Scott Eells/Bloomberg via Getty Images American Express (AXP) is seeking to broaden its customer base by offering its first no-fee credit product that grants holders access to all of the lender's rewards programs. The "EveryDay" card is AmEx's biggest debut in terms of the amount of money spent on development and marketing since AmEx launched its "Blue" brand in 2000, according to Ed Gilligan, president of AmEx. The card issuer, already the biggest by purchases, is seeking new kinds of customers including U.S. mothers by offering incentives such as extra points for shopping at supermarkets, Gilligan said. "This segment didn't think AmEx had a product that fit their needs," Gilligan said in an interview at the firm's New York headquarters. AmEx, whose business was built on charge cards that didn't allow consumers to carry a balance, is seeking ways to increase loans and net interest income, which Gilligan has said comprise a smaller part of revenue than for competitors. Loans are increasing at AmEx slightly faster than the rest of the industry and they're regarded as an important source of future revenue growth, he told analysts last month. Unlike with AmEx's charge cards, EveryDay customers will have a spending limit and won't be required to pay their balance in full each month, according to AmEx. They also won't get extra perks such as earning triple rewards for travel and dining or access to entertainment events that are available to some customers who pay an annual fee on other types of cards. Terms call for the new card to carry a zero-percent interest rate for the first 15 months and 12.99 percent to 21.99 percent afterward, according to the company. Customers will have access to the full rewards program, which includes perks like transferring travel points that aren't available on other AmEx products that don't have an annual fee such as Blue, the firm said. The new card comes with EMV anti-fraud technology -- named for founders EuroPay International, MasterCard (MA) and Visa (V) -- that's designed to provide better security than cards with magnetic strips. To promote the card, which will be available by April 2, AmEx planned television advertisements featuring Tina Fey to run during the Academy Awards and photographs by Annie Leibovitz that will appear in print publications.
Hot Casino Stocks For 2015: Vanguard Energy Index ETF (VDE)
Vanguard Energy ETF, formerly known as Vanguard Energy VIPERs, is an exchange-traded share class of Vanguard Energy Index Fund (the Fund). The Fund employs a passive management or indexing investment approach designed to track the performance of the Morgan Stanley Capital International (MSCI) US Investable Market Energy Index (the Index), an index of stocks of large, medium and small United States companies in the energy sector, as classified under the Global Industry Classification Standard (GICS).
This GICS sector is made up of companies whose businesses are dominated by activities, such as the construction or provision of oil rigs, drilling equipment, and other energy-related service and equipment (such as seismic data collection), or companies engaged in the exploration, production, marketing, refining and/or transportation of oil and gas products. The Fund seeks to replicate the Index by investing all, or substantially all, of its assets in the stocks that make up the Index.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By MONEYMORNING.COM]
I like the idea of investing in a group of the largest integrated energy companies, oil and gas explorers/producers, and energy equipment and services. It's like a call option on energy with no expiry date. One of the best alternatives in this sector is the Vanguard Energy ETF (NYSE: VDE).
10 Best Supermarket Stocks For 2014: MGM Resorts International(MGM)
MGM Resorts International, through its subsidiaries, primarily owns and operates casino resorts in the United States. The company?s resorts offer gaming, hotel, dining, entertainment, retail, and other resort amenities. It also owns and operates golf courses and a golf club. As of December 31, 2010, the company owned and operated 15 properties located in Nevada, Mississippi, and Michigan; and has 50% investments in 4 other casino resorts in Nevada, Illinois, and Macau. In addition, MGM Resorts International has an agreement with the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation, which owns and operates a casino resort in Connecticut, to carry the ?MGM Grand? brand name. The company was formerly known as MGM MIRAGE and changed its name to MGM Resorts International in June 2010. MGM Resorts International was founded in 1986 and is based in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Matt Thalman]
In the following video, Fool contributor Matt Thalman discusses why he believes MGM Resorts' (NYSE: MGM ) recent move to partner with both Southwest Airlines (NYSE: LUV ) and Hyatt Hotels (NYSE: H ) will greatly benefit not only MGM but also its two new partners.
- [By Heather Long]
It's a similar story in Las Vegas. MGM (MGM), which runs Bellagio, MGM Grand and Mandalay Bay, among others, reported a surge in earnings this week that exceeded Wall Street expectations.
- [By Sean Williams]
The other knock against the sector is merely that it's cyclical and prone to downswings ��especially for the casino operators relying heavily on the currently stagnant U.S. market. MGM Grand (NYSE: MGM ) is an example of a casino operator that's expanded into Macau but still derives the majority of its business from the United States. Unsurprisingly, it hasn't turned an annual profit since 2007 and isn't expected to until at least 2015.
10 Best Supermarket Stocks For 2014: Post Properties Inc. (PPS)
Post Properties, Inc., a real estate investments trust (REIT), together with its subsidiaries, engages in the development, ownership, and management of multifamily apartment communities in the United States. As of December 31, 2007, the company owned 22,578 apartment units in 63 apartment communities, including 1,747 apartment units in 2 communities held in unconsolidated entities and 2,266 apartment units in 7 communities. It is also developing and selling 535 for-sale condominium homes in 4 communities and converting 349 apartment homes into for-sale condominium homes in 2 communities. The company primarily operates in Atlanta, Georgia; Dallas, Texas; Washington, D.C.; and Tampa, Florida metropolitan areas. Post Properties has elected to be taxed as REIT under the Internal Revenue Code and would not be subject to federal income taxes, if it distributes approximately 90% of its taxable income to its shareholders. The company was founded in 1971 and is based in Atlanta, Ge orgia.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Sally Jones] ng>Rate of Return: 30.76%
Down 6% over 12 months, Post Properties Inc., a residential REIT, has a market cap of $2.46 billion; its shares were traded at around $45.02. The tangible book value is 20.98. PPS trades with a P/E ratio of 29.00 and a P/B of 2.10. The earnings yield is 2.80%.
Guru Action: As of Sept. 30, 2013, Third Avenue Management holds 422,734 shares values at around $20.9 million.
PPS is a relatively new holding for the firm, first bought in the second quarter of 2013. The firm bought 422,734 shares at an average price of $49.04, for a loss of 8.2%.
Track historical pricing, revenue and net income since 1993:
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Valley National Bancorp (VLY)
Rate of Return: 26.4%
Up 5% over 12 months, Valley National Bancorp has a market cap of $2.07 billion; its shares were traded at around $10.40. The tangible book value is 5.28. VLY trades with a P/E ratio of 14.60 and a P/B of 1.30. The earnings yield is 3.80%.
Guru Action: As of Sept. 30, 2013, Third Avenue Management holds 1,462,501 shares values at around $13.8 million.
VLY is another new holding for Third Avenue, first buying 1,462,501 shares in the second quarter of 2013, at an average price of $9.34, for a gain of 11.3%.
Track historical pricing, revenue and net income since 1990:
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Brookdale Senior Living Inc. (BKD)
Rate of Return: 23.14%
Up 11% over 12 months, Brookdale Senior Living Inc. has a market cap of $3.35 billion; its shares were traded at around $26.94. The tangible book value is 5.97. BKD trades with a P/B of 3.30. The earnings yield is 1.80%.
Guru Action: As of Sept. 30, 2013, Third Avenue Management holds 658,866 shares values at around $17.429 million.
Bought in the second quarter of 2013, BKD is another new holding for Third Avenue. The firm made a new buy of 658,866 shares at an average price of $27.55, for a 2.2% loss.
Track historical pricing,
- [By Philip Springer]
Post Properties Inc. (NYSE: PPS): 14.7%
Here are the largest homebuilders and their shares’ performance so far this year:
Lennar Corp. (NYSE: LEN): -2.3%
10 Best Supermarket Stocks For 2014: Tutor Perini Corporation(TPC)
Tutor Perini Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, provides diversified general contracting, construction management, and design-build services to private clients and public agencies worldwide. It operates in three segments: Civil, Building, and Management Services. The Civil segment involves in public works construction, and the repair, replacement, and reconstruction of infrastructure. This segment?s civil contracting services include construction and rehabilitation of highways, bridges, mass transit systems, and wastewater treatment facilities. The Building segment provides services to various specialized building markets for private and public works clients, such as the hospitality and gaming, transportation, healthcare, municipal offices, sports and entertainment, education, correctional facilities, biotech, pharmaceutical, industrial and high-tech markets, electrical and mechanical, plumbing, and HVAC services. The Management Services Segment offers diversifie d construction and design-build services to the United States military and government agencies, surety companies, and multi-national corporations in the United States and internationally. This segment also provides rapid response and contract completion services; and management or general contracting services to fulfill the contractual and financial obligations of the surety on notification from the surety of a contractor bond default. The company was founded in 1894 and is headquartered in Sylmar, California.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Ben Levisohn]
Shares of Harsco have gained 4.7% to $26.43 today at 1:16 p.m., outpacing other construction & engineering companies. Dycom (DY) has advanced 0.5% to $30, KBR Inc. (KBR) has ticked up 0.1% to $33.03, Worthington Industries�(WOR) has risen 2.8% to $38.85�and Tutor Perini (TPC) has rallied 3.6% to $22.46.
- [By Rich Smith]
Following up on the news that it's the likely winner of a $985 million contract to design the Madera-to-Fresno segment�of California's new high-speed railway, civil engineering firm Tutor Perini� (NYSE: TPC ) announced Tuesday that it's scored a second major contract win.
- [By Rich Smith]
On Wednesday, civil engineering firm Tutor Perini Corp. (NYSE: TPC ) said the California High-Speed Rail Authority has identified its $985 million bid to design the initial Madera-to-Fresno segment�of California's high-speed railway as the "apparent best value" of all bids received.
10 Best Supermarket Stocks For 2014: Evertec Inc (EVTC)
EVERTEC, Inc. (EVERTEC), formerly Carib Latam Holdings, Inc., incorporated on January 26, 1989, is a full service transaction processing business in Latin America and the Caribbean. The Company provides a range of merchant acquiring, payment processing and business process management services across 19 countries in the region. It processes over 1.8 billion transactions annually, and manages the electronic payment network for over 4,100 automated teller machines (ATM) and over 104,000 point-of-sale payment terminals. It is the merchant acquirer in the Caribbean and Central America and in Latin America. The Company owns and operates the ATH network, one of ATM and personal identification number debit networks in Latin America. In addition, it provides a suite of services for core bank processing, cash processing and technology outsourcing. It serves a diversified customer base of financial institutions, merchants, corporations and government agencies with technology solutions.
The Company serves a diversified customer base of financial institutions, merchants, corporations and government agencies with technology solutions that are essential to their operations, enabling them to issue, process and accept transactions securely. The Company�� broad suite of services span the entire transaction processing value chain and include a range of front-end customer facing solutions as well as back-end support services. These include: merchant acquiring services, which enable POS and e-commerce merchants to accept and process electronic methods of payment such as debit, credit, prepaid and electronic benefits transfer (EBT) cards; payment processing services, which enable financial institutions and other issuers to manage, support and facilitate the processing for credit, debit, prepaid, ATM and EBT card programs; and business process management solutions, which provide mission critical technology solutions such as core bank processing, as well as information technology (IT) outsourcing and cash mana! gement services to financial institutions, enterprises and governments. The Company offers its customers end-to-end products and solutions across the transaction processing value chain from a single source across numerous channels and geographic markets.
Merchant Acquiring
Merchant Acquiring business provides services to merchants at over 25,000 locations that allow them to accept electronic methods of payment such as debit, credit, prepaid and EBT cards carrying the ATH, Visa, MasterCard, Discover and American Express brands. Its suite of merchant acquiring services includes, but is not limited to, the underwriting of each merchant�� contract, the deployment of POS devices and other equipment necessary to capture merchant transactions, the processing of transactions at the point-of-sale, the settlement of funds with the participating financial institution, detailed sales reports and customer support. The Company�� Merchant Acquiring business generated 20.4%, of total revenues and 26.6%, of total segment income from operations for the year ended December 31, 2012.
Payment Processing
It provide diversified suite of payment processing products and services to blue chip regional and global corporate customers, government agencies, and financial institutions across Latin American and the Caribbean. These services provide the infrastructure technology necessary to facilitate the processing and routing of payments across the transaction processing value chain. At the point-of-sale, it sell transaction processing technology, similar to the services in its Merchant Acquiring business, to other merchant acquirers to enable them to service their its merchant customers. It also offer terminal driving solutions to merchants, merchant acquirers (including its Merchant Acquiring business) and financial institutions, which provide the technology to securely operate, manage and monitor POS terminals and ATMs. It also sells and rent POS devices to financial insti! tution cu! stomers who seek to deploy them across their own businesses. As of December 31, 2012, the Company provides technology services for over 4,100 ATMs and over 104,000 POS terminals in the region and is continuously certifying new machines and devices to expand this reach. The Company�� Payment Processing business accounted for 27.7%, of total revenues and of total segment income from operations for the year ended December 31, 2012.
Business Solutions
The Company provides its financial institution, corporate and government customers with a full suite of business process management solutions including specifically core bank processing, network hosting and management, IT consulting services, business process outsourcing, item and cash processing, and fulfillment. The Company�� Business Solutions business accounted for 51.9%, of total revenues and 31.3%, of total segment income from operations for the year ended December 31, 2012.
The Company Competes with Vantiv, Inc., First Data Corporation, Global Payment Inc., Elavon, Inc., Sage Payment Solutions, Fidelity National Information Services, Inc., Fiserv, Inc. and Total System Services, Inc.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Jake L'Ecuyer]
Shares of EVERTEC (NYSE: EVTC) got a boost, shooting up 8.91 percent to $22.99 after the company reported the commencement of offering by selling holders.
10 Best Supermarket Stocks For 2014: AU Optronics Corp (AUO)
AU Optronics Corp. engages in the design, development, manufacture, assembly, and marketing of thin film transistor liquid crystal displays and other flat panel displays. The company operates in two segments, Display and Solar. It offers a range of display panels for use in mobile PCs, such as notebooks and tablets; desktop monitors; consumer electronics products consisting of mobile phones, digital still cameras, portable navigation displays, digital camcorders, automobile displays, amusement and printer displays, and portable gaming consoles; and LCD televisions. The company sells its panels to original equipment manufacturing service providers who manufacture products on a contract basis for brand companies; and to brand companies on a direct shipment basis. It also manufactures upstream and midstream products, such as polysilicons, ingots, wafers, and solar cells; designs, develops, and manufactures solar photovoltaic (PV) modules; produces solar PV systems; and provid es various value-added services for solar PV systems projects. AU Optronics Corp. operates in the People�s Republic of China, Taiwan, Singapore, Korea, and internationally. The company was formerly known as Acer Display Technology, Inc. and changed its name to AU Optronics Corp. in May 2001. AU Optronics Corp. was founded in 1996 and is based in Hsinchu, Taiwan.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Monica Gerson]
AU Optronics (NYSE: AUO) shares reached a new 52-week low of $3.06. AU Optronics' PEG ratio is 2.34.
CBL & Associates Properties (NYSE: CBL) shares fell 5.20% to reach a new 52-week low of $18.43 after the company reported Q3 results.
10 Best Supermarket Stocks For 2014: Sovereign Lithium Inc (SLCO)
Sovereign Lithium, Inc., formerly Great American Energy Inc., incorporated on February 22, 2007, is a mineral exploration and development company focused on supporting clean energy and clean technology industries. The Company is engaged in identifying, acquiring and developing mineral assets in the United States and surrounding countries. The Company�� portfolio of projects primarily targets lithium production with a sub-focus on rare earth elements (REE).
The Company�� project includes Big Smoky Valley lithium project and Bear Creek REE project. Big Smoky Valley lithium project is located in Esmeralda Country in Nevada. It represents 48 unpatented placer mining claims consisting of 7,680 acres (3,108 hectares) in and around Esmeralda Country, Nevada. Bear Creek REE project consists of 10 mining claims totaling 7,311 acres (2,959 hectares) in British Columbia, Canada.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By John Udovich]
Small cap OTC stocks Sovereign Lithium Inc (OTCMKTS: SLCO), Life Stem Genetics Inc (OTCMKTS: LIFS), Nevada Gold Corp (OTCMKTS: NVGC), Guar Global Ltd (OTCMKTS: GGBL) and Makism 3D Corp (OTCMKTS: MDDD) all saw their trading halted late last year by the SEC, but now all of these stocks are trading again. So what's going on and why the sudden crackdown? First, here is a quick look at what happened to the following five small cap stocks:
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