Top 10 Supermarket Stocks For 2015

LONDON �-- I'm always searching for shares that can help ordinary investors like you make money from the stock market. However, many people have been worried the market could be overheating -- with fears recently being realized.

So right now I'm analyzing some of the most popular companies in the FTSE 100, hoping to establish if they can continue to outperform in today's uncertain economy.

Today I'm looking at�Wm. Morrison Supermarkets� (LSE: MRW  ) (NASDAQOTH: MRWSY  ) to determine whether the shares are still safe to buy at 264 pence.

So, how's business going?
Morrisons has failed to impress the market over the last few months as investors worry about the company's ability to compete with larger peers Tesco�and�Sainsbury's, which dominate the food retail market.

Having said that, Morrisons has been working hard to try and turn its fortunes around, and it appears that the company's plan is starting to gain traction.

Indeed, according to a report released this week by researcher Kantar, Morrisons' sales rose 1.2% in the 12 weeks to June, the company's third consecutive quarter of sales growth, reversing the previous six quarters of declining sales.

Top 10 Supermarket Stocks For 2015: Cartier Resources Inc (ECR.V)

Cartier Resources Inc. engages in the acquisition and exploration of mining properties in Quebec, Canada. It primarily explores for gold, as well as for zinc, silver, and copper. The company was incorporated in 2006 and is headquartered in Val d'Or, Canada.

Top 10 Supermarket Stocks For 2015: Copart Inc. (CPRT)

Copart, Inc. provides online auctions and vehicle remarketing services in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom. The company offers a range of services for processing and selling vehicles over the Internet through its Virtual Bidding Second Generation Internet auction-style sales technology, to vehicle sellers, primarily insurance companies, banks and financial institutions, charities, car dealerships, fleet operators, and vehicle rental companies. Its services include online seller access, salvage estimation services, estimating services, end-of-life vehicle processing, virtual insured exchange, transportation services, vehicle inspection stations, on-demand reporting, DMV processing, flexible vehicle processing programs, member network, sales process, dealer services, direct services, and u-pull-it services, as well as CoPartfinder, an Internet-based used vehicle parts locator that provides vehicle dismantlers with resale opportunities for their purchases. Th e company sells its products to licensed vehicle dismantlers, rebuilders, repair licensees, used vehicle dealers, and exporters, as well as the general public. Copart, Inc. was founded in 1982 and is headquartered in Fairfield, California.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Geoff Gannon] s thousands of acres of land around the U.S. Some of it is quite valuable. It�� carried on the balance sheet at $343 million. That number excludes buildings and improvements (which had an original cost of another $384 million).

  Some of that land ��for example, some of the earliest properties they still own in California ��are worth much, much more than they are carried for.

  But that fact actually isn�� that important. Why not?

  Because Copart earns very high returns on its net tangible assets. We��e talking about probably 20% to 30% returns on tangible investment. You don�� normally earn 20% on land. So, the value of land is not very high outside of Copart�� operations relative to what it is worth inside Copart�� operations.

  And, yes, the land is critical to Copart�� operations. They don�� necessarily have to own it ��a major competitor leases almost all of its land ��but they do have to control it.

  Now, if something were ever to happen to Copart�� business where you had a long-term deterioration in the car salvage business that land might become very important to an analysis of Copart.

  Let�� assume that tomorrow there is some high tech crash avoidance system. For example, cars are navigated remotely rather than being driven by someone inside the car.

  Under those circumstances, Copart�� business would be forever changed. The volume of wrecks would decline. And Copart�� invested assets ��like its big salvage yards ��would become much less valuable inside Copart�� business.

  That means the market value of the land would now be a lot higher relative to the value Copart could get from using the land to store cars. This would change the analysis entirely. And suddenly Copart�� balance sheet would be worth careful analysis.

  While this sounds farfetched, it�� actually the kind of thing that happens at net-nets and other stocks that are valuable on a liquidation basis. They start

• [By Geoff Gannon] wo companies in its industry that are public. The other company is part of a kind of conglomerate car sales company. That other company, KAR Auction Services (KAR), was much more explicit in detailing the competitive position of Copart and Insurance Auto Auctions. It even gave market share data.

  This is common. Often one company will choose not to give names or put percentages on certain competitive facts. The other company will do so. And even when that is not the case, the two companies will often make statements that ��when taking together ��can give you rough indications of certain realities that neither company entirely intended to provide.

  The same is true for certain suppliers and customers. Although this is complicated by size. Very large customers of small companies are not good sources of information. But smaller companies often provide better insights into the larger suppliers, customers, etc., they deal with. That's because ��due to their small size ��more information is material and is explained in detail.

  I have found situations where one company simply says who the customer is that they are supplying. While the other company explains what product that supply goes into, the purchase amount, whether it is an exclusive arrangement, etc.

  So it is always important to ��at a minimum ��read the 10-Ks, 14As, and (where available) S-1s of every public company in the industry. This will give you a lot of insight into the competitive situation. Sometimes it is helpful to also look at customers and suppliers. However, this is not true of very large customers and suppliers because they will not discuss the specific area you are interested in.

  For example, Honeywell is a large customer of George Risk. It would do me no good to study Honeywell to learn about George Risk. Honeywell is a huge company. What they buy from George Risk is irrelevant to their shareholders. So they do not discuss it.

  An exception to this is

• [By Geoff Gannon] t business. If you haven�� read about it, you should look into it. It�� a good name to know in the event stocks fall at some point in the future and offer you a chance to buy at a good P/E.

  Anyway, Copart sells cars. That�� all it does. It has a tiny bit of the business in the UK that involves buying and selling cars. But normally it�� not a principal. It�� just an agent. A broker. It doesn�� ship cars. It doesn�� buy cars. It just stores and sells cars. Copart is a great business. This is especially true because they achieve very high returns on their net tangible investment even though they choose to own rather than leases most of their locations. They own acres and acres and acres of land on which they store cars. You can find the addresses for their locations on their website (each car has a location associated with it that will pop up if you click on the car). Copy and paste that location into Google Earth. You��l be amazed at what you see. Anyway, they carry all this land which they then cover in cars and still they earn good returns on their tangible investment in the business without relying on the use of a lot of leases. So, it�� a very good and very interesting business.

  Now, if I said Copart sold cars, you�� probably think that their revenues and earnings and free cash flow should rise and fall with U.S. car sales.

  If you look at the past 10 years for Copart and for U.S. auto sales you��l see this is not true. Not even a little bit.

  Why is this?

  Well, there�� this one tiny little detail I hid from you about Copart. Copart doesn�� sell new cars. Copart doesn�� sell used cars. Copart sells wrecked cars. They sell salvage.

  So, if you think of Copart as being in the auto retail business ��which they obviously are ��you��l have an entirely incorrect understanding of the company. That�� true even if you understand the wider industry of car dealers pretty well. Copart sells cars. But they

• [By Geoff Gannon]

  The same rule applies here that I mentioned with Copart (CPRT) in an earlier article. Although Wal-Mart is an inferior business to Copart from a pure ROI standpoint, it�� still earning good returns on its investment.

Top 5 Oil Stocks For 2015: Bank of Ireland (IRE)

Bank of Ireland incorporated on April 27, 1984, and its subsidiaries provide a range of banking and other financial services. The Company operates in five segments: Retail Ireland, Bank of Ireland Life, Retail UK, Corporate and Treasury and Group Centre. Group Centre includes capital management activities, unallocated Group support costs and the cost of the Credit Institutions.

Retail Ireland

Retail Ireland distributes a range of financial products and services through the Bank�� branch operations in the Republic of Ireland and through its direct channels. The product suite includes deposits, mortgages, consumer and business lending, credit cards, current accounts, money transmission services, commercial finance, asset finance and general insurance. Retail Ireland is managed through a number of business units which include distribution channels, consumer banking including Bank of Ireland Mortgage Bank and ICS Building Society, business banking and customer & wealth management including private Banking.

Bank of Ireland Life

The Company operates in the life and pensions market in Ireland through its wholly owned subsidiary New Ireland Assurance Company plc (NAIC). Bank of Ireland Life offers life assurance, protection, pensions and investment products to its customers in Ireland through the Bank of Ireland Life network. These products are manufactured by NAIC. New Ireland Assurance Company plc also operates in the independent intermediary market under the New Ireland brand and through a direct sales force.

Retail UK

Retail UK consists of Business Banking in Great Britain and Northern Ireland, the branch network in Northern Ireland, the United Kingdom residential mortgage business and the business activities with the United Kingdom Post Office. The business banking unit provides loan, current account and deposit facilities to medium and large corporate clients in addition to international banking, working capital financing,! Offshore deposit taking services are offered in the Isle of Man. The business activities with the United Kingdom Post Office provide a range of retail financial services. A substantial part of the Retail UK operations are conducted through the Group�� wholly owned UK licensed subsidiary, Bank of Ireland (UK) plc.

Corporate and Treasury

Corporate and Treasury division consists of Corporate Banking, Global Markets and IBI Corporate Finance. Corporate Banking provides integrated relationship banking services to a number of major Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland corporations, financial institutions and multinational corporations, operating in, or out of, Ireland. The range of lending products includes overdraft and short term loan facilities, term loans, project finance and structured finance. Corporate Banking is also engaged in international lending with offices located in London, Paris, Frankfurt and the United States. Its international lending acquisition finance and term lending.

Global Markets is responsible for managing the Company�� interest rate and foreign exchange risks, while also executing its liquidity and funding requirements. The trading activities include dealing in inter-bank deposits and loans, foreign exchange spot and forward contracts, options, financial futures, bonds, swaps, forward rate agreements and equity tracker products. Global Markets��operations are based in Ireland, the United Kingdom and the United States.

Corporate Banking provides integrated relationship banking services to a number of the Irish corporations, financial institutions and multinational corporations operating in or out of Ireland. The range of lending products provided includes overdraft and short term loan facilities, term loans, project finance and structured finance. Corporate Banking is also engaged in international lending with offices located in the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Australia and the United States. Its international lend! ing busin! ess includes acquisition finance, project finance, term lending and asset based financing principally in the United Kingdom, Continental Europe and the United States. IBI Corporate Finance provides independent financial advice to public and private companies on takeovers, mergers and acquisitions, disposals and restructurings, in addition to fund raising, public flotations and stock exchange listings.

Top 10 Supermarket Stocks For 2015: Royal Bk Of Canada Com Npv (RY.TO)

Royal Bank of Canada provides personal and commercial banking, wealth management, insurance, investor and treasury, and capital markets services worldwide. The company�s Personal & Commercial Banking segment provides personal financial services, business financial services, and cards and payment solutions. Its Wealth Management segment offers investment, trust, banking, credit, and other wealth management solutions to affluent, high net worth, and ultra high net worth clients; and asset management products and services directly to institutional and individual clients, as well as through distribution channels and third-party distributors. The company�s Insurance segment provides various life and health insurance, including universal life, term life, critical illness, disability, long-term care insurance, and group benefits; property and casualty insurance comprising home, auto, and travel insurance, as well as wealth accumulation solutions; and reinsurance products throug h retail insurance branches, field sales representatives, call centers, online network, independent insurance advisors, and travel agencies. Its Investor & Treasury Services segment offers global custody, fund, and pension administration; and a suite of products to institutional investors, as well as cash management, correspondent banking, trade finance, funding, and liquidity management services to financial institutions. The company�s Capital Markets segment is involved in the fixed income, foreign exchange, equity sales and trading, repos and secured financing, and commodities businesses, as well as engages in debt and equity origination, mergers and acquisitions advisory services, loan syndication, research, private equity, corporate lending, client securitization, and global credit businesses. This segment serves public and private companies, institutional investors, governments, and central banks. Royal Bank of Canada was founded in 1864 and is headquartered in Toront o, Canada.

Top 10 Supermarket Stocks For 2015: Cedar Shopping Centers Inc (CDR)

Cedar Shopping Centers, Inc., real estate investment trust, engages in the ownership, operation, development and redevelopment of supermarket-anchored community shopping centers and drug store-anchored convenience centers in the United States. As of December 31, 2007, it owned 118 properties, aggregating approximately 12.0 million square feet of gross leasable area primarily in Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, Virginia, Ohio, Connecticut, New Jersey, Maryland, Michigan, and New York. Cedar Shopping has elected to be treated as a REIT for federal income tax purposes and would not be subject to federal income tax, if it distributes at least 90% of its REIT taxable income to its stockholders. The company was founded in 1984 and is based in Port Washington, New York.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Bill Smith]

  Valuation
  Lastly, because of the negative perception the entire industry has received, prices in this sector have been absolutely pummeled. ESI now trades at the lower end of all of its historical valuation bands: P/E, P/B, and P/S.
  
  Bullish Points
  Guru ownership and avg price: ESI owned by Hussman ($76.15), Weitz ($75.32), and Greenblatt ($73.29)Over 35% of shares are short, potential short squeezeStock buyback plan: ESI reduced outstanding shares by 19% yoy at the end of the 4th quarter. They repurchased 370K shares in 3Q11.The business model is scalable; the incremental cost to educate each additional student is low, leading to high marginsESI acquired Daniel Webster College, giving them a regional accreditation which they can use to broaden their reach in online classes
  Bearish Points
  High costs of education, in general, rightly or wrongly attract government intervention and could squeeze margins over time. Total student debt surpassed credit card balances, and sits at $1 Trillion as of the end of 2011.Subject to compliance with Dept of Education's 90/10 rules, which states a college can't collect more than 90% of revenue from students participating in federal loan programs.Cohort Default Rate (CDR): for-profit colleges must monitor the federal loan default rates of students who graduate or leave the school. If a school's CDR exceeds 25% for 3 consecutive years, or 40% in any one year, its students won't be eligible for federal financial aid.ESI competes on quality of product which is measured by graduation rates and ability to secure employment. For 2010, 70% of ESI graduates got employment in positions using skills taught in their program of study within 1 year. As of Oct 2011, this rate was 600 bp higher. The average annual salary reported by employed 2011 grads was $32K, compared to $32.4K for 2010 grads.With an improving economy, there's a potential ESI would see declining new student enrollmentsOver 35% of shares are short
  Summary

Top 10 Supermarket Stocks For 2015: Trustmark Corporation(TRMK)

Trustmark Corporation operates as the bank holding company for Trustmark National Bank, which provides banking and financial solutions to individuals and corporate institutions in Florida, Mississippi, Tennessee, and Texas. It operates in three segments: General Banking, Insurance, and Wealth Management. The General Banking segment provides commercial and consumer banking products and services, including checking accounts, savings programs, overdraft facilities, commercial loans, installment and real estate loans, home equity loans and lines of credit, drive-in and night deposit services, and safe deposit facilities. The Insurance segment provides retail insurance products, including commercial risk management products, bonding, group benefits, and personal lines coverage. The Wealth Management segment offers private banking, money management, full-service brokerage, financial planning, personal and institutional trust, and retirement services, as well as life insurance an d risk management services. This segment also acts as an agent to provide life, long-term care, and disability insurance services for wealth management customers. The company operates 140 full-service branches, 17 limited-service branches, 1 in-store branch, and an ATM network with 132 ATMs at on-premise locations and 67 ATMs located at off-premise sites. Trustmark Corporation was founded in 1889 and is headquartered in Jackson, Mississippi.

Top 10 Supermarket Stocks For 2015: Invesco Plc(IVZ)

Invesco Ltd. is a publicly owned investment manager. The firm primarily provides its services to individuals, typically high net worth individuals. It also manages accounts for institutions. The firm manages separate client focused equity, fixed income, balanced portfolios. It also launches equity, fixed income, and balanced mutual funds for its clients. The firm invests in the public equity and fixed income markets across the globe. It invests in core, growth, and value stocks of small-cap, mid-cap, and large-cap companies. The firm employs a fundamental and quantitative analysis with a bottom-up stock picking approach to make its investments. It conducts in-house research to make its investments. Invesco Ltd. was founded in December 1935 and is based in Atlanta, Georgia.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Ben Levisohn]

  Today, however, investors are having none of it. As of 1:42 p.m., just three Dow components are in the red, and even the defense contractors are gaining, despite the fact that the government shutdown doesn’t look to be ending. Boeing (BA), for instance has gained 2.9% to $117.74, and United Technologies (UTX) has advanced 2.3% to $105.16. And if I’ve counted correctly, just 17 S&P-500 stocks are now in negative territory–led higher by companies such as Best Buy (BBY), which has gained 7.3% to $38.90 after Stifel Nicolaus said more people expecting to shop in its stores, and Invesco (IVZ), which has risen 4.9% to $33.75 after saying assets-under-management grew. Even Tower Group International (TWGP), the seriously troubled insurer, is up p 9.9% at $4.10.

• [By Sally Jones]

  This month, Invesco Ltd. (IVZ) reported that foreign exchange increased its assets under management by $1.1 billion. Invesco�� preliminary average total AUM for the quarter (through November 30) was reported at $757.2 billion. The preliminary month-end AUM of $767.3 billion, reflected an increase of 0.4%, month-over-month, according to the company website.

• [By Nicole Seghetti]

  Gaining ETF exposure...�without breaking the piggybank
  So what's the best choice? A traditional ETF or one that's value creating? That depends. First, determine your need for market exposure. For example, if you're lacking international investments, go with an ETF that'll get you that type of exposure. Next, decide whether or not you're willing to pay a higher cost for the chance to outperform. If you're inclined to fork over extra dough for that potential, then consider a value-creating type of ETF. For example, Invesco's (NYSE: IVZ  ) PowerShares ETFs seek to beat traditional benchmark indexes while giving investors access to more focused investment opportunities. Instead, if you want to keep costs to a minimum, then look for a traditional ETF with a low expense ratio.

Top 10 Supermarket Stocks For 2015: Emclaire Financial Corp(EMCF)

Emclaire Financial Corp. operates as the holding company for The Farmers National Bank of Emlenton, which provides retail and commercial financial products and services to individuals and businesses in western Pennsylvania. Its deposit products include checking, savings, term certificate, money market, and non-interest bearing and interest bearing demand deposit accounts, as well as time and savings deposits. The company?s loan portfolio comprises one-to-four family mortgage loans, home equity loans, and commercial business and commercial real estate loans; and consumer loans, such as loans for automobile purchases, home improvements not secured by real estate, capital, and other personal expenditures, as well as unsecured revolving personal lines of credit and overdraft protection. Emclaire Financial Corp., through its other subsidiary, Emclaire Settlement Services, LLC, provides real estate settlement services. In addition, the company offers investment advisory service s. As of April 23, 2010, it operated 13 full service offices in Venango, Butler, Clarion, Clearfield, Crawford, Elk, Jefferson, and Mercer counties, Pennsylvania. The company was founded in 1900 and is headquartered in Emlenton, Pennsylvania.

Top 10 Supermarket Stocks For 2015: Roma Financial Corporation(ROMA)

Roma Financial Corporation operates as a holding company for Roma Bank and RomAsia Bank that provide traditional retail banking services primarily in New Jersey. The company offers current deposit products, including checking and savings accounts, money market, certificates of deposit accounts, and individual retirement accounts. It also provides one-to four-family residential mortgage loans; multi-family and commercial mortgage loans; construction loans; commercial business loans; and consumer loans comprising home equity loans and lines of credit. In addition, the company sells title insurance; performs title searches; and provides real estate settlement and closing services. It operates 23 branch offices in Mercer, Burlington, Camden, and Ocean Counties, New Jersey; and 2 branches in Monmouth Junction and Edison, New Jersey. The company was founded in 1920 and is headquartered in Robbinsville, New Jersey.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Tim Melvin]

  He also pointed out that the approaching completion of Roma Financial (ROMA) and Investors Bancorp (ISBC) has some interesting implications for bank stock investors. Both are mutual holding companies, and the newly formed bank is expected to complete the process and do a second-step conversion offering. That will be a fairly large deal, much larger than most second-step offerings, as the combined banks should be somewhere around $3 billion in market cap. There will be larger investment banks involved, complete with road shows and institutional meetings to promote the deal. The attention could well cause a revaluation of the mutual holding company and converted thrift sector of the banking market.

Top 10 Supermarket Stocks For 2015: Novelos Therapeutics Inc (NVLT.PK)

Novelos Therapeutics, Inc. (Novelos), incorporated in June 1996, is a biopharmaceutical company focused on developing and commercializing oxidized glutathione-based compounds for the treatment of cancer and hepatitis. The Company�� compound, NOV-002 is a small-molecule compound based on a formulation of oxidized glutathione that has been administered to approximately 1,000 cancer patients in clinical trials. As of December 31, 2009, NOV-002 was in Phase II development for solid tumors in combination with chemotherapy. The Company�� second glutathione-based compound, NOV-205 acts as a hepatoprotective agent with immunomodulating and anti-inflammatory properties.

NOV-002

NOV-002 is an injectable small-molecule compound based on a formulation of oxidized glutathione. As of December 31, 2009, NOV-002 was being developed for use in combination with care chemotherapies for the treatment of solid tumors. As of December 31, 2009, the Company was d eveloping NOV-002 to treat early-stage breast cancer in combination with chemotherapy. As of December 31, 2009, it was also developing NOV-002 to treat platinum-resistant ovarian cancer. Glutoxim (the tradename for NOV-002 in Russia) is approved in Russia for general medicinal usage as an immunostimulant in combination with chemotherapy and antimicrobial therapy, and specifically for indications, such as tuberculosis and psoriasis.

NOV-205

NOV-205 is an injectable, small-molecule formulation of oxidized glutathione in a 1:1 molar ratio with inosine. As of December 31, 2009, the Company was developing NOV-205 for the treatment of chronic hepatitis C non-responders. NOV-205 acts as a hepatoprotective agent with immunomodulating and anti-inflammatory properties.