Earn Greece sets March 8 deadline for investors in bond swap

Earn Greece sets March 8 deadline for investors in bond swap The Parthenon on the Athens Acropolis is seen behind a Greek and an EU flag atop the Greek ministry of finance February 8, 2012. REUTERS/Yannis BehrakisEnlarge Photo The Parthenon on the Athens Acropolis is seen behind a Greek and an EU flag atop the Greek ministry of finance February 8, 2012. REUTERS/Yannis Behrakis ATHENS (Reuters) - Greece has set a March 8 deadline for investors to participate in its unprecedented bond swap aimed at sharply reducing its debt burden, according to a document outlining the offer. Greece formally launched the bond swap offer to private holders of its bonds on Friday, setting in motion the largest-ever sovereign debt restructuring in the hope of getting its finances back on track. In the document, Greece said the March 8 deadline could be extended if needed. Athens in the past has said it wants to conclude the transaction by March 12. The swap is part of a second, 130 billion euro ($175.02 billion) rescue package to claw Greece back from the brink of a default that had threatened to send shockwaves through the financial system and punish other weak euro zone members. ($1 = 0.7428 euros) (Reporting by George Georgiopoulos, Writing by Deepa Babington; Editing by Elaine Hardcastle)

Oil Top 5 Global Mutual Funds

Oil Top 5 Global Mutual Funds Companies: Thornburg Global Opportunities A Artio Global Equity A Oppenheimer Global Opportunities A RELATED QUOTES Symbol Price Change THOAX 14.34 0.00 BJGQX 33.60 -0.06 OPGIX 27.86 +0.50 MWOFX 24.77 -0.12 ICDAX 11.66 +0.06 The fortunes of U.S. equity markets continue to be a key determinant of the health of the global economy. However, their dominance has receded significantly over the years and a world of exciting opportunities has emerged in global markets. Moreover, research has shown that a portfolio with a combination of domestic and foreign securities produces greater returns over the long term. Global funds allow investors to hold an optimum combination of international and domestic investments without incurring the costs of holding such securities individually. Below we will share with you 5 top rated global mutual funds. Each has earned a Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) as we expect these mutual funds to outperform their peers in the future. To view the Zacks Rank and past performance of all global funds, then click here. Thornburg Global Opportunities A (NASDAQ:THOAX - News) seeks capital growth over the long term. The fund invests in a wide range of equity securities worldwide. This includes common and preferred stocks, real estate investment trusts and other equity trusts. The global mutual fund has a five year annualized return of 2.1%. The global mutual fund has a minimum initial investment of $5,000 and an expense ratio of 1.48% compared to a category average of 1.44%. Artio Global Equity A (NASDAQ:BJGQX - News) invests the majority of its assets in companies worldwide. Under normal circumstances, not less than 40% of its assets are invested in at least three foreign countries. A maximum of 35% of its assets may be utilized to purchase emerging market securities. The global mutual fund has a three year annualized return of 10.04%. Rudolph-Riad Younes is the fund manager and he has managed this global mutual fund since 2004. Oppenheimer Global Opportunities A (NASDAQ:OPGIX - News) seeks capital growth as well as current income. The fund invests in a wide range of equity securities worldwide. The fund focuses on acquiring stocks, but may also purchase debt securities. The global mutual fund has a ten year annualized return of 8.53%. As of November 2011, this global mutual fund held 100 issues, with 5.24% of its total assets invested in Advanced Micro Devices Inc. MFS Global Growth A (NASDAQ:MWOFX - News) invests in both domestic and foreign securities, as well as emerging market securities. The fund may invest a substantial part of its assets in a relatively small number of countries. The global mutual fund returned 2.36% in the last one year period. The global mutual fund has a minimum initial investment of $1,000 and an expense ratio of 1.53% compared to a category average of 1.44%. Ivy Cundill Global Value A (ICDAX) seeks capital growth. The fund purchases both domestic and foreign equity securities. Not more than 20% of its assets are invested in debt securities issued by companies which have filed for bankruptcy or are likely to do so shortly. The global mutual fund has a three year annualized return of 8.15%. The fund manager is James Thompson and he has managed this global mutual fund since 2009. To view the Zacks Rank and past performance of all global mutual funds, then click here. About Zacks Mutual Fund Rank By applying the Zacks Rank to mutual funds, investors can find funds that not only outpaced the market in the past but are also expected to outperform going forward. Learn more about the Zacks Mutual Fund Rank at http://www.zacks.com/funds.

Signals ENTB - Still Poised For A Rally

Signals

ENTB has held in a tight range since moving up from its all time lows earlier this month.  I think this formerly  $.50 not six months ago has a nice rebound coming.

Earn Big Pharma: A High Yield Contrarian Play

Earn If you look at the index of big pharmaceutical stocks and compare it to the Standard and Poor's 500, you will notice that pharma was down almost 2% year-to-date, whereas the S&P 500 was up about 9% from the beginning of the year. Are these companies being ignored? Are concerns about the patent expiration issues being overdone? Although several of these stocks have had risen over the last year or so, contrarians may want to take a closer look at some of them, especially due to the high yields.

The other reason for looking at dividend stocks in the health care sector is the Baby Boomer growth. This is especially true for long term investors. Based on the free list of high yield big pharmaceutical stocks at WallStreetNewsNetwork.com, there are ten pharmaceutical stocks with yields of 4.0% or more, with two stocks paying more than 5%. One example is GlaxoSmithKline plc (GSK), the third largest pharmaceutical company in the world by revenues, after Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) and Pfizer (PFE). Glaxo's products include Aquafresh, Boniva, Dexedrine, Levitra, Nicoderm, Nicorette, Sensodyne, Tums, and Valtrex. The stock pays a generous yield of 5.8% payable quarterly. It trades at 11.6 times forward earnings.

Johnson & Johnson (JNJ), the world's largest pharma company, is a manufacturer of pharmaceutical, medical devices and consumer packaged goods. The company, which was founded in 1886, yields 3.6% and has a forward price to earnings ratio of 11.7.

Merck & Co., Inc. (MRK), another big pharmaceutical, yields 4.2% and trades at 10.2 times forward earnings. This is the company that makes such products as Levitra, Nasonex, Claritin, Clarinex, Coppertone, and Bain de Soleil. They even make Antivenin for the treatment of black widow spider bites.

If you want a list of over a dozen high yield pharma stocks, that can be downloaded and sorted, go to WallStreetNewsNetwork.com.

Disclosure: Author owns PFE.
By Stockerblog.com

Forex >ORIENTAL BANK OF COMMERCE: Q4FY12RESULT UPDATE

Forex
Dismal show on all counts…


The results were disappointing on all fronts including business growth, NIM and asset quality. Tax write-back of | 45.3 crore on account of MAT benefit and high w/offs provided some support to profitability. Even then, PAT was below estimates at | 264.9 crore (I-direct estimate: | 309.6 crore) with 20.6% YoY de-growth. Credit and deposit growth was subdued at 16.8% YoY and 12.2% YoY to | 111978 crore and | 155965 crore, respectively. Other income grew 14.6% YoY to | 343.8 crore led by strong growth in CEB fees of 21.9% YoY to | 219.3 crore. The C/I ratio was on the higher side at 46.6% in Q4FY12 (35.8% in Q4FY11) due to higher operating expense & subdued income growth. We are introducing FY14E with PAT of | 1711 crore, a CAGR of 22.4% over FY12-14E.


■ Slippages uptrend continues keeping provisions at elevated levels…
Fresh slippages in Q4FY12 were high at | 1317.4 crore compared to | 698.8 crore in Q3FY12. This caused net provision towards NPA to rise from | 100 crore in Q3FY12 to | 500 crore in Q4FY12. Even after enormous write-offs worth | 541.2 crore, GNPA increased by | 348.2 crore sequentially to | 3580.5 crore. The GNPA and NNPA ratio stood at 3.2% and 2.2%, respectively. Restructuring of Air India (| 1616 crore) and Rajasthan SEB (| 1873 crore) during Q4FY12 took place, thereby increasing the outstanding restructured assets by | 3424.3 crore to | 9510 crore, constituting 8.5% of the credit book.


■ Lacklustre NII growth hits profitability...
NII de-grew 6.3% QoQ to | 1068.1 crore (5.4% YoY growth) as yield on fund dipped 6 bps QoQ to 9.5% while cost of funds inched up 13 bps to 7.1%. NIM witnessed a dip of 22 bps to 2.7%. Interest income reversal of | 140 crore on account of slippages also added to the decline in NII.


Valuation
High slippages and provisioning will keep profitability under pressure. A couple of stressed SEBs including UP and Punjab may undergo restructuring, thereby leading to lower profitability impacting return ratios. We estimate return ratios at RoA of 0.8% and RoE of 12.6% in FY14E. OBC has a high AFS portfolio of 28.6% with modified duration of 4.2 years leading to MTM loss on account of G-sec volatility. Our Gordon growth model leads us to a multiple of 0.7x FY14E ABV providing a TP of | 255. We recommend a HOLD rating on the stock with a negative bias.

RISH TRADER

Earn SEC probes exchanges and electronic trading firms ties

Earn SEC probes exchanges and electronic trading firms ties (Reuters) - The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has launched a probe into the ties between stock exchanges and certain electronic trading firms, the Wall Street Journal reported on Saturday, citing people familiar with the matter. BATS Global Markets Inc, a U.S. exchange operator that is planning an initial public offering, said in a government filing cited by the Journal that it got a request from the U.S. regulator's enforcement division for information on the use of order types and its communications with certain market participants. The SEC also asked BATS for details about its information technology systems and trading strategies, the filing said. The inquiry also was examining communications BATS has with certain members affiliated with certain stockholders and directors, the paper reported. (Reporting By Debra Sherman in Chicago; Editing by Eric Beech)

Earn Hotel industry looks for deal pace to pick up

Earn LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Hotel companies and real estate firms are optimistic that deal transactions will pick up this year despite concerns about Europe's economy and challenges in obtaining debt financing. While a business-led economic recovery has helped lift U.S. hotel occupancy rates, development is still a soft spot as tight credit conditions have limited new-hotel builds. Still, there is a growing sense that the hotel sector has momentum and performance will continue to improve. 'People are expecting 2012 to be a pretty positive year, with solid performance by the industry in terms of the demand for hotel accommodations and the ability to get deals done,' Arthur de Haast, chairman of Jones Lang LaSalle Hotels, said at this week's Americas Lodging Investment Summit. The hotel investment services firm has forecast that hotel deals in the Americas this year will at least match the 2011 level in value of an estimated $15 billion. U.S. hotel deal activity picked up in the first half of 2011 but calmed in the latter part of the year as debt woes in Europe began dominating the headlines. While Europe is still a risk, attendees at the three-day hotel conference said a continued recovery marked by rising room rates would make the sector attractive for investment. 'There's a lot of money on the sidelines waiting to pounce and find opportunities,' said Christian Charre, president and chief executive of the Charre Group, a Florida-based hotel brokerage and consulting firm. FOREIGN MONEY Private equity funds that have capital will be in a good position to make acquisitions, some said. Real estate investment trusts were active buyers in the first half of 2011 but are expected to be quieter this year as their share prices suffered in the latter part of 2011. 'The mix of the investors probably will change,' said Sri Sambamurthy, co-founder of real estate firm West Point Partners in New York. He said Middle Eastern, European and Asian investors especially find the U.S. market to be extremely attractive now. 'The U.S. is still considered very safe, the dollar has performed extraordinarily well,' Sambamurthy added. Hotel companies said they were looking to make acquisitions in a bid to expand their reach. 'No question that we'll be active in the marketplace in 2012,' said Paul Whetsell, president and chief executive of Loews Hotels, which owns and/or operates 18 hotels. The unit of Loews Corp (NYSE:L - News) has committed more than $500 million to acquiring hotels or developing new properties. Whetsell said Loews is looking for 4-star or higher-rated hotels in major cities where it does not have a presence such as Boston, Washington, San Francisco, Chicago and Los Angeles, as well as smaller markets like Charlotte, North Carolina, and Baltimore, Maryland. Choice Hotels International (NYSE:CHH - News), which franchises hotels focused mainly at the mid-tier and economy market segments under brands such as Comfort Inn and Econo Lodge, said it is in the hunt to acquire a value-oriented, full-service upscale brand that would help attract more business customers.

Forex >ORIENTAL BANK OF COMMERCE: Q4FY12RESULT UPDATE

Forex
Dismal show on all counts…


The results were disappointing on all fronts including business growth, NIM and asset quality. Tax write-back of | 45.3 crore on account of MAT benefit and high w/offs provided some support to profitability. Even then, PAT was below estimates at | 264.9 crore (I-direct estimate: | 309.6 crore) with 20.6% YoY de-growth. Credit and deposit growth was subdued at 16.8% YoY and 12.2% YoY to | 111978 crore and | 155965 crore, respectively. Other income grew 14.6% YoY to | 343.8 crore led by strong growth in CEB fees of 21.9% YoY to | 219.3 crore. The C/I ratio was on the higher side at 46.6% in Q4FY12 (35.8% in Q4FY11) due to higher operating expense & subdued income growth. We are introducing FY14E with PAT of | 1711 crore, a CAGR of 22.4% over FY12-14E.


■ Slippages uptrend continues keeping provisions at elevated levels…
Fresh slippages in Q4FY12 were high at | 1317.4 crore compared to | 698.8 crore in Q3FY12. This caused net provision towards NPA to rise from | 100 crore in Q3FY12 to | 500 crore in Q4FY12. Even after enormous write-offs worth | 541.2 crore, GNPA increased by | 348.2 crore sequentially to | 3580.5 crore. The GNPA and NNPA ratio stood at 3.2% and 2.2%, respectively. Restructuring of Air India (| 1616 crore) and Rajasthan SEB (| 1873 crore) during Q4FY12 took place, thereby increasing the outstanding restructured assets by | 3424.3 crore to | 9510 crore, constituting 8.5% of the credit book.


■ Lacklustre NII growth hits profitability...
NII de-grew 6.3% QoQ to | 1068.1 crore (5.4% YoY growth) as yield on fund dipped 6 bps QoQ to 9.5% while cost of funds inched up 13 bps to 7.1%. NIM witnessed a dip of 22 bps to 2.7%. Interest income reversal of | 140 crore on account of slippages also added to the decline in NII.


Valuation
High slippages and provisioning will keep profitability under pressure. A couple of stressed SEBs including UP and Punjab may undergo restructuring, thereby leading to lower profitability impacting return ratios. We estimate return ratios at RoA of 0.8% and RoE of 12.6% in FY14E. OBC has a high AFS portfolio of 28.6% with modified duration of 4.2 years leading to MTM loss on account of G-sec volatility. Our Gordon growth model leads us to a multiple of 0.7x FY14E ABV providing a TP of | 255. We recommend a HOLD rating on the stock with a negative bias.

RISH TRADER

Earn >BHARAT ELECTRONICS LIMITED: Significant order wins in FY2012 (Q4FY2012 Result Update)

Earn Result highlights
 
Weak operational performance, other income the saviour: Bharat Electronics Ltd (BEL) closed FY2012 with a poor performance on the revenue front which had an impact on the margins and the bottom line. Against a full year sales target of Rs6,200 crore, the company reported sales of Rs5,710 crore. The fourth quarter is the strongest for BEL with more than 40% of the full year's revenues delivered in the quarter. In FY2012, the fourth quarter contributed 40% of the total revenues of the company. However, in FY2012 there was a revenue lag starting from the middle of the year which could not be recouped. Also, the company faced delays in accepting deliveries from its customers, mainly government and quasi government organisations. For the quarter ended March 2012, BEL reported a 3.3% fall in its revenues to Rs2,232.1 crore. The
EBITDA margin was down 1,140 basis points to 11.5% affected by a higher input cost. However, on the back of a 62.9% jump in the other income to Rs212.3 crore the fall in the net profit was restricted to 25.5% at Rs333.8 crore.
 
Margins remain under pressure: The margins of the company remained under pressure with the EBITDA margin down 1,140 basis points to 11.5% in Q4FY2012. The gross profit margin (GPM) of the company was down 1,170 basis points to 32% on account of input cost pressure. For FY2012, the EBITDA margin stood at 7.8% against 16.2% in FY2011. One of the reasons for the dip in the margin could be the the depreciation of the rupee as one-third of the company's expenses is in foreign currency. Another reason would be that the share of the revenues from the defence sector was down to 73% from 80% during the period. Finally, the
delay in accepting deliveries from clients, generally government and quasi government organisations, would have led to pressure on the margins.

FY2013 revenue target at Rs6,300 crore: For FY2012, BEL reported net sales of Rs5,645.3 crore, up 3.2% with the EBITDA margin down to 7.8% from 16.2% in FY2011 and the net profit down 12.2% at Rs756.3 crore. For FY2013 the management has set a revenue target of Rs6,300 crore, implying a growth of 10.3% over FY2012. In FY2013, the company would be working on many strategically important projects in the areas of weapon systems, electronic warfare systems, shipborne systems, coastal surveillance system, network centric systems, night vision devices, Satcom and communications.

Valuation and view: BEL has reported a poor show for FY2012 on account of the execution of the low-margin non-defence business as well as a delay in decision making by its customers. BEL remains one of the best plays in the defence capital expenditure space. With the increase in the defence budget and the focus on modernisation of the defence technology, BEL is best
placed to take a sizeable pie of the defence spend. The order book at 4.5x FY2012 sales gives BEL strong revenue visibility for at least the next two to three years. The huge cash reserve gives the stock further support. The key risks, however, remain the timely delivery of orders and the margin performance, which has deteriorated through FY2012. We have introduced our FY2014 estimates and rolled over our PE multiple in this note. We maintain our Buy rating on the stock with a revised price target of Rs1,805 (Rs1,893 earlier) in view of the
strong long-term growth outlook for the company.


Healthy order book at 4.5x FY2012 revenues: BEL closed the year with a healthy order book of Rs25,748 crore, up from Rs23,600 crore at the end of FY2011. The order book is executable over the next five to six years. It includes export orders worth $59.17 million. The order book has seen a steady growth after the big jump seen in FY2011. Though the order book remains strong, the key risk remains its execution; a delay in the release of the orders could lead to slower execution.

Valuation and view: BEL has reported a poor show for FY2012 on account of the execution of the low-margin non-defence business as well as a delay in decision making by its customers, mainly government and quasi government organisations. BEL remains one of the best plays in the defence capital expenditure space. With the increase in the defence budget and the focus on modernisation of the defence technology, BEL is best placed to take a sizeable pie of the defence spend. The order book at 4.5x FY2012 sales gives BEL strong revenue visibility for at least the next two to three years. The huge cash reserve gives the stock further support. The key risks, however, remain the timely delivery of orders and the margin performance, which has deteriorated through FY2012. We have introduced our FY2014 estimates and rolled over our PE multiple in this note. We maintain our Buy rating on the stock with a revised price target of Rs1,805 (Rs1,893 earlier) in view of the strong long-term growth outlook for the company.

RISH TRADER

Oil Why You Shouldn't Manage Your Friends' Money

Oil Why You Shouldn't Manage Your Friends' Money So you put away some nice returns this year - not too shabby. While you can't be blamed for bragging about good performance, it's not uncommon for friends to want a part of the action. What would you do if a friend asked you to make investments on his or her behalf? In this article we'll show you the highs and lows of investing for others. Taking Advantage of Your Financial Knowledge It's no surprise that your pals might want you to manage a couple of bucks for them. If you're pulling down decent returns and talking about your investing strategies, you've now become the go-to guy (or girl). These days, money talks and people who understand the financial world are getting a lot of respect as young people realize there's more to investing than they once thought. If you have financial knowledge, people who know you might view you as a very valuable commodity - a free money manager. All too often, the person asking you to invest his or her money is the person who knows a little something about investing - just enough to get into trouble. If you're nailing double-digit returns this year, why couldn't you repeat the performance year after year, right? The Problems with Investing for Others You may think that investing for someone else is just a way of helping out a friend, but the thing is, when you start investing for other people, particularly your friends, you enter a world of complications that you might not have foreseen when you started out. Unrealistic Expectations That friend of yours, the one who thinks that your 35% returns this year are going to happen next year as well, might be in for a nasty surprise when your picks make next to nothing. When you invest for friends, you have to deal with unrealistic expectations that can really put a damper on a relationship. If your friends wants you to invest for them, they likely don't understand all of the risks involved with investing, including not quite meeting the investment goals that they may have been projecting. Losing a Friend's Money Not meeting a friend's investing expectations could jeopardize your friendship, but falling short of your friend's projected returns could be a best-case scenario. When things go wrong, making some money is a lot better than losing money, which isn't an abstract concept for anyone who invests actively. When you bring money into a relationship, things can get uncomfortable pretty fast, especially when that money is hemorrhaging out of an investment account. Do you tell the friend to suck it up? Do you repay the person out of your pocket? Do you try to make up the difference with new picks? Really, there probably isn't a good way to deal with losing a friend's money and you should consider this risk before you agree to invest for anyone. Legal Matters Managing a friend's money is a sticky business and if you go through with it you may be breaking the law. Investment professionals must be registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission or have a federal license. They are heavily regulated by the government and by trade organizations like the National Association of Securities Dealers, for the protection of consumers. If you invest for a friend for compensation, you could be breaking laws that are in place to protect investors from people who aren't qualified to have discretionary control over others' accounts. Short End of the Stick Despite the drawbacks, investing for friends isn't always doomed to failure. With skill, smarts and a whole lot of luck, you might rake in the cash. If that's the case, you still have to consider whether or not your friend is taking advantage of you. Helping out a friend is nice, but when that help consists of making significant amounts of money for that person and getting little or nothing in return, you might be suffering from an off-balance relationship. What You Can Do for Friends Now that I've taken the wind out of your sails, and your friend's as well, there are things that you can do to help your friends' investments without burdening yourself with the substantial responsibility of investing someone else's money. One of the best ways to lend a hand is to help teach your friend about investing. Help Them Learn There are a lot of pitfalls out there for new investors. If you're lucky, you've been able to avoid quite a few of them or you learned how you should have gone about avoiding them. The benefit of your experience can be one heck of an asset to pass on to a friend and it won't cost either one of you personally or financially. Therefore, if you want to help your friends, work with them; show them how to analyze a financial statement, how to execute a trade online, how to look up business news, or how to find online resources. Investment Clubs Going farther still, there is a popular way to invest hands-on with friends without taking on the responsibility that an investment advisor would feel for a client - the investment club. The investment club consists of a group of people who vote to decide whether or not to buy or sell their group-owned investments. Investment clubs are great, because they allow a more personal approach with actual investments than just helping someone with investing concepts. These clubs will also give you a vested interest in performance of your friend's portfolio. If you're interested in starting an investment club, there are plenty of resources available, ranging from your broker to the internet. It's important to recognize that an investment club isn't just a couple of people who want to invest together - it's a formal (and legally defined) organization with members who have an equitable claim to their assets. This means you should look into the rules and laws that govern investment clubs where you live before joining or starting one yourself. The Bottom Line Investing for a friend usually isn't worth the amount of trouble it can cause. Money just isn't something you want to bring into a good friendship. In the end, by helping your friends invest on their own, you'll be doing them, and yourself, a much bigger favor.