Sunday, August 3, 2014

Top International Stocks To Own For 2014

With shares of Citigroup (NYSE:C) trading around $54, is C 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 Movement

Citigroup is a global diversified financial services holding company providing consumers, corporations, governments, and institutions with a broad range of financial products and services. It operates in two segments: Citicorp and Citi Holdings. The company�� products and services are: consumer banking and credit, corporate and investment banking, securities brokerage, wealth management, and transaction services to consumers, corporations, governments, and institutions worldwide.

Citigroup, which is scaling back illiquid investments to comply with rules that limit risk-taking by banks, may sell about $1 billion in holdings managed by its former private-equity business, according to five people familiar with the matter.�The bank is considering selling its stakes in funds managed by Citi Venture Capital International, or CVCI, a private-equity manager that Citi sold to New York-based Rohatyn Group in December, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the talks are private. Rohatyn plans to give investors in two CVCI funds the option to sell their holdings to other buyers, who would provide fresh capital for new deals, said one of the people.

10 Best Oil Service Stocks To Watch For 2015: Electronic Arts Inc (EA)

Electronic Arts Inc., incorporated in 1982, develops, markets, publishes and distributes game software content and services that can be played by consumers on a variety of video game machines and electronic devices (platforms). Its offers products, such as video game consoles, such as the Sony PLAYSTATION 3, Microsoft Xbox 360 and Nintendo Wii; personal computers, including the Apple Macintosh (the Company refers to personal computers and the Macintosh together as PCs); mobile devices, such as the Apple iPhone and Google Android compatible phones; tablets and electronic readers, such as the Apple iPad and the Amazon Kindle, and Internet, including social networking sites, such as Facebook. In August 2011, it acquired PopCap Games Inc. (PopCap), a developer of casual games for mobile devices, tablets, PCs, and social networking sites.

The Company has created, licensed and acquired a portfolio of brands, which span a diverse range of categories, including action-adventure, casual, family, fantasy, first-person shooter, horror, science fiction, role-playing, racing, simulation, social, sports, and strategy. The Company�� portfolio of brands includes wholly owned brands, such as Battlefield, Mass Effect, Need for Speed, The Sims, Bejeweled, and Plants v. Zombies. Its portfolio also includes sports-based brands, such as Madden NFL and FIFA, and titles-based on other brands, such as Star Wars: The Old Republic. It provides a variety of online-delivered products and services, including through its Origin platform. Its packaged goods products are also available through direct online download through the Internet. The Company also offers online-delivered content and services that are add-ons or related to its packaged goods products, such as additional game content or enhancements of multiplayer services. It provides other games, content and services that are available only via electronic delivery, such as Internet-only games and game services, and games for mobile devices.

The Comp! any operates development studios (which develop products and perform other related functions) in North America, Europe, Asia and Australia. It also engages third parties to assist with the development of its games at their own development and production studios. Internationally, the Company conducts business through its international headquarters in Switzerland and has wholly owned subsidiaries worldwide, including offices in Europe, Australia, Asia and Latin America. The Company�� studios and development teams are organized around its Label structure. Each Label operates globally with dedicated game development and marketing teams. These Labels are supported by the Company�� Global Publishing Organization that is responsible for the distribution, sales, and marketing of its products, including planning, operations, and manufacturing functions.

EA Games

EA Games is home to a number of the Company�� studios and development teams, which together create a portfolio of games and related content and services marketed under the EA brand in categories, such as action-adventure, role playing, racing and first-person shooter games. The EA Games portfolio includes a number of franchises, such as Battlefield, Dead Space, Medal of Honor and Need for Speed. EA Games titles are developed primarily at the following EA studios, Criterion, DICE, EA Los Angeles, Visceral, and EA Montreal. EA Games also contracts with external game developers, to provide these developers with a variety of services, including development assistance, publishing, and distribution of their games.

EA SPORTS

EA SPORTS develops a collection of sports-based video games and related content and services marketed under the EA SPORTS brand. EA SPORTS games range from simulated sports titles with realistic graphics based on real-world sports leagues, players, events and venues to more casual games with arcade-style gameplay and graphics. The Company�� EA SPORTS franchises include FIFA, Fig! ht Night,! Madden NFL, NCAA Football, NHL Hockey, and Tiger Woods PGA Tour. EA SPORTS games are developed primarily at the Company�� EA Canada studio in Burnaby, British Columbia, and its EA Tiburon studio located in Orlando, Florida.

BioWare

BioWare develops role-playing games, focused on stories, characters and worlds to discover. BioWare�� portfolio includes the MMO role-playing game Star Wars: The Old Republic and the Mass Effect and Dragon Age franchises. BioWare operates in Texas, California, Canada and Ireland.

Maxis

Maxis (formerly EA Play) are focused on creating games and related content and services for a mass audience. Maxis products include wholly owned franchises, such as The Sims, SimCity, MySims, and Spore. During the fiscal year ended March 31, 2012 (fiscal 2012), the Company released titles in The Sims 3 franchise, and together with Playfish, The Sims Social game on Facebook. Maxis oversees internal studios and development teams located in California, Utah, Beijing, China and Guildford, England, and works with third-party developers.

PopCap

PopCap develops easy-to-learn games. PopCap games, including Bejeweled, Plants vs. Zombies, Zuma, Peggle, and Bookworm are gameplays. PopCap games are developed primarily in Seattle, Washington.

Social/Mobile Studios

The Company�� Social/Mobile studios is focused on developing interactive games for play on mobile devices and Internet platforms, including social networking sites, such as Facebook. Through EA Mobile, the Company is a global publisher of games for mobile devices. Its customers purchase and download the Company�� games through a mobile carrier�� e-commerce service and mobile application storefronts accessed directly from their mobile devices. EA Mobile develops games for mobile devices at studios located in the United States, Canada, Romania, Australia, India and Korea. Through Playfish, it offers free-to-play social games, in! cluding T! he Sims Social, Pet Society, EA Sports FIFA Superstars and Madden NFL Superstars that can be played on platforms, such as Facebook, Google, iPhone and Android. Playfish generates revenue through sales of digital content and Internet-based advertising.

The Company, through its Pogo online service, offers games, such as card, puzzle and word games on www.pogo.com, as well as on Facebook and other platforms. In addition to paid subscriptions, Pogo also generates revenue through Internet-based advertising and sales of digital content. In addition, it has a licensing agreement with Hasbro, which provides the Company with the rights to create digital games for all platforms based on most of Hasbro�� toy and game intellectual properties, including MONOPOLY, SCRABBLE (for United States and Canada), YAHTZEE (excluding the Nordic countries), NERF, and LITTLEST PET SHOP. Hasbro games are developed by its EA Mobile, Pogo and Social studios.

The Company competes with Activision Blizzard, Take-Two Interactive, THQ, Ubisoft, Disney, Capcom Mobile, DeNA, Gameloft, Glu Mobile, Gree, Rovio, Zynga, Big Fish, Nexon, Tencent and Facebook.

Advisors' Opinion:
  • [By Dan Caplinger]

    On Tuesday, Electronic Arts (NASDAQ: EA  ) will release its latest quarterly results. The key to making smart investment decisions on stocks reporting earnings is to anticipate how they'll do before they announce results, leaving you fully prepared to respond quickly to whatever inevitable surprises arise. That way, you'll be less likely to make an uninformed knee-jerk reaction to news that turns out to be exactly the wrong move.

  • [By Rick Munarriz]

    Electronic Arts (NASDAQ: EA  ) is shutting down some of its games on Facebook (NASDAQ: FB  ) .

    EA will take down�The Sims Social�come June. Pet Society and SimCity Social will also be retired.

  • [By CNNMoney Staff]

    Shares of Electronic Arts (EA) were higher as investors shrugged off a weak outlook and focused on earnings and sales that topped forecasts.

    Overall, the bulk of quarterly results for the companies in the S&P 500 have been better than expected. Of the 114 companies that have reported earnings, 98 have topped analysts' modest expectations, according to S&P Capital IQ.

  • [By Rick Munarriz]

    It was a good week to be playing video games. Activision Blizzard� (NASDAQ: ATVI  ) moved sharply higher on Friday after striking a deal to buy most of the shares held by majority stakeholder Vivendi. Earlier in the week, Electronic Arts� (NASDAQ: EA  ) gained ground after posting a much narrower quarterly deficit than analysts were expecting.

Top International Stocks To Own For 2014: Indochine Mining Ltd (IDC)

Indochine Mining Limited is an Australia-based company developing and discovering gold and silver projects. The Company�� flagship asset is the Mt Kare gold-silver project in the highlands of Papua New Guinea (PNG). Mt Kare gold-silver project is held through its wholly owned PNG subsidiary, Summit Development Limited. The deposit lies 15 kilometers from the giant Porgera gold mine, which contains approximately 30 million ounces of gold. The Company holds two packages of exploration leases in Cambodia with potential for the discovery of gold and copper deposits. The Company�� projects in Cambodia include Kratie and Ratanakiri. Its subsidiaries include Indochine Resources Limited, Indochine Resources (Cambodia) Limited, Asia Pacific Gold & Copper Company Limited, Asia Pacific Gold & Copper (Cambodia) Limited, Aries Mining Limited, Summit Development Ltd and Positive Developments Limited. Advisors' Opinion:
  • [By Bill Smith]

    FDS operates in a highly competitive industry, some with more resources. Their competitors include:
    Thomson Reuters Corp. (TRI)BloombergInteractive (IDC)MSCI Inc. (MXB)Morningstar Inc. (MORN)Track Data Corp. (TRAC)Edgar Online (EDGR)McGraw-Hill (MHP )

  • [By Analyse360Degree]

    On Thursday, International Data Corporation (IDC) came out with its 2014 First Quarter Worldwide Quarterly Tablet Tracker and shed some light on the ongoing trends in the global tablet market. The figures reported by the data giant, though not very encouraging, were strong enough to bring smile on the faces of some tablet manufacturers, but Apple (AAPL), forcing us to think if this particular consumer electronic space is getting sour for the tech giant. Let�� take a look at what�� going on.

Top International Stocks To Own For 2014: Palatin Technologies Inc. (PTN)

Palatin Technologies, Inc., a biopharmaceutical company, engages in the development of peptide therapeutics for the treatment of diseases. Its drug development programs include Bremelanotide, a peptide melanocortin receptor agonist that is in Phase IIb clinical trials for the treatment of female sexual dysfunction; and PL-3994, a peptide mimetic natriuretic peptide receptor A agonist, which is in Phase I clinical trials for the treatment of cardiovascular and pulmonary indications, as well as melanocortin receptor-based compounds for treatment of obesity. The company was founded in 1986 and is based in Cranbury, New Jersey.

Advisors' Opinion:
  • [By James E. Brumley]

    At first glance, Palatin Technologies, Inc. (NYSEMKT:PTN) doesn't look like anything particularly special, nor anything particularly investment-worthy. The longer you study the chart of PTN, however, the clearer it becomes... this stock is on the verge of breaking out, and should be on most traders' watchlists.

  • [By James E. Brumley]

    For the third time in a little more than three months I find myself singing the praises of Palatin Technologies, Inc. (NYSEMKT:PTN), suggesting it is a "buy" ... at least to nimble and cautious speculators. It's a rarity, as I tend not to like beating a dead horse (personal preference). PTN, however, is one of those rare cases where the message deserves to be delivered again, as there's still a lot of opportunity left for newcomers to tap into.

Top International Stocks To Own For 2014: Powershares Etf Fund Trusts Ii (PGX)

The PowerShares Preferred Portfolio (Fund) is based on The BofA Merrill Lynch Core Fixed Rate Preferred Securities Index (Index). The Fund normally invest at least 90% of its total assets in securities that comprise the Index. The Index is designed to replicate the total return of a diversified group of investment-grade preferred securities. The Index is rebalanced on a monthly basis. The Fund seeks investment results that correspond generally to the price and yield (before fees and expenses) of a securities index. The Fund invests in sectors, such as basic materials, financial, utilities and unclassified. Invesco PowerShares Capital Management LLC. is the investment adviser. Advisors' Opinion:
  • [By Lawrence Meyers]

    Public Storage has 10 different series of preferred stock, but I like the Series T because it trades at $21.83, which is more than 12% below par. I don�� see any reason for this discount, and it also boosts the 5.75% dividend (at par) to 6.58% at the current price.

    Preferred Stocks to Buy: PowerShares Preferred Portfolio (PGX)

    Dividend Yield: 6.6%

Top International Stocks To Own For 2014: Tri-Continental Corp (TY)

Tri-Continental Corporation (the Fund) is a diversified closed-end management investment company. The Fund�� portfolio consists primarily of large-capitalization stocks representing a range of industry sectors.

Tri-Continental Corporation invests to produce future growth of both capital and income, while providing reasonable current income. The Fund�� investment manager is J. & W Seligman & Co. Incorporated.

Advisors' Opinion:
  • [By Rick Aristotle Munarriz]

    Alamy What if there was a way to buy Apple (AAPL) -- recently trading near $568 a share -- for just $500? It's not an outlandish scenario. That's essentially what investors buying into Tri-Continental (TY) are doing. Like many closed-end stock funds, Tri-Continental trades for less than the value of its underlying assets. In Tri-Continental's case, its close on Dec. 24 of $20.18 is a 12 percent discount to its net asset value of $22.95 a share. Tri-Continental invests in some of the country's largest companies across various different industries. Apple just happens to be its largest holding at nearly 3 percent of the portfolio, but it's one of the many stocks in Tri-Continental that investors are buying into for pennies on the dollar. If this sounds too good to be true, you would be right. There's a catch -- and a big catch, at that. But let's first explore the largely ignored universe of closed-end funds. Fun with Funds When investors think about mutual funds they are probably referring to the wide universe of open-ended funds. Led by iconic fund families including Vanguard, Fidelity and T. Rowe Price (TROW), these conventional funds sell an unlimited number of shares. They typically are priced just once at the end of every trading day. Buyers invest and sellers cash out at that day's net asset value, or the closing value of all of the stocks and investments in the funds after subtracting any liabilities that is then divided by the number of shares outstanding. Closed-end funds don't play that way. They trade throughout the day on public exchanges. Tri-Continental, for example, trades on the New York Stock Exchange. A closed-end fund doesn't create new shares when investors want to buy or subtract them when those shares are redeemed. There's a set number of shares, and the free markets of supply and demand dictate their price. Tri-Continental isn't new. The fund has been around since 1929, the same year of a historic market crash. It's one of the hund

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