Jahi Chikwendiu/The Washington Post via Getty Images What would your response be to the following questions? Would you prefer to have $20 tomorrow or $30 a month from now? Would you prefer a certainty of receiving $20 or a 60% chance of getting $50? Would you rather have $40 today or $50 next week? Would you rather be certain of receiving $30 or have a 40% chance of getting $45? Now, consider how your answers would be different if you grew up in a wealthy family or if you came from a poor one. Recently, a team of researchers from MIT Sloan School of Management posed these questions to subjects in a series of experiments to confirm the impact of "life-history theory," which says that your early life environment creates a pattern of behavior and responses that emerge even more strongly in adults during stressful times. What they found was that the economic environment in which you are raised influences how you handle financial problems as an adult. No surprise there. What's eye-opening about their findings is how people from different walks of life act during times of economic crisis. In a nutshell: Poor people spend more than rich people during difficult economic times. Stress Response: Save or Spend? You'd think that when times are tough, everyone's natural instinct would be to pull back on their spending and switch to save mode. It also seems logical to expect that those who grew up in families that struggled financially would be more cautious about money when faced with a weak economy. But when measuring the survey responses, Prof. Joshua Ackerman and his fellow researchers found that people who grew up in rich households were more risk-averse and reacted to an economic crisis by slowing their spending. Meanwhile, people who grew up poor were more impulsive and took more risks than those from wealthy backgrounds. A supplementary experiment testing how recession cues affect decisions to save rather than to spend money from a paycheck gave the researchers similar results: Individuals from wealthier backgrounds chose to save for the future, while those from low-income childhoods opted to spend money to improve their current quality of life. Why Do People Who Grew Up Poor Spend More? On the surface, spending more when times are tough may just seem foolish, but Ackerman says that people who come from a poor background are behaving rationally according to their psychological instincts. Ackerman explains it this way: If you grew up poor, your life history may lead you to think your chances of surviving a recession and coming out ahead are very low. Your expectation that your lifespan may be shorter -- again, based on your life history -- means that instead of taking measured steps to preserve the little money you have, you're more likely to take risks and spend money on things like jewelry or cars in order to show off and attract others to "promote reproductive success."
"My husband told me he'd heard about this book, ["America's Cheapest Family Gets You Right on the Money]," she said. "We talked about it over the phone and I read it and thought how it could apply to us." The couple had a single savings goal in mind –– scraping together $30,000 for a downpayment on their home in their native Henderson, Nevada. The mindless spending was out, and Wagasky came up with a budget she could make work. "I changed the way I was grocery shopping and started working my way up, " she said.
Top 10 Cheap Companies To Buy Right Now: MEDIWARE Information Systems Inc.(MEDW)
Mediware Information Systems, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, engages in the design, development, and marketing of software solutions targeting specific processes within healthcare institutions. The company offers software systems consisting of company's proprietary application software, and third-party licensed software and hardware. It licenses, implements, and supports clinical and performance management, blood donor, and blood and biologic management products in the United States; and medication management solutions in the United States, the United Kingdom, Ireland, and South Africa. The company?s blood and biologics management solutions include HCLL Transfusion and HCLL Donor, which address blood donor recruitment, blood processing, and transfusion activities for hospitals and medical centers; BloodSafe suite of hardware and software that enable healthcare facilities to store, monitor, distribute, and track blood products; LifeTrak software for blood centers; a nd BiologiCare, a bone, tissue, and cellular product tracking software. Its medication management products comprise WORx, a pharmacy information system to manage inpatient and outpatient pharmacy operations; MediCOE, a physician order entry module; MediMAR, a nurse point-of-care administration and bedside documentation module; MediREC, which assists in achieving compliance with a Joint Commission mandate; and pharmacy management and electronic prescribing systems. The company?s performance management products include InSight software that tracks performance metrics to assist healthcare managers to manage performance. It also provides software installation and maintenance services, as well as billing and collection services to home infusion and home/durable medical equipment markets. The company markets its products primarily through its direct sales force. Mediware Information Systems, Inc. was founded in 1970 and is headquartered in Lenexa, Kansas.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By CRWE]
Mediware Information Systems, Inc. (Nasdaq:MEDW) plans to acquire the assets of Indianapolis-based Strategic Healthcare Group LLC (SHG), a leading provider of blood management consulting, education and informatics solutions.
Top 10 Cheap Companies To Buy Right Now: Merck & Company Inc.(MRK)
Merck & Co., Inc. provides various health solutions through its prescription medicines, vaccines, biologic therapies, animal health, and consumer care products. The company?s Pharmaceutical segment provides human health pharmaceutical products, such as therapeutic and preventive agents for the treatment of human disorders in the areas of bone, respiratory, immunology, dermatology, cardiovascular, diabetes and obesity, infectious diseases, neurosciences and ophthalmology, oncology, vaccines, and women's health and endocrine. This segment also offers human health vaccines, such as preventive pediatric, adolescent, and adult vaccines. Its Animal Health segment discovers, develops, manufactures, and markets animal health products. This segment offers antibiotics, anti-inflammatory products, vaccines, products for the treatment of fertility disorders, and parasiticides for cattle, swine, horses, poultry, dogs, cats, salmons, and fish. The Consumer Care segment develops, manufac tures, and markets over-the-counter, foot care, and sun care products. Its over-the-counter product line includes non-drowsy antihistamines; treatment for occasional constipation; decongestant-free cold/flu medicine for people with high blood pressure; nasal decongestant spray; and treatment for frequent heartburn. This segment?s foot care products comprise topical antifungal, and foot and sneaker odor/wetness products; and sun care products include sun care lotions, sprays and dry oils; and sunburn relief products. The company serves drug wholesalers and retailers, hospitals, government agencies, physicians, physician distributors, veterinarians, animal producers, and managed health care providers, as well as food chain and mass merchandiser outlets in the United States and Canada. Merck & Co., Inc. was founded in 1891 and is headquartered in Whitehouse Station, New Jersey.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Dan Caplinger]
Among individual stocks, Merck (NYSE: MRK ) is the big winner in the Dow, rising 2.2% after analysts at Jefferies upgraded the stock. Many investors share the analyst firm's opinion that when you consider the various components of Merck's business, their value makes the stock's current price look attractive. So far, Merck hasn't been as aggressive as many of its peers, which have spun off major divisions in order to unlock value. Most recently, rival Pfizer (NYSE: PFE ) took steps to divest itself of a larger portion of its stake in animal-health business Zoetis after having made a modest initial public offering of Zoetis shares earlier this year. Given enough pressure to do so, Merck might well join in on the spinoff fun.
- [By Brian Orelli]
Johnson & Johnson recently launched Invokana, its diabetes medication that's in a new class of drugs called SGLT-2 inhibitors. Invokana is a good drug, but I suspect that its uptake will be slow, simply because the other diabetes drugs work fairly well. Doctors are comfortable prescribing Merck's (NYSE: MRK ) Januvia, the top-selling oral diabetes medication, because they have experience with it and know that few patients will have side effects. Until doctors gain experience with the drug, the market for Invokana will likely come from its use once other oral drugs have stopped working.
Top Warren Buffett Companies To Invest In 2014: Partner Communications Company Ltd.(PTNR)
Partner Communications Company Ltd. provides various telecommunications services in Israel. It offers cellular telephony services on GSM/GPRS and UMTS/HSDPA networks. The company also provides basic services, including domestic mobile calls, international dialing, roaming, voice mail, short message services, intelligent network services, content based on its cellular portal, data and fax transmission, and other services. In addition, it offers Internet services provider services that provides access to the Internet, as well as home WiFi networks; value added services, such as anti-virus and anti-spam filtering; and transmission services; and Web video on demand services, music tracks, and games. Further, the company provides voice over broadband and primary rate interface fixed-line telephone services; and data capacity services. Additionally, it offers content services comprising voice mail, text, and multimedia messaging, as well as downloadable wireless data application s, including ring tones, music, games, and other informational content; and sells handsets, phones, routers, and related equipment. The company markets its products through its sales centers, business sales representatives, traditional networks of specialized dealers, and non-traditional networks of retail chains and stores under the Orange brand name. Partner Communications Company Ltd. was founded in 1997 and is headquartered in Rosh Ha-ayin, Israel.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Roberto Pedone]
Another under-$10 wireless telecom player that's starting to move within range of triggering a major breakout trade is Partner Communications (PTNR), a telecommunications company, provides cellular and fixed-line telecommunication services in Israel. This stock is off to a strong start in 2013, with shares up sharply by 29%.
If you take a look at the chart for Partner Communications, you'll notice that this stock has been trending sideways for the last month, with shares moving between $7.28 on the downside and $7.96 on the upside. Shares of PTRN are bucking the overall market weakness today as the stock starts to move within range of triggering a breakout trade above the upper-end of its sideways trading chart pattern.
Market players should now look for long-biased trades in PTNR if it manages to break out above some near-term overhead resistance levels at $7.80 to $7.85 a share and then once it clears its 52-week high at $7.96 a share with high volume. Look for a sustained move or close above those levels with volume that registers near or above its three-month average volume of 107,303 shares. If that breakout triggers soon, then PTNR will set up to enter new 52-week-high territory, which is bullish technical price action. Some possible upside targets off that move are $10 to $12.20 a share.
Traders can look to buy PTNR off any weakness to anticipate that breakout and simply use a stop that sits right below some key near-term support levels at $7.38 to $7.28, or below its 50-day at $6.97 a share. One can also buy PTNR off strength once it clears those breakout levels with volume and then simply use a stop that sits a comfortable percentage from your entry point.
Top 10 Cheap Companies To Buy Right Now: CVS Corporation(CVS)
CVS Caremark Corporation operates as a pharmacy services company in the United States. The company?s Pharmacy Services segment provides a range of pharmacy benefit management services, including mail order pharmacy services, specialty pharmacy services, plan design and administration, formulary management, and claims processing; and drug benefits to eligible beneficiaries under the Federal Government?s Medicare Part D program. This segment primarily serves employers, insurance companies, unions, government employee groups, managed care organizations and other sponsors of health benefit plans, and individuals. As of December 31, 2010, it operated 44 retail specialty pharmacy stores, 18 specialty mail order pharmacies, and 4 mail service pharmacies located in 25 states, Puerto Rico, and the District of Columbia. This segment operates business under the CVS Caremark Pharmacy Services, Caremark, CVS Caremark, CarePlus CVS/pharmacy, CarePlus, RxAmerica, Accordant, and TheraCom names. The company?s Retail Pharmacy segment sells prescription drugs, over-the-counter drugs, beauty products and cosmetics, seasonal merchandise, greeting cards, and convenience foods through its pharmacy retail stores and online, as well as offers film and photo finishing, and health care services. This segment operated 7,182 retail drugstores located in 41 states, Puerto Rico, and the District of Columbia; and 560 retail health care clinics in 26 states and the District of Columbia under the MinuteClinic name. It has a strategic alliance with Alere, L.L.C. for the management of disease management program offerings that cover chronic diseases, such as asthma, diabetes, congestive heart failure, and coronary artery disease. CVS Caremark Corporation was founded in 1892 and is based in Woonsocket, Rhode Island.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Shauna O'Brien]
CVS Caremark Corporation (CVS) reported on Wednesday that it has agreed to acquire infusion services and nutrition business Coram LLC for $2.1 billion.
CVS will purchase Coram from Apria Healthcare Group Inc in a deal that will likely close in the first quarter of 2014. CVS said that this acquisition is expected to add $1.4 billion to revenue in the first year and 3 to 5 cents per share in 2015. This purchase is in-line with the company strategy of focusing on core businesses that will drive growth.
Jon Roberts, President of CVS Caremark Pharmacy Services said in a statement: “Bringing together CVS Caremark’s unique range of specialty pharmacy services with Coram’s infusion capabilities will expand our competitive offerings in the specialty arena. Infusion will be a valuable component of our broad specialty pharmacy offering going forward. Our comprehensive services will enable us to streamline care management for patients as well as their physicians, leading to better health outcomes while avoiding unnecessary costs.”
CVS Caremark shares were mostly flat during pre-market trading Wednesday. The stock is up 27% YTD.
- [By Kelley Wright]
Based on this criteria, here are our current Timely Ten selections:
Chevron Corp. (CVX)��ielding 3.3%
CVS Caremark (CVS)��ielding 1.6%
Coca-Cola (KO)��ielding 2.9%
Baxter International (BAX)��ielding 3.0%
Walgreen (WAG)��ielding 2.3%
McDonalds Corp. (MCD)��ielding 3.3%
PepsiCo (PEP)��ielding 2.8%
ExxonMobil (XOM)��ielding 2.9%
Occidental Petroleum (OXY)��ielding 2.7%
Wal-Mart Stores (WMT)��ielding 2.5%
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Top 10 Cheap Companies To Buy Right Now: Horace Mann Educators Corporation(HMN)
Horace Mann Educators Corporation, through its subsidiaries, operates as a multiline insurance company in the United States. The company underwrites and markets personal lines of property and casualty insurance, retirement annuity, and life insurance products. Its products include private passenger automobile and homeowner?s insurance coverage; tax-qualified individual and group annuities in fixed account and combination contracts; and individual and joint whole and term life insurance products. The company offers its products primarily to K-12 teachers, school administrators, education support personnel, and other employees of public schools and their families. It markets its products through its sales force, as well as through independent agents. Horace Mann Educators Corporation was founded in 1945 and is based in Springfield, Illinois.
Top 10 Cheap Companies To Buy Right Now: Cardero Resource Corporation(CDY)
Cardero Resource Corp., together with its subsidiaries, engages in the acquisition, exploration, and development of mineral properties in Mexico, Peru, Argentina, the United States, and Canada. The company holds a 75% interest in the Carbon Creek deposit, a metallurgical coal development project located in the Peace River Coal Field of northeast British Columbia, Canada. It also has an option to acquire 100% interest in the Pampa El Toro project, an iron sands deposit, located in southern Peru; option to acquire up to an 85% interest in the Longnose property in St. Louis county, northeastern Minnesota; and 100% leasehold interest in the Titac property, located in St. Louis county, northeastern Minnesota. The company was formerly known as Sun Devil Gold Corp. and changed its name to Cardero Resource Corp. in May 1999. Cardero Resource Corp. was founded in 1985 and is headquartered in Vancouver, Canada.
Top 10 Cheap Companies To Buy Right Now: Cowen Group Inc.(COWN)
Cowen Group, Inc. is a publicly owned asset management holding company. Through its subsidiaries, the firm provides alternative investment management, investment banking, research, and sales and trading services for its clients. It manages separate client focused portfolio through its subsidiaries. Through its subsidiaries, the firm invests in equity and fixed income markets. It also invests in alternative investments markets through its subsidiaries. Cowen Group, Inc. was founded in 1994 and is based in New York, New York with additional offices in Boston, Massachusetts, Chicago, Illinois, Cleveland, Ohio, Dallas, Texas, and San Francisco, California.
Top 10 Cheap Companies To Buy Right Now: S&P GSCI(GD)
General Dynamics Corporation, an aerospace and defense company, provides business aviation; combat vehicles, weapons systems, and munitions; military and commercial shipbuilding; and communications and information technology products and services worldwide. Its Aerospace group designs, manufactures, and outfits various large and mid-cabin business-jet aircraft; provides maintenance, repair work, fixed-based operations, and aircraft management services; and performs aircraft completions for aircraft. The company?s Combat Systems group offers tracked and wheeled military vehicles, weapons systems, and munitions. Its product lines include wheeled combat and tactical vehicles; battle tanks and infantry vehicles; munitions and propellant; rockets and gun systems; and axle and drivetrain components and aftermarket parts. This group also manufactures and supplies engineered axles, suspensions, and brakes for heavy-load vehicles for military and commercial customers. The company Advisors' Opinion:
- [By Jon C. Ogg]
General Dynamics Corp. (NYSE: GD) is down the least of defense stocks with a late-Tuesday drop of 1.4% at $83.08 against a 52-week trading range of $61.70 to $87.85. According to Thomson Reuters, its consensus analyst target is $95.80.
- [By Eric Volkman]
General Dynamics (NYSE: GD ) is electing to keep its dividend level for the time being. The company has declared a quarterly disbursement of $0.56 per share of its common stock, to be paid on Aug. 9 to shareholders of record as of July 5.
- [By Rich Smith]
So what's really going on over there in Washington today? Is defense spending stalled, or will it rise again? And what does this mean for ultra-low-P/E-bearing stocks like Boeing (NYSE: BA ) , Lockheed Martin� (NYSE: LMT ) , Northrop Grumman� (NYSE: NOC ) , and General Dynamics� (NYSE: GD ) .
Top 10 Cheap Companies To Buy Right Now: 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 Dan Caplinger]
Citigroup has had a lot of good news lately. Most notably, Citi passed the Fed's latest round of stress tests�with an extremely strong capital position, readying it to survive the Fed's stress scenario without further need to raise additional funds. With its minimum capital ratio of 8.3% under the stress tests, Citigroup bested JPMorgan Chase (NYSE: JPM ) by two full percentage points and topped rivals Bank of America (NYSE: BAC ) and Wells Fargo (NYSE: WFC ) by more than a percentage point as well.
- [By Michael Flannelly]
According to a report by Bloomberg, financial services giant Bank of America Corp (BAC) is looking into acquiring a Russian lender as a way to enter the corporate lending market in the country.
If the deal were to go down, Bank of America would double the size of its staff in Russia to 180 people. A year ago, BAC cut its staff in Moscow due to lower trading volume and increased competition in the country.
In connection with this report, Bank of America was said to have hired metals and mining analyst Andrey Lobazov and oil and gas analyst Denis Derushkin from Alfa Bank.
Bank of America shares were down a fraction during pre-market trading on Friday. The stock is up 24.72% year-to-date.
- [By Dan Caplinger]
Nervousness also hit Bank of America (NYSE: BAC ) stock, which has dropped 1.3%. Pending-home-sales weakness could reflect overall trouble in the mortgage market, which, in turn, would affect B of A's strategy to boost the importance of mortgage lending as part of its overall operations, but the broader question facing the bank now is whether heightened regulation could further affect its ability to see profits grow in the future. B of A has supported regulatory initiatives like Dodd-Frank, but it's unclear whether that support is simply an effort to avoid more draconian regulation that could take its place.
Top 10 Cheap Companies To Buy Right Now: Emerson Electric Company(EMR)
Emerson Electric Co. operates as a diversified manufacturing and technology company. The company engages in appliance solutions, climate technologies, industrial automation, motor technology, network power, process management, professional tools, and storage solutions businesses. Its appliance solutions business provides appliance controls, appliance motors, heating products, and white-rodgers; climate technology business provides heating, ventilation, air conditioning, and refrigeration (HVACR) solutions for residential, industrial, and commercial applications; and industrial automation business offers bearings and power transmission products, electrical power generation products, electric motors, variable speed drives and servos, electrical products, material joining solutions, fluid automation products, and wind turbine systems. The company?s motor technology business provides appliance motors, HVACR motors, DC motors, fractional horsepower motors, integral horsepower a nd larger motors, and drives; network power business provides power, precision cooling, connectivity, and embedded solutions; and process management business provides various wireless related products from self-organizing field networks to wireless asset and people tracking. Its professional tools business offers pipe working and threading equipment, pressing technology, utility locating and visual diagnostics systems, drain maintenance tools, power tools, air tools, general purpose hand tools, wet/dry vacs, job site storage equipment, truck tool boxes and equipment, and van storage equipment; and storage solutions business provides shelving and storage products for residential, commercial, and foodservice needs, as well as offers specialized carts, mobile computer workstations, and cabinet fixtures. The company was founded in 1890 and is headquartered in St. Louis, Missouri.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Dan Caplinger]
Next Tuesday, Emerson Electric (NYSE: EMR ) will release its latest quarterly results. The key to making smart investment decisions on stocks reporting earnings is to anticipate how they'll do before they announce results, leaving you fully prepared to respond quickly to whatever inevitable surprises arise. That way, you'll be less likely to make an uninformed knee-jerk reaction to news that turns out to be exactly the wrong move.
- [By Chuck Saletta]
Emerson Electric (NYSE: EMR ) is a selection for the real-money Inflation-Protected Income Growth portfolio. Like any investment, it needs to be reviewed from time to time to see if it's still worth owning. In the brief video below, portfolio manager Chuck Saletta reviews its valuation, balance sheet, and dividends, and decides whether to hold on to the stock, or let it go.
- [By Dividends4Life]
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