Pablo Martinez Monsivais/APFederal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen NEW YORK -- A majority of economists believe the Federal Reserve is doing the right things to help repair the U.S. economy, according to a survey released Monday by the National Association of Business Economists. The survey also showed that a vast majority of economists believe the U.S. economy is at little risk of inflation in the coming years. In the association's semiannual survey, 53 percent of economists said the Fed's stimulus programs were "on the right track" for the U.S. economy while 39 percent thought the Fed was doing too much. The Federal Reserve has been winding down a bond-buying economic stimulus program since December. Many investors and economists expect the central bank to start raising interest rates in 2015. It would be the first time the Fed raised interest rates since 2008. In the survey, three-quarters of the economists said they believe the Fed's first interest rate increase will come in 2015. More economists approve of Congress' and the White House's handling of the U.S. economy as well, according to the survey. Forty-two percent of NABE economists believe U.S. fiscal policy is "about right," while 34 percent believe U.S. fiscal policy is "too restrictive." A year ago, 31 percent of NABE economists believed U.S. fiscal policy was "about right." When asked what would be the best long-term way to tackle the nation's growing national debt, 34 percent of NABE economists surveyed believe policymakers should use a combination of budget cuts and tax increases to balance the budget. Only 7 percent of economists believe that the U.S. should raise taxes to deal with the budget deficit, while 25 percent believe the U.S. should only use budget cuts to deal with the deficit. NABE interviewed 257 economists between July 22 and Aug. 4.
ACI Worldwide, Inc.(ACI), incorporated on November 2, 1993, develops, markets, installs and supports a line of software products and services primarily focused on facilitating electronic payments. In addition to its own products, it distributes, or acts as a sales agent for software developed by third parties. These products and services are used principally by financial institutions, retailers and electronic payment processors, both in domestic and international markets. Its products are sold and supported through distribution networks covering three geographic regions the Americas, Europe/Middle East/Africa (EMEA) and Asia/Pacific. Each distribution network has its own sales force that it supplements with independent reseller and/or distributor networks. Its products are marketed under the ACI Worldwide and ACI Payment Systems brands. In March 2013, it completed the acquisition of Online Resources Corp. In November 2013, the Company announced that it has completed the acquisition of Official Payments Holdings, Inc, a provider of electronic bill payment solutions.
The Company�� software products and hosted services deliver a broad range of solutions for payments processing, card and merchant management, online banking, mobile, branch and voice banking, fraud detection and trade finance. Trusted by more than 1,650 organizations globally, ACI serves three primary market audiences: Financial institutions, including national, regional and global banks, community banks and credit unions , Processors and Retailers. Its products cover several different domains within the payments and banking marketplace, which includes Online Banking and Cash Management ,includes the payments and cash flows across accounts globally through the online or mobile channel , Branch , includes the management and processing of monetary, non monetary, sales and account origination financial transactions, Trade Finance, includes the management of all trade related transaction types, both traditional trade and open acc! ount instruments with the ability for end users to view and track those transactions through the online channel, Community Financial Services, includes the online and mobile banking and payment systems, and security solutions that service community banks and credit unions , Retail Banking Payments provides the software to support in house issuance of payment instruments and the management of a consumer payment from transaction acquiring all through the lifecycle within the banking system to settlement; which it split into Payments Processing, and Card and Merchant Management , Wholesale Banking Payments , includes the management of primarily corporate payments and messages through their lifecycle including RTGS payments, ACH payments, and SWIFT transactions , Merchant Retail , includes the management of a consumer payment within a merchant retailer and supporting services such as the management of store and gift card and loyalty programs , Payment Fraud Management, includes securing of payments against fraud and money laundering and Payment Infrastructure, includes the tools and infrastructure to operate and optimize the payments system .
Online Banking and Cash Management, Branch and Trade Finance
Online Banking and Cash Management, Branch & Trade domain offers ACI Enterprise Banker is a comprehensive Internet-based business banking product for financial institutions including banks, brokerage firms and credit unions and can be flexibly packaged for small, medium and business customers. This product provides these customers with electronic payment initiation capability, information reporting, and numerous other payment related services that allow the business customer to manage all its banking needs via the Internet. ACI Global Banker provides single-window access to corporate cash management, trade finance, FXservices, reporting and data exchange. Global Banker supports single-window, Single Sign-On access to a bank�� corporate Internet banking platform. ACI Universal Onl! ine Banke! r is a comprehensive Internet-based banking product for financial institutions including banks, brokerage firms and credit unions and can be flexibly packaged for small, medium and business customers as well as individual consumers. This product provides these customers with electronic payment initiation capability, information reporting, and numerous other cash management services that allow the business customer to manage all its banking needs via the Internet as well as mobile channels.
InterACT Universal Banker is a multi-channel product suite which supports the processing of monetary, non-monetary, sales and account origination transactions across multiple channels including branch, call center and back office, as well as delivering extended branch support for browser based employees , such as relationship managers or calling officers. track their entire trade portfolio of traditional trade and open account instrument over the Internet. This product is also utilized in the wholesale domain. ACI Mobile Channel Manager allows organizations to provide consumers, business and corporate customers with mobile access to functions across the banking and payments spectrum. When used with ACI banking products and payment engines, Mobile Channel Manager enables mobile functions which might include account management, balance inquiries, transfers, bill payments, person-to-person (P2P) payments (including PayPal), pre-paid purchases, remote deposit capture, ATM/branch locator, SMS notifications. This solution is also utilized in the retail domain.
Community Financial Services
Online and Mobile Banking solutions for Community Banks and Credit Unions offers a full-featured self-service banking solution including online banking, voice banking and mobile banking for consumer and small-to-mid-size businesses, all from a single hosted platform. The WebFederal suite provides credit unions with online banking, business solutions, mobile banking, CRM Marketing, and Creative and ! Web Desig! n services. ACI Defense is a full-service security solutions for community banks and credit unions. The ACI Defense suite of solutions helps U.S. financial institutions address security compliance obligations with firewall and intrusion prevention services, security assessments, vulnerability testing, endpoint and mobile protection, email security and encryption and identity theft/anti-phishing services. Online Bill Payment and Presentment provides full-service bill payment solutions for community banks and credit unions, including pay-anyone functionality, online bill presentment, P2P and A2A payments and express pay services.
Retail Banking Payments Payments Processing
The Company's retail payments processing products are designed to acquire electronic payment transactions from transaction generators and route them to acquiring institutions so that they can be authorized for payment. The software often interfaces with regional or national switches to access the account-holding financial institution or card issuer for approval or denial of the transactions (authorization). The software returns messages to the original transaction generator (e.g. an ATM), thereby completing the transactions. Depending on how the software is configured, it can perform all of the functions necessary to authenticate, authorize, route and settle an electronic payment transaction, or it can interact with other systems to ensure that these functions are performed. Payments processing software may be required to interact with dozens of devices, switch interchanges and communication protocols around the world.
BASE24-eps is an integrated electronic payments processing product marketed to customers operating electronic payment networks in the retail banking and retail industries. The modular, open architecture of the product enables customers to select the application and system components that are required to operate their networks. BASE24-eps offers a broad range of features and function! s for ele! ctronic payment processing. BASE24-eps is licensed as a standalone electronic payments solution for financial institutions, retailers and electronic payment processors. BASE24-eps, which operates on International Business Machines��(IBM) System z, IBM System p, Hewlett-Packard Company (HP) NonStop, and Oracle Solaris servers, provides flexible integration points to other applications and data within enterprises to support 24-hour per day access to money, services and information. On the HP NonStop platform, BASE24-eps uses NET24-XPNET, an ACI developed message oriented middleware solution. ACI continues to support and maintain a number of other retail payments engines which are no longer actively marketed to new customers.
BASE24 is an integrated family of software products previously marketed to customers operating electronic payment networks in the retail banking and retail industries. A substantial portion of ACI�� revenues are derived from licensing the BASE24 family of products and providing related services and maintenance as it has been the core of the ACI business since the Company�� inception. The BASE24 product line operates exclusively on HP NonStop servers. The HP NonStop parallel-processing environment offers fault-tolerance, linear expandability and distributed processing capabilities. The combination of features offered by BASE24 and the HP NonStop technology are important characteristics in high volume, 24-hour per day electronic payment systems. BASE24 makes use of NET24-XPNET, an ACI developed message oriented middleware solution.
Postilion is an integrated electronic payments processing system. It authenticates, authorizes, routes and switches transactions generated at ATMs and merchant POS sites as well as provides flexible infrastructure to handle key aspects of the back office functions. The product is used widely across the world, with a particular emphasis in Africa. This product is also used in the merchant retail domain.
Retail Ban! king Paym! ents Card and Merchant Management
ACI Card and Merchant Management solutions are card issuing and merchant management products, which have been successfully used by the payments industry for many years. These products run on IBM System z, and various Unix and Microsoft Windows servers. ACI Issuer is a modern card and account management system. It has been developed to support national, international, and global financial institutions. The system has full multi-currency, multi-product, multi-institution and multi-language capabilities. It manages card portfolios in different countries and for different issuers on a single platform and has been built to fully comply with EMV standards. ACI Acquirer supports the full lifecycle of merchant portfolio management, including merchant onboarding, transaction acquisition, interchange fee qualification, settlement and statement generation. The system is enabled with the flexibility acquirers require to manage complex merchant portfolios.
ACI Interchange is the central monetary transaction manager, processing all incoming customer transactions and maintaining a central transactions database. ACI Interchange also manages the clearing and settlement communication with the international payment schemes, ensuring compliance with Visa, MasterCard, American Express, China Union Pay and JCB. The module can easily be adapted to manage clearing and settlement with additional networks such as domestic payment schemes. ACI Token Manager consists of a suite of products from ACI�� partner Bell Identification B.V. The Smart Card & Application Management System provides for central lifecycle management of smart cards and other tokens as well as the management of the applications activated within the scheme. The Key Management System facilitates the implementation of security concepts based on the generation, storage, recovery, import and distribution of cryptographic keys. The keys are used for encryption and decryption of data and for verific! ation and! authorization of trusted parties using digital certificates. ACI Token Manager for Mobile enables the delivery of payment tokens, such as wallets, to mobile phones.
ACI Payments Manager is an integrated, modular software solution that automates the processing, settlement and reconciliation of electronic transactions, as well as provides plastic card issuance and account management. This product is primarily marketed in North America. ACI Automated Dispute Manager enables issuers, acquirers, processors and payment networks to streamline and automate the dispute management process through workflow-based software components.
Wholesale Banking Payments
The Company�� wholesale banking solutions are focused on global, super-regional and regional financial institutions that provide treasury management services to corporations and correspondent banks. In addition, the market includes non-bank financial institutions with the need to conduct their own internal treasury management activities. ACI Money Transfer System provides high value payments processing, bulk payments processing and SWIFT financial messaging. The high value payments processing function, which produces the majority of revenues for the ACI Money Transfer System, is used to generate, authorize, enrich, route and settle high value wire transfer transactions in domestic and international environments. The ACI Money Transfer System product operates on IBM System p servers using the AIX operating system.
Merchant Retail
ACI Retail Commerce Server is a solution for retailers, is an integrated suite of electronic payments products that facilitate a broad range of capabilities. These capabilities include prepaid, debit and credit card processing, ACH processing, electronic benefits transfer, card issuance and management, check authorization, customer loyalty programs and returned check collection. The Retail Commerce Server product line operates on open systems technologies such as! Microsof! t Windows, UNIX and Linux, with the current installations deployed on the Microsoft Windows platform. ACI In-store Solution supports retailers and drives the retailer�� payment portion of the customer�� in-store purchase experience. The In-store solution prompts the consumer and gathers the necessary card payment details to process the payment request. Importantly, the solution helps retailers control the costs and risk of key regulatory issues such as PCI compliance and data theft at the point of sale.
Payment Fraud Management
ACI Proactive Risk Management is a payment fraud detection system designed to help card issuers, merchants, merchant acquirers and financial institutions combat fraud schemes. The system combines the pattern recognition capability of neural-network transaction scoring with custom risk models of rules-based strategies and advanced client/server account management software. The real time capability enables fraud assessment to be part of the authorization process preventing fraud from occurring. Proactive Risk Management operates on IBM System z, HP NonStop, Oracle Solaris and Microsoft Windows servers. This product offers customers the flexibility to automate activities and processes across the complete lifecycle of a case related to fraud. Cases are created when fraud officers checking an alert within Proactive Risk Manager identify fraud or money laundering. The solution is a basic framework that defines processes for researching and resolving cases, including investigation resources, timeframes, escalation paths and alerts.
Payments Infrastructure
The Payments Infrastructure products provide specific technology extensions to augment the business services provided in the business service domains. ACI Communication Services provides a range of communication services to enable message exchange on multiple platforms in particular enabling applications to support legacy protocols, such as SNA and X.25, running over TCP/IP net! works. It! also supports hybrid networking environments such as IBM�� HPR/IP. This set of products runs on HP NonStop, IBM System z and Unix platforms. ACI Enterprise Security Services is a suite of security solutions that secure access to systems and resources. These products run on the HP NonStop platform and are designed to take advantage of HP NonStop fundamentals.
ACI Web Access Services allows HP NonStop users to securely expose existing applications to peer systems as well as PC clients and Web browsers. Web Access Services supports new GUI client development, standard 6530 and 3270E terminal emulation or automated data stream transformation to give users a range of options for integrating NonStop services across the enterprise. ACI Payment Testing (ASSET) is a simulation and testing tool that allows companies involved in electronic payments to simulate devices and transactions, and perform application testing. ASSET is available for use with BASE24, BASE24-eps, Postilion, and ACI Proactive Risk Manager.
Prognosis is available for use with BASE24, BASE24-eps, Postilion, ACI Proactive Risk Manager, and ACI Money Transfer System. ACI Mobile Alerting powered by Spectrum MoneyGuard offers fraud or service alert options in near real-time with SMS messages to their mobile phones of events affecting their banking transactions. When used for fraud alerting, customers have the option of responding via text (two-way communication) and requesting a block of the card and a confirmation is sent.
Services
It offers its customers a wide range of professional services, including analysis, design, development, implementation, integration and training. It has service professionals within each of its three geographic regions who generally perform the majority of the work associated with installing and integrating its software products, rather than relying on third-party systems integrators. It utilizes a standard methodology to deliver customer project implementations ! across al! l products lines. Within the process, it provides customers with a variety of services, including on-site solution scoping reviews, project planning, training, site preparation, installation, product configuration, product customization, testing and go-live support, and project management throughout the project lifecycle. Product-support-funded services are available to customers after a solution has been installed and are based on the relevant product support category. A team of support analysts and an appointed customer manager are available to assist customers. Technical services are provided to customers who have licensed one or more of its software products. Services offered include programming and programming support, day-to-day systems operations, network operations, help desk staffing, problem resolution, system design, and performance planning and review. Technical services are typically priced according to the level of technical expertise required. ACI�� education courses provide students with knowledge at all levels, to enhance and improve their understanding of ACI products. ACI also provides further, more in-depth technical courses that allow students to use practical labs to enhance what they have learned in the classroom. The ACI trainers��ability to understand customers��systems means ACI can also provide tailored course materials for individual customers.
ACI�� testing services team works within the ACI customer base to establish testing practices and build a standard testing environment that meets an organization�� current needs, and is easily extensible for future requirements. It is important that any testing environment encompasses all aspects of the testing lifecycle (i.e., functional, acceptance, regression and stress testing), as well as allowing ease of use by the appropriate staff. ACI�� testing services can provide this environment as either a stand-alone deliverable or as a fully managed service.
ACI is committed to providing cons! ulting se! rvices to its customer base. In order to do this, it has assembled a team of technicians with many decades of experience, not only with ACI solutions, but also in the payments industry in general. Trusted globally, these consultants are available to provide technical assistance to ACI�� customers across the full range of the ACI portfolio. The consultants��knowledge and understanding of ACI�� customers allow them to define, design and build appropriate technical solutions. This in turn provides an enhanced business offering to customers, ultimately enabling a greater competitive advantage and increased satisfaction. It offers facilities management services whereby it operates a customer�� electronic payments system for multi-year periods. Pricing and payment terms for facilities management services vary on a case-by-case basis giving consideration to the complexity of the facility or system to be managed, the level and quantity of technical services required, and other factors relevant to the facilities management agreement.
The Company competes with Clear2Pay NV/SA (Clear2Pay), Intuit Corporation, Bottomline Technologies, ARGO, FIS, Fundtech Ltd, First Data Corporation, Fidelity National Information Services, Inc, Fiserv, Inc., China Systems, CSI, Misys, CGI, Clear2Pay, Computer Sciences Corporation, Fidelity National Information Services, Inc., Pegasystems Inc., OpenWay Group, Total System Services, Inc. (TSYS), Alaric Technology Inc., BPC Banking Technologies, PayEx Solutions AS, Financial Software and Systems, CR2, Lusis Payments Ltd., Opus Software Solutions Private Limited, Atos Origin S.A., Fidelity National Information Services, Inc., First Data Corporation, SiNSYS, TSYS, VISA, MasterCard, Dovetail Software, IBM, Logica Plc, Tieto Corporation, AJB Software Design, Inc., Retalix, Heartland Payment Systems, Inc., Servebase Computers Ltd, Tender Retail Inc., VeriFone Systems, Inc, Actimize, Inc., Fair Isaac Corporation, BAE Systems Detica, ReD, Memento Inc., Norkom Techn! ologies, ! and SAS Institute, Inc., CA Technologies, HP and Oracle USA, Inc.
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 ACI Worldwide (Nasdaq: ACIW ) , whose recent revenue and earnings are plotted below.
- [By Roberto Pedone]
ACI Worldwide (ACIW) develops, markets, installs and supports a line of software products and services primarily focused on facilitating electronic payments. This stock closed up 5.6% at $51.50 in Monday's trading session.
Monday's Volume: 922,000
Three-Month Average Volume: 252,148
Volume % Change: 241%
From a technical perspective, ACIW jumped higher here and broke out above some near-term overhead resistance at $49.941 with heavy upside volume. This move is coming after shares of ACIW recently dipped from $49.91 to $46 with heavy downside volume. Shares of ACIW are now trending within range of triggering a major breakout trade. That trade will hit if ACIW manages to take out its 52-week and Monday's intraday high of $51.88 with high volume.
Traders should now look for long-biased trades in ACIW as long as it's trending above that first breakout level of $49.91 or above more near-term support at $48 and then once it sustains a move or close above $51.88 with volume that's near or above 252,148 shares. If that breakout hits soon, then ACIW will set up to enter new 52-week-high territory, which is bullish technical price action. Some possible upside targets off that breakout are $55 to $60.
- [By Lauren Pollock]
Electronic payments company ACI Worldwide Inc.(ACIW) trimmed its full-year guidance, citing its inability to finalize several contracts that were expected to close in the fourth quarter.
- [By CRWE]
ACI Worldwide (Nasdaq:ACIW), a leading international provider of payment systems, released details of its product roadmaps to the market, and described how the combination of ACI and S1 adds innovation, new product capabilities and resources around the globe to support the needs of its customers.
Top 10 Companies To Buy Right Now: Penford Corporation(PENX)
Penford Corporation engages in the development, manufacture, and marketing of specialty natural-based ingredient systems for food and industrial ingredient applications primarily in the United States. It develops and manufactures ingredients with starch as a base. The starch products are manufactured primarily from corn and potatoes, and are used as binders and coatings in paper and food production, as well as an ingredient in fuel. The company?s Industrial Ingredients segment provides specialty starches to the paper and packaging industries in ethylated, oxidized, and cationic forms. Its ethylated and oxidized starches are used in coatings and as binders, providing printability to fine white, magazine, and catalog paper; and cationic and other liquid starches are used in the paper forming process in paper production, providing the bonding of paper fibers and other ingredients. This segment also produces and sells fuel grade ethanol. The company?s Food Ingredients segmen t offers specialty starches and dextrins to the food manufacturing and food service industries. Its specialty starches are used in coatings for various products, such as French fries sold in restaurants, as well as used as moisture binders in a range of foods, including canned products, sauces, whole and processed meats, dry powdered mixes, and other food and bakery products. Penford Corporation sells its products through a direct sales force, as well as through distributor agreements to manufacturers and processors. The company was founded in 1894 and is headquartered in Centennial, Colorado.
Advisors' Opinion: - [By WWW.DAILYFINANCE.COM]
Murray Close, Warner Bros./AP From a major banking institution kicking off the new earnings season to the most-anticipated theme park debut of the year staging its grand opening, here are some things that will help shape the week that lies ahead on Wall Street. Monday -- Food for Thought The market's going to get off to a slow start on the news front. That's not a surprise given that it was closed Friday for Independence Day. One company that will be in the news on Monday is food and industrial products maker Penford (PENX). Penford's wide range of products include food ingredients, pet and animal products, sustainable bioproducts, starches for paper and packaging products and biofuels. Analysts see Penford earning 21 cents a share, but keep in mind that it has come up short against Wall Street expectations in each of the three previous quarters. Tuesday -- Harry Potter Central Florida will be a bit busier than usual on Tuesday when Comcast's (CMCSK) Universal Orlando has its grand opening of the new Diagon Alley expansion to The Wizarding World of Harry Potter. It's been a rough start. July 8 wasn't the opening date that the park originally wanted, judging by the fact that it had "The Tonight Show" and "Today" run weeklong tie-ins a few weeks ago. Conveniently for Comcast, it owns both the Universal theme parks and NBC. However, with the expansion's indoor coaster proving unreliable -- and even Universal pass holders being denied early access to attractions outside of the new Hogwarts Express train ride -- it could be an interesting debut. The crowds should be huge, the expectations lofty. Wednesday -- Mopping Up WD-40 (WDFC) reports on Wednesday afternoon. This is the company behind the multi-use lubricant. It also offers industrial cleaners, toilet sanitizers and other compounds. WD-40 didn't work out for its shareholders last time out. It posted better than expected 9 percent growth in revenue, but earnings fell just short of expectations. WD-4
Top 10 Companies To Buy Right Now: PacWest Bancorp(PACW)
PacWest Bancorp operates as the bank holding company for Pacific Western Bank that provides commercial banking products and services to small to medium size businesses, the owners and employees of those businesses, and households primarily in Southern California. It accepts time, money market, and demand deposits; originates loans, including commercial, real estate construction, SBA guaranteed, and consumer loans; and provides other business-oriented products. The company also provides asset-based lending and factoring of accounts receivable to small businesses located in Arizona, California, and the Pacific Northwest. In addition, it offers international banking, multi-state deposit, and investment services; telephone and online banking services; and foreign exchange services, as well as issues automated teller machine and debit cards. Further, the company, through its subsidiary, BFI Business Finance, and its division First Community Financial, provides working capital f inancing to growing companies primarily located in the states of Arizona, California, and Texas. As of July 18, 2011, it operated through 77 full-service community banking branches in Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, Santa Barbara, San Diego, San Francisco, San Luis Obispo, San Mateo, and Ventura Counties in California; and Maricopa County in Arizona. The company was formerly known as First Community Bancorp and changed its name to PacWest Bancorp in April 2008. PacWest Bancorp was founded in 1999 and is based in Los Angeles, California.
Advisors' Opinion: - [By Brian Pacampara]
What: Shares of CapitalSource (NYSE: CSE ) soared 20% today after bank holding company PacWest Bancorp (NASDAQ: PACW ) agreed to acquire the financial services specialist in a deal valued at about $2.3 billion.
- [By Paul Ausick]
PacWest Bancorp (NASDAQ: PACW) is a small cap regional bank that mainly serves southern California. A likely merger with CapitalSource Inc. (NYSE: CSE) enhances the outlook for the coming year, bringing the bank�� assets to more than $10 billion. The bank�� stock closed at $41.66 on Friday in a 52-week range of $24.27 to $42.69. Sterne Agee projects 2014 EPS of $2.80, up 43% compared with estimated 2013 earnings. The implied gain to the target price of $48.00 is about 15% and the forward P/E ratio is 14.9.
- [By Jon C. Ogg]
The recently announced PacWest Bancorp (NASDAQ: PACW) and CapitalSource Inc. (NYSE: CSE) merger was called a beacon in an otherwise dim bank M&A landscape so far in 2013 as it was only a $2.3 billion deal total. So far, 2013 looks to register lower in banking M&A activity than the lean years of 2011 and 2012 at only about $9.1 billion in total so far, versus almost $17 billion for each of the past two years. There are only 13 pending transactions that exceed $100 million, and two of these are expected to close imminently.
- [By David Hanson and Matt Koppenheffer]
In this segment of The Motley Fool's everything-financials show,�Where the Money Is, banking analysts Matt Koppenheffer and David Hanson discuss the recent announcement of PacWest Bancorp's (NASDAQ: PACW ) intention to buy CapitalSource (NYSE: CSE ) .
Top 10 Companies To Buy Right Now: Dollar General Corporation(DG)
Dollar General Corporation operates as a discount retailer of general merchandise in the southern, southwestern, midwestern, and eastern United States. The company offers consumables, including paper towels, bath tissue, paper dinnerware, trash and storage bags, laundry, and other home cleaning supplies; packaged food and perishables; beverages and snacks, such as candies, cookies, crackers, salty snacks, and carbonated beverages; over-the-counter medicines and personal care products; and pet supplies and pet food products. It also provides seasonal products consisting of decorations, toys, batteries, small electronics, greeting cards, stationery, prepaid cell phones and accessories, gardening supplies, hardware, and automotive and home office supplies; home products comprising kitchen supplies, cookware, small appliances, light bulbs, storage containers, frames, candles, craft supplies, and bed and bath soft goods; and apparel products, such as casual everyday apparel for infants, toddlers, girls, boys, women and men, as well as offers socks, underwear, disposable diapers, shoes, and accessories. In addition, the company holds a license to Bobbie Brooks clothing, as well as the Fisher Price brand for various items of children's clothing. As of May 25, 2011, it operates approximately 9,500 stores in 35 states. The company was formerly known as J.L. Turner & Son, Inc. and changed its name to Dollar General Corporation in 1968. Dollar General Corporation was founded in 1939 and is based in Goodlettsville, Tennessee.
Advisors' Opinion: - [By MONEYMORNING.COM]
Retail Stocks to Watch No. 4: Family Dollar Stores Inc. (Nasdaq: FDO)
One-year retail sales growth: 11.4%
Total 2013 U.S. sales: $10.4 billion
The poor economy has been good to Family Dollar, which has gained customers seeking the lowest possible prices. To accommodate such demand, FDO added 1,000 new items, many of them groceries. It also added 506 new stores to bring its total to 7,916. Although it has agreed to sell itself to Dollar Tree Inc. (Nasdaq: DLTR) for $8.5 billion, Dollar General Corp. (NYSE: DG) keeps making new offers. FDO is up 36.8% over the past three months as a result. FDO closed at $80.22.
- [By Garrett Cook]
Dollar General (NYSE: DG) was down, falling 4.44 percent to $58.94 after the company’s CEO Rick Dreiling announced his plans to retire.
Commodities
Top 10 Companies To Buy Right Now: Bk Of Nova Scotia Com Npv (BNS.TO)
The Bank of Nova Scotia provides various personal, commercial, corporate, and investment banking services in Canada and internationally. It operates in four segments: Canadian Banking, International Banking, Global Wealth & Insurance, and Global Banking & Markets. The Canadian Banking segment provides retail and small business banking products and services, including deposit accounts, investments, mortgages, loans, debit cards, credit cards, and related creditor insurance products to individuals and small businesses; and commercial banking solutions comprising deposit, lending, and cash management solutions to medium and large businesses. This segment offers its products through a network of 1,038 branches and 3,800 automated banking machines, and specialized sales teams, as well as through Internet, mobile, and telephone banking in Canada. The International Banking segment provides retail and commercial banking services to customers located in the Caribbean, Latin America , Central America, and Asia through a network of approximately 3,000 branches and offices, 7,500 automated banking machines, in-store banking kiosks, and specialized sales forces, as well as through mobile, Internet, and telephone banking. The Global Wealth & Insurance segment provides wealth management services, comprising asset management and client-facing services; and insurance products and services, such as creditor, life and health, home, and auto and travel insurance products. The Global Banking & Markets segment offers corporate lending, equity and debt underwriting, and mergers and acquisitions advisory services, as well as fixed income, derivatives, prime brokerage, securitization, foreign exchange, equity sales, trading and research, energy and agricultural commodities, and precious and base metals to corporate, government, and institutional investor clients. The Bank of Nova Scotia was founded in 1832 and is based in Toronto, Canada.
Advisors' Opinion: - [By Roadmap2Retire]
Monthly Contributions: I add to my positions in the following stock and funds on a monthly basis:
Claymore S&P US Dividend Growers ETF (CUD.TO) is an ETF of 83 dividend growers and provides me with exposure to excellent corporations across all sectors. The ETF has a 1.8% yield and pays distributions monthly. iShares Canadian Financial Monthly Income Fund (FIE.A.TO) is an ETF of 24 Canadian financial equities (70%) and bonds (30%). The fund yields 6.5% and pays distributions monthly. Scotia Canadian Balanced Fund (mutual fund) is an index fund tracking the Canadian S&P/TSX Composite Index and the DEX Universe Bond Index. The fund yields 0.52% and pays distributions quarterly. The Bank of Nova Scotia (BNS.TO) is the third largest of the Canadian banks by deposits and market cap. BNS is also the most international of the Canadian banks with exposure in 55 countries outside Canada. BNS saw a pause in its dividend growth during the financial crisis. However, BNS has started raising dividends after the crisis with a 5-yr DGR of 5.15%. I have a DRIP plan in BNS and invest monthly to this holding. My Watchlist I am also considering various stocks that are not currently in my portfolio, but the current high valuations do not provide many options.
Top 10 Companies To Buy Right Now: Park Electrochemical Corporation(PKE)
Park Electrochemical Corp., an advanced materials company, engages in the development, manufacture, marketing, and sale of high-technology digital and radio frequency/microwave printed circuit materials products principally for the telecommunications, Internet infrastructure, and high-end computing markets. It also provides advanced composite materials, parts, and assemblies for the aerospace markets; and involves in the design and manufacture of composite aircraft and space vehicle parts. The company?s printed circuit materials are used to fabricate complex multilayer printed circuit boards and other electronic interconnect systems, including back-planes, wireless packages, high speed/low-loss multilayers, and high density interconnects. It operates in North America, Europe, and Asia. The company was founded in 1954 and is headquartered in Melville, New York.
Advisors' Opinion: - [By James E. Brumley]
You can put American Assets Trust, Inc. (NYSE:AAT) and Park Electrochemical Corp. (NYSE:PKE) on your watchlist, if not in your portfolio. These two stocks are the best of the best among names you've probably not heard of. Just because you haven't heard of a stock, however, doesn't mean it can't dole out nice rewards. Indeed, I'm convinced the more obscure names like PKE and AAT are the market's best trading opportunities specifically because they're picks off the beaten path - the trades aren't crowded yet.
Top 10 Companies To Buy Right Now: News Corporation(NWS)
News Corporation operates as a diversified media company worldwide. Its Cable Network Programming segment produces and licenses news, business news, sports, general entertainment, and movie programming for distribution through cable television systems and direct broadcast satellite operators primarily in the United States, Latin America, Europe, and Asia. The company?s Filmed Entertainment segment produces and acquires live-action and animated motion pictures for distribution and licensing in entertainment media, as well as produces and licenses television programming worldwide. Its Television segment operates 27 broadcast television stations in the United States. The company?s Direct Broadcast Satellite Television segment distributes programming services via satellite and broadband directly to subscribers in Italy. Its Publishing segment provides newspapers and information services, such as publishing national newspapers in the United Kingdom, approximately 146 newspape rs in Australia, and a metropolitan and a national newspaper in the United States; book publishing services, including the publishing of English language books worldwide; and integrated marketing services comprising the publishing of free-standing inserts, which are marketing booklets containing coupons, rebates, and other consumer offers, as well as provides in-store marketing products and services, primarily to consumer packaged goods manufacturers in the United States and Canada. The company also sells advertising, sponsorships, and subscription services on the company?s various digital media properties and outdoor advertising space on various media primarily in Russia and eastern Europe; and provides data systems and professional services that enable teachers to use data to assess student progress and deliver individualized instructions. News Corporation was founded in 1922 and is headquartered in New York, New York.
Advisors' Opinion: - [By Holly LaFon]
Some of Elliott Management�� top equity positions in the first quarter 2012 are Brocade Communications Systems (BRCD), Delphi Automotive (DFG), Iron Mountain (IRM) and News Corp. (NWS).
- [By Holly LaFon]
The disciplined investors at Yacktman Funds have stuck with the world�� highest quality businesses, most of which offer products or services integral to society. Their top holdings are PepsiCo (PEP), News Corp Cl. A (NWS), Procter & Gamble (PG), Microsoft (MSFT), C.R. Bard (BCR), Cisco Systems (CSCO), Sysco Corporation (SYY), Coca-Cola (KO), Pfizer (PFE) and U.S. Bancorp (USB).
- [By Reuters]
Warren is in the house.
- Warren Buffett (@WarrenBuffett) May 2, 2013 The handle wasn't officially verified by Twitter, but was confirmed by Fortune magazine, which hosted Buffett for a live webcast Thursday. It was billed as the first social media event for the notoriously technology-averse billionaire. If followers were dollars, Buffett is having even more success on Twitter than he had with one of his best investments ever, his 2008 stake in Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS). That deal gave him preferred stock that paid dividends at $900 a minute. On Twitter, he has gathered 1,000 followers a minute. By joining Twitter, the Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (BRK.B) chief executive officer now stands in good mogul company. Other relatively recent converts to the service include News Corp. (NWS) CEO Rupert Murdoch (@RupertMurdoch) and former U.S. President Bill Clinton (@BillClinton).
