Monday, September 29, 2014

Best Life Sciences Companies To Own For 2014

The latest update for our Prime Time portfolio is a provider of high-performance glass for LCD televisions, computer monitors, and other information display applications, notes Charles Mizrahi, editor of Hidden Values Alert.

We like the diversification behind Corning (GLW). The company gets 36% of its revenues from Display technologies, 27% from Telecommunications, 12% from Environmental Technology, 17% from Specialty Materials (tablets/mobiles phones), and 8% from Life Sciences.

This diversification reduces the company's exposure to a specific industry, smoothing out potential bumps in the road to a particular segment.

GLW spent more than $700 million on R&D in the past 12 months (about 9% of revenue). The company continues to find applications for its glass technology.

The company can employ its proprietary technology in growth drivers such as the smartwatch and smart television markets, as well as windshields or marker boards.

GLW has more than $10.6 billion of cash and investments on its balance sheet. The company has very little short-term debt ($23 million).

Top Dividend Stocks To Buy For 2015: Vanguard Dividend Appreciation ETF (VIG)

Vanguard Dividend Appreciation ETF (the Fund) is an open-end investment company, or mutual fund. It seeks to track the performance of an index that measures the investment return of common stocks of companies that have a record of increasing dividends over time. Vanguard Dividend Appreciation ETF is an exchange-traded share class of Vanguard Dividend Appreciation Index Fund (the Fund), which employs a passive management or indexing investment approach designed to track the performance of the Dividend Achievers Select Index (the Index).

The Index is a subset of the Broad Dividend Achievers Index and is administered for Vanguard by Mergent, Inc. The Fund attempts to replicate the Index by investing all, or substantially all, of its assets in the stocks that make up the Index, holding each stock in approximately the same proportion as its weighting in the Index.

Advisors' Opinion:
  • [By Dan Caplinger]

    But you can see in several places the consequences of the stampede toward high yield. Here are just a few:

    Closed-end funds Cornerstone Progressive (NYSEMKT: CFP  ) and Pimco High Income (NYSE: PHK  ) both make fixed payments back to fund shareholders on a monthly basis, and their distribution yields are truly extraordinary, at about 17% and 12%, respectively. Those dividends have enticed shareholders to pay $1.30 to $1.40 or more for each $1 of assets in the funds. Yet during most months, a substantial portion of those distribution payments has simply been a return of investor capital rather than true income from the funds' investments. A recent study discussed in The Wall Street Journal found that returns on a portfolio with a combined value and dividend-income strategy outperformed a strategy focused more exclusively on maximizing dividends by an average of 1.7 percentage points per year, a huge edge in long-run returns. In the dividend ETF arena, most funds tend to focus on maximizing yield. Although the popular Vanguard Dividend Appreciation (NYSEMKT: VIG  ) ETF bucks the trend by screening first for consistent dividend growth and only then looking at yield as a factor, many rival ETFs start with high-yielding stocks as their baseline and only then consider other desirable traits. Others focus solely on high-dividend niches of the market, such as iShares FTSE NAREIT Mortgage-Plus (NYSEMKT: REM  ) and its concentration on high-yield mortgage REITs.

    When dividend stocks get too popular, their prices get out of line with both their dividend income and the fundamentals of the businesses that underlie those stocks. In simpler terms, when dividend stocks become bad values, it's time to consider looking elsewhere for a margin of safety.

Best Life Sciences Companies To Own For 2014: Duckwall-Alco Stores Inc.(DUCK)

Duckwall-ALCO Stores, Inc. operates as a regional broad line retailer in the central United States. The company operates ALCO stores that offer a line of merchandise consisting of approximately 35,000 items, including automotive, commodities, crafts, domestics, electronics, furniture, hardware, health and beauty aids, housewares, jewelry, pre-recorded music and video, sporting goods, seasonal items, stationery, and toys, as well as ladies?, men?s, and children?s apparel and shoes. As of March 1, 2012, it operated 216 ALCO stores in 23 states. The company was founded in 1901 and is based in Abilene, Kansas.

Advisors' Opinion:
  • [By Geoff Gannon]

    Stocks trading at or below book value ��not counting goodwill ��are the easiest to understand. Whether we are talking about DreamWorks or Avalon Holdings or Duckwall ALCO (DUCK) or J.W. Mays (MAYS), if a stock is trading around book value your next step is to figure out how book value is calculated.

Best Life Sciences Companies To Own For 2014: L Brands Inc (LTD)

L Brands, Inc., formerly Limited Brands, Inc, incorporated on March 16, 1982, operates in the specialty retail business. The Company is a specialty retailer of women�� intimate and other apparel, beauty and personal care products and accessories. The Company operates in two segments: Victoria�� Secret and Bath & Body Works. It sells its merchandise through Company-owned specialty retail stores in the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom, which are primarily mall-based, and through Websites, catalogue and international franchise, license and wholesale partners. The Company operates in brands, such as Victoria�� Secret, Victoria�� Secret Pink, Bath & Body Works, La Senza, and Henri Bendel. The Company�� business for both the Victoria�� Secret and Bath & Body Works segments is principally conducted from office, distribution and shipping facilities located in the Columbus, Ohio area.

As of February 2, 2013, it operated 255 retail stores located in leased facilities, primarily in malls and shopping centers, throughout the Canadian provinces. As of February 2, 2013, it operated two retail stores in London. As of February 2, 2013, it operated 2,619 retail stores located in leased facilities, primarily in malls and shopping centers, throughout the United States. As of February 2, 2013, it also had 339 licensed La Senza stores in 32 countries; 38 franchised Bath & Body Works stores in nine countries; three franchised Victoria's Secret stores in two Middle Eastern countries, and 108 independently owned Victoria�� Secret Beauty and Accessories stores and various small-format locations in over 50 countries.

Victoria�� Secret, including Victoria�� Secret Pink, is a specialty retailer of women�� intimate and other apparel with fragrances and cosmetics, supermodels and runway shows. The Company sells its Victoria�� Secret products at more than 1,000 Victoria�� Secret stores in the United States, Canada, United Kingdom and through the Victoria�� Secret catal! ogue and online at www.VictoriasSecret.com. Additionally, Victoria�� Secret brand products are also sold in stores operated by partners under a franchise or wholesale model throughout the world.

Bath & Body Works is a specialty retailer of home fragrance and personal care products, including shower gels, lotions, soaps and sanitizers. The Company sells its Bath & Body Works products at more than 1,600 Bath & Body Works stores in the United States and Canada and online at www.BathandBodyWorks.com. Additionally, Bath & Body Works brand products are available at franchise locations throughout the world.

La Senza is a specialty retailer of women�� intimate apparel. The Company sells its La Senza products at more than 150 La Senza stores in Canada and online at www.LaSenza.com. Additionally, La Senza has more than 330 stores in 32 countries operating under franchise and licensing arrangements. Henri Bendel sells upscale accessory products through its New York flagship and 28 other stores, as well as online at www.HenriBendel.com.

Advisors' Opinion:
  • [By Paul Ausick]

    L Brands Inc. (NYSE: LTD) said same-store sales for August rose 2% compared with last year. Retail Metrics estimated a rise of 2.1%.

    The Buckle Inc. (NYSE: BKE) reported same-store sales for August rose 1% compared with the same period a year ago. The Retail Metrics estimate called for a rise of 0.6%. A year ago, Buckle reported a same-store sales rose 4.5%.

  • [By Ben Levisohn]

    Shares of the Gap have jumped 8.9% to $41.12, while L Brands (LTD) has gained 1.6% to $62.77, Urban Outfitters (URBN) has risen 2.1% to $39.27 and Ann (ANN) has advanced 1.5% to $35.47.

  • [By Louis Navellier]

    Epsilon’s expertise is in direct marketing and advertising solutions, specializing in brand building, customer intelligence and predictive modeling. Finally, the company’s Private Label Services and Credit division offers credit card processing, billing and payment processing as well as collection services for private label retailers. Through these three units, the company serves clients in financial services, specialty retail, petroleum retail, automotive, hospitality, pharmaceuticals and a wide range of other markets. Its top clients include Merck (MRK), Ford (F), L Brands (LTD), FedEx (FDX) and Shell Oil (RDS.A, RDS.B).

Best Life Sciences Companies To Own For 2014: Chemed Corp (CHE)

Chemed Corporation (Chemed), incorporated on April 2, 1970, purchases, operates and divests subsidiaries engaged in diverse business activities. During the year ended December 31, 2012, Chemed operated in two segments: the Vitas segment (Vitas) and the Roto-Rooter segment (Roto-Rooter). Vitas Healthcare Corporation focuses on hospice care, which helps make terminally ill patients' final days as comfortable as possible. Through its team of doctors, nurses, home health aides, social workers, clergy and volunteers, VITAS provides direct medical services to patients, as well as spiritual and emotional counseling to both patients and their families. Roto-Rooter provides plumbing and drain cleaning services to both residential and commercial customers. Its VITAS Healthcare Corporation (VITAS) subsidiary has acquired the operating assets of Houston-based Solari Hospice Care, effective April 1, 2013.

VITAS segment

The VITAS segment provides hospice services for patients with terminal illnesses. This type of care is aimed at making the terminally ill patient�� end of life as comfortable and pain-free as possible. Hospice care is available to patients who have been initially certified or re-certified as terminally ill by their attending physician, if any, and the hospice physician. VITAS offer all levels of hospice care in a given market, including routine home care, inpatient care and continuous care. During 2012, over 90% of VITAS��revenues are derived through the Medicare and Medicaid reimbursement programs.

Roto-Rooter segment

The Roto-Rooter segment provides repair and maintenance services to residential and commercial accounts using the Roto-Rooter registered service marks. Such services include plumbing and sewer, drain and pipe cleaning. They are delivered through Company-owned and operated territories, independent contractor-operated territories and franchised locations. This segment also manufactures and sells products and equipment used to prov! ide such services.

The Company competes with Gentiva Health Services, Inc.

Advisors' Opinion:
  • [By Sean Williams]

    What: Shares of Chemed (NYSE: CHE  ) , the nation's largest for-profit hospice care provider, nosedived 24% after the company announced the receipt of a false claims action complaint by the U.S. government.

  • [By Dividend]

    Chemed (CHE) has a market capitalization of $1.34 billion. The company employs 14,096 people, generates revenue of $1.430 billion and has a net income of $89.30 million. Chemed�� earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) amounts to $199.24 million. The EBITDA margin is 13.93 percent (the operating margin is 10.94 percent and the net profit margin 6.24 percent).

  • [By Benjamin Shepherd] Companies can become attractive value opportunities for a variety of reasons, such as a short-term drop in earnings or residence in an out-of-favor industry. In some instances, uncommon variables make a company difficult to value.

    The latter is the case with Chemed Corp (NYSE: CHE).

No comments:

Post a Comment