Tuesday, July 15, 2014

5 Best Quality Stocks To Invest In 2014

For those concerned the market might pull back, one strategy worth considering is to shift money into dividend-focused investments; here are four dividend ETFs to weather a possible stock market drop, says Geoffrey Mrema and Todd Rosenbluth, of S&P Capital IQ.

We believe that when pullbacks happen, dividend stocks fare better than others because their yields provide downside protection.

While there are more than 100 stocks ranked by S&P Capital IQ as buy or strong buy that offer a 2.5% or greater yield, an ideal way for investors to get diversification to many of these stocks is through exchange traded funds (ETFs).

We ran a screen of the dividend-focused domestic equity ETFs with an Overweight ranking from S&P Capital IQ and a 12-month yield over 2.5%.

We excluded those ETFs that were focused on a specific sector, like utilities, since sector diversification provides its own benefits.

While S&P Capital IQ does not base ETF recommendations on yield alone, the consistency of dividend payments is a key component to the S&P Capital IQ Quality Ranking, which is a component of the risk considerations portion of our ranking methodology.

Best Oil Service Companies To Watch In Right Now: First Bancorp (FBP)

First Bancorp is a bank holding company. The Company is a service provider of financial services and products with operations in Puerto Rico, the United States and the United States and British Virgin Islands. The Company has six segments: Consumer (Retail) Banking; Commercial and Corporate Banking; Mortgage Banking; Treasury and Investments; United States Operations, and Virgin Islands Operations. The Company specializes in commercial banking, residential mortgage loan originations, finance leases, personal loans, small loans, auto loans, insurance agency and broker-dealer activities. As of December 31, 2011, it controlled two wholly owned subsidiaries: FirstBank and FirstBank Insurance Agency, Inc. (FirstBank Insurance Agency). FirstBank is a Puerto Rico-chartered commercial bank and FirstBank Insurance Agency is a Puerto Rico-chartered insurance agency. On February 16, 2011, FirstBank sold an asset portfolio consisting of performing and non-performing construction, commercial mortgage and C&I loans. The Company�� total investment securities portfolio as of December 31, 2011 amounted to $2 billion. As of December 31, 2011, the Company had a total deposit of $9.9 billion. Effective May 31, 2011, the Company purchased FirstBank-branded consumer credit card portfolio from FIA Card Services, N.A. and an affiliate.

Consumer (Retail) Banking

The Consumer (Retail) Banking segment consists of the Company�� consumer lending and deposit-taking activities conducted mainly through FirstBank�� branch network and loan centers in Puerto Rico. Loans to consumers include auto, boat and personal loans and lines of credit. Deposit products include interest bearing and non-interest bearing checking and savings accounts, Individual Retirement Accounts (IRA) and retail certificates of deposit. Retail deposits gathered through each branch of FirstBank�� retail network serve as one of the funding sources for the lending and investment activities. Credit card accounts are issued under Firs! tBank�� name through an alliance with a financial institution, which bears the credit risk.

Commercial and Corporate Banking

The Commercial and Corporate Banking segment consists of the Company�� lending and other services across a spectrum of industries ranging from small businesses to large corporate clients. FirstBank has developed expertise in industries, including healthcare, tourism, financial institutions, food and beverage, income-producing real estate and the public sector. The Commercial and Corporate Banking segment offers commercial loans, including commercial real estate and construction loans, and other products, such as cash management and business management services. A substantial portion of this portfolio is secured by the underlying value of the real estate collateral and the personal guarantees of the borrowers. The segment also includes the Company�� broker-dealer activities, which are primarily concentrated in bonds underwriting and financial advisory services provided to government entities in Puerto Rico.

Mortgage Banking

The Mortgage Banking segment conducts its operations mainly through FirstBank and its mortgage origination subsidiary, First Mortgage. These operations consist of the origination, sale and servicing of a variety of residential mortgage loan products. Originations are sourced through different channels, such as FirstBank branches, mortgage bankers and in association with new project developers. First Mortgage focuses on originating residential real estate loans, some of which conform to Federal Housing Administration (FHA), Veterans Administration (VA) and Rural Development (RD) standards. The Mortgage Banking segment also acquires and sells mortgages in the secondary markets. Most of the Company�� residential mortgage loan portfolio consists of fixed-rate, fully amortizing, full documentation loans.

Treasury and Investments

The Treasury and Investments segment is responsib! le for th! e Corporation�� treasury and investment management functions. The treasury function, which includes funding and liquidity management, sells funds to the Commercial and Corporate Banking segment, the Mortgage Banking segment, and the Consumer (Retail) Banking segment to finance their respective lending activities and purchases funds gathered by those segments and from the United States Operations segment. Funds not gathered by the different business units are obtained by the Treasury Division through wholesale channels, such as brokered deposits, advances from the FHLB and, repurchase agreements with investment securities, among others.

United States Operations

The United States Operations segment consists of all banking activities conducted by FirstBank in the United States mainland. FirstBank provides a range of banking services to individual and corporate customers primarily in southern Florida through its ten branches. The United States Operations segment offers an array of both retail and commercial banking products and services. Consumer banking products include checking, savings and money market accounts, retail certificates of deposit (CDs), Internet banking services, residential mortgages, home equity loans and lines of credit, automobile loans and credit cards through an alliance with a nationally recognized financial institution, which bears the credit risk. Deposits gathered through FirstBank�� branches in the United States also serve as a funding sources for lending and investment activities in Puerto Rico. The commercial banking services include checking, savings and money market accounts, CDs, Internet banking services, cash management services, remote data capture and automated clearing house (ACH), transactions. Loan products include the traditional commercial and industrial and commercial real estate products, such as lines of credit, term loans and construction loans.

Virgin Islands Operations

The Virgin Islands Operations seg! ment cons! ists of all banking activities conducted by FirstBank in the United States and British Virgin Islands, including retail and commercial banking services, with a total of fourteen branches serving the United States Virgin Islands of St. Thomas, St. Croix, and St. John, and the British Virgin Islands of Tortola and Virgin Gorda. The Virgin Islands Operations segment is driven by its consumer, commercial lending and deposit-taking activities.

Advisors' Opinion:
  • [By CRWE]

    First BanCorp (NYSE:FBP), the bank holding company for FirstBank Puerto Rico, expects to report its financial results for the third quarter ended September 30, 2012, after the market closes on Wednesday, October 31, 2012.

5 Best Quality Stocks To Invest In 2014: Clean Diesel Technologies Inc.(CDTI)

Clean Diesel Technologies, Inc. engages in the manufacture and distribution of emissions control systems and products for heavy duty diesel and light duty vehicle markets. The company operates in two divisions, Heavy Duty Diesel Systems and Catalyst. The Heavy Duty Diesel Systems division designs and manufactures verified exhaust emissions control solutions that are used to reduce exhaust emissions created by on-road, off-road, and stationary diesel and alternative fuel engines, including propane and natural gas. Its products include closed crankcase ventilation systems, diesel oxidation catalysts, diesel particulate filters, Platinum Plus fuel-borne catalysts, ARIS selective catalytic reduction reagents, catalyzed wire mesh diesel particulate filters, alternative fuel products, and exhaust accessories. This division offers its products for original equipment manufacturers of heavy duty diesel equipment, such as mining equipment, vehicles, generator sets, and construction equipment, as well as retrofit customers consisting of school districts, municipalities, and other fleet operators. The Catalyst division produces catalyst formulations using its proprietary MPC technology for gasoline, diesel, and natural gas induced emissions. Its products comprise catalysts for gasoline engines, diesel engines, and energy applications. This division supplies its catalysts to automotive manufacturers and large heavy duty diesel engine manufacturers. The company sells its products through a network of distributors and dealers, and its direct sales force worldwide. Clean Diesel Technologies, Inc. is based in Ventura, California.

Advisors' Opinion:
  • [By CRWE]

    Clean Diesel Technologies, Inc. (Nasdaq:CDTI), a cleantech emissions control company, will be a presenter at the 3rd Annual Craig-Hallum Capital Group Alpha Select Conference. The presentation is scheduled for 2:10 p.m. ET on Thursday, September 27, 2012 at the Sentry Centers in New York.

  • [By James E. Brumley]

    Did you miss today's 123% pop from Clean Diesel Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ:CDTI)? If you didn't chase it higher after the bullish gap left behind at the open, then good for you - you made the right choice. As tempting as CDTI looked then (and still does), the bulk of any near-term gain here has already been realized, and there's no real point in jumping on the bandwagon now. Fear not if you missed the big move from Clean Diesel Technologies though. There's another, smaller name playing the same game, and you won't have to pay a fortune for it just to take a big risk.

  • [By Paul Ausick]

    One Nasdaq stock posting outsized gains today is Clean Diesel Technologies Inc. (NASDAQ: CDTI) which is getting a share price boost of 68.85%. The company announced that it will begin shipping emissions control systems��catalysts to Honda in the first half of this year. The stock will close at around $4.82 in a 52-week range of $1.10 to $7.39 (the high was set today and was nearly double Monday�� closing price of $2.83). Volume was about 36-times the daily average of around nearly 525,000 shares traded.

5 Best Quality Stocks To Invest In 2014: Iberpapel Gestion SA (IBG)

Iberpapel Gestion SA is a Spain-based holding company engaged in the paper industry. The Company operates through three divisions: Forestry, involved in the acquisition and cultivation of eucalyptus plantations in Argentina, Uruguay and Spain; Industrial, focused on the production of bleached pulp and paper products, and Commercial, specialized on the distribution of products such as printing and photocopy paper, offset paper, light-coated paper, laser printing paper, paper bags and envelopes. The Company�� subsidiaries include Distribuidora Papelera SA, Moliner Dominguez y Cia SA, Ibereucaliptos SA, Papelera Guipuzcoana de Zicunaga SA, Central de Suministros de Artes Graficas Papel SA and Copaimex SA, among others. The Company�� major shareholders include ONCHENA, SL and BESTINVER GESTION, SA. Advisors' Opinion:
  • [By Holly LaFon]

    The top contributing stock for the quarter was Saft Groupe (XPAR:SAFT).� The company has two main divisions: the Specialty Battery Group (SBG), which makes lithium batteries for various end markets including satellites, utility meters and military applications; and the Industrial Battery Group (IBG), which produces rechargeable nickel and lithium-ion batteries for industrial back-up power, aviation, rail, telecom and energy storage industries.�

5 Best Quality Stocks To Invest In 2014: Universal Stainless & Alloy Products Inc (USAP)

Universal Stainless & Alloy Products, Inc., incorporated in 1994, manufactures and markets semi-finished and finished specialty steel products, including stainless steel, tool steel and certain other alloyed steels. The Company�� manufacturing process involves melting, re-melting, heat treating, hot and cold rolling, forging, machining and cold drawing of semi-finished and finished specialty steels. The Company�� products are sold to re-rollers, forgers, service centers, original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and wire re-drawers. The Company�� customers further process its products for use in a range of industries, including the aerospace, power generation, petrochemical and heavy equipment manufacturing industries. The Company also performs conversion services on materials supplied by customers, which lack certain of the Company�� production facilities or that are subject to their own capacity constraints. On August 18, 2011, the Company acquired Patriot Special Metals, Inc. and RSM Real Estate Holding, Inc.

The Company operates in two segments: Universal Stainless & Alloy Products (USAP) and Dunkirk Specialty Steel. The Company�� products are manufactured in a range of grades and melt qualities, including argon oxygen decarburization (AOD) quality, electro-slag remelted (ESR) quality, vacuum induction melting (VIM) quality and vacuum-arc remelted (VAR) quality. At its Bridgeville facility, the Company produces specialty steel products in the form of long products (ingots, blooms, billets and bars) and flat rolled products (slabs and plates). In December 2011, the Company began melting in its new VIM furnace located in North Jackson. The semi-finished long products are used by the Company�� Dunkirk facility and certain customers to produce finished bar, rod and wire products, and the semi-finished flat rolled products are used by customers to produce light-gauge plate, sheet and strip products. The finished bar products manufactured by the Company are used by OEMs and by ser! vice center customers for distribution to a range of end users. The Company also produces customized shapes for OEMs that are cold rolled from purchased coiled strip, flat bar or extruded bar at its Precision Rolled Products department, located at its Titusville facility.

Advisors' Opinion:
  • [By Jake L'Ecuyer]

    In trading on Wednesday, basic materials shares dropped by 0.30 percent. Among the sector stocks,Amyris (NASDAQ: AMRS) was down more than 8.5 percent, while Universal Stainless & Alloy Products (NASDAQ: USAP) tumbled around 5 percent.

  • [By Seth Jayson]

    Universal Stainless & Alloy Products (Nasdaq: USAP  ) reported earnings on May 1. Here are the numbers you need to know.

    The 10-second takeaway
    For the quarter ended March 31 (Q1), Universal Stainless & Alloy Products missed estimates on revenues and missed estimates on earnings per share.

  • [By Jake L'Ecuyer]

    In trading on Wednesday, basic materials shares dropped by 0.30 percent. Among the sector stocks, Amyris (NASDAQ: AMRS) was down more than 8.5 percent, while Universal Stainless & Alloy Products (NASDAQ: USAP) tumbled around 5 percent.

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