Plenty of people talk about "endpoint sensitivity," but oftentimes they miss half the story. That is, in a data series there are really two endpoints��he last one and the first one. As standardized one-year, three-year, and five-year periods roll along, people focus great attention on the most recent month and tend to forget about the month that "goes away." Making this mistake in 2014 could prove harmful when examining five-year returns.
Below are some recent returns for Ariel Fund. One reason we have selected our flagship mutual fund for this illustration is because its relative performance recently has been quite stable. Over the five years ended February 28th, 2014, it was the top-performing fund in Morningstar's Mid-Cap Blend category. It remained on top for the five-year period as of March 31* . At first glance, however, its absolute returns look like they changed a lot in one month:
Here is how the five-year return as of Fe bruary 28, 2014, can be seen: it started wi th a +13.14% return in March 2009, then ha d 59 months that totaled a +278.06% cumulative return. Together that made for a +327.75% cumulative return due to the wonder of compounding. Four weeks later, you have a +278.06% 59 -month gain and then a -0.83% loss, which comes out to a +274.92% cumulative return. Were this simply a one-month phenomenon, we would not spend so much time on the topic. It is very far indeed from a one- month event. Below are the monthly return s for Ariel from the last nine months of 2009��hese are the months that will "go away" from the front-end of the five-yea r return as we progress through 2014.
Hot Stocks To Watch Right Now: Marathon Oil Corporation(MRO)
Marathon Oil Corporation, through its subsidiaries, operates as an international energy company with operations in the United States, Canada, Africa, the Middle East, and Europe. It operates through three segments: Exploration and Production, Oil Sands Mining, and Integrated Gas. The Exploration and Production segment explores for, produces, and markets liquid hydrocarbons and natural gas. The Oil Sands Mining segment mines, extracts, and transports bitumen from oil sands deposits in Alberta, Canada; and upgrades the bitumen to produce and market synthetic crude oil and vacuum gas oil. The Integrated Gas segment markets and transports products manufactured from natural gas, such as liquified natural gas and methanol. The company was formerly known as USX Corporation and changed its name to Marathon Oil Corporation in July 2001. Marathon Oil Corporation was founded in 1887 and is based in Houston, Texas.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Claudia Assis]
The refiner was spun off from Marathon Oil Corp. (MRO) �in 2011. Shares of Marathon Oil lost 1.1%.
- [By John Kell]
Marathon Oil Corp.(MRO) reported lower fourth-quarter sales volume, though the crude oil and natural gas producer’s bottom line grew 16% due to fewer income tax provisions.
- [By Claudia Assis]
Meanwhile, largest decliners included Peabody Energy Corp. (BTU) , down 1%, and Marathon Oil Corp. (MRO) , off 0.8%.
Hot Performing Stocks To Invest In 2014: Nu Skin Enterprises Inc.(NUS)
Nu Skin Enterprises, Inc. develops and distributes anti-aging personal care products and nutritional supplements worldwide. The company sells its personal care products under the Nu Skin brand; and nutritional supplements under the Pharmanex brand. Its personal care product line includes core systems, targeted treatments, total care, cosmetic, and Epoch, a product formulated with botanical ingredients. The company?s nutritional supplements product line comprises micronutrient supplements, targeted solution supplements, and weight management products. It also sells Vitameal, which are nutritious meal products for starving children or purchased for personal food storage. In addition, the company offers other products and services consisting of digital content storage, water purifiers, and other household products. It sells its products primarily through a network of independent distributors in north Asia, the Americas, Greater China, Europe, and the south Asia/Pacific. The c ompany also operates retail stores to sell its products in China. As of December 31, 2010, Nu Skin Enterprises operated 40 stores throughout China. The company was founded in 1984 and is headquartered in Provo, Utah.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Ben Levisohn]
Over the past several weeks, [Nu Skin Enterprises (NUS)], a major publicly-traded multilevel marketing (MLM) competitor to Herbalife, began its long-awaited introduction of a new weight management product line to its distributors, located primarily in Asia and the U.S. As a follow up, we conducted discussions with many of our senior-level distributor contacts in the Herbalife organization located in these regions to determine the potential impact on Herbalife�� own weight management (i.e., Formula 1 shakes) sales. Based on our feedback, we believe Herbalife�� sales momentum has not skipped a beat, with almost all the distributors we spoke with indicating there was not even a slight deceleration in their business since the Nu Skin TR90 product launch.
- [By Rich Duprey]
Personal care products maker�Nu Skin Enterprises� (NYSE: NUS ) �announced today�its second-quarter dividend of $0.30 per share, the same rate it paid last quarter after it raised the payout 50% from $0.20 per share.
- [By Anora Mahmudova]
Nu Skin Enterprises (NUS) �shed 5.8% after it said in a 10-K filing on Tuesday that it expects to be fined and potentially face other sanctions in China following an investigation into its business practices.
Hot Performing Stocks To Invest In 2014: The Advisory Board Company(ABCO)
The Advisory Board Company, together with its subsidiaries, engages in the provision of best practices research and analysis, business intelligence and software tools, and management and advisory services primarily in the United States. The company offers various programs and services, including best practices research services that focus on identifying best-demonstrated management practices, critiquing widely-followed but ineffective practices, and analyzing emerging trends in the health care and education industries; business intelligence and software tools, which allow members to pair their own operational data with the best practices insights; and management and advisory services programs for assisting member institutions to adopt and implement best practices to enhance performance. As of June 30, 2011, it provided 51 distinct membership programs to hospitals, health systems, colleges, universities, pharmaceutical and biotech companies, health care insurers, medical de vice and supply companies, and other educational institutions. The company was founded in 1979 and is headquartered in Washington, District of Columbia.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Seth Jayson]
Advisory Board (Nasdaq: ABCO ) is expected to report Q4 earnings on May 9. Here's what Wall Street wants to see:
The 10-second takeaway
Comparing the upcoming quarter to the prior-year quarter, average analyst estimates predict Advisory Board's revenues will grow 17.4% and EPS will grow 21.7%. - [By Jeremy Bowman]
What: Shares of The Advisory Board Company (NASDAQ: ABCO ) were up as much as 12% today, after the consulting firm beat top and bottom-line estimates in its quarterly report.
Hot Performing Stocks To Invest In 2014: Lexmark International Inc.(LXK)
Lexmark International, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, engages in the development, manufacture, and supply of printing, imaging, document workflow, and content management solutions for offices in North and South America, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Asia, the Pacific Rim, and the Caribbean. It offers monochrome and color laser printers, laser multifunction products, inkjet all-in-one devices, dot matrix printers, and cartridges and other supplies; and services and solutions, including maintenance, consulting, and systems integration, as well as managed print services, such as asset lifecycle management, implementation and decommissioning services, consumables management, optimization services, and utilization management. The company also provides enterprise content management (ECM) software products, including ImageNow document management, document imaging, and workflow suite that allows users to capture, process, and collaborate on important documents and inform ation, protect data integrity throughout its lifecycle, and access precise content; and industry specific workflow solutions for the healthcare, higher education, government, and financial services industries, as well as for back office functions, including accounting, human resources, contracts, and records. Its software modules include Retention Policy Manager to manage the complete lifecycle of content from creation to destruction or disposition; Business Insight, which integrates IBM Cognos to provide industry and business process dashboards, operational and ad-hoc reporting, and report design tools; workflow software that automates processing steps, simplifies work tasks, and provides real-time monitoring; and eForms module, which enables the online entry and collection of raw data in electronic forms that are accessible from Web sites and portals. The company was founded in 1990 and is headquartered in Lexington, Kentucky.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Monica Gerson]
Lexmark International (NYSE: LXK) shares dipped 9.86% to $42.16 after the company reported Q1 adjusted earnings of $0.92 per share on revenue of $877.70 million.
- [By Sara Ashley O'Brien]
Fischer and Lexington Mayor Jim Gray founded the Bluegrass Economic Advancement Movement in 2011 to unite their cities around advanced manufacturing and support businesses like GE (GE), Toyota (TM) and Lexmark (LXK), which has helped fuel the state's overall economy.
- [By Maria Armental var popups = dojo.query(".socialByline .popC"); popups.forEach]
Lexmark International Inc.(LXK) raised its offer for Sweden-based ReadSoft AB(RSOF-B.SK) (RSOF-B.SK) following a competitive offer from Hyland Software U.K. Ltd. earlier Wednesday.
- [By Lee Jackson]
Lexmark International Inc. (NYSE: LXK) is another name that has slowly, but surely, lost its cache as an industry leader. Once one of the premiere names in high-end printers, the company continues to lose market share. It also has very little to offer in terms of innovation and new and exciting products. The stock does pay shareholders a solid 2.9% dividend. The Merrill Lynch price target is $31, and the consensus price target is $31.75. That is far below Friday’s closing price of $41.12.
Hot Performing Stocks To Invest In 2014: Allscripts Healthcare Solutions Inc.(MDRX)
Allscripts Healthcare Solutions, Inc. provides clinical, financial, connectivity, and information solutions and related professional services to hospitals, physicians, and post-acute organizations primarily in the United States and Canada. The company?s integrated clinical software applications include acute care electronic health records, clinical and practice management solutions, revenue cycle management software, clearinghouse services, stand-alone electronic prescribing, and document imaging solutions, as well as various solutions for home care, hospice, skilled nursing, and other post-acute organizations. It also provides electronic medical records software; practice management software; electronic claims administration services; related installation and training services; hosting services for its software and outsourced solutions; and information technology outsourcing services. In addition, the company also resells related hardware products. Allscripts Healthcare Solutions, Inc. is headquartered in Chicago, Illinois.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By George Putnam]
After a large acquisition, made in 2010, didn't work out as planned, Allscripts Healthcare Solutions (MDRX) put itself up for sale in early 2012. This created concern among its clients, and potential clients, and eventually led to the replacement of its long-time CEO in December 2012.
- [By Sean Williams]
What: Shares of Allscripts Healthcare Solutions (NASDAQ: MDRX ) , a health care information technology company, jumped as much as 10% after the company announced better-than-expected preliminary second-quarter booking results.
- [By Seth Jayson]
There's no foolproof way to know the future for Allscripts Healthcare Solutions (Nasdaq: MDRX ) or any other company. However, certain clues may help you see potential stumbles before they happen -- and before your stock craters as a result.
- [By Keith Speights]
As you might expect, large EHR systems vendors enthusiastically welcomed passage of HITECH. What company wouldn't enjoy having the government pay customers to buy its products and fine them if they didn't? Allscripts (NASDAQ: MDRX ) reported total revenue of $548 million in the fiscal year ending in May 2009. At the end of 2012, the company's annual revenue topped $1.4 billion -- thanks in no small part to Uncle Sam.
Hot Performing Stocks To Invest In 2014: LMP Real Estate Income Fund Inc (RIT)
LMP Real Estate Income Fund Inc. (the Fund) is a non-diversified, closed-end management investment company. The Fund�� primary investment objective is to provide high current income. Its secondary investment objective is capital appreciation. Legg Mason Partners Fund Advisor, LLC (LMPFA) is the Fund�� investment manager and AEW Management and Advisors, L.P. (AEW) is the Fund�� subadviser. LMPFA is a wholly owned subsidiary of Legg Mason, Inc.
The Fund invests in securities related to the real estate industry. Its portfolio includes common stocks, preferred stocks and short-term investments. The Fund invests in sectors, such as office, healthcare, diversified, apartments, industrial, shopping centers, home financing, lodging/resorts, regional malls and specialty.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Joe Eqcome]
Actionable Items:
Highest Positive Spread: Nuveen Mortgage Opportunity Term Fund (JLS)Focus Stock: LMP Real Estate Income Fund (RIT)Last Week's Focus Stock: ASA Gold and Precious Metals (ASA)ECB cuts its rates: The European Central Bank (ECB) will cut its benchmark rate a quarter-of-a-point to 0.5%.
- [By GURUFOCUS]
Special Purpose Funds- Eaton Vance Tax-Adv. Global Dividend Oppor. Fund (ETO) | Yield: 7.3%
- The Gabelli Global Utility & Income Trust (GLU) | Yield: 6.2%
- Pimco Global Stocksplus Income Fund (PGP) | Yield: 9.5%
- LMP Real Estate Income Fund Inc. (RIT) | Yield: 7.0%
Hot Performing Stocks To Invest In 2014: WisdomTree Japan Hedged Equity Fund (DXJ)
WisdomTree Japan Total Dividend Fund (The Fund) is a non-diversified fund. It seeks investment results that closely correspond to the price and yield performance, before fees and expenses, of the WisdomTree Japan Dividend Index (The Index).
The Index is a fundamentally weighted Index that measures the performance of dividend-paying companies incorporated in Japan, listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange and that meet other requirements necessary to be included in the WisdomTree DEFA Index. The Fund is managed by WisdomTree Asset Management, Inc.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By KIPLINGER]
Investors seeking to cash in on the Japanese stock market face a Catch-22. The government is trying to goose the economy by, among other things, lowering the value of the yen, a move designed to make Japanese exporters more competitive (see Japan�� Rebound Is for Real). But a falling yen harms U.S. investors because money they have in Japanese securities translates back into fewer bucks. Enter WisdomTree Japan Hedged Equity (DXJ), an exchange-traded fund that invests in the stocks of dividend-paying Japanese firms that have a market value of at least $100 million.
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