Top 10 Financial Stocks To Invest In 2015

Top 10 Financial Stocks To Invest In 2015: Retail Opportunity Investments Corp.(ROIC)

Retail Opportunity Investments Corp., a real estate investment trust (REIT), engages in the acquisition, ownership, and management of necessity-based community and neighborhood shopping centers in the eastern and western regions of the United States. As of December 31, 2011, its portfolio consisted of 30 owned retail properties totaling approximately 3.2 million square feet of gross leasable area. The company has elected to be taxed as a REIT, for U.S. federal income tax purposes. The company is based in White Plains, New York.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By nnnguyen1221]

  Return on Invested Capital (ROIC):

  Return on Invested Capital (ROIC) combines the best in both worlds by measuring the return on all capital invested in the firm (both debt and equity). Does the company show a consistently high return on total capital (above 12%)?

• [By Nelson Nguyen]

  Lessons Learned from "The Little Book that Builds Wealth" by Pat Dorsey

  Economic moats can protect companies from competition, helping them earn more money for a long time, and therefore making them more valuable to an investor. Return on capital (ROC) is the best way to judge a company's profitability. Mistaken Moats: 1) Great products (i.e. Krispy Kreme, Netscape), 2) strong market share (i.e. Chrysler's minivan, IBM's PCs, General Motors), 3) great execution (i.e. Kodak), and 4) great management (i.e. JetBlue). They do not create long-term competitive advantages. They are nice to have, but they're not enough. The four sources of structural competitive advantage are 1) intangible assets (brands, patents, licenses, etc.), 2) customer switching costs (products or services that are hard to give up, like banks), 3) network economics (i.e. credit cards, Microsoft Windows and Office), and 4) cost advantage! s (stems from process, location, scale or access to a unique asset). If you found a company with one of these characteristics with solid ROC, you've probably found a company with an economic moat. It's easier to create a competitive advantage in some industries than it is in others. See page 118 for Moats by Sector. Measuring Return on Capital: Return on Assets (ROA) measures how much income a company generates per dollar of assets. Return on Equity (ROE) measures the efficiency with which a company uses shareholders' equity and is a great overall measure on returns on capital. (Note: A flaw in using ROE is a company can take on a lot of debt and boost ROE without becoming more profitable.) Return on Invested Capital (ROIC) combines the best in both worlds by measuring the return on all capital invested in the firm (both debt and equity). Bet on the horse, not the jockey. Management matters, but far less than moats. The Moat Process on page 145:

  Has the firm historically generated solid ROC?

• [By Holly LaFon]

  Our disciplined, risk-averse approach has often left us looking up at benchmarks during dynamic bull markets. In a more historically typical market cycle, 2013's results would have given us less to explain or complain about. But these calendar-year results came after several portfolios underperformed their benchmarks in 2012 and 2011. The last three years, then, have left us increasingly frustrated, even as the reasons behind these underperformances are clear. Small-cap companies with high returns on invested capital (ROIC) and low-debt balance sheets have, as a group, underperformed their more leveraged counterparts. In addition, more economically sensitive cyclical sectors, including Energy, Industrials, Materials, and Information Technology—have trailed more defensive areas (such as Utilities) and less conservatively capitalized, higher-yielding vehicles (e.g., REITs and MLPs) where we have little if any exposure. Over the last several years, we have found m! any of w ! hat we think are highly attractive opportunities in cyclical sectors and/or in companies with strong balance sheets and high ROIC. Most have had only limited participation in the rally that began in March 2009. There have also been industries, such as precious metals & mining, that did very well in the initial phase of the recovery following the Financial Crisis before they began to correct sharply in 2011 and are yet to recover. So while nearly all sectors and industries across all asset classes did well in 2013, companies with many of the qualities that we look for have not yet led for long. Our approach leads us to conservatively capitalized companies with high ROIC and strong cash flow characteristics, among other attributes. Investors have still not gravitated to these kinds of companies in comparatively large numbers. However, it's worth mentioning that many quality small-cap companies did very well on an absolute basis in 2013, particularly in the year's last eight months.

source from Top Stocks For 2015:http://www.topstocksblog.com/top-10-financial-stocks-to-invest-in-2015-4.html