Hot Healthcare Equipment Companies To Invest In Right Now

We are seeing an interesting phenomenon right now with both India and Brazil facing serious economic problems due to their currencies falling versus many of the world's key currencies. Brazil has announced a new program to try to halt this fall and the inflation which is now running rampant across the country but India is faced with tougher decisions based on their fiscal situation which is much more dire than anything Brazil is facing right now.

We would point out that both of these countries have large socialist programs and large, inefficient state-owned corporations that carry out activities that would be best suited for corporations with shareholders demanding returns on capital rather than a country looting the profits for programs which they cannot afford based on tax revenues.

We have received quite a few inquiries regarding our view on Petrobras (PBR) and the bottom line is that we find it quite hard to get excited in the short-term over the company's prospects. Long-term it should be a viable play, but right now we see little reason to subject our portfolio to that volatility and sideways movement when there are so many great domestic opportunities here in the US which offer tremendous upside. Stick with that which is working and try not to get too cute by being a contrarian. There is a time for that, but right now is not that time.

Top 10 Healthcare Technology Companies To Own For 2015: ITT Educational Services Inc (ESI)

ITT Educational Services, Inc. (ITT/ESI), incorporated in 1946, is a provider of postsecondary degree programs in the United States. As of December 31, 2011, the Company offered master, bachelor and associate degree programs to approximately 73,000 students. As of December 31, 2011, the Company had 144 locations (including 141 campuses and three learning sites) in 39 states. In addition, ITT/ESI offered one or more of its online programs to students who were located in 48 states. The Company designs its education programs, after consultation with employers and other constituents, to help graduates prepare for careers in various fields involving their areas of study. The Company provides career-oriented education programs under the Daniel Webster College (DWC) name. During the year ended December 31, 2011, it began operations at 11 new ITT Technical Institute campuses and discontinued operations at one learning site. As of December 31, 2011, the ITT Technical Institutes offered 55 degree programs in various fields of study across the schools of study, such as information technology (IT); electronics technology; drafting and design; business; criminal justice, and breckinridge school of nursing and health sciences. As of December 31, 2011, the Company had 144 locations (including 141 campuses and three learning sites) in 39 states, which provided postsecondary education to approximately 73,000 students. In 2011, the Company derived approximately 98% of its revenue from tuition and approximately 2% from the sale of tool kits and fees, charged to and paid by, or on behalf of, its students. On August 1, 2013, the Company announced that it has acquired Cable Holdings, LLC.

At most of its campuses, ITT/ESI organizes the academic schedule for programs of study on the basis of four 12-week academic quarters in a calendar year, with new students beginning at the start of each academic quarter. At these campuses, students taking a full-time course load can complete its associate degree programs in ! eight academic quarters, bachelor degree programs in 14 or 15 academic quarters and a master degree program in six or seven academic quarters. ITT/ESI offers classes in residence programs in 3.5- to 5.5-hour sessions three days a week, Monday through Saturday, with all program courses taught entirely or partially in residence; or sessions that are scheduled two to three days a week, Monday through Saturday, with certain program courses taught entirely or partially online over the Internet academic quarters. Depending on student enrollment, class sessions at the most of its campuses are available in the morning, afternoon and evening. The courses that are taught online over the Internet are delivered through an asynchronous learning network and have a prescribed schedule for completion of the coursework. In addition to courses directly related to a student�� program of study, its programs also include general education courses in the humanities, composition, mathematics, the sciences and the social sciences.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Dan Caplinger]

  Outside the Dow, stocks generally rose somewhat more strongly. ITT Educational Services (NYSE: ESI  ) soared 30% despite reporting decreasing new-student and total enrollment figures in its quarterly report. Net income dropped by nearly half on a 16% decline in revenue, but expectations were so low for the for-profit education company that those results managed to drive the stock higher. The episode is a good reminder that the beaten-down sector has plenty of room for growth if the worst-case scenarios for the industry don't play out.

Hot Healthcare Equipment Companies To Invest In Right Now: Tesoro Petroleum Corporation(TSO)

Tesoro Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, engages in refining and marketing petroleum products in the United States. It operates in two segments, Refining and Retail. The Refining segment refines crude oil and other feed stocks into transportation fuels, such as gasoline, gasoline blendstocks, jet fuel, and diesel fuel, as well as other products, including heavy fuel oils, liquefied petroleum gas, petroleum coke, and asphalt. This segment also sells refined products in the wholesale market primarily through independent unbranded distributors; and in the bulk market primarily to independent unbranded distributors, other refining and marketing companies, utilities, railroads, airlines and marine, and industrial end-users. It owns and operates 7 refineries with a combined crude oil capacity of 665 thousand barrels per day. The Retail segment sells gasoline, diesel fuel, and convenience store items through company-operated retail stations, and third-party branded dea lers and distributors in the western United States. As of December 31, 2011, this segment had 1,175 branded retail stations under the Tesoro, Shell, and USA Gasoline brands. The company was formerly known as Tesoro Petroleum Corporation and changed its name to Tesoro Corporation in November 2004. Tesoro Corporation was founded in 1939 and is headquartered in San Antonio, Texas.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Johanna Bennett]

  Energy stocks fell Wednesday as crude oil prices tumbled, with refiners going the opposite direction�on strength from Marathon Petroleum (MPC) gaining 3.6%, and Tesoro (TSO) up 3.7%.

Hot Healthcare Equipment Companies To Invest In Right Now: Anheuser-Busch InBev (BUD)

Anheuser-Busch InBev SA/NV, incorporated on August 2, 1977, is a brewing company. The Company produces, markets, distributes and sells a balanced portfolio of approximately 200 beer brands. These include global flagship brands Budweiser, Stella Artois and Beck��; multi-country brands, such as Leffe and Hoegaarden, and many local champions, such as Bud Light, Skol, Brahma, Quilmes, Michelob, Harbin, Sedrin, Klinskoye, Sibirskaya Korona, Chernigivske and Jupiler. The Company also produces and distributes soft drinks, particularly in Latin America. The Company operates in seven segments: North America, Latin America North, Latin America South, Western Europe, Central & Eastern Europe, Asia Pacific and Global Export & Holding Companies. On October 20, 2010, Companhia de Bebidas das Americas-AmBev (AmBev) and Cerveceria Regional S.A. closed a transaction pursuant, to which they combined their businesses in Venezuela, with Regional owning an 85% interest and AmBev owning the remaining 15% in the new company. On February 28, 2011, the Company closed a transaction with Dalian Daxue Group Co., Ltd and Kirin (China) Investment Co., Ltd to acquire a 100% equity interest in Liaoning Dalian Daxue Brewery Co., Ltd. The Company�� beer portfolio is divided into global, multi-country and local brands. Beer can be differentiated into the categories, such as premium brands; mainstream or core brands, and value, discount or sub-premium brands. The Company also has a presence in the soft drink market in Latin America through its subsidiary AmBev and in the United States through Anheuser-Busch Companies, Inc. (Anheuser-Busch). Soft drinks include both carbonated soft and non-carbonated soft drinks. Its soft drinks business includes both its own production and agreements with PepsiCo related to bottling and distribution. The brands that are distributed under these agreements are Pepsi, 7UP and Gatorade. AmBev has long-term agreements with PepsiCo whereby AmBev has the exclusive right to bottle, sell and distribute certain brands of PepsiCo�� portfolio of carbonated soft drinks in Brazil. In the United States, Anheuser-Busch also produces non-alcoholic malt beverage products, including O��oul�� and O��oul�� Amber, energy drinks and related products. In the United States, its indirect subsidiary, Metal Container Corporation, manufactures beverage cans at eight plants and beverage can lids at three plants for sale to its Anheuser-Busch beer operations and United States soft drink customers. Anheuser-Busch also owns a recycling business, which buys and sells used beverage containers and recycles aluminum and plastic containers; a manufacturer of crown liner materials for sale to its North American beer operations, and a glass manufacturing plant which manufactures glass bottles for use by its North American beer operations. Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Alex Planes, Sean Williams, and Travis Hoium]

  Things haven't been too much better on the beer front, with both domestic giant Anheuser-Busch InBev (NYSE: BUD  ) and Molson Coors (NYSE: TAP  ) looking abroad to make deals. With pocketbooks clenched tight as higher taxes and a slow recovery drain the American consumer, Anheuser-Busch took to purchasing Grupo Modelo's international operations, while Molson Coors gobbled up Eastern Europe's StarBev in a $3.5 billion transaction last year to get their share of faster emerging-market growth. Diageo is attempting to find new pathways to growth as well, but it's approaching things from a distilling angle by attempting to become a majority stakeholder in India's largest distiller, United Spirits.

Hot Healthcare Equipment Companies To Invest In Right Now: Aurubis AG (NDA)

Aurubis AG is a Germany-based company engaged in the production of primary copper and precious metals, the recycling of secondary raw materials and the processing of copper into final products. It operates through three business segments: Primary Copper that unifies activities related to the production of marketable copper cathodes from the primary raw material, copper concentrates, as well as the production and marketing of sulfuric acid; Recycling/Precious Metals, engaged in the production of copper cathodes from a variety of recycled raw materials and such by-metals and co-products as gold, silver, platinum and tin, among others, and Copper Products that includes the provision of such copper products as cast wire rod from cathodes, strips, shaped wires and others. The Company operates also through subsidiaries located in Germany, Sweden, the United States, Hong Kong, Russia and Bulgaria, among others. Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Corinne Gretler]

  Nordea (NDA) dropped 2.6 percent to 77.15 kronor, the biggest decline in four weeks. Sweden sold 284 million shares for 76 kronor each, valuing the 7 percent stake at 21.6 billion kronor ($3.4 billion).

• [By Ruth David]

  Block sales in western Europe reached $31.8 billion in the three months through September as Groupama SA sold shares in Societe Generale (GLE) SA and Sweden exited a stake in Nordea Bank (NDA) AB, data compiled by Bloomberg show. At the same time, investors poured about $22.2 billion into the region�� stock funds in the 15 weeks through Oct. 9, according to data from research firm EPFR Global Inc.

Hot Healthcare Equipment Companies To Invest In Right Now: Ishares S&P 500 (IVV)

iShares Core S&P 500 ETF, formerly iShares S&P 500 Index Fund (the Fund) seeks investment results that correspond generally to the price and yield performance of United States large-cap stocks, as represented by the Standard & Poor�� 500 Index (the Index). The Index measures the performance of the large-capitalization sector of the United States equity market. The Index serves as the underlying index for the S&P 500/Citigroup Growth and Value Index series.

The Index is a capitalization-weighted index from a range of industries chosen for market size, liquidity and industry group representation. The component stocks are weighted according to the total float-adjusted market value of their outstanding shares. The Index is adjusted to reflect changes in capitalization resulting from mergers, acquisitions, stock rights, substitutions and other capital events. The Fund�� investment advisor is Barclays Global Fund Advisor.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By John Udovich]

  Moreover,�my guess is that the switch will be a wash for investors as funds and ETFs that track the S&P 500 will dump their positions in Advanced Micro Devices and SAIC Inc while those that track the S&P Mid Cap 400 will be obligated to take up positions in both. A quick look at the performance of the iShares S&P 500 Index ETF (NYSEARCA: IVV) verses the iShares Core S&P Mid Cap ETF (NYSEARCA: IJH) reveals the following:

• [By John Udovich]

  One of the most famous scenes in the cult classic, the Graduate, was when Mr. McGuire�took Dustin Hoffman�� character aside and said�"Ben, I want to say one word to you, just one word: Plastics"; but what about the Berry Plastics Group Inc (NYSE: BERY) and its performance verses that of the�iShares S&P 500 Index ETF (NYSEARCA: IVV), iShares Russell Midcap Index Fund ETF (NYSEARCA: IWR) and iShares S&P SmallCap 600 Index ETF (NYSEARCA: IJR)? I should mention that plastics and the Berry Plastics Group was not the place to be yesterday as the stock took a tumble on reduced guidance.

• [By Dan Caplinger]

  Much smaller is the iShares Core S&P 500 ETF (NYSEMKT: IVV  ) . With about $43 billion under management, the iShares ETF comes with lower expenses of 0.07%, but much lower average daily volume of just 3.8 million shares. Like the Spiders, its share price roughly corresponds to a tenth of the value of the S&P 500 index.

• [By Victor Selva]

  ETFs require no investment minimum beyond the price of one share. iShares Core S&P 500 (IVV) charges 0.07%, while the largest S&P 500 Index fund, SPDR S&P 500 (SPY), charges 0.09%. Vanguard S&P 500 ETF (VOO) charges 0.05% and is technically a separate share class of the Vanguard 500 Index mutual fund.

Hot Healthcare Equipment Companies To Invest In Right Now: AU Optronics Corp (AUO)

AU Optronics Corp. engages in the design, development, manufacture, assembly, and marketing of thin film transistor liquid crystal displays and other flat panel displays. The company operates in two segments, Display and Solar. It offers a range of display panels for use in mobile PCs, such as notebooks and tablets; desktop monitors; consumer electronics products consisting of mobile phones, digital still cameras, portable navigation displays, digital camcorders, automobile displays, amusement and printer displays, and portable gaming consoles; and LCD televisions. The company sells its panels to original equipment manufacturing service providers who manufacture products on a contract basis for brand companies; and to brand companies on a direct shipment basis. It also manufactures upstream and midstream products, such as polysilicons, ingots, wafers, and solar cells; designs, develops, and manufactures solar photovoltaic (PV) modules; produces solar PV systems; and provid es various value-added services for solar PV systems projects. AU Optronics Corp. operates in the People�s Republic of China, Taiwan, Singapore, Korea, and internationally. The company was formerly known as Acer Display Technology, Inc. and changed its name to AU Optronics Corp. in May 2001. AU Optronics Corp. was founded in 1996 and is based in Hsinchu, Taiwan.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Monica Gerson]

  AU Optronics (NYSE: AUO) shares reached a new 52-week low of $3.06. AU Optronics' PEG ratio is 2.34.

  CBL & Associates Properties (NYSE: CBL) shares fell 5.20% to reach a new 52-week low of $18.43 after the company reported Q3 results.

• [By Seth Jayson]

  Basic guidelines
  In this series, I examine inventory using a simple rule of thumb: Inventory increases ought to roughly parallel revenue increases. If inventory bloats more quickly than sales grow, this might be a sign that expected sales haven't materialized. Is the current inventory situation at AU Optronics (NYSE: AUO  ) out of line? To figure that out, start by comparing the company's inventory growth to sales growth. How is AU Optronics doing by this quick checkup? At first glance, pretty well. Trailing-12-month revenue increased 6.5%, and inventory decreased 13.1%. Comparing the latest quarter to the prior-year quarter, the story looks decent. Revenue increased 14.9%, and inventory contracted 13.1%. Over the sequential quarterly period, the trend looks worrisome. Revenue dropped 7.7%, and inventory grew 7.7%.