With shares of McDonald�� (NYSE:MCD) trading around $93, is MCD an OUTPERFORM, WAIT AND SEE, or STAY AWAY? Let�� analyze the stock with the relevant sections of our CHEAT SHEET investing framework:
T = Trends for a Stock’s MovementMcDonald�� franchises and operates McDonald�� restaurants in the United States, Europe, Asia Pacific, the Middle East, Africa, Canada, and Latin America — so just about every part of the world. Its restaurants offer various food items, soft drinks, coffee, and other beverages, as well as breakfast menus. The products provided by McDonald�� fulfill cravings at competitive prices in convenient locations worldwide. The McDonald�� craze shows no signs of slowing, so the company has continued its expansion to just about every nation on the globe. As consumers continue to enjoy McDonald�� products, look for it to see rising profits.
McDonald�� top priorities is boosting ��offee-driven visits,��according to a document laying out the company�� 2014 to 2016 U.S. strategy. In a January 28 memo, U.S. operations chief Jim Johannesen and U.S. brand chief Kevin Newell exhorted franchisees to deliver �� gold-standard cup of coffee with every visit.��Earlier this month, in a webcast for restaurant owners, McDonald�� vowed to become the ��nvy��of rivals and said Starbucks Corp.�(NASDAQ:SBUX) was leading the ��offee wars.���cDonald�� is battling fast-food chains, coffee sellers, and even convenience stores hawking breakfast as cash-strapped Americans eat out less. Earlier this month, the world�� largest restaurant chain said U.S. same-store sales fell 1.4 percent in the fourth-quarter; profit barely budged.
Top Industrial Disributor Companies To Watch For 2015: Harris & Harris Group Inc.(TINY)
Harris & Harris Group, Inc. is a venture capital and venture debt firm specializing in seed, start up, early stage, and mid venture investments. It primarily invests in tiny-technology-enabled companies with a focus on nanotechnology, microsystems, and microelectromechanical systems technology. Harris & Harris Group, Inc. was founded in 1981 and is based in New York, New York with additional offices in Palo Alto, California and Los Angeles, California.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Sally Jones]
Highlight: Harris & Harris Group Inc. (TINY)
The TINY share price is currently $3.07 or 22.1% off the 52-week high of $3.94. The company does not pay a dividend.
Top 5 Companies To Buy Right Now: CMS Energy Corp (CMS)
CMS Energy Corporation (CMS Energy) is an energy company operating primarily in Michigan. CMS Energy is the parent holding company of several subsidiaries, including Consumers Energy Company (Consumers) and CMS Enterprises Company (CMS Enterprises). Consumers is an electric and gas utility, and CMS Enterprises, primarily a domestic independent power producer. Consumers serves individuals and businesses operating in the alternative energy, automotive, chemical, metal, and food products industries, as well as a diversified group of other industries. CMS Enterprises, through its subsidiaries and equity investments, is engaged primarily in independent power production and owns power generation facilities fueled mostly by natural gas and biomass. CMS Energy operates in three business segments: electric utility, gas utility and enterprises, its non-utility operations and investments. EnerBank USA (EnerBank), a wholly owned subsidiary of CMS Energy, which provides unsecured consumer installment loans for financing home improvements.
CONSUMERS ELECTRIC UTILITY
Consumers��electric utility operations include the generation, purchase, distribution, and sale of electricity. During the year ended December 31, 2011, Consumers��electric deliveries were 38 billion kilowatt hour, which included Retail Open Access (ROA) deliveries of four billion kilowatt hour. Consumers��distribution system includes 413 miles of high-voltage distribution radial lines operating at 120 kilovolts or above; ,244 miles of high-voltage distribution overhead lines operating at 23 kilovolts and 46 kilovolts; 17 miles of high-voltage distribution underground lines operating at 23 kilovolts and 46 kilovolts; 55,953 miles of electric distribution overhead lines; 10,112 miles of underground distribution lines, and substations with an aggregate transformer capacity of 24 million thousand volt-amperes.
At December 31, 2011, Consumers��electric generating system consisted of coal generation, oil/gas/st! eam generation, hydroelectric and gas/oil combustion turbine. At December 31, 2011, Consumers had contracts to purchase coal through 2014. At December 31, 2011, Consumers had 86% of its 2012 expected coal requirements under contract, as well as a 41-day supply of coal on hand. During 2011, Consumers purchased 53% of the electricity it provided to customers through long-term power purchase agreements (PPAs), seasonal purchases, and the Midwest Energy Market. Consumers offers its generation into the Midwest Energy Market on a day-ahead and real-time basis and bids for power in the market to serve the demand of its customers. Consumers is a net purchaser of power and supplements its generation capability with purchases from the Midwest Energy Market to meet its customers��needs during peak demand periods.
CONSUMERS GAS UTILITY
Consumers��gas utility operations include the purchase, transmission, storage, distribution, and sale of natural gas. Consumers��gas utility customer base consists of a mix of residential, commercial, and diversified industrial customers in Michigan�� Lower Peninsula. In 2011, deliveries of natural gas, including off-system transportation deliveries, through Consumers��pipeline and distribution network, totaled 337 billion cubic feet of gas, which included Gas Customer Choice (GCC) deliveries of 48 billion cubic feet of gas. Consumers��gas utility operations are seasonal. During 2011, 46% of the natural gas supplied to all customers during the winter months was supplied from storage.
Consumers��gas distribution and transmission system located in Michigan�� Lower Peninsula consists of 26,623 miles of distribution mains; 666 miles of transmission lines; seven compressor stations with a total of 150,635 installed and available horsepower, and 15 gas storage fields with an aggregate storage capacity of 307 billion cubic feet of gas and a working storage capacity of 142 billion cubic feet of gas. In 2011, Consumers purchased 70% of ! the gas i! t delivered from United States producers and 10% from Canadian producers. The remaining 20% was purchased from authorized GCC suppliers and delivered by Consumers to customers in the GCC program.
ENTERPRISES SEGMENT
CMS Energy�� enterprises segment, through various subsidiaries and certain equity investments, is engaged primarily in domestic independent power production and the marketing of independent power production. At December 31, 2011, CMS Energy had ownership interests in independent power plants totaling 1,135 gross megawatts or 1,034 net megawatts. CMS Energy Resource Management (ERM) purchases and sells energy commodities in support of CMS Energy�� generating facilities and continues to focus on optimizing CMS Energy�� independent power production portfolio. In 2011, CMS ERM marketed 17 billion cubic feet of natural gas and 2,417 gigawatt-hour of electricity.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Richard Stavros]
Meanwhile, the companies that are projected to be spending more in 2015 than they are presently include The AES Corp (NYSE: AES), Ameren Corp (NYSE: AEE), American Electric Power Co Inc (NYSE: AEP), CMS Energy Corp (NYSE: CMS), and Northeast Utilities (NYSE: NU).
- [By Alex Planes]
Looking for a way to invest in hydropower? California's PG&E (NYSE: PCG ) is the nation's largest hydropower utility, producing nearly 12 billion kilowatt-hours of water-sourced electricity each year. CMS Energy (NYSE: CMS ) , which currently operates 13 hydroelectric power plants in Michigan -- including one near the site of that first Grand Rapids turbine -- provides power to about 70,000 people each year from the movement of water.
Top 5 Companies To Buy Right Now: CBOE Holdings Inc.(CBOE)
CBOE Holdings, Inc., through its subsidiaries, operates markets for the execution of transactions in exchange-traded options. The company offers marketplaces for trading of options on individual equities, various market indexes, exchange-traded notes, and exchange-traded funds, as well as futures contracts and cash equities. It has strategic relationships with Standard & Poor's Corporation; Dow Jones & Co.; NASDAQ; and Frank Russell Co. The company was founded in 1973 and is based in Chicago, Illinois.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By , DividendChannel.com]
Looking at the universe of stocks we cover at Dividend Channel, on May 28 Allstate�(ALL), SunTrust Banks�(STI)�and CBOE Holdings�(CBOE) will all trade ex-dividend for their respective upcoming dividends. Allstate will pay its quarterly dividend of $0.28 on July 1, SunTrust will pay its quarterly dividend of $0.20 on June 16 and CBOE Holdings will pay its quarterly dividend of $0.18 on June 20.
- [By Rich Duprey]
It's not optional: Shareholders of record on May 31 will receive a quarterly dividend of $0.15 per share on June 21 from futures and options exchange operator�CBOE Holdings� (NASDAQ: CBOE ) , the company announced this week.
Top 5 Companies To Buy Right Now: Equity Residential (EQR)
Equity Residential (EQR) is a real estate investment trust (REIT). The Company is focused on the acquisition, development and management of multi-family residential properties, which includes the generation of rental and other related income through the leasing of apartment units to residents, in United States. ERP Operating Limited Partnership (or Operating Partnership), which is an Illinois limited partnership, conducts the multifamily residential property business of EQR. All of the Company's property ownership, development and related business operations are conducted through the Operating Partnership. The Operating Partnership holds all of the assets of the Company, including the Company's ownership interests in its joint ventures. As of December 31, 2011, the Company, directly or indirectly through investments in title holding entities, owned all or a portion of 427 properties located in 15 states and the District of Columbia consisting of 121,974 apartment units. In December 2012, it acquired four multifamily properties totaling 1,134 units.
The Company is structured as an umbrella partnership REIT (UPREIT). EQR is the general partner of, and, as of December 31, 2011, owned an approximate 95.7% ownership interest in ERPOP. The remaining 4.3% interest is owned by limited partners. As of December 31, 2012, the Company�� wholly owned properties included 404 properties and 113,157 apartment units. Its consolidated partially owned properties include 21 properties and 3,916 apartment units. The Company�� military housing includes two properties and 4,901 apartment units. As of December 31, 2011, the Company�� properties had an average occupancy of approximately 94.2% (94.7% on a same store basis).
During the year ended December 31, 2011, EQR acquired apartment properties consisting of 20 consolidated properties and 6,103 apartment units and acquired five land parcels; acquired one vacant land parcel in New York City in a joint venture with Toll Brothers, and acquired o! ne unoccupied property in the San Francisco Bay Area consisting of 95 apartment units. During 2011, it also acquired a 97,000-square foot commercial building adjacent to its Harbor Steps apartment property in downtown Seattle, and sold consolidated apartment properties consisting of 47 properties and 14,345 apartment units. Subsequent to 2011, the Company acquired two land parcels, and sold one property consisting of 704 apartment units.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Sean Williams]
This week, I'd like to turn your attention back to the residential real estate investment trust sector and highlight why Equity Residential (NYSE: EQR ) is a great income-producing stock you can trust moving forward.
- [By Jim Powell]
Steve Halpern: Another real estate position that you own is Equity Residential (EQR), which is a real estate investment trust. What's your outlook for that?
- [By Brian Pacampara]
Based on the aggregated intelligence of 180,000-plus investors participating in Motley Fool CAPS, the Fool's free investing community, multifamily property REIT Equity Residential (NYSE: EQR ) has received a distressing two-star ranking.
- [By Jonas Elmerraji]
Apartment landlord Equity Residential (EQR) owns more than 550 communities spread across some of the most attractive markets in the United States. That positioning gives EQR some important advantages – with properties centered around large metro areas, occupancy rates are high, multifamily inventories are low, and barriers to entry keep that arrangement from getting thrown off-balance.
Zeroed out interest rates have helped spur home buying again, but they haven't eroded the benefits of being a renter in urban areas where EQR's target demographic of younger, often mobile, professionals live. While February's $9 billion acquisition of Archstone is still getting shaken out in shares of EQR, the firm looks well positioned to post impressive increases in sales and profitability once the dust settles.
Typically, residential REITs offer fewer benefits than their commercial peers. That's because shorter standard leases coupled with regulations that favor residential tenants. Despite that fact, EQR's solid demographics and attractive portfolio gives it returns that few other residential REITs can claim. At last count, the firm pays out a 3.4% dividend yield.
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