Top Financial Stocks For 2014

The Issue shall be open for subscription from July 26, 2012 to August 10, 2012 with an option to close the Issue on such earlier date or extended date as may be decided at the discretion of the duly authorised committee of Directors of the Company subject to necessary approvals. The NCDs proposed to be issued under this Issue have been rated ��RISIL AA/Stable��by CRISIL for an amount of upto ` Rs. 600 crores��and ��ARE AA+' by CARE for an amount of upto ��s. 600 crores�� The rating of the NCDs by CRISIL and CARE indicates high degree of safety regarding timely servicing of financial obligations and carrying very low credit risk. The NCDs offered through the Prospectus dated July 16, 2012, are proposed to be listed on the NSE and the BSE.

The funds raised through this Issue, after meeting the expenditures of and related to the Issue, will be used for STFC�� various financing activities including lending and investments, for repaying the existing loans and for the business operations including capital expenditure and working capital requirements. 

Top 5 Restaurant Stocks For 2015: Kayne Anderson MLP Investment Co (KYN)

Kayne Anderson MLP Investment Company, incorporated on June 4, 2004, is a non-diversified, closed-end investment company. The Company�� investment objective is to obtain a high after-tax total return by investing at least 85% of its total assets plus any borrowings in energy-related master limited partnerships (MLPs) and their affiliates, and in other companies that, as their principal business, operate assets used in the gathering, transporting, processing, storing, refining, distributing, mining or marketing of natural gas, natural gas liquids, crude oil, refined petroleum products or coal (collectively with MLPs referred to as Midstream Energy Companies). The Company�� portfolio investments principally consist of equity securities issued by MLPs.

Kayne Anderson MLP Investment Company may invest up to 15% of its total assets in any single issuer. It may invest up to 20% of its total assets in debt securities, which may include below investment-grade securities. The Company�� portfolio includes investments in pipeline MLPs, propane MLPs, shipping MLPs, coal MLPs and upstream MLPs. The Company�� investment advisor is Kayne Anderson Capital Advisors, L.P.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Jon C. Ogg]

  The ETFs and funds held up on Monday:

  JPMorgan Alerian MLP Index ETN (NYSEArca: AMJ) was down only 0.3% at $46.86, versus a 52-week range of $42.18 to $49.31. Volume was 1.1 million shares versus an average of about 628,000. ALPS Alerian MLP ETF (NYSEArca: AMLP) closed down 0.45 at $17.57, versus a 52-week range of $16.75 to $18.36. This ETF traded more than 3.1 million shares, up from an average of about 2.85 million shares. The closed-end fund of Kayne Anderson MLP Investment Company (NYSE: KYN) even managed to rise by 0.26% to $38.70 against a 52-week range of $33.11 to $40.22. Its volume was also almost 300,000 shares versus an average volume of closer to 218,000 shares.

  It still seems more than interesting that the investment community did not pound the rest of the sector in sympathy with Boardwalk. This Boardwalk MLP still has a $3.1 billion market cap, even after getting cut almost in half. Usually investors try to tie in peers when one implosion is seen versus others. It seems as though they are trusting that negative natural gas exposure here is not going to spill over into the rest of the sector, and maybe not even spill over into the price of units in its more direct peers.

Top Financial Stocks For 2014: First Trust Specialty Finance and Financial Opportunities Fund (FGB)

First Trust Speciality Finance and Financial Opportunities Fund, formerly First Trust/Gallatin Specialty Finance and Financial Opportunities Fund, is a non-diversified, closed-end fund that seeks a high level of current income. The Fund�� secondary objective is to seek total return. The Fund will seek to achieve its investment objectives by investing at least 80% of its managed assets in a portfolio of securities of specialty finance and other financial companies that offer opportunities for income and capital appreciation. The Fund will invest at least 25% of its total assets in securities of companies within industries in the financial sector. First Trust Advisors L.P. (First Trust Advisors) is the Fund's investment adviser.

Specialty finance companies provide capital or financing to businesses and consumers within specified market segments. Specialty finance companies often engage in asset-based and other forms of non-traditional financing activities. The Fund intends to invest primarily in business development company�� (BDC) shares, which are trading in the secondary market on a United States securities exchange but may, in certain circumstances, invest in an initial public offering of BDC shares or invest in certain debt instruments issued by BDCs. The Fund is not limited with respect to the specific types of real estate investment trusts (REITs), in which it invests and intends to invest primarily in REIT shares, which are trading in the secondary market on a United States securities exchange but may, in certain circumstances, invest in an initial public offering of REIT shares or invest in certain debt instruments issued by REITs.

The Fund may invest in commercial mortgage-related securities issued by corporations. These are securities that represent an interest in, or are secured by, mortgage loans secured by commercial property, such as industrial and warehouse properties, office buildings, retail space and shopping malls, multi-family properties and cooperati! ve apartments, hotels and motels, nursing homes, hospitals, and senior living centers. Other mortgage-related securities, in which the Fund may invest include mortgage pass-through securities, collateralized mortgage obligations (CMOs), mortgage dollar rolls, CMO residuals (other than residual interests in real estate mortgage investment conduits), stripped mortgage-backed securities (SMBSs) and other securities that directly or indirectly represent a participation in, or are secured by and payable from, mortgage loans on real property. The Fund may invest in other types of asset-backed securities that are offered in the marketplace. Other asset-backed securities may be collateralized by the fees earned by service providers.

The principal industry groups of financial companies include banks, savings institutions, brokerage firms, investment management companies, insurance companies, holding companies of the foregoing, and companies that provide related services to such companies. Banks and savings institutions provide services to customers such as demand, savings and time deposit accounts and a variety of lending and related services. Brokerage firms provide services to customers in connection with the purchase and sale of securities.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Shaji Mathew]

  JPMorgan also raised the price estimate of First Gulf Bank, (FGB) its top pick among banks in the Middle East and North Africa, to 18 dirhams from 13.50 dirhams. The overweight recommendation was maintained. The stock has risen 25 percent this year to 14.55 dirhams last week.

Top Financial Stocks For 2014: Simmons First National Corp (SFNC)

Simmons First National Corporation is a multi-bank financial holding company. As of December 31, 2011, the Company had total loans of $1.7 billion, deposits of $2.7 billion and equity capital of $408 million. As of December 31, 2011, it owned eight community banks, which are located throughout Arkansas and conduct its operations through 88 offices, of which 84 are branches, or financial centers, located in 47 communities in Arkansas, Missouri and Kansas. Its community banks are supported by its subsidiary bank, Simmons First National Bank (SFNB or lead bank), which allows its community banks to provide products and services, such as a bank-issued credit card. As of December 31, 2011, SFNB had total loans of $0.9 billion and total deposits of $1.5 billion. Simmons First Trust Company N.A., a wholly owned subsidiary of SFNB, performs the trust and fiduciary business operations for SFNB and for the Company. Simmons First Investment Group, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of SFNB, is a broker-dealer and performs the broker-dealer operations for SFNB. Its subsidiary banks provide complete banking services to individuals and businesses throughout the market areas they serve. These banks offer consumer (credit card and other consumer), real estate (construction, single family residential and other commercial) and commercial (commercial, agriculture and financial institutions) loans, checking, savings and time deposits, trust and investment management services and securities and investment services. In September 2012, through its wholly owned bank subsidiary, Simmons First National Bank (SFNB), it acquired assets of Truman Bank of St. Louis from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (the FDIC). In October 2012, SFNB acquired Excel Bank of Sedalia from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation. In November 2013, the Company acquired Metropolitan National Bank. Efffective November 25, 2013, the Company acquired Rogers Bancshares Inc.

Lending Activities

During the year ended December! 31, 2011, the Company�� loan portfolio, excluding loans covered by Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) loss share arrangements, averaged $1.621 billion. As of December 31, 2011, total loans, excluding loans covered by FDIC loss share arrangements, were $1.580 billion. The components of the loan portfolio were loans to businesses (commercial loans, commercial real estate loans and agricultural loans) and individuals (consumer loans, credit card loans and single-family residential real estate loans).

Consumer loans consist of credit card loans, student loans and other consumer loans. As of December 31, 2011, consumer loans were $346.6 million or 21.9% of total loans. As of December 31, 2011, the student loan portfolio balance was $47.4 million. As of December 31, 2011, student loans were 3% of total loans. Real estate loans consist of construction loans, single family residential loans and commercial loans. As of December 31, 2011, real estate loans were $1.001 billion or 63.4% of total loans. As of December 31, 2011, its construction and development (C&D) loans represent 7% of its loan portfolio and commercial real estate (CRE) loans (excluding C&D) represent 34% of its loan portfolio. Commercial loans consist of commercial loans and agricultural loans. As of December 31, 2011, commercial loans were $227.2 million or 14.4% of total loans.

Investment Activities

Securities within the portfolio are classified as either held-to-maturity, available-for-sale or trading. Held-to-maturity securities include any security for which management has the positive intent and ability to hold until maturity, are carried at historical cost, adjusted for amortization of premiums and accretion of discounts. As of December 31, 2011, held-to-maturity and available-for-sale investment securities were $525.4 million and $172.2 million. As of December 31, 2011, $312.8 million, or 59.5%, of the held-to-maturity securities were invested in United States Treasury securities and o! bligation! s of the United States government agencies, 60.0% of which will mature in less than five years. In the available-for-sale securities, $153.6 million, or 89.2%, were in the United States Treasury and the United States government agency securities.

Sources of Fund

Deposits are the Company�� source of funding for earning assets and are developed through its network of 84 financial centers. It offers a range of products designed to attract and retain customers with a continuing focus on developing core deposits. Its core deposits consist of all deposits excluding time deposits of $100,000 or more and brokered deposits. As of December 31, 2011, core deposits comprised 86.5% of its total deposits. As of December 31, 2011, its total deposits were $2.65 billion. As of December 31, 2011, non-interest bearing transaction accounts were $532.3 million. As of December 31, 2011, interest bearing transaction and savings accounts were $1.240 billion. As of December 31, 2011, it had $20.6 million of brokered deposits.

As of December 31, 2011, Federal funds purchased and securities sold under agreements to repurchase were $114.8 million. As of December 31, 2011, its other short-term borrowings, consisting of the United States Treasury Tax and Loan (TT&L) Notes and short-term Federal Home Loan Bank (FHLB) borrowings were $272,000. As of December 31, 2011, its long-term debt was $120.8 million. As of December 31, 2011, the outstanding long-term debt balance includes $89.9 million in FHLB long-term advances and $30.9 million of trust preferred securities.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Tim Melvin]

  Finally, Simonds First National Corp. (Nasdaq: SFNC) is a Midwestern bank with 96 branches in Arkansas, Missouri, and Kansas. The stock has been strong this year, but CEO George Makris thinks there is additional upside ahead for the shares.

• [By CRWE]

  Simmons First National Corporation (Nasdaq:SFNC) reported, through its wholly-owned bank subsidiary, Simmons First National Bank (“SFNB”), that it has expanded into the St. Louis, Missouri market by acquiring approximately $282 million in assets of Truman Bank of St. Louis from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (the “FDIC”).

Top Financial Stocks For 2014: SPDR Dow Jones Industrial Average ETF Trust (DIA)

Diamonds Trust, Series 1 (the Trust) is a unit investment trust. The Trust was created to provide investors with the opportunity to purchase units of beneficial interest in the Trust representing proportionate undivided interests in the portfolio of securities consisting of substantially all of the component common stocks, which comprise the Dow Jones Industrial Average (the DJIA). The Trust�� objective is to provide investment results that, before expenses, generally correspond to the price and yield performance of the DJIA.

The Trust's holdings consist of the 30 stocks in the DJIA, which is designed to capture the price performance of 30 United States blue-chip stocks. The Trust ended its fiscal year on October 31, 2007, with a 12-month return of 17.72% on net asset value as compared to the DJIA return of 17.94%. As of October 31, 2007, some of the Trust�� investments included 3M Co., Alcoa, Inc., Altria Group, Inc., American Express Co., American International Group, Inc., AT&T, Inc., Boeing Co., Caterpillar, Inc., Citigroup, Inc. and Coca-Cola Co.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Tom Aspray]

  Both have done significantly better than the Spyder Trust (SPY), which is up 29.32%, and the 26.52% gain in the SPDR Dow Industrials (DIA). But will buy and hold work again in 2014?

• [By Josh Arnold]

  Second, the author states that GE is no longer a safe investment or worthy of the title "blue chip" because of its horrendous performance during the financial crisis. I understand where he is coming from here but the fact remains that the S&P 500 was more than cut in half in the same timeframe so faulting a company for having terrible price action during the Great Recession seems overly harsh to me. In addition, GE basically is the reason for the term "blue chip" as it is the only remaining member of the original Dow Jones Industrial Average (DIA). There is no stock on the planet that deserves that moniker better than GE. I'll admit that GE is riskier than some other conglomerates due to its GE Capital arm but this is no speculative play, either.

• [By Wallace Witkowski]

  After hours, Turkey�� central bank hiked overnight rates, causing the Turkish lira to jump and market ETFs to rally. Both the SPDR Dow Jones Industrial Average ETF (DIA) �and SPDR S&P 500 Index (SPY) �were up 0.4% following the announcement.

Top Financial Stocks For 2014: Excel Trust Inc (EXL)

Excel Trust, Inc., incorporated on December 15, 2009, is a vertically integrated, self-administered, self-managed real estate investment trust (REIT). The Company�� principal objective is to acquire, finance, develop, lease, own and manage value-oriented community and power centers, grocery anchored neighborhood centers and freestanding retail properties. The Company conducts all of its business through Excel Trust, L.P., a limited partnership, or its operating partnership. The Company operates through three reportable business segments: retail properties, multi-family properties and office properties. The multi-family segment consists of apartment units at one retail property, West Broad Village, which is located in Richmond, Virginia. The office segment consists of two properties, Excel Centre, a portion of which is utilized as its headquarters, and the Promenade Corporate Center. The Company is the sole general partner of its operating partnership. Excel Trust leases its properties to national and regional supermarket chains, big-box retailers and select national retailers that offer necessity and value oriented items and generate regular consumer traffic. In October 2012, the Company acquired six shopping centers. On January 24, 2013, the Company completed the acquisition of Tracy Pavilion, a retail shopping center with approximately 162,000 square feet of gross leasable area located in Tracy, California. In September 2013, the Company announced the sale of Grant Creek Town Center.

As of December 31, 2012, the Company owned a portfolio consisting of 30 retail properties totaling approximately 5.1 million square feet of gross leasable area, which were approximately 93.4% leased. The Company owns two commercial office properties, Excel Center, a portion of which is utilized as its corporate headquarters, and the Promenade Corporate Center. As of December 31, 2012, the Company had ownership interests in two unconsolidated retail properties totaling 225,113 square feet of gross leasable! area, which were approximately 65.5% leased.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Marc Bastow]

  Commercial and retail property owner-operator and real estate investment trust Excel Trust (EXL) raised its quarterly dividend 3% to 17.5 cents per share, payable on Jan. 15 to shareholders of record as of Dec. 31.
  EXL Dividend Yield: 6.04%
  

Top Financial Stocks For 2014: SL Green Realty Corporation(SLG)

SL Green Realty Corp. is a real estate investment trust (REIT). The firm engages in the property management, acquisitions, financing, development, construction, and leasing. It also provides tenant services to its clients. The firm invests in real estate markets of the United States. It primarily invests in commercial office and retail properties. SL Green Realty Corp. was founded in 1970 and is based in New York, New York.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Marc Bastow]

  Property management and financing real estate investment trust SL Green Realty (SLG) raised its quarterly dividend 52% to 50 cents per share. SLG did not release a payment or ex-dividend date for the new dividend.
  SLG Dividend Yield:�2.04%

• [By Marc Bastow]

  Property management, financing and construction real estate investment trust (REIT) SL Green (SLG) raised its quarterly dividend 51.5% to 50 cents per share, payable on Jan. 15 to shareholders of record as of Dec. 31.
  SLG Dividend Yield: 2.2%

Top Financial Stocks For 2014: Lincoln National Corporation (LNC)

Lincoln National Corporation, through its subsidiaries, engages in multiple insurance and retirement businesses in the United States. The company operates in Annuities, Retirement Plan Services, Life Insurance, and Group Protection segments. It sells a range of wealth protection, accumulation, and retirement income products and solutions. These products include fixed and indexed annuities, variable annuities, universal life insurance (UL), variable universal life insurance (VUL), linked-benefit UL, term life insurance, employer-sponsored defined contribution retirement plans, mutual funds and group life, disability, and dental products. The company also provides employer-sponsored fixed and variable annuities, and mutual fund-based programs; single and survivorship versions of UL and VUL, including corporate-owned UL and VUL, and bank-owned UL and VUL products to small- to mid-sized banks, and mid- to large-sized corporations; and group non-medical insurance products, prin cipally term life, universal life, disability, dental, vision, accident, and critical illness insurance to the employer market place through various forms of contributory and non-contributory plans. Lincoln National Corporation distributes its products through consultants, brokers, planners, agents, financial advisors, third-party administrators, and other intermediaries. Lincoln National Corporation was founded in 1904 and is headquartered in Radnor, Pennsylvania.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Ben Levisohn]

  It’s been a good day for life insurers across the board today, thanks to speculation that the Fed could get more hawkish following today’s jobs report–and higher interest rates would benefit insurers. Shares of Prudential have gained 2% to $88.47 at 2:53 p.m. today, while Metlife (MET) has risen 1.3% to $53.04 and Lincoln National (LNC) has advanced 1.6% to $52.75. American International Group (AIG) has dropped 0.2% to $51.05.