Top Penny Stocks To Buy For 2019: February 2014

Thursday, February 20, 2014

Procter & Gamble (PG) Declares 60.15c Quarterly Dividend

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Procter & Gamble (PG) announced Tuesday a quarterly dividend of 60.15 cents a share.

Shares of Procter & Gamble rose 0.7% to $80.56.

The quarterly dividend is in line with the company's previous dividend. The dividend is payable on Feb. 18, to all shareholders at the close of business on Jan. 24. The ex-dividend date is set for Jan. 22.

TheStreet Ratings team rates PROCTER & GAMBLE CO as a Buy with a ratings score of A. TheStreet Ratings Team has this to say about its recommendation: "We rate PROCTER & GAMBLE CO (PG) a BUY. This is based on the convergence of positive investment measures, which should help this stock outperform the majority of stocks that we rate. The company's strengths can be seen in multiple areas, such as its revenue growth, growth in earnings per share, increase in net income, increase in stock price during the past year and largely solid financial position with reasonable debt levels by most measures. We feel these strengths outweigh the fact that the company shows weak operating cash flow." Highlights from the analysis by TheStreet Ratings Team goes as follows: PG's revenue growth has slightly outpaced the industry average of 0.9%. Since the same quarter one year prior, revenues slightly increased by 2.2%. This growth in revenue appears to have trickled down to the company's bottom line, improving the earnings per share. PROCTER & GAMBLE CO has improved earnings per share by 8.3% in the most recent quarter compared to the same quarter a year ago. The company has demonstrated a pattern of positive earnings per share growth over the past two years. We feel that this trend should continue. During the past fiscal year, PROCTER & GAMBLE CO increased its bottom line by earning $3.87 versus $3.12 in the prior year. This year, the market expects an improvement in earnings ($4.28 versus $3.87). The net income growth from the same quarter one year ago has exceeded that of the Household Products industry average, but is less than that of the S&P 500. The net income increased by 7.6% when compared to the same quarter one year prior, going from $2,814.00 million to $3,027.00 million. The current debt-to-equity ratio, 0.51, is low and is below the industry average, implying that there has been successful management of debt levels. Even though the company has a strong debt-to-equity ratio, the quick ratio of 0.43 is very weak and demonstrates a lack of ability to pay short-term obligations. The return on equity has improved slightly when compared to the same quarter one year prior. This can be construed as a modest strength in the organization. Compared to other companies in the Household Products industry and the overall market on the basis of return on equity, PROCTER & GAMBLE CO has underperformed in comparison with the industry average, but has exceeded that of the S&P 500. You can view the full analysis from the report here: PG Ratings Report

Stock quotes in this article: PG

Tuesday, February 18, 2014

Bill Gates Foundation Buys McDonald's, Exxon Mobil, Caterpillar Inc, Sells Procter & Gamble, Air Products & Chemicals

Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Trust has reported its fourth quarter portfolio. The foundation portfolio usually invests in blue chips that are traded at reasonable prices. It buys McDonald's, Exxon Mobil, Caterpillar Inc, Wal-Mart etc, sells Procter & Gamble Co, Air Products & Chemicals Inc, Toyota Motor Corp, Diamond Foods, Inc. during the 3-months ended 12/31/2013, according to the most recent filings of his investment company, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Trust. As of 12/31/2013, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Trust owns 18 stocks with a total value of $20.1 billion. These are the details of the buys and sells.

Added Positions: MCD, XOM, CAT, WMT, Reduced Positions: BRK.B, Sold Out: PG, APD, TM, DMND,

For the details of Bill Gates's stock buys and sells, go to http://www.gurufocus.com/StockBuy.php?GuruName=Bill+Gates

These are the top 5 holdings of Bill Gates

Berkshire Hathaway Inc (BRK.B) - 82,039,804 shares, 48.5% of the total portfolio. Shares reduced by 5.74% Coca-Cola Co (KO) - 34,002,000 shares, 7.0% of the total portfolio. McDonald's Corporation (MCD) - 10,872,500 shares, 5.3% of the total portfolio. Shares added by 10.13% Caterpillar Inc (CAT) - 11,260,857 shares, 5.1% of the total portfolio. Shares added by 4.65% Canadian National Railway Co (CNI) - 17,126,874 shares, 4.9% of the total portfolio.

Added: McDonald's Corporation (MCD)

Bill Gates added to his holdings in McDonald's Corporation by 10.13%. His purchase prices were between $93.27 and $98.92, with an estimated average price of $96.07. The impact to his portfolio due to this purchase was 0.49%. His holdings were 10,872,500 shares as of 12/31/2013.

Added: Exxon Mobil Corporation (XOM)

Bill Gates added to his holdings in Exxon Mobil Corporation by 6.54%. His purchase prices were between $85.16 and $101.51, with an estimated average price of $92.42. The impact to his portfolio due to this purchase was 0.25%. His holdings were 8,143,858 shares as of 12/31/2013.

Added: Caterpillar Inc (CAT)

Bill Gates added to his holdings in Caterpillar Inc by 4.65%. His purchase prices were between $82.12 and $91.15, with an estimated average price of $85.32. The impact to his portfolio due to this purchase was 0.23%. His holdings were 11,260,857 shares as of 12/31/2013.

Added: Wal-Mart Stores Inc (WMT)

Bill Gates added to his holdings in Wal-Mart Stores Inc by 4.5%. His purchase prices were between $71.87 and $81.21, with an estimated average price of $77.52. The impact to his portfolio due to this purchase was 0.2%. His holdings were 11,603,000 shares as of 12/31/2013.

Sold Out: Procter & Gamble Co (PG)

Bill Gates sold out his holdings in Procter & Gamble Co. His sale prices were between $75.65 and $85.41, with an estimated average price of $81.56.

Sold Out: Air Products & Chemicals Inc (APD)

Bill Gates sold out his holdings in Air Products & Chemicals Inc. His sale prices were between $102.58 and $113.66, with an estimated average price of $108.95.

Sold Out: Toyota Motor Corp (TM)

Bill Gates sold out his holdings in Toyota Motor Corp. His sale prices were between $118.61 and $131.65, with an estimated average price of $125.74.

Sold Out: Diamond Foods, Inc. (DMND)

Bill Gates sold out his holdings in Diamond Foods, Inc.. His sale prices were between $20.78 and $26.05, with an estimated average price of $23.92.

Here is the complete portfolio of Bill Gates.

Also check out: Bill Gates Undervalued Stocks Bill Gates Top Growth Companies Bill Gates High Yield stocks, and Stocks that Bill Gates keeps buying

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Monday, February 17, 2014

Older workers taking jobs from young?

CHICAGO (AP) — It's an assertion that has been accepted as fact by droves of the unemployed: Older people remaining on the job later in life are stealing jobs from young people.

One problem, many economists say: It isn't supported by a wisp of fact.

"We all cannot believe that we have been fighting this theory for more than 150 years," said April Yanyuan Wu, a research economist at the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College, who co-authored a paper last year on the subject.

The theory Wu is referring to is known as "lump of labor," and it has maintained traction in the U.S., particularly in a climate of high unemployment. The theory dates to 1851 and says if a group enters the labor market — or in this case, remains in it beyond their normal retirement date — others will be unable to gain employment or will have their hours cut.

It's a line of thinking that has been used in the U.S. immigration debate and in Europe to validate early retirement programs, and it relies on a simple premise: That there are a fixed number of jobs available. In fact, most economists dispute this. When women entered the workforce, there weren't fewer jobs for men. The economy simply expanded.

The same is true with older workers, they argue.

WAGES: 13 states raising pay for minimum-wage workers

"There's no evidence to support that increased employment by older people is going to hurt younger people in any way," said Alicia Munnell, director of the Center for Retirement Research and the co-author with Wu of Are Aging Baby Boomers Squeezing Young Workers Out of Jobs?

" It's not going to reduce their wages, it's not going to reduce their hours, it's not going to do anything bad to them," Munnell said.

Still, the perception has persisted, from prominent stories in The New York Times, Newsweek and other media outlets, to a pointed question to Rep. Nancy Pelosi last year by the NBC reporter Luke Russert, who asked whether her refusal to step out of the House leader! ship (and the similar decisions of other older lawmakers) was denying younger politicians a chance. A chorus of lawmakers around Pelosi muttered and shouted "discrimination," until the Democratic leader chimed in herself.

"Let's for a moment honor it as a legitimate question, although it's quite offensive," she said. "But you don't realize that, I guess."

The heart of Russert's question makes sense to many: If Pelosi doesn't give up her position, a younger person doesn't have a chance to take it. That viewpoint is repeated in countless workplaces around the country, where a younger person awaits a senior employee's departure for their chance to ascend.

But economists say the larger macroeconomic view gives a clearer picture: Having older people active and productive actually benefits all age groups, they say, and spurs the creation of more jobs. Munnell and Wu analyzed Current Population Survey data to test for any changes in employment among those under 55 when those 55 and older worked in greater numbers. They found no evidence younger workers were losing work and in fact found the opposite: Greater employment, reduced unemployment and yielded higher wages.

Munnell said, outside of economists, the findings can be hard for people to understand when they think only of their own workplace.

"They just could not get in their heads this dynamism that is involved," she said. "You can't extrapolate from the experience of a single company to the economy as a whole."

Still, many remain unconvinced.

James Galbraith, a professor of government at the University of Texas at Austin, has advocated for a temporary lowering of the age to qualify for Social Security and Medicare to allow older workers who don't want to remain on the job a way to exit and to spur openings for younger workers.

He doesn't buy the comparison of older workers to women entering the workforce and says others' arguments on older workers expanding the economy don't make sense when there are so many! unemploy! ed people. If there was a surplus of jobs, he said, there would be no problem with people working longer. But there isn't.

"I can't imagine how you could refute that. The older worker retires, the employer looks around and hires another worker," he said. "It's like refuting elementary arithmetic."

Melissa Quercia, 35, a controller for a small information technology company in Phoenix, said she sees signs of the generational job battle all around her: jobs once taken by high schoolers now filled by seniors, college graduates who can't find work anywhere, the resulting dearth of experience of younger applicants. She doesn't see economists' arguments playing out. Older people staying on the job aren't spurring new jobs, because companies aren't investing in creating new positions, she said.

"It's really hard to retire right now, I understand that," she said. "But if the younger generation doesn't have a chance to get their foot in the door, then what?"

Jonathan Gruber, an economist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology who edited a book on the subject for the National Bureau of Economic Research, said it's a frustrating reality of his profession: That those things he knows as facts are disputed by the populace.

"If you polled the average American they probably would think the opposite," he said. "There's a lot of things economists say that people don't get and this is just one of them."

Sedensky, an AP writer on leave, is studying aging and workforce issues as part of a one-year fellowship at the AP-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research.

Sunday, February 9, 2014

Can mighty Wall St. bull keep charging in 2014?

NEW YORK -- Do U.S. stocks have any rocket fuel left in the tank after skyrocketing to their steepest annual price climb in 16 years?

After posting its best return since 1997, the odds of the broad Standard & Poor's 500 stock index delivering an encore performance of similarly epic proportions in 2014 is unlikely.

Yet, while Wall Street isn't expecting gains of 25% to 30% again in 2014, after a 29.6% return for the S&P 500 index in 2013, most stock market predictions lean bullish. More gains (albeit less sizable ones) and more record highs are likely. There's a long list of positive propellants working in the stock market's favor, top investment strategists say, with rising confidence in the economy topping the list.

"The outlook," says Dan Chung, chief investment officer at Alger Funds, "is still positive. But the rate of the gains will likely be slower."

2014 OUTLOOK: Will it be another slam dunk for stocks?

TOP PICKS: Investment strategists share their stock picks for 2014

But in the unpredictable world of investing there are always things that could go wrong and cause the first 10%-plus correction since 2011. USA TODAY has identified five stock market risks -- including the potential downside of another 2013-style market "melt-up," a sharp spike in interest rates and a return of irrational exuberance, to name a few -- that could pose problems for the bull market as it nears its fifth birthday in March.

5 RISKS: Potential problems that could derail the bull market

THE BULL CASE

There are a few key pillars underpinning the consensus bull case for stocks in 2014.

• An improving economy. The U.S. economy is expected to strengthen, which boosts the odds that GDP could grow at a 3% annual clip for the first time since 2005. An uptick in growth will provide additional support for stock prices as well as corporate profits, which are expected to grow 11% in 2014, up from around 6% last year, Thomson Reuters says.

"The economy stil! l won't break any records, but the recovery will be broader and stronger than any year since the Great Recession," says Bob Doll, chief equity strategist at Nuveen Asset Management.

Stocks have performed consistently well in periods when GDP was trending around 3%, according to LPL Financial. The S&P 500 has posted gains in 93% of the quarters in the past 35 years when GDP was between 2.5% and 3.5%. "It's the growth sweet spot for stocks," says Jeffrey Kleintop, LPL's chief market strategist.

MUTUAL FUNDS: Investors celebrate 2013 with 32% gains

INVESTING: Making sense of 2013's winning funds

There are a number of factors that could foster faster growth.

The rapid price appreciation of stocks and real estate makes consumers feel richer. The resulting "wealth effect" is likely to spur consumer spending, which accounts for two-thirds of U.S. economic activity.

"The recovery in asset prices is an important part of the story," Chung says.

And it's not just the U.S. economy that's gaining traction, says Martin Sass, CEO of investment firm M.D. Sass. Europe, Japan, China and many emerging market economies are also showing improvement, setting the global economy up for "synchronized growth," Sass says.

Negative impacts from fiscal drag and policy uncertainty are also expected to ease. The two-year budget deal hammered out by Congress a few weeks ago should reduce gridlock on Capitol Hill, take another government shutdown off the table and reduce growth headwinds.

"Peace has broken out (in Washington, D.C.)," says David Kelly, chief global strategist at JPMorgan Funds.

Peppier growth will also provide cover for a market that is neither cheap nor expensive, but instead "fairly valued." The S&P 500's once-depressed price-to-earnings ratio expanded a great deal in 2013 and is back near historic norms. The market P-E, based on trailing 12-month earnings, has swelled to almost 17 from 14.

But rising valuations don't worry Liz Ann Sonders, chie! f investm! ent strategist at Charles Schwab.

"The notion that bull markets end when valuations hit historic norms" is misguided, Sonders says. "P-Es almost always overshoot to the upside."

• A pickup in corporate spending. As CEOs gain more confidence in the recovery there's a strong likelihood they will manage their businesses less defensively. The hope is Corporate America starts investing again in the future and deploys more of its record $1.25 trillion cash hoard. Cash reserves held by non-financial companies in the S&P 500 have doubled since 2008, according to S&P Dow Jones Indices.

Wall Street expects corporations to continue buying back their own shares and returning more cash to shareholders via dividends. In the third quarter of 2013, the most recent data available, S&P 500 companies spent $207.4 billion on dividend payouts and buybacks, the most since the final quarter of 2007, S&P says.

More important, investors envision CEOs ramping up spending on new plants, new business ventures and new employees, as well as deploying more cash to finance growth via acquisitions, says Ann Miletti, senior portfolio manager at Wells Fargo Advantage Funds.

"We're expecting a shift back toward more capital spending and M&A," Miletti says. "If that plays out it would be positive for the market."

• A rebound in confidence. Another bullish theme is an expected diminution of fear as the bad memories of the 2008 financial crisis recede.

A mindset shift from pessimism to optimism is likely to continue. Rising confidence often results in more consumer spending, more risk taking by investors and more aggressive spending by U.S. corporations.

Calendar 2014 will be marked by "a restoration of confidence," says Alan Skrainka, chief investment officer at Cornerstone Wealth Management.

The latest readings on consumer confidence are the highest since July, but well below the peak levels prior to the 2008 financial crisis.

• A still-easy Fed. Wall Str! eet also ! seems more comfortable with the Federal Reserve's decision to start reducing its market-friendly stimulus in 2014, thanks to the Fed's additional pledge to keep short-term rates near 0% for a longer period of time after the unemployment rate, now 7%, falls to 6.5%.

Market uncertainty over Fed policy has diminished since the Fed's meeting in mid-December. That's when the Fed outlined "the timing, pace and execution" of its exit from its bond-buying program and reiterated its plans for continued market support via its "forward guidance," says Terry Sandven, chief equity strategist at US Bank Wealth Management.

"It removes a significant overhang to sentiment," Sandven says.

Indeed, there's a growing sense that the economy can continue to grow and avoid a relapse even if long-term interest rates, currently around 3%, move gradually higher once the Fed starts to "taper" its monthly purchases of U.S. Treasuries and mortgage-backed bonds. The Fed's bond-buying program, dubbed quantitative easing, or QE, is designed to boost growth by keeping borrowing rates low. QE has been likened to a steroid injection, or performing-enhancing drug, and has been cited as a key driver of stock prices.

Outgoing Fed chairman Ben Bernanke said the Fed will reduce its monthly asset purchases to $75 billion from $85 billion in January and could wind down QE entirely in 2014 if the economy continues to heal.

Still, Sonders warns that it would be "naive" to think the market won't suffer a hiccup or two as the Fed reduces its asset purchases.

• A "Great Rotation" to stocks. Bonds, the investment of choice after the 2008 financial crisis, are losing favor. The reason: Stocks are soaring. And rising bond yields mean a drop in the principal value of bonds, which means losses in bond funds, once perceived as safe.

The 10-year Treasury note yield ended 2013 at 3.03%, its highest level since July 7, 2011. And rates are expected to continue to rise. In addition, the average core bond fund lost mon! ey this y! ear, falling by around 2%, according to fund-tracker Lipper.

The result: the roughly $1 trillion that flowed into bond funds the past five years is now finding its way back into the stock market. 2013 was the first year since the Great Recession in which net flows to U.S. stock mutual funds were positive, and bond funds suffered outflows, according to the Investment Company Institute.

BOND FUNDS: Investors get a lump of coal in 2013

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An estimated $20.9 billion flowed into domestic stock funds in 2013, while $77.2 billion flowed out of bond funds. Still, since 2008, domestic stock funds have suffered net outflows of $527 billion, while bond funds have seen positive flows of nearly $996 billion, ICI data show.

The shift of money from bonds to stocks, dubbed the "Great Rotation," has a long way to go, says Kleintop.

"Individual investors have just begun to come back into the stock market after being out for five years," Kleintop says. "The heavy lifting the past few years has been corporations buying back their own stock. (In the first three quarters of 2013, companies spent $346.3 billion on share buybacks, according to S&P Dow Jones Indices.) But we could have a whole new class of buyers -- individual investors -- and finally get the Great Rotation."

The bull market has delivered gains of more than 173% since it began in March 2009. Betting against this bull has been a bad bet, at least so far.

"My bottom line advice: Don't be the last investor to figure out we are in a bull market," Skrainka says.

Monday, February 3, 2014

What's the Key Driver Behind Pfizer's Share Price?

Investors in pharmaceutical stocks are all too familiar with the volatility that can be caused by the outcome of clinical trials. Sometimes it can be extremely positive news that causes shares to kick on to new highs, while at other times it can be disappointing news that leaves investors feeling despair at the falling share price.

This, it seems, simply comes with the territory of investing in pharmaceutical stocks. However, sometimes disappointment from a clinical trial can have a rather mooted effect on the share price. For instance, Pfizer (NYSE: PFE ) announced last week that a possible treatment for an advanced form of lung cancer missed its primary objectives in a couple of late-stage studies.

The drug in question is called Dacomitinib, and it was unable to show a statistically significant improvement in progression-free survival when compared with another drug, Erlotinib. This occurred in two separate studies (although in the second study a placebo was used instead of Erlotinib), and the disappointing thing about the two trials is that they were both late-stage trials.

Therefore, this is one of the final hurdles before submitting the drug for approval, and to obtain such results from two trials is disappointing to say the least.

However, shares didn't react too strongly to the news, possibly because Pfizer announced that it's still waiting for the results of a third trial involving the drug. These results aren't due out until 2015, which should give Pfizer time to move further down the line with the restructuring it discussed in its recent fourth-quarter results.

While there was disappointment for Pfizer, pharmaceutical peer GlaxoSmithKline (NYSE: GSK ) has enjoyed something of a purple patch at the start of 2014, as it has received positive news flow for three different drugs thus far.

The first was HIV treatment Tivicay, which the European Commission granted approval for use by adults and adolescents above 12. The second was Eperzan, which received a positive opinion from the Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use in Europe, while the third was the meeting of the primary endpoint by a combination of Tafinlar and Mekinist in a phase 3 trial.

GlaxoSmithKline isn't the only pharmaceutical company that's had some encouraging news flow with regard to its drug pipeline in 2014. The diabetes alliance between Bristol-Myers Squibb (NYSE: BMY ) and AstraZeneca (NYSE: AZN ) , which has now been bought outright by AstraZeneca for around $4 billion, has received approval for two drugs in 2014: Farxiga in the U.S. and combination drug Xigduo in the European Union.

Top Blue Chip Companies To Watch For 2015

Of course, it must be pointed out that it's not all bad news for Pfizer. It's a partner (along with GlaxoSmithKline and Shionogi) in the ViiV Healthcare joint venture through which the aforementioned Tivicay HIV drug was granted European Commission approval. Furthermore, the diabetes alliance between Bristol-Myers Squibb and AstraZeneca has produced two approvals in 2014 but has been heavily criticized for its high costs and lack of tangible results, leaving some commentators to suggest that AstraZeneca has overpaid for Bristol-Myers Squibb's share.

Therefore, while disappointment in a late-stage trial is clearly not good news for Pfizer, the ups and downs of drug approval is something that comes with the territory of being a pharmaceutical company. Of keener interest for the long-term fortunes of Pfizer is how successful its restructuring program is, with the ups and downs of drug approvals taking second place at the moment.

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Saturday, February 1, 2014

Avoid These So-Called Defensive Stocks

Popular Posts: Pick Up These Bargain Stocks After Recent Selloffs3 Stocks to Give Your Portfolio an EdgeAfraid of a Market Selloff? Hide in This Defensive Stock Recent Posts: Avoid These So-Called Defensive Stocks Put On Your Private Equity Lenses and Buy These Stocks 3 Stocks to Give Your Portfolio an Edge View All Posts

I write about Piotroksi F-scores all the time, and I use them in my stock selection process for a simple reason: They work.

down arrow1 Avoid These So Called Defensive Stocks Finding stocks trading at low valuations with high F-scores allows me to find stocks that are cheap yet have respectable operating and financial conditions. That combination frequently leads to a higher stock price over the next year or two.

There's another way to use this tool to help you attain market success. Use the Piotroski F-score to find stocks that have deteriorating operating conditions and financial condition and avoid them at all costs. Sometimes, the best way to make money is to not lose it.

I sat down today and took a look at some of the large-cap blue-chip stocks that investors often think of as defensive stocks, perfect for a nervous market. What I found is that some of these blue chips are far from suitable defensive stocks and could actually lead the market lower in a sustained decline.

In many ways Campbell's Soup (CPB) seems to fit right in among defensive stocks. Soup is going to sell no matter what happens in the world and might even sell more if the economy were to slip. However, the company earns an F-score of only 4, and CPB stock is far from cheap. In spite of single-digit revenue and earnings gains and no prospects for that to improve any time soon, the stock trades at 20 times earnings and more than 9 times book value. It’s a great company, and I happen to like their products, but the stock is neither safe nor cheap right now.

Duke Energy (DUK) would seem to be just like other safe, defensive stocks. After all, this public utility provides electricity to more than 7 million customers around the United States. It also sports a nice 4.2% dividend yield right now. However, a close look shows us a troublesome F-score of only 2. The stock is not particularly cheap at 20 times earnings and 2 times tangible book value, which means this utility stock is vulnerable.

At first blush, Sysco (SYY) seems to be one of the defensive stocks that would hold up well in a down market. The company sells food products to the restaurant business, and you’ve probably seen its trucks everywhere. However, the company has an F-score of just 3, and with the stock at 20 times earnings and almost 4 times book value the shares certainly are not cheap. SYY remains one of the more vulnerable entries among so-called defensive stocks.

Some of the traditionally defensive stocks like Phillip Morris International (PM) and Merck (MRK) also fail our test for operating conditions and financial changes. Yield chasers have also pushed the value of their shares to unsustainable levels, and are unlikely to see much more than mid- to low-single-digit profit growth for several years.

F-scores can help you find the winners, but they are just as handy for avoiding the potential losers that can hurt your portfolio performance.

As of this writing, Tim Melvin did not hold a position in any of the aforementioned securities.