With shares of Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) trading around $21, is LUV an OUTPERFORM, WAIT AND SEE, or STAY AWAY? Let�� analyze the stock with the relevant sections of our CHEAT SHEET investing framework.
T = Trends for a Stock’s MovementSouthwest Airlines is a passenger airline that provides scheduled air transportation in the United States. Consumers and companies across the nation are now looking to travel at an increasing rates, and since air travel is quicker and is becoming less expensive, it is becoming a common transportation method for many. As costs decrease and flights become more efficient, look for business and retail customers to fly at rising rates. Southwest Airlines stands to see soaring profits as consumers and businesses look to travel more than ever.
Southwest Airlines on Thursday reported its fourth-quarter and full-year 2013 results.�Gary C. Kelly, president and CEO, said in a press release: “We are happy to report full year 2013 net income of $805 million, and fourth-quarter 2013 net income of $236 million, both excluding special items. We are extremely proud of these record results and the tremendous progress made on our strategic initiatives, which produced substantial returns and contributed significantly to our superb 2013 financial performance. Our full-year 2013 total operating revenues were a record $17.7 billion, and our cost performance was excellent. We generated strong free cash flow of $1 billion in 2013, allowing us to return $611 million to our shareholders, through share repurchases and dividend payments, and reduce debt and capital lease obligations by $313 million. Our pre-tax return on invested capital, excluding special items, for full-year 2013 was 13.1 percent, nearly double the prior year’s performance. I want to thank the outstanding people of Southwest and AirTran. They deserve all the credit for producing these strong results, which earned them a $228 million contribution to the profit-sharing plan for the year 2013, up 88.4 percent, or $107 million, compared to the prior year.”
Top 5 Medical Stocks To Invest In Right Now: Viad Corp(VVI)
Viad Corp, together with its subsidiaries, operates in exhibition and events, and travel and recreation industries primarily in North America, the United Kingdom, Germany, and the United Arab Emirates. The company?s Marketing & Events Group segment designs, plans, and produces face-to-face events for show organizers, corporate brand marketers, and retail shopping centers. It offers general event management, planning and consultation, concept design, exhibition layout and design, graphics and design, show traffic analysis, carpeting and flooring, decorating products and accessories, custom graphics, overhead rigging, and cleaning services, as well as temporary electrical, lighting, and plumbing services. This segment also provides custom exhibit design and construction; portable and modular exhibits and design; integrated marketing, including pre- and post-event communications and customer relationship management; multimedia services; event surveys; return on investment an alysis; attendee and exhibit booth traffic analysis; staff training; online management tools; logistics and freight-forwarding, storage, and refurbishment of exhibits; booth furnishings, carpeting, and signage; in-house installation and dismantling; and various other show services. In addition, the segment offers various entertaining attractions and brand-based experiences, sponsored events, mobile marketing and other branded entertainment, and face-to-face marketing solutions for clients and venues, including movie studios, leading consumer brand marketers, shopping malls, museums, and casinos. Its Travel & Recreation Group segment provides tourism products, including attractions, transportation services, inbound package tour operations, hotel operations, and corporate and event management; operates five lodges, three motor inns, and one resort hotel; and engages in food and beverages, and retail and concession businesses. Viad Corp was founded in 1914 and is headquartered in Phoenix, Arizona.
Advisors' Opinion:- [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 Viad Corp (NYSE: VVI ) , whose recent revenue and earnings are plotted below.
Top 10 Up And Coming Stocks To Invest In 2014: Nintendo Co Ltd (NTDOF)
Nintendo Co., Ltd. is mainly engaged in the development, manufacture and sale of entertainment products in home entertainment field. The Company's main products include leisure machines such as portable and console game machines and software, as well as trump and Carta (Japanese-style playing cards). As of March 31, 2013, the Company had 29 subsidiaries and five associated companies. Advisors' Opinion:- [By Alanna Petroff]
The downgrade comes in the same month that Nintendo (NTDOF) warned investors that it was expecting an operating loss of 35 billion yen ($335.2 million) for the fiscal year ending in March, following disappointing software and hardware sales in the busy end-of-year buying season.
Top 10 Up And Coming Stocks To Invest In 2014: Pacific Ethanol Inc.(PEIX)
Pacific Ethanol, Inc. produces and markets low carbon renewable fuels in the United States. It sells ethanol to gasoline refining and distribution companies; provides ethanol transportation, storage, and delivery services in the Western United States, primarily in California, Arizona, Nevada, Utah, Oregon, Colorado, Idaho, and Washington; and markets ethanol co-products, including wet distiller grains and syrup to dairy operators and animal feed distributors. The company also provides operations, maintenance, and accounting services to a cellulosic integrated bio-refinery in Boardman, Oregon. Pacific Ethanol, Inc. was founded in 2003 and is headquartered in Sacramento, California.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Paul Ausick]
Ethanol producers and farmers are the losers and the RFA is steaming mad. The group claims that the ��PA is proposing to place the nation�� renewable energy policy in the hands of the oil companies.��Producers like Archer Daniels Midland Co. (NYSE: ADM), Pacific Ethanol Inc. (NASDAQ: PEIX), and The Andersons Inc. (NASDAQ: ANDE) don�� have an oil refining business to offset the proposed cuts to ethanol volumes.
Top 10 Up And Coming Stocks To Invest In 2014: Endologix Inc(ELGX)
Endologix, Inc. develops, manufactures, markets, and sells medical devices for the treatment of aortic disorders. It offers the ELG System, a stent graft and delivery system for the treatment of abdominal aortic aneurysms through minimally-invasive endovascular repair. The company also provides aortic extensions and limb extensions, which attach to the main body of ELG Device, enabling physicians to customize it to fit the patient?s anatomy. In addition, it offers accessories, such as guidewires, snares, and catheter introducer sheaths that facilitate the optimal delivery of its ELG Device. Endologix, Inc. sells its products through direct sales force and independent distributors in the United States, Europe, Asia, South America, and Mexico. The company was formerly known as Radiance Medical Systems, Inc. and changed its name to Endologix, Inc. in May 2002. Endologix, Inc. was founded in 1992 and is headquartered in Irvine, California.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By John Kell]
Medical device maker Endologix Inc.(ELGX) issued targets for the new year that fell short of Wall Street’s expectations, pushing shares down 23% to $13.75 premarket.
- [By Jake L'Ecuyer]
Equities Trading DOWN
Shares of Endologix (NASDAQ: ELGX) were down 23.48 percent to $13.68 on lowered guidance, analyst downgrades. Oppenheimer downgraded the stock from Outperform to Market Perform and cut the price target from $20.00 to $16.00. - [By DailyFinance Staff]
Concerns about the political uncertainty in Ukraine caused some volatility in the markets Friday afternoon, with the major indexes making several U-turns ahead of the weekend. The Dow Jones industrial average (^DJI), which had been up by as much as 125 points, briefly dropped into loss territory before rebounding to end 49 points higher. The Standard & Poor's 500 index (^GPSC) edged up 5 points, adding to Thursday's record high, but the Nasdaq composite (^IXIC) lost 10 points. AP/Darko VojinovicPro-Russian militias have seized local government buildings in Crimea, Ukraine; the unrest there is making investors around the world nervous. February was a great month for investors. All three major averages jumped by about 4 percent. UnitedHealth Group (UNH) led the blue chips, gaining 1½ percent. Other health providers – Aetna (AET), Wellpoint (WLP), Cigna (CI) and Humana (HUM) -- all gained between 1½ and 2 percent. And retail stocks remained active. Target (TGT) added another 3 percent. Best Buy rose 4 percent, and Fred's (FRED), a regional department store chain, jumped 10 percent. But Pier 1 (PIR) fell 5½ percent after lowering its earnings outlook for a second time. That led to a series of brokerage downgrades. Decker Outdoor (DECK) tumbled 12 percent. The maker of footwear brands such as Ugg and Teva issued a weak outlook. And apparel maker Lululemon (LULU) fell 5-percent on negative comments from Credit Suisse. It seems as though there are always some big movers in the drug and biotech sectors – and that was certainly the case today. GW Pharmaceuticals (GWPH) rose 2 percent after the FDA granted orphan status to its drug to treat a rare form of childhood epilepsy. But most of the action was on the downside. Endologix (ELGX) slid 24 percent after forecasting lower revenue growth. Questcor (QCOR) fell 10 percent. It's lost big for three straight days amid allegations of questionable business practices. Jazz Pharma
- [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 Endologix (Nasdaq: ELGX ) , whose recent revenue and earnings are plotted below.
Top 10 Up And Coming Stocks To Invest In 2014: Amerco (UHAL)
AMERCO, through its subsidiary U-Haul International, Inc., a do-it-yourself moving and storage operator that supplies products and services to help people move and store their household and commercial goods in the United States and Canada. The company engages in the rental of trucks, trailers, specialty rental items, and self-storage spaces primarily to the household mover as well as sales of moving supplies, towing accessories and propane. It also offers eMove, an online marketplace, which connects consumers to independent moving help service providers and independent self-storage affiliates, as well as manages self-storage properties. In addition, the company provides loss adjusting and claims handling services, as well as underwrites moving and storage protection packages, including Safemove and Safetow that provide moving and towing customers with a damage waiver, cargo protection, and medical and life insurance coverage; Safestor, which protects storage customers from loss on their goods in storage; and Super Safemove that offer rental customer with a layer of primary liability protection. Further, it provides life and health insurance products primarily to the senior market through the direct writing or reinsuring of life insurance, medicare supplement, and annuity policies. The company rents its orange and white U-Haul trucks and trailers, as well as offers self-storage rooms through a network of approximately 1,400 company operated retail moving centers and approximately 15,000 independent U-Haul dealers. Its rental fleet consists of approximately 101,000 trucks, 82,000 trailers, and 33,000 towing devices, as well as operates approximately 1,115 self-storage locations in North America, with approximately 411,000 rentable rooms. The company was founded in 1945 and is based in Reno, Nevada.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Rich Smith]
Given my druthers, were I asked to recommend a truck rental shop today, I think I'd have to go with U-Haul owner AMERCO (NASDAQ: UHAL ) instead. It's got the free cash flow that Ryder lacks, plus a cheaper P/E, a slightly faster growth rate, and a smaller debt load. Honestly, I don't "love" AMERCO either -- but it's a heck of a better value than Ryder.
Top 10 Up And Coming Stocks To Invest In 2014: Strategic Hotels and Resorts Inc (BEE)
Strategic Hotels & Resorts, Inc. (SHR), incorporated on January 27, 2004, operates as a self-administered and self-managed real estate investment trust (REIT). As of December 31, 2012, the Company�� portfolio included 18 full-service hotel interests located in urban and resort markets in the United States; Punta Mita, Nayarit, Mexico; Hamburg, Germany, and London, England. SHR conducts its operations through its direct and indirect subsidiaries, including its operating partnership, Strategic Hotel Funding, L.L.C. (SH Funding), which holds all of the Company�� assets. SHR is the sole managing member of SH Funding and held approximately 99% of its membership units as of February 27, 2013. SHR manages all business aspects of SH Funding, including the sale and purchase of hotels, the investment in these hotels and the financing of SH Funding and its assets. In September 2012, it acquired the JW Marriott Essex House Hotel in New York City. In October 2013, the Company announced that it has sold the Lakeshore Athletic Club property adjacent to the Fairmont Chicago hotel.
As of December 31, 2012, SH Funding owned interests in or leased 18 hotels, which included Fairmont Chicago, Fairmont Scottsdale Princess, Four Seasons Jackson Hole, Four Seasons Punta Mita Resort, Four Seasons Silicon Valley, Four Seasons Washington, D.C., Hotel del Coronado, Hyatt Regency La Jolla, InterContinental Chicago, InterContinental Miami, JW Marriott Essex House Hotel, Loews Santa Monica Beach Hotel, Marriott Hamburg, Marriott Lincolnshire Resort, Marriott London Grosvenor Square, Ritz-Carlton Half Moon Bay, Ritz-Carlton Laguna Niguel and Westin St. Francis.
The Hotel del Coronado is operated by a specialty management company, KSL Resorts. As of February 27, 2013, the Company wholly owned or leased 14 hotels, had a 53.5% and 51.0% interest in an affiliate that owned a hotel where it asset managed such hotel, and had 50.0% and 36.4% interests in, and acted as asset manager for, two affiliates that eac! h owned one hotel, and owned land held for development, including 20.5 acres of oceanfront land adjacent to its Four Seasons Punta Mita Resort, Nayarit, Mexico and 60 acres of oceanfront land near the Four Seasons Punta Mita Resort; a 20,000 square-foot parcel of land on the ocean in Santa Monica, California adjacent to its Loews Santa Monica Beach Hotel entitled for development and residential units; a 50% interest in an affiliate that owned 10 acres of land adjacent to the Fairmont Scottsdale Princess hotel, and a 31% interest in an affiliate with two parties that was developing the fractional ownership program known as the Four Seasons Residence Club Punta Mita.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Rich Duprey]
Luxury hotel and resort operator�Strategic Hotels & Resorts� (NYSE: BEE ) �announced yesterday�its second-quarter dividend on three series of cumulative redeemable preferred stock.
- [By James E. Brumley]
In a perfect world, an investor could simply look at a company's history and its plausible earnings forecasts, and jump in (or out) knowing the stock's current price basically made sense with respect to past and future performance. We don't live or trade in a perfect world though. In the world we're actually in right now, most stocks, sectors, and industries have run up far beyond a justifiable value... perhaps except for hotel and lodging REIT stocks Host Hotels and Resorts Inc. (NYSE:HST), Strategic Hotels and Resorts Inc. (NYSE:BEE), and Pebblebrook Hotel Trust (NYSE:PEB).
- [By Anders Bylund]
Strategic Hotels & Resorts (NYSE: BEE ) raised its takeover defenses in 2008 in order to ward off opportunistic raiders amid general market turmoil. The REIT, which specializes in high-end hotels, extended its poison pill last year as the "lingering economic uncertainty" never went away. Six months later, in May 2013, the extension was cut short. No real explanation, but you could take this action as a vote of confidence in an improving economy. The stock has gained 14% in the seven months since, just ahead of the S&P's 11% improvement. No takeover bids here.
- [By Marshall Hargrave]
Well, that's exactly the case with Strategic Hotels & Resorts (NYSE: BEE), the only publicly traded real estate investment trust (REIT) that focuses exclusively on the luxury hotel and resort markets.
Top 10 Up And Coming Stocks To Invest In 2014: Merge Healthcare Incorporated.(MRGE)
Merge Healthcare Incorporated provides health information technology interoperability solutions. It provides products ranging from standards-based development toolkits to clinical applications. The company offers Merge iConnect, an interoperable image exchange and management suite; cardiovascular information systems to bring automation to the cardiac cath lab; radiology solutions to integrate images and information; lab information systems; orthopaedic software to automate workflow and digital templating; clinical trials tools to transform data into intelligence; and perioperative solutions to streamline the pre-surgical experience. It also offers advanced image viewers, developer toolkits, and related hardware products. The company?s products are used by healthcare providers, vendors, and researchers. Merge Healthcare Incorporated was founded in 1987 and is based in Chicago, Illinois.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Sally Jones]
Here’s a look at three application software companies currently on a 52-week low and still held by a few billionaires. The9 Ltd. (NCTY), Merge Healthcare Inc. (MRGE) and FAB Universal Corp. (FU) are more than 52% off a 52-week high.
- [By Roberto Pedone]
Another stock that's starting to move within range of triggering a breakout trade is Merge Healthcare (MRGE), which develops software solutions that facilitate the sharing of images to create a more effective and efficient electronic health care experience for patients and physicians. This stock hasn't done much in 2013, with shares up just over 8% so far.
If you take a look at the chart for Merge Healthcare, you'll notice that this stock has been trending sideways since it gapped down in August, with shares moving between $2.35 on the downside and $2.98 on the upside. Shares of MRGE are now starting to trend back above its 50-day moving average of $2.65 a share. That move is quickly pushing the stock within range of triggering a big breakout trade above the upper end of its sideways trading chart pattern.
Market players should now look for long-biased trades in MRGE if it manages to break out above some near-term overhead resistance levels at $2.82 to $2.98 a share, and then once it takes out its 200-day moving average at $3.08 and its gap down day high of $3.20 a share with high volume. Look for a sustained move or close above those levels with volume that hits near or above its three-month average action o 793,997 shares. If we get that move soon, then MRGE will set up to re-fill some of its previous gap down zone from August that started at $4.60 a share.
Traders can look to buy MRGE off any weakness to anticipate that breakout and simply use a stop that sits right below some key near-term support levels at $2.55 to $2.54 a share, or below that recent low of $2.35 a share. One can also buy MRGE off strength once it clears those breakout levels with volume and then simply use a stop that sits a comfortable percentage from your entry point.
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