Top 10 Diversified Bank Companies To Buy For 2014

Blue-chip stocks are down sharply this afternoon after a handful of worse-than-expected economic reports sent fear throughout Wall Street. With roughly an hour left in the trading session, the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJINDICES: ^DJI  ) is off by 178 points, or 1.17%.

If you were to read the market recaps from the nation's largest financial news sites, you'd be excused for blaming today's decline entirely on the Federal Reserve -- or, rather, on speculators' fears that the Fed will soon take its foot off the proverbial gas pedal.

The promo for a Reuters' article reads: "Wall Street continued to be bothered by concerns that the Federal Reserve might slow the pace of its economic stimulus program." The Wall Street Journal chimed in with: "U.S. stocks continued their broad sell-off in midday trading, as investors were rattled by steep declines in overseas markets and the specter of tightening central-bank policy." And Bloomberg News followed suit by noting: "Stocks fell while commodities rose for a third day as investors weighed prospects for U.S. economic growth and the Federal Reserve's stimulus plans."

Top 10 Diversified Bank Companies To Buy For 2014: Metalquest Minerals Inc (CI.V)

Canada Gold Corporation engages in the exploration, evaluation, and development of mineral resource properties in Tanzania. The company primarily focuses on exploring gold and copper. It holds options to acquire a 100% interest in 12 prospecting licenses covering an area of 1,992 square kilometers in north eastern Tanzania. The company was formerly known as MetalQuest Minerals Inc. and changed its name to Canada Gold Corporation in August 2009. Canada Gold Corporation was incorporated in 1984 and is headquartered in Vancouver, Canada.

Top 10 Diversified Bank Companies To Buy For 2014: Bank of America Corporation(BAC)

Bank of America Corporation, a financial holding company, provides banking and nonbanking financial services and products to individuals, small- and middle-market businesses, large corporations, and governments in the United States and internationally. The company?s Deposits segment generates savings accounts, money market savings accounts, certificate of deposits, and checking accounts; and Global Card Services segment provides the U.S. consumer and business card, consumer lending, international card and debit card services. Its Home Loans & Insurance segment offers consumer real estate products and services, including mortgage loans, reverse mortgages, home equity lines of credit, and home equity loans. It also provides property, disability, and credit insurance. The company?s Global Commercial Banking segment offers lending products, including commercial loans and commitment facilities, real estate lending, leasing, trade finance, short-term credit, asset-based lending, and indirect consumer loans; and capital management and treasury solutions, such as treasury management, foreign exchange, and short-term investing options. Its Global Banking & Markets segment provides financial products, advisory services, settlement, and custody services; debt and equity underwriting and distribution, merger-related advisory services, and risk management products; and integrated working capital management and treasury solutions. The company?s Global Wealth & Investment Management segment offers investment and brokerage services, estate management, financial planning services, fiduciary management, credit and banking expertise, and asset management products. Bank of America Corporation serves customers through a network of approximately 5,900 banking centers and 18,000 automated teller machines. It was formerly known as NationsBank Corporation and changed its name on October 1, 1998. Bank of America Corporation was founded in 1874 and is based in Charlott e, North Carolina.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Jeff Cox]

  Bank of America's(BAC) Merrill Lynch, which began slashing its GDP projections all the way back in April, before the worst of the economic headlines began to hit, softened its position as well.

  "The trade deficit for July came in appreciably smaller than expected as exports posted an impressive gain while imports fell," economist Gary Bigg wrote. " From a third quarter growth perspective, the narrowing in the trade balance implies a positive trade contribution to real GDP growth."

  The firm has taken its projection up to 2.1 percent for the quarter.

• [By George Putn]

  In Q4 2010, Buffett sold the rest of his stake of five million shares at an average price of $12.24.

  In 2010, the company made a GAAP EPS of -$0.37, which is worse than 2009’s - $0.29. In 2008, that figure was $0.54. Revenues declined by 7.88% to $110.2 billion, after jumping by 64.39% in 2009. The EBT margin improved to 6.61% from 5.98%.

  For 2011, the Street expects non-GAAP EPS to be between $1.05 and $1.75. In 2010, non-GAAP EPS was $0.86. Q1 2011 results are released on April 15, and the Street estimates non-GAAP EPS would be between $0.15 and $0.44 with a consensus of $0.26. In comparison, Q1 2010 posted a non-GAAP EPS of $0.28. For Q1 2011, analysts estimate BAC will generate revenues of $26.0B, an increase of 30.84% over the prior year first quarter results. BAC shares trade with a price to sales multiple of 1.2. In its heyday not too long ago, that multiple was in the low 3’s. Investors are waiting to see if the worst is over for Bank of America. There is too much uncertainty swirling about in this mortgage mess due to regulatory uncertainty. However, BofA's capital ratios have continued to increase as the company has shed noncore assets and riskier loans. If you are a long-term investor, buy BAC while it is at these depressed levels. Otherwise, don’t even touch this with a forty-nine-an d-a-half foot pole.

• [By Philip van Doorn]

  Shares of Bank of America (BAC) closed at $9.49 on Tuesday, returning 71% year-to-date, following an epic 58% decline during 2011. Despite that remarkable run, the shares trade for just 0.7 times the company's Dec. 30 tangible book value of $12.95, and for a relatively low nine times the consensus 2013 EPS estimate of $1.06. KBW analyst Jefferson Harralson rates Bank of America "Market Perform," with a price target of $9.00, and estimates the company will report first-quarter EPS of six cents, followed by full-year earnings of 65 cents, and 2013 EPS of $1.20.

• [By Kathy Kristof]

  The hottest big-bank stock of late has been Bank of America (BAC). Since hitting $4.99 in December 2011, the stock has soared 139%, to $11.94. Bank of America is slowly working through the disastrous results of a decade of acquisitions, which culminated in the 2008 purchase of Countrywide Financial Corp. The acquisition of the troubled mortgage lender put BofA on the wrong end of massive loan losses and a seemingly endless stream of litigation filed by everyone from shareholders to the Justice Department. However, even after paying the Federal National Mortgage Association $2.7 billion late last year as part of another legal settlement, the bank posted earnings for all of 2012 that were nearly three times higher than those of the previous year.

  Strong results and the belief that BofA's woes are finally winding down have driven the stock's ascent. But don't look for it to keep advancing at the same rate. Morford thinks the Charlotte, N.C.-based bank's shares will hit $14 within a year. The stock sells for 12 times predicted 2013 earnings of 99 cents per share. That seems pricey for a bank stock, but it looks fair in light of expected annual earnings growth of 19% over the next few years. BofA shares yield an inconsequential 0.3%.

Top 5 Freight Stocks To Invest In Right Now: The Wharf (4)

The Wharf (Holdings) Limited is an investment holding company. It has four segments: property investment, which includes property leasing and hotel operations, and its properties portfolio consists of retail, office, service apartments and hotels, and is primarily located in Hong Kong and Mainland China; property development, which involves activities relating to the acquisition, development, design, construction, sale and marketing of its trading properties primarily in Hong Kong and Mainland China; logistics, which includes the container terminal operations undertaken by Modern Terminals Limited (Modern Terminals), Hong Kong Air Cargo Terminals Limited and other public transport operations, and communications, media and entertainment (CME), which comprises pay television, Internet and multimedia and other businesses operated by its non-wholly-owned subsidiary, i-CABLE Communications Limited and also includes the telecommunication businesses operated by Wharf T&T Limited.

Top 10 Diversified Bank Companies To Buy For 2014: Penske Automotive Group Inc.(PAG)

Penske Automotive Group, Inc. operates as an automotive retailer. It sells new and used vehicles of approximately 40 vehicle brands; offers vehicle maintenance and repair services; and engages in the sale and placement of third-party finance and insurance products, third-party extended service contracts, and replacement and aftermarket automotive products. As of December 31, 2011, the company operated 320 retail automotive franchises, of which 166 franchises were located in the United States and 154 franchises are located outside of the United States primarily in the United Kingdom. It also has operations in Puerto Rico and Germany. Penske Automotive Group, Inc. was founded in 1990 and is headquartered in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan.

Top 10 Diversified Bank Companies To Buy For 2014: Mellanox Technologies Ltd.(MLNX)

Mellanox Technologies, Ltd., a fabless semiconductor company, engages in the design, development, marketing, and sale of interconnect products primarily in North America, Israel, Europe, and Asia. It offers semiconductor interconnect products that facilitate data transmission between servers, communications infrastructure equipment, and storage systems in enterprise data centers, high-performance computing, and embedded systems. The company provides solutions based on InfiniBand, including host channel adapter, switch and gateway ICs, adapter cards, switch and gateway systems, cables, and software. Its products also support the Ethernet standard. The company provides adapters to server, storage, communications infrastructure, and embedded systems OEMs as ICs or standard card form factors with PCI-X or PCI express interfaces; support server operating systems, including Linux, Windows, AIX, HPUX, Solaris, and VxWorks; and InfiniBand switch ICs to server, storage, communicati ons infrastructure, and embedded systems OEMs to create switching equipment. The company offers its products under the Mellanox, BridgeX, ConnectX, InfiniBlast, InfiniBridge, InfiniHost, InfiniPCI, InfiniRISC, PhyX, InfiniScale, and Virtual Protocol Interconnect trademarks in the United States. It primarily serves enterprise data center, high-performance computing, and embedded end-user markets, as well as embedded systems OEMs. The company sells its products directly, as well as through a network of domestic and international sales representatives, and independent distributors. Mellanox Technologies, Ltd. was incorporated in 1999 and is headquartered in Yokneam, Israel.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Lowell]  

  Mellanox, after its acquisition of Voltaire is likely to have north of 90 percent share of the InfiniBand market.

  "We believe InfiniBand is likely to see widening adoption beyond traditional High-performance Computing use cases as Clustered Hardware (Servers and Storage) becomes more ubiquitous in the data center," the analysts said.

  The move to Cloud architectures enabled by Server Virtualization, the emergence of Converged Infrastructure from large system vendors especially Oracle and the growing prevalence of Scale-out Storage architectures is likely to significantly increase the demand for a low-latency high-throughput interconnect such as InfiniBand.

Top 10 Diversified Bank Companies To Buy For 2014: Stakis(SKS.L)

Shanks Group plc operates as a waste and resource management company that provides waste management solutions in the Netherlands, Belgium, the United Kingdom, and Canada. The company involves in the collection, transfer, recycling, and treatment of non-hazardous solid waste; industrial cleaning, transportation, treatment, and disposal of contaminated soils, as well as remediation of contaminated land; and anaerobic digestion and tunnel composting of source segregated organic waste streams. It also engages in the landfill disposal activities, including contaminated soils; generation of power from landfill gas; and municipal waste treatment contracts and mineral extraction businesses. The company was founded in 1880 and is headquartered in Milton Keynes, the United Kingdom.

Top 10 Diversified Bank Companies To Buy For 2014: Heartland Financial USA Inc. (HTLF)

Heartland Financial USA, Inc., through its bank subsidiaries, provides commercial and retail banking services to businesses and individuals. Its deposit products include checking and other demand deposit, negotiable order of withdrawal, savings, money market, individual retirement, and health savings accounts, as well as certificates of deposit and other time deposits. The company�s loan products portfolio comprises commercial and industrial, agricultural, real estate mortgage, consumer, and home equity loans, as well as lines of credit. It also offers ancillary services, including trust and wealth management services, investment services, insurance services, and electronic banking services, as well as provides client access to account information through business and personal online banking, bill payment, remote deposit capture, treasury management services, VISA debit cards ,and automated teller machines. The company�s investment services include mutual funds, annuitie s, retirement products, education savings products, brokerage services, employer sponsored plans, and insurance products, including vehicle, property and casualty, and life and disability insurance. In addition, Heartland Financial, through its non-bank subsidiary, Citizens Finance Co., engages in consumer finance business. The company has a strategic alliance with LPL Financial Institution Services to operate independent securities offices at its bank subsidiaries. As of May 4, 2012, it had 61 banking locations in 42 communities in Iowa, Illinois, Wisconsin, New Mexico, Arizona, Montana, Colorado, and Minnesota; and mortgage loan production offices in California, Nevada, Texas, Wyoming, and Idaho. The company was founded in 1981 and is headquartered in Dubuque, Iowa.

Top 10 Diversified Bank Companies To Buy For 2014: Trafford Resources Ltd(TRF.AX)

Trafford Resources Limited engages in the mineral exploration activities in Australia. It primarily explores for iron oxide, copper, gold, silver, lead, zinc, and uranium deposits. The company primarily holds interests in the Wilcherry Hill project covering 976 square kilometers located in South Australia; and the Lynas Find project consisting of 10 granted prospecting licenses covering approximately 792 hectares located in the Pilbara region of Western Australia. Trafford Resources Limited is based in West Perth, Australia.

Top 10 Diversified Bank Companies To Buy For 2014: PFB Corporation (PFBOF.PK)

PFB Corporation (PFB) is a Canada-based company. The Company, together with its subsidiaries, is engaged in the manufacturing of insulating building products made from expanded polystyrene (EPS) materials and marketing these products in North America. Its main brands include PlastiSpan EPS Product Solutions; Advantage ICFS, Insulspan SIPS, Riverbend Timber Framing and Precision Craft. Expandable polystyrene resin is manufactured at PFB�� polymer plant located in Crossfield, Alberta, for use in downstream EPS manufacturing operations. Plasti-Fab EPS Product Solutions supply the EPS foam core material used to manufacture Insulspan SIPS. Riverbend Timber Framing structures are typically sold with an accompanying Insulspan SIPS enclosure package. Advantage ICF Systems are insulating concrete forming systems that are employed to build insulated foundations and walls from concrete in both residential and commercial markets. On February 1, 2011, the Company acquired Precision C raft Group.

Top 10 Diversified Bank Companies To Buy For 2014: Carrols Restaurant Group Inc.(TAST)

Carrols Restaurant Group, Inc., through its subsidiary, Carrols Corporation, owns and operates quick-casual and quick-service restaurants. It operates restaurants under the Burger King, Pollo Tropical, and Taco Cabana names. As of January 1, 2012, the company owned and operated 547 restaurants, including 298 Burger King, 91 Pollo Tropical and 158 Taco Cabana restaurants in 17 states in the United States. It also franchised 36 restaurants in Puerto Rico, Ecuador, Honduras, Trinidad, the Bahamas, and Venezuela, as well as in college campuses in Florida. The company was formerly known as Carrols Holdings Corporation and changed its name to Carrols Restaurant Group, Inc. in November 2006. Carrols Restaurant Group, Inc. was founded in 1960 and is headquartered in Syracuse, New York.