BALTIMORE (Stockpickr) --�Put down the 10-K filings and the stock screeners. It's time to take a break from the traditional methods of generating investment ideas. Instead, let the crowd do it for you.
>>5 Stocks Poised for Breakouts
From hedge funds to individual investors, scores of market participants are turning to social media to figure out which stocks are worth watching. It's a concept that's known as "crowdsourcing," and it uses the masses to identify emerging trends in the market.
Crowdsourcing has long been a popular tool for the advertising industry, but it also makes a lot of sense as an investment tool. After all, the market is completely driven by the supply and demand, so it can be valuable to see what names are trending among the crowd.
While some fund managers are already trying to leverage social media resources like Twitter to find algorithmic trading opportunities, for most investors, crowdsourcing works best as a starting point for investors who want a starting point in their analysis. Today, we'll leverage the power of the crowd to take a look at some of the most active stocks on the market today.
Best Shipping Companies To Watch For 2016: Regional Management Corp (RM)
Regional Management Corp. (Regional), incorporated on March 25, 1987, is a diversified specialty consumer finance company providing a range of loan products primarily to customers with limited access to consumer credit from banks, thrifts, credit card companies and other traditional lenders. The Company has a branch network throughout the Southeast and Southwestern United States. Each of its loan products is secured, structured on a fixed rate, fixed term basis with fully amortizing equal monthly installment payments and is repayable at any time without penalty. Regional�� loans are sourced through its multiple channel platform, including in its branches, through direct mail campaigns, independent and franchise automobile dealerships, online credit application networks, furniture and appliance retailers and its consumer Website. On January 20, 2012, it purchased 23 branches in Alabama.
The Company is offering small installment loans, large installment loans, automobile purchase loans, furniture and appliance purchase loans, related credit insurance, and ancillary products and services. As of December 31, 2011, the Company operated offices in 170 locations in the states of Alabama (14 offices), North Carolina (24 offices), Oklahoma (one office), South Carolina (69 offices), Tennessee (18 offices), and Texas (44 offices) under the brand names Regional Finance, RMC Financial Services, Anchor Finance, and Sun Finance. The Company opened 36 offices during the years ended December 31, 2011.
Small Installment Loans
The Company offers small installment loans ranging from $300 to $2,500, with terms of up to 36 months, which are secured by non-essential household goods. The Company also source small installment loans through its live check mailing campaigns to pre-screened individuals. In 2011, the average originated net loan size and term for its small installment loans were $1,022 and 15 months, respectively. Its small installment loans include loans originated throug! h its live check campaigns, which had an average originated net loan size and term of $1,216 and 16 months for 2011. The weighted average yield it earned on its portfolio of small installment loans was 49.3% in 2011. As of December 31, 2011, it had approximately 137,000 small installment loans outstanding representing $130.3 million in finance receivables.
Large Installment Loans
The Company offers large installment loans through its branches ranging from $2,500 to $20,000, with terms of between 18 and 60 months, which are secured by a vehicle in addition to non-essential household goods. Its installment loans are payable in fixed rate, fully amortizing equal monthly installments with terms of 18 to 60 months, and are repayable at any time without penalty. The Company requires its large installment loans to be secured by a vehicle, which may be an automobile, motorcycle, boat or all-terrain vehicle, as well as certain non-essential household goods. In 2011, its average originated net loan size and term for large installment loans were $3,065 and 27 months, respectively. The weighted average yield it earned on its portfolio of large installment loans was 27.6% for 2011. As of December 31, 2011, it had approximately 12,000 large installment loans outstanding representing $36.9 million in finance receivables.
Automobile Purchase Loans
The Company offers automobile purchase loans of up to $30,000, generally with terms of between 36 and 72 months, which are secured by the purchased vehicle. Its automobile purchase loans are offered through a network of dealers in its geographic footprint, including over 2,000 independent and approximately 740 franchise automobile dealerships as of December 31, 2011. Its automobile purchase loans include both direct loans, which are sourced through a dealership and closed at one of its branches, and indirect loans, which are originated and closed at a dealership in its network without the need for the customer to visit o! ne of its! branches. In 2011, it introduced AutoCredit Source branches in the Dallas-Ft. Worth, Texas and Charlotte, North Carolina metropolitan areas, which focus solely on originating, underwriting and servicing indirect automobile purchase loans. As of December 31, 2011, it had approximately 15,000 automobile purchase loans outstanding representing $128.7 million in finance receivables. The Company opened two additional AutoCredit Source branches in Texas in January 2012.
Furniture and Appliance Purchase Loans
The Company offers indirect furniture and appliance purchase loans of up to $7,500, with terms of between six and 48 months, which are secured by the purchased furniture or appliance. Its furniture and appliance purchase loans are indirect loans made through a retailer at the point of sale without the need for the customer to visit one of its branches, similar to its indirect automobile purchase loans. The Company partner with furniture and appliance retailers who offer its furniture and appliance purchase loans directly to their customers. As of December 31, 2011, it provided furniture and appliance purchase loans to customers at approximately 250 furniture and appliance retail locations, including 79 franchise store locations of the furniture retailer in the United States.
Insurance Products
The Company offers its customers optional payment protection insurance relating to many of its loan products. The insurance products it offers customers are voluntary and not a condition of the loan. Its insurance products, including the types of products offered and the terms and conditions thereof, vary from state to state in compliance with applicable laws and regulations. The Company markets and sells insurance policies as an agent for an unaffiliated third-party insurance company. The policies are then ceded to its wholly owned reinsurance subsidiary, RMC Reinsurance, Ltd., which then bears the full risk of the policy. For the sale of insurance policies, th! e Company! , as agent, writes policies within the limitations established by its agency contracts with the unaffiliated third-party insurance company.
Credit Life Insurance, Credit Accident and Health Insurance and Involuntary Unemployment Insurance
The Company markets and sells optional credit life insurance, credit accident and health insurance and involuntary unemployment insurance in connection with its loans in selected markets. Credit life insurance provides for the payment in full of the borrower�� credit obligation to the lender in the event of the borrower�� death. Credit accident and health insurance, which is only offered in conjunction with credit life insurance, provides for the repayment of loan installments to the lender that come due during an insured�� period of income interruption resulting from disability from illness or injury. Involuntary unemployment insurance provides for repayment of loan installments in the event the borrower is no longer employed as the result of a layoff or reduction in workforce. All customers purchasing these types of insurance from the Company sign a statement on the loan contract affirming that they understand that their purchase of insurance is not a condition of its granting the loan.
Collateral Protection Collision Insurance
The Company before originate an automobile purchase loan or large installment loan, it require the borrower to provide proof of acceptable liability and collision insurance on the vehicle securing the loan. While the Company do not offer automobile insurance to its customers, it will obtain collateral protection collision insurance (CPI) on behalf of customers who permit their other insurance coverage to lapse. If it obtains CPI for a vehicle, the customer has the opportunity to provide proof of insurance to cancel the CPI and receive a refund of all unearned premiums.
Property Insurance
The Company also requires that its customers provide proof of acceptable ! insurance! for any personal property securing a loan. Customers can provide proof of such insurance purchased from a third party (such as homeowners or renters insurance) or can purchase the property insurance that it offers.
The Company competes with World Acceptance Corp. and Security Finance Corporation.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Peter Graham]
Small cap installment loan and consumer finance�stock World Acceptance Corp (NASDAQ: WRLD), a potential peer of small cap Regional Management Corp (NYSE: RM) and�mid cap�Springleaf Holdings Inc (NYSE: LEAF), has elevated short interest of 38.72% according to Highshortinterest.com. However, World Acceptance Corp got on the radar of the shorts when the company disclosed that its being investigated by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau�for its lending practices. ��
Top Heal Care Companies To Own In Right Now: Acuity Brands Inc (AYI)
Acuity Brands, Inc. (Acuity Brands), incorporated on September 20, 2007, is the parent company of Acuity Brands Lighting, Inc. (ABL), and other subsidiaries. Acuity Brands is a provider of lighting solutions for commercial, institutional, industrial, infrastructure, and residential applications throughout North America and select international markets. The Company's lighting solutions include devices, such as luminaires, lighting controls, power supplies, prismatic skylights, light-emitting diode (LED) lamps, and integrated lighting systems for indoor and outdoor applications utilizing a combination of light sources, including daylight, and other devices controlled by software that monitors and manages light levels while optimizing energy consumption (collectively referred to herein as lighting solutions). Effective March 14, 2013, the Company acquired eldoLED Europe BV.
The Company manufactures lighting devices primarily in North America, Europe and Asia. The Company's lighting solutions are marketed under numerous brand names, including Lithonia Lighting, Holophane, Peerless, Mark Architectural Lighting, Hydrel, American Electric Lighting, Gotham, Carandini, RELOC, Antique Street Lamps, Tersen, Winona Lighting, Synergy Lighting Controls, Sensor Switch, Lighting Control & Design, Dark to Light, ROAM, Sunoptics, acculamp, Pathway Connectivity, and Healthcare Lighting. As of August 31, 2012, the Company manufactures products in 18 facilities in North America and two facilities in Europe.
Principal customers include electrical distributors, retail home improvement centers, electric utilities, municipalities, lighting showrooms, and energy service companies located in North America and select international markets serving new construction, renovation, and facility maintenance applications. In North America, the Company's lighting solutions are sold primarily by independent sales agents, electrical wholesalers, and factory sales representatives who cover specific geographic areas! and market channels. Products are delivered directly or through a network of distribution centers, regional warehouses, and commercial warehouses using both common carriers and a company-owned truck fleet. During the fiscal year ended August 31, 2012 (fiscal 2012), North American sales accounted for approximately 98% of net sales. The Company has one operating segment serving the North American lighting market and select international markets.
The Company provides a range of lighting solutions, as well as services used in the applications, such as lighting solutions and services. Lighting solutions and services includes commercial and institutional, industrial, infrastructure, residential and services. Commercial and Institutional includes stores, hotels, offices, schools, and hospitals, as well as other government and public buildings. Lighting solutions that serve these applications include recessed, surface, and suspended lighting products, recessed down lighting, track lighting, day lighting, and lighting controls (occupancy sensors, photocontrols, relay panels, architectural dimming panels, and integrated lighting controls systems), as well as special-use lighting products. The outdoor areas associated with these applications are addressed by a range of outdoor lighting products, such as area and flood lighting, decorative site lighting, and landscape lighting. Industrial includes primarily warehouses and manufacturing facilities, which utilize a range of general purpose, day lighting, and special-use lighting solutions. Infrastructure includes highways, tunnels, airports, railway yards, and ports. Products that serve these applications include street, area, high-mast, off-set roadway, sign lighting, poles, and integrated controls systems. Residential includes a combination of decorative, utilitarian, and down lighting products. Services include monitoring and controlling of lighting systems through network technologies.
The Company competes with Cooper Industries plc, Hu! bbell Inc! orporated, Koninklijke Philips Electronics N.V., OSRAM AG, Schneider Electric and General Electric Company.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Laura Brodbeck]
Wednesday
Earnings Expected: Unifirst Corporation (NYSE: UNF), Monsanto Company (NYSE: MON), Acuity Brands Inc (NYSE: AYI) Economic Releases Expected: �Chinese services PMI, Australian trade balance, US crude inventory data, eurozone PPIThursday
- [By Laura Brodbeck]
Tuesday
Earnings Expected: A. Schulman (NASDAQ: SHLM), Acuity Brands (NYSE: AYI), Franklin Covey (NYSE: FC) and Paychex (NASDAQ: PAYX) Economic Releases Expected: US ISM manufacturing PMI, US redbook, British manufacturing PMI, German unemployment rate, French manufacturing PMI, Italian manufacturing PMI, Spanish manufacturing PMI and Reserve Bank of Australia interest rate decisionWednesday
Top Heal Care Companies To Own In Right Now: Peet's Coffee & Tea Inc.(PEET)
Peet?s Coffee & Tea, Inc. operates as a specialty coffee roaster and marketer of fresh roasted whole bean coffee and tea in the United States. It offers whole bean coffee and related products consisting of products for home brewing, tea, and packaged foods; and beverages and pastries. The company also provides brewing equipment for coffee and tea; paper filters and brewing accessories; and branded and non-branded cups, saucers, travel mugs, and serve ware. Peet?s sells its products through various channels of distribution, including grocery stores; home delivery, office, restaurant, and foodservice accounts; and company-owned and operated stores. As of January 2, 2011, it operated 192 retail stores in California, Colorado, Illinois, Oregon, Massachusetts, and Washington. The company was founded in 1966 and is headquartered in Emeryville, California.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Chris Hill]
In 2012, the Germany-based�Benckiser Group�spent $1.3B to buy Peet's Coffee & Tea, as well as Caribou Coffee. On Friday, Benckiser announced that it's buying European coffee maker Master Blenders for�around�$10 billion. In the United States, Benckiser is closing 15% of Caribou locations, and�converting 20% of the stores into Peet's (NASDAQ: PEET ) . In this installment of Motley Fool Money, our analysts discuss whether Benckiser's big bet on coffee poses a threat to Starbucks (NASDAQ: SBUX ) .
Top Heal Care Companies To Own In Right Now: Rackspace Hosting Inc(RAX)
Rackspace Hosting, Inc. operates in the hosting and cloud computing industry. It provides information technology (IT) as a service, managing Web-based IT systems for small and medium-sized businesses, as well as large enterprises worldwide. The company?s service suite includes dedicated hosting comprising customer management portal and other management tools that manage data center, network, hardware devices, and operating system software; and cloud computing that enables customers to provide and manage a pool of computing resources, as well as delivery of computing resources to business when they need them. It offers cloud servers, cloud files, and cloud sites, as well as cloud applications, such as email, collaboration, and file back-ups; and hybrid hosting that provides a combination of dedicated hosting and cloud computing services. The company also offers customer support services. It sells its service suite through direct sales teams, third-party channel partners, an d online ordering. The company was formerly known as Rackspace.com, Inc. and changed its name to Rackspace Hosting, Inc. in June 2008. Rackspace Hosting, Inc. was founded in 1998 and is headquartered in San Antonio, Texas.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Inyoung Hwang]
Stephen Penwell, Morgan Stanley�� director of North American equity research, says his firm did a report that featured companies whose profit margins had risen even as global economic events such as the European debt crisis had intensified. They included discount chain Dollar General Corp. (DG), Dunkin��Brands Group Inc. (DNKN) and Web services firm Rackspace Hosting Inc. (RAX)
Top Heal Care Companies To Own In Right Now: M2M Group SA (M2M)
M2M Group SA is a Morocco-based company that specializes in secured electronic transactions processing solutions. Its product portfolio includes solution packages, a modular software suite designed for banks and financial institutions, which allows both issuing and acquiring transactions in an interbank, multichannel, multi-currency and cross-border environment; a product set designed to meet specific needs of governments in terms of processing electronic identity documents and acquiring of alphanumeric and biometric date. In addition, the Company offers solutions for clients in such sectors as transportation, telecommunications and healthcare, as well as financial institutions, among others. Advisors' Opinion:- [By Holly LaFon]
I'm still pretty bullish on "Machine to Machine" (M2M) technology, also known as the "Internet of Things," which I've discussed before. More recently, I've also been exploring opportunities around a recovery in non-residential construction. Much of the activity in the industry over the last couple of years has come from the renovation and replacement areas, but there's been a pick-up in order activity on the new construction side as well. It hasn't really hit the income statements of these businesses yet, but I'm confident going forward, especially in those companies that I hold inRoyce Value Plus's portfolio that have held their own in a tough down cycle for their industry.
- [By Holly LaFon]
What sectors and industries have you been looking at most closely lately?One theme I've been exploring over the last year or so is "Machine to Machine" (M2M) technology, also known as the "Internet of Things."
Top Heal Care Companies To Own In Right Now: EarthLink Inc.(ELNK)
EarthLink, Inc. provides communications services to individual and business customers in the United States. It operates in two segments, Consumer Services and Business Services. The Consumer Services segment offers Internet access and related value-added services. It provides dial-up Internet and narrowband access, broadband access, and voice-over-Internet-protocol services, as well as value-added services that include products for protection, communication, and performance, such as security products, premium email only, home networking, email storage, and Internet call waiting. This segment offer its products and services primarily through its call centers, search engine marketing, affinity marketing partners, resellers, and marketing alliances. The Business Services segment offers integrated communications services, such as secure IP-based networks, virtual private networks, Internet access, local telephone and long distance services, enhanced services, access trunks, pr ivate line services, asynchronous transfer mode/frame relay services, and mobile data and voice services, as well as installation, managed network, remote access, and disaster recovery services. It also provides wholesale services comprising broadband transport services, including private line, Ethernet private line, and wavelength services; local communications and local dial tone communications services; live and automated operator, and directory assistance services; and dedicated Internet access services and direct connectivity. In addition, this segment leases server space and provides Web hosting services that enable customers to build and maintain an online presence, including domain names, storage, mailboxes, software tools to build Web sites, e-commerce applications, and 24/7 customer support. This segment offers its services through direct sales, and independent dealers and sales agents. The company was founded in 1994 and is headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Geoff Gannon] nflation growth: Dun & Bradstreet (DNB)
路 Inflation plus population growth: CEC Entertainment (CEC)
路 Nominal GDP Growth: Village Supermarket (VLGEA)
Over the last 10 years ��population growth, inflation, and real output per person growth has been so low it�� hard to tell the difference between companies growing at the rate of inflation, along with the population, or along with the economy.
You have to squint really hard to see any difference in the revenue growth records of DNB, Chuck E. Cheese, and Village.
This will not be true in all countries and at all times.
A literally no growth company like Earthlink is actually shrinking. It just happens to look like it�� staying perfectly flat because inflation is hiding the company�� real decay rate. In real terms, the company has been shrinking by about 3% a year for the last 10 years. So, Earthlink is not a no growth company. It�� shrinking.
That�� a bad sign. And, frankly, I don�� know how to value Earthlink. You would need to evaluate it as a turnaround or something ��not as a business that�� simplly stuck in place. I don�� know how to do that.
So, Earhtlink goes into the ��oo hard��pile.
Dun & Bradstreet and CEC Entertainment are actual no growth businesses. This is hidden by their constant share buy backs. So, if you look at their earnings per share growth they look kind of like Peter Lynch�� idea of a ��low growth��company or even a ��talwart�� They aren��. They��e no growth businesses.
The same is pretty much true with Village Supermarket. Although this is complicated. The nature of their business ��high volume, low cost groceries ��means they can appear to be a no growth business when they are actually just keeping prices down and increasing volume. You would need to check their sales numbers more carefully. Grocery stores often discuss inflation in their annual reports. Village Supermarket always does t
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