With the increasing likelihood of a U.S.-led military intervention in Syria, the oil markets have become volatile. Brent prices rose to as high as $117 a barrel last week. The price strength also�might be attributed to ongoing supply disruptions in Libya. The energy strategy team at UBS believes that if military action is taken in Syria, it will be short-lived, and that Libya outages are temporary. Barring escalation of the Syrian conflict to other regions in the Middle East, they expect no prolonged effects in the oil markets.
In a special report for investors, UBS has highlighted top names to buy that can either benefit from the current situation, or at the very least will be affected less than some of the other major firms. Here are the stocks to buy now, broken out by sector with analysis.
Integrated Major Oils
The UBS team expects the large integrated oil companies to benefit from the increase in oil pricing, even if it is temporary. Their concern would be for those with operations in and around the Middle East and Russia, should the conflict spread.
Hot Blue Chip Companies For 2015: Mercury Computer Systems(MRCY)
Mercury Computer Systems, Inc. designs, manufactures, and markets high-performance embedded, real-time digital signal and image processing systems and software for specialized defense and commercial computing markets. The company operates in two segments, Advanced Computing Solutions (ACS) and Mercury Federal Systems (MFS). The ACS segment provides high-performance computing solutions, such as single board computers, digital signal processors, and integrated subsystems to the aerospace and defense, semiconductor, and commercial computing markets. This segment also provides microwave sub-assemblies to address needs in EW, SIGINT, ELINT, and high bandwidth communications subsystems; and software and customized design services for military and commercial applications. The MFS segment focuses on services and support work with the Department of Defense and federal intelligence and homeland security agencies, including designing and engineering intelligence, surveillance, and re connaissance (ISR) capabilities to address threats to the U.S. forces. It offers a range of engineering architecture and design services that enable clients to deploy computing capabilities for ISR systems on an accelerated time cycle. The company has operations in the United States, Europe, and the Asia Pacific. The company was founded in 1981 and is headquartered in Chelmsford, Massachusetts.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By CRWE]
Mercury Computer Systems, Inc. (Nasdaq:MRCY), a best-of-breed provider of commercially developed, open sensor and Big Data processing systems for critical commercial, defense and intelligence applications, reported it had received a $2.2M purchase order relating to an airborne radar application for fighter aircraft.
Top Dow Dividend Stocks To Buy Right Now: Imperial Holdings Inc. (IFT)
Imperial Holdings, Inc., through its subsidiaries, operates as a specialty finance company in the United States. The company operates in two business segments: Life Finance and Structured Settlements. The Life Finance segment comprises life settlements and finance loan businesses. The Structured Settlement segment purchases structured settlements at a discounted rate and sells such assets to third parties. This segment primarily markets its products through the Internet and television. Imperial Holdings, Inc. was founded in 2006 and is based in Boca Raton, Florida.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Whopper Investments]
Note: This is my response to the recent short case on Imperial Finance (IFT). Obviously, all humans are fallible, and I'm sure someone can find just as much to argue with my long case as I found to argue with his short case. Please read for yourself, do your own research, and make your own decision. I am long IFT and plan on fully participating in the rights offering.
- [By DCResearch]
Imperial Holdings (IFT) fits the bill for all of those traits and investors today can buy Imperial Holdings for less than 0.75x book value. Upside to book value, an obvious valuation factor for most financial companies, would result in a greater than 40% return for a patient investor. I believe that this is far below the fair value for IFT�� book of life settlements, and upside is in excess of $13 per share.
Top Dow Dividend Stocks To Buy Right Now: WageWorks Inc (WAGE)
WageWorks, Inc., incorporated on January 28, 2000, is an on-demand provider of tax-advantaged programs for consumer-directed health, commuter and other employee spending account benefits (CDBs), in the United States. The Company administers and operates a broad array of CDBs, including spending account management programs such as health and dependent care Flexible Spending Accounts (FSAs), Health Savings Accounts (HSAs), Health Reimbursement Arrangements (HRAs), and commuter benefits, such as transit and parking programs. The Company delivers its CDB programs through a scalable delivery model that employer clients and their employee participants may access through a standard Web browser on any Internet-enabled device, including computers, smart phones and other mobile devices such as tablet computers. In January 2013, the Company acquired Benefit Concepts, Inc.
The Company focuses on providing CDB programs to employer clients of any size. It provides marketing programs that are designed to maxmize employee participation in its employer clients��CDB offerings. The Company markets and sells its CDB programs through multiple channels, including direct sales to enterprises, direct sales and through brokers to small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs), and direct sales to industry purchasing and affiliate groups and through channel partners.
Its SMB distribution channel complements its enterprise sales channel and consists of third party advisors, including insurance agents and benefits consultants who typically have two to three enterprise clients and several hundred smaller employer clients, and institutional resellers, including regional and national insurance carriers, health plans, payroll providers, commercial banks and third-party administrators (TPAs). The Company also sells its programs through group purchasing organizations in which the Company negotiate a standard service contract with group purchasing organizations that are formed by industry specific employers to cov! er their members.
The Company competes with TASC, Inc, Aetna, UHC, Aon Hewitt, ADP, Ceridian, CDBs and Bank of America.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Laura Brodbeck]
Tuesday
Earnings Expected From: Frontier Communications Corporation (NASDAQ: FTR), GSI Group, Inc. (GSIG), Tesla Motors, Inc. (NASDAQ: TSLA), WageWorks, Inc. (NYSE: WAGE), DIRECTV (NASDAQ: DTV), Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: REGN) Economic Releases Expected: �Australian trade balance, New Zealand�� unemployment rate, Canadian trade balance, eurozone PPI, British services PMIWednesday
- [By Stock Gamer]
WageWorks (WAGE) is a leading provider of tax-advantage programs for consumer-directed benefits ("CDBs") in the US. The company operates and administers a wide range of tax-advantage CDBs including health and dependent care Flexible Spending Accounts ("FSAs"), Healthy Savings Accounts ("HSAs"), Health Reimbursement Arrangements ("HRAs"), as well as commuter benefits. WageWorks' CBD programs allow employees to save tax money by using pre-tax earnings to pay for their healthcare and commuter expenses. The programs also enable employers to benefit from reduced payroll taxes as their contributions are deductible for tax purpose, even after factoring in WageWorks' service fees.
- [By John Udovich]
On Wednesday, small cap employee flexible spending account facilitator Wageworks Inc (NYSE: WAGE) rose 12.22% despite a secondary offering that effectively rewarded insiders plus the stock has tripled since last March. However, Wageworks��CEO recently said in a�conference call last week that he believes the�private health care exchanges related to Obamacare are expanding�the company���market plus WAGE also raised its forecast for full-year growth. So�does that make this small cap a buy?�
- [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 WageWorks (NYSE: WAGE ) , whose recent revenue and earnings are plotted below.
Top Dow Dividend Stocks To Buy Right Now: Equinix Inc.(EQIX)
Equinix, Inc. provides data center services for the protection and connection of information assets to enterprises, financial service companies, and content and network service providers worldwide. It connects businesses with partners and customers through a platform of high performance data centers, containing dynamic ecosystems and the broadest choice of networks. The company operates International Business Exchange (IBX) centers, or IBX data centers, across 38 markets in the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and the Asia-Pacific. Equinix offers data center services, including premium data center co-location; interconnection and exchange services; network connectivity; business continuity; and outsourced IT infrastructure services. The company connects approximately 4,000 enterprises, cloud, digital content, and financial companies, including 680 network service providers to help them grow their businesses, improve application performance, and protect their vita l digital assets. It markets its products and services through direct sales force and channel marketing program. Equinix was founded in 1998 and is headquartered in Redwood City, California.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Paulo Santos]
Using Equinix (EQIX) and Rackspace Hosting (RAX) as comparables, I was pumped up. CONE was projecting $135 million in EBITDA for 2013 (at the midpoint of guidance). On a $445 million market capitalization with $277.7 million in net debt, it traded at an EV/EBITDA of just 5.4 times. Compare that to EQIX at 13 times or RAX at 15 times. This was a bargain and growing revenues at a 18% clip year-on-year, too, above EQIX's 10% or RAX's 15%.
- [By Holly LaFon]
Equinix, Inc. (EQIX) is a leading Internet exchange service provider, serving communications, content and enterprise customers in state-of-the-art data centers. Equinix also offers interconnection services to customers seeking to connect directly with other Equinix customers. We believe that this "tethering" of customers in a network neutral environment creates important competitive barriers that distinguish Equinix from other data center business models. Last year, management indicated its intention to convert the company to a REIT. Shares were pressured this quarter, as the market grew concerned about the company's ability to make this REIT conversion. In addition, REIT shares themselves were under pressure on concerns that rising interest rates would depress their relative valuations in the stock market. We believe that Equinix remains an attractive investment, whether or not a REIT conversion eventually occurs.
- [By Tom Taulli]
Innovation: Innovation is a major priority at AT&T. And so far, it looks like the company is making savvy moves, particularly with its push into the cloud. To this end, AT&T has rolled out NetBond, which involves alliances with top providers like IBM (IBM), Microsoft (MSFT), CSC (CSC) and Equinix (EQIX). But perhaps the most interesting growth initiative is Digital Life, which allows customers to use their smartphones as remote control devices with homes and cars. All in all, the opportunity could be huge, adding another nice revenue stream — AT&T already has agreements with companies like GM (GM), Ford (F), Nissan, Audi, BMW and Tesla (TSLA)
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