Wednesday, July 10, 2013

Top 5 Integrated Utility Companies To Invest In 2014

Sears Hometown and Outlet Stores� (NASDAQ: SHOS  ) , the recent spinoff of�Sears Holdings� (NASDAQ: SHLD  ) �and one of my top picks for a retail play,�delivered a softer-than-expected earnings report that has sent the stock down more than 18 points in five days of trading. I believe the short-term discount gives investors a little bit more time to pick up this outstanding operation at a price materially below its intrinsic value. With the recent earnings release in mind, here is what you need to know about Sears Hometown and Outlets.

Earnings recap
Bringing the stock down substantially after a healthy two-week run-up, Sears Hometown reported a 28% decrease ($24.7 million versus $34.5 million) in operating income when compared to the prior year's quarter. Net income fell in line, down to $15 million, or $0.65 per share, from $20.6 million or $0.89 per share. EBITDA fell slightly less, down 26% to $27.1 million.

Top 5 Integrated Utility Companies To Invest In 2014: Source Capital Inc.(SOR)

Source Capital, Inc. is a close-ended equity fund launched and managed by First Pacific Advisors, LLC. The fund invests in the public equity markets of the United States. It makes its investments in the stocks of companies operating across diversified sectors. The fund benchmarks the performance of its portfolio against the Russell 2500 Index, the S&P 500 Index, and the Nasdaq Index. Source Capital, Inc. was formed in 1968 and is domiciled in the United States.

Top 5 Integrated Utility Companies To Invest In 2014: First Busey Corporation(BUSE)

First Busey Corporation operates as the bank holding company for Busey Bank that provides various retail and commercial banking products and services to individual, corporate, institutional, and governmental customers in the United States. It accepts noninterest-bearing demand, interest-bearing transaction, savings, money market, and time deposits. The company?s loan portfolio includes commercial, agricultural, and real estate loans; individual, consumer, installment, first mortgage, and second mortgage loans; and commercial real estate, residential real estate, and consumer loans. It also provides money transfer, safe deposit, fiduciary, automated banking, and automated fund transfer services. In addition, the company provides asset management, brokerage, and fiduciary services, including financial planning, investment management, retirement planning, brokerage, and trust and estate advisory services to individuals; investment management, business succession planning, an d employee retirement plan services to businesses; and investment management, investment strategy consulting, and fiduciary services to foundations. Further, it offers pay processing solutions, such as walk-in payments processing for payments delivered by customers to retail pay agents; online bill payment solutions for payments made by customers on a billing company?s Website; customer service payments for payments accepted over the telephone; direct debit services; electronic concentration of payments delivered by the automated clearing house network; money management software and credit card networks; and lockbox remittance processing of payments delivered by mail. The company has 33 locations in Illinois, 7 locations in southwest Florida, and 1 location in Indianapolis, Indiana. First Busey Corporation was founded in 1868 and is headquartered in Champaign, Illinois.

Advisors' Opinion:
  • [By Lowell]

    I think small regional banks are set to make a comeback, and in this space I like Illinois-based First Busey Corp. (NASDAQ: BUSE). The bank has had its share of problems, as Illinois was one of the largest hubs of banking problems in the nation during the financial fallout. And BUSE borrowed $100 million TARP funds, which it hasn’t yet paid back in total, but it is making great progress toward that goal.

    The company beat estimates in the last four fiscal quarters, and institutions are ramping up their ownership. Additionally, this cheap stock pays a nice little dividend of almost 3.3%. As the regional baking sector recovers, I think BUSE will be a leader.

Top Low Price Stocks To Invest In 2014: Kyocera Corporation(KYO)

Kyocera Corporation develops, produces, and distributes ceramic, semiconductor, and electronic products for the information and communications markets, and environment and energy markets worldwide. The company offers thin ceramic based substrates; thin-film ceramic/alumina tape substrates; sapphire substrates; automobiles engine components; mechanical seals; and thread guides for yarn texturing machines; rings for fishing rods and nozzles; and papermaking machinery parts. It also provides various ceramic packages and components and LSI ceramic packages. In addition, the company offers solar energy products, cutting tools, medical and dental implants, and jewelry products and applied ceramic related products. Further, it provides miniature ceramic capacitors, tantalum capacitors, RF modules, and miniature timing devices; and connectors primarily for digital consumer equipment; thin-film products comprising thermal printheads, amorphous silicon photoreceptor drums, and LCDs for office automation equipment and industrial equipment; organic flip-chip packages for application specific integrated circuits; and system in a package substrates for mobile phone handsets. Additionally, the company offers base stations, terminals, and PHS mobile phone handsets; page printers, copying machines, and peripherals; electronic insulation materials and molded products; data center services for mobile phone content distribution services; and management consulting services, as well as involves in the telecommunications engineering business ranging from system development to design, construction, and maintenance services; and IT solutions business, that comprises network and system integration solutions. It distributes its products through its sales personnel and independent distributors. The company was formerly known as Kyoto Ceramic Kabushiki Kaisha and changed its name to Kyocera Corporation in 1982. Kyocera Corporation was founded in 1959 and is headquartered in Kyoto, Japan.

Advisors' Opinion:
  • [By Paul Goodwin]

    Kyocera (KYO: 93.20, -0.80, -0.85%) makes products as different from each other as kitchen knives and dental implants. Most of its income comes from industrial ceramics, electronics components and telecom and networking equipment. Sales in recent quarters have increased by one-third on strong demand for consumer electronics, industrial equipment, cars and solar panels. According to Masaru Koshita of Barclay's Capital, who lifted his opinion of the shares to "overweight" from "equal weight" in early March, margins have greatly improved in the company's core businesses with the notable exceptions of telecom equipment and MLCCs, or multi-layer ceramic capacitors. Koshit a expects a return to profitability by year's end in the former business and a restructuring of the latter, both of which could give the stock a lift.

Top 5 Integrated Utility Companies To Invest In 2014: Robex Resources Inc.(RBX.V)

Robex Resources Inc. engages in the exploration and development of gold properties in Mali, western Africa. The company?s primary properties include Wili-Wili and Wili-Wili West permits that together cover an area of 270 square kilometers and are located in western Mali; and Diangounte permit, which covers 52.14 square kilometers and is located in western Mali, as well as in Nampala gold deposit on the Mininko permit that consist of 62 square kilometers and is located in southern Mali. It also owns interests Kamasso and N?Golopene projects in southern Mali; and Sanoula, Kolomba, and Moussala in western Mali. The company is headquartered in Quebec, Canada.

Top 5 Integrated Utility Companies To Invest In 2014: MER Telemanagement Solutions Ltd.(MTSL)

Mer Telemanagement Solutions Ltd., together with its subsidiaries, designs, develops, markets, and supports a line of telecommunication expense management (TEM), and customer care and billing solutions for business organizations and other enterprises worldwide. Its TEM solutions assist enterprises and organizations in the allocation of costs, budget control, fraud detection, processing of payments, and spending forecasting. The company also offers converged billing solutions, including applications for charging and invoicing customers, interconnect billing, and partner revenue management through pre-pay and post-pay schemes for wireless providers, voice over Internet protocol, Internet protocol television, and content service providers. Its products provide telecommunication and information technology managers with tools to reduce communication costs, recover charges payable by third parties, and to detect and prevent abuse and misuse of telephone networks comprising fault telecommunication usage. The company markets its products through its direct sales force, distributors, and business telephone switching systems manufacturers and vendors. Mer Telemanagement Solutions Ltd. was founded in 1995 and is headquartered in Raanana, Israel.

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