It's truly incredible what a good CEO and top-notch innovations can do for a company.
Both Ford (NYSE: F ) and General Motors (NYSE: GM ) seemed destined to go bankrupt during the recession because of a drastic reduction in automobile demand and a rapid deterioration in their finance arms. Amazingly, Ford pulled through without the need for a bailout, while GM was forced to seek $49.5 billion in government aid to help it pull through its reorganization. You might be of the opinion that a reorganized GM would therefore be in better shape than Ford because of the extra help it received from the U.S. government, but Ford still has quite a few tricks up its sleeve that could make it a very compelling buy.
With great CEOs, comes great innovation
Where Ford and its CEO, Alan Mulally, have really excelled is in the innovation department -- giving the customers what they want without actually having the customers tell you what they want. I know this might sound confusing, but if you sat car owners down and asked them what was important to them, you might get a million different answers. Mulally sees things differently. He thinks about the carmaking process as a designer -- he did work for Boeing�for 37 years -- and is looking for ways to add value to the consumers' lives.
10 Best Value Stocks To Own For 2015: Maximus Inc (MMS)
MAXIMUS, Inc., incorporated on October 18, 2007, provides business process services (BPS) to government health and human services agencies under its mission of Helping Government Serve the People. The Company is primarily focused on operating government-sponsored programs, such as Medicaid, Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP), health insurance exchanges and other health care reform initiatives, Medicare, welfare-to-work, child support services and other government programs.
The Company is one of the pure-play health and human services administrative providers to governments in the United States, Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom and Saudi Arabia. The Company�� segments include Health Services and Human Services. Effective July 1, 2013, MAXIMUS, Inc. acquired Health Management Ltd.
Health Services Segment
The Company's Health Services segment provides a variety of business process services, as well as related consulting services, for state, provincial and federal government programs, including Medicaid, CHIP, SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program), Medicare, the Affordable Care Act and Health Insurance BC (British Columbia). In this segment, the Company's BPS and consulting services include government health insurance program administration; Health insurance program eligibility and enrollment services to improve access to health care for citizens and help beneficiaries make the best choice for their health insurance coverage; Eligibility and enrollment modernization for government health benefit programs; Health insurance exchange design and operations; Consumer outreach and education, including multilingual customer contact centers and multi-channel self-service options, such as Web-based portals, for easy enrollment; Application assistance and independent enrollment counseling to beneficiaries; Premium payment processing and administration, such as invoicing and reconciliation; Objective, evidence-based health appeals; Independent medical! reviews; Health plan oversight; eHealth solutions with the Medigent product suite; Medicaid Management Information System (MMIS) planning and oversight, and Specialized program consulting services.
Human Services Segment
The Company's Human Services segment provides federal, national, state and county human services agencies with a variety of business process services, as well as related consulting services for welfare-to-work, child support, higher education and K-12 special education programs. The Company's services include welfare-to-work services, including eligibility determination, case management, job-readiness preparation, job search and employer outreach, job retention and career advancement, and selected educational and training services, to help disadvantaged individuals transition from government assistance programs to sustainable employment and economic independence; Full and specialized child support case management services, customer contact center operations, and program and systems consulting services; Management tools and professional consulting services for higher education institutions; K-12 special education case management solutions; Program consulting services, including independent verification and validation, cost allocation plans, repeatable management services and other specialized consulting offerings, and Tax credit and employer services.
The Company competes with Serco, Atos Origin and Ingeus.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Laura Brodbeck]
Tuesday
Earnings Expected From: Five Star Quality Care, Inc. (NYSE: FVE), Maximus, Inc. (NYSE: MMS), Nustar Energy (NYSE: NS), D.R. Horton, Inc. (NYSE: DHI), DISH Network Corporation (NASDAQ: DISH) Economic Releases Expected: German CPI, British CPI, British PPI, US Redbook, Indian manufacturing output, Indian industrial productionWednesday
- [By Hilary Kramer]
This is where one of my favorite plays on the healthcare reform comes in. Maximus (MMS) provides cost-effective processing services to government health and human services agencies in the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Australia and Saudi Arabia. One of its main focuses is healthcare, providing administrative services for many programs, including Medicaid, Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) and Medicare.
5 Best US Stocks To Own For 2014: American Heritage International Inc (AHII)
American Heritage International Inc., formerly Cumberland Hills Ltd., incorporated on January 19, 2010, intends to focus on electronic cigarette. The Company�� product includes American Heritage, American One, American Freedom, American Nights, American Standard and Smoking Alternative Gums and Mints.
The Company�� initial and primary line will be the American Heritage line. American One is a disposable Electronic Cigarette, good for over 500 draws, about the equivalent of over two packs of traditional cigarettes. American Freedom will be the brand name for its Nicotine-Free line of Electronic Cigarettes. American Nights will be a product line targeted to the young adult market of social smokers. Smoking Alternative products will include gums, and mints.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Bryan Murphy]
Lorillard Inc. (NYSE:LO), Altria Group Inc. (NYSE:MO), and the rest of the big tobacco names may want to take notice. For that matter, anyone with a presence in the electronic cigarette market (which still includes the aforementioned Altria and Lorillard, but many other small payers too) may want to pay attention as well.... e-cig newcomer American Heritage International Inc. (OTCBB:AHII) has just added two states to the number where its premium product can be purchased. The young company promised it was going to expand after jumping into the game on a small scale in - and this isn't a misprint - January of this year. With today's addition of Nevada and Illinois, AHII is now giving MO and LO a run for their money in eleven states. Thirty-nine more to go.
- [By James E. Brumley]
Fans and investors of American Heritage International Inc. (OTCBB:AHII) - not to mention frenemies Vapor Corp. (OTCMKTS:VPCO) and Victory Electronic Cigarettes Corp. (OTCMKTS:ECIG) - can all breathe a sigh of relief today. As it turns out, while the electronic cigarette industry is more than likely be regulated by the FDA, it's going to be regulated in such a way that tends to favor the likes of AHII, ECIG, and VPCO.
- [By John Udovich]
Small cap electronic cigarette stocks Vapor Corp (OTCMKTS: VPCO), Smokefree Innotec�(OTCMKTS: SFIO), Hop-On Inc (OTCMKTS: HPNN) and American Heritage International Inc (OTCBB: AHII) are what�� left of the e-Cig market not controlled by ��ig Tobacco��and at least one of these stocks is positioning itself or its technology to exploit opportunities in marijuana or cannabis. Last year, industry experts were saying that�US retail sales of e-cigarettes could reach $1 billion for the year or�1% of the country's cigarette market but twice that of 2012�as sales go off the Internet and into more mainstream retailers. Moreover, they are being positioned as a ��ealthier��alternative to smoking (albeit some places have already extended their smoking bans to cover the devices). It should be stated that electronic cigarettes look just like traditional cigarettes and are usually comprised of three functional components:
5 Best US Stocks To Own For 2014: Freeport-McMoran Copper & Gold Inc.(FCX)
Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc. engages in the exploration, mining, and production of mineral resources. The company primarily explores for copper, gold, molybdenum, silver, and cobalt. It holds interests in various properties, located in North and South America; the Grasberg minerals district in Indonesia; and the Tenke Fungurume minerals district in the Democratic Republic of Congo. As of December 31, 2010, the company?s consolidated recoverable proven and probable reserves totaled 120.5 billion pounds of copper, 35.5 million ounces of gold, 3.39 billion pounds of molybdenum, 325.0 million ounces of silver, and 0.75 billion pounds of cobalt. The company was founded in 1987 and is headquartered in Phoenix, Arizona.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Matt DiLallo]
Shares of newly minted global resource company, Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE: FCX ) , are up over 3% after the company reported its second-quarter earnings. The company beat Wall Street's earnings estimate, though its revenue was a little light. Let's take a quick look at what went down in the quarter.
5 Best US Stocks To Own For 2014: St. Jude Medical Inc.(STJ)
St. Jude Medical, Inc. develops, manufactures, and distributes cardiovascular and implantable neurostimulation medical devices worldwide. It operates in four segments: Cardiac Rhythm Management, Cardiovascular, Atrial Fibrillation, and Neuromodulation. The Cardiac Rhythm Management segment offers products for cardiac arrhythmias, or irregular heart beats. Its products include tachycardia implantable cardioverter defibrillator systems to provide therapy to patients suffering from lethal heart conditions, such as sudden cardiac arrest; cardiac resynchronization therapy devices to treat heart failure patients; pacemakers to help people whose hearts beat too slowly or who suffer from other cardiac arrhythmias; and leads, which connect devices to the heart and carry the electrical impulses to the heart and information from the heart to the device. The Cardiovascular segment offers mechanical and tissue replacement heart valves, as well as heart valve repair products. It also pr ovides disposable interventional devices, including vascular closure devices, compression assist devices, percutaneous catheter introducers, diagnostic guidewires, and temporary bipolar pacing catheters, as well as diagnostic coronary imaging technology. The Atrial Fibrillation segment offers a system of products for access, diagnosis, visualization, and ablation that assist physicians in diagnosing and treating various irregular heart rhythms used in the electrophysiology lab and cardiac surgery. It provides electrophysiology introducers and catheters, cardiac mapping, navigation and recording systems, and ablation systems. The Neuromodulation segment offers a range of neurostimulation systems, such as rechargeable implantable pulse generators, primary cell implantable pulse generators, and radio frequency powered systems. St. Jude Medical markets its products through a direct sales force and independent distributors. The company was founded in 1976 and is headquartered in St. Paul, Minnesota.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Dan Carroll]
Edwards' stock's massive plunge today was probably too much for the miss, but the cardiovascular market overall has been tough on medical-device companies recently. St. Jude Medical (NYSE: STJ ) reported falling sales in its most recent quarterly report, primarily because of cardiovascular-related revenue on the decline, and Medtronic (NYSE: MDT ) , a competitor of Edwards' in the heart valve market with its CoreValve device, could still threaten the Sapien's sales despite a court ruling recently that judged the CoreValve to have infringed on one of Edwards' patents.
- [By Dan Carroll]
Take a look around the top device companies reporting this week, and you'll see a picture of lackluster growth. Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ ) , one of the biggest names in health care, saw double-digit growth from its medical device department, but only because of its $12 billion acquisition of orthopedics powerhouse Synthes last year. Fellow diversified medical firm Abbott Labs' (NYSE: ABT ) medical device sales fell more than 4% despite its dominant position in the stent industry. St. Jude Medical (NYSE: STJ ) also saw sales decline 3% at a constant currency, even as the company managed to grow earnings by more than 5% by cutting costs.
- [By James Brumley]
In this new era of stingier insurers and pickier patients, the importance of such procedures can’t be overstated.
Medical Devices: St. Jude Medical (STJ)While St. Jude Medical (STJ) might not have a flagship product that turns heads every time it’s mentioned, it more than makes up for a lack of pizzazz with a large library of highly marketable and consistently-selling medical devices. And, jiving with that broad observation is last quarter’s 2.5% improvement in the bottom line, and a 2014 outlook that affirmed the company’s expectation for a return of earnings and revenue growth.
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