Do you honestly want to invest in stocks right now? It sure looks like the bull market is at least on spring break, if not over. But, if you are interested in putting some money to work just in case the pivot higher is right around the corner, then two firms say buy Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB).
Cantor Fitzgerald and Pivotal Research upgraded the social site leader to "Buy" from "Hold" recommendations. Both research teams set a price-target of $72, which is not a coincidence as they are both written by the same guy.
For the few who may not know, Facebook, Inc. (Facebook) is engaged in building products to create utility for users, developers, and advertisers. People use Facebook to stay connected with their friends and family, to discover what is going on in the world around them, and to share and express what matters to them to the people they care about. Developers can use the Facebook Platform to build applications and Websites that integrate with Facebook to reach its global network of users and to build personalized and social products. It offers advertisers a combination of reach, relevance, social context and engagement.
Best Restaurant Stocks For 2015: First Merchants Corporation(FRME)
First Merchants Corporation, a financial holding company, provides financial and banking products and services. Its deposit products include demand deposits, savings deposits, and certificates and other time deposits. The company?s loan products portfolio comprises commercial and industrial loans; agricultural production financing and other loans to farmers; real estate loans, including construction, commercial and farmland, and residential loans; individuals? loans for household and other personal expenditures; tax-exempt loans; lease financing; consumer loans; and other loans. It also rents safe deposit facilities; and provides personal and corporate trust services, brokerage services, and other corporate services, as well as letters of credit and repurchase agreements. The company operates through 79 banking locations in 23 Indiana and 2 Ohio counties, as well as through ATMs, check cards, interactive voice response systems, and Internet technology. In addition, First Merchants Corporation operates as a property, casualty, personal lines, and employee benefit insurance agency; and involves in life reinsurance business. The company was founded in 1893 and is headquartered in Muncie, Indiana.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Sean Williams]
For this week's round of "Better Know a Stock," I'm going to take a closer look at First Merchants (NASDAQ: FRME ) .
What First Merchants does
First Merchants is a financial holding company that provides community and commercial banking services primarily throughout Indiana, but also in Ohio. As of the first-quarter, First Merchants had $4.3 billion in total assets with total loans outstanding equaling $2.9 billion.
Hot Building Product Stocks To Invest In Right Now: Alps Jefferies TR/J CRB Global Commodty Eq Idx (CRBQ)
Jefferies | TR/J CRB Global Commodity Equity Index Fund (the Fund), formerly Thomson Reuters/Jefferies CRB Global Commodity Equity Index Fund, is an exchange traded fund (ETF). The Fund seeks investment results that replicate as closely as possible the price and yield performance of the Thomson Reuters/Jefferies In-The-Ground CRB Global Commodity Equity Index (the Index). The Index is a modified capitalization-weighted, float-adjusted, rules-based index designed to track the overall performance of a global universe of listed companies engaged in the production and distribution of commodities and commodity-related products and services in the sectors, such as agriculture, base/industrial metals, energy and precious metals. ALPS Advisors, Inc. is the investment adviser for the Fund. Arrow Investment Advisors, LLC is the investment sub-adviser for the Fund. Advisors' Opinion:- [By Richard Stavros]
Whereas in the 1970s there were limited ways to hedge against inflation, now there is a cornucopia of currency and international commodities instruments that can not only hedge against inflation but other global shocks, such as market bubbles and even war.
And it is these very scenarios that investors have been worried about. Since the beginning of the year, stocks, bonds and just about any investment you can think of have gyrated wildly at various times amid concerns of war, inflation and the possibility that the U.S. equity market is overvalued and headed for a correction.
In response, some market analysts in Bloomberg news reports have offered any number of wildly unsubstantiated statements for why investors should ignore today’s perils. They dismiss the danger posed by Russia�� annexation of Ukraine�� Crimea region (��utin will stop short of other countries or war with the West��. They also argue that the Federal Reserve chairwoman misspoke (��anet Yellen really didn�� mean a rate hike is coming soon. Inflation is under control. It was a rookie mistake��.
For my money, here’s the most outrageous: The Shiller Cyclically adjusted P/E metric which has predicted the 1929, 2000 and 2007 downturns doesn�� apply (��uggests only a slightly expensive market with low to moderate returns going forward on average��.
With new records being set by the S&P 500 in the last few months, it stands to reason that some investors have not needed much convincing to stay all in and buying. This mindset has prevailed, even as the impact of a Russian war or conflict, runaway inflation or a market correction could be devastating to investor portfolios, taking years to recover.
If you��e never thought of certain investments as “insurance,” it�� time to start now. Protecting wealth is as important as building wealth. And as previously mentioned, we have found that the Inflation Survival Letter�� Thri
Hot Building Product Stocks To Invest In Right Now: LogMein Inc.(LOGM)
LogMeIn, Inc. provides on-demand, remote-connectivity, collaboration, and support solutions to small and medium-sized businesses, information technology (IT) service providers, mobile carriers, and consumers in the United States and internationally. Its services include remote user access services, which allow users to access computers and other Internet-enabled devices to continue working while away from the office or to access personal systems while away from home; remote support and management services to deliver support and management of IT resources remotely; and remote collaboration to conduct online meetings and share documents, images, and their desktop with other users. The company?s remote user access services comprise LogMeIn Free, a free remote access service, which provides secure access to a remote computer or other Internet-enabled device; LogMeIn Pro, a remote access service; LogMeIn Hamachi, a hosted virtual private network service; and LogMeIn Ignition, a service that delivers access to remote computers that subscribe to LogMeIn Free or LogMeIn Pro. Its remote support and management services consist of LogMeIn Rescue, a Web-based remote support service to support remote computers and applications, and assist computer users via the Internet; LogMeIn Rescue+Mobile, an add-on of LogMeIn Rescue?s Web-based remote support service to remotely access and support smartphones and tablet computers; LogMeIn Central, a Web-based management console; and LogMeIn Backup, a service that subscribers install on two or more computers to create a backup network. The company?s remote collaboration services include join.me and join.me pro, which are browser-based online meetings and screen sharing services. LogMeIn, Inc. has a strategic agreement with Intel Corporation. The company was formerly known as 3am Labs, Inc. and changed its name to LogMeIn, Inc. in March 2006. LogMeIn, Inc. was founded in 2003 and is headquartered in Woburn, Massachu setts.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Brian Pacampara]
What: Shares of software company LogMeIn (NASDAQ: LOGM ) soared 21% today after its quarterly results and outlook topped Wall Street expectations.
Hot Building Product Stocks To Invest In Right Now: Barclays PLC (JO)
Barclays PLC (Barclays) is a global financial services provider engaged in retail banking, credit cards, wholesale banking, investment banking, wealth management and investment management services. The Company�� operations include its overseas offices, subsidiaries and associates. The Company operates in eight segments: UK Retail and Business Banking (UK RBB), Europe Retail and Business Banking (Europe RBB), Africa Retail and Business Banking (Africa RBB), Barclaycard, Barclays Investment Bank, Barclays Corporate Banking, Wealth and Investment Management, and Head Office and Other Operations. Advisors' Opinion:- [By Sean Williams]
Time for a cup of joe
Two years ago I slapped a CAPScall of underperform on the iPath DJ AIG Coffee ETF (NYSEMKT: JO ) following what looked like a rampant speculative run higher. Coffee stockpiles weren't particularly low back then and there didn't appear to be any weather-related production concerns, so the run-up in coffee futures looked unwarranted. Sure enough, two years later that CAPScall is up nearly 90 points. Now, I'm going to turn that frown upside down and suggest it's the perfect time to consider buying this ETF that closely tracks coffee futures!
Hot Building Product Stocks To Invest In Right Now: Bank Of Montreal (BMO)
Bank of Montreal, together with its subsidiaries, provides a range of retail banking, wealth management, and investment banking products and solutions in North America and internationally. It offers personal banking products and services to consumers and small businesses, including deposit and investment services, mortgages, consumer credit, small business lending, and other banking services; and commercial banking products and services to small business, medium-sized enterprise, and mid-market banking clients comprising lending, deposits, treasury management, and risk management services. The company also offers cards and payments services; investment and wealth advisory services; self-directed investing services; private banking services to high net worth and ultra-high net worth clients; investment fund solutions across a range of channels; pension plans; investment management services; and creditor insurance, and life insurance and annuity products and services. In add ition, it provides capital markets products and services, including equity and debt underwriting, corporate lending and project financing, mergers and acquisitions, restructurings and recapitalizations, balance sheet management, liquidity management, merchant banking, securitization, foreign exchange, derivatives, debt and equity research, and institutional sales and trading to corporate, institutional, and government clients. As of October 31, 2010, Bank of Montreal operated and maintained approximately 1,230 bank branches in Canada and the United States. The company was founded in 1817 and is headquartered in Toronto, Canada.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Dan Caplinger]
U.S. investors first became aware of the relative strength of Canadian banks during the U.S. financial crisis, but since then, they've realized the benefits of looking north of the border. Canada does have its own systemically important banks, which include not only Scotiabank but also Royal Bank of Canada (NYSE: RY ) , Bank of Montreal (NYSE: BMO ) , and three other large financial institutions, but high capital requirements have demonstrated their creditworthiness and relative safety.
- [By Laura Brodbeck]
Tuesday
Earnings Expected From: Bank of Montreal (NYSE: BMO), United Natural Foods, Inc. (NASDAQ: UNFI), OmniVision Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ: OVTI), Universal Technical Institute, Inc. (NYSE: UTI) Economic Releases Expected: Chinese HSBC Services PMI, Australian GDP, Brazilian GDP, eurozone PPI, British construction PMI.Wednesday
- [By Eric Volkman]
Bank of America's (NYSE: BAC ) Merrill Lynch, Wells Fargo's (NYSE: WFC ) Securities unit, KeyCorp (NYSE: KEY ) subsidiary KeyBanc Capital Markets, and Bank of Montreal's (NYSE: BMO ) BMO Capital Markets are the joint book-running managers of the issue.
Hot Building Product Stocks To Invest In Right Now: Urstadt Biddle Properties Inc. (UBP)
Urstadt Biddle Properties, Inc., a real estate investment trust (REIT), engages in the acquisition, ownership, and management of commercial real estate properties in the United States. Its properties primarily consist of neighborhood and community shopping centers, office buildings, and industrial properties in Fairfield County, Connecticut; Westchester and Putnam Counties, New York; and Bergen County, New Jersey. As of October 31, 2007, the company owned or had an equity interest in 39 properties containing approximately 3.7 million square feet of gross leasable area. As a REIT, it is not subject to federal income tax to the extent that it distributes at least 90% of its REIT taxable income to its stockholders. The company was founded in 1969 and is headquartered in Fairfield County, Connecticut.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Rich Smith]
Urstadt Biddle Properties (NYSE: UBP ) (NYSE: UBA ) -- the real estate investment trust with two tickers -- now has two separate executives at the top of its corporate structure, as well.