Posts Tagged ‘best way to invest in 2012’

Hot Stocks To Buy In December 2013

Over the past months, I have been doing regular Stock Analysis and discussing different stocks and I realized that I had not shared the stocks that retain my attention. As such, I thought I’d go through my watch list and pull out the Top Dividend Stocks based on my technical screening and the dividend yield. I watch about 100 stocks between the Canada and the US and I update my list as I find others that I believe worthy of being on my watch list. I have about 7 sectors on my watch list and I usually keep 6 to 12 stocks in each. The list is quite varied as it is composed of REITs, Income Trust and Companies with either small, medium or large caps.

Hot Stocks To Buy In December 2013 innacle Airlines Corp. (PNCL)

Pinnacle Airlines Corp., through its subsidiaries, operates as an independent regional airline company in the United States. It operates an all-regional jet fleet under two capacity purchase agreements (CPA) with Delta Air Lines, Inc. (Delta), providing regional airline capacity to Delta from Delta?s hub airports in Atlanta, Detroit, Memphis, New York City, and Minneapolis/St. Paul. The company also operates an all-turboprop fleet under a regional airline CPA with United Continental Holdings, Inc., Continental Airlines, Inc., and United Airlines, Inc. (United); and under revenue pro-rate agreements with United and US Airways Group, Inc. primarily in the northeastern United States and in Texas. As of December 31, 2010, Pinnacle Airlines Corp. offered scheduled passenger service with approximately 1,400 total daily departures to a 317 destinations with an aircraft fleet of 202 regional jet aircrafts and 81 turboprop aircrafts. The company was founded in 1985 and is headquartered in Memphis, Tennessee.

Hot Stocks To Buy In December 2013:Inventure Foods Inc. (SNAK) Read more…

Make Your Best Investment Charge With Visa in 2012

For sure, most investors have a Make Your Best Investment Charge With Visa in 2012 – Visa (NYSE:V) card, the ubiquitous credit card used in almost every corner of the planet. So why shouldn’t most investors also own shares of Visa, the world’s largest retail electronics payment network?

It’s true that ordinarily, it isn’t a wise strategy to buy a stock that’s been rising steadily every year. And that’s what Visa has been doing, really. In March 2008, when Visa went public, the stock started at $44 a share, raising $17.9 billion — which at that point was the largest initial public offering in the U.S. By the end of 2009, the stock hit nearly $90, and V shares closed at $112.42 on Thursday.

But Visa is not an ordinary company. Its growth prospects remain huge, as consumers’ demand for more convenient payments systems continue to rise worldwide. And analysts view Visa as both a financial company and a technology enterprise that uses high-tech skills to advance and expand its business model.

Visa continued to rush up in its stock price and earnings despite the huge pressure on financial stocks in the wake of the financial mess in Europe, the fragile U.S. economic recovery and the big issues that confront major banks.

So Wall Street remains optimistic, and analysts continue to jack up their stock price targets and earnings estimates.

David Togut, analyst at Evercore Partners, raised his price target to $130 a share from $109 in January, way before Visa’s Wednesday report of better-than-expected results for the fourth quarter, with revenues rising 14% and earnings growing by 21%. Togut maintains his overweight recommendation on the stock, based on a projected price-earnings multiple of 18.5, which is below Visa’s historical average forward P/E ratio. He probably will again increase his price target and his earnings estimates for 2012 and 2013.

“Fiscal 2012 ought to be another stellar year for Visa,” says analyst Sharif Abdou, who follows the company at Value Line, an independent investment research firm. Despite its recent rally, the stock has substantial long-term price appreciation potential, the analyst says.

The company’s credit and debit cards are among the most widely used in the world, and its VisaPLUS is one of the largest global ATM networks that offer cash access in local currency in more than 200 countries. Helping fuel Visa’s growth is its international business, which has been rapidly expanding. The use of Visa’s credit-card payments in the U.S. rose by some 11% in 2011, while those in Latin America grew by 19%. And in Central Europe, the Middle East, and Africa, credit-card usage jumped 35%, according to Value Line.

Moreover, Visa’s debit cards are among its fast-growing big sources of growth, as more people increasingly use them to reduce spending and curb debt levels during difficult economic times. Debit transactions accounted for 58% of the total in fiscal 2011, compared with less than 50% in recent years, Abdou says.

“Visa’s time-tested business model, rock-solid finances with no debt on the balance sheet, and ubiquitous brand name should remain a formidable combination for the foreseeable future,” Abdou says.

Visa and Make Your Best Investment Charge With Visa in 2012 – MasterCard (NYSE:MA), the two largest credit-card companies outperformed the market in 2011, with shares of Visa rising 44% and MasterCard advancing 66%, vs. the S&P 500’s near-flat performance. Reiterating his rating on both as outperform, Glenn Greene of Oppenheimer says “fundamental trends remain solid” for both companies.

Of the two stocks, Visa has the potential for more rapid appreciation momentum, in part because of its lower valuation. MasterCard closed Thursday at $396.40 a share, way up from its 52-week low of $240.36.

A big boost to credit-card payments is the secular trend toward non-cash payments, and Visa’s dominance in debit-card payments business should help strongly in bolstering its revenue and earnings, analysts say. More and more, debit cards are replacing cash and are increasingly being used for day-to-day purchases.

“That’s a positive,” notes Scott Kessler, analyst at S&P Capital IQ. “We are optimistic about growth initiatives that include expansion in prepaid cards, mobile payments, money transfer, and e-commerce.”

So for investors seeking to participate in the growth and profitability of credit and debit cards, the stellar performance of Visa in practically all aspects of the business should be particularly appealing.

And if you own a Visa card, you probably will understand the value of the brand.

3 Stocks Making Huge Leaps After Strong Earnings Reports to invest in 2012

For many companies, earnings reports aren’t just a regular demonstration of their fiscal ability — they’re a turning point for stock prices. Earnings, revenues, forecasts and other information in reports can send stocks through the roof or plow them into the ground.

Here’s three companies that recently made huge gains following earnings reports:

3 Stocks Making Huge Leaps After Strong Earnings Reports to invest in 2012 – Cerner

Cerner (NASDAQ:CERN) jumped 13% Wednesday after reporting better-than-expected results Tuesday after the bell — giving good guidance for 2012.

Revenues of $615.6 million were up 23% from a year ago, and profits jumped 30% on bookings of $899 million — an all-time high for the health information technology company. CERN continues to benefit not only from the health care industry’s transition to digital records, but also the increasing need to measure outcomes in the practice of medicine. Adjusted earnings for the quarter were 55 cents — up 25% from a year ago and 2 cents better than expectations.

Guidance for 2012 was solid, with revenues expected to be $2.4 billion to $2.5 billion, and earnings in the range of $2.20 to 2.30 per share. Both estimates were roughly in line with existing expectations, but like others who bought the stock in droves on Wednesday, I look for the stock to continue to moving up for a couple of key reasons.

First, system sales were very strong — up 34% in the fourth quarter — which will eventually translate into higher maintenance and service revenues, which carry very high margins. — a “razor and blades” model. Secondly, the 44% increase in bookings represents a healthy book-to-bill ratio of 1.46, which means the company brought in nearly 50% more orders in the quarter than it collected payments for. With 35% of bookings outside existing customers of its Millennium software, CERN believes it is gaining market share. Order backlog ended the year at $6.11 billion — up a strong 24% from a year ago.

Shares of Cerner had lagged the January rally, but this latest earnings report has put the stock back on a nice trajectory, and I like where both it and the company are headed.

3 Stocks Making Huge Leaps After Strong Earnings Reports to invest in 2012 – Novo Nordisk

Novo Nordisk (NYSE:NVO) is the world leader in diabetes care, an attribute that drove profits 19% higher in the fourth quarter. The Danish pharma company continued to grow its diabetes franchise on strong sales of key drugs Victoza, NovoRapid and Levemir. Shares jumped 3% last Friday following the earnings report, and momentum this week has added another 7.5%.

Revenues for the quarter were up 11% in local currencies to 66.3 billion kroner ($11.7 billion), with gross profit up 9% to 53.7 billion kroner. Operating margins expanded on the higher sales volume, and net income increased 19% to 17.1 billion kroner. On a per share basis, the company earned approximately $5.29.

Much of Novo Nordisk’s growth is being driven by Victoza, a therapy for type-2 diabetes and one of NVO’s newer products. Sales jumped 166% to nearly 6 billion kroner in 2011. Also strong was the company’s portfolio of “modern insulins,” where sales increased 8% to 28.8 billion kroner. While not growing quite as fast as the diabetes franchise, the company’s biopharmaceutical products did rise 8%.

Looking ahead to 2012, management is forecasting revenue growth of 7% to 11% and operating profit growth of 10%. This would enable earnings of close to $6 per share, an increase of nearly 13%. Longer-term, the company feels it can add another 100 basis points to the operating margin and increase operating profits close to 15% per year as Victoza continues to grow.

Novo Nordisk is operating well right now, and pharmaceutical stocks are in favor right now. I want you to hang on to your NVO shares a little while longer. I am raising my target to $140, which is a reasonable 23 times 2012 earnings in U.S. dollars.

3 Stocks Making Huge Leaps After Strong Earnings Reports to invest in 2012 – Cummins

Cummins (NYSE:CMI) reported its fifth straight quarter of double-digit growth last Thursday. Both earnings and revenue surpassed expectations as strength was seen across most segments.

Fourth-quarter earnings of $2.56 a share easily beat estimates of $2.23, and revenues of $4.9 billion just topped estimates of $4.7 billion. The 19% revenue rise was led by the engine segment, with sales up 23% to $3.1 billion. Cummins continues to benefit from strong North American demand for diesel truck engines of all classes, as well as growth in demand for natural gas-powered engines. In addition, sales of engines for mining equipment are up on a global basis. The components business, which sells engine parts to other manufacturers, saw sales increase 19% to $1.1 billion. North American demand was at record levels, aided by the need to meet emission standards. Europe, India and Brazil were also strong markets, offsetting weakness in China.

As expected, power generation was a laggard, with sales up only 2% to $920 million. However, this was still better than expected, and orders picked up as the quarter progressed. Distribution sales were up 19% to $834 million on similar market forces.

The company projected 20% growth for 2012, which is robust, with 9% coming from acquisitions. Growth will be loaded toward the back end of the year as truck markets in Brazil strengthen. CMI is also anticipating China and emerging markets will improve in the second half. Management guided for operating margins of 12.5% to 13.5% — up from 11.8% in 2011. At the same time, the company plans to continue heavy spending in R&D, including the possibility of expanding their offerings of natural gas engines as more fleets make the switch. This initiative comes out of the Cummins-Westport Innovations (WPRT) joint venture.

This was a great quarter for CMI, and the stock has the wind at its back in the markets right now.