Monday, December 29, 2014

Best Cheapest Stocks To Watch Right Now

In a report released earlier this month, Barclays took a look at the January Effect–that is, the outperformance by the years worst performers–and found it to be more than a myth.

REUTERS

Barclays’ Eric Slover and Barry Knapp explain:

We find the anomaly in which smaller cap, prior year underperformers and value outperform in January has persisted, but profiting from this strategy is impaired by liquidity and transaction costs. Nevertheless, a market cap constrained portfolio backtest, supplemented with a value factor, has provided average excess returns of 240bps over the last ten years.

Yes, we all hate back tests, but that’s how we look at what’s worked in the past, even if there’s no guarantee it will work in the future.

Knapp and Slover were also kind enough to provide a screen of stocks that could outperform. They started with the Russell 2000, removed the smallest 40% based on market cap (the aforementioned liquidity issues), then selected the 5% worst performers from among the 30% cheapest stocks based on book-to-price. The result is a bunch of names you never heard of, including Infinity Pharmaceuticals (INFI), Fusion-IO (FIO), Walter Energy (WLT), Hecla Mining (HL) and Molycorp�(MCP).

Top Integrated Utility Stocks To Invest In Right Now: Hersha Hospitality Trust (HT)

Hersha Hospitality Trust, a real estate investment trust, engages in the ownership and operation of mid scale limited service hotels in the Eastern United States. As of June 30, 2005, it owned interests in 35 hotels, including 4 hotels owned through joint ventures in Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey, Maryland, Georgia, Connecticut, and Massachusetts. The company has elected to be taxed as a REIT under the Internal Revenue Code. As a REIT, Hersha would not be subject to income tax to the extent it distributes at least 90% of its taxable income to its stockholders. The company was founded in 1998 and is headquartered in New Cumberland, Pennsylvania.

Advisors' Opinion:
  • [By Markus Aarnio]

    American Hotel Income Properties' competitors include Hospitality Properties Trust (HPT), RLJ Lodging Trust (RLJ), and Hersha Hospitality Trust (HT).

Best Cheapest Stocks To Watch Right Now: Semtech Corporation(SMTC)

Semtech Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, designs, produces, and markets analog and mixed-signal semiconductor products. The company?s product lines include protection products comprising filter and termination devices that provide protection for electronic systems from voltage spikes; power management products consisting of switching voltage regulators, combination switching and linear regulators, smart regulators, and charge pumps; and discrete semiconductor products, such as rectifiers, assemblies, and other products. It also offers wired communication, ultra-high speed Serializer/Deserializer, and modulator driver products that perform timing, synchronization, and amplification functions in high-speed networks; chips and transceivers for short reach, metro, and long haul applications; and high performance transceivers for datacenter applications. In addition, the company provides wireless and sensing products that perform radio frequency functions in indust rial, medical, and networking applications; and sensing functions in industrial and consumer applications. It serves original equipment manufacturers and their subcontractors in the computing, communications, consumer, and industrial end-markets directly, and through independent distributors and sales representative firms in North America, the Asia Pacific, and Europe. Semtech Corporation was founded in 1960 and is headquartered in Camarillo, California.

Advisors' Opinion:
  • [By Lauren Pollock]

    Semtech Corp.'s(SMTC) fiscal third-quarter profit slid 25% as the chip manufacturer posted a double-digit drop in revenue and slightly weaker gross margins.

  • [By Seth Jayson]

    When judging a company's prospects, how quickly it turns cash outflows into cash inflows can be just as important as how much profit it's booking in the accounting fantasy world we call "earnings." This is one of the first metrics I check when I'm hunting for the market's best stocks. Today, we'll see how it applies to Semtech (Nasdaq: SMTC  ) .

  • [By Jake L'Ecuyer]

    Equities Trading DOWN
    Shares of Semtech (NASDAQ: SMTC) were down 11.763 percent to $24.77 on lowered forecast. Raymond James downgraded the stock from Strong Buy to Outperform.

Best Cheapest Stocks To Watch Right Now: Pharmerica Corporation(PMC)

Pharmerica Corporation operates as an institutional pharmacy services company in the United States. It offers services to healthcare facilities and provides management pharmacy services to hospitals. The company purchases, repackages, and dispenses prescription and non-prescription pharmaceuticals in accordance with physician orders and delivers such medication to healthcare facilities for administration to individual patients and residents. It also provides consultant pharmacist services for customers to comply with the federal and state regulations applicable to nursing homes; and medical records services. In addition, the company offers various ancillary services, such as infusion therapy products and services; and hospital pharmacy management services, including hospital pharmacy operations, regulatory and financial management services, and clinical pharmacy programs to various hospitals. PharMerica Corporation operates approximately 95 institutional pharmacies in 44 s tates and provides pharmacy management services to 91 hospitals. Its customers primarily include institutional healthcare providers, such as skilled nursing facilities, nursing centers, assisted living facilities, hospitals, and other long-term alternative care settings. The company is headquartered in Louisville, Kentucky.

Advisors' Opinion:
  • [By Sean Williams]

    What: Shares of PharMerica (NYSE: PMC  ) , a pharmacy services company, jumped as much as 11% after reporting better-than-expected first-quarter results.

  • [By Josh Arnold]

    PharMerica Corporation (PMC) is a pharmacy services company that operates in several segments in the US. The company offers services to healthcare facilities, pharmacy management services and specialty infusion to patients outside of hospitals. PMC's primary customers are assisted living centers, hospitals, and other long term care facilities. The company services just under 200 locations in 45 states in the US and produces about $1.7 billion in annual revenue. With shares near the bottom of their 52 week range following a nasty selloff, is there any value in PMC or is it a classic trap? I'll argue here that PMC's structural tailwinds for earnings including demographics and consumer preference shifts will increase PMC's ability to convert revenue into profit and drive the stock higher.

Best Cheapest Stocks To Watch Right Now: Sovran Self Storage Inc.(SSS)

Sovran Self Storage, Inc. operates as a real estate investment trust (REIT). It engages in the acquisition, ownership, and management of self-storage properties in the United States. The company?s self-storage properties offer storage space to residential and commercial users, as well as offer outside storage for automobiles, recreational vehicles, and boats. As of February 15, 2007, it owned and managed 328 properties, consisting of approximately 20.3 million net rentable square feet in 22 states. Sovran Self Storage has elected to be treated as a REIT for federal income tax purposes and would not be subject to income tax to the extent it distributes at least 90% of taxable income to its stockholders. The company was founded in 1982 and is headquartered in Williamsville, New York.

Advisors' Opinion:
  • [By Rich Duprey]

    Self-storage REIT�Sovran Self Storage (NYSE: SSS  ) announced today its second-quarter dividend of $0.53 per share, a 10% increase from the payout it made to investors last quarter of $0.48 per share.

Best Cheapest Stocks To Watch Right Now: Sears Hometown and Outlet Stores Inc (SHOS)

Sears Hometown and Outlet Stores, Inc. (SHO), incorporated on April 23, 2012, is a retailer primarily focused on selling home appliances, hardware, tools and lawn and garden equipment. As of April 28, 2012, the Company and its dealers and franchisees operated 1,238 stores across all 50 states and Puerto Rico, Guam and Bermuda. The Company also provides its customers with a range of services, including home delivery and installation and product protection agreements. SHO operates in two segments: the Sears Hometown and Hardware segment and the Sears Outlet segment.

Sears Hometown

Sears Hometown and Hardware segment�� stores are designed to provide its customers with in-store and online access to a range selection of brands of home appliances, tools, lawn and garden equipment, sporting goods, consumer electronics and household goods, depending on the particular store. Its Sears Outlet stores are designed to provide its customers with in-store and online access to purchase new, one-of-a-kind, out-of-carton, discontinued, obsolete, used, reconditioned, overstocked and scratched and dented products, collectively, outlet-value products, including home appliances, lawn and garden equipment, apparel, mattresses, televisions, sporting goods and tools.

As of April 28, 2012, the Sears Hometown and Hardware segment consisted of 944 Sears Hometown Stores, 96 Sears Hardware Stores and 76 Sears Home Appliance Showrooms. The 944 Sears Hometown Stores are primarily independently owned stores, predominantly located in smaller communities and offering appliances, consumer electronics, lawn and garden equipment, and hardware. Hometown Stores carry y Sears brand products, such as Kenmore, Craftsman, and DieHard, as well as other brands. 96 Sears Hardware Stores are hardware stores that carry Craftsman brand tools and lawn and garden equipment, DieHard brand batteries and other national brands and other home improvement products. 93 of these locations also offer a selection of Kenm! ore and other national brands of home appliances.

Sears Hometown and Hardware business operates through three formats: Sears Hometown Stores (Hometown Stores), Sears Hardware Stores (Hardware Stores), and Sears Home Appliance Showrooms (Home Appliance Showrooms). Hometown Stores offer products and services across a range of merchandise categories, including home appliances, consumer electronics, lawn and garden equipment, sporting goods, tools and household goods. Most of its Hometown Stores carry Sears brand products, such as Kenmore, Craftsman, and DieHard, as well as other national brands. Its Hardware Stores offer products and services across a range of merchandise categories and sales are primarily driven by tools, lawn and garden equipment, home appliances, and other home improvement products. In addition, these stores offer blade sharpening, key cutting and screen repair, as well as products typically found in local hardware stores, such as fasteners, electrical supplies and plumbing supplies. These stores carry Craftsman brand tools and lawn and garden equipment, DieHard brand batteries and a range of national brands and other home improvement products. Its Home Appliance Showrooms offer home appliances and related services in stores primarily located in strip malls and lifestyle centers of metropolitan areas. Home Appliance Showroom sales are primarily driven by big-ticket cooking, laundry and refrigeration home appliances, as well as, in certain stores, mattresses. These stores carry Kenmore and other national brands of home appliances. As of April 28, 2012, out of 76 Home Appliance Showrooms in 19 states, 44 of these stores are owned and operated by franchisees, 30 stores are owned and operated by the Company and two are owned and operated by independent dealers.

Sears Outlet

As of April 28, 2012, the Sears Outlet segment consisted of 122 Sears Outlet Stores. The Company�� Sears Outlet stores provide in-store and online access to purchase outlet-value ! products ! across a range of merchandise categories, including home appliances, consumer electronics, lawn and garden equipment, apparel, sporting goods, tools, and household goods.

The Company competes with Sears Holdings, The Home Depot, Best Buy, Lowe�� and Tractor Supply, Ace Hardware, True Value, HH Gregg and US Appliances.

Advisors' Opinion:
  • [By Dan Caplinger]

    On Friday, the stock market posted another sizable gain, sending several major market benchmarks to new all-time record levels. In the absence of any downright bad news, investors have been willing to bid most stocks higher, and enthusiasm about the direction of the U.S. economy appears to be bolstering the bullish argument in favor of further investment in stocks. Yet, a few stocks nevertheless fell today, and Hertz Global Holdings (NYSE: HTZ  ) , Diamond Foods (NASDAQ: DMND  ) , and Sears Hometown and Outlet Stores (NASDAQ: SHOS  ) were among the weakest performers in the stock market on Friday.

  • [By Michael Lewis]

    Better options�
    In short, I prefer both Sears Hometown and Outlets (NASDAQ: SHOS  ) and Sears Canada (TSX: SCC  ) for their stronger operating prospects, especially those of the former. Sears Hometown has a long growth runway for its appliance stores, and its ongoing conversion to franchise-owned stores makes for better gross margins, as well as shifts many up-front costs to the individual store owner. Sears Canada is in the midst of a major renovation -- pumping money into stores while shrinking employee count. Sears Canada trades at a fraction of one-year sales and will benefit from even a modest turnaround in store performance.�

  • [By gurujx]

    SEARS HOMETOWN (SHOS) Reached the 3-year Low of $28.84

    The prices of SEARS HOMETOWN (SHOS) shares have declined to close to the 3-year low of $28.84, which is 51.3% off the 3-year high of $57.44.

  • [By James Brumley]

    Two years later, the company spun off its Hometown and Outlet stores by issuing shares of Sears Hometown and Outlet Stores (SHOS) to SHLD stock owners … charging them for the right to receive what they technically already owned.

Best Cheapest Stocks To Watch Right Now: Staples Inc.(SPLS)

Staples, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, operates as an office products company. The company offers various office supplies and services, office machines and related products, computers and related products, and office furniture under Staples, Quill, and other proprietary brands. It also provides copy and print services to retail and delivery customers, as well as technology services through its EasyTech business. The company sells and delivers office products and services directly to businesses and consumers through Internet retail, including Staples.com and Quill.com, as well as through contract sales force, direct mail catalog business, and retail stores. As of January 28, 2012, it operated 2,295 retail stores in 48 states and the District of Columbia in the United States; and 10 provinces and 2 territories in Canada, as well as in Belgium, Finland, Germany, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Sweden, the United Kingdom, China, Argentina, and Australia. The company also operated 124 distribution and fulfillment centers in 29 states in the United States; 7 provinces in Canada; and in Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, the United Kingdom, China, Argentina, Brazil, and Australia. Staples, Inc. was founded in 1986 and is based in Framingham, Massachusetts.

Advisors' Opinion:
  • [By Chris Mydlo] 11.10 on 6/12/2014, near its 52-week low of $10.86. It pioneered the office products superstore in 1986 and currently serves businesses of all sizes and consumers in North America, Europe, Australia, South America, and Asia. The company�� stock has been in decline since the Great Recession, and it does not help that earnings declined by over 40 percent in the last quarter. Staples debt level is low, so they have the financial ability to hang around until they can figure out how to improve their earnings. The stock is held by 19 of the gurus we follow.

    Market Cap: 7.18 billion, P/E: 13.00

    Business Predictability: 1/5, Financial Strength: 8/10, Profitability & Growth: 6/10

    Bed Bath & Beyond (BBBY) closed at $60.33 on 6/12/2014, near its 52-week low of $60.15. The company is a retailer that operates under the names of Bed Bath & Beyond, Christmas Tree Shops andThat!, Harmon Face Values, buybuy BABY, and World Market. It sells a wide assortment of domestics merchandise and home furnishings. The stock is down 25 percent year-to-date, but has been holding support at about $60 per share. Earnings were slightly down by 5 percent in the latest quarter. The United States faced a negative GDP in the first quarter and Bed Bath & Beyond still had positive growth in same store sales. I think the stock can turn around. The GuruFocus DCF calculator shows a fair value of $87.07 with a margin of safety of 31 percent. The stock is currently held by 16 of the gurus we follow.

    Market Cap: 12.32 billion, P/E: 12.90

    Business Predictability: 4/5, Financial Strength: 9/10, Profitability & Growth: 8/10

    Gaming and Leisure Properties (GLPI) closed at $32.94 on 6/12/2014, near its 52-week low of $32.70. The company is a recent spin-off from Penn National Gaming. It now owns the properties of Penn National and is collecting lease payments. The now independent company is looking to acquire more gaming real estate and

  • [By Jeremy Bowman]

    Finally, Staples (NASDAQ: SPLS  ) shares were off 1.6% today after its own earnings report failed to impress. The nation's leading office-supplies retailer warned of negative trends in demand for core office supplies, which shouldn't be surprising given the secular shift to digital communication. Management intends to focus on other categories, but that seems like a questionable strategy given its strength in office products. Earnings per share of $0.42 matched expectations, but revenue fell 3.8% to $6.11 billion, below the consensus at $6.18 billion. Given the fading relevance of office retail and the consistent emptiness of these stores, I'd avoid this sector.

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