February 17, 2012
Written by Andy Obermueller
“Sourcefire, Inc. (FIRE 36.19 Nasdaq) is a network defense company. Many are predicting strong growth in this sector as more and more companies seek to safeguard the data stored in their computers. Sourcefire has a nice top-line growth trend that amounts to a 30.5% compound annual growth rate. (And thus the smokin’ P/E.) The market for its services is large: According to Gartner, enterprise security was a $22.5 billion market in 2011. Read More »
February 10, 2012
Written by Richard Moroney, CFA
“Macy’s, Inc. (M – yield 2.20%) operates about 850 department stores under its namesake or Bloomingdale’s brands. During the holiday season (combining November and December) same-store sales climbed 5.7%, while online sales jumped 40%. As a result, the retailer raised its guidance for the January quarter. Also in January, Macy’s doubled its quarterly dividend to $0.20 per share, payable April 2. The shares have advanced 5% so far this year but trade at just 12 times trailing earnings, at least 21% below their own five-year average and the median for department-store stocks in the S&P 1500 Index. Read More »
February 3, 2012
Written by Russ Kaplan
“Although bank stocks still have some readjustments to make before I can add more to our Model Portfolio; other areas of the financial industry are showing promise. One of these is Franklin Resources, Inc. (BEN), also known as Franklin Templeton Investments. It is currently trading at a little over $100 a share, which is down considerably from its 2007 high of $145.60. Franklin Resources is a financial services company. Its main products are insurance and a number of mutual funds. Read More »
January 27, 2012
Written by John Buckingham
“Total S.A. (TOT) is one of the world’s largest publicly-traded, integrated oil and gas companies. Its global businesses cover three segments: 1) upstream exploration and production, 2) downstream refining and marketing and 3) chemicals. We view Total as an attractive international major oil play due to its low cost structure, high profitability potential and solid balance sheet. Read More »
January 20, 2012
Written by Stephen Quickel
“Insperity, Inc. (NSP)—In 2008 CEO-cofounder Paul Sarvadi’s 20-year-old Administaff, Inc. encountered serious growing pains. It provided staff outsourcing to small- and medium-sized companies like itself. With the economy and hiring beset by recession, revenues stopped growing at $1.6 billion and its earnings and stock price nose-dived. But Sarvadi had lots of cash and no debt. So he started shaking things up. Read More »
January 13, 2012
Written by Ian Wyatt
“Water purification companies fall into a large lump of highly regulated businesses known as utilities. While the utility sector is boring, shares of utility stocks have been lighting portfolios up in 2011. Utilities are one of the very few sectors that offer shelter during severe economic downturns. And utility stocks are considered defensive investments because they tend to perform well during difficult economic times. Also, earnings are stable since people will need electricity, gas and wastewater services all the time. Read More »
January 6, 2012
Written by Michael Cintolo
“Airlines are far from our favorite investments, as, over the long-term, they generally go nowhere as their business bobs up and down like a yo-yo. However, there are times when the group can do well, and we think now is one of those times, with Alaska Air Group, Inc. (ALK) one of the best performers in the group. The stock is strong for two main reasons. Read More »
December 19, 2011
Written by Dr. Stephen Leeb
“EZCORP, Inc.’s (EZPW) bread and butter business is still the more than 1,000 pawnshops and personal finance services stores it operates in the U.S., Mexico and Canada. These stores provide collateralized non-recourse loans, payday, installment and auto title loans. But seeing opportunity in this underserved segment, EZCORP recently formed an e-commerce and card services division to focus on online lending and other digital forms of commerce. This group also manages the company’s prepaid debit cards. Read More »
December 10, 2011
Written by Patrick McKeough
“Royal Bank of Canada (RY – yield 4.40%) is Canada’s largest bank, with $730.6 billion of assets. Royal Bank recently agreed to sell its struggling U.S. retail banking business, which consists of 424 branches in six southeastern states. The buyer, PNC Financial Services Group (PNC), is also purchasing Royal Bank’s U.S. credit-card operations. Royal will hang onto its U.S. wealth-management and brokerage businesses. Read More »
December 2, 2011
Written by Jim Oberweis
“The Advisory Board Company (ABCO) provides best practice research and analysis, business intelligence and software tools and management and advisory services to the healthcare and education industries. The company’s main customers are hospitals who pay the Advisory Board yearly subscription fees to access its best practices research and analysis which includes written and digital publications, real-time access to consultants, attendance at industry meetings and teleconferences and access to an array of online resources. Read More »
