After rising 67% in the past 52-weeks, it is understandable that the price targets for First Financial Bankshares (FFIN) are slightly under the bank's current market price of $57.69 per share. But, the premium paid for these shares appear to be warranted.
First Financial is one of the fastest growing regional banks in Texas (though all appear to be very fast growing) but it is one that has a very unique strategy that I believe gives the bank a competitive advantage that isn't found in most of the its regional peers.
I'm timid of the current market valuation of FFIN because it is getting a premium well above the industry average but, the bank is setting up for long-term growth and isn't showing any signs of slowing down anytime soon. With that said, below I have outlined why I like First Financial's strategy and financial position, followed by a review of the company's current valuation.
Strategy
A lot of times we see a growing regional bank increase deposit share and assets by purchasing other regionals in an area where they are weak and need more exposure. This makes sense for obvious reasons but other than increased visibility and access to the local markets, investors rarely understand why that particular location was chosen for growth over any of the other areas the bank occupies. With First Financial, this is absolutely not an issue and, to be honest, I'm extremely surprised that any bank in Texas has been able to dominate any area as much as FFIN has.
Top Heal Care Stocks To Buy Right Now: Tuesday Morning Corp.(TUES)
Tuesday Morning Corporation engages in the retail sale of decorative home accessories, housewares, and gifts in the United States. The company?s merchandise primarily consists of lamps, rugs, furniture, kitchen accessories, small electronics, gourmet housewares, linens, luggage, bedroom and bathroom accessories, toys, stationary, and silk plants, as well as crystal, collectibles, and silver serving pieces. It also offers apparel and accessories. In addition, the company provides brand name merchandise, including cookware, appliances, linens, bath towels, luggage, flatware, tabletop, crystal, collectibles, dolls, china and giftware, and rugs. As of September 21, 2011, it operated 861 discount retail stores in 43 states. The company was founded in 1974 and is headquartered in Dallas, Texas.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By John Udovich]
Its worth taking a much�closer look at small Cap specialty retail stock Tuesday Morning Corporation (NASDAQ: TUES) verses the performance of potential retail ETF peers like the SPDR S&P Retail ETF (NYSEARCA: XRT), Market Vectors Retail ETF (NYSEARCA: RTH) and Direxion Daily Retail Bull 3X Shares (NYSEARCA: RETL). In case you are not familiar with the stock, an activist shareholder (who became the Chairman of the Board) complained about the company�� performance (or rather�a wider net loss that�TUES had reported) back in 2012 and this�lead to the firing of CEO Kathleen Mason who then turned around and filed a discrimination claim claiming she was fired after 12 years in the role after she disclosed that she was being treated for breast cancer. Late in 2012, Tuesday Morning Corporation also fired�its chief merchandise officer after only five months on the job and then hired a new CEO.
Top 10 Regional Bank Stocks To Watch Right Now: Amira Nature Foods Ltd (ANFI)
Amira Nature Foods Ltd., incorporated on February 20, 2012, is a provider of packaged Indian specialty rice, with sales in over 40 countries. It generates the majority of its revenue through the sale of Basmati rice, a long-grain rice grown only in certain regions of the Indian sub-continent. The Company sells its products, primarily in emerging markets, through a distribution network. It sells its Amira brand in more than 25 countries. The Company sells its Amira branded products to Indian retailers such as Bharti Wal-Mart, Big Bazaar, Metro Cash & Carry, Spar, Spencer's Retail, Star Bazaar (Tesco in India) and Total and retailers, such as Carrefour, Costco, Jetro Restaurant Depot, Lulu's and Smart & Final, and through the foodservice channel. It participates across the entire rice supply chain from the procurement of paddy to its storage, aging, processing into rice, packaging, distribution and marketing. In June 2013, the Company announced that it has launched Amira branded products in the United Kingdom. In January 2014, Amira Nature Foods Ltd acquired Basmati Rice GmbH.
The Company operates an automated and integrated processing and milling facility that is located in the vicinity of the key Basmati rice paddy producing regions of northern India. The facility spans a covered area of 310,221 square feet, with a processing capacity of 24 metric tons of paddy per hour. During the year ended March 31, 2012, 34% of its revenue was derived from sales in India, and 50.3% was derived from sales in the Europe, Middle East and Africa region, or EMEA, 14.3% was derived from sales in the Asia Pacific region, and 1.4% was derived from sales in North America.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Roberto Pedone]
Another earnings short-squeeze prospect is packaged specialty rice and other food products distributor Amira Nature Foods (ANFI), which is set to release numbers on next Monday after the market close. Wall Street analysts, on average, expect Amira Nature Foods to report revenue of $132.37 million on earnings of 32 cents per share.
The current short interest as a percentage of the float for Amira Nature Foods is extremely high at 26.6%. That means that out of 17.70 million shares in the tradable float, 4.72 million shares are sold short by the bears. The bears have also been increasing their bets from the last reporting period by 8.2%, or by 356,000 shares. If the bears get caught pressing their bets into a bullish quarter, then shares of ANFI could easily rip sharply higher post-earnings as the shorts move fast to cover some of their trades.
From a technical perspective, ANFI is currently trending above its 200-day moving average and just below its 50-day moving average, which is neutral trendwise. This stock just recently bounced higher off some near-term support at $15.25 a share. That bounce is starting to push shares of ANFI within range of triggering a near-term breakout trade post-earnings.
If you're bullish on ANFI, then I would wait until after its report and look for long-biased trades if this stock manages to break out above some near-term overhead resistance levels at $17 to $17.98 a share and then above more resistance at $18.52 a share with high volume. Look for volume on that move that registers near or above its three-month average action of 174,102 shares. If that breakout develops post-earnings, then ANFI will set up to re-test or possibly take out its next major overhead resistance levels at $19.86 to $20.29 a share, or even its 52-week high at $25 a share.
I would simply avoid ANFI or look for short-biased trades if after earnings it fails to trigger that breakout and then drops back below some key near-term supp
- [By Will Ashworth]
Amira Nature Foods�(ANFI) went public last October at $10 per share — and now the stock is trading around 40% higher than that offer price. Compared to IPOs in general, however, the past year’s been anything but smooth. ANFI dropped 19% on its first day of trading and didn’t rise above its offering price until early September.
- [By Garrett Cook]
Amira Nature Foods (NYSE: ANFI) shares shot up 12.76 percent to $14.67 after the company reported better-than-expected fourth-quarter earnings.
Shares of Global Eagle Entertainment (NASDAQ: ENT) got a boost, shooting up 10.38 percent to $12.12 after the company and Boeing (NYSE: BA) announced a satellite connectivity partnership.
- [By Roberto Pedone]
A consumer goods player that's starting to trend within range of triggering a big breakout trade is Amira Nature Foods (ANFI), a global provider of packaged Indian specialty rice, with sales in over 40 countries. This stock has been in play with the bulls over the last three months, with shares up 25%.
If you take a look at the chart for Amira Nature Foods, you'll notice that this stock has been uptrending strong for the last five months, with shares soaring higher from its low of $7.44 to its recent high of $17.41 a share. During that uptrend, shares of ANFI have been making mostly higher lows and higher highs, which is bullish technical price action. Shares of ANFI have started to break out above some key near-term overhead resistance levels today at $15.92 to $16.25 a share. That move is quickly pushing shares of ANFI within range of triggering another big breakout trade.
Traders should now look for long-biased trades in ANFI if it manages to break out above its all-time high of $17.41 a share with high volume. Look for a sustained move or close above that level with volume that hits near or above its three-month average action of 226,387 shares. If that breakout triggers soon, then ANFI will set up to enter new all-time-high territory, which is bullish technical price action. Some possible upside targets off that breakout are $25 to $27 a share.
Traders can look to buy ANFI off any weakness to anticipate that breakout and simply use a stop that sits right below its 50-day at $15.03 a share or around more key near-term support at $14.72 a share. One could also buy ANFI off strength once it starts to clear $17.41 a share with volume and then simply use a stop that sits a comfortable percentage from your entry point.
Top 10 Regional Bank Stocks To Watch Right Now: Dresser-Rand Group Inc (DRC)
Dresser-Rand Group Inc., incorporated on October 1,2004, is a global supplier of of custom-engineered rotating equipment solutions for long-life, critical applications in the oil, gas, chemical, petrochemical, process, power generation, military and other industries worldwide. Its rotating equipment is also supplied to the environmental solutions market space within energy infrastructure. It designs, manufactures and markets engineered rotating equipment and provide services to the worldwide oil, gas, petrochemical, power generation, environmental solutions and industrial process industries. In July 2012, the Company acquired compressed air energy storage property.
The Company has two segments: new units and aftermarket parts. New units are predominately engineered solutions to new requests from clients. New units also include standardized equipment such as engines and single stage steam turbines. The segment includes engineering, manufacturing, packaging, testing, sales and administrative support. Aftermarket parts and services consist of support solutions for the existing population of installed equipment and the operation and maintenance of several types of energy plants. The segment includes engineering, manufacturing, installation, commissioning, start-up and other field services, repairs, overhauls, refurbishment, sales and administrative support.
The Company's products and services are used in oil and gas applications that include hydrogen recycle, make-up, wet gas and other applications for the refining industry; cracked gas, propylene and ethylene compression for petrochemical facilities; ammonia syngas, refrigeration, and carbon dioxide compression for fertilizer production; a number of compression duties for chemical plants; gas gathering, export, lift and re-injection of natural gas or carbon dioxide (CO2) to meet regulatory requirements or for oil field enhanced recovery in the upstream market; gas processing, main refrigeration compression and a variety of other! duties required in the production of liquefied natural gas (LNG); gas processing duties, storage and pipeline transmission compression for the midstream market; synthetic fuels; and steam turbine power generation for floating production, storage and offloading (FPSO) vessels as well as power generation or mechanical drive duties for a variety of compression and pumping applications in the oil and gas market. It is also a supplier of diesel and gas engines that provides customized energy solutions across worldwide energy infrastructure markets based upon reciprocating engine power systems technologies.
The Company's custom-engineered products are also used in other advanced applications in the environmental markets it serves. These applications use renewable energy sources, reduce carbon footprint, recover energy and/or energy efficiency. These products include, among others, compression technologies for carbon capture and sequestration (CCS); hot gas turbo-expanders for energy recovery in refineries and certain chemical facilities; co- and tri-generation combined heat and power (CHP) packages for institutional and other clients; and a number of steam turbine applications to generate power using steam produced by recovering exhaust heat from the main engines in ships, recovering heat from mining and metals production facilities and exhaust heat recovery from gas turbines in on-shore and off-shore sites.
It provides an array of products and services to its worldwide client base in over 150 countries from its global locations in 18 United States and 32 countries (over 76 sales offices, 49 service and support centers, including six engineering and research and development centers, and 13 manufacturing locations). Its clients include, among others, BP, Chevron, ConocoPhillips, Dow Chemical Company, ExxonMobil, Gazprom, LUKOIL, Marathon Petroleum Company, PDVSA, Pemex, Petrobras, PetroChina, Petronas, Repsol, Royal Dutch Shell, SBM, Saudi Aramco, Statoil, Total and Turkmengaz.
!New Units
The Company is a manufacturer of engineered turbo and reciprocating compression equipment and steam turbines. It is also a manufacture power turbines; special-purpose gas turbines; hot gas expanders; gas and diesel engines; trip, trip throttle and non-return valves; magnetic bearings and control systems. Its new unit products are built to client specifications for long-life, critical applications. It is a supplier of turbo machinery for the energy infrastructure markets worldwide. Applications for its turbo products include gas gathering, lift, export and injection; CO2 compression for enhanced oil recovery; storage and transmission; synthetic fuels; ethylene and fertilizer production; refineries and chemical production; CCS and CAES. In addition, it offers a variety of gas and power turbines covering a power range from approximately 1.5 megawatts to more than 50 MW, which support driver needs for various centrifugal compressor product lines, as well as for power generation applications. It also offers control systems for its centrifugal compressors.
It is a supplier of reciprocating compressors, offering products ranging from medium to high-speed separable units driven by engines or electric motors, to slow speed motor driven process reciprocating compressors. It is a supplier of standard and engineered mechanical drive steam turbines and turbine generator sets. Its steam turbine models cover a power range from a few kilowatts up to 75MW, are available for high inlet steam pressure and temperature conditions, with or without induction and/or extraction sections and in condensing or back-pressure designs. These units are used primarily to drive pumps, fans, blowers, generators and compressors. It is a supplier of diesel, gas and dual fuel internal combustion reciprocating engines. Its Guascor engines cover a power range of up to 1.5 megawatts. Guascor engines are used in 1) industrial applications and power generation, 2) marine propulsion and auxiliary genera! tion, and! 3) environmental solutions, CHP and bioenergy (waste water treatment plant, landfill and biogas generation).
Aftermarket Parts and Services
Aftermarket parts and services segment provides them with long-term growth opportunities. Aftermarket parts and services are generally less sensitive to business cycles than the new units segment, although revenues and bookings tend to be higher in the second half of the year. With a typical operating life of 30 years or more, rotating equipment requires substantial aftermarket parts and services over its operating life. Parts and services activities realize higher margins than new unit sales. Additionally, the cumulative revenues from these aftermarket activities often exceed the initial purchase price of the unit. Its aftermarket parts and services business offers a range of services designed to enable clients to maximize their return on assets by optimizing the performance of their mission-critical rotating equipment. It offers a broad range of aftermarket parts and services, including: replacement parts, field service turnaround, service and repair, operation and maintenance contracts, rotor / spare parts storage, condition monitoring, controls retrofit, site / reliability audits, remote area energy solutions, equipment repair and rerates, equipment installation, applied technology, long-term service agreements, special coatings / weldings, product training, turnkey installation / project management and energy asset management.
The Company competes with GE Oil & Gas, Solar Turbines, Inc., MAN Diesel & Turbo, Siemens, Rolls-Royce Energy, Elliott Company, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Burckhardt Compression, Neuman & Esser Group, Ariel Corp., Howden Thomassen Compressors BV and Mitsui & Co., Ltd, Elliott Company, Shin Nippon Machinery Co. Ltd, GE/Jenbacher, Caterpillar and Cummins.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Monica Gerson]
Dresser-Rand Group (NYSE: DRC) is projected to report its Q4 earnings at $1.29 per share on revenue of $1.09 billion.
Amedisys (NASDAQ: AMED) is expected to post a Q4 loss at $0.01 per share on revenue of $295.02 million.
- [By Rich Smith]
Houston-based Dresser-Rand Group (NYSE: DRC ) has settled on a replacement for departing CFO Mark Baldwin. The company announced Wednesday that effective May 1, Jan Kees van Gaalen will fill the role.
Top 10 Regional Bank Stocks To Watch Right Now: KLA-Tencor Corporation (KLAC)
KLA-Tencor Corporation engages in the design, manufacture, and marketing of process control and yield management solutions for the semiconductor and related nanoelectronics industries. It offers equipment comprising wafer and integrated circuit (IC) defect monitoring, review, and classification; reticle defect inspection and metrology; packaging and interconnect inspection; critical dimension metrology; pattern overlay metrology; film thickness, surface topography, and composition measurements; measurement of in-chamber process conditions, wafer shape, and stress metrology; computational lithography tools; and yield and fab-wide data management and analysis systems. The company also provides products that serve the high brightness light emitting diode, data storage, and photovoltaic industries, as well as general materials research. It primarily offers its products to wafer, IC, reticle, and disk manufacturers in the United States, Taiwan, Japan, Europe, Israel, Korea, and the Rest of Asia. The company was founded in 1975 and is headquartered in Milpitas, California.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Rich Smith]
Milpitas, Calif.-based KLA-Tencor (NASDAQ: KLAC ) will soon have a new CFO. On Tuesday, KLA announced that when Mark Dentinger's term as Chief Financial Officer ends upon the filing of the firm's fiscal 2013 10-K form with the SEC, the company's current head of treasury and investor relations functions, Bren Higgins, will be promoted to the CFO role. The fiscal year ended June 30.
Top 10 Regional Bank Stocks To Watch Right Now: Team Inc.(TISI)
Team, Inc. provides specialty maintenance and construction services for maintaining high temperature and high pressure piping systems and vessels that are utilized in heavy industries. It offers inspection and assessment services, such as inspection and evaluation of piping, piping components, and equipment; field heat treating services, including electric resistance and gas-fired combustion; leak repair services comprising on-stream repairs of leaks in pipes, valves, flanges, and other parts of piping systems and related equipment; and fugitive volatile organic chemical emission leak detection services consisting of identification, monitoring, data management, and reporting. The company also provides hot tapping services, such as hot tapping, Line-stop, and Freeze-stop services; field machining services, including the use of portable machining equipment to repair or modify machinery, equipment, vessels, and piping systems, as well as flange facing, pipe cutting, line bori ng, journal turning, drilling, and milling services; and technical bolting services comprising the use of hydraulic or pneumatic equipment with bolt tightening techniques for leak-free connections, plant maintenance, and expansion projects, as well as bolt disassembly and hot bolting services. In addition, it offers field valve repair services consisting of on-site repairs to manual and control valves, and pressure and safety relief valves, as well as specialty valve actuator diagnostics and repair. The company markets its services to companies in a various heavy industries, which include the petrochemical, refining, power, pipeline, steel, pulp and paper, and shipbuilding industries, as well as to municipalities, original equipment manufacturers, distributors, and engineering and construction firms. It operates in the United States, Canada, Europe, and internationally. The company was founded in 1973 and is headquartered in Alvin, Texas.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Monica Gerson]
Team (NYSE: TISI) lowered its annual earnings outlook. Team shares tumbled 10.63% to $35.75 in the after-hours trading session.
Synergetics USA (NASDAQ: SURG) reported its FQ4 earnings of $0.06 per share on revenue of $17.9 million. However, analysts were projecting earnings of $0.05 per share on revenue of $17 million. Synergetics USA shares dipped 11.82% to $4.40 in the after-hours trading session.
- [By Ben Levisohn]
Team Inc.�(TISI) has dropped 11% after the company missed its earnings forecast and lowered guidance.
Monsanto�(MON) has dropped 2.2% to $103.15 after the agricultural-products company reported a loss of 47 cents a share, missing analyst forecasts for a loss of 43 cents, and said it would buy a firm that analyzes the weather.
Top 10 Regional Bank Stocks To Watch Right Now: Infinera Corporation(INFN)
Infinera Corporation provides optical networking equipment, software, and services to communications service providers, Internet content providers, cable operators, and subsea network operators worldwide. Its products include digital transport node (DTN) platform that utilizes photonic integrated circuit technology to enable digital processing and management of data with the capability to generate wavelength division multiplexing (WDM) wavelengths and to add, drop, switch, manage, protect, and restore network traffic digitally; line systems that provide the management communications channel between network nodes and allow customers to manage capacity on network; and ATN platform that is used to extend the digital optical network architecture benefits of the DTN platform, and used as standalone WDM access systems. The company also provides IQ Network Operating System, an embedded software operating system that enables customers to simplify and speed up the tasks they perfor m to deliver, differentiate, and manage services; and a set of standards-based network and element management tools and operations support system integration interfaces to manage DTN and ATN platforms. In addition, it offers various product support services, including hardware and software technical support, installation and deployment, spares management, first line maintenance, on-site technical support, product technical training, and extended product warranties. The company?s customers include competitive carriers, multiple system operators, incumbent carriers, research and education/government organizations, and resellers. Infinera Corporation markets and sells its products and related support services primarily through its direct sales force, as well as through distribution or support partners. The company, formerly known as Zepton Networks, was founded in 2000 and is headquartered in Sunnyvale, California.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By alicet236]
According to GuruFocus Insider Data, these are the largest CEO sales during the past week: VF Corp, Infinera Corp, Eaton Vance Corp, and Envision Healthcare Holdings Inc.VF Corp (VFC): Chairman, President & CEO Eric C Wiseman sold 454,800 SharesChairman, President & CEO of VF Corp (VFC) Eric C Wiseman sold 454,800 shares during the past week at an average price of $66.76. V.F. Corporation, a Pennsylvania corporation was organized in 1899. Vf Corp has a market cap of $29.18 billion; its shares were traded at around $67.68 with a P/E ratio of 24.00 and P/S ratio of 2.56. The dividend yield of Vf Corp stocks is 1.55%. Vf Corp had an annual average earnings growth of 8.90% over the past 10 years. GuruFocus rated Vf Corp the business predictability rank of 4-star.VF Corp announced its 2014 third quarter results. The Company reported revenues of $3.5 billion and net income of $470.5 million.Chairman, President & CEO Eric C Wiseman sold 454,800 shares of VFC stock in October. CFO Robert K Shearer sold 63,407 shares of VFC stock in August and October. Sr. Vice President - Americas Steven E Rendle, VP-VF Direct/Customer Teams Michael T Gannaway, Director Bedout Juan Ernesto De, and Director Raymond G Viault sold 65,852 shares of VFC stock in October.Infinera Corp (INFN): CEO Thomas J Fallon sold 220,000 SharesCEO of Infinera Corp (INFN) Thomas J Fallon sold 220,000 shares on 10/27/2014 at an average price of $13.56. Infinera Corporation or Infinera was founded in December 2000, originally operated under the name 'Zepton Networks'. Infinera Corp has a market cap of $1.82 billion; its shares were traded at around $14.53 with and P/S ratio of 2.91.Infinera Corp. reported revenues of $165.4 million and net income of $4.8 million for its 2014 second quarter financial results.CEO Thomas J Fallon sold 440,000 shares of INFN stock from August to October. CFO Brad Feller bought 25,000 shares of INFN stock on 05/16/2014 at the average price of 8.25. President David F W
Top 10 Regional Bank Stocks To Watch Right Now: PowerShares Dynamic Large Cap Growth Portfolio (PWB)
PowerShares Dynamic Large Cap Growth Portfolio (the Fund) seeks investment results that correspond generally to the price and yield of an equity index called the Dynamic Large Cap Growth Intellidex Index (the Intellidex). The Fund will normally invest at least 80% of its assets in common stocks of large-cap companies. A company is considered to be a large-cap company if it falls within the Intellidex model. The Fund will normally invest at least 90% of its total assets in common stocks that comprise the Intellidex. The Intellidex consists of 50 United States large-cap growth stocks selected principally on the basis of their capital appreciation potential as identified by the AMEX (the Intellidex Provider) pursuant to its Intellidex methodology.
The Fund, using an indexing investment approach, attempts to replicate the performance of the Intellidex. The Fund generally will invest in all of the stocks comprising the Intellidex in proportion to their weightings in the Intellidex. The Fund�� investment advisor is PowerShares Capital Management LLC.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Paul Ausick]
Two ETFs to watch are Guggenheim Solar (NYSEMKT: TAN), which is up more than 80% so far this year, and PowerShares WilderHill Clean Energy (NYSEMKT: PWB), up more than 40%. Both are less liquid than the company shares and their gains have been smaller, but both should do well if the solar stocks keep running up.
No comments:
Post a Comment