscore the process of demand response and maintains a real time balance between the demand and the supply of electricity. They also provide insights and other solutions for efficiency and energy conservation. This is one of the selling points of the company as they not only provide the application, they also help companies earn their renewable energy credits.

David Brewster and Timothy G. Healy started the business in 2001 and the company incorporated in the state of Delaware in 2003. Based on their reports, they have over 10,000 sites that are using their products and service as of March 2011. These locations include supermarkets, industrial sites, commercial buildings, hospitals and even universities. Their product portfolio includes energy supply management (SupplySMART), energy efficiency (EfficiencySMART), greenhouse gas emissions management (CarbonSMART) and demand response (DemandSMART).

The name EnerNOC stands for Energy Network Operations Center. Their highly advanced technology has received numerous citations and the operations of the company have been highlighted for its excellence in industry leadership and world class customer service. The company has a strong presence in the United States, in Canada, United Kingdom, Australia and in New Zealand.

Dice.com: A Career Website for Technology Professionals

Compared to other career websites, Dice.com strongly offers its services to those technology and engineering professionals. The website is owned by Dice Holdings, Inc. which started operating in 1990 and was created by Diane Rickert and Lloyd Linn.

There are approximately 60,000 technical job listings that the website features. This was surpassed by their advertisement in 2014, which opened more than 80,000 job listings every day. The company reported that they have about 3 million registered technology professionals, of which 75% have a bachelor’s degree or higher. They added that 65% of their registered population have experience of more than 10 years in the field. It is also worth mentioning that compared to other job search engines, the company boasts that they have about 2 million unique visitors every month.

The job postings and their registered users are not concentrated within the United States, but are coming from different parts of the world. These hopeful applicants/users are being assisted by their more than 500 employees, who help run their website.

Dorman Products, Inc.: An Automotive and Heavy-duty Truck Parts Supplier

One of the most lucrative businesses in the automotive parts industry is Dorman Products, Inc. This American company is a supplier of automotive hardware, brake products, automotive replacement parts and household hardware. The company offers their products internationally to the automotive aftermarket and mass merchandise markets.

There are more than 150,000 products that the company carries and these items are marketed through their family of Dorman Brands. The business carries 7 brand names, including Dorman Solutions (automotive hardware parts dealer), Dorman Help! (merchandized replacement parts and repair solutions), Dorman Renew (remanufactured dealer only hard parts), Dorman Auto Grade (automotive hardware), Dorman First Stop (brake hardware and various hydraulics), Dorman Conduct Tite (electrical maintenance parts) and Dorman Techoice (value-priced hard parts).

The product portfolio of the company includes oil cooler lines, radiator fan assemblies, window regulators, intake manifolds, door hardware, interior trim parts, retainer rings, battery hold-down bolts and repair kits, radiator parts, power steering filler caps, replacement parts and several other automotive hardware parts. All these products are categorized by the business into four classes: hardware, chassis, power-train and automotive body. All of these products are marketed across the United States, in Canada, Europe, Mexico, the Middle East and in Asia. Their items are distributed through national, regional and local warehouse distributors, specialty markets, aftermarket retailers and salvage yards.

Through the constant development of the business and its dedication to innovation, they remain to be the preferred automotive and heavy duty truck replacement parts and service supplier in numerous countries around the globe. The growth of the business is not only caused by its organic growth, but also through strategic acquisition of similar businesses that compete in the market.

Dorman Products, Inc. is a publicly held company, with stocks traded in the NASDAQ. The company is a component of the Russell 3000 Index and holds its headquarters in Colmar, Pennsylvania.