Wednesday, November 5, 2014

Best Investments For 2014

If you're planning to retire this year (or soon) what should you be doing right now? If you haven't quite figured that out, we can help.

It will certainly be challenging for many. Surveys and polls continually give us the depressing news that Americans are not prepared financially to retire. But many of us don't really have the option of delaying retirement.

"We believe that there will be a significant shortfall in terms of providing health care and retirement benefits to Baby Boomers who have not saved and will have a longer retirement than previous generations," says Ron Weiner, president of RDM Financial Group in Westport, Conn. "That could cause a significant increase in terms of taxation for those individuals who have actually saved for the future."

Adds Mark Fried, president of TFG Wealth Management in Newton, Pa.:"People spend more time worrying about their vacation this year than if they are going to be successful in retirement and how they are going to get there," he says. "It is when it's almost in front of them that people begin to focus in on it."

Hot Mid Cap Companies To Own For 2015: NGex Resources Inc (NGQRF.PK)

NGEx Resources Inc. (NGEx) is engaged in the acquisition, exploration, and development of precious and base metal properties located in North and South America. The Company�� projects include Josemaria Project, Vicuna Project, Tamberias Property, Colmillos project, Andrea Project, GJ/Kinaskan Property, Mogoraib (Hambok), Kerkebet, Shukula and Lelit, Bada Potash License and Congo-Brazzaville. Its Josemaria is a copper/gold porphyry project located in San Juan Province, Argentina. The Vicuna properties consist of approximately 31,650 hectares that covers a number of porphyry copper and high sulfidation gold targets in San Juan Province, Argentina. During the year ended December 31, 2011, it completed 9,643 meters of diamond drilling in 14 holes on its 60% owned Los Helados copper-gold project located in Chile. In October 2012, it sold its Hambok copper-zinc deposit to Bisha Mining Share Company. Advisors' Opinion:
  • [By The Investment Doctor]

    In this article I'll have a closer look at NGEX Resources (NGQRF.PK), a member of the Lunding Group which owns the extremely large Los Helados copper project in Chile, the Josemaria project in Argentina and the Filo del Sol project exactly on the border of Chile and Argentina. As these three properties are within 11 miles from each other, one can easily say NGEX is a potential district play.

Best Investments For 2014: Synopsys Inc (SNPS)

Synopsys, Inc., incorporated in 1986, is engaged in providing technology solutions used to develop electronics and electronic systems. It supplies the electronic design automation (EDA) software that engineers use to design, create prototypes for and test integrated circuits, also known as chips. It also supplies software and hardware used to develop the systems that incorporate integrated circuits and the software that runs on those integrated circuits. Its intellectual property (IP) products are pre-designed circuits that engineers use as components of larger chip designs rather than redesigning those circuits themselves. It also provides technical services to support its solutions and it help its customers develop chips and electronic systems. Its products and services are organized into four groups: Core EDA (which includes the Galaxy Design Platform, the Discovery Verification Platform and its Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) design products); IP and System-Level Solutions; Manufacturing Solutions and Professional Services. In July 2012, it acquired Ciranova. In October 2012, it acquired EVE. On November 30, 2012, the Company acquired SpringSoft. In February 2014, Synopsys Inc completed the acquisition of Target Compiler Technologies.

On September 2, 2010, the Company acquired Virage Logic Corporation. In October 2010, the Company acquired Optical Research Associates. In September 2011, the Company acquired nSys Design Systems Private Limited (nSys). In October 2011, the Company acquired Extreme DA. In January 2012, the Company acquired ExpertIO, Inc. In February 2012, the Company acquired Magma Design Automation Inc.

Core EDA products

The Company offers a number of Core EDA products to address the process. Its Core EDA products fall into the suites, which included the Galaxy Design Platform, which includes tools to design an integrated circuit; the Discovery Verification Platform, which includes tools to verify that an integrated circuit behaves! as intended, and the FPGA design products. Its Galaxy Design Platform provides its customers with a single, integrated chip design solution, which includes individual products and incorporates common libraries and consistent timing, delay calculation and constraints throughout the design process. The platform allows designers the flexibility to integrate internally-developed and third-party tools. With this advanced functionality, common foundation and flexibility, its Galaxy Design Platform reduces design times; decrease integration costs and minimize the risks inherent in advanced, integrated circuit designs. Its products span both digital and analog/mixed-signal designs.

The products included in the Galaxy Design Platform are the IC Compiler physical design solution, Design Compiler logic synthesis product, Galaxy Custom Designer physical design solution for analog/mixed-signal designs, PrimeTime/PrimeTime SI timing analysis products, StarRC product for extraction, and the Hercules and IC Validator physical verification product family. The Lynx Design System is a production-ready chip implementation environment that combines a Galaxy-based design flow, graphical user interface (GUI)-based runtime automation, design metrics capture and reporting, and utilities that automate the configuration of pre-validated foundry data. The Lynx Design System helps customers improve their productivity and optimally deploy Synopsys tools and methodologies.

The Company�� Discovery Verification Platform is an integrated portfolio of functional, analog/mixed-signal, formal and low-power verification products. The platform includes its simulation and verification products and design-for-verification methodologies, and provides a consistent control environment to help improve the speed, breadth and accuracy of its customers��verification efforts. The Discovery Verification Platform�� components support industry standards and span both digital and analog/mixed-signal designs. The principa! l product! s included in the Discovery Verification Platform are the VCS comprehensive RTL verification solution, Formality formal verification sign-off solution, NanoSim FastSPICE circuit simulation and analysis product, high-speed interface module (HSIM) hierarchical FastSPICE circuit simulation and analysis product, HSPICE circuit simulator, and CustomSim circuit simulation solution. FPGAs are chips that can be customized or programmed to perform a specific function after they are manufactured.

Intellectual Property (IP) and System-Level Solutions

Synopsys is a provider of high-quality, silicon-proven IP solutions for system-on-chip (SoC) designs. The broad DesignWare IP portfolio includes high quality solutions for widely used interfaces such as universal serial bus (USB), PCI Express, double data rate (DDR), Ethernet, serial advanced technology attachment (SATA) and high-definition multimedia interface (HDMI). In addition, Synopsys offers analog IP for high-definition video, analog-to-digital data conversion and audio. With its recent acquisition of Virage Logic Corporation, we added embedded memories, including static random access memory (SRAMs) and non-volatile memory, logic libraries, embedded test and repair IP and configurable processor cores, to its IP portfolio.

Synopsys has a portfolio of tools, models and services for the system-level design of SoCs. Primary system-level products include Platform Architect for architectural optimization, SPW and System Studio for algorithm design, Processor Designer for custom processor design, and Synphony Model and C Compiler for High Level Synthesis. In addition to these tools for the system-level design of SoCs, its portfolio includes prototyping tools for hardware verification, software development and hardware-software integration. With FPGA-based prototyping systems (HAPS), designers can speed embedded software development by three to six months with near real runtime speeds and real world interfaces, such as its pre-t! ested Des! ignWare IP components. The HAPS hardware systems are a modular, scalable and accurate way to model a chip. Its virtual prototyping solutions enable software engineers to start SoC and application software up to twelve months before traditional methods.

Manufacturing Solutions

The Company�� Manufacturing Solutions products and technologies address this problem by introducing manufacturability and yield considerations early in the design process, thereby improving yields. Some of its Manufacturing Solutions address mask-making and yield enhancement of very small-geometry integrated circuits, as well as high-level modeling of physical effects within the integrated circuit. Its Manufacturing Solutions include the Technology-CAD (TCAD) device modeling products, Proteus OPC optical proximity correction (OPC) products, CATS mask data preparation product and yield management solutions, including odyssey and recipe manager and editor (RME), and yield explorer.

Professional Services and Training

Synopsys provides consulting and design services that address all phases of the SoC development process. These services assist Synopsys customers with new tool and methodology adoption, chip architecture and specification development, functional and low power design and verification, and physical implementation and signoff. It also provides a range of expert training and workshops on its latest tools and methodologies.

Advisors' Opinion:
  • [By Anna Prior]

    Synopsys Inc.'s(SNPS) fiscal fourth-quarter profit nearly doubled on a top-line increase driven by growth in the company’s time-based license revenue. However, the company’s guidance for the current quarter came in below Wall Street expectations.

  • [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 Synopsys (Nasdaq: SNPS  ) , whose recent revenue and earnings are plotted below.

Best Investments For 2014: First Bancorp (FBP)

First Bancorp is a bank holding company. The Company is a service provider of financial services and products with operations in Puerto Rico, the United States and the United States and British Virgin Islands. The Company has six segments: Consumer (Retail) Banking; Commercial and Corporate Banking; Mortgage Banking; Treasury and Investments; United States Operations, and Virgin Islands Operations. The Company specializes in commercial banking, residential mortgage loan originations, finance leases, personal loans, small loans, auto loans, insurance agency and broker-dealer activities. As of December 31, 2011, it controlled two wholly owned subsidiaries: FirstBank and FirstBank Insurance Agency, Inc. (FirstBank Insurance Agency). FirstBank is a Puerto Rico-chartered commercial bank and FirstBank Insurance Agency is a Puerto Rico-chartered insurance agency. On February 16, 2011, FirstBank sold an asset portfolio consisting of performing and non-performing construction, commercial mortgage and C&I loans. The Company�� total investment securities portfolio as of December 31, 2011 amounted to $2 billion. As of December 31, 2011, the Company had a total deposit of $9.9 billion. Effective May 31, 2011, the Company purchased FirstBank-branded consumer credit card portfolio from FIA Card Services, N.A. and an affiliate.

Consumer (Retail) Banking

The Consumer (Retail) Banking segment consists of the Company�� consumer lending and deposit-taking activities conducted mainly through FirstBank�� branch network and loan centers in Puerto Rico. Loans to consumers include auto, boat and personal loans and lines of credit. Deposit products include interest bearing and non-interest bearing checking and savings accounts, Individual Retirement Accounts (IRA) and retail certificates of deposit. Retail deposits gathered through each branch of FirstBank�� retail network serve as one of the funding sources for the lending and investment activities. Credit card accounts are issued under Firs! tBank�� name through an alliance with a financial institution, which bears the credit risk.

Commercial and Corporate Banking

The Commercial and Corporate Banking segment consists of the Company�� lending and other services across a spectrum of industries ranging from small businesses to large corporate clients. FirstBank has developed expertise in industries, including healthcare, tourism, financial institutions, food and beverage, income-producing real estate and the public sector. The Commercial and Corporate Banking segment offers commercial loans, including commercial real estate and construction loans, and other products, such as cash management and business management services. A substantial portion of this portfolio is secured by the underlying value of the real estate collateral and the personal guarantees of the borrowers. The segment also includes the Company�� broker-dealer activities, which are primarily concentrated in bonds underwriting and financial advisory services provided to government entities in Puerto Rico.

Mortgage Banking

The Mortgage Banking segment conducts its operations mainly through FirstBank and its mortgage origination subsidiary, First Mortgage. These operations consist of the origination, sale and servicing of a variety of residential mortgage loan products. Originations are sourced through different channels, such as FirstBank branches, mortgage bankers and in association with new project developers. First Mortgage focuses on originating residential real estate loans, some of which conform to Federal Housing Administration (FHA), Veterans Administration (VA) and Rural Development (RD) standards. The Mortgage Banking segment also acquires and sells mortgages in the secondary markets. Most of the Company�� residential mortgage loan portfolio consists of fixed-rate, fully amortizing, full documentation loans.

Treasury and Investments

The Treasury and Investments segment is responsib! le for th! e Corporation�� treasury and investment management functions. The treasury function, which includes funding and liquidity management, sells funds to the Commercial and Corporate Banking segment, the Mortgage Banking segment, and the Consumer (Retail) Banking segment to finance their respective lending activities and purchases funds gathered by those segments and from the United States Operations segment. Funds not gathered by the different business units are obtained by the Treasury Division through wholesale channels, such as brokered deposits, advances from the FHLB and, repurchase agreements with investment securities, among others.

United States Operations

The United States Operations segment consists of all banking activities conducted by FirstBank in the United States mainland. FirstBank provides a range of banking services to individual and corporate customers primarily in southern Florida through its ten branches. The United States Operations segment offers an array of both retail and commercial banking products and services. Consumer banking products include checking, savings and money market accounts, retail certificates of deposit (CDs), Internet banking services, residential mortgages, home equity loans and lines of credit, automobile loans and credit cards through an alliance with a nationally recognized financial institution, which bears the credit risk. Deposits gathered through FirstBank�� branches in the United States also serve as a funding sources for lending and investment activities in Puerto Rico. The commercial banking services include checking, savings and money market accounts, CDs, Internet banking services, cash management services, remote data capture and automated clearing house (ACH), transactions. Loan products include the traditional commercial and industrial and commercial real estate products, such as lines of credit, term loans and construction loans.

Virgin Islands Operations

The Virgin Islands Operations seg! ment cons! ists of all banking activities conducted by FirstBank in the United States and British Virgin Islands, including retail and commercial banking services, with a total of fourteen branches serving the United States Virgin Islands of St. Thomas, St. Croix, and St. John, and the British Virgin Islands of Tortola and Virgin Gorda. The Virgin Islands Operations segment is driven by its consumer, commercial lending and deposit-taking activities.

Advisors' Opinion:
  • [By Laura Brodbeck]

    Monday

    Earnings Releases Expected: UGI Corporation (NYSE: UGI), Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE: YUM), First Bancorp. (NYSE: FBP) Economic Releases Expected: �Indian services PMI, Spanish services PMI, Italian services PMI, German services PMI, eurozone services PMI, British services PMI, German CPI, US ISM non-manufacturing PMI

    Tuesday

  • [By John Udovich]

    For investors looking for exposure to the US commonwealth of Puerto Rico, banking stocks Doral Financial Corp (NYSE: DRL), First Bancorp (NYSE: FBP), OFG Bancorp (NYSE: OFG) and Popular Inc (NASDAQ: BPOP) offer the best bet as these Puerto Rico stocks trade on major US exchanges rather than the OTC. However, it should be mentioned that there has been a slowdown in Puerto Rico�� economy which has also shrunk in five of the past seven fiscal years. Then last�February, Puerto Rico�� debt was cut to speculative grade by the three largest credit-rating companies while�Governor Alejandro Garcia Padilla has proposed a series of budget cuts to help tackle the island�� mounting debt load -including the freezing public workers��salaries and the closing about 100 schools.

Best Investments For 2014: Washington Federal Inc (WAFD)

Washington Federal, Inc., incorporated on November 15, 1994, is a bank holding company, which conducts its operations through a federally-insured savings association subsidiary, Washington Federal (Bank). The Bank is a federal savings association. The business of the Bank consists of attracting deposits from the general public and investing these funds in loans of various types, including first lien mortgages on single-family dwellings, construction loans, land acquisition and development loans, loans on multi-family and other income producing properties, home equity loans and business loans. It also invests in United States government and agency obligations and other investments permitted by applicable laws and regulations. As of September 30, 2013, Washington Federal had 182 full service branches located in Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Arizona, Utah, Nevada, New Mexico and Texas. Through its subsidiaries, the Company is also engaged in real estate investment and insurance brokerage activities. The principal sources of funds for the Company's activities are retained earnings, loan repayments (including prepayments), net deposit inflows, repayments and sales of investments and borrowings. Washington Federal's principal sources of revenue are interest on loans and interest and dividends on investments. Its principal expenses are interest paid on deposits, credit costs, general and administrative expenses, interest on borrowings and income taxes. On October 31, 2012, South Valley Bancorp, Inc. merged with and into the Company, followed by the merger of South Valley's wholly owned subsidiary, South Valley Bank & Trust, into the Bank.

Lending Activities

As of September 30, 2013, the Company's net portfolio of loans totaled $7.5 billion representing approximately 58% of its total assets. The Company concentrates its lending activities on the origination of 30-year, fixed-rate mortgage loans, which are neither insured nor guaranteed by agencies of the United States government. Washin! gton Federal's lending activity is concentrated on the origination of loans secured by real estate, including long-term fixed-rate mortgage loans, adjustable-rate construction loans, adjustable-rate land development loans, fixed-rate multi-family loans and business loans.

The Company's lending activity is the origination of real estate mortgage loans to purchase or refinance single-family residences. The Company also originates a range of construction and land development loans, along with multi-family residential and commercial loans. As of September 30, 2013, single-family residential loans totaled $5.4 billion, or 67.2% of the Company's gross loan portfolio; construction- speculative loans totaled$131 million, or 1.6% of the Company's gross loan portfolio; construction - custom loans totaled $303 million, or 3.8% of the Company's gross loan portfolio; land acquisition and development loans totaled $82 million, or 1.0% of the Company's gross loan portfolio; land - consumer lot loans totaled $125 million, or 1.6% of the Company's gross loan portfolio; multi-family loans totaled $836 million, or 10.5% of the Company's gross loan portfolio; commercial real estate loans totaled $625 million, or 7.8% of the Company's gross loan portfolio; commercial and industrial loans totaled $326 million, or 4.1% of the Company's gross loan portfolio; home equity line of credit (HELOC) loans totaled $134 million, or 1.7% of the Company's gross loan portfolio and consumer loans totaled $55 million, or 0.7% of the Company's gross loan portfolio.

The Company originates 30 year fixed-rate loans secured by single-family residences. The Company originates construction loans to finance construction of single-family and multi-family residences, as well as commercial properties. Loans made to individuals for construction of their home generally are 30 year fixed rate loans. Multi-family residential (five or more dwelling units) loans are secured by multi-family rental properties, such as apartment build! ings.

!

The Company makes various types of business loans to customers in its market area for working capital, acquiring real estate, equipment or other business purposes, such as acquisitions. The terms of these loans range from less than one year to a maximum of 10 years. Consumer loans are home improvement loans made through third party originators that bear interest at rates of 10% and higher.

Investment Activities

As a federal association, the Bank is obligated to maintain adequate liquidity and does so by holding cash and cash equivalents and by investing in securities. These investments include, among other things, certain certificates of deposit, repurchase agreements, bankers��acceptances, loans to financial institutions whose deposits are federally-insured, federal funds, United States government and agency obligations and mortgage-backed securities.

Sources of Funds

Deposits are the source of the Company�� funds for use in lending and other general business purposes. In addition to deposits, Washington Federal derives funds from loan repayments, advances from the Federal Home Loan Bank (FHLB) and other borrowings and from investment repayments and sales. The Company�� deposits are obtained from residents of Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Arizona, Utah, Nevada, New Mexico and Texas. The Company obtains advances from the FHLB upon the security of the FHLB capital stock it owns and certain of its loans, provided certain standards related to credit worthiness have been met. The Company also uses reverse repurchase agreements as a form of borrowing. Under reverse repurchase agreements, the Company sells an investment security to a dealer for a period of time and agrees to buy back that security at the end of the period and pay the dealer a stated interest rate for the use of the dealer's funds. The Company also offers two forms of repurchase agreements to its customers. One form has an interest rate, which floats like that of a money market d! eposit ac! count. The other form has a fixed rate and is offered in a minimum denomination of $100,000. Both forms are fully collateralized by securities. As of September 30, 2013, the Company had $46.1 million of such agreements outstanding.

Advisors' Opinion:
  • [By Eric Volkman]

    Washington Federal (NASDAQ: WAFD  ) is keeping its dividend level even as it effects a corporate transformation by the end of next month. The company has declared a quarterly distribution of $0.09 per share, to be paid on July 19 to shareholders of record as of July 5. That amount matches the firm's previous distribution, which was paid in April. Prior to that, it handed out a penny less at $0.08 per share.

  • [By Brian Pacampara]

    What: Shares of financial holding company Washington Federal (NASDAQ: WAFD  ) climbed as high as 10% today after its quarterly results topped Wall Street expectations.�

Best Investments For 2014: Vail Resorts Inc. (MTN)

Vail Resorts, Inc., through its subsidiaries, operates resorts in the United States. The company operates in three segments: Mountain, Lodging, and Real Estate. The Mountain segment operates eight ski resort properties, including the Vail Mountain, Breckenridge Ski, Keystone, Beaver Creek, Heavenly Mountain, Northstar, Kirkwood Mountain, and Canyons resorts; and two urban ski areas, such as Afton Alps and Mount Brighton Ski areas, as well as provides ancillary services, primarily ski school, dining, and retail/rental operations. Its resorts offer various recreational activities comprising skiing, snowboarding, snowshoeing, snowtubing, sightseeing, mountain biking, guided hiking, children's activities, and other recreational activities, as well as ski and snowboard lessons, equipment rental and retail merchandise services, dining venues, and private club services. This segment also leases its owned and leased commercial space; and provides real estate brokerage services. Th e Lodging segment owns and/or manages a collection of luxury hotels under the RockResorts brand, and other lodging properties; various condominiums located in and around the company�s ski resorts; destination resorts; and golf courses, as well as offers resort ground transportation services. This segment operates approximately 5,100 owned and managed hotel and condominium rooms. The Real Estate segment owns, develops, markets, and sells real estate properties in and around the company�s resort communities. Vail Resorts, Inc. was founded in 1997 and is based in Broomfield, Colorado.

Advisors' Opinion:
  • [By Jeremy Bowman]

    Finally, shares of Vail Resorts (NYSE: MTN  ) were taking a spill, down 3.4%, as a lack of snow in the Lake Tahoe region put a dent in earnings during the all-important winter ski season. Earnings per share fell from $1.65 to $1.60, missing estimates of $1.88, while revenue increased 7% to $452.7 million, below the consensus at $471.2 million. Separately, Vail announced it was doubling its quarterly dividend to $0.415, giving investors a yield of 2.4%. Considering the unpredictable nature of the weather and therefore earnings for Vail, investors may want to overlook the bottom-line miss for now and take solace in the generous dividend hike.

Best Investments For 2014: BHP Billiton Limited(BHP)

BHP Billiton Limited, together with its subsidiaries, operates as a diversified natural resources company worldwide. The company engages in the exploration, development, and production of oil and gas; mining and refining of bauxite into alumina, and smelting of alumina into aluminum metal; and mining of copper, silver, lead, zinc, molybdenum, uranium, gold, diamonds, and titanium minerals, as well as development of potash deposits. It also involves in the mining and production of nickel products, manganese ore, and manganese metal and alloys, as well as in the mining of iron ore, metallurgical coal, and thermal coal. BHP Billiton Limited sells its copper, lead, and zinc concentrates, and alumina to smelters; copper cathodes to wire rod mills, brass mills, and casting plants; uranium oxide to electricity generating utilities; rough diamonds to diamond buyers and diamond manufacturers; nickel products to stainless steel, specialty alloy, foundry, chemicals, and refractory ma terial industries; metallurgical coal to steel producers; and energy coal to power stations, power generators, and industrial users. The company, formerly known as BHP Limited, was founded in 1885 and is headquartered in Melbourne, Australia.

Advisors' Opinion:
  • [By Rich Duprey]

    Could the timing be any worse? Just as Rio Tinto (NYSE: RIO  ) and BHP Billiton (NYSE: BHP  ) are shedding assets to focus more intently on their iron ore business, analysts at Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS  ) say the whole industry is about to get dusted from a supply glut. It anticipates that inventories will widen next year and expand through 2018, causing prices to tumble by more than a third just this year alone.

  • [By Corinne Gretler]

    BHP Billiton Ltd. (BHP) retreated to a seven-month low after the world�� largest mining company said third-quarter iron ore production rose less than expected. Volkswagen AG and Bayerische Motoren Werke AG fell at least 2.8 percent as data showed European car sales fell 10 percent in March. Tesco Plc (TSCO) lost 3.9 percent after reporting the first annual profit drop in almost 20 years and saying it will exit the U.S.

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