The technology sector is cheap, trading at only about, roughly 13 times forward estimates. This is a significant discount to the sector's 15-year forward and 20-year trailing averages of 23 and 26, respectively, observes Stephen Leeb in The Cash Cow.
Meanwhile, the fundamental picture for the technology sector looks very promising. The improving economic picture is likely to accelerate capital spending in this sector, something that has been sorely needed since the crisis.
Corporate investment in technology, as a percentage of GDP, has fallen to a nearly 15-year low, and the average age of tech equipment at companies is particularly high. As the economy improves and corporate leaders conclusively exhale, this will undoubtedly change.
Meanwhile, the industry is lean, margins are strong, pricing pressure has largely abated, and tech companies are financially sound, precisely when a new capital spending upcycle is about to begin.
The fourth quarter has historically been good for tech stocks and equities in general. The S&P 500 (SPX) has averaged a 4.26% gain since 1980, with all ten sectors also averaging positive returns over that same time span.
Best Gas Companies To Watch In Right Now: Allied World Assurance Company Holdings AG (AWH)
Allied World Assurance Company Holdings, AG operates as a specialty insurance and reinsurance company in Bermuda, Hong Kong, Ireland, Singapore, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, and the United States. It offers casualty insurance products that provide coverage for specialty type risks, such as professional liability, environmental liability, product liability, inland marine liability, healthcare liability risks, and commercial general liability products, as well as professional liability products, including policies covering directors and officers, employment practices, and fiduciary liability insurance. The company also provides a mix of errors and omissions liability coverages for various service providers comprising law firms, technology companies, insurance companies, insurance agents and brokers, and municipalities; primary and excess liability, and other casualty coverages to the healthcare industry, including hospitals and hospital systems, managed care organization s, and medical facilities, such as home care providers, specialized surgery and rehabilitation centers, and outpatient clinics; and general casualty products for a range of industries consisting of construction, real estate, public entities, retailers, manufacturing, transportation, and finance and insurance services, as well as workers compensation insurance products. In addition, it offers property insurance products covering physical property and business interruption for commercial property risks; and general property products covering risks for retail chains, real estate, manufacturers, hotels and casinos, and municipalities. Further, the company provides the reinsurance of property, general casualty, professional liability, specialty lines, property catastrophe, accident and health, and marine and aviation coverages. Allied World Assurance Company Holdings, AG was founded in 2001 and is headquartered in Baar, Switzerland.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By , Zacks Investment Research]
Here are five�stocks that made it through this week’s screen:
AmTrust Financial (AFSI) Allied World Assurance (AWH) Chatham Lodging Trust (CLDT) Federated National Holding Co. (FNHC) Whitewave Foods (WWAV)Get the rest of the stocks on this list and start screening for these companies on your own.
- [By Rich Duprey]
Specialty insurance provider�Allied World Assurance (NYSE: AWH ) announced yesterday its second-quarter dividend of $0.50 per share, a 33% increase from the payout it made last quarter of $0.375 per share, as approved by shareholders at the annual meeting last month.
Top Promising Stocks To Invest In 2014: Enersys (ENS)
EnerSys manufactures, markets, and distributes industrial batteries in the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and Asia. It offers reserve power products that are used for backup power for the continuous operation of critical applications in telecommunications systems, uninterruptible power systems applications for computer and computer-controlled systems, and in other specialty power applications, including security systems; starting, lighting, and ignition applications; switchgear and electrical control systems used in electric utilities and energy pipelines; and commercial aircraft, satellites, military aircraft, submarines, ships, and tactical vehicles. The company also offers motive power products that are used to provide power for manufacturing, warehousing, and other material handling equipment, including electric industrial forklift trucks, mining equipment, and diesel locomotive starting and other rail equipment. In addition, it offers industrial battery re lated products, such as chargers, power equipment, and battery accessories, as well as provides related after-market and customer-support services. EnerSys markets and sells its reserve power batteries principally under the ABSL, ABSL Power, ABSL Space, ArmaSafePlus, Cyclon, DataSafe, Genesis, Hawker, Huada, Odyssey, Oerlikon Battery, PowerSafe, and SuperSafe brand names; and motive power batteries primarily under the Douglas Battery, Express, Fiamm Motive Power, General Battery, Hawker, Huada, and Ironclad brand names through a network of distributors, independent representatives, and its internal sales force. The company was formerly known as Yuasa, Inc. and changed its name to EnerSys in January 2001 to reflect its focus on the energy systems business. EnerSys was founded in 1999 and is headquartered in Reading, Pennsylvania.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Dan Caplinger]
On Tuesday, EnerSys (NYSE: ENS ) will release its latest quarterly results. The key to making smart investment decisions on stocks reporting earnings is to anticipate how they'll do before they announce results, leaving you fully prepared to respond quickly to whatever inevitable surprises arise. That way, you'll be less likely to make an uninformed knee-jerk reaction to news that turns out to be exactly the wrong move.
- [By Rich Smith]
This series, brought to you by Yahoo! Finance, looks at which upgrades and downgrades make sense, and which ones investors should act on. Today, our headlines feature a pair of downgrades, for toolmaker Stanley Black & Decker (NYSE: SWK ) and electrical equipment maker EnerSys (NYSE: ENS ) alike. But the news isn't all bad, so before we address those two, let's take a look at why one analyst thinks that...
- [By Rich Duprey]
Stored energy solution specialist�EnerSys� (NYSE: ENS ) �announced yesterday�it would be initiating its first quarterly dividend payment of $0.125 per share, payable on June 28 to the holders of record at the close of business on June 14.��
Top Promising Stocks To Invest In 2014: Ultra Clean Holdings Inc.(UCTT)
Ultra Clean Holdings, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, engages in the design, development, engineering, manufacture, and sale of critical modules and subsystems primarily to original equipment manufacturers in semiconductor capital equipment, flat panel, medical, energy, and research industries. It offers gas delivery systems that control the flow, pressure, sequencing, and mixing of specialty gases into and out of the reaction chambers of semiconductor manufacturing tools; chemical mechanical planarization modules; chemical delivery modules, which deliver gases and reactive chemicals from a centralized subsystem to the reaction chamber; and top-plate assemblies that form the top portion of the reaction chamber. The company also provides frame assemblies that form the support structure to which other assemblies are attached and include pneumatic harnesses and cables that connect other critical subsystems together; process modules, which are subsystems of semiconductor manufacturing tools that process integrated circuits onto wafers; and other high level assemblies for use in semiconductor manufacturing, research, flat panel, energy, and medical equipment industries. It sells its products through its direct sales force primarily in North America, Asia, and Europe. Ultra Clean Holding, Inc. was founded in 1991 and is headquartered in Hayward, California.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By John Kell]
Ultra Clean Holdings Inc.(UCTT) swung to a fourth-quarter profit as the company recorded a surge in revenue. The company also issued a rosy first-quarter outlook, pushing shares up 17% to $13.94 premarket.
Top Promising Stocks To Invest In 2014: StanCorp Financial Group Inc.(SFG)
StanCorp Financial Group, Inc., through its subsidiaries, provides insurance products and asset management solutions in the United States. The company operates in two segments, Insurance Services and Asset Management. The Insurance Services segment offers group and individual disability, group life, group accidental death and dismemberment, group dental, and group vision insurance products, as well as absence management services to individuals and employers. This segment sells its group insurance products through sales representatives, as well as through independent employee benefit brokers and consultants; and individual disability insurance products through brokers and master general agents primarily to physicians, lawyers, executives, other professionals, and small business owners. As of December 31, 2010, it had approximately 31,000 group insurance policies in force covering approximately 6.8 million employees. The Asset Management segment provides 401(k) plans, 403(b) plans, 457 plans, defined benefit plans, money purchase pension plans, profit sharing plans, and non-qualified deferred compensation products and services through an affiliated broker-dealer. This segment also offers investment advisory and management, commercial mortgage loan origination and servicing, and financial planning services, as well as individual fixed-rate annuity, group annuity, and retirement plan trust products. In addition, the company owns and manages real estate properties for sale; and operates an online financial life planning and management service. StanCorp Financial Group, Inc. was founded in 1998 and is headquartered in Portland, Oregon.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Eric Volkman]
StanCorp Financial Group (NYSE: SFG )
Insurance and financial services company StanCorp Financial Group hands out its distribution once per year. It's that time of year for StanCorp, and this year's payout represents a substantial raise: The firm declared a $1.30 per-share dividend -- a meaty 18% higher than the 2013 payout of $1.10.
Top Promising Stocks To Invest In 2014: Fortescue Metals Group Ltd (FSUMF)
Fortescue Metals Group Limited (Fortescue) is an iron ore producer and explorer operating in the Pilbara region of Western Australia. Fortescue is engaged in mining of iron ore from its Cloudbreak and Christmas Creek mine sites, the operation of an integrated mine, rail and port supply chain and the expansion of iron ore operations. Its Cloudbreak mine site is located in the Chichester Ranges in the Pilbara region of Western Australia, 263 kilometers (km) south of Port Hedland and 150km north of Newman. Its Christmas Creek is second mining operation, 50 km to the east of Cloudbreak. The Company has also designed and constructed rail and port facilities to support the development and sale of the Pilbara's stranded iron ore bodies. Its subsidiaries include The Pilbara Infrastructure Pty Limited, FMG Pilbara Pty Limited, Chichester Metals Pty Limited, Pilbara Mining Alliance Pty Limited, and Karribi Developments Pty Limited. Advisors' Opinion:- [By MARKETWATCH]
LOS ANGELES (MarketWatch) -- Australian stocks rose modestly in early Tuesday trade, with the market reacting to a mixed batch of earnings. The S&P/ASX 200 (AU:XJO) added 0.2% to 5,391.80, with BHP Billiton Ltd. (AU:BHP) (BHP) rising 1.7% after its July-December profit almost doubled from a year earlier, beating forecasts. However, smaller rival Arrium Ltd. (AU:ARI) (ARRMF) added 2.5% after reporting a swing back to profit. Other miners got a bump up from rising commodity prices, as Newcrest Mining Ltd. (AU:NCM) (NCMGF) gained 2.3% and Fortescue Metals Group Ltd. (AU:FMG) (FSUMF) added 1.2%, though Oz Minerals Ltd. (AU:OZL) (OZMLF) slipped 0.4%. Shares of Coca-Cola Amatil Ltd. (AU:CCL) (CCLAF) slumped 5.1% after the drinks firm saw a more than 80% drop in 2013 profit, weighed by a writedown on its fruit-processing business. Packaging firm Amcor Ltd. (AU:AMC) (AMCRF) lost 4.6% after its fiscal-first-half profit fell by about a third.
- [By WWW.MARKETWATCH.COM]
LOS ANGELES (MarketWatch) -- Australia shares nudged lower early Friday, with the S&P/ASX 200 (AU:XJO) down 0.2% to erase the previous session's 0.2% gain, dragged by losses for European and U.S. equities on the back of a Portuguese financial crisis. Financials fell (Australia & New Zealand Banking Group (AU:ANZ) (ANEWF) and National Australia Bank Ltd. (AU:NAB) (NAUBF) each down 0.3%, Commonwealth Bank of Australia (AU:CBA) (CBAUF) down 0.4%, and Macquarie Group Ltd. (AU:MQG) (MCQEF) down 0.7%), and the top miners fared especially poorly (Rio Tinto Ltd. (AU:RIO) (RIO) down 1.2%, Oz Minerals Ltd. (AU:OZL) (OZMLF) down 1.1%, though BHP Billiton Ltd. (AU:BHP) (BHP) off just 0.1%). And while Atlas Iron Ltd. (AU:AGO) beat its production guidance, and Fortescue Metals Group Ltd. (AU:FMG) (FSUMF) missed its production guidance, both saw losses, with Atlas stock off 2.9% and Fortescue trading 1.6% lower. Among the gainers, Scentre Group
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