Most European castles are situated in strategically significant locations: on cliffs overlooking the sea, square in the middle of valleys, at the entrance to mountain passes, and at carefully selected crossing points along rivers. This isn't a coincidence, as the power of their inhabitants derived largely from the ability to control the channels of commerce.
A similar concept explains why Wells Fargo (NYSE: WFC ) , the nation's fourth largest bank by assets, has had so much success over the past few years. That is, it alone is responsible for upwards of a third of the domestic mortgage market. It controls, if you will, the narrows of the multitrillion-dollar home lending industry.
We saw the tangible results on Friday, when the mortgage giant reported yet another record quarterly profit, earning a staggering $5.5 billion during the three months ended June 30. But beyond the sheer magnitude of that profit, and because of its strategic significance, the most notable thing about Wells Fargo's results was what they implied about the broader economy.
5 Best Up And Coming Stocks To Own 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.
Best European Stocks For 2014: 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 Editor , Dividend Growth Investor]
The company�� largest competitors include British American Tobacco (BTI), Imperial Tobacco (ITYBY) and Japan Tobacco.
Earnings per share have doubled over the preceding 7 years to $5.17 in 2012. The company expects earnings to reach $5.37-$5.42 per share in 2013, followed by a 6-8% increase in 2014. Despite the near-term slowdown in earnings per share, the company is committed to growing currency neutral EPS by 10-12% per year after 2015.
Best European Stocks For 2014: 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 Ben Levisohn]
Shares of French oil giant Total (TOT) have gained 1.9% t $58.27 this morning after Barclays�upgraded the stock to Equal Weight from Underweight.
Associated PressBarclays’�Lydia Rainforth and team explain their reasoning:
Total�� Capital Markets Day presentation did enough to convince us that it can�control capex more than we had previously anticipated. In doing so, it also set out a�more credible path to returning the company to cash flow neutrality post both capex and dividends potentially as soon as 2015. There remain challenges to delivering the 2017 operating cashflow aspiration, as evidenced by an implicit reduction in prior cashflow assumptions over the 2015-2017 period, but the coming 12 months should see Total show both improved production and cashflow with the start up of a number of key projects scheduled. It is this combination of improved operational momentum we forecast for Total together with much better visibility on capex and free cash flow, which drives our upgrade on the stock to Equal Weight…
Total’s strength comes as U.S oil majors have stalled today. Exxon Mobil (XOM) has ticked down 0.1% to $87.69 , Chevron (CVX) has fallen o.4% to $125.07 and�ConocoPhillips (COP) has dropped 0.3% to $70.35.
- [By Dan Caplinger]
Time to diversify?
For international investors, weak stock markets might well offer a great opportunity. As stocks in the U.S. appear increasingly overpriced, beaten-down international stocks are a better value. For instance, European energy stocks BP (NYSE: BP ) and Total (NYSE: TOT ) haven't done as well as their U.S. counterparts, even though they both have similar global exposure to energy assets around the world. When you think about investing, don't ignore the Global Dow, despite the Dow Industrials' stronger performance recently.
Best European Stocks For 2014: Telefonica SA(TEF)
Telefonica, S.A. provides fixed and mobile telephony services primarily in Spain, rest of Europe, and Latin America. Its fixed telecommunication services include PSTN lines; ISDN accesses; public telephone; local, domestic, and international long distance and fixed-to-mobile communications; corporate communications; video telephony; supplementary and business-oriented value-added services; network services; leasing and sale of handset equipment; and telephony information services. The company?s Internet and broadband multimedia services comprise Internet service provider service; portal and network services; retail and wholesale broadband access; narrowband switched access to Internet; naked ADSL, a broadband connection; residential-oriented value-added services; companies-oriented value-added services; television services, such as IPTV, cable television, and satellite television; and Fiber to the Home, a service for high speed Internet access and digital video recording. Its data and business-solutions services principally include leased lines; virtual private network services; fiber optics services; the provision of hosting and application; outsourcing and consultancy services; desktop services; and system integration and professional services. The company?s wholesale services for telecommunication operators primarily comprise domestic interconnection services; international wholesale services; leased lines for other operators? network deployment; local loop leasing under the unbundled local loop regulation framework; and bit stream services. It also offers various mobile and related services and products that include mobile voice services, value added services, mobile data and Internet services, wholesale services, corporate services, roaming, fixed wireless, and trunking and paging services. The company has a strategic alliance with China Unicom (Hong Kong) Limited. Telefonica, S.A. was founded in 1924 and is headquartered in Madrid, Spai n.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Dan Caplinger]
You can see the same trends among many individual European stocks. Telecom giant Telefonica (NYSE: TEF ) has big exposure to Latin America, but investors focus on its home country of Spain in limiting its gains. The same trend has affected French oil giant Total (NYSE: TOT ) , which shares the same exposure to energy projects around the world yet has been tarnished by its proximity to the crisis-ridden continent. By focusing on value rather than perception, you can get some great values when others are being irrational.
- [By Holly LaFon]
Charlie: Yes, I have a question. Do you think the opportunity is more in stocks or in debt, or both? If you look at Spain, the biggest companies in Spain, one is a bank, Bank Santander (STD). The other is Telefonica (TEF), a phone company. What other opportunities do you see there?
- [By Eric Volkman]
In the latest move in a broad deleveraging effort, Spanish telecom incumbent Telefonica (NYSE: TEF ) has divested one of its European subsidiaries. The company announced that it has reached agreement to sell Telefonica Ireland to Hong Kong-based conglomerate Hutchison Whampoa Group. The potential total price is 850 million euros ($1.1 billion), 780 million euros ($1.0 billion) of which will be handed over at the closing of the transaction while 70 million euros�($92 million) will take the form of a deferred payment to be transferred when certain financial objectives are met.
Best European Stocks For 2014: 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 Benjamin Shepherd]
In the meantime, though, 13 percent of the fund�� assets are devoted to health care with another 12.8 percent to consumer defensive names, helping to reduce the volatility of its portfolio. While the fund�� beta is roughly in line with the broader European market, its standard deviation is actually slightly lower while producing a superior return. It also offers an attractive 3.9 percent yield despite its focus on large, mature companies such as Nestle (OTC: NSRGY), Novartis (NYSE: NVS), HSBC (NYSE: HSBC) and BP (NYSE: BP).
With more good news coming from Europe every day, Vanguard European Stock Index rates a buy up to 65.
Best European Stocks For 2014: Aercap Holdings N.V. (AER)
AerCap Holdings N.V., through its subsidiaries, operates as an integrated aviation company worldwide. It engages in leasing and trading aircraft and engines; and selling parts. The company also provides aircraft management services, as well as aircraft and limited engine MRO services, and aircraft disassembly services through its repair stations. In addition, it offers aircraft services, including remarketing aircraft; collecting rental and maintenance payments, monitoring aircraft maintenance, monitoring and enforcing contract compliance, and accepting delivery and redelivery of aircraft; conducting ongoing lessee financial performance reviews; inspecting the leased aircraft; coordinating technical modifications to aircraft to meet new lessee requirements; conducting restructurings negotiations in connection with lease defaults; repossessing aircraft; arranging and monitoring insurance coverage; registering and de-registering aircraft; arranging for aircraft and aircraft engine valuations; and providing market research. The company?s management services include leasing and remarketing, cash management and treasury, technical advisory, and accounting and administrative services. As of March 31, 2011, it owned 272 aircraft and 95 engines, which it leased under operating leases to 118 lessees in 53 countries. The company was founded in 1995 and is headquartered in Schiphol, the Netherlands.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By John Udovich]
Yesterday around midday,�Netherlands based aviation leasing stock�AerCap Holdings N.V. (NYSE: AER) began surging on rumors and closed up 11.6%, meaning its probably time to take a closer look at those rumors along with aviation leasing peers like small caps or mid caps�Aircastle Limited (NYSE: AYR), Air Lease Corp (NYSE: AL), Fly Leasing Ltd (NYSE: FLY) and AeroCentury Corp (NYSEMKT: ACY).
- [By Tess Stynes]
AIG confirmed it will sell its stake in International Lease Finance Corp to aircraft-leasing company AerCap Holdings N.V(AER). for $5.4 billion in cash and stock.
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