Often referred to as ��anada�� Warren Buffett��Prem Watsa is the founder, chairman and chief executive of Fairfax Financial Holdings.� His portfolio currently lists 42 stocks, six of them new, and a total value of $1.59 billion with a quarter-over-quarter turnover of 0%.
Watsa�� partner in starting the investment firm, Tony Hamblin, once commented, ��t doesn't take a lot of money to start up an investment counseling company. The cost of entry is qualitative. You need to have a track record, contacts and credibility, and fortunately Prem and I had all three.��/p>
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After buying Markel Financial in 1986, Watsa renamed his firm Fairfax Financial Holdings.� Book value has grown dramatically over the years:� Book value per share was $1.52 in 1985 and grew to $10.50 in 1989, and then grew to $38.89 in 1995.� As of 2012, the Fairfax book value per share increased 3.7%.
Fairfax Financial Holdings Limited is a financial services holding company with a corporate objective to achieve a high rate of return on invested capital and build long-term shareholder value.� The company expects to compound its mark-to-market book value per share over the long term by 15% annually by running Fairfax and its subsidiaries for long-term benefit, even at the expense of short-term profits. �The Fairfax focus is long-term growth in book value per share and not quarterly earnings. �Watsa has commented, ��ur long-term view has also meant that we have a commitment not to sell our core companies, no matter how attractive the price.��The company emphasis is to be soundly financed, and to grow through internal means and also through friendly acquisitions. Fairfax also values transparency with shareholders.
Hot Information Technology Stocks To Buy Right Now: KongZhong Corporation(KONG)
KongZhong Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, provides wireless interactive entertainment, media, and community services to mobile phone users in the People's Republic of China. It also involves in the development, distribution, and marketing of consumer wireless value-added services, including wireless application protocol, multimedia messaging services, short messaging services, interactive voice response services, and color ring back tones. In addition, it offers interactive entertainment services, such as mobile games, pictures, karaoke, electronic books, mobile phone personalization features, entertainment news, chat, and message boards; and through Kong.net offer news, community services, games, and other interactive media and entertainment services; and sells advertising space in the form of text-link, banner, and button advertisements. Further, the company develops and publishes mobile games, including downloadable mobile games and online mobile games cons isting of action, role-playing, and leisure games. As of December 31, 2009, it had a library of approximately 300 internally developed mobile games. Additionally, it develops online games; and provides consulting and technology services, as well as media and net book services. The company was formerly known as Communication Over The Air Inc. and changed its name to KongZhong Corporation in March 2004. KongZhong Corporation was founded in 2002 and is headquartered in Beijing, the People?s Republic of China
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Jake L'Ecuyer]
Top losers in the sector included China Unicom (Hong Kong) (NYSE: CHU), off 4.5 percent, and Kongzhong (NASDAQ: KONG), down 4.7 percent.
Top Headline
The Boeing Company (NYSE: BA) reported better-than-expected first-quarter profit. Boeing's quarterly profit declined to $965 million, or $1.28 per share, from a year-ago profit of $1.11 billion, or $1.44 per share. Its adjusted earnings surged to $1.76 per share compared to $1.73 per share. Its revenue climbed to $20.47 billion versus $18.89 billion. However, analysts were projecting earnings of $1.57 per share on revenue of $20.24 billion. For the full year, Boeing expects adjusted earnings of $7.15 to $7.35 per share.
Best Long Term Companies For 2014: Royal Bank of Scotland Group PLC (RBS)
The Royal Bank of Scotland Group plc (RBS), incorporated on March 25, 1968, is a holding company of a global banking and financial services group. The Company operates in the United Kingdom, the United States and internationally through its two principal subsidiaries: The Royal Bank of Scotland plc (the Royal Bank) and National Westminster Bank Plc (NatWest). Both the Royal Bank and NatWest are clearing banks. In the United States, the Company�� subsidiary Citizens Financial Group, Inc. (Citizens) is a commercial banking organization. The Company�� business segment include UK Retail, UK Corporate, Wealth, Global Transaction Services, Ulster Bank, US Retail & Commercial, Global Banking & Markets (GBM), RBS Insurance, Central items, Non-Core Division and Business Services. In February 2012, Ensign Group, Inc. acquired $21.5 million seven-year term loan from RBS Asset Finance, Inc., an affiliate of the Company. In May 2012, The Paragon Group of Companies PLC announced the acquisition of further unsecured consumer loans, through its Idem Capital Securities subsidiary, from the Company.
In September 2011, the Company sold Hilton Glasgow City hotel to Topland Group. In October 2011, Paragon Group of Companies PLC acquired a portfolio of unsecured consumer loans from Royal Bank of Scotland Group plc. In December 2011, the Company sold its tenanted pub business to Scottish & Newcastle Pub Company (Management) Limited (S&NPC), a subsidiary of Heineken N.V.
As of December 31, 2011, the Royal Bank and NatWest had 627 and 1,493 retail branches, respectively, in the United Kingdom. Ulster Bank has a foot print of 236 branches and a network of business banking offices across Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. US Retail & Commercial had 1,519 retail banking offices (including in-store branches) covering Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island and Vermont.
UK Retail
The Company offers a range of banking products and related financial services to the personal market. It serves customers through the RBS and NatWest networks of branches and automated teller machines (ATMs) in the United Kingdom, telephony, online and mobile.
UK Corporate
The Company is a provider of banking, finance, and risk management services to the corporate and small and medium enterprises (SME) sector in the United Kingdom. It offers a range of banking products and related financial services through a nationwide network of relationship managers, and also through telephone and Internet channels. The product range includes asset finance through the Lombard brand.
Wealth
The Company provides private banking and investment services in the United Kingdom through Coutts & Co and Adam & Company. It also offers offshore banking through RBS International, NatWest Offshore and Isle of Man Bank, and international private banking through Coutts & Co Ltd.
Global Transaction Services
The Company offers global payments, cash and liquidity management, and trade finance and commercial card products and services. Through the network and partner bank agreements, GTS is able to support and connect customers across 128 countries.
Ulster Bank
Ulster Bank is retail and business bank in Northern Ireland. It provides a range of financial services. As of December 31, 2011, the Retail Markets division, which had a network of 236 branches, operated in the personal and financial planning sectors. The Corporate Markets division provides services to SME business customers, corporates and institutional markets.
US Retail and Commercial
The Company provides financial services through the Citizens and Charter One brands. US Retail & Commercial is engaged in retail and corporate banking activities through its branch network in 12 states in the United States and through non-branch offices in othe! r states.!
Global Banking and Markets
The Company is a banking partner to corporations and financial institutions globally, providing a range of debt and equity financing, risk management and investment services to its customers. The division is organized along six principal business lines: money markets, rates flow trading, currencies, equities, credit and mortgage markets, and portfolio management and origination.
RBS Insurance
The Company provides a range of general insurance products to consumers through a range of brands, including Direct Line, Churchill and Privilege. It also provides insurance services for third party brands through its UKI Partnerships business. In the commercial sector, its NIG and Direct Line for Business operations provide insurance products for businesses through brokers or direct respectively. Through its international division, RBS Insurance sells general insurance, mainly motor, in Germany and Italy. In addition to insurance services, RBS Insurance continues to provide support and reassurance to millions of the United Kingdom motorists through its Green Flag breakdown recovery service and Tracker stolen vehicle recovery and telematics business. On 15 February 2012, a new corporate brand, Direct Line Group, was announced.
Central Functions
Central Functions consist of corporate functions, such as treasury, funding and finance, risk management, legal, communications and human resources. The Centre manages the Company�� capital resources and regulatory projects and provides services to the operating divisions.
Non-Core Division
Non-Core Division manages separately assets, which the Company intends to run off or dispose of. The division contains a range of businesses and asset portfolios from the GBM division, higher risk profile asset portfolios, including excess risk concentrations, and other illiquid portfolios. It also includes a range of other portfolios and businesses, inclu! ding regi! onal markets businesses.
Business Services
Business Services supports the customer-facing businesses and provides operational technology, customer support in telephony, account management, lending and money transmission, global purchasing, property and other services. It also leverages its purchasing power and is the Company's center for managing large-scale and complex change.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Johanna Bennett]
Meanwhile, financial stocks took a hit, as six banks��HSBC Holdings PLC (HSBC), Royal Bank of Scotland Group PLC (RBS), UBS AG (UBS), Citigroup (C), J.P. Morgan Chase Co. (JPM) and Bank of America (BAC) ��eached a settlement to resolve allegations that they had worked together to try to manipulate the foreign-exchange market to boost their profits.
- [By Tony Reading]
LONDON --�A few weeks ago, I asked�"When will the Government Sell Shares in Lloyds and RBS?", suggesting that David Cameron would do something before the next general election in May 2015. Since then, managers at both�Lloyds� (LSE: LLOY ) (NYSE: LYG ) �and�RBS� (LSE: RBS ) (NYSE: RBS ) �have made positive noises about being ready for privatization in that time-scale.
Best Long Term Companies For 2014: Coach Inc (COH)
Coach, Inc. (Coach), incorporated in June 2000, is a marketer of fine accessories and gifts for women and men. Coach�� product offerings include women�� and men�� bag, accessories, business cases, footwear, wearables, jewelry, sunwear, travel bags, watches and fragrance. The Company operates in two segments: Direct-to-Consumer and Indirect. Accessories include women�� and men�� small leather goods, novelty accessories and women�� and men�� belts. Women�� small leather goods, which coordinate with its handbags, include money pieces, wristlets, and cosmetic cases. Men�� small leather goods consist primarily of wallets and card cases. Novelty accessories include time management and electronic accessories. Key rings and charms are also included in this category. Men�� handbag collections include business cases, computer bags, messenger-style bags and totes. Footwear is distributed through select Coach retail stores, coach.com and about 1,000 United States department stores. Wearables category is comprised of jackets, sweaters, gloves, hats and scarves, including both cold weather and fashion.
The Company�� Jewelry category is comprised of bangle bracelets, necklaces, rings and earrings offered in both sterling silver and non-precious metals. Marchon Eyewear, Inc. (Marchon) is the Coach�� eyewear licensee. Coach sunglasses are sold in Coach retail stores and coach.com, department stores, select sunglass retailers and optical retailers in major markets. The travel collections are comprised of luggage and related accessories, such as travel kits and valet trays. Movado Group, Inc. (Movado) is the Company�� watch licensee, which develops a collection of watches.
Estee Lauder Companies Inc. (Estee Lauder), through its subsidiary, Aramis Inc., is Coach�� fragrance licensee. Fragrance is distributed through Coach retail stores, coach.com and about 4,000 United States department stores and 500 international locations. Coach offers four women�� fragrance col! lections and one men�� fragrance. The women�� fragrance collections include eau de perfume spray, eau de toilette spray, purse spray, body lotion and body splashes.
Direct-to-Consumer Segment
The Direct-to-Consumer segment consists of channels that provide the Company with immediate, controlled access to consumers: Coach-operated stores in North America; Japan; Hong Kong, Macau, and mainland China, Taiwan, Singapore and the Internet. This segment represented approximately 89% of Coach�� total net sales during the fiscal year ended June 30, 2012 (fiscal 2012), with North American stores and the Internet, Coach Japan and Coach China contributing approximately 63%, 18% and 6% of total net sales, respectively. Coach stores are located in regional shopping centers and metropolitan areas throughout the United States and Canada. The retail stores carry an assortment of products. Its stores are located in locations, such as New York, Chicago, San Francisco and Toronto.
Coach�� factory stores serve as a means to sell manufactured-for-factory-store product, including factory exclusives, as well as discontinued and irregular inventory outside the retail channel. These stores operate under the Coach Factory name. Coach�� factory store design, visual presentations and customer service levels support. Coach views its Website as a key communications vehicle for the brand to promote traffic in Coach retail stores and department store locations. Its online store provides a showcase environment where consumers can browse through a selected offering of the latest styles and colors.
Coach Japan operates department store shop-in-shop locations and freestanding flagship, retail and factory stores, as well as an e-commerce Website. Flagship stores offer an assortment of Coach products that are located in select shopping districts throughout Japan. Coach China operates department store shop-in-shop locations, as well as freestanding flagship, retail and factory sto! res. Flag! ship stores, which offer an assortment of Coach products, are located in select shopping districts throughout Hong Kong and mainland China. Coach Singapore and Taiwan operate department store shop-in-shop locations as well as freestanding flagship, retail and factory stores. Flagship stores, which offer a range of assortment of Coach products, are located in select shopping districts in Singapore and Taiwan.
The Reed Krakoff brand represents New American luxury primarily for handbags, accessories and ready-to-wear. Reed Krakoff operates department store shop-in-shop locations, freestanding flagship stores, as well as an e-commerce Website at reedkrakoff.com. Flagship stores, which offer an assortment of Reed Krakoff products, are located in select shopping districts in the United States and Japan.
Indirect Segment
The Indirect segment represented approximately 11% of total net sales in fiscal 2012, with United States Wholesale and Coach International representing approximately 6% and 4% of total net sales, respectively. The Indirect segment also includes royalties earned on licensed product. U.S. Wholesale channel offers access to Coach products to consumers who prefer shopping at department stores. Coach products are also available on macys.com, dillards.com, bloomingdales.com, lordandtaylor.com, belk.com, vonmaur.com and nordstrom.com. Coach�� products are sold in approximately 990 wholesale locations in the United States and Canada. Its U.S. wholesale customers are Macy�� (including Bloomingdale��), Dillard��, Nordstrom, Lord & Taylor, Carson�� and Saks Fifth Avenue.
Coach International channel represents sales to international wholesale distributors and authorized retailers. Coach has developed relationships with a select group of distributors who sell Coach products through department stores and freestanding retail locations in over 20 countries. Coach�� network of international distributors serves various markets: South Korea, US & T! erritorie! s, Taiwan, Malaysia, Hong Kong, Mexico, Saudi Arabia, Thailand, Japan, Australia, Singapore, UAE, France, China, Macau, Indonesia, Kuwait, Bahamas, Aruba, Vietnam, New Zealand, Bahrain, India and Brazil.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Rick Munarriz]
3. Put me in Coach
Investors may have gotten nervous when Coach (NYSE: COH ) posted disappointing holiday quarter results earlier this year, but this time around the retailer had it in the bag. - [By Travis Hoium]
What: Shares of Coach (NYSE: COH ) jumped 10.5% today after the company released earnings.
So what: First-quarter sales rose 7% to $1.19 billion, beating estimates of $1.18 billion. On the bottom line, earnings per share jumped 10% to $0.84, four cents ahead of estimate. �
- [By Chris Hill]
Shares of Coach (NYSE: COH ) rose more than 10% on Tuesday after the retailer reported better-than-expected third-quarter profits. Coach also increased its dividend by 13%, and it continues to face stiff competition. Shares of Michael Kors (NYSE: KORS ) have outperformed Coach over the past year. In this installment of Motley Fool Money, our analysts talk about the future of Coach.
Best Long Term Companies For 2014: CTI Industries Corporation (CTIB)
CTI Industries Corporation develops, manufactures, and supplies flexible film products for novelty, packaging and container, and custom product applications worldwide. The company offers novelty products that comprise foil balloons, such as Superloons, Ultraloons, Miniloons, Card-B-Loons, Shape-A-Loons, and mini shapes; latex balloons under the Partyloons name; and toy balloon products consisting of punch balls, water bombs, animal twisties, and other inflatable toy items. It also provides flexible containers for home and consumer use for the storage and preservation of food and personal items, including devices for sealing and evacuating air from such containers; and packaging films and custom film products used for food, and other packaging and commercial applications. In addition, the company offers pouches and bags comprising valved and re sealable pouches for the storage of household items; vacuum sealable bags for food storage; re sealable and valved bags for the sto rage and vacuum sealing of food items in the house under the ZipVac brand; and open-top pouches, under the ZipLoc name, for use with vacuum sealing machines to vacuum seal, and store food and household items. It primarily serves various retail outlets, including general merchandise, discount and drugstore chains, grocery chains, card and gift shops, and party goods stores, as well as florists and balloon decorators through a network of distributors and wholesalers, and independent sales representatives. CTI Industries Corporation was founded in 1975 and is headquartered in Lake Barrington, Illinois.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Monica Gerson]
CTI Industries (NASDAQ: CTIB) is estimated to report its Q1 earnings at $0.02 per share on revenue of $15.75 million.
URS (NYSE: URS) is projected to post its Q1 earnings at $0.68 per share on revenue of $2.68 billion.
Best Long Term Companies For 2014: Boston Therapeutics Inc (BTHE)
Boston Therapeutics, Inc. is a development-stage company. The Company�� business is the development, manufacture and commercialization of therapeutic drugs and dietary supplements with a focus on glyco-pathology, a specialized field involving understanding the importance of carbohydrates in biochemistry and progression of diseases. The Company is focusing on three products: IPOXYN, an injectable anti-hypoxia drug, which it is developing; PAZ320, which is a non-systemic, chewable drug candidate for reduction of blood glucose in diabetics in development and SUGARDOWN, a complex carbohydrate-based chewable dietary supplement, which it is marketing. The Company�� non-systemic compounds for prediabetes and diabetes, SUGARDOWN and PAZ320, belong to the class of carbohydrate-hydrolyzing enzyme inhibitors.
SUGARDOWN
The Company has developed SUGARDOWN, a non-systemic complex carbohydrate-based dietary supplement to moderate post-meal blood glucose using processes and technology. It has unrestricted access to both sufficient raw materials at commodity pricing and processing facilities to produce sufficient supply of SUGARDOWN to support product distribution across multiple sales channels as a dietary supplement. Its SUGARDOWN dietary supplement consists of a stabilized complex carbohydrate composition. The Company has completed development of SUGARDOWN as a dietary supplement. On January 24, 2012 the Company announced the clinical trial results in healthy volunteers performed at the University of Sydney on SUGARDOWN.
PAZ320
PAZ320 is a non-systemic, non-toxic, chewable drug candidate for prevention of diabetes and its complications. PAZ320 inhibits the enzymes, which release glucose from complex carbohydrate in foods during digestion, reducing the amount of available glucose absorbed through the intestine. PAZ320 is in development as a drug candidate. The Company�� non-systemic compounds for prediabetes and diabetes, SUGARDOWN and PAZ320, belong to the! class of carbohydrate-hydrolyzing enzyme inhibitors.
IPOXYN
The Company has developed a drug candidate product IPOXYN, a glyco-protein based therapeutic agent. Its IPOXYN anti-hypoxia drug consists of a stabilized glycoprotein composition containing oxygen-rechargeable iron, targeting both human and animal tissues and organ systems deprived of oxygen and in need of metabolic support. In addition to potential uses for human patients, it also focuses to file a registration for IPOXYN for veterinary applications under the name OXYFEX. The Company�� pharmaceutical agents are intended for intravenous administration into the circulatory system to target acute and late stage diseases.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By CRWE]
Today, BTHE remains (0.00%) +0.000 at $1.10 thus far (ref. google finance Delayed: 12:25PM EDT October 10, 2013).
Boston Therapeutics has previously closed the final tranche of approximately $1.8 million to bring total gross proceeds of approximately $5.3 million from the private placement of Common Stock and warrants to existing and new accredited investors (the “Offering”).
Proceeds of the offering will be used to fund additional clinical trials for PAZ320, a non-systemic chewable drug designed to reduce the elevation of postprandial glucose or post-meal blood sugar for treatment of patients with Type 2 diabetes, and for general corporate purposes. PAZ320 is the first compound in a new class of therapies for this disease.
Best Long Term Companies For 2014: ProShares Short QQQ (PSQ)
ProShares Short QQQ is focused on daily investment results that correspond to the inverse (opposite) of the daily performance of the NASDAQ-100 Index. The NASDAQ-100 Index represents non-financial domestic and international issues listed on The NASDAQ Stock Market. The Fund takes positions in financial instruments (including derivatives) that in combination should have similar daily return characteristics as the inverse of the NASDAQ-100 Index. ProShares Short QQQ will not directly sell short the equity securities of issuers contained in the NASDAQ-100 Index. The Fund will concentrates its investments in a particular industry or group of industries to approximately the same extent as the Index is so concentrated. ProShare Advisors LLC serves as the investment advisor to the Fund. Advisors' Opinion:- [By MONEYMORNING.COM]
It's the ProShares Short QQQ (NYSE: PSQ). The good thing about this type of inverse ETF is that it pays you when the Nasdaq drops roughly on a 1-to-1 basis. For every percentage point the index goes down, PSQ rises by that amount.
Best Long Term Companies For 2014: China GengSheng Minerals Inc. (CHGS)
China GengSheng Minerals, Inc., through its subsidiaries, operates in the materials technology industry. It develops, manufactures, and sells a range of mineral-based, heat-resistant products. The company�s products include refractory products, industrial ceramics, fracture proppants, and fine precision abrasives. Its refractory products comprise castable, coating, and dry mix materials; low-cement and non-cement castables; and pre-cast roofs that are used as linings and key components in industrial furnaces, such as steel production furnaces, ladles, vessels, and other high-temperature processing machines that operate at high temperatures in various industries. The company�s industrial ceramic products consist of abrasive balls and tiles, valves, electronic ceramics, and structural ceramics that are used as components for various end products, such as fuses, vacuum interrupters, electrical components, mud slurry pumps, and high-pressure pumps in the electric power, elec tronic component, industrial pump, and metallurgy industries. Its fracture proppant products include ball-like pellets that are used to reach pockets of oil and natural gas deposits trapped in the fractures under the ground. The company�s fine precision abrasives are primarily used for the surface-polishing and slicing of precision instruments, such as solar panels, as well as in a range of areas, including machinery manufacturing, electronics, optical glass, architecture, industry development, semiconductor, silicon chip, plastic, and lens. China GengSheng Minerals, Inc. sells its products to customers in the iron, steel, oil, glass, cement, aluminum, chemical, and solar industries in China and other parts of Asia, North America, and Europe. The company was formerly known as China Minerals Technologies, Inc. and changed its name to China GengSheng Minerals, Inc. in July 2007. China GengSheng Minerals, Inc. is based in Gongyi, the People�s Republic of China.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Bryan Murphy]
If you're reading this, then odds are you already know that China Gengsheng Minerals Inc. (NYSEMKT:CHGS) shares are up a whopping 60% today. And, odds are good you're struggling to find a reason why CHGS are running so hard. Here's some advice - discontinue the hunt. You're not going to find a reason for all this bullishness in the headlines. Yet, there's a reason. It's just a bigger, almost too big to spot kind of reason. Either way, would-be traders can take the hint at face value.
- [By Bryan Murphy]
If you're a small cap enthusiast looking for some budding ideas, you may not need to look any further than China GengSheng Minerals, Inc. (NYSEMKT:CHGS), Bio Matrix Scientific Group Inc. (OTCMKTS:BMSN), and MER Telemanagement Solutions Ltd. (NASDAQ:MTSL). All three have either pushed themselves to the brink of a breakout, if they haven't started one already. Here's a closer technical look at MTSL, BMSN, and CHGS, and what it's going to take to get them going if they're not going already.
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