Whatever many retailers made in profits over the holiday season might wash away with after-Christmas sales. USA Today has made the point that discounts seem greater than usual. The newspaper’s evidence appears strong.
Several retailers should hold profits, even with late holiday discounts. Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN) should post huge revenue growth and net income, if the e-commerce firm has not undermined margins with free-shipping costs. Higher margin retailers that cater to the middle class, like Macy’s Inc. (NYSE: M), should have built good enough margins to keep them relatively high as they bring in people who shop between Christmas and the end of the year.
Much less certain are the fates of retailers who needed to make money this year. The Sears and Kmart units of Sears Holdings Corp. (NASDAQ: SHLD) sit at the top of that list, along with J.C. Penney Co. Inc. (NYSE: JCP). Each faces the vexing problem of how to drag in customers and liquidate inventory not sold in November and December. Investors have not shown optimism. J.C. Penney stock sold off from more than $10 nearly a month ago to as low as $8 recently. Shares of Sears Holdings have dropped more than 25% during the past month.
Best Dow Dividend Companies To Buy For 2015: PulteGroup Inc. (PHA)
PulteGroup, Inc., through its subsidiaries, engages in homebuilding and financial services businesses primarily in the United States. The company�s homebuilding business includes the acquisition and development of land primarily for residential purposes within the United States; and the construction of housing on such lands. It offers various home designs, including single-family detached, townhouses, condominiums, and duplexes under the Pulte Homes, Del Webb, and Centex brand names. As of December 31, 2011, its homebuilding operations offered homes for sale in approximately 700 communities. The company�s financial services business consists of mortgage banking and title operations. It arranges financing through the origination of mortgage loans for its homebuyers; sells such loans and related servicing rights; and provides title insurance policies as an agent, and examination and closing services to its home buyers. The company was formerly known as Pulte Homes, Inc. an d changed its name to PulteGroup, Inc. in March 2010. PulteGroup, Inc. was founded in 1956 and is headquartered in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By DailyFinance Staff]
LM Otero, AP The housing market has been leading the economic recovery, but have housing stocks hit the ceiling? They're jumping today after a very bullish report on housing starts: New construction projects last month topped the 1 million annual rate for the time since before the financial crisis began in 2008. That's lifted shares of leading homebuilders by two to four percent today, adding to the huge gains over the past year. KB Homes (KBH), Pulte (PHA) and Hovnanian (HOV) have all doubled in price over the past year. Lennar (LEN) is up 44 percent, D.R. Horton (DHI) is up 47 percent and Toll Brothers (TOL) 33 percent. Those gains have prompted several other builders to go public this year. Taylor Morrison Home (TMHC), Tri Pointe, and William Lyon Home have all moved higher since their IPOs. And even though there's plenty of optimism that housing will continue to lead the broader economic recovery, there's some concern that these stocks may slow down. Homebuilder stocks can no longer be considered cheap. So some analysts see alternate routes for investors looking to play the housing boom. One way is through home-improvement retailers, which benefit from sales of both new and existing homes. Other plays include lumber, furniture and appliance companies. It's also worth noting that today's report on home construction showed that starts of single-family homes actually declined in March. It was the more volatile multi-family sector that led the advance. But there may be some stock market opportunities in REITs – real estate investment trusts – which focus on apartments. Among the biggest ones are Post Properties, Essex Property Trust and Associated Estates. They make money from collecting monthly rents. And these stocks generally trade below the value of the properties they own. Even some builders known for single-family homes are moving into the multi-family segment. Lennar announced in January that it plans to enter the apartment rental mar
Best Shipping Stocks To Invest In 2014: Chemung Financial Corp (CHMG)
Chemung Financial Corporation, incorporated on January 2, 1985, is a financial holding company. The Company was organized for the purpose of acquiring Chemung Canal Trust Company (the Bank). The Company provides a range of financial services, such as insurance products, mutual funds, and brokerage services. The subsidiaries of the Company include Chemung Canal trust Company and CFS Group, Inc. CFS Group, Inc. offers a range of financial services including mutual funds, full and discount brokerage services, annuity and other insurance products and tax preparation services. Chemung Canal Trust Company is a full-service community bank with full trust powers. The Company manages its operations through two primary business segments: core banking and wealth management group services. The core banking segment provides revenues by attracting deposits from the general public and using such funds to originate consumer, commercial, commercial real estate, and residential mortgage loans, primarily in the Company�� local markets and to invest in securities. The wealth management group services segment provides revenues by providing trust and investment advisory services to clients.
The Bank is a New York chartered commercial bank, which engages in full-service commercial and consumer banking and trust business. The Bank's services include accepting time, demand and savings deposits, including negotiable order of withdrawal (NOW) accounts, savings accounts, insured money market accounts, investment certificates, fixed-rate certificates of deposit and club accounts. The Bank's services also include making secured and unsecured commercial and consumer loans, financing commercial transactions (either directly or participating with regional industrial development and community lending corporations), and making commercial, residential and home equity mortgage loans, revolving credit loans with overdraft checking protection and small business loans. Additional services include renting safe deposit faciliti! es and the provision of networked automated teller facilities and an Internet banking product featuring bill payment services. Wealth management services provided by the Bank include services as executor and trustee under wills and agreements, and guardian, custodian, trustee and agent for pension, profit-sharing and other employee benefit trusts, as well as various investment, pension, estate planning and employee benefit administrative services.
Lending Activities
At December 31, 2011, 22.5% of the Corporation�� loans consist of commercial real estate loans to borrowers in the real estate, rental or leasing sector. The major portion of this sector comprises borrowers that rent, lease or otherwise allow the use of their own assets by others. The Bank�� loan portfolio includes commercial, financial and agricultural loans, commercial mortgages, residential mortgages, indirect consumer loans, and consumer loans. As of December 31, 2011, the total loan portfolio of the Bank was at $796,915,000.
Investment Activities
The Bank�� investment portfolio consists of obligations of the United States Government and the United States Government sponsored entities; mortgage-backed securities, residential; obligations of states and political subdivisions; corporate bonds and notes; SBA (small business administration ) loan pools; trust preferred securities, and corporate stocks. As of December 31, 2011, the investment portfolio of the Bank was at $289,182,000.
Sources of Funds
The Bank�� source of funds includes non-interest-bearing demand deposits, interest-bearing demand deposits, savings and insured money market deposits, and time deposits. As at December 31, 2011, the total deposits of the Bank was at $965,183,000.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Doug Hughes]
Steve Halpern: Okay, today we��e going to walk through two specific investment ideas that you find attractive in the banking sector. The first is Chemung Financial (CHMG), a New York-based operation that happens to be one of the oldest banks in the country. Could you tell us a little more about that?
Best Shipping Stocks To Invest In 2014: Durect Corporation(DRRX)
DURECT Corporation, a specialty pharmaceutical company, develops pharmaceutical products and therapies based on its proprietary drug formulations and delivery platform technologies. The company sells ALZET osmotic pumps for animal research use; LACTEL biodegradable polymers, which are used as raw materials in pharmaceutical and medical products; and excipients for pharmaceutical and medical device clients for use as raw materials in their products. Its product pipeline consists of Remoxy, an oral oxycodone gelatin capsule for the treatment of chronic pain under approval stage with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration; POSIDUR, a Phase III clinical stage sustained-release formulation of bupivacaine for the treatment of post-surgical pain; ELADUR, a Phase II clinical stage transdermal bupivacaine patch intended to provide continuous delivery of bupivacaine for up to three days from a single application for pain; and TRANSDUR, a Phase II clinical stage transdermal sufentanil patch intended to provide continuous delivery of sufentanil for up to seven days from a single application for chronic pain. The company?s Phase II clinical stage products comprise ORADUR-based opioid for the treatment of pain; and ORADUR-ADHD for the treatment of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. It also conducts various research programs covering diseases and medical conditions of the central nervous system, cardiovascular disease, and cancer. The company has strategic agreement with Hospira, Inc.; Alpharma Ireland Limited; Nycomed Danmark ApS; Pain Therapeutics, Inc.; Pfizer Inc; Endo Pharmaceuticals Inc.; and EpiCept Corporation. DURECT Corporation was founded in 1998 and is headquartered in Cupertino, California.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Roberto Pedone]
One under-$10 name that's starting to move within range of triggering a major breakout trade is Durect (DRRX), which develops pharmaceutical products based on its proprietary drug delivery technology platforms. This stock is off to a hot start in 2013, with shares up sharply by 41%.
If you take a look at the chart for Durect, you'll notice that this stock has been trending sideways for the last two months and change, with shares moving between $1 on the downside and $1.34 on the upside. Shares of DRRX have now started to flirt with that $1.34 major resistance level on Thursday, since the stock has hit an intraday high of $1.35 a share with strong upside volume flows. This could be signaling that shares of DRRX are ready to break out above the upper-end of its recent range and trend substantially higher.
Traders should now look for long-biased trades in DRRX if it manages to break out above some near-term overhead resistance levels at $1.34 to $1.35 a share with high volume. Look for a sustained move or close above those levels with volume that hits near or above its three-month average action of 679,480 shares. If that breakout triggers soon, then DRRX will set up to re-fill some of its previous gap down zone from May that started near $1.80 a share. If DRRX gets into that gap with volume, then this stock could easily trend north of $2 a share.
Traders can look to buy DRRX off any weakness to anticipate that breakout and simply use a stop that sits right below some key near-term support levels at its 50-day moving average of $1.16 a share or its 200-day moving average at $1.11 a share. One can also buy DRRX off strength once it clears those breakout levels with volume and then simply use a stop that sits a comfortable percentage from your entry point.
Best Shipping Stocks To Invest In 2014: Tenet Healthcare Corporation(THC)
Tenet Healthcare Corporation, an investor-owned health care services company, operates acute care hospitals and related health care facilities. The company?s general hospitals offer acute care services, operating and recovery rooms, radiology services, respiratory therapy services, clinical laboratories, and pharmacies. It also provides intensive care, critical care and/or coronary care units, physical therapy; and orthopedic, oncology, and outpatient services; tertiary care services, such as open-heart surgery, neonatal intensive care, and neuroscience; quaternary care in areas, including heart, liver, kidney, and bone marrow transplants for children; gamma-knife brain surgery; and cyberknife surgery for tumors and lesions in the brain, lung, neck, and spine. As of June 30, 2011, it operated 49 acute care hospitals, and a critical access hospital with a combined total of 13,420 licensed beds primarily serving urban and suburban communities in 11 states of the United State s. The company also owns an interest in a health maintenance organization and operate various related health care facilities, including a long-term acute care hospital and various medical office buildings; revenue cycle management and patient communications services businesses; physician practices; captive insurance companies; and other ancillary health care businesses, such as including ambulatory surgery centers, diagnostic imaging centers, and occupational and rural health care clinics. In addition, Tenet Healthcare Corporation owns an interest in a management services subsidiary that provides network development, utilization management, claims processing, and contract negotiation services to physician organizations and hospitals that assume managed care risk. Tenet Healthcare Corporation was founded in 1967 and is headquartered in Dallas, Texas.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Keith Speights]
If we were to draw two columns -- one for winners from the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, or PPACA, and another for losers -- the word "hospitals" would probably be listed near the top in the winner's column. Large hospital chains Health Management Association (NYSE: HMA ) and Tenet Healthcare (NYSE: THC ) , have seen their stocks more than double over the past year, while Community Health Systems (NYSE: CYH ) is up around 75%.
- [By Keith Speights]
Since the high court ruling, few sectors have performed as well as hospitals have. Community Health Systems shares rose as much as 88% by late March. Likewise, HMA stock nearly doubled. HCA shares rose more than 50% during the same period. No hospital stock performed better than Tenet Healthcare (NYSE: THC ) , though. Tenet's shares skyrocketed 140%.
Best Shipping Stocks To Invest In 2014: Nobility Homes Inc. (NOBH)
Nobility Homes, Inc., through its subsidiaries, designs, manufactures, and sells a line of manufactured homes in Florida. It offers homes under the trade names of Kingswood, Springwood, Springwood Special, Tropic Isle Special, Regency Manor Special, and Special Edition. The company sells its manufactured homes through a network of its own retail sales centers; and to independent manufactured home retail dealers and manufactured home communities on a wholesale basis. It also provides retail insurance services, which involves placing various types of insurance, including property and casualty, automobile, and extended home warranty coverage, with insurance underwriters on behalf of its customers in connection with their purchase and financing of manufactured homes. As of October 31, 2009, the company operated 15 retail sales centers in north and central Florida. Nobility Homes, Inc. was founded in 1967 and is headquartered in Ocala, Florida.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Vanina Egea]
Nobility Homes Inc. (NOBH)
Finally, Gabelli reported owning 234.950 shares of Nobility Homes, sized at 5.97% of the company�� shares outstanding and 0.01% of Gabelli�� portfolio. The company has a market cap of $44.63 million, with a P/E of 59.6 and P/S of 2.41.
Best Shipping Stocks To Invest In 2014: Cellcom Israel Ltd.(CEL)
Cellcom Israel Ltd. provides cellular communications services in Israel. It offers basic and advanced cellular telephone services, text and multimedia messaging services, and advanced cellular content and data services. The company?s basic cellular telephony services include voice mail, cellular fax, call waiting, call forwarding, caller identification, collect call, conference calling, ?Talk 2?, additional number services, and collect call services; and outbound and inbound roaming services. It also provides value-added services comprising Cellcom volume that includes downloadable content, such as music, games, on-net-reality programs, drama series, and video games; SMS and MMS services to send and receive text, photos, multimedia, and animation messages; access to third party application providers for notification of roadway speed detectors, mange vehicle fleets, and enable subscribers to manage and operate time clocks and various controllers for industrial, agricultural , and commercial purposes; video calls to communicate with each other through video applications; zone services for calls initiated from a specific location; location-based services; voice-based information services; text-based information services and interactive information services, including news headlines, sports results, and traffic and weather reports; and data services to access handsets, cellular modems, laptops, tablets, and cellular routers, as well as Internet based payment services. In addition, the company sells handsets, modems, routers, tablets, and laptops, as well as provides repair and replacement services; and offers landline telephony, transmission, and data services through its approximately 1,500 kilometers of inland fiber-optic infrastructure and complementary microwave links to selected business customers. As of March 31, 2011, it provided its services to approximately 3.395 million subscribers. The company was founded in 1994 and is headquartered in Netanya, Israel.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Rich Smith]
Cellcom Israel (NYSE: CEL ) is getting a new CFO.
Following the company's successful merger with Netvision, current Chief Financial Officer Yaacov Heen is declaring his mission accomplished, and says he intends to resign his post on Sept. 17 after 16 years with the company. At that time, Cellcom says it will bring on Shlomi Fruhling, the former VP for strategy and finance at Netvision, to become the merged company's new CFO on Sept. 18.
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