N.J. company to hire 40 in Bethpage; other business briefs

LONG ISLAND

N.J. firm to hire 40 in Bethpage

Roof Diagnostics Inc., a New Jersey provider of solar panel systems, will hire 40 people to staff its first Long Island office, set to open next month in Bethpage. The Wall, N.J., company will hold a job fair from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Friday at the Courtyard Marriott in Ronkonkoma to fill openings for panel installers, sales associates, system designers and administrators. Company spokesman Kelcy Pegler said Roof Diagnostics decided to open a Long Island office when demand for its services soared following a change in the Long Island Power Authority's policy on rebates for homeowners who lease their solar power systems from a third party. In the past, homeowners could only receive rebates if they bought their solar systems, which was much more expensive. Since early February, Roof Diagnostics has signed up more than 100 customers on Long Island, Pegler said. -- LISA DU

LIPA event for businesses

Long Island businesses looking for ways to save money on electric bills are the target audience for an all-day event Thursday in Melville. The Long Island Power Authority is holding its annual energy efficiency conference from 7:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Huntington Hilton, 598 Broad Hollow Rd. LIPA spokesman Mark Gross said the utility expects between 300 and 500 people to attend. There will be workshops on Energy Star building certification, tax incentives for energy efficiency, green building design, air conditioning and refrigeration systems, and geothermal resources. More information can be found at lipower.org; advance registration is required. -- JAMES T. MADORE

NATION

Goldman: Apple needs hits

Goldman Sachs dropped Apple off its list of most highly recommended stocks Tuesday as it joined other analysts in reducing expectations for a company that hasn't had a revolutionary new product since the iPad in 2010. Goldman analyst Bill Shope said the iPhone 5, introduced last fall, hasn't sold as well as he expected. He said the company now needs some real hits among the products it rolls out during the second half of the year in order to boost the stock price. The stock closed up 88 cents at $429.79 Tuesday, well off its all-time peak of $705.07, reached in September on the day the iPhone 5 went on sale.

Fannie posts highest profits

Home prices are up. Foreclosures are down. Construction is up. And now comes the latest sign of the U.S. home market's revival: Fannie Mae, the mortgage giant that nearly collapsed five years ago, has earned its biggest yearly profit ever. Fannie Mae earned $17.2 billion last year and said it expects to stay profitable for "the foreseeable future." It also paid $11.6 billion in dividends to the U.S. Treasury in 2012. The speed of Fannie's resurgence is a testament to a much healthier U.S. mortgage market. Fannie and the smaller firm Freddie Mac were seized by the government in 2008 after they were buried by bad mortgages. Taxpayers have spent $188 billion to rescue the two -- collectively the costliest bailout of the financial crisis.

Investor social media alerts OKd

The Securities and Exchange Commission will allow public companies to make significant announcements on Facebook, Twitter and other social media sites provided they alert investors which sites they intend to use. The decision allows companies to use social media in place of more formal websites. An SEC rule requires that all investors receive significant company information at the same time. Companies should alert investors in news releases or regulatory filings that they are going to use specific social media, the SEC said. The question arose after Netflix CEO Reed Hastings said on his Facebook page that monthly online viewing had exceeded one billion for the first time, the agency said. -- AP