Top Electric Utility Companies To Watch For 2014

Retirement plan participants served by Ascensus Inc. and The Vanguard Group Inc. — with more than $2 billion in assets combined — are set to begin receiving personalized financial advice, courtesy of LPL Financial Retirement Partners.

LPL Financial LLC yesterday announced the partnership with the two massive retirement plan service providers at its focus13 conference in San Diego.

Bill Chetney, executive vice president at LPL Financial Retirement Partners, said LPL is in talks with New York Life Insurance Co. to provide advice to participants in plans serviced by the insurer.

Top 5 Up And Coming Stocks To Invest In Right Now: Spdr Nuveen Barclays Capital Short Term Municipal Bond Etf (SHM)

SPDR Nuveen Barclays Short Term Municipal Bond ETF (the Fund), formerly SPDR Nuveen Barclays Capital Short Term Municipal Bond ETF, correspond generally to the price and yield performance of the Barclays Capital Managed Money Municipal Short Term Index (the Index). The Fund uses a passive management strategy designed to track the Index. The Index tracks publicly traded municipal bonds that cover the United States dollar-denominated, short-term tax exempt bond market, including state and local general obligation bonds, revenue bonds, insured bonds and pre-refunded bonds. The Fund�� investment manager is SSgA Funds Management, Inc. Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Todd Rosenbluth]

  Fortunately, there are some short-term muni ETFs to choose from. The largest is SPDR Nuveen Barclays Short-Term Muni Bond (SHM). About 65% of the bonds inside have a AA rating, with most of the remaining ones having a AAA rating.

Top Electric Utility Companies To Watch For 2014: Conn's Inc.(CONN)

Conn?s, Inc. operates as a specialty retailer of home appliances, consumer electronics, home office equipment, lawn and garden products, mattresses, and furniture in the United States. Its home appliances products include refrigerators, freezers, washers, dryers, dishwashers, ranges, and room air conditioners; consumer electronics products consist of LED, LCD, plasma, DLP and 3-D televisions, camcorders, digital cameras, Blu-ray and DVD players, video game equipment, portable audio, MP3 players, GPS devices, and home theater products; and furniture and mattresses include living room, bedroom, and dining room furniture. The company's products also comprise lawn and garden equipment, which includes lawn mowers, lawn tractors, and handheld equipment; and home office equipment, including computers, notebooks, and computer accessories. It also offers repair service agreements and customer credit programs, including installment and revolving credit account programs, and various credit insurance products. In addition, the company sells its products online. As of January 20, 2012, it operated 70 retail locations in Texas, Louisiana, and Oklahoma. The company was founded in 1890 and is headquartered in Beaumont, Texas.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Rick Munarriz]

  I went out on a limb last week, and now it's time to see how that decision played out.

  I predicted that BlackBerry (NASDAQ: BBRY  ) would close lower on the week. The hype that's been building for months surrounding the domestic launch of the Z10 hasn't matched the reality now that the country's two largest carriers have the new BlackBerry device available. Still, the stock rallied earlier in the week, holding on to enough of those gains to close out the week 1.7% higher. I was wrong. I predicted that the tech-heavy Nasdaq would outperform the Dow Jones Industrial Average. (DJINDICES: ^DJI  ) . This has been a tricky call lately, so how did it play out this time? Well, it didn't. The Nasdaq got blasted for a 1.9% hit, and the Dow managed to close barely unchanged, with only a marginal downtick. I was wrong. My final call was for Conn's (NASDAQ: CONN  ) to beat Wall Street's quarterly profit target. The consumer-electronics retailer has been able to sidestep the stagnancy taking place at larger chains because Conn's offers larger items, including mattresses and lawn-maintenance equipment, that can't be easily replaced online. The company also has been beating Wall Street estimates consistently over the past year. Analysts were looking for a profit of $0.55 a share during the quarter, and it came through with net income of $0.54. I was wrong.

  I missed on all three. That doesn't happen often, and I know I can do better. So let me once again whip out my trusty, dusty, and occasionally accurate crystal ball to make three calls that may play out over the next few trading days.

• [By Lisa Levin]

  Electronics Stores: This industry moved up 1.16% by 10:15 am. The top performer in this industry was Conns (NASDAQ: CONN), which gained 1.3%. Conns' PEG ratio is 0.87.

• [By Jake L'Ecuyer]

  Equities Trading DOWN
  Shares of Conns (NASDAQ: CONN) were down 32.47 percent to $37.68 after the company issued a weak Q4 profit forecast. Oppenheimer downgraded the stock from Outperform to Market Perform and cut the price target from $92.00 to $44.00.

Top Electric Utility Companies To Watch For 2014: Bank Of Montreal (BMO)

Bank of Montreal, together with its subsidiaries, provides a range of retail banking, wealth management, and investment banking products and solutions in North America and internationally. It offers personal banking products and services to consumers and small businesses, including deposit and investment services, mortgages, consumer credit, small business lending, and other banking services; and commercial banking products and services to small business, medium-sized enterprise, and mid-market banking clients comprising lending, deposits, treasury management, and risk management services. The company also offers cards and payments services; investment and wealth advisory services; self-directed investing services; private banking services to high net worth and ultra-high net worth clients; investment fund solutions across a range of channels; pension plans; investment management services; and creditor insurance, and life insurance and annuity products and services. In add ition, it provides capital markets products and services, including equity and debt underwriting, corporate lending and project financing, mergers and acquisitions, restructurings and recapitalizations, balance sheet management, liquidity management, merchant banking, securitization, foreign exchange, derivatives, debt and equity research, and institutional sales and trading to corporate, institutional, and government clients. As of October 31, 2010, Bank of Montreal operated and maintained approximately 1,230 bank branches in Canada and the United States. The company was founded in 1817 and is headquartered in Toronto, Canada.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Dan Caplinger]

  Toronto-Dominion Bank (NYSE: TD  ) will release its quarterly report on Thursday, and in general, investors have been pleased with the Canadian bank's prospects over the past several months. But in light of surprisingly negative news from rival Bank of Montreal (NYSE: BMO  ) on Tuesday, Toronto-Dominion Bank will have to demonstrate that it's able to avoid the troubles that hurt its rival's results during the most recent quarter.

• [By Alyssa Oursler]

  Head north of the border and you’ll come across Bank of Montreal (BMO), our final safe income pick. If you were impressed by Chevron’s century of dividend payments, consider this: BMO has been rewarding loyal shareholders since 1829. For perspective, remember that the U.S. was just over 50 years old at that time.

• [By Will Ashworth]

  Bank of Montreal (BMO) and National Bank (NTIOF) have already delivered their numbers, and the rest are expected to come tomorrow and Friday. The major Canadian bank stocks are expected to grow earnings between 5% and 7% over last year�� fourth quarter, which is excellent.

• [By Dan Caplinger]

  U.S. investors first became aware of the relative strength of Canadian banks during the U.S. financial crisis, but since then, they've realized the benefits of looking north of the border. Canada does have its own systemically important banks, which include not only Scotiabank but also Royal Bank of Canada (NYSE: RY  ) , Bank of Montreal (NYSE: BMO  ) , and three other large financial institutions, but high capital requirements have demonstrated their creditworthiness and relative safety.

Top Electric Utility Companies To Watch For 2014: Compania Cervecerias Unidas S.A. (CCU)

Compa帽ia Cervecerias Unidas S.A., through its subsidiaries, produces, bottles, sells, and distributes beverages primarily in Chile, Argentina, and Uruguay. It offers super-premium, premium, medium-priced, and popular-priced brands of alcoholic and non-alcoholic beer under 12 proprietary brands and 4 licensed brands, such as Royal Guard; Royal Light; Heineken; Budweiser; Paulaner; Austral; Kunstmann; D'olbek; Cristal; Cristal Cero 0掳; Cristal Black Lager; Cristal Light; Escudo; Morenita; Lemon Stones; and Dorada brands. The company also produces and markets ultra-premium, reserve, varietal, and popular-priced wines under the brand families comprising Vi帽a San Pedro Tarapac谩, Vi帽a Santa Helena, Vi帽a Misiones de Rengo, Vi帽a Mar, Vi帽a Alta茂r, Bodega Tamar铆, Finca la Celia, and Vi帽a Leyda. In addition, it offers cider and spirits under the brand names of Real, La Victoria, Saenz Briones 1888, and El Abuelo; pisco, rum, and ready-to-drink cocktails under the Control C , Mistral, Campanario, Sierra Morena, Pisco Bauz谩 and Havana Club, Chivas Regal, and Absolut Vodka brand names; and home-made sweet snacks products under the Calaf, Natur, and Nutrabien brand names. Further, the company produces and sells tea; sports and energy drinks; carbonated beverages, including cola and non-cola, as well as non carbonated beverages; fruit juices; mineral water, sparkling and still water, purified water, and home and office delivery water products; and nectars. It serves small and medium sized retail outlets; retail establishments, such as restaurants, hotels, and bars for on-premise consumption; wholesalers; and supermarket chains. Compa帽ia Cervecerias Unidas S.A. also exports its products to Europe, Latin America, the United States, Canada, and others. The company was founded in 1850 and is based in Santiago, Chile. Compa帽ia Cervecerias Unidas S.A. is a subsidiary of Inversiones y Rentas S.A.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By fedezaldua]

  After a couple of capital increases and what looks like a weak strategy for its growth in different South American countries, Chile's beer king Compania Cervecerias Unidas (CCU) – most commonly knows as CCU - is selling at a steep discount to its peers. In other words, being down by 23% year to date, I think it might be the time to start thinking of buying CCU's shares.  

Top Electric Utility Companies To Watch For 2014: New Mountain Finance Corp (NMFC)

New Mountain Finance Corporation, formerly New Mountain Guardian Corporation, will be a holding company with no direct operations of its own, and its only business and sole asset will be its ownership of common membership units of New Mountain Guardian Holdings, L.L.C. (NMG LLC), the operating company for its business. NMG LLC will be an externally managed finance company, which will own all of the existing assets, and will have assumed all of the existing liabilities, of the Guardian Entities following this offering.

NMG LLC will be managed by New Mountain Guardian Advisors BDC, L.L.C, a wholly-owned subsidiary of New Mountain Capital, L.L.C. (New Mountain). New Mountain focuses on investing in high-quality, defensive growth companies across its private equity, public equity and credit investment vehicles.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Monica Gerson]

  New Mountain Finance (NYSE: NMFC) fell 2.33% to $14.23 after the company priced 3.5 million shares at $14.57 per share for net proceeds of $51 million.

• [By alicet236]

  CEO, President and Director of New Mountain Finance Corp (NMFC) Robert Hamwee bought 15,000 shares on Aug. 13, 2013, at an average price of $14.65. The total transaction amount was $219,750.

Top Electric Utility Companies To Watch For 2014: Cobra Electronics Corporation(COBR)

Cobra Electronics Corporation engages in the design and marketing of two-way mobile communication and mobile navigation products in the United States, Canada, and Europe. It operates in two segments, Cobra Consumer Electronics and Performance Products Limited. The Cobra Consumer Electronics segment principally offers radar detection products, photo-enforcement and safety detection products, citizens band radios, power inverters and jumpstarters, two-way radios, and marine electronics, as well as mobile navigation for professional drivers. It sells its products directly to retailers, such as mass marketers, consumer electronics specialty stores, department store chains, warehouse clubs, television home-shopping and internet retailers, direct-response merchandisers, home centers, specialty stores, and travel center, as well as through two-step wholesale distributors that carry its products to fill orders for travel centers, small department stores and appliance dealers, duty -free shops on cruise lines, and export and marine products. The Performance Products Limited segment offers personal navigation devices under the Snooper Truckmate, Snooper Ventura, Snooper Sapphire Plus, and other trade names; GPS-enabled speed camera location detectors under the Snooper My Speed, Snooper 3 Zero, and other trade names; proprietary AURA database that provides drivers with advance notice of upcoming speed camera and hazard locations; E-Bike, a compact folding electric bike; and WPT250M tracker, a tracking device that uses GPS, GPRS, and GSM technology to monitor the location of boats, vehicles, pets, or individuals with an accuracy of 2.5 meters. The company was founded in 1961 and is based in Chicago, Illinois.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Sally Jones]

  Check here for more Guru trading details.
  
  Cobra Electronics Corporation (COBR)

  The current COBR share price is $2.56, or 52.6% off the 52-week high of $5.40.