In the following video, Fool contributor Matt Thalman discusses why Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL ) and Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT ) became the world's largest companies and why Amazon.com (NASDAQ: AMZN ) may one day also hold that title.
Matt also explains why investors shouldn't be focusing their time on figuring out what may become the next largest company in the world. Instead, he says, they should spend their time looking for the best companies in different industries, and then everything else will take care of itself.
More Foolish insight
The best investing approach is to choose great companies and stick with them for the long term. The Motley Fool's free report "3 Stocks That Will Help You Retire Rich" names stocks that could help you build long-term wealth and retire well, along with some winning wealth-building strategies that every investor should be aware of.�Click here now�to keep reading.
10 Best Quality Stocks To Buy Right Now: StanCorp Financial Group Inc.(SFG)
StanCorp Financial Group, Inc., through its subsidiaries, provides insurance products and asset management solutions in the United States. The company operates in two segments, Insurance Services and Asset Management. The Insurance Services segment offers group and individual disability, group life, group accidental death and dismemberment, group dental, and group vision insurance products, as well as absence management services to individuals and employers. This segment sells its group insurance products through sales representatives, as well as through independent employee benefit brokers and consultants; and individual disability insurance products through brokers and master general agents primarily to physicians, lawyers, executives, other professionals, and small business owners. As of December 31, 2010, it had approximately 31,000 group insurance policies in force covering approximately 6.8 million employees. The Asset Management segment provides 401(k) plans, 403(b) plans, 457 plans, defined benefit plans, money purchase pension plans, profit sharing plans, and non-qualified deferred compensation products and services through an affiliated broker-dealer. This segment also offers investment advisory and management, commercial mortgage loan origination and servicing, and financial planning services, as well as individual fixed-rate annuity, group annuity, and retirement plan trust products. In addition, the company owns and manages real estate properties for sale; and operates an online financial life planning and management service. StanCorp Financial Group, Inc. was founded in 1998 and is headquartered in Portland, Oregon.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By David Merkel]
The two stocks in question are Stancorp Financial (SFG) and National Western Life Insurance (NWLI). The short cases for both are based on a naive view of how insurance companies work.
- [By Eric Volkman]
StanCorp Financial Group (NYSE: SFG )
Insurance and financial services company StanCorp Financial Group hands out its distribution once per year. It's that time of year for StanCorp, and this year's payout represents a substantial raise: The firm declared a $1.30 per-share dividend -- a meaty 18% higher than the 2013 payout of $1.10.
Top 5 Healthcare Equipment Stocks To Buy For 2014: Vestas Wind Systems A/S (VWS)
Vestas Wind Systems A/S is a Denmark-based company active within the wind power industry. The Company operates within four business areas: Finance, Sales, Manufacturing & Global Sourcing, and Technology & Service Solutions. The Finance business area focuses on business support services. The Sales business area is divided into six geographical units: Americas, Asia Pacific & China, Central Europe, Mediterranean, Northern Europe and Offshore. The Manufacturing & Global Sourcing business area is engaged in the manufacturing of assembly, blades, components, controls and generators. The Technology & Service Solutions business area is responsible for the engineering solutions, platform and product management, as well as service engineering, among others. As of December 31, 2012, the Company operated globally through a network of subsidiaries located in Denmark, Germany, Italy, China, the United States, Spain, Estonia, Sweden and Norway. Advisors' Opinion:- [By Pato Kehoe]
Within the power infrastructure segment, GE is especially keen on advancing in clean-energy products, such as gas and wind turbines. Wind turbines have contributed significantly to generating a solid competitive advantage, even allowing the firm to surpass the Danish industry giant Vestas Wind Systems (VWS), thanks to superior customer care and manufacturing expertise. Hence, the road seems paved for continued success in this new industry sector, which is bound to continue growing as clean energy becomes more popular.
Top 5 Healthcare Equipment Stocks To Buy For 2014: Integrated Silicon Solution Inc.(ISSI)
Integrated Silicon Solution, Inc., a fabless semiconductor company, designs and markets integrated circuits for digital consumer electronics, networking and telecommunications, mobile communications, automotive electronics, and industrial markets. Its primary products include low and medium density DRAM; and high speed and low power SRAM. The company?s low and medium density DRAM products are used in wireless local area networks (WLANs), base stations, networking switches and routers, fiber to the home (FTTH), DSL and cable modems, set top boxes, digital cameras, MP3, flat panel TVs, LCD TVs, HDTVs, video phones, Voice over Internet Protocol, printers, disk drives, tape drives, audio/video equipment, instrumentation, global positioning systems (GPS), telematics, infotainment, smart meters, and other applications. Its SRAM products are used in WLANs, cell phones, base stations, networking switches and routers, FTTH, DSL modems, LCD TVs, set-top boxes, GPS systems, instrumen tation, engine control systems, medical equipment, telematics, audio and video equipment, satellite radio, POS terminals, fax machines, copiers, tape drives, and other applications. Integrated Silicon Solution, Inc. also designs and markets application specific standard products, including high performance serial EEPROMs for use in TVs, networking systems, modems, telephone sets, security systems, video games, automobiles, and other consumer products; and SmartCards that have applications in transportation passes, payment cards, health care cards, and other cards that store secure data. The company markets and sells its products in Asia, the United States, and Europe through direct sales force, independent sales representatives, and distributors. Integrated Silicon Solution, Inc. was founded in 1988 and is headquartered in San Jose, California.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Seth Jayson]
Basic guidelines
In this series, I examine inventory using a simple rule of thumb: Inventory increases ought to roughly parallel revenue increases. If inventory bloats more quickly than sales grow, this might be a sign that expected sales haven't materialized. Is the current inventory situation at Integrated Silicon Solution (Nasdaq: ISSI ) out of line? To figure that out, start by comparing the company's inventory growth to sales growth. How is Integrated Silicon Solution doing by this quick checkup? At first glance, not so great. Trailing-12-month revenue increased 7.0%, and inventory increased 43.7%. Comparing the latest quarter to the prior-year quarter, the story looks potentially problematic. Revenue grew 20.0%, and inventory grew 43.7%. Over the sequential quarterly period, the trend looks OK but not great. Revenue dropped 1.8%, and inventory dropped 0.8%.
Top 5 Healthcare Equipment Stocks To Buy For 2014: PulteGroup Inc. (PHA)
PulteGroup, Inc., through its subsidiaries, engages in homebuilding and financial services businesses primarily in the United States. The company�s homebuilding business includes the acquisition and development of land primarily for residential purposes within the United States; and the construction of housing on such lands. It offers various home designs, including single-family detached, townhouses, condominiums, and duplexes under the Pulte Homes, Del Webb, and Centex brand names. As of December 31, 2011, its homebuilding operations offered homes for sale in approximately 700 communities. The company�s financial services business consists of mortgage banking and title operations. It arranges financing through the origination of mortgage loans for its homebuyers; sells such loans and related servicing rights; and provides title insurance policies as an agent, and examination and closing services to its home buyers. The company was formerly known as Pulte Homes, Inc. an d changed its name to PulteGroup, Inc. in March 2010. PulteGroup, Inc. was founded in 1956 and is headquartered in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By DailyFinance Staff]
LM Otero, AP The housing market has been leading the economic recovery, but have housing stocks hit the ceiling? They're jumping today after a very bullish report on housing starts: New construction projects last month topped the 1 million annual rate for the time since before the financial crisis began in 2008. That's lifted shares of leading homebuilders by two to four percent today, adding to the huge gains over the past year. KB Homes (KBH), Pulte (PHA) and Hovnanian (HOV) have all doubled in price over the past year. Lennar (LEN) is up 44 percent, D.R. Horton (DHI) is up 47 percent and Toll Brothers (TOL) 33 percent. Those gains have prompted several other builders to go public this year. Taylor Morrison Home (TMHC), Tri Pointe, and William Lyon Home have all moved higher since their IPOs. And even though there's plenty of optimism that housing will continue to lead the broader economic recovery, there's some concern that these stocks may slow down. Homebuilder stocks can no longer be considered cheap. So some analysts see alternate routes for investors looking to play the housing boom. One way is through home-improvement retailers, which benefit from sales of both new and existing homes. Other plays include lumber, furniture and appliance companies. It's also worth noting that today's report on home construction showed that starts of single-family homes actually declined in March. It was the more volatile multi-family sector that led the advance. But there may be some stock market opportunities in REITs – real estate investment trusts – which focus on apartments. Among the biggest ones are Post Properties, Essex Property Trust and Associated Estates. They make money from collecting monthly rents. And these stocks generally trade below the value of the properties they own. Even some builders known for single-family homes are moving into the multi-family segment. Lennar announced in January that it plans to enter the apartment rental mar
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