U.S. stocks opened lower this morning, with the S&P 500 (SNPINDEX: ^GSPC ) and the narrower, price-weighted Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJINDICES: ^DJI ) down 0.31% and 0.26%, respectively, at 10:15 a.m. EDT.
Perhaps investors have been spooked by the Japanese market. Stock market losses have been as consistent as the sunrise lately in the Far Eastern country, where the Nikkei 225 fell for the fourth straight today. These are not small losses, either: After a 3% drop on Friday, the Nikkei 225 suffered another 3.3% loss on Monday. The cumulative loss since last Tuesday stands at 6.7%.
Last Friday, the CBOE Volatility Index, or VIX (VOLATILITYINDICES: ^VIX ) , closed at 12.72, its lowest level since May 17 and well below its long-term historical average, which is above 20. At first glance, that looks entirely defensible. After all, the VIX, which is calculated from S&P 500 option prices, reflects investor expectations for stock market volatility over the coming 30 days. That period now essentially coincides with the month of August -- traditionally, the doldrums for the stock market as traders and investors exchange their trading desks for a lounge chair.
Top Shipping Stocks To Buy Right Now: Vanguard Reit Etf (VNQ)
Vanguard REIT ETF (the Fund), formerly known as Vanguard REIT VIPERs, is an exchange-traded share class of Vanguard REIT Index Fund. The Fund seeks to provide a high level of income and moderate long-term capital appreciation by tracking the performance of an index that measures the performance of publicly traded equity real estate investment trusts (REITs). Vanguard REIT ETF employs a passive management or indexing investment approach designed to track the performance of the MSCI US REIT Index (the Index), an index of United States property trusts that covers about two-thirds of the value of the entire United States REIT market.
Vanguard REIT ETF normally invests approximately 98% of assets in stocks issued by equity REITs. The Fund invests in the stocks that make up the Index, and the remaining assets are allocated to cash investments.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Bill Stoller]
After a banner 2013, the overall market has had a challenging start to 2014. However, these four companies have been crushing it: Alexander Real Estate (NYSE: ARE ) , BioMed Realty Trust (NYSE: BMR ) , CommonWealth REIT (NYSE: CWH ) , and Sun Communities (NYSE: SUI ) early on in 2014 vs. the S&P 500. Their relative out-performance can also be seen when compared to the Vanguard REIT Index ETF (NYSEMKT: VNQ ) a good yardstick to measure sector performance.
- [By Dan Caplinger]
3. Real-estate investment trusts
Rate-sensitive REITs took another big hit over the week, with the Vanguard REIT ETF (NYSEMKT: VNQ ) dropping more than 5%. Leveraged mortgage REITs saw even worse losses, with Annaly Capital (NYSE: NLY ) falling more than 7% and American Capital Agency (NASDAQ: AGNC ) seeing 8% declines. - [By Howard Gold]
In May, I said real estate investment trusts (REITs) ��ave outperformed the S&P 500 for 11 of the last 16 quarters��and so ��'d be inclined to take at least some profits.��That column ran pretty close to REITs' all-time high and the Vanguard REIT Index ETF (VNQ) has lost 11% of its value.
- [By Dan Caplinger]
Keeping it simple
Some advisors will suggest that you're giving up big potential returns if you don't pick individual stocks. But a portfolio that relies on the broad-based ETFs Vanguard Total Stock Market (NYSEMKT: VTI ) , iShares Core Bond Market (NYSEMKT: AGG ) , Vanguard REIT (NYSEMKT: VNQ ) , or other similar ETFs from other fund companies will get you most of the way to the returns that you need in order to retire comfortably. These three ETFs are particularly useful because they come with low fees, but as long as the ETF you choose doesn't charge too much, there are plenty of strong options to pick from. Insurance coverage can be extremely difficult to understand, and the costs involved can be high. Sticking with basic insurance early on and later adding features as you become more familiar with the risks involved might not always be the least expensive solution to your insurance needs, as in some cases, the earlier you get coverage, the less it costs. Moreover, you won't always qualify to get insurance if some event occurs later in life that boosts your risk to the point at which insurance companies won't offer you coverage at all. But the wait-and-see strategy does have the benefit of preventing you from getting coverage that might well be obsolete or unnecessary by the time you seek to use it.
Even though retirement planning can get complicated in a hurry, the key to remember throughout much of your career is that it's impossible to plan for every contingency you'll face. As a result, the simpler way to handle planning for retirement is to address the threats that you can control while maintaining as much flexibility as possible to handle the threats you can't control -- or might not even be aware of. A few examples include:Admittedly, these simple solutions won't always take care of every contingency, and they can leave you vulnerable to certain risks that require advanced planning techniques. But
Top 10 US Companies To Buy Right Now: Cincinnati Financial Corporation(CINF)
Cincinnati Financial Corporation engages in the property casualty insurance business in the United States. Its Commercial Lines Property Casualty Insurance segment provides coverage for commercial casualty, commercial property, commercial auto, and workers? compensation. It also offers specialty packages, including coverages for property, liability, and business interruption for specific industry classes, such as artisan contractors, dentists, or street businesses. In addition, this segment provides contract and commercial surety bonds, fidelity bonds, and director and officer liability insurance, as well as machinery and equipment coverage. The company?s Personal Lines Property Casualty Insurance segment offers coverage for personal auto and homeowners, as well as other insurance products, such as dwelling fire, inland marine, personal umbrella liability, and watercraft coverages to individuals. Cincinnati Financial?s Excess and Surplus Lines Property Casualty Insurance s egment offers commercial casualty insurance that covers businesses for third-party liability from accidents occurring on their premises or arising out of their operations, including products and completed operations; and commercial property insurance, which insures loss or damage to buildings, inventory, equipment, and business income from causes of loss, such as fire, wind, hail, water, theft, and vandalism. The company?s Life Insurance segment provides term insurance; universal life insurance; whole life insurance; and worksite products, which include term, whole life, universal life, and disability insurance offered to employees through their employer. This segment also markets disability income insurance, deferred annuities, and immediate annuities. Its Investment segment invests in fixed-maturity investments, equity investments, and short-term investments. Cincinnati also offers commercial leasing and financing services. The company was founded in 1950 and is headquarte red in Fairfield, Ohio.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Ben Levisohn]
Loew’s, however isn’t just cheap on its own terms. It’s also cheap relative to other investor insurers, including Markel (MKL), Cincinnati Financial (CINF) and Berkshire Hathaway. Shanker and Stefano write:
- [By Dan Caplinger]
Investors have always been interested in stocks that pay dividends, but lately, low interest rates on bonds and other fixed-income investments have made solid dividend payers even more valuable. Among the most promising dividend stocks in the market is Cincinnati Financial (NASDAQ: CINF ) , and one big reason is that it is one of the few exclusive companies to make the list of Dividend Aristocrats. In order to become a member of this elite group, a company must have raised its dividend payouts to shareholders every single year for at least a quarter-century. Only a few dozen stocks manage to make the cut, and those that do tend to stay there for a long time.
Top 10 US Companies To Buy Right Now: Nike Inc.(NKE)
NIKE, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, engages in the design, development, marketing, and sale of footwear, apparel, equipment, and accessory products for men, women, and children worldwide. The company offers products in the categories of running, training, basketball, soccer, sport-inspired casual shoes, and kids? shoes. It also markets footwear designed for baseball, cheerleading, football, golf, lacrosse, outdoor activities, skateboarding, tennis, volleyball, walking, wrestling, and other athletic and recreational uses. In addition, Nike sells sports apparel and accessories, sports-inspired lifestyle apparel, athletic bags, and accessory items; and markets apparel with licensed college, professional team, and league logos. Further, the company sells performance equipment, including bags, socks, sport balls, eyewear, timepieces, electronic devices, bats, gloves, protective equipment, golf clubs, and other equipment designed for sports activities under the brand na me of NIKE; and various plastic products to other manufacturers. It offers products under the trademarks of Cole Haan, Converse, Chuck Taylor, All Star, One Star, Star Chevron, Jack Purcell, Hurley, and Umbro. The company sells its products through retail accounts, its own retail stores and Internet sales, independent distributors, and licensees. NIKE, Inc. was founded in 1964 and is headquartered in Beaverton, Oregon.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Fusion Research]
Monotype Imaging has a number of global brands that are customers including Tommy Hilfiger, Ray-Ban, Clorox, Blue Man Group, Starbucks (SBUX), Nike (NKE), and Hilton among others. The recent customers in its portfolio include Disney (DIS), DreamWorks (DWA), Maserati, Mongoose, IOP, and a few others. Monotype Imaging reported revenue of $51.75 million in the creative professional segment in 2012. Looking at the opportunities that exist for the company going forward, we believe that it remains on track to achieve its revenue guidance of $60 million in 2013 from the creative professional segment, having already delivered half of that in the first half of 2013.
- [By Jon C. Ogg]
24/7 Wall St. believes that AT&T Inc. (NYSE: T), General Electric Co. (NYSE: GE), Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (NYSE: GS), J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. (NYSE: JPM), Nike Inc. (NYSE: NKE) and Walt Disney Co. (NYSE: DIS) will all make dividend hike announcements before the end of 2013.
Top 10 US Companies To Buy Right Now: NII Holdings Inc.(NIHD)
NII Holdings, Inc., through its subsidiaries, provides wireless communication services under the Nextel brand name to businesses and individuals in Mexico, Brazil, Argentina, Peru, and Chile. Its services include mobile telephone service; Nextel Direct Connect service, which allows subscribers to talk to each other on a push-to-talk basis for private one-to-one calls or on group calls. The company also provides value-added services, including text messaging services; mobile Internet services; e-mail services; location-based services, such as the use of global positioning system technologies; digital media services; and a set of applications available via its content management system and the Android open application market. In addition, it offers business solutions, such as security, work force management, logistics support, and other applications to improve productivity; and international roaming services. NII Holdings, Inc. sells its products and services through direct sales representatives, indirect sales agents, retail stores, kiosks, and Website. The company was formerly known as Nextel International, Inc. and changed its name to NII Holdings, Inc. in December 2001. NII Holdings, Inc. was founded in 1995 and is based in Reston, Virginia.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Jon C. Ogg]
NII�Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ: NIHD)�is trading as though the worst case scenario is headed its way. This is effective Nextel international, and the closure of its communications sites in Mexico sale did not seem to help matters. That call from a week earlier where HSBC abandoned ship after NII reported a wider loss, predicting that the stock would now go to $2.00 per share, is looking like that could be possible. This one fell another 8.6% to $2.63 on Friday on about 200% of normal volume, and the stock put in a new low over the last decade or so of $2.60 with wide losses expected in 2013 and 2014 on declining sales. Timber!
Top 10 US Companies To Buy Right Now: Ishares Trust Dow Jones Select Dividend (DVY)
iShares Dow Jones Select Dividend Index Fund (the Fund) seeks investment results that correspond generally to the price and yield performance of the Dow Jones U.S. Select Dividend Index (the Index). The Index measures the performance of a selected group of equity securities issued by companies that have provided relatively high dividend yields on a consistent basis over time. The Index stocks are screened by dividend-per-share growth rate, dividend payout percentage and average daily dollar trading volume, and are selected based on dividend yield.
The Index consists of 100 of the highest dividend-yielding securities (excluding real estate investment trusts) in the Dow Jones U.S. Total Market Index, an index representative of the total market for United States equity securities. To be included in the Index, the securities must have had a flat to positive dividend-per-share growth rate for each of the last five years; must have an average five-year dividend payout ratio of 60% or less, and must have a minimum three-month average trading volume of 200,000 shares a day. The Index is reconstituted annually. The Fund uses a representative sampling strategy in seeking to track the Index. The Fund�� investment advisor is Barclays Global Fund Advisors.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Dan Caplinger]
Investing in dividend stocks is easy. Exchange-traded funds Vanguard Dividend Appreciation (NYSEMKT: VIG ) , iShares Dow Jones Select Dividend (NYSEMKT: DVY ) , and SPDR S&P Dividend (NYSEMKT: SDY ) give you low-cost access to dozens or even hundreds of dividend-paying stocks, all within a single investment vehicle. If you prefer, you can also buy individual stocks, either through a broker or through direct investment plans. Blue-chip companies General Electric (NYSE: GE ) and Procter & Gamble (NYSE: PG ) are just two of the hundreds of stocks that offer shares through direct plans and allow you to reinvest dividends automatically in additional shares at no fee.
- [By Jim Powell]
At the minimum, your family trust should hold the iShares Dow Jones Select Dividend Index (DVY). I also think you should consider the iShares International Select Dividend Fund (IDV) that invests in foreign companies with good payment histories.
- [By Dan Caplinger]
Which dividend stocks are getting hit hardest?
So far, we've seen some evidence that dividend-paying stocks are doing worse than the overall market since the latest pullback began. Going back to the end of April, the iShares DJ Select Dividend ETF (NYSEMKT: DVY ) , which has a high concentration of strong dividend payers, has fallen about 4%, compared to a more-or-less flat performance from the S&P 500 and other broader benchmarks.
Top 10 US Companies To Buy Right Now: NVR Inc.(NVR)
NVR, Inc. operates as a homebuilder in the United States. It engages in the construction and sale of single-family detached homes, townhomes, and condominium buildings under the trade names of Ryan Homes, NVHomes, Fox Ridge Homes, and Rymarc Homes primarily to first-time homeowners and first-time move-up buyers. The company markets its products in Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia, western and eastern Pennsylvania, New York, North Carolina, South Carolina, Ohio, New Jersey, Delaware, Indiana, Kentucky, Florida, Tennessee, and Columbia. It also offers mortgage banking services to its homebuilding customers, including mortgage financing and brokerage of title insurance, as well as performs title searches in connection with mortgage loan closings. NVR, Inc. was founded in 1979 and is headquartered in Reston, Virginia.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Paul Ausick]
Big Earnings Movers: McDonald�� Corp. (NYSE: MCD) is down 0.6% at $94.59 after a so-so report and a downbeat forecast. Halliburton Co. (NYSE: HAL) is down 3.4% at $50.67 on added caution for the current quarter. V.F. Corp. (NYSE: VFC) is up 3.4% at $211.24. SAP AG (NYSE: SAP) is up 3.6% at $76.38. NVR Corp. (NYSE: NVR) is down 4.1% at $893.40.
- [By Seth Jayson]
NVR (NYSE: NVR ) reported earnings on July 22. Here are the numbers you need to know.
The 10-second takeaway
For the quarter ended June 30 (Q2), NVR met expectations on revenues and whiffed on earnings per share. - [By Sally Jones]
NVR Inc. (NVR): Reduced
Up 9% over 12 months, NVR Inc., a residential construction company, has a market cap of $4.41 billion. The current share price is around $969.98. Shares trade at a P/E of 20.70. The company does not pay a dividend.
- [By Monica Wolfe]
NVR Inc. (NVR)
Alan Fournier�� fourth largest holding is in NVR Inc where he maintains 259,302 shares. His position makes up 5.19% of the company�� shares outstanding and 4.4% of his total portfolio.
Top 10 US Companies To Buy Right Now: Dole Food Company Inc(DOLE)
Dole Food Company, Inc. engages in sourcing, growing, processing, marketing, and distributing fresh fruits and vegetables, and food products to wholesale, retail, and institutional customers worldwide. It operates in three segments: Fresh Fruit, Fresh Vegetables, and Packaged Foods. The Fresh Fruit segment involves in growing and selling bananas under the DOLE brand name primarily in North America, Europe, and Asia; ripening and distributing DOLE and non-DOLE branded fresh produce in Europe; growing, sourcing, and selling fresh pineapples under the DOLE TROPICAL GOLD label; and exporting Chilean fruits, including grapes, apples, pears, stone fruits, and kiwifruits primarily to North America, Latin America, and Europe. The Fresh Vegetables segment engages in sourcing, harvesting, cooling, distributing, and marketing various fresh and fresh-cut vegetables, including iceberg lettuce, red and green leaf lettuce, romaine lettuce, butter lettuce, celery, cauliflower, broccoli, c arrots, Brussels sprouts, green onions, asparagus, snow peas, artichokes, and radishes, as well as fresh strawberries and raspberries. This segment also processes and markets value-added vegetable products, such as packaged salads and packaged fresh-cut vegetables. The Packaged Foods segment produces and markets canned pineapples, canned pineapple juice, fruit juice concentrate, fruit parfaits, snack foods, and frozen fruits, as well as fruits in plastic cups, jars, and pouches. Its principal customers include mass merchandisers and supermarkets. Dole Food Company, Inc. was founded in 1851 and is based in Westlake Village, California.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Rich Duprey]
Shares of fresh-fruit producer Dole Foods (NYSE: DOLE ) soared more than 20% in morning trading after the board of directors announced its chairman and CEO had offered to�acquire all of the outstanding shares of company stock he and his family don't already own for $12.00 per share in cash, which values the company at $1.07 billion.
- [By Chris Hill]
Shares of Sony (NYSE: SNE ) rise after the company's new PlayStation4 game console is priced at $399. Softbank raised its offer to buy Sprint Nextel (NYSE: S ) by $1.5 billion. Dole Food (NYSE: DOLE ) CEO David Murdock offers to buy the entire company. And bricks-and-mortar retailer GameStop (NYSE: GME ) also gets a boost from Sony's news that the new PlayStation4 will allow unlimited used-game sales. In this installment of Investor Beat, our analysts discuss four stocks making big moves.
- [By Eric Volkman]
It didn't take long for Dole Foods (NYSE: DOLE ) to reverse its policy on stock repurchases. Less than three weeks after initiating a buyback program, the company has suspended it. Instead, it will plow capital into upgrading its fleet of ships, a project it anticipates will cost roughly $165 million.
- [By Rich Duprey]
That's why seeing Dole Foods (NYSE: DOLE ) lurch from a stock buyback program one day to suspending it weeks later so it can buy new ships instead, rattled investors and caused its stock to drop 10% so far.
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