As the stock market is challenging all-time highs around a holiday week, investors have to be considering how to position their portfolios and assets for 2014 and beyond. 24/7 Wall St. has been issuing value outlooks and sector outlooks for 2014 to see where the best spots are ahead.
It turns out that there may be some incredible upside left in selective autos and biotechs. Some financial stocks may offer upside, and there is still some value in oil and gas. We will be following up with more 2014 outlook pieces in December.
The best carmaker for 2014 appears to be General Motors Co. (NYSE: GM). With the government out of the shares, its stock muted since its re-IPO and an attractive earnings multiple of only eight times expected earnings in 2014, GM was the winner against peers. By the way, analysts see more than 25% gains on average in GM’s share price over the next year.
Regions Financial Corp. (NYSE: RF) is a top pick at Jefferies for 2014 in its most recent sector and themes trend report�for the year ahead. The super-regional bank is the 15th largest one in the United States, and its net interest margin keeps moving up. Regions’ consensus analyst price target is posted up about $1 from current prices, implying gains of 10% over the coming year.
Hot Semiconductor Stocks To Invest In 2015: DTE Energy Company(DTE)
DTE Energy Company, together with its subsidiaries, operates as an electric and natural gas utility company in Michigan. It also involves in non-utility operations. The company?s Energy Utility segment engages in the generation, purchase, distribution, and sale of electricity in southeastern Michigan. It generates electricity from various fuels, including coal, as well as from nuclear and hydro facilitates. As of December 31, 2010, this segment owned and operated approximately 674 distribution substations and approximately 412,100 line transformers; and supplied electricity to 2.1 million residential, commercial, and industrial customers in southeastern Michigan. The company?s Gas Utility segment engages in the purchase, storage, transmission, distribution, and sale of natural gas in Michigan. As of December 31, 2010, this segment?s distribution system included approximately 19,000 miles of distribution mains, 1,036,000 service lines, and 1,319,000 active meters. It also o wned approximately 2,000 miles of transmission lines that deliver natural gas; and supplied natural gas to approximately 1.2 million residential, commercial, and industrial customers throughout Michigan, as well as to approximately 17,000 customers in Adrian, Michigan. The company?s non-utility operations include natural gas pipelines and storage; unconventional gas exploration, development, and production; power and industrial projects, and coal transportation and marketing; and energy marketing and trading operations. Its customers include electric utilities, merchant power producers, integrated steel mills, and industrial companies. DTE Energy Company was founded in 1995 and is based in Detroit, Michigan.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Amy Thomson]
AT&T has examined takeover candidates including Vodafone�� assets, U.K. mobile carrier EE -- a venture of Deutsche Telekom AG (DTE) and Orange SA (ORA) -- and parts of Spain�� Telefonica SA (TEF), people familiar with the company�� plans said in June. AT&T is attracted to Europe because of its relatively recent introduction of faster, fourth-generation networks, which have been available for years in the U.S.
- [By John Udovich]
Meanwhile, Plug Power Inc was formed in 1997 as a joint venture of Michigan utility owner DTE Energy Co (NYSE: DTE) and Mechanical Technology Inc (OTCMKTS: MKTY) to develop fuel-cell systems to power homes and small businesses. Plug Power Inc says it has�revolutionized the material handling industry with cost-effective power solutions that increase productivity, lower operating costs and reduce carbon footprints as�it manufactures a full suite of products designed to fit seamlessly into the existing battery compartment of all major OEM material handling equipment. The company also says that�its GenDrive fuel cell is a superior alternative to lead-acid batteries for electric lift trucks in the $20 billion�global material handling market.
- [By John Udovich]
Small cap Plug Power Inc was formed in 1997 as a joint venture between Michigan utility owner DTE Energy Co (NYSE: DTE) and Mechanical Technology Inc (OTCMKTS: MKTY) to develop fuel-cell systems to power homes and small businesses. Plug Power Inc says it has�revolutionized the material handling industry with cost-effective power solutions that increase productivity, lower operating costs and reduce carbon footprints as�it manufactures a full suite of products designed to fit seamlessly into the existing battery compartment of all major OEM material handling equipment. In addition, the company says its GenDrive fuel cell is a superior alternative to lead-acid batteries for electric lift trucks in the $20 billion�global material handling market.
- [By Jonathan Morgan]
Deutsche Telekom AG (DTE) slipped 1.4 percent to 9.21 euros. Europe�� second-largest telephone company traded without the right to a dividend today.
Hot Regional Bank Companies To Buy For 2014: Western Asset Inflation Management Fund Inc (IMF)
Western Asset Inflation Management Fund Inc. (the Fund), incorporated on March 16, 2004, is a non-diversified, closed-end management investment company. The Fund�� primary investment objective is total return.
Current income is a secondary investment objective. Legg Mason Partners Fund Advisor, LLC (LMPFA) is the Fund�� investment manager and Western Asset Management Company (Western Asset) is the Fund�� sub adviser.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Jim Jubak]
Good news on consumer spending in November, Apple's (AAPL) iPhone deal with China Mobile (CHL), and an upgrade on US economic prospects in 2014, from International Monetary Fund's (IMF) managing director Christine Lagarde, pretty much guarantees that Santa will visit Wall Street this year. And just about on schedule. The Santa Claus rally is short and, in most years, sweet. It takes in the last five trading sessions of the old year and the first two trading sessions of the new. The average annual gain for that period, since 1972, for the Standard & Poor's 500 (SPX) is about 1.5%, according to the Stock Trader's Almanac.
- [By Canadian Value]
From a macroeconomic viewpoint, our optimism for Asian markets��strong long-term potential is based on three main factors. First, when compared with developed markets generally, Asia�� emerging markets have had higher rates of historic economic growth, and growth expectations for the year ahead are generally higher as well. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) projects growth in developing Asia of 6.5% in 2014, compared with 2% in developed markets generally.1Since 1999, the region has seen strong growth even in 2009 when developed markets fell into recession, as you can see in the chart below.
Hot Regional Bank Companies To Buy For 2014: Tesoro Logistics LP(TLLP)
Tesoro Logistics LP engages in the ownership, operation, development, and acquisition of crude oil and refined products logistics assets in the United States. The company is involved in the gathering, terminalling, transportation, and storage of crude oil and refined products. Its assets consist of a crude oil gathering system in the Bakken Shale/Williston Basin area of North Dakota and Montana; eight refined products terminals in the midwestern and western United States; a crude oil and refined products storage facility; and five related short-haul pipelines. The company was founded in 2010 and is based in San Antonio, Texas. Tesoro Logistics LP is a subsidiary of Tesoro Corporation.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Aimee Duffy]
Master limited partnerships are not like other stocks, and the metrics we use to compare an MLP to its peers differ from the metrics we use to compare regular companies. For example, instead of the traditional P/E ratio, we emphasize MLP-specific metrics like distribution coverage ratio, and today's focus: price to distributable cash flow (P/DCF). I'll use MPLX (NYSE: MPLX ) , Tesoro Logistics (NYSE: TLLP ) , and Holly Energy Partners (NYSE: HEP ) as our three examples.
- [By Ben Levisohn]
Yesterday, Tesoro Corp. (TSO) sold a bunch of assets to Tesoro Logistics (TLLP) for $650 million, the second “drop-down,” or sale of assets by a parent company to a partnership.
Hot Regional Bank Companies To Buy For 2014: Casella Waste Systems Inc (CWST)
Casella Waste Systems, Inc., incorporated on March 1, 1993, is a vertically integrated solid waste, recycling, and resource management services company. The Company provide resource management and services to residential, commercial, municipal, and industrial customers, primarily in the areas of solid waste collection, transfer, disposal, recycling, and organics services. The Company operates in Vermont, New Hampshire, New York, Massachusetts, Maine, and Pennsylvania. As of May 31, 2013, the Company owned and/or operated 35 solid waste collection operations, 38 transfer stations, 16 recycling facilities, nine Subtitle D landfills, four landfill gas-to-energy facilities, one landfill permitted to accept construction and demolition, or C&D, materials.
The Company manages its solid waste operations on a geographic basis through two regional operating segments: the Eastern and Western regions, each of which includes a range of solid waste services, and its larger-scale recycling operations and commodity brokerage operations through its Recycling segment.
Solid Waste Operations
The Company solid waste operations consists a range of non-hazardous solid waste services, including collections, transfer stations, material recovery facility ( MRFs) and disposal facilities. A majority of its commercial and industrial collection services are performed under one to three-year service agreements, with prices and fees determined by such factors as collection frequency, type of equipment and containers furnished, type, volume and weight of solid waste collected, distance to the disposal or processing facility and cost of disposal or processing. Its residential collection and disposal services are performed either on a subscription basis. The Company transfer stations receive, compact and transfer solid waste collected primarily by various collection operations, for transport to disposal facilities by larger vehicles.
The Company�� MRFs, receive, sort, bale and res! ell recyclable materials originating from the municipal solid waste stream, including newsprint, cardboard, office paper, containers and bottles. The Company operates six MRFs in geographic areas served by its collection divisions. Revenues are received from municipalities and customers in the form of processing fees, tipping fees and commodity sales. The Company's MRFs, two of which are located in Vermont, two in Massachusetts and two in New York, are large-scale, high-volume facilities that process over 0.4 million tons per year of recycled materials delivered to them by municipalities and commercial customers under long-term contracts. The Company also operates MRFs as an integral part of its core solid waste operations, which generally process recyclables collected from its various residential collection operations.
Eastern region
The Eastern region consists of wastesheds located in Maine, southern and central New Hampshire and central and eastern Massachusetts. The Eastern region is vertically integrated, with transfer, landfill, organics and processing and recycling assets serviced by its collection operations. In February 2013, the Company aligned management of the NCES landfill with the Eastern region. NCES had been historically aligned with the Western region. In December, 2012 the Company acquired BBI Waste Services (BBI), which gave the Company additional hauling and transfer capacity in southern Maine.
Western region
The Western region includes wastesheds located in Vermont, north and south western New Hampshire and eastern New York that were previously included in the eliminated Central region. The portion of New York served by the Western region includes Clinton (operation of the Clinton County landfill), Franklin, Essex, Warren, Washington, Saratoga, Rennselaer and Albany counties. The Western region also consists of wastesheds in upstate New York (which includes Ithaca, Elmira, Oneonta, Lowville, Potsdam, Geneva, Auburn, Dunkirk, Jame! stown and! Olean). Its collection operations include leadership positions in nearly every rural market outside of the larger metropolitan markets, such as Syracuse, Rochester, Buffalo and Albany.
Recycling
Recycling is the processors and marketers of recycled materials in the eastern United States, consists six MRFs that process and then market recyclable materials that municipalities and commercial customers deliver to them under long-term contracts. Three of the 6 MRFs are leased, the other three are owned. During fiscal year ended April 30, 2013, Recycling segment processed and/or marketed approximately 0.5 million tons of recyclable materials including tons marketed through the Company's commodity brokerage operation. Recycling facilities are located in Vermont, New York and Massachusetts.
The Company competes with Waste Management, Inc, Republic Services, Inc, Waste Connections, Inc., Owens Corning, CertainTeed Corporation and Johns Manville.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By James Miller Phd]
As we can see, the firm has a higher ROE than it peers: Sharps Compliance, Casella Waste Systems, Inc. (CWST), Donaldson Company, Inc. (DCI) and GSE Holding Inc. (GSEH).
Hot Regional Bank Companies To Buy For 2014: Catamaran Corp (CTRX)
Catamaran Corporation (Catamaran), formerly SXC Health Solutions Corp., incorporated on June 27, 2007, is a provider of pharmacy benefit management (PBM) services and healthcare information technology (HCIT) solutions to the healthcare benefit management industry. The Company�� product offerings and solutions combine a range of applications and PBM services designed to assist its customers in reducing the cost and managing the complexity of their prescription drug programs. The Company�� customers include organizations in the pharmaceutical supply chain, such as pharmacy benefit managers, managed care organizations, self-insured employer groups, unions, third party health care plan administrators, and state and federal government entities. In January 2012, the Company completed its acquisition of HealthTran LLC (HealthTran). On July 2, 2012, the Company acquired Catalyst Health Solutions, Inc. On October 1, 2013, the Company acquired RESTAT, LLC.
The Company�� PBM services, which are marketed under the Catamaran PBM brand, include electronic point-of-sale pharmacy claims management, retail pharmacy network management, mail pharmacy claims management, specialty pharmacy claims management, Medicare Part D services, benefit design consultation, preferred drug management programs, drug review and analysis, consulting services, data access, and reporting and information analysis. The Company's PBM services include owning and operating a network of mail and specialty pharmacies. In addition, the Company is a national provider of drug benefits to its customers under the federal government�� Medicare Part D program. The Company�� HCIT solutions include RxCLAIM, an on-line transaction processing system that provides instant adjudication of prescription drug claims, RxMAX, the Company�� rebate management system, RxTRACK, the Company�� data warehouse and analysis system, Zynchros, the Company�� suite of on-demand formulary management tools, the Company�� pharmacy management system! for retail, chain, institutional and mail-order pharmacies, as well as a number of other software products for customers in the pharmaceutical supply chain. The Company�� HCIT solutions are available on a license basis with on-going maintenance and support or on a transaction fee basis using an application service provider (ASP) model.
PBM Services
The Company�� informedRx offering is a suite of customizable PBM services that provide an alternative to traditional PBM offerings typically employed by health plans, government agencies and employers. The Company provides a range of pharmacy spend management solutions and information technology capabilities to managed care organizations, self-insured employer groups, unions, third party health care plan administrators, and state and federal government entities. Formulary Administration provides support for customers��existing formularies and preferred drug lists or collaborate to create models supported by formulary predictive modeling and impact analysis. Pharmacist, physician and member-focused intervention protocols provide controls to drive generics, preferred drug products and appropriate use. Formularies are administered based on specific plan designs, or by enabling customers with the tools to maintain their own custom formularies online.
The Company specializes in applying data-driven insights to help customers understand the medical risk drivers within their population and take a strategic approach to plan design. The Company provides benefit design configuration and support to customers, in accordance with mutually developed processes. Benefit designs can be modified online, in real time, by the Company or by the customer�� staff. Pharmacy Network Management provides a range of retail network options, including supporting existing networks or assisting customers in developing networks that meet specific geographic access requirements, desired price discounts, or other service requirements. A national! retail n! etwork, which consists of pharmacies in all 50 states and in Puerto Rico, Guam and the Virgin Islands, provides access to the Company�� customers.
Drug Utilization Review (DUR) is pre-dispensing DUR edit checks are performed on an online, real-time basis between mail and retail pharmacies to encourage appropriate drug utilization, enhance member outcomes, and reduce drug costs. All prescriptions are checked for member eligibility and plan design features and are then compared against previous histories of prescriptions filled by the same pharmacy, by other participating retail network pharmacies and by the mail service pharmacy. Clinical Services and Consulting provides consultative and technical expertise to augment, develop, deploy, and support any additional clinical programs. Reporting and Information Analysis Solutions provides two levels of reporting: a reporting package (which includes a menu of reports), and an online analytical decision support tool, RxTRACK. The Company offers mail and specialty services to its PBM members, as well as other members of its pharmacy network. suite of Web-based services that enables customers to interact with the claims processing system using a standardized protocol in a secure environment. A member Website, RxPORTAL, invites members to learn more about their prescription benefit programs, medication histories, drug information and related industry news. RxPROVIDER PORTAL is a Web-based interface that allows pharmacists and physicians to obtain information from RxCLAIM on a member's plan to assist in providing more cost effective prescription medications.
Healthcare IT
The Company's HCIT offerings deliver applications on a license, ASP, or fee-for-service basis to customers who administer and manage pharmacy benefits. HCIT products and services serve a diversified group of payor customers that include health plans, federal, state and provincial government programs, pharmacy benefit managers, workers' compensation programs! , and lon! g-term and/or chronic care facility operators. In addition, SXC's technology serves as the engine for the Company's service PBM solutions.
Technology Products and Services
RxCLAIM is an on-line transaction processing system designed to provide instant on-line adjudication of third-party prescription drug claims at the point of service, including claims management, as well as payment and billing support and real-time functionality for updating benefit, price, member, provider and drug details. RxCLAIM is designed to provide the Company�� customers control by facilitating the real-time processing of pharmacy claims and payments against eligibility, plan benefits, formularies, price, drug utilization review, prior authorization, and rebates in addition to many other features.
Other products
Integrail Pathfinder PRO is a software application that enables a array of users to understand the impact of healthcare resource allocation and medical decision-making through the incorporation of risk prediction and episode profiling technologies. The application offers users an intuitive system for integrating disparate data sources to pinpoint variations in resource utilization and care. IntegrailRx features the ability to measure and predict both pharmacy and total risk using pharmacy claims. RxBUILDER is a Web-based interface for formulary creation and maintenance utilizing a Medi-Span based product file. RxPORTAL allows customers to interact with the patient's formulary and drug history in a secure environment allowing patients and health plans to access industry tools and up to date information. RxAUTH is a prior authorization (PA) management solution, which offers automating the PA process from end-to-end. RxAUTH is also available in a Web-based application. RxMAX is a rebate management system that is designed to assist health plans in managing their relationships with pharmaceutical manufacturers through contract management, record keeping, calculating market share! , and cre! ating billing details and summaries. Zynchros provides a suite of on-demand formulary management tools to help payors effectively manage their formulary programs, and to maintain Medicare Part D compliance in their programs. Enhanced Coordination of Benefits integrates external data sources with unique algorithms and eligibility data to identify beneficiaries with other coverage. This enables accurate identification of third party liability in real-time prior to the claim being paid.
Medicare Part D
The Company has offered an array of services to the Medicare marketplace, all compliant with Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) regulations. As a full-service PBM and a National Prescription Drug Plan, the Company supports a variety of Medicare Part D Plan Sponsors. The Company provides prescription benefit management support for Medicare Advantage Prescription Drug plans (MAPDs) and prescription drug plans (PDPs), including implementation of specific Medicare Part D plan designs, creation and maintenance of Medicare Part D formularies (including CMS submission), CMS reporting requirements and consultative, proactive account management.
The Company competes with Express Scripts, Inc., CVS/Caremark Corporation and OptumRx.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Brian Pacampara]
Based on the aggregated intelligence of 180,000-plus investors participating in Motley Fool CAPS, the Fool's free investing community, health care IT services specialist Catamaran (NASDAQ: CTRX ) has earned a coveted five-star ranking.
- [By Keith Speights]
Express Scripts isn't alone in experiencing improved generic utilization. CVS Caremark (NYSE: CVS ) saw its overall rate increase from 76.5% in its first quarter of 2012 to 80.5% in the same quarter this year. UnitedHealth didn't report detailed numbers for OptumRx last quarter, but noted that it was seeing improvements in its generic mix that helped drive earnings higher. Catamaran (NASDAQ: CTRX ) also experienced a solid 3% year-over-year jump during the first quarter to 83%.
- [By Keith Speights]
Pharmacy benefits managers, or PBMs, specialize in this very thing. Leading PBMs include Express Scripts, CVS Caremark, UnitedHealth Group's (NYSE: UNH ) OptumRx subsidiary, Catamaran (NASDAQ: CTRX ) , and DST Systems' Argus Health Systems. Several of these stocks have performed very well over the last three years.
Hot Regional Bank Companies To Buy For 2014: Liberty Property Trust (LRY)
Liberty Property Trust is a publicly owned real estate investment holding trust. Through its subsidiary, it provides leasing, property management, development, acquisition, and other tenant-related services for a portfolio of industrial and office properties. The firm invests in industrial properties including various warehouse, distribution, service, assembly, light manufacturing, and research and development facilities. Its office properties include multi-story and single-story office buildings located principally in suburban mixed-use developments or office parks. Liberty Property Trust was founded in 1972 and is based in Malvern, Pennsylvania.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Brad Thomas]
Other REITs mentioned: (O), (NNN), (STAG), (DCT), (EGP), (PDM), (DRE), (LRY)
Source: Chambers Street: More Liquidity Magic On The Way In REIT-DomDisclosure: I have no positions in any stocks mentioned, and no plans to initiate any positions within the next 72 hours. I wrote this article myself, and it expresses my own opinions. I am not receiving compensation for it (other than from Seeking Alpha). I have no business relationship with any company whose stock is mentioned in this article. (More...)
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