Although we don't believe in timing the market or panicking over market movements, we do like to keep an eye on big changes -- just in case they're material to our investing thesis.
What: Shares of financial holding company Washington Federal (NASDAQ: WAFD ) climbed as high as 10% today after its quarterly results topped Wall Street expectations.�
So what: The stock has spiked recently on strong earnings momentum, and today's third-quarter beat -- EPS of $0.36 versus the consensus of $0.33 -- only reinforces that trend. While net-interest income slipped 1.9% over the year-ago period, to $94.7 million, net interest margin increased 10 basis points, to 3.15%, giving analysts plenty of good vibes over its profitability going forward.
Now what: When you couple the company's trend of improving asset quality with the still-favorable interest rate environment, I'd expect the operating momentum to continue. "Loan demand has strengthened and if current conditions persist, the prospect of improved loan growth will become more likely," said Chairman and CEO Roy Whitehead. Of course, with the stock now up about 35% over the past three months alone, and trading at a not-so-cheapish P/E of 16, much of that bullishness might already be baked into the stock. ���
Hot Cheap Stocks To Watch For 2014: The Travelers Companies Inc.(TRV)
The Travelers Companies, Inc., through its subsidiaries, provides various commercial and personal property and casualty insurance products and services to businesses, government units, associations, and individuals primarily in the United States. The company operates in three segments: Business Insurance; Financial, Professional, and International Insurance; and Personal Insurance. The Business Insurance segment offers property and casualty products and services, such as commercial multi-peril, property, general liability, commercial auto, and workers? compensation insurance. It operates in six groups: Select Accounts, which serves small businesses; Commercial Accounts that serves mid-sized businesses; National Accounts, which serves large companies; Industry-Focused Underwriting that serves targeted industries; Target Risk Underwriting, which serves commercial businesses requiring specialized product underwriting, claims handling, and risk management services; and Special ized Distribution that offers products to customers through licensed wholesale, general, and program agents. The Financial, Professional, and International Insurance segment provides surety and financial liability coverage, which uses a credit-based underwriting process; and property and casualty products primarily in the United States., the United Kingdom, Ireland, and Canada. The Personal Insurance segment offers property and casualty insurance covering personal risks, primarily automobile and homeowners insurance to individuals. It distributes its products through independent agents, sponsoring organizations, joint marketing arrangements with other insurers, and direct marketing. The company was founded in 1853 and is based in New York, New York.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Jessica Alling]
And of course, once you've bought a house you need insurance. Traveler's Companies (NYSE: TRV ) is the No. 6 provider in home insurance, with a 4.3% market share. As the rate of new homeowners rises, a greater need for insurance will allow Traveler's and its competitors to fight for more market share.
- [By Holly LaFon]
Company Dell Inc. (DELL) Chesapeake Energy (CHK) DirecTV (DTV) Loews (L) Walt Disney (DIS) Aon Plc (AON) The Travelers Companies (TRV) Level 3 Communications (LVLT) FedEx (FDX) Bank of New York Mellon (BK)
Learn more about Mason and his views on the present economy in his second-quarter letter here. See his portfolio here.
Hot Cheap Stocks To Watch For 2014: Freeport-McMoran Copper & Gold Inc.(FCX)
Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc. engages in the exploration, mining, and production of mineral resources. The company primarily explores for copper, gold, molybdenum, silver, and cobalt. It holds interests in various properties, located in North and South America; the Grasberg minerals district in Indonesia; and the Tenke Fungurume minerals district in the Democratic Republic of Congo. As of December 31, 2010, the company?s consolidated recoverable proven and probable reserves totaled 120.5 billion pounds of copper, 35.5 million ounces of gold, 3.39 billion pounds of molybdenum, 325.0 million ounces of silver, and 0.75 billion pounds of cobalt. The company was founded in 1987 and is headquartered in Phoenix, Arizona.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Matt DiLallo]
It would make more sense, in my opinion, to have a more diversified miner added to the Dow Jones. In fact, I think the easy choice here is to go with Freeport McMoRan (NYSE: FCX ) . It's the second-largest copper producer in the world; given the outlook for copper, it's a much better metal to gauge economic growth. In addition to copper, the company mines gold and molybdenum, which is an important metal used in steel production.
- [By Taylor Muckerman and Joel South]
At first I thought my eyes deceived me, but after reading deeper, Peabody Energy (NYSE: BTU ) actually turned a profit this quarter. Thanks to a few one-time items, the company unearthed $0.33 per share in earnings this past quarter versus the expected loss of $0.05 per share analysts had buried the company under. Not to be outdone, Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold (NYSE: FCX ) beat earnings predictions as well.
- [By Rich Duprey]
After a near-two month delay, copper and gold miner Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE: FCX ) has begun running copper shipments again out of�its Grasberg mine in Indonesia, though full capacity production is still at least a month away.
10 Best Penny Stocks To Watch For 2014: Bank of America Corporation(BAC)
Bank of America Corporation, a financial holding company, provides banking and nonbanking financial services and products to individuals, small- and middle-market businesses, large corporations, and governments in the United States and internationally. The company?s Deposits segment generates savings accounts, money market savings accounts, certificate of deposits, and checking accounts; and Global Card Services segment provides the U.S. consumer and business card, consumer lending, international card and debit card services. Its Home Loans & Insurance segment offers consumer real estate products and services, including mortgage loans, reverse mortgages, home equity lines of credit, and home equity loans. It also provides property, disability, and credit insurance. The company?s Global Commercial Banking segment offers lending products, including commercial loans and commitment facilities, real estate lending, leasing, trade finance, short-term credit, asset-based lending, and indirect consumer loans; and capital management and treasury solutions, such as treasury management, foreign exchange, and short-term investing options. Its Global Banking & Markets segment provides financial products, advisory services, settlement, and custody services; debt and equity underwriting and distribution, merger-related advisory services, and risk management products; and integrated working capital management and treasury solutions. The company?s Global Wealth & Investment Management segment offers investment and brokerage services, estate management, financial planning services, fiduciary management, credit and banking expertise, and asset management products. Bank of America Corporation serves customers through a network of approximately 5,900 banking centers and 18,000 automated teller machines. It was formerly known as NationsBank Corporation and changed its name on October 1, 1998. Bank of America Corporation was founded in 1874 and is based in Charlott e, North Carolina.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Amanda Alix]
When it comes to dealing with business clients, Bank of America's (NYSE: BAC ) Merrill Lynch section knows exactly what it's doing: Give the customer what he wants, and make some money in the process. A perfect example of this tenet is a new line of online products called Cash Management Essentials, something the bank developed by using direct feedback from the very customers it is now serving.
Hot Cheap Stocks To Watch For 2014: Kohl's Corporation(KSS)
Kohl?s Corporation operates department stores in the United States. The company?s stores offer private and exclusive, as well as national branded apparel, footwear, and accessories for women, men, and children; soft home products, such as sheets and pillows; and housewares primarily to middle-income customers. As of January 29, 2011, it operated 1,089 stores in 49 states. The company also offers on-line shopping on its Web site at Kohls.com. Kohl?s Corporation was founded in 1962 and is headquartered in Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Ben Levisohn]
Other department stores, such as Nordstrom (JWN) and Kohl’s (KSS) are also dedicating more space to active wear, the analysts say.
As a result, Boss and McCormick upgraded Under Armour to Neutral from Underweight. They write:
Hot Cheap Stocks To Watch For 2014: TII Network Technologies Inc.(TIII)
Tii Network Technologies, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, designs, manufactures, and sells products for use in the networks to service providers in the communications industry in the United States. It provides network interface devices (NID), including overvoltage surge protectors, digital subscriber line (DSL) service splitters, and customer bridge modules; building entrance terminals; and accessories comprising station protectors, customer wiring modules, electro-magnetic interference filters, and line test modules. The company also offers broadband products, such as DSL electronic products that include xDSL plain old telephone service splitters to isolate voice and data signals; Outrigger, an outdoor intelligent residential gateway; HomePlug technology that enables networking of voice, data, and audio devices through the consumers? AC power lines. In addition, it provides connectivity products consisting of connector block and terminal block products; voice over I nternet protocol products; switchable voice NID products; voice intercom systems for use in multi-dwelling units; and wire terminals and other connectivity products. Further, the company offers fiber optic products which comprise wall mount enclosures, rack mount enclosures, OSP fiber enclosures, cable assemblies, miscellaneous fiber accessories, and optic network terminals installation accessories. Additionally, it offers overvoltage surge protection products, including two and three electrode gas tubes; station overvoltage surge protectors; protector modules; and protector packs and cat 5 cat 6 protection products, as well as other surge protection products comprising a 75 ohm coaxial protector for cable networks; a 50-ohm coaxial protector for wireless service providers? cell sites; a gel-sealed Ethernet data protector; and power line/data line protectors for personal computers and home entertainment systems. The company was founded in 1964 and is headquartered in Edgewoo d, New York.
Hot Cheap Stocks To Watch For 2014: Progress Software Corporation(PRGS)
Progress Software Corporation operates as an enterprise software company worldwide. Its products include Progress OpenEdge platform, which offers development tools, application servers, application management tools, and an embedded database; Progress Orbix to address enterprise integration problems with standards-based solutions; and Progress ObjectStore, an object data management system to store data faster than relational database management system or file-based storage system. The company?s products also comprise Progress Responsiveness Process Management suite for business users; Progress Control Tower, an interactive business control panel; Progress Sonic, which comprises an enterprise messaging system and the enterprise service buses; Progress Actional that provides operational and business visibility, root cause analysis, and policy-based security and control of services; Progress Apama, which offers tools for creating, testing, and deploying strategies for applicat ions, including algorithmic trading, market aggregation, smart order routing, market surveillance and monitoring, and risk management; Progress Savvion BusinessManager, a business process management software; and Fuse products that provide customers with access to professional open source integration and messaging software. In addition, it offers Progress DataDirect Connect products, which provide data connectivity components; Progress DataDirect Shadow to provide foundation architecture for standards-based mainframe integration; and Progress Data Services product set that offers data integration for distributed applications. Further, the company provides maintenance, consulting, training, and customer support services. Progress Software Corporation sells its products to independent software vendors, original equipment manufacturers, and system integrators through direct sales force and independent distributors. The company was founded in 1981 and is based in Bedford, Massac husetts.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Rick Munarriz]
Progress Software (NASDAQ: PRGS ) moved higher after posting better-than-expected quarterly results this week. The provider of developer tools software saw revenue rise by a better-than-expected 10%, and its adjusted net income of $0.27 a share blew past the $0.22 a share that the market was forecasting.�
- [By Rich Duprey]
Believing it should have a single, cohesive platform for the development of�cloud and mobile application development technologies, Progress Software (NASDAQ: PRGS ) announced this morning it was selling its�Apama�complex event processing solution to Software AG for an undisclosed sum.
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