source: Wikimedia Commons
The United States is finally starting to thaw from the brutal winter, and this couldn't come soon enough for retailers. In addition, the housing market continues to strengthen, evidenced by rising home prices across the country. These tailwinds are combining to provide a great deal of support to Home Depot (NYSE: HD ) , the biggest home-improvement chain in the U.S, as well as close rival Lowe's (NYSE: LOW ) .
Home Depot is an amazing story. It's a company that managed to turn in a solid first quarter even in the face of adverse conditions. If you're a Foolish investor looking for a high-quality company with a strong brand and excellent management team, you should get to know Home Depot.
Source: Wikimedia Commons
10 Best Retail Stocks To Buy For 2015: Gerdau SA (GGB)
Gerdau S.A. (Gerdau), incorporated on November 20, 1961, is a producer of long rolled steel. Gerdau operates steel mills that produce steel by direct iron-ore reduction (DRI) in blast furnaces and in electric arc furnaces (EAF). In Brazil, the Company operates four integrated steel mills, including its mill, Acominas mill, an integrated steel mill located in the state of Minas Gerais. It has a total of 60 steel producing units globally, including joint ventures and associate companies. The joint ventures include a unit located in the United States for the production of flat rolled steel and another unit in India. The associate companies are Aceros Corsa in Mexico; Corporacion Centroamericana del Acero in Guatemala, and Industrias Nacionales (INCA) in the Dominican Republic. Through its subsidiaries and affiliates, the Company also engages in other activities related to the production and sale of steel products, including reforestation, electric power generation projects; coking coal, iron ore and pig iron production, as well as fab shops and downstream operations. On August 12, 2010, Gerdau acquired the remaining 49.1% interest in the Cleary Holdings Corp. On October 21, 2010, Gerdau, through its wholly owned subsidiary Gerdau Ameristeel acquired TAMCO Steel.
Gerdau offers a range of steel products, which are manufactured according to a variety of customer specifications. Its product mix includes crude steel (slabs, blooms and billets) sold to rolling mills, finished products for the construction industry, such as rods and structural bars, finished products for industry, such as commercial rolled steel bars and machine wire and products for farming and agriculture, such as poles, smooth wire and barbed wire. The Company also produces specialty steel products utilizing technology and normally with a certain degree of customization for the manufacture of tools and machinery, chains, locks and springs, for the automotive and mechanical industries. As of December 31, 2010, the Company operat! ed 19 steel production units in the United States and Canada through its principal entity, Gerdau Ameristeel Corporation. Gerdau operates in four business segments: Brazil (Brazil Business Operation), includes Brazil�� operations, except specialty steel; North America (North America Business Operation), includes all North American operations, except Mexico and specialty steel; Latin America (Latin America Business Operation), includes all Latin American operations, except for Brazil, and Specialty Steel (Specialty Steel Business Operation), includes the specialty steel operations in Brazil, Spain and the United States.
Crude Steel (Billets, Blooms and Slabs)
Crude steel products include billets, blooms and slabs. Billets are bars from square sections of long steel that serve as inputs for the production of wire rod, rebars and merchant bars. They are the main product of the Acominas mill. Blooms are used to manufacture products, such as springs, forged parts, heavy structural shapes and seamless tubes. Slabs are used in the steel industry for the rolling of a range of flat rolled products. Slabs are mainly used to produce hot and cold rolled coils, heavy slabs and profiles. Crude steel products are produced using either the continuous casting or conventional process.
Common Long Rolled Products
Common long rolled products represent a major portion of the Company�� production. The Company�� main long rolled products include rebars, merchant bars and profiles, which are used mainly by the construction and manufacturing industries.
Drawn Products
Drawn products include barbed and barbless fence wire, galvanized wire, fences, concrete reinforcing wire mesh, nails and clamps. These products are not exported and are sold to the manufacturing, construction and agricultural industries.
Specialty Steel Products
Gerdau produces specialty and stainless steel used in tools and machinery, chains, fasteners! , railroa! d spikes and special coil steel at its Acos Villares and Piratini units in Brazil, at Corporacion Sidenor units in Spain and at the MacSteel units in the United States. In the United States, Gerdau Ameristeel produces special sections, such as grader blades, smelter bars, light rails, super light I-beams, elevator guide rails and other products that are made on demand for the Company�� clients, which are mainly manufacturers. It is a joint venture with the Kalyani Group in India, in which Gerdau has a 73.2% interest in the joint venture.
Flat Products
Gerdau�� Acominas mill produces slabs, which are rolled into flat products, such as hot and cold steel coils, heavy plates and profiles. In addition, the Company�� distribution subsidiary, Comercial Gerdau, resells flat steel products manufactured by other Brazilian steel producers. Gerdau Ameristeel also supplies flat steel to its customers through its joint venture Gallatin located in Kentucky. Gallatin is a joint venture with ArcelorMittal, Canada, a flat steel producer, and has nominal installed capacity of 1.4 million tons of flat steel per year.
The Company competes with Commercial Metals Company, Nucor Corporation, Steel Dynamics Inc., ArcelorMittal Inc., ArcelorMittal Brasil, Usiminas Group and CSN.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Jonas Elmerraji]
Up first is Brazilian steel stock Gerdau (GGB) a name that's been one of the NYSE's worst large-cap performers this year. Since the start of January, Gerdau is down more than 29%. Truth be told, GGB has been looking bearish for a while now. If you'd sold it the last time it looked toxic, you'd have spared yourself close to 11% losses.
But shares look primed for another leg lower from here -- and Gerdau is worth an updated look today.
GGB spent most of 2014 forming a bearish descending triangle pattern. The descending triangle is a price pattern that's formed by horizontal support below shares (in this case at $5.75) and downtrending resistance to the topside. As GGB bounced in between those two technically important levels, it was getting squeezed closer and closer to a breakdown below that $5.75 price floor. That sell trigger happened on Tuesday.
That means that if you own GGB, it's time to unload this stock.
That bearish bet is being confirmed by relative strength in GGB. This stock's relative strength line has been downtrend all year long, an indication that Gerdau is underperforming the rest of the market. That's a big red flag to heed in shares this week.
Read More: 3 Stocks Spiking on Big Volume
- [By Victor Selva] -largest producer in the sector.
Why Not No. 1?
Brazil-based Gerdau has three main advantages. Size ��though it�� a strong pro ��is not necessarily one of them. To start with, Gerdau is a highly integrated company, with annual iron ore production capacity totaling 11.5 million metric tons, enabling it to be over 80% and 40% self-sufficient in Brazil and the U.S., respectively, and thus hedging itself from volatility in raw material prices.
Second, the company has a relatively modern fleet of furnaces, mainly composed of electric arc furnaces (EAFs), which are more energy-efficient than traditional blast furnaces and should result on a more flexible supply.
Last, the location is also a positive factor: with a high geographical diversification, Gerdau has still managed to maintain a strong leadership in the markets where it operates (particularly in Brazil and the U.S.). This allows it, on the one hand, to supply many different markets and therefore reduce risks of local economic underperformances and, on the other hand, to profit from low-cost labor in Brazil. In addition, the upcoming sporting events ��2014 World Cup and 2016 Olympics ��are expected to generate a strong inflow of investments in infrastructure in the country, with Gerdau as a potential beneficiary of this.
In spite of being the biggest worldwide, I believe that ArcelorMittal doesn�� count with these characteristics. Further, as players in the industry are so atomized, being the No. 1 producer implies having only 6% of the global market share, which doesn�� give ArcelorMittal a superior bargain power than its peers. And though it�� still a very diversified and vertically integrated group, its costs will tend to be higher than those of Gerdau, since its furnaces are primarily blast furnaces and its labor expenses are higher as the company is based in Europe.
US Steel will also have to deal with an old and inefficient fleet of furnaces, w
Hot Net Payout Yield Stocks To Own Right Now: NYSE Euronext Inc.(NYX)
NYSE Euronext, through its subsidiaries, operates securities exchanges. It operates various stock exchanges, including the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), NYSE Arca, Inc., and NYSE Amex LLC in the United States; and five European-based exchanges that comprise Euronext N.V. ? the Paris, Amsterdam, Brussels, and Lisbon stock exchanges, as well as the NYSE Liffe derivatives markets in London, Paris, Amsterdam, Brussels, and Lisbon. The company?s Derivatives segment provides access to trade execution in derivatives products, options, and futures; offers clearing services for derivative products; and sells and distributes market data and related information. NYSE Euronext?s Cash Trading and Listings segment engages in offering access to trade execution in cash trading and settlement of transactions in European markets; obtaining new listings and servicing existing listings; selling and distributing market data and related information; and providing regulatory services. Its Info rmation Services and Technology Solutions segment operates sell side and buy side connectivity networks for its markets and for other market centers, and market participants in the United States, Europe, and Asia; provides trading and information technology software and solutions; sells and distributes market data and related information to data subscribers for proprietary data products; and offers asset management services, and consultancy services to exchanges and liquidity centers. The company is headquartered in New York, New York.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Whitney Kisling]
After the first warning by Arca, owned by New York Stock Exchange-operator NYSE Euronext (NYX), e-mails from exchanges on system abnormalities started to pile up in traders��inboxes. Three minutes after the initial communication, Lenexa, Kansas-based Bats Global Markets Inc., the fourth-biggest U.S. stock exchange, dispatched an alert that said it stopped sending orders to NYSE Arca as a precaution.
- [By Dan Caplinger]
As the company behind the prestigious New York Stock Exchange, NYSE Euronext (NYSE: NYX ) makes money when people trade any stock. Yet for its own part, NYSE Euronext stock has soared in anticipation of its pending $8.2 billion acquisition by rival IntercontinentalExchange (NYSE: ICE ) . With European regulators having approved the deal earlier this week, the transaction appears to be on track to close during the second half of the year, although the SEC and other regulators have yet to weigh in. Let's take a closer look at the exchange industry and what shareholders in NYSE Euronext can expect going forward.
- [By Sean Williams]
Another intriguing aspect of ICE is its pending merger with NYSE Euronext (NYSE: NYX ) . The merger with NYSE Euronext will broaden ICE's revenue breakdown dramatically from its current setup to the point that only 10% of its revenue will come from cash-based equities trading. Listing fees, market data, technology and futures/options trading will make up more than equities-trading, giving ICE the ability to resist economic downturns like never before.�
- [By Sam Mamudi]
NYSE Euronext (NYX), the owner of the New York Stock Exchange, bought a minority stake in ACE Group Inc., which operates a platform for companies to sell stocks, bonds and other securities privately.
Hot Net Payout Yield Stocks To Own Right Now: BOK Financial Corporation(BOKF)
BOK Financial Corporation, a financial holding company, offers a range of financial products and services to commercial and industrial customers, and other financial institutions and consumers. It operates in three segments: Commercial Banking, Consumer Banking, and Wealth Management. The Commercial Banking segment offers lending, treasury, and cash management services; and customer risk management products to small businesses, middle market, and larger commercial customers. The Consumer Banking segment involves in retail lending and deposit services, and mortgage banking activities, as well as offers indirect automobile lending products. The Wealth Management segment provides fiduciary, brokerage and trading, private bank, and investment advisory services. As of December 31, 2010, the company operated 207 consumer banking locations, including branch banking locations and mortgage lending offices; and 1,943 ATM locations. BOK Financial Corporation operates in Oklahoma, Tex as, New Mexico, Northwest Arkansas, Colorado, Arizona, and Kansas/Missouri. The company was founded in 1910 and is headquartered in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By John Maxfield]
Given that you clicked on this article, it seems safe to assume you either own stock in BOK Financial (NASDAQ: BOKF ) or are considering buying shares in the near future. If so, then you've come to the right place. The table below reveals the nine most critical numbers that investors need to know about BOK (which stands for "Bank of Oklahoma") before deciding whether to buy, sell, or hold its stock.
Hot Net Payout Yield Stocks To Own Right Now: Grupo Televisa S.A.(TV)
Grupo Televisa, S.A.B., together with its subsidiaries, operates as a media company in Mexico and internationally. It operates in seven segments: Television Broadcasting, Pay Television Networks, Programming Exports, Publishing, Sky, Cable and Telecom, and Other Businesses. The Television Broadcasting segment engages in the production of television programming and broadcasting of channels 2, 4, 5, and 9; and production of television programming and broadcasting for local television stations in Mexico and the United States. The Pay Television Networks segment provides programming services for cable and pay-per-view television companies in Mexico, as well as other countries in Latin America, the United States, and Europe. The Programming Exports segment offers international licensing of television programming. The Publishing segment primarily publishes Spanish-language magazines in Mexico, the United States, and Latin America. The Sky segment provides direct-to-home broadcas t satellite pay television services in Mexico, Central America, and the Dominican Republic. The Cable and Telecom segment operates a cable and telecommunication system in the Mexico City metropolitan area. This segment provides data and long-distance services solutions to carriers and other telecommunications service providers through its fiber-optic network in Mexico and the United States; basic and premium television, pay-per-view, and telephone services. The Other Businesses segment engages in sports and show business promotion, soccer, feature film production and distribution, Internet, gaming, radio, and publishing distribution operations. The company was founded in 1990 and is headquartered in Mexico City, Mexico.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Monica Wolfe]
Grupo Televisa (TV)
Over the past quarter the most gurus held on to Grupo Televisa S.A.B. There were twelve guru owners with seven gurus making buys last quarter and eight making sells. These gurus hold a combined weighting of 7.07%.
- [By Charles Sizemore]
Within Mexico, the picture is somewhat cloudy. AMX has indicated it prefers to sell the bulk of the assets to a single buyer in order to create a competitor strong enough to appease Mexican regulators. That could mean that Telefonica steps up and increases its presence in Mexico, though Bloomberg reported that broadcasting juggernaut Grupo Televisa (TV) could be the strongest contender.
- [By Michael J. Carr]
Grupo Televisa (NYSE: TV) provides programming and cable and satellite services to viewers in the U.S., Mexico, the Dominican Republic and other countries. The company reported more than $5.5 billion in revenue over the past 12 months and earnings of more than $680 million, or $1.10 per share. Cash flow per share doubled in the past 12 months.
- [By Laura Brodbeck]
Monday
Earnings Releases Expected: Grupo Televisa S.A (NYSE: TV) Economic Releases Expected: Japanese current account, eurozone investor confidence, Spanish industrial production, German industrial productionTuesday
Hot Net Payout Yield Stocks To Own Right Now: Virco Manufacturing Corporation(VIRC)
Virco Mfg. Corporation engages in the design, production, and distribution of furniture for the commercial and education markets in the United States. The company offers seating products, including cantilever chairs, tablet arm chairs, rockers, hard plastic seats, backrests, work surfaces, task chairs, classroom chairs, stack chairs, folding chairs, upholstered stack chairs, plastic stack chairs, and upholstered ergonomic chairs, as well as provides various seating product for students in college, university, other adult education settings, and on high school campuses. It also offers folding and banquet tables, activity tables, office tables, computer tables, and mobile tables, as well as table products for working and learning environments, seminars, and conferences; and computer furniture, including keyboard mouse trays, CPU holders, support columns, desks and workstations, and specialty tables and other products for computing applications. In addition, the company provi des chair desks, combo units, teacher desks, and tablet arm units, as well as a collection returns and credenzas. Further, it offers administrative office furniture, such as desks, returns, and bookcases; laboratory furniture, including steel-based science tables, table bases, lab stools, and steel foot-rings for biology and chemistry classes, and other school and college based lab settings; and mobile furniture comprising mobile tables for school cafeterias and mobile chairs for school settings and offices, as well as provides handling and storage equipment and manufactures stackable storage trucks. The company?s brand portfolio primarily includes ZUMA, ZUMAfrd, Ph.D., I.Q. Virtuoso, Classic Series, Martest 21, Lunada, Plateau, Core-a-Gator, Future Access, Sigma, Metaphor, Telos, TEXT, and Parameter. It also serves convention centers and arenas, hospitality providers, government facilities, and places of worship. Virco Mfg. Corporation founded in 1950 and is based in Torra nce, California.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By John Udovich]
Small cap office furniture stock Steelcase Inc (NYSE: SCS) jumped 11.66% after beating earnings expectations, meaning it might be time to take a closer look at the stock along with potential office or commercial furniture stock peers like�HNI Corp (NYSE: HNI), Knoll Inc (NYSE: KNL) and Virco Mfg. Corporation (NASDAQ: VIRC). After all, the performance of any company selling office or commercial furniture would tend to give some insights into the office or employment markets.
Hot Net Payout Yield Stocks To Own Right Now: Bank of Ireland (BKIR)
Bank of Ireland and its subsidiaries provide a range of banking and other financial services. The Company operates in five segments: Retail Ireland, Bank of Ireland Life, Retail UK, Corporate and Treasury and Group Centre. Group Centre includes capital management activities, unallocated Group support costs and the cost of the Credit Institutions. Retail Ireland distributes a range of financial products and services through the Bank�� branch operations in the Republic of Ireland and through its direct channels. The Company operates in the life and pensions market in Ireland through its wholly owned subsidiary New Ireland Assurance Company plc (NAIC).Retail UK consists of Business Banking in Great Britain and Northern Ireland, the branch network in Northern Ireland, the United Kingdom residential mortgage business and the business activities with the United Kingdom Post Office. Corporate and Treasury division consists of Corporate Banking, Global Markets and IBI Corporate Finance. Advisors' Opinion:- [By Sarah Jones]
In Dublin, Bank of Ireland (BKIR) slipped 3.4 percent to 14.1 euro cents and Permanent TSB Group Holdings Plc (IPM) tumbled 13 percent to 2.6 cents. Allied Irish Banks Plc (ALBK), which is owned by the state, slid 1.5 percent to 6.5 cents.
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