The Top 12 Stocks You Should Buy Right Now By Dr. Mark Skousen Editor, Forecasts & Strategies By Doug Fabian Editor, Successful ETF Investing By Nicholas Vardy Editor, The Alpha Investor Letter By Chris Versace Editor, PowerTrend Profits Eagle Financial Publications • 300 New Jersey Ave. NW #500 •Washington, DC 20001 Copyright 2014 by Eagle Publishing All rights reserved IMPORTANT NOTE: This special report is for informational and educational purposes only, based on current data as of March 2014. Do not buy or sell these investments until you have read the current issue of the publications written by Dr. Mark Skousen, Doug Fabian, Nicholas Vardy or Chris Versace. The Top 12 Stocks You Should Buy Right Now Copyright © 2014, by Eagle Publishing. All rights reserved. No quotes or copying permitted without written consent. Published by: Eagle Publishing, Inc. 300 New Jersey Ave. NW #500 Washington, DC 20001 800/211-7661 Websites: www.MarkSkousen.com www.Fabian.com www.NicholasVardy.com www.ChrisVersace.com www.EagleDailyInvestor.com Introduction The Top 12 recommendations offered in this special report give you one dozen of the best investment opportunities from our team of experts. Dr. Mark Skousen, Doug Fabian, Nicholas Vardy and Chris Versace contribute their substantial individual investment skills as each provides three picks. You will not want to miss out on these potentially highly profitable opportunities. Dr. Mark Skousen’s Top Three Plays to Buy Now 1) Main Street Capital Corporation (MAIN) 2) Enterprise Products Partners L.P. (EPD) 3) Omega Healthcare Investors, Inc. (OHI) Top Pick #1: Main Street Capital Corporation (MAIN) Based in Houston, Main Street Capital Corp. (MAIN) is a business development company (BDC) that makes equity investments and loans money to small- and mid-sized companies. Typically, these businesses are cash flow positive, with revenue between $10 million and $100 million. Main Street is well diversified. It had investments in 62 Lower Middle Markets for a fair market value of $635.8 million, with a total cost basis of $504.3 million, at the end of the third quarter of 2013. The company also had invested in 83 Middle Market companies, with a fair market value of $391.1 million and a total cost basis of $388 million, as of September 2013. In addition, the company had issued private loans to 13 companies, totaling $87.3 million in fair market value with a cost basis of $86.6 million. Those numbers show that Main Street has investments that exceed its cost basis in each of its three areas of financing. Main Street’s dividend is paid monthly. It has only been cut once since the 2008 financial crisis and, in fact, the company raised its dividend twice in 2013 alone. The company is well positioned to take advantage of new opportunities. (Note: At the time of this writing, Q4 figures were not available.) At the end of the third quarter of 2013, the company had $17.6 million in cash and $20 million in marketable securities. Main Street also amassed third quarter 2013 net investment income of $18.8 million, or $0.51 per share, to mark a 21% increase from the third quarter of 2012, after excluding $1.3 million of non-recurring, non-cash share-based compensation expense due to the acceleration of a retiring employee’s restricted shares. Management continued to accumulate more shares of its own stock through 2013. Main Street’s management team and directors own more than 9% of the company. CEO Vince Foster alone owns 1.41 million shares, or 4.2% of total shares outstanding. The company’s President Todd Reppert owns at least 359,000 shares. These two executives are the largest shareholders in the company. Foster earns roughly $2.5 million in dividends per year on his holdings. That’s more than five times as much as his paycheck. Reppert is positioned to earn about $700,000 in annual dividends, more than twice his salary. In December 2013, no fewer than 12 company directors, owners or board members executed 26 separate transactions to acquire additional shares – all of them at market price. That kind of insider buying affirms my confidence in the company’s outlook. The management team’s interests are clearly aligned with shareholders. If the business does well, and management is able to increase the dividend, that puts more money directly back into their pockets, the way it should be. It is rare to find a stock with a high yield, growing dividend, a very solid management team, insider buying and bright prospects for the future. But that favorable situation is exactly what Main Street Capital offers. That’s why I still recommend that you pick up shares of MAIN at market, and look to the most recent issue of Forecasts & Strategies for our exit price. The chart below excludes dividends but still shows MAIN’s recent rise. Data as of 2/14/2014 Source: Yahoo Finance Top Pick #2: Enterprise Products Partners Fund (EPD) A nice way to diversify your holdings and profit from the energy boom is available through the Enterprise Product Partners (EPD), a Houston-based pipeline company that is America’s largest pipeline operator. It has a track record of acquiring new companies and additional natural gas assets, as well as a rising dividend policy. This master limited partnership (MLP) provides a range of services to producers and consumers of natural gas, natural gas liquids (NGLs), crude oil, refined products and petrochemicals in the continental United States, Canada and Gulf of Mexico. This MLP has raised distributions for more than a decade and is a member of the dividend achievers index. As a master limited partnership, most profits flow straight through to unit holders untaxed as distributions. Investors then are responsible for paying the taxes on their share of MLP income, which involves a lot of paperwork. But it may be worth it. The MLP provides midstream energy services throughout the Midwestern United States and is highly recommended for income seekers. EPD only pays out about 80% of its distributable cash flow, a conservative policy that leaves a comfortable cushion to grow distributions and re-invest for growth. Pipeline companies such as Enterprise are benefiting from the oil & gas boom in the United States, and enjoying a sharp increase in demand for the transportation of energy products. Enterprise has better metrics than its competitors — higher revenue growth, higher net margins and an enviable rising quarterly dividend policy. What a money machine. I have it in my portfolio and you should, too. The chart below excludes dividends but still reflects EPD’s advance during the past 12 months. Data as of 2/14/2014 Source: Yahoo Finance Top Pick #3: Omega Healthcare Investors (OHI) Omega Healthcare Investors (OHI) is a Maryland-based owner of more than 400 nursing and assisted living facilities in 35 states. It’s a real estate investment trust (REIT), and there’s plenty of room for further acquisitions of health-related properties. It offers a healthy balance sheet and bottom line. Revenues rose 20% in the past year to $367 million and earnings advanced 46% to $133 million. With 36% profit margins, OHI’s return on equity (ROE) is more than 13.5%. Omega has had a rising dividend policy for the past ten years. Today, Omega pays out a 46-cent per share dividend (6.5% annualized yield), the highest of its peers. Despite a rising stock price, Omega sells for 13 times estimated earnings in 2013 and has been beating estimates. For the past three years, Wall Street has enjoyed an unprecedented growth spurt without experiencing as much as a 10% sell-off. Last year, the market rose more than 30%. But no bull market can last forever. So as we begin 2014, we need to keep that in mind, along with the possible “dangers” ahead as new Fed Chair Janet Yellen takes control. That said, I’m still confident that stocks like OHI will continue to hold up well. The company recently announced that it boosted its quarterly stock dividend by a penny to 49 cents per share, payable Feb. 17. Notably, this move represents the company’s 27th dividend hike since first-quarter 2004. With a payout ratio of 69%, Omega can afford to continue increasing its dividend. Omega Healthcare has had earnings surprises for the past four quarters. Revenues are up 18% in the past year, and earnings rose more than 26% to $159 million. With these strong fundamentals, Omega Healthcare can continue to make decent dividend payouts in the coming quarters, too. If you don’t already own shares of Omega Healthcare Investors (OHI), purchase them at the market price and consult the most recent issue of Forecasts & Strategies for your stop price. Data as of 2/14/2014 Source: Yahoo Finance About Mark Skousen Mark Skousen, Ph. D., is the editor of the monthly investment newsletter, Forecasts & Strategies, as well as three weekly trading services, Skousen High-Income Alert, Hedge Fund Trader and Fast Money Alert. He also is a professional economist, investment expert, university professor, and author of more than 25 books. He earned his Ph. D. in monetary economics at George Washington University in 1977. He currently holds the Benjamin Franklin Chair of Management at Grantham University. He has taught economics and finance at Columbia Business School, Columbia University, Barnard College, Mercy College, Rollins College and Chapman University. He also has been a consultant to IBM, Hutchinson Technology and other Fortune 500 companies. Doug Fabian’s Top Three Plays to Buy Now 4) Global X Uranium ETF (URA) 5) Market Vectors Junior Gold Miners ETF (GDXJ) 6) WisdomTree Japan SmallCap Dividend (DFJ) Top Pick #4: Global X Uranium ETF (URA) I am always looking for sectors that I call “deeply depressed industry groups.” These are sectors that have become way out of favor as a result of the latest sell-off. Often what happens is that these sectors are the first to rebound when the next bull market takes place. Sectors on the shortlist here are energy, oil equipment and services, as well as alternative clean energy such as wind, solar and uranium. These sectors all have seen big selling of late, particularly the clean energy and uranium sectors. The price of Global X Uranium ETF (URA) has been depressed for some time. So when buyers return to this segment, we are likely to see URA spring a lot higher. URA is an exchange-traded fund (ETF) that is capable of energizing of your investment portfolio. Nuclear power serves as a key energy source around the world, and that means there is a strong base level of demand that exists for uranium as a fuel for power plants. Unlike solar and wind power, nuclear energy is not dependent on weather conditions. Furthermore, uranium is an efficient source of energy. For instance, one pound of uranium can generate as much energy as approximately 100,000 pounds of coal. In addition, uranium leaves behind a fraction of the carbon footprint that coal does. With demand for energy showing no signs of dissipating, especially as China and India continue relatively fast-paced economic growth, uranium prices ultimately should rise. However, interest in the energy source has diminished in countries such as Germany, and that’s largely due to the adverse consequences of the accident at Japan’s Fukushima nuclear power plant that was caused by the devastating effects of an earthquake and a tsunami. The incident brought recollections of the April 1986 Chernobyl nuclear plant accident in the Ukraine, which stalled development in the nuclear industry for a number of years. Yet, despite the fears generated from the Fukushima incident, there are ample reasons to believe uranium demand will remain high, and taking advantage of this can be accomplished with an investment in Global X Uranium ETF. URA seeks to provide results, before fees and expenses, which correspond generally to the price and yield performance of an index designed to measure the broad-based equity market performance of global companies involved in the uranium industry. The non-diversified fund invests at least 80% of its assets in the securities of the underlying index. Approximately 13% of the world’s energy needs currently are met by nuclear power plants, with leading users including Finland, Japan, South Korea, Switzerland and Ukraine. France gets three- quarters of its electricity from nuclear reactors. Uranium is the fuel used in conventional nuclear reactors. Similar to other commodities, the price of uranium can be highly volatile. URA gained 135% in 2013, but that surge stemmed from prices sinking in November and December 2012, before they recovered sharply in February 2013. Since then, URA has followed a generally downward trend, albeit with periodic rises. Making profits in this sector is highly dependent on getting the timing right. When you hear about news that makes uranium seem attractive to buy, one way to invest in the commodity is Global X Uranium ETF (URA). Data as of 2/14/2014 Source: Yahoo Finance Top Pick #5: Market Vectors Junior Gold Miners ETF (GDXJ) Like its big brother, GDX, the Market Vectors Junior Gold Miners Index (GDXJ) is an ETF that holds gold and precious metals mining stocks. This fund is a great addition to GDX, because it offers exposure to the smaller mining companies that aren’t held in GDX. Think of it as holding both the S&P 500 and the Russell 2000. While stocks soared in 2013, precious metals had a rougher year. This pullback in the prices of certain precious metals funds offers investors another chance to consider cheaply buying a fund that is tied to either gold or silver. GDXJ is designed to replicate, as closely as possible before fees and expenses, the price and yield performance of the Market Vectors Junior Gold Miners Index. The index is rules-based, modified market capitalization-weighted and float-adjusted. Basically, GDXJ gives investors exposure to small- and medium-capitalization companies in the gold or silver mining industry by holding gold and precious metals mining stocks. In contrast to its big brother Market Vectors Gold Miners ETF (GDX), which tracks big mining companies, GDXJ offers exposure to the smaller mining companies that aren’t held in GDX. You may want to hold both GDX and GDXJ, the way you might own both the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the Russell 2000. Both give you exposure to gold mining stocks, but GDXJ can be a bit more volatile because it focuses on the smaller public mining companies that tend to fluctuate more. I like GDXJ, and you always want to buy at a reasonable value rather than chase past gains. The strategy here with GDXJ points towards now, with 2013’s pullback in the rear-view mirror, as an enticing entry point. Data as of 2/14/2014 Source: Yahoo Finance
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