Sunrise Consulting Group, Inc. Targets U.S. Solar Energy Markets
NEWPORT BEACH, CA--(Marketwire - April 29, 2009) - Sunrise Consulting Group, Inc.
(
Dr. Charles A. Dinarello, CEO of Across America Financial Services (to Be Renamed Omni Bio Pharmaceutical), Co-Awarded Albany Medical Center Prize in Medicine and Biomedical Research
DENVER, CO--(Marketwire - April 29, 2009) - Dr. Charles A. Dinarello, professor of medicine
at the University of Colorado and acting CEO of Across America Financial
Services, Inc. (
Validea: Top stocks based on top gurus
John Reese is the founder and CEO of Validea, an advisory that focuses on the strategies of "legendary" investment seers, such as Peter Lynch, Ben Graham and Warren Buffett.
Reese was recently interviewed by Ian Wyatt, editor of SmallCapInvestor.com, who asked the advisor to name 3 stocks that he buy today and why? Here's his response.
"The strategies I monitor see a lot of value right now in several areas, with consumer and energy stocks being two of the big ones.
"Consumer stocks have taken a pounding -- too much of a pounding, I think -- because of the recession, and energy stocks were hurt a lot by the plummeting oil prices.
"As we move out of the recession, people may realize that they had overreacted and oversold stocks in those sectors, which could lead to a big bounce.
"James O'Shaughnessy, who is one of the gurus I follow, conducted an excellent study looking at the performance of various types of stocks coming out of recessions. He ranked stocks by P/S, Relative Strength and Buyback Yield.
"What he found was that the stocks that excelled coming out of the past eight recessions were those with the best fundamentals -- not speculative stocks. And, those fundamentally sound stocks did particularly in well in the first year after the recession.
"As for individual stock names, one of the things I've found with my system is that when multiple strategies score a stock highly it tends to be a good predictor of future stock price performance.
"I call this a 'consensus' approach: basically, you look for stocks that pass the criteria of at least two to three rigorous quantitative methodologies.
"This type of approach is the basis for my Validea Hot List portfolio, which through April 9th, 2009 has generated a total return of 67.4% vs. a loss of 14.4% for the S&P 500 (the inception date on this portfolio was July 15th, 2003).
"The stocks I'm going to discuss all get top scores from multiple gurus, and in the interest for full disclosure, I want to let you know that I hold Exxon and National Presto in my private money management portfolios.
"Exxon Mobil (NYSE: XOM) is one of the few stocks in the market that gets approval from four of my Guru Strategies -- my Peter Lynch-, Warren Buffett-, Joel Greenblatt-, and Kenneth Fisher-based models.
"It's been putting up great earnings growth numbers for the past decade, and even if earnings slow a bit this year, it's still quite cheap, selling for about 8 times earnings and 0.7 times sales.
"Management does a good job -- the company's return on equity has averaged about 25% over the past decade. It's also very conservatively financed, with a debt/equity ratio of only about 8%.
"National Presto Industries (NYSE: NPK) is another four-guru stock, getting the thumbs-up from my Lynch-, Benjamin Graham-, James O'Shaughnessy-, and Motley Fool-based models.
"They've got a pretty intriguing set of businesses, with the three main divisions being housewares/small appliances, defense products (such as ammunition), and absorbent products (such as adult diapers).
"The firm has great fundamentals; its current ratio (current assets/current liabilities) is 5.77, which is exceptional, and it has no long-term debt. The stock is cheap, at less than 11 times earnings and 1.06 times sales.
"Meanwhile, consumer discretionary stocks have been killed over the past several months as fears of an economic apocalypse have grown.
"That's caused a lot of good retailers and consumer stocks to get driven down much further than they deserve, and Aeropostale (NYSE: ARO) is a prime example.
"It's been hot lately, but it's still down about 20% from late last summer, and its fundamentals are exceptional.
"The company has increased earnings in every year of the past decade (even last year), its return on equity over that time is more than 30%, and it has no long-term debt. At about 13 times earnings, it's a steal."
Editor's note: Reese has recently published a book, The Guru Investor: How to Beat the Market Using History's Best Investment Strategies." It's a terrific read for serious, long-term investors.
Home cooking helps Conagra (CAG)
"Conagra Foods (NYSE: CAG) looks well positioned to battle a weak economy," says Michael Vodicka, who has chosen the issue as the latest "stock of the day" from Zacks Research.
"Consumers are eating out less and spending more at the grocery store.
"Not only that, but the company has diversified business segments, one for higher priced, brand name products and another for less expensive specialty branded products.
"Put these two factors together and you have the making of a company that is well positioned to withstand economic volatility. This showed up in the company's third-quarter results, reported in late March.
"Revenue was up 6% to $3.13 billion, with Conagra's consumer foods segment comprising the biggest share.
"When removing one-time items, earnings came in at 40 cents per share, 4 cents ahead of the consensus. Conagra noted that its results were helped by higher prices and lower commodity costs.
"Conagra's share price also recently got a lift when the current-year estimate jumped 5 cents to $1.52 per share, representing 39% earnings growth from last year. The next-year estimate is also up, standing at $1.62, a 7% growth projection.
" This stock has rebounded nicely from its short-term low at $13.50, The shares of CAG are trading at the high end of a 6-month range, pressuring the area just above $18. This stock has rebounded nicely from its short-term low at $13.50.
"The stock continues to pressure a key level of resistance just above $18. The company's earnings have held up well over the last year as demand for food products remains strong."
Royal Gold (RGLD): A royal play on gold royalties
"As the name suggests, Royal Gold (NASDAQ: RGLD) is a royalty company, one of the larger and longest-established of such companies, with a focus on gold," says resource exprt Adrian Day.
In his Global Analyst advisory, he explains, "In my view, the stock offers a combination of growth, low risk, and high potential." Here's his look at this "golden opportunity."
"In the past year, the company has acquired two significant royalty packages, the first last year from Barrick and more recently from Teck Cominco. The Barrick package includes approximately 70 royalties.
"Even before these acquisitions, it had a solid long-term growth record, in royalties and in revenues. Its pipeline is solid, including a royalty on the large Pensasquito mine of Goldcorp; when that ramps up in 2012, it will add about 25% to Royal’s revenues.
"It pays a modest dividend (yielding a little less than 1%), but has plans to increase 'prudently' over time.
"The stock is down over the past few months—it was $49 at the end of March—not only because of gold’s modest correction which has seen all gold stock fall back, but more importantly because of a massive offering (for new stock equating over 20% of shares outstanding) to help pay for the Teck royalty.
"At the current price, it is trading at the low end of its historical valuation range; if it were to trade just at its average multiples, it would be closer to $60 a share.
"This will add revenue quickly Because of the large equity dilution, it is important to focus on this new royalty, representing 75% of the gold by-product from Teck’s Andacollo copper mine, beginning early next year.
"This is expected to be a long-life mine, and the 75% of the gold production last until 910 ounces have been sold (representing approximately 17 years of production), at which point the royalty drops to 50% of the gold produced.
"At the current price of gold, Royal Gold paid (in cash and shares) less than 8 times annual revenue. At current prices, this is an accretive transaction, and a positive one, particularly considering there is no debt attached. (The company’s total long-term debt is very low, at less than 4% of equity.)
"In short, Royal Gold has a solid balance sheet, a good long-term growth record, an attractive pipeline of major projects over the next few years, and a business model we like.
"Add to that, we can now buy it at a 30% lower price than a month ago (lower than the new equity offering), and close to its lows in terms of valuation metrics."
Machinery & Industrials
Despite the significant equity market rally off the March lows, we still see a challenging global economic backdrop and a less than robust environment for the Machinery sector.Regency Centers (REG)
Regency Centers (<a href=http://www.zacks.com/stock/quote/reg>REG</a>) reported 4Q08 FFO of $0.72 per share vs. $1.16 in 4Q07. The decrease was primarily due to impairment charges and deal write-offs which totaled $0.62 in the quarter. In addition, the company reported $0.28 per share of promote income. <p> Operations are holding up relatively well at the company's centers, with stable occupancy, and same-store NOI and rental growth. However, retail-focused REITs will face a much more difficult operating environment in the coming quarters. Consumer spending patterns are weakening across the country and large chains are curtailing expansion plans. <p> We would be careful of the strip retail sector, although we still rate REG a Buy. We expect REG to hold up better than many retail competitors who are saddled with more debt. REG has a diversified portfolio of retail centers in strong long-term markets. The yield is over 13%, but a cut could be coming over the next couple of quarters.IBM Corporation (IBM)
As a result of its large non-US revenue base, IBM Corporation (<a href=http://www.zacks.com/stock/quote/ibm>IBM</a>) has been better insulated from recent weakness in the U.S. economy than many of its peers. IBM's Q109 results indicate its strong position in emerging markets, which should continue to help drive growth. <p> Moreover, the company has focused on driving its bottom line through cost cutting efforts. It re-affirmed EPS guidance for the full year of 2009. Although, revenue is not expected to grow much, we expect margin improvements in 2009. <p> The company's long-term prospects look brighter as it maintains a strong position in the software and services market. We maintain our Buy rating on IBM shares and maintain our price target of $120.00.Generational Equity Assists in Merger of Fiesta Business Forms With Professional Office Services
DALLAS, TX--(Marketwire - April 28, 2009) - Generational Equity, an advisor to privately held and family-owned businesses for mergers, acquisitions, and strategic growth initiatives, used its nationwide reach to find a suitable buyer for family-owned Fiesta Business Forms of Tempe, Ariz.
The deal gives the buyer, Professional Office Services, Inc., of Waterloo, Iowa, a strong foothold in a thriving new market and enables the seller, Martin Jones, to go back to college for the second-career credentials he needs for a career pursuing his passion -- coaching high school football.
DoMark International, Inc. Executes Definitive Agreement to Acquire Motivation Advantage, Inc. — A Corporate Travel Incentive Company
ORLANDO, FL--(Marketwire - April 28, 2009) - DoMark International, Inc. (
Motivation Advantage, Inc.'s 2008 unaudited revenue was $1,196,000 with net income of $411,000. The closing of the transaction is subject to the completion of due diligence, and the delivery of all items required to effect the transaction. Management will remain after the closing. The closing is scheduled for May 15, 2009, but may be extended by mutual consent of the parties for 7 days. No assurance can be provided that the revenue and profit for 2009 will equal or exceed 2008.