Hot Consumer Stocks To Watch Right Now

Consumer confidence is up 10% for the second month in a row, according to the Conference Board's May Consumer Confidence report released today.

After a 12.2% drop in March, the newest numbers solidify April's 10% gains. At an index rating of 76.2, analysts' expectations were exceeded by 4.7 points, but confidence still remains well below the index's 1985 100-point benchmark.

"Consumer Confidence posted another gain this month and is now at a five-year high," said Conference Board Director of Economic Indicators Lynn Franco in a statement today. "Consumers' assessment of current business and labor-market conditions was more positive and they were considerably more upbeat about future economic and job prospects. Back-to-back monthly gains suggest that consumer confidence is on the mend and may be regaining the traction it lost due to the fiscal cliff, payroll-tax hike, and sequester."

The index is comprised of responses from a random sample of consumers and, in this latest report, respondents were more optimistic on (almost) every economic indicator. 18.8% of those surveyed believe business conditions are good, up 1.3 percentage points from April. Likewise, 10.8% believe jobs are plentiful (up from 9.7%) and 19.2% (up from 17.2%) expect business conditions to improve over the next six months.

Top Diversified Bank Companies To Invest In Right Now: Diageo plc(DEO)

Diageo plc engages in producing, distilling, brewing, bottling, packaging, distributing, developing, and marketing spirits, beer, and wine products worldwide. It offers a range of brands, including Johnnie Walker scotch whiskies, Smirnoff vodka and Smirnoff ready to drink products, Baileys Original Irish Cream liqueur, Crown Royal Canadian whisky, Captain Morgan rum and rum based products, Jose Cuervo tequila, JeB scotch whisky, Buchanan?s scotch whisky, Windsor Premier scotch whisky, Ketel One vodka, Ciroc vodka, Tanqueray gin, Bushmills Irish whiskey, and Guinness stout. The company also provides other spirits brands that comprise Gordon?s gin and vodka, Old Parr scotch whisky, Bell?s scotch whisky, The Classic Malts scotch whiskies, Seagram?s 7 Crown whiskey and Seagram?s VO whisky, Cacique rum, White Horse scotch whisky, Don Julio tequila, and Bundaberg rum. In addition, it offers beer under various brands, such as Malta Guinness non-alcoholic malt, Harp lager, Tu sker lager, Smithwick?s ale, Senator lager, and Red Stripe lager; and wine under a range of brands, including Blossom Hill, Sterling Vineyards, Beaulieu Vineyard, Navarro Correas, Acacia Vineyard, Rosenblum Cellars, Piat d?Or, Chalone Vineyard, and Santa Rita. Further, Diageo plc owns the distribution rights for the Jose Cuervo tequila brands in North America and internationally. The company was founded in 1886 and is based in London, the United Kingdom.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Jonathan Yates]

  As detailed before in a previous article on Benzinga, these equities with low betas have been proven to be high reward investment vehicles over time. While some, such as Wal-Mart (NYSE: WMT) and Coca-Cola (NYSE: KO) are well known, Diageo (NYSE: DEO) has also proven itself to be a rewarding holding for long term investors no matter what the market brings.

• [By Tony Reading]

  Diageo
  Diageo� (LSE: DGE  ) (NYSE: DEO  ) is a perfect example. Its shares are trading on a trailing price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio of 27, nearly double the FTSE 100 average P/E. According to my data, which shows the historic year-end P/Es, the shares are as highly rated as they ever have been this century.

Hot Consumer Stocks To Watch Right Now: Dorman Products Inc.(DORM)

Dorman Products, Inc. supplies automotive replacement parts, fasteners, and service line products primarily for the automotive aftermarket. The company offers approximately 128,000 products comprising original equipment dealer parts, which include intake manifolds, exhaust manifolds, oil cooler lines, window regulators, radiator fan assemblies, power steering pulleys, and harmonic balancers; and replacement parts, such as window handles and switches, door hardware, interior trim parts, headlamp aiming screws and retainer rings, radiator parts, battery hold-down bolts and repair kits, valve train parts, and power steering filler caps. It also provides application specific and general automotive hardware, such as body hardware, general automotive fasteners, oil drain plugs, and wheel hardware; a selection of electrical connectors, wires, tools, testers, and accessories; and a line of home hardware and home organization products designed for retail merchandisers. In addition, the company offers a brake and clutch program; remanufactured automotive replacement parts, such as transfer case modules and instrument clusters; and heavy duty aftermarket parts for class 4-8 heavy vehicles, including coolant tubes, door handles and other body parts, fluid reservoirs, headlights and lighting, hood components, window regulators, and wiper transmissions. It sells its products under the OE Solutions, HELP!, AutoGrade, FirstStop, Conduct-Tite!, Pik-A-Nut, and HD Solutions brand names through automotive aftermarket retailers; national, regional, and local warehouse distributors; specialty markets; and salvage yards in the United States, Mexico, Europe, the Middle East, Asia, and Canada. The company, formerly known as R&B, Inc., was founded in 1978 and is headquartered in Colmar, Pennsylvania.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Seth Jayson]

  Calling all cash flows
  When you are trying to buy the market's best stocks, it's worth checking up on your companies' free cash flow once a quarter or so, to see whether it bears any relationship to the net income in the headlines. That's what we do with this series. Today, we're checking in on Dorman Products (Nasdaq: DORM  ) , whose recent revenue and earnings are plotted below.

Hot Consumer Stocks To Watch Right Now: Furniture Brands International Inc. (FBN)

Furniture Brands International, Inc. engages in designing, manufacturing, sourcing, and retailing home furnishings in the United States and internationally. The company offers case goods, such as bedroom, dining room, and living room wood furniture; stationary upholstery products comprising sofas, loveseats, sectionals, and chairs; and motion upholstered furniture, including recliners and sleep sofas. It also provides occasional furniture, such as accent pieces, home entertainment centers, and home office furniture, as well as wood, metal, and glass tables; and decorative accessories and accent pieces. The company�s brand portfolio includes Thomasville, Broyhill, Lane, Drexel Heritage, Henredon, Pearson, Hickory Chair, Lane Venture, Maitland-Smith, La Barge, and Creative Interiors. It markets its products through its Thomasville retail stores, interior designers, multi-line/independent retailers, and mass merchant stores to retailers, including independently owned furnitu re stores, department stores, and chains. The company was formerly known as Interco Inc. and changed its name to Furniture Brands International, Inc. in 1996. Furniture Brands International, Inc. was founded in 1921 and is headquartered in St. Louis, Missouri.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Fox Business]

  Billionaire Investor Sam Zell spoke with FOX Business Network�� (FBN) Maria Bartiromo during Opening Bell with Maria Bartiromo in a wide ranging interview about the Federal Reserve, the stock market and growth sectors in the economy. Regarding the Federal Reserve, Zell said, �� just do not know whether the Fed has the guts to really complete the taper��and that the tapering won�� ��e over by October.��Zell discussed the stock market saying, �� think the stock market is over exuberant��and �� think that the stock market reflects the fact that there's very little other options��for investors. When asked about international investments Zell said, ��e have invested very little in Europe��and that ��exico is one of the places that we're very excited about.��Zell also commented on the commercial real estate market saying, the hot markets are ��an Francisco, New York and Seattle. Those three markets have pricing that's very different from the rest of the country.��/p>

Hot Consumer Stocks To Watch Right Now: California Grapes International Inc (CAGR)

California Grapes International, Inc., formerly China Food Services, Corp., incorporated in 1992, conducts its primary business operations as an importer, exporter and distributor of staple, organic, specialty, and gourmet foods and beverages, catering to the Asian Pacific Rim. The Company owns and operates Golden Dragon Food & Beverage Import & Export Company of Hong Kong, Ltd. (GDHK) in central Hong Kong and Beijing Flying Golden Dragon International Trading Co., Ltd. in China (BFGD). Golden Dragon Holdings, Inc. has agreements with the United State food manufacturers. It acts as a buying agent for GDHK, negotiating vendor contracts and services with the United States food and beverage industry partners.

The Company focuses to offer wholesale food distribution to grocery chains and independent food stores throughout China. The Company focuses on purchasing goods directly from manufactures in the United States, Latin America and Europe, and distributes these products to distributors, grocery stores, supermarkets and hypermarkets throughout China.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By John Emerson]

  Open any Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.A)(BRK.B) annual letter and the first thing you see will be a listing of the yearly gains in the book value per share of BRK.A from 1965 to the present year. At the bottom of the year-by-year synopsis lies the compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of those gains in equity. Later in the article I will show the mathematical formula for calculating those compound gains.

• [By Damian Illia]

  Expanding its channels, improving sales force effectiveness and strengthening its strategic marketing are strategies being considered to grow in actual markets. With respect to new markets or the ones that are not penetrated so much, ADT plans to invest in growth platforms, with focus on market for small businesses and penetration of residential markets. The company麓s estimations about those markets indicate that was about $13 billion in 2012, and had grown at a compound annual rate (CAGR) of about 1% to 2% over the past five years.

• [By David Kerr]

  451 Research released a study that contained several key facts concerning cloud computing growth. According to them, 69% of enterprises who have separate budgets for cloud computing are predicting to spend more this year, and in 2014, for this service. They also projected that the worldwide cloud computing market will grow at a 36% compound annual growth rate (CAGR) through 2016. This would make the market reach $19.5 billion by 2016.

• [By Sam Stovall]

  1) He could have owned the S&P 500 all year long from April 30, 1990 through October 25, 2013. He would have earned a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 8.0%, excluding dividends reinvested.

Hot Consumer Stocks To Watch Right Now: SodaStream International Ltd.(SODA)

SodaStream International Ltd. engages in the development, manufacture, and marketing of home beverage carbonation systems and related products. Its home beverage carbonation systems enable consumers to transform ordinary tap water into carbonated soft drinks and sparkling water. The company offers a range of soda makers; exchangeable carbon-dioxide (CO2) cylinders; beverage-grade CO2 refills; reusable carbonation bottles; and various flavors comprising fruit, carbonated soft drink, and enhanced flavors to add to the carbonated water. It also sells additional accessories for its products, including bottle cleaning materials and ice cube trays manufactured by third parties. The company sells its products under the SodaStream and Soda-Club brand names through approximately 50,000 retail stores in 42 countries, as well as through the Internet; and distributes its products directly in 12 countries and indirectly through local distributors in other markets. It operates in Europe , North and Central America, Israel, South Africa, Australia, New Zealand, and east Asia. The company was formerly known as Soda-Club Holdings Ltd. and changed its name to SodaStream International Ltd. in March 2010. SodaStream International Ltd. is headquartered in Airport City, Israel.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Steve Symington]

  Shares of SodaStream (NASDAQ: SODA  ) popped more than 13% during intraday trading Tuesday after the company's investor day spurred upgrades from a number of analysts.

• [By Rick Munarriz]

  3. Get busy with the fizzy
  Is SodaStream (NASDAQ: SODA  ) really up for sale?

  The New York Post is reporting that SodaStream has been quietly trying to sell itself for at least three weeks, but sources say that any interest in acquiring the company behind the system that turns flat water into carbonated soda is starting to fizzle out.

• [By Rick Munarriz]

  Really? Just wait until SodaStream (NASDAQ: SODA  ) hears about this.

  SodaStream has made it a sport of calling out Coca-Cola in the past for the anti-environmental nature of canned and bottled pop. One of SodaStream's selling points is that the beverage system that turns still water into carbonated soda can save 2,000 cans and bottles of soda a year for a typical household. It's at the very heart of the SodaStream television commercials, with soda bottles bursting, that have been airing since late last year.

• [By Rick Munarriz]

  Starbucks (NASDAQ: SBUX  ) is starting to get busy with the fizzy, and that should be just fine for SodaStream (NASDAQ: SODA  ) investors.

Hot Consumer Stocks To Watch Right Now: Fresh Del Monte Produce Inc.(FDP)

Fresh Del Monte Produce Inc., through its subsidiaries, produces, transports, sources, markets, and distributes fresh and fresh-cut fruit and vegetables worldwide. It also offers prepared fruit and vegetables, juices, beverages, snacks, and poultry and meat products. The company provides various fresh-cut fruit products, such as bananas, pineapples, melons, tomatoes, grapes, apples, pears, peaches, plums, nectarines, cherries, citrus, avocados, blueberries, kiwi, strawberries, plantains, mangos, and fruit cocktail; and fresh-cut vegetable products primarily consisting of potatoes, onions, bell peppers, and cucumbers, as well as prepared salads, such as coleslaw and potato salad. In addition, Fresh Del Monte Produce engages in ocean freight; and manufacture of plastics and box products comprising bins, trays, bags, and boxes. It offers fresh produce under the DEL MONTE, UTC, and Rosy brands; and prepared fruits and vegetables, juices, beverages, and snacks under the DEL MON TE, Fruit Express, Just Juice, and Fruitini brands. The company markets and distributes its products to retail stores, food clubs, wholesalers, distributors, and foodservice operators. Fresh Del Monte Produce Inc. was founded in 1886 and is based in George Town, Cayman Islands.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Jake L'Ecuyer]

  Top decliners in the sector included Fresh Del Monte Produce (NYSE: FDP), off 8.8%, and Coca-Cola Company (NYSE: KO), down 3.5%. Shares of Fresh Del Monte tumbled after the company reported weak quarterly earnings.

Hot Consumer Stocks To Watch Right Now: Tata Motors Ltd(TTM)

Tata Motors Limited, an automobile company, engages in the manufacture and sale of commercial and passenger vehicles primarily in India. The company offers cars, utility vehicles, trucks, buses and coaches, and defense vehicles, as well as develops electric and hybrid vehicles for personal and public transportation. It also involves in distributing and marketing cars; and financing the vehicles sold by the company. In addition, the company engages in the provision of engineering and automotive solutions, as well as machine tools and factory automation solutions; construction equipment manufacturing; automotive vehicle components manufacturing and supply chain activities; tooling and plastic and electronic components for automotive and computer applications; and automotive retailing and service operations. It offers its products and services through its dealership, sales, services, and spare parts network. The company also markets its commercial and passenger vehicles in Eu rope, Africa, the Middle East, South East Asia, South Asia, and South America. The company was formerly known as Tata Engineering and Locomotive Company Limited and changed its name to Tata Motors Limited in July 2003. Tata Motors Limited was founded in 1945 and is based in Mumbai, India.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By CFA Institute Contributors]

  Tata Motors (TTM)

  Damodaran doesn't use standard regression betas. Instead, he uses an average of all the betas in a given industry. In this case, the law of large numbers is on the analyst's side. The standard error in a regression beta is typically too large to make any individual beta meaningful. In the case of Tata Motors, using an average of 111 publicly traded companies in the auto industry reduces the standard error of the beta by 90%, he said.

• [By Justin Loiseau]

  2. Gimme those car keys
  Sniff ... they grow up so fast. Before we know it, little Georgie's going to be ready to sit his royal tuckus in the driver seat. Tata Motors (NYSE: TTM  ) offers a flashback to the days of British colonialism, although this time it's India with the ownership. Although the South Asian automaker is most famous for its Tata Nano, the world's cheapest car, Prince George would probably have his eyes set on Tata's Jaguar Land Rover subsidiary.