Although business headlines still tout earnings numbers, many investors have moved past net earnings as a measure of a company's economic output. That's because earnings are very often less trustworthy than cash flow, since earnings are more open to manipulation based on dubious judgment calls.
Earnings' unreliability is one of the reasons Foolish investors often flip straight past the income statement to check the cash flow statement. In general, by taking a close look at the cash moving in and out of the business, you can better understand whether the last batch of earnings brought money into the company, or merely disguised a cash gusher with a pretty headline.
Calling all cash flows
When you are trying to buy the market's best stocks, it's worth checking up on your companies' free cash flow once a quarter or so, to see whether it bears any relationship to the net income in the headlines. That's what we do with this series. Today, we're checking in on Harbinger Group (NYSE: HRG ) , whose recent revenue and earnings are plotted below.
Top 5 US Stocks To Watch For 2015: Material Sciences Corporation(MASC)
Material Sciences Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, engages in the design, manufacture, and marketing of material-based solutions for acoustical and coated applications in the United States and internationally. It offers acoustical material-based solutions, which include multilayer composites consisting of metals, polymers, and other coated materials used to manage noise and vibration in automotive body panel parts, brake dampers, engine parts, appliances, and computer disk drives, as well as heating, ventilating, and air conditioning products. The company also provides coated material-based solutions that comprise painted, electrogalvanized protective, decorative, and functional coatings applied to coils of metals for automotive fuel tanks, building products, gaskets, appliances, and lighting fixtures. Material Sciences Corporation primarily serves customers in the automotive, appliance, building and construction, lighting, and electronic markets. The company m arkets its products, services, and technologies through sales and marketing organization, as well as through agents and licensees. Material Sciences Corporation was founded in 1971 and is headquartered in Elk Grove Village, Illinois.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Monica Gerson]
Material Sciences (NASDAQ: MASC) is projected to report its Q2 earnings at $0.16 per share.
Blackhawk Network Holdings (NASDAQ: HAWK) is estimated to report its Q3 earnings at $0.05 per share on revenue of $210.94 million.
Top 5 US Stocks To Watch For 2015: iShares Cohen & Steers REIT ETF (ICF)
iShares Cohen & Steers Realty Majors Index Fund (the Fund) seeks investment results that correspond generally to the price and yield performance of the Cohen & Steers Realty Majors Index (the Index). The Index consists of selected real estate investment trusts (REITs). The objective of the Index is to represent relatively large and liquid REITs that may benefit from future consolidation and securitization of the United States real estate industry. The Index is modified capitalization-weighted with constituent companies having a maximum index weight of 8%.
The Fund invests in a representative sample of securities included in the Index that collectively has an investment profile similar to the Index. Barclays Global Fund Advisors is the investment advisor of the Fund.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Matthew McCall]
The SPDR Utilities ETF (NYSE: XLU) is up 1.5 percent today and is breaking to a one-month high. The iShares Cohen & Steers Realty ETF (NYSE: ICF), which owns a basket of REITs, is up 1.1 percent, also looking for a one-month high.
Top 10 Clean Energy Companies To Own For 2015: Baxter International Inc. (BAX)
Baxter International Inc., through its subsidiaries, develops, manufactures, and markets products for people with hemophilia, immune disorders, infectious diseases, kidney disease, trauma, and other chronic and acute medical conditions. It operates in three segments: BioScience, Medication Delivery, and Renal. The BioScience segment processes recombinant and plasma-based proteins to treat hemophilia and other bleeding disorders; plasma-based therapies to treat immune deficiencies, alpha 1-antitrypsin deficiency, burns and shock, and other chronic and acute blood-related conditions; products for regenerative medicine, such as biosurgery products; and vaccines. The Medication Delivery segment manufactures intravenous solutions and administration sets; premixed drugs and drug-reconstitution systems; pre-filled vials and syringes for injectable drugs; intravenous nutrition products; infusion pumps; and inhalation anesthetics. It also offers products and services related to pha rmacy compounding, drug formulation, and packaging technologies. The Renal segment provides products to treat end-stage renal disease or irreversible kidney failure. It manufactures solutions and other products for peritoneal dialysis, a home-based therapy; and distributes product for hemodialysis, which is conducted in a hospital or clinic. It markets its products to hospitals, kidney dialysis centers, nursing homes, rehabilitation centers, doctors? offices, clinical and medical research laboratories, and patients at home under physician supervision. The company was founded in 1931 and is based in Deerfield, Illinois.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Jon C. Ogg]
Baxter International Inc. (NYSE: BAX) was downgraded to Neutral from Outperform at Credit Suisse based on earnings uncertainty around its competitive long-acting recombinant franchise.
Top 5 US Stocks To Watch For 2015: Capstone Turbine Corporation(CPST)
Capstone Turbine Corporation develops, manufactures, markets, and services turbine generator sets and related parts for use in stationary distributed power generation applications. Its stationary distributed power generation applications include cogeneration combined heat and power (CHP), integrated (CHP), resource recovery, and secure power, as well as combined cooling, heat, and power; and its products are used as battery charging generators for hybrid electric vehicle applications. The company primarily offers microturbine units, subassemblies, and components. It also provides various accessories, including rotary gas compressors with digital controls, heat recovery modules for CHP applications, dual mode controllers that allow automatic transition between grid connect and stand-alone modes, batteries with digital controls for stand-alone/dual-mode operations, power servers for multipacked installations, and protocol converters for Internet access, as well as frames, ex haust ducting, and installation hardware. Further, it remanufactures microturbine engines; and provides after-market parts and services, scheduled and unscheduled maintenance, and factory and on-site training services. The company?s microturbines can be fueled by various sources, including natural gas, propane, sour gas, landfill or digester gas, kerosene, diesel, and biodiesel. It primarily sells its products directly to end users, as well as through distributors in North America, Asia, Australia, Europe, the Russian Federation, and South America. Capstone Turbine Corporation was founded in 1988 and is based in Chatsworth, California.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Dan Caplinger]
Beyond the fundamentals, though, news plays an important role in short-term stock movements. Outside the Dow, microturbine producer Capstone Turbine (NASDAQ: CPST ) soared 8.8% after receiving its second large order in the past week. After getting word of a purchase from real-estate and investment firm Related Companies on Tuesday, Capstone got an order today from Southern California Gas to buy three of its C65 uninterruptible power-source units for use at the gas company's data center. Given the relatively small size of the business, which sports sales of only about $122 million over the past year, orders like this have a material effect on Capstone and also draw the attention of other prospective buyers.
- [By Rick Munarriz]
Capstone Turbine (NASDAQ: CPST ) -- $1.30
Things are finally starting to happen for the microturbine maker. Revenue is growing at a healthy clip, and analysts see Capstone finally turning a quarterly profit later this year. - [By Selena Maranjian]
Fisher reduced its stake in lots of companies, including Capstone Turbine (NASDAQ: CPST ) and Nokia (NYSE: NOK ) . Capstone is a smallish company, making low-emission microturbines used in power generation. Its top line has been growing by double digits over the past few years, and it's poised to profit from huge interest in shale oil, but it remains in the red. Still, it has recently announced a bunch of promising deals and some think the many folks short the stock will end up burned.
Top 5 US Stocks To Watch For 2015: Vista Gold Corp (VGZ)
Vista Gold Corp. (Vista), incorporated on November 28, 1983, is engaged in the evaluation, acquisition, exploration and advancement of gold exploration and potential development projects. The Company's holdings include the Mt. Todd gold project in Australia; the Guadalupe de los Reyes gold/silver project in Mexico; the Concordia gold project in Mexico; the Awak Mas gold project in Indonesia; the Long Valley gold project in California, and mining claims in Utah. On April 6, 2011, the Company announced the completion of the combination involving Midas Gold, Inc., Vista's wholly owned subsidiary, Vista Gold U.S. Inc. and its wholly owned subsidiary, Idaho Gold Resources, LLC., whereby each party contributed their respective gold assets in the Yellow Pine-Stibnite District in Idaho to a new Canadian private company named Midas Gold Corp. (Midas Gold). In October 2013, the Company announced that it has sold the Los Cardones gold project in Baja California Sur, Mexico, to the Invecture Group (Invecture) and RPG Structured Finance S.a r.l.
Mt. Todd Gold Project
The Company holds the Mt. Todd gold project through its wholly owned subsidiary, Vista Gold Australia Pty. Ltd. The project is located 56 kilometers by road northwest of Katherine, Northern Territory, Australia, and approximately 250 kilometers south of Darwin. On September 6, 2011, the Company announced the results of its mineral resource estimate for the Batman deposit at the Company�� Mt. Todd gold project in Northern Territory, Australia.
Guadalupe de los Reyes Gold/Silver Project
The Company�� Guadalupe de los Reyes project is located in the State of Sinaloa, in western Mexico, approximately halfway between the cities of Mazatlan and Culiacan. The property is held through 37 federal mining concessions totaling about 6,310.9 hectares. During the year ended December 31, 2011, the Company received the initial results of its Phase I surface sampling program completed at its Guadalupe de los Reye! s gold/silver project in Sinaloa, Mexico. In June 2011, it initiated the first phase of a two-phase exploration program. The initial results from Phase I confirmed the surface continuity of gold/silver bearing veins over a combined strike length of 14 kilometers. During October 2011, the Company received the permits for its planned drilling program at the Guadalupe de los Reyes gold/silver project, and drilling on a 12-hole core program had started.
Concordia Gold Project
The Concordia gold project is located 55 kilometers southeast of the city of La Paz, in the Mexican state of Baja California Sur. The project area covers over 3,710 hectares and is consists of 15 mining concessions. Vista holds the Concordia gold project through its wholly owned, Mexican subsidiary, Desarrollos Zapal, S.A. de C.V. (DZ Mexico). On February 7, 2012, the Company announced that the Company had entered into an Earn-in Right Agreement (the Earn-in Right Agreement) with Mexico-based Invecture Group, S.A. de C.V. (Invecture) with respect to Vista's Concordia gold project in Baja California Sur, Mexico.
Awak Mas Gold Project
The the Awak Mas gold project is held through its indirect wholly owned subsidiary, PT Masmindo Dwi. The Awak Mas property is situated on the southern side of the Central Sulawesi Metamorphic Belt within a 50-kilometer-long, north-northeast trending fault-bounded block of basement metamorphic rocks and younger sediments. On June 13, 2011, the Company�� wholly owned subsidiary, Vista Gold (Barbados) Corp. (Vista Barbados) entered into an additional option agreement (Additional Option Agreement) with Pan Asia Resources Corp. (Pan Asia). The Additional Option Agreement provides Pan Asia with the opportunity to earn an additional 20% interest in its Awak Mas gold project in Indonesia after it has earned a 60% interest in the project pursuant to the joint venture agreement between Vista Barbados and Pan Asia that was executed in December 2009. In September 20! 11, the A! dditional Option Agreement and JV Agreement were assigned from Pan Asia to Awak Mas Holdings Pty.
Long Valley Gold Project
The Long Valley gold project is located in the Inyo National Forest, about 7 miles east of the town of Mammoth Lakes, in Mono County, California. The property consists of 95 contiguous, unpatented mining claims that cover an area of approximately 1,963 acres. The Long Valley gold project is held through its indirect wholly owned subsidiary Vista Gold California LLC.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Bryan Murphy]
A couple of days ago when gold and the SPDR Gold Trust ETF (NYSEARCA:GLD) were getting back into a bullish groove, I advocated Randgold Resources Ltd. ADR (NASDAQ:GOLD) as the better way to play gold's rebound. GOLD had fought its way back above a key ceiling, and was poised to take off... much more so than GLD was. To tell you the truth though, Randgold Resources Ltd. wasn't actually my first choice. The gold mining name I wanted to suggest was a little smaller - Vista Gold Corp. (NYSEMKT:VGZ). In the meantime, VGZ has forged out enough of the bullish progress I saw brewing then to merit a mention now.
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