Nowadays everybody loves index funds. What�� not to love? On average, index funds outpace roughly two-thirds of actively managed funds. And because most major market indexes are way up since the nadir of the bear market on March 9, 2009, anyone who has been in an index fund since then has undoubtedly earned a lot of money.
See Also: How to Pick the Best Index Funds
Consider just a few performance numbers: Standard & Poor�� 500-stock index has returned an annualized 25.6% (192.2% on a cumulative basis). The Russell 2000 index of small companies has done even better, soaring an annualized 29.9% (242.2% cumulative). The MSCI EAFE index, which follows stocks in developed foreign markets, has risen an annualized 20.8% (143.2% cumulative). Even Barclays Aggregate U.S. Bond index, which tracks the high-quality part of the domestic bond market, has gained an annualized 5.1%, or a cumulative 26.5%. (All returns are through November 19.)
Best Oil Stocks To Buy For 2015: LKA Gold Inc (LKAI)
LKA Gold Inc, formerly LKA International, Inc., incorporated on March 16, 1988, owns certain property interests, including mining claims, water rights, buildings, fixtures, improvements, equipment, and permits situated near Lake City, Colorado. The Company�� the Lake City, Colorado Properties include the Ute-Ule silver mine and milling facility and the Golden Wonder gold mine (respectively, the Ute-Ule Property and the Golden Wonder Property or, collectively, the Properties). The Company owns a 100% interest in the Ute-Ule and Golden Wonder Properties. The Properties consist of certain mining claims and a milling facility located in Hinsdale County, Colorado. As of December 31, 2011, LKA was engaged in exploration and limited production at the Golden Wonder mine.
The Ute-Ule Property consists of 23 patented mining claims located approximately four miles west of Lake City, Colorado. A 100 ton-per-day flotation mill, including various equipment and support facilities, exists on the Ute-Ule Property. The Golden Wonder, near Lake City, Colorado, is located in the historic Colorado Mineral Belt.The Golden Wonder Property consists of three patented and 25 unpatented mining claims located approximately 2- 1/2 miles south of Lake City, Colorado.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Peter Graham]
Small cap mining stocks US Tungsten Corp (OTCMKTS: USTU) and LKA Gold Inc (OTCMKTS: LKAI) along with biotech Entest BioMedical Inc (OTCMKTS: ENTB) have been getting some attention lately in various investment newsletters with at least one of these stocks being the subject of paid promotions while another could soon be the subject of an investor relations campaign. But will any of these small cap stocks be winners for investors or traders? Here is a quick reality check:
Top Quality Companies To Own For 2014: Compressco Partners LP (GSJK)
Compressco Partners, L.P. is a provider of wellhead compression-based production enhancement services (production enhancement services). The Company provides its services to a base of natural gas and oil exploration and production companies operating throughout many of the onshore producing regions of the United States, as well as in Canada and Mexico. Its production enhancement services primarily consist of wellhead compression, related liquids separation, gas metering, and vapor recovery services. It also provides ongoing well monitoring services, and, in Mexico, automated sand separation services in connection with its primary production enhancement services. It design and manufacture most of the compressor units it use to provide its production enhancement services. Compressco Partners GP, Inc. is the general partner of the Company. In January 2014, the Company announced that it has completed the acquisition of Compression assets for gas lift markets as part of its defined strategic growth objectives.
GasJack unit fleet
The Company�� GasJack unit allows it to perform compression, liquids separation and optional gas metering services all from one skid. The Company focuses on the natural gas wells in its operating regions that produce between 30,000 and 300, 000 cubic feet of natural gas per day (Mcf/d) and less than 50 barrels of water per day. The Company primarily utilize its natural gas powered GasJack compressors, or GasJack units, to provide wellhead compression services. Its GasJack units increase gas production by reducing surface pressure, which allows wellbore fluids that would normally block gas flow to produce up the well. The 46-horsepower GasJack unit is an integrated power/compressor unit equipped with an industrial 460-cubic inch, V-8 engine that uses natural gas from the well to power one bank of cylinders that, in turn, powers the other bank of cylinders, which provide compression. As of December 31, 2011, the Company had a fleet of 3,145 GasJack units.!
VJack unit fleet
The Company utilizes its electric VJack compressors, or VJack units, to provide its production enhancement services on wells located in larger, mature oil fields, such as the Permian Basin in West Texas and New Mexico, and in environmentally sensitive markets, such as California, when electric power is available at the production site. Its VJack unit is designed for vapor recovery applications (to capture natural gas vapors emitting from closed storage tanks after production and to reduce storage tank pressures) and backside pumping applications on oil wells (to reduce pressures caused by casing head gas in oil wells with pumping units). Based on GasJack unit technology, the VJack unit is capable of full wellbore stream production, and can handle up to 50 barrels per day of liquids on a standard skid package. As of December 31, 2011, it had a fleet of 50 VJack units. Its GasJack and VJack compressor units are mounted on steel skids.
ePumper system
Utilizing its ePumper system, SCADA satellite telemetry-based reporting system, it remotely monitor in real time, whether its services are being continuously provided at each well site. The ePumper system improves the response time of its field personnel.
Well Monitoring and Automated Sand Separation Services
The Company also provides ongoing well monitoring services and, in Mexico, automated sand separation services. Its well monitoring services consist of ongoing testing and evaluation of wells to determine how its wellhead compression services are optimizing the production from a well.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Marc Bastow]
Wellhead compression products manufacturer Compressco Partners (GSJK) raised its quarterly dividend 1.7% to 43.75 cents per share, payable on Feb. 14 to shareholders of record as of Jan. 31.
GSJK Dividend Yield: 7.60%
Top Quality Companies To Own For 2014: Empire State Realty Trust Inc (ESRT)
Empire State Realty Trust, Inc., incorporated on July 29, 2011, is a self-administered and self-managed real estate investment trust (REIT), which owns, manages, operates, acquires and repositions office and retail properties in Manhattan and the greater New York metropolitan area. The Company operates in two segments: real estate and construction contracting. As of June 30, 2013, the Company owned 12 office properties (including one long-term ground leasehold interest) encompassing approximately 7.7 million rentable square feet of office space, which were approximately 83.5% leased (or 86.2% giving effect to leases signed but not yet commenced as of that date). Seven of these properties are located in the midtown Manhattan market and encompass in the aggregate approximately 5.9 million rentable square feet of office space, including the Empire State Building. Its Manhattan office properties also contain an aggregate of 440,615 rentable square feet of retail space on their ground floor and/or lower levels. Its remaining five office properties are located in Fairfield County, Connecticut and Westchester County, New York, encompassing in the aggregate approximately 1.8 million rentable square feet.
The Company has entitled land at the Stamford Transportation Center in Stamford, Connecticut, adjacent to one of its office properties, that supports the development of an approximately 380,000 rentable square foot office building and garage, which refers to herein as Metro Tower. As of June 30, 2013, its portfolio also included four standalone retail properties located in Manhattan and two standalone retail properties located in the city center of Westport, Connecticut, encompassing 204,452 rentable square feet in the aggregate. As of June 30, 2013, its standalone retail properties were 100% leased in the aggregate. In addition, the Company has an option to acquire from affiliates of its predecessor two additional Manhattan office properties encompassing approximately 1.5 million rentable squar! e feet of office space and 153,209 rentable square feet of retail space at the base of the buildings.
The Empire State Building is the Company�� flagship property. The 102-story building consists of 2,701,938 rentable square feet of office space and 167,788 rentable square feet of retail space. The building also includes its observatory and broadcasting operations. The Company�� portfolio includes retail properties located in retail corridors in Manhattan and Westport, Connecticut. Tenants at 10 Union Square in Manhattan include Best Buy Mobile, Starbucks, A&P, Panera Bread, FedEx/Kinko��, Au Bon Pain, Chipotle Mexican Grill, and GameStop. In the greater New York metropolitan area, its portfolio includes high quality suburban office properties in densely populated metropolitan communities in Fairfield County, Connecticut and Westchester County, New York. tenants of the greater New York metropolitan area flagship Metro Center (at the Transportation Center in Stamford, Connecticut) include Thomson Reuters, Jefferies Group, Columbus Circle Investors, Torm Shipping, Olympus Partners, BP Energy, Tweedy, Browne Company and Susquehanna International.
The Company approximately has 242 million square feet of rentable space, which are contained within Midtown�� multi-tenant office buildings. Downtown Chicago and the Washington, D.C. CBD combine has a total of 230 million square feet of office space. Three-quarters 75.3% of Midtown�� office stock is classified as Class A with total square footage of 182 million square feet. The Company approximately has 43.9 million square feet of Midtown office space is counted as Class B stock, accounting for 18.2% of the total market. The remaining 6.5% of Midtown office space (15.8 million square feet) is categorized as Class C space. The Grand Central submarket is a office submarket in Midtown Manhattan with 44 million square feet and is located on the east side of Midtown Manhattan, to the north of Murray Hill and to the south of the Park ! Avenue co! rridor.
The West Side office submarket, located to the south and west of Central Park and including the area around Columbus Circle, consists of 25.8 million square feet of office space. Westchester County contains approximately 28.9 million square feet of office space and is split into six submarkets: White Plains CBD and non-CBD, Northern, Central, Eastern and Southern. The White Plains CBD is situated in south central Westchester County, along the Cross-Westchester Expressway (Interstate 287) corridor between the Sprain Brook Parkway and the Hutchinson River Parkway. The submarket consists of approximately 6.3 million square feet of office space and is defined to include the area south of Barker Avenue, north of Quinby Avenue, east of the Bronx River Parkway and west of South Broadway/Post Road. Westchester�� Eastern office submarket consists of 6.5 million square feet of space and is located to the east of White Plains, between New Rochelle and the Connecticut state border.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Jonas Elmerraji]
We're seeing a similar setup in shares of Empire State Realty Trust (ESRT), the $1.5 billion commercial landlord that counts Manhattan's Empire State Building among its 7.7 million leasable square feet of office space. ESRT is a relative newcomer to the public markets, trading for the first time back in October.
But just like PEB, Empire State is forming an ascending triangle setup -- in this case, with the resistance level to watch at $15.50. In fact, that $15.50 level has acted like a ceiling for shares five times now since last December; each of those times, shares have gotten swatted lower. That means that a breakout above $15.50 is a materially significant buy trigger.
When $15.50 does get taken out, I'd recommend keeping a protective stop at the 50-day moving average. That level has been a good proxy for ESRT's support line over the course of the whole pattern.
Top Quality Companies To Own For 2014: DENTSPLY International Inc.(XRAY)
DENTSPLY International Inc. designs, develops, manufactures, and markets dental consumable products, dental laboratory products, and dental specialty products worldwide. The company?s dental consumable products include dental sundries, such as dental anesthetics, prophylaxis pastes, dental sealants, impression materials, restorative materials, tooth whiteners, and topical fluoride; and small equipment, including high and low speed handpieces, intraoral curing light systems, dental diagnostic systems, and ultrasonic scalers and polishers used in dental offices for the treatment of patients. Its dental laboratory products comprise dental prosthetics, including artificial teeth, precious metal dental alloys, dental ceramics, and crown and bridge materials, as well as equipment, such as computer aided machining ceramic systems and porcelain furnaces used in the preparation of dental appliances by dental laboratories. The company?s dental specialty products consist of endodonti c instruments and materials, implants and related products, bone grafting materials, 3D digital implantology, and orthodontic appliances and accessories. Its customers include dentists, dental hygienists, dental assistants, dental laboratories, and dental schools. The company distributes its dental products directly to dental laboratories and dental professionals, as well as through distributors, dealers, and importers. DENTSPLY International Inc. was founded in 1983 and is headquartered in York, Pennsylvania.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Ben Levisohn]
Shares of Align have surged 24% to $57 at 12:37 p.m. Sirona Dental Systems (SIRO) has risen 0.8% to $69.61, Dentsply International (XRAY) is up 0.1% at $45.44, Integra Lifesciences (IART) has� gained 0.4% to $44.23 and Danaher (DHR) has fallen 0.3% to $72.13.
- [By John Udovich]
Yesterday, small cap dental stock BIOLASE Inc (NASDAQ: BIOL) surged 17.69% after announcing it had received a license from the Health Canada-Medical Device Bureau to sell its EPIC dental soft-tissue diode laser systems throughout Canada, meaning its worth taking a closer look at the stock along with the performance of mid cap dental stocks like Sirona Dental Systems, Inc (NASDAQ: SIRO), DENTSPLY International Inc (NASDAQ: XRAY) and Align Technology, Inc (NASDAQ: ALGN).
Top Quality Companies To Own For 2014: Tetra Tech Inc.(TTEK)
Tetra Tech Inc., together with its subsidiaries, provides consulting, engineering, program management, construction management, and technical services for water, natural resources, environment, infrastructure, and energy sectors. The company operates in four segments: Engineering and Consulting Services (ECS), Technical Support Services (TSS), Engineering and Architecture Services (EAS), Remediation and Construction Management (RCM). The ECS segment offers front-end science, consulting engineering, and project management services in the areas of surface water management, groundwater, waste management, mining and geotechnical sciences, arctic engineering, industrial processes, and information technology. The TSS segment provides management consulting and strategic direction in the areas of environmental assessments/hazardous waste management, climate change, international development/stabilization, energy services, and technical government staffing services. The EAS segment offers engineering and architecture design services, including leadership in energy and environmental design (LEED) and sustainability services, together with technical and program administration services for projects related to water infrastructure, buildings, and transportation and facilities. The RCM segment provides environmental remediation, infrastructure development, and alternative energy services. The company offers its services to the U.S. federal, state, and local government agencies, as well as to commercial and international clients. Tetra Tech, Inc. was founded in 1966 and is headquartered in Pasadena, California.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Canadian Value]
Position % of Fund Assets 1) First American Financial Corp. (FAF) 7.0% 2) Apple, Inc. (AAPL) 6.5% 3) Coinstar, Inc. (CSTR) 4.8% 4) EMC Corp. (EMC) 4.4% 5) Coach, Inc. (COH) 4.4% 6) Kohl's Corp. (KSS) 4.1% 7) Blucora, Inc. (BCOR) 4.0% 8) Tetra Tech, Inc. (TTEK) 3.1% 9) OM Group, Inc. (OMG) 3.0% 10) American International Group, Inc. (AIG) 2.8% TOTAL 44.1% One area that we believe still offers some value in the market is in high quality, large��ap technology stocks that may be momentarily out��f��avor as they transition from rapid growth to slower growth. In particular, we become interested when that transition is also accompanied by a change in capital allocation policies designed to return more cash to shareholders in the form of dividends and share repurchases. We believe that Apple and EMC are two of the absolute highest quality technology businesses in the world and both have recently announced very material, shareholder��friendly changes to how they will allocate capital.
- [By Rich Smith]
The Department of Defense awarded a dozen separate contracts Thursday, worth more than $225 million in aggregate. Notable winners (among publicly traded companies) included:
- [By Rich Smith]
The U.S. Department of Defense announced the award of 10 separate contracts Thursday, worth a bit over $340 million in aggregate value. Boeing and Raytheon claimed about one third of the money on offer, apiece. As for other companies participating in Pentagon funding, these included the following:
Top Quality Companies To Own For 2014: Microsemi Corporation(MSCC)
Microsemi Corporation engages in the design, manufacture, and marketing of analog and mixed-signal integrated circuits (IC) and semiconductors primarily in the United States, Europe, and Asia. Its products include individual components and IC solutions that offer light, sound, and power management for desktop and mobile computing platforms, LCD TVs, and other power control applications. These products are used in notebook computers, data storage, wireless local area network, LCD backlighting, LCD TVs, LCD monitors, automobiles, telecommunications, test instruments, defense and aerospace equipment, sound reproduction, and data transfer equipment. The company?s semiconductor products include silicon rectifiers, zener diodes, low leakage and high voltage diodes, temperature compensated zener diodes, transistors, subminiature high power transient suppressor diodes, and pin diodes used in magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) machines. It also manufactures semiconductors for commer cial applications, such as automatic surge protectors, transient suppressor diodes used for telephone applications, and switching diodes used in computer systems. In addition, the company provides electronic components and systems for the defense and aerospace markets; multi-band radio frequency integrated circuit solutions; and anti-tamper solutions to defense clients in securing systems against tampering, piracy, and reverse engineering. It markets its products directly, as well as through electronic component distributors and independent sales representatives to the defense and security, aerospace, enterprise and communication, and industrial and alternative energy markets. The company was formerly known as Microsemiconductor Corporation and changed its name to Microsemi Corporation in February 1983. Microsemi Corporation was founded in 1960 and is headquartered in Aliso Viejo, California.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Lauren Pollock]
Microsemi Corp.(MSCC) agreed to pay almost $298 million to acquire Symmetricom Inc.(SYMM), a deal that will expand the power-management supplier’s exposure into the aerospace and defense industries while also immediately adding to earnings. Shares in Symmetricom soared.
- [By Seth Jayson]
Calling all cash flows
When you are trying to buy the market's best stocks, it's worth checking up on your companies' free cash flow once a quarter or so, to see whether it bears any relationship to the net income in the headlines. That's what we do with this series. Today, we're checking in on Microsemi (Nasdaq: MSCC ) , whose recent revenue and earnings are plotted below. - [By Seth Jayson]
Calling all cash flows
When you are trying to buy the market's best stocks, it's worth checking up on your companies' free cash flow once a quarter or so, to see whether it bears any relationship to the net income in the headlines. That's what we do with this series. Today, we're checking in on Microsemi (Nasdaq: MSCC ) , whose recent revenue and earnings are plotted below.
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