No news, is no news–and stocks are little changed this morning. But that doesn’t mean that the political turmoil in the U.S. isn’t front and center in just about everyone’s mind.
European Pressphoto AgencyWho’s concerned? Well, let’s see. There’s the IMF, which plans to make the political turmoil in the U.S�the focus of its meeting this week. Wall Street types, too, are fretting, as they warn about the ramifications of prioritizing some payments over others. And China and Japan are worried too, as both warn the U.S. to get its act together.
Still, the S&P 500 has ticked down 0.1% to 1,675.50, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average is off 0.1% at 14,920.63.
The Lindsey Group’s Peter Boockvar explains the ramifications of international concern:
Japan joined China in telling the US government that they better be careful with the handling of US debt where both countries hold about $2.5T worth. While both will be fully repaid, we have to wonder how tolerant in the future the two will be with not only holding their existing stock of US Treasuries but what their appetite will be in buying more at their historic pace. At some point QE will end (who knows when now) and the US Treasury will need some big buyers to step in to the fill the breach. My message again to the Fed is that it�� all about the flow, not the stock.
Hot Performing Companies To Buy Right Now: Aegon NV(AEG)
AEGON N.V. provides life insurance, pensions, and asset management products and services worldwide. The company?s life insurance products include traditional, term, universal, whole, and other life insurance products sold as part of defined benefit pension plans, endowment policies, post-retirement annuity products, and group risk products; supplemental health insurance products comprise accidental death, other injury, critical illness, hospital indemnity, medicare supplement, and student health; specialty lines consists of travel, membership, and creditor products; and long term care insurance products for policyholders who require care due to a chronic illness or cognitive impairment. It also offers a range of savings and retirement products and services, including mutual funds, and fixed and variable annuities, savings accounts and investment contracts, segregated funds, guaranteed investment accounts, and single premium immediate annuities, as well as investment advice to individuals. In addition, the company offers employer solutions and pensions, such as retirement plans, pension plans, and pension-related products and services; investment products, including onshore and offshore bonds, and trusts; reinsurance products and solutions to life insurance and financial services companies; general insurance products comprising house, car, and fire insurance; and asset management products and services, including general account assets, unit-linked funds, and third party activities. AEGON N.V. markets its products through independent and career agents, financial planners, registered representatives, independent marketing organizations, banks, broker-dealers, benefit consulting firms, wirehouses, affinity groups, institutional partners, independent managing general agencies, and specialized financial advisors, as well as through online, direct, and worksite marketing. The company was founded in 1900 and is headquartered in The Hague, the Netherl ands.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Will Ashworth]
Assuming it delivers on its outlook for 2014, its current free cash flow yield is a very enticing 20%. This isn�� a growth stock, but its brands still possess hidden value. As cheap stocks go, it�� very attractive.
Cheap Stocks to Buy: Aegon (AEG)It�� not often that you can buy a $19 billion market cap for under 10 bucks. Aegon�� a Dutch insurance company that�� had a rough ride over the past few years, and its stock�� suffered as a result. In the late ’90s AEG stock traded around $60 — it hasn�� been anywhere close since. However, it�� got some good assets that should bear fruit in the years to come. Aegon has 12,000 employees in the Americas doing business primarily under the Transamerica brand, which has been a part of AEG since 1999.
Top European Companies To Own In Right Now: British American Tobacco Industries p.l.c.(BTI)
British American Tobacco p.l.c., through its subsidiaries, engages in the manufacture, distribution, and sale of tobacco products. The company offers cigars, cigarettes, smokeless snus, roll-your-own, and pipe tobacco products under the Dunhill, Kent, Lucky Strike, Pall Mall, Vogue, Viceroy, Kool, Rothmans, Peter Stuyvesant, Benson & Hedges, and State Express 555 brand names. It has operations in the Asia-Pacific, the Americas, eastern and western Europe, Africa, and the Middle East. The company was founded in 1902 and is headquartered in London, the United Kingdom. British American Tobacco p.l.c. operates independently of Remgro Ltd. as of November 03, 2008.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Jacob Roche]
A recent report from research group KPMG, and commissioned by Philip Morris (NYSE: PM ) , revealed that while total consumption of cigarettes in Europe has fallen in recent years, the illegal contraband and counterfeit trade has grown from 8.3% of total consumption to 11.1%. The report suggests that the high profitability and low risk of penalties attracts organized crime, which can use the trade as a cash cow to fund far more objectionable activities. An ad from British American Tobacco (NYSEMKT: BTI ) goes as far as to suggest that the trade could even be indirectly funding terrorism.
- [By Royston Wild]
Bubbly activity in these developing geographies can create large opportunities for many London-listed firms. Today, I am looking at�British American Tobacco� (LSE: BATS ) �(NYSE: BTI) and assessing whether its operations in these regions are likely to underpin solid earnings growth.
- [By Tony Reading]
In this series I'm subjecting companies to scrutiny under five headings: prospects, performance, management, safety, and valuation. How does�British American Tobacco� (LSE: BATS ) (NYSEMKT: BTI ) measure up?
Top European Companies To Own In Right Now: BP p.l.c.(BP)
BP p.l.c. provides fuel for transportation, energy for heat and light, retail services, and petrochemicals products. Its Exploration and Production segment engages in the oil and natural gas exploration, field development, and production; midstream transportation, and storage and processing; and marketing and trading of natural gas, including liquefied natural gas (LNG), and power and natural gas liquids (NGL). This segment has exploration and production activities in Angola, Azerbaijan, Canada, Egypt, Norway, Russia, Trinidad and Tobago, the United Kingdom, and the United States, as well as in Asia, Australasia, South America, North Africa, and the Middle East. This segment also owns and manages crude oil and natural gas pipelines; processing facilities and export terminals; and LNG processing and transportation, as well as NGL extraction facilities. BP p.l.c. has interests in the Trans-Alaska pipeline system, the Forties pipeline system, the Central Area transmission sys tem pipeline, the South Caucasus Pipeline, and Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline, as well as in LNG plants located in Trinidad, Indonesia, and Australia. The company?s Refining and Marketing segment involves in the supply and trading, refining, manufacturing, marketing, and transportation of crude oil, petroleum, and petrochemicals products and related services to wholesale and retail customers primarily under the BP, Castrol, ARCO, and Aral brands. Its Other Businesses and Corporate segment produces and markets rolled aluminum products, as well as generates energy through wind, solar, biofuels, hydrogen, and carbon capture and storage sources; and engages in shipping activities. The company was founded in 1889 and is headquartered in London, the United Kingdom.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Tyler Crowe]
Between 2011 and 2012, the average reserve replacement cost for the top 50 exploration and production companies listed on U.S. exchanges nearly doubled to $32.72 per barrel. Even worse, integrated majors Royal Dutch Shell (NYSE: RDS-A ) and BP (NYSE: BP ) saw reserve replacement costs balloon to $41.76 and $72.03 per barrel, respectively. Companies like these two are big players in the global marketplace and their actions can have major implications on global markets. When costs get so high, prices will follow suit because companies will need to recover their costs.
- [By Sarfaraz A. Khan]
For investors looking for exposure toward Brazil's deep-water assets, BP (BP) could be a much better option than Petrobras. No other international oil major has a bigger Brazilian upstream asset portfolio than BP. The company now holds interest in 27 Brazilian blocks, of which BP will operate 8 blocks. This includes the recent farming-in to 5 concessions in the Potiguar Basin. In the long term, BP could go on to become the biggest foreign player in Brazil's oil and gas industry.
Top European Companies To Own In Right Now: TotalFinaElf S.A.(TOT)
TOTAL S.A., together with its subsidiaries, operates as an integrated oil and gas company worldwide. The company operates through three segments: Upstream, Downstream, and Chemicals. The Upstream segment engages in the exploration, development, and production of oil and natural gas. It also involves in the transportation, trade, and marketing of natural gas and liquefied natural gas (LNG), as well as in LNG re-gasification and natural gas storage operations. In addition, this segment engages in the shipping and trade of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG); power generation from gas-fired power plants, nuclear, or renewable energies; production, trade, and marketing of coal, as well as in solar power systems and technology operations. As of December 31, 2010, it had combined proved reserves of 10,695 Mboe of oil and gas. The Downstream segment involves in refining, marketing, trading, and shipping crude oil and petroleum products. It also produces a range of specialty products, s uch as lubricants, LPG, jet fuel, special fluids, bitumen, marine fuels, and petrochemical feedstock. This segment holds interests in 24 refineries located in Europe, the United States, the French West Indies, Africa, and China, as well as operates a network of 17,490 service stations. The Chemicals segment produces base chemicals, including petrochemicals and fertilizers, as well as engages in rubber processing, resins, adhesives, and electroplating activities. TOTAL S.A. was founded in 1924 and is based in Paris, France.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Jayson Derrick]
Total (NYSE: TOT) announced that its European refining margin fell to $6.60 per metric ton in the first quarter from $26.90 per metric ton in the same quarter last year. Shares gained 0.09 percent, closing at $67.79.
- [By Tyler Crowe]
There is another way to measure the winner, and that is who won the bid for the most attractive asset. That prize goes to a group led by France's Total (NYSE: TOT ) , which, with its partners BP and (surprise, surprise) Petrobras, won the bid for a 350-square-mile block at the mouth of the Amazon River. The group's winning bid for the region came in at $172 million. It was the most paid for any Brazilian block since 2006. Magda Chambriard, the head of Brazil's national petroleum agency, has gone on record saying this individual block has the potential to produce up to 150,000 barrels per day.�
Top European Companies To Own In Right Now: Fresenius Medical Care Corporation (FMS)
Fresenius Medical Care AG & Co. KGaA, a dialysis company, provides products and services for patients with chronic kidney diseases. As of May 12, 2011, it provided dialysis care services to 216,942 patients through its network of 2,769 dialysis clinics primarily in North America, Europe, Latin America, the Asia-Pacific, and Africa. The company also develops and manufactures various dialysis products, including hemodialysis machines, dialyzers, hemofilters, dialysis fluid filters, tubing systems, fistula needles, dialysis related equipment, acute hemodialysis machines, plasma filters, acute tubing systems and cassettes, catheters, and related disposable products for chronic hemodialysis, acute therapy, home therapy, and therapeutic apheresis, as well as dialysis drugs. In addition, it provides laboratory services. Fresenius Medical sells its products through distributors. The company was founded in 1996 and is headquartered in Bad Homburg, Germany.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Johanna Bennett]
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid decided today to cut government payment to dialysis clinics. So why did share prices for DaVita HealthCare Partners (DVA) and rival Fresenius Medical Care (FMS) rise so steeply today?
- [By Charles Carlson, CEO and Portfolio Manager, Horizon Investment Services]
For investors looking for growth but also income, I especially like three health-care related stocks��resenius Medical (FMS), Novo Nordisk (NVO), and Smith & Nephew (SNN).
- [By Ben Eisen]
DaVita (DVA) �gained 8.9% and Fresenius (FMS) �rose 7.2%.
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