Hot Asian Stocks For 2015

Asian stocks fell, with the equity gauge excluding Japan posting its first drop in eight days, as signs the U.S. economy is strengthening fueled speculation that the Federal Reserve will soon start tapering stimulus.

Newcrest Mining Ltd. (NCM), Australia�� biggest gold producer, sank 6.7 percent as bullion traded near a five-month low. Hyundai Motor Co., South Korea�� top carmaker, lost 4.2 percent as November sales fell. Sekisui Chemical Co. surged 7.5 percent in Tokyo on a report it developed a material that triples the capacity of electric-vehicle batteries.

The MSCI Asia Pacific ex-Japan Index dropped 0.5 percent to 472.12 at 9:16 p.m. in Tokyo. The broader regional gauge lost less than 0.1 percent to 141.63 as seven of its 10 industry groups fell. More than $8 trillion has been added to the value of global equities this year, the most since 2009, as central banks took steps to shore up economies worldwide. U.S. stocks slid yesterday as investors weighed the impact stronger manufacturing data will have on Fed bond buying.

Hot Asian Stocks For 2015: Huntington Bancshares Incorporated(HBAN)

Huntington Bancshares Incorporated operates as the holding company for The Huntington National Bank that provides commercial, small business, and consumer banking services. The company?s Retail and Business Banking segment offers various financial products and services, including checking, savings, and money market accounts, certificates of deposit, consumer loans, and small business loans and leases; and investments, insurance, interest rate risk protection, foreign exchange hedging, and treasury management services to consumer and small business customers. Its Regional and Commercial Banking segment provides commercial lending; depository and liquidity management products; treasury management solutions; equipment and technology leasing; international services; and capital markets services, such as interest rate risk protection, foreign exchange hedging and sales, trading of securities, mezzanine investment capabilities, and employee benefit programs to government, not-f or-profit, health-care, and publicly traded entities. The company?s Automobile Finance and Commercial Real Estate segment offers financing for the purchase of automobiles, and new and used vehicle inventory by automotive dealerships; and financing for land, buildings, and other commercial real estate owned or constructed by real estate developers, automobile dealerships, or other customers. Its Wealth Advisors, Government Finance, and Home Lending segment provides investment management; investment servicing; custody, and corporate trust and retirement plan services; and administrative and operational support to fund to high net worth customers. It also offers online, mobile, and telephone banking services; and operates approximately 1,300 automated teller machines. As of December 31, 2011, the company had 652 branches located in Ohio, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Indiana, West Virginia, and Kentucky. Huntington Bancshares Incorporated was founded in 1866 and is headquartered in Columbus, Ohio.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Selena Maranjian]

  The biggest new holdings are Willis Group Holdings�and Whirlpool. Other new holdings of interest include Baidu (NASDAQ: BIDU  ) and Huntington Bancshares (NASDAQ: HBAN  ) . Chinese search-engine giant Baidu has been hurt by China's slowing economic growth�as well as by tough competition, such as from Qihoo 360. Many like its profitability and growth prospects, such as in video, and recent news that it's buying a major Chinese mobile apps company sent shares soaring.

• [By David Hanson]

  However, some regional banks are posting more impressive numbers and flying under the radar. In this video, Motley Fool banking analyst David Hanson discusses recent results from PNC Financials Services (NYSE: PNC  ) , KeyCorp (NYSE: KEY  ) , and Huntington Bancshares (NASDAQ: HBAN  ) .

• [By Tim Melvin]

  The year ahead should be a great one for the smaller bank stocks. Larger regionals like Huntington Bancorp (HBAN) and Capital Ban Financial (CBF) have made it clear they intend to grow by acquisition in the years ahead. Banks like First Merit (FMER) and First Merchants (FRME) have done deals in the past year and are open to doing more to increase their market share and footprints. This should be the year the floodgates open and we see the first wave of merger activity in small banks.

• [By Tim Melvin]

  We are starting to see bank merger activity accelerate as banks like Huntington Bancorp (HBAN) and� First Merchants (FRME) looking to expand and growth their asset base in the aftermath of the credit crisis. Banks with below-average capital and returns could quickly become buyout targets.

Hot Asian Stocks For 2015: Rubicon Minerals Corp(RBY)

Rubicon Minerals Corporation, a mineral exploration company, engages in the acquisition, exploration, and development of mineral properties in Canada and the United States. It primarily explores for gold and base metal deposits. The company?s key asset is the Phoenix Gold Project located in the Red Lake gold camp, in the Province of Ontario. As of March 31, 2010, it controlled approximately 65,000 acres of prime exploration ground in the prolific Red Lake gold district of Ontario, Canada, as well as approximately 380,000 acres surrounding the Pogo Mine in Alaska and approximately 225,000 acres in northeast Nevada. The company was founded in 1996 and is headquartered in Vancouver, Canada.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Sean Williams]

  Another reason this fund looks attractive (at least to me) is that Rubicon Minerals (NYSEMKT: RBY  ) is one of its largest holdings at 6.02% of its assets as of May 10, 2013. Rubicon is in the late stages of the development process for the F2 Gold System, which has yielded drilling assessments as high as 767 grams/ton. F2 appears to be just as bountiful in gold well below the surface as it is near the surface, which could mean a very long and profitable mine life for Rubicon.

Top Canadian Companies To Own In Right Now: Digi International Inc.(DGII)

Digi International Inc. engages in the provision of machine to machine networking products and solutions to connect, monitor, and control of local or remote physical assets by electronic means. It offers a range of embedded products, including modules, single board computers, chips, satellite communication devices, and software and development tools; and non embedded products comprising cellular products, serial servers, console servers, universal serial bus connected products, serial cards, and wireless communication adaptors. The company also provides wireless product design and development services to provide wireless networking products. In addition, it offers iDigi, a cloud-based Internet platform to connect enterprise applications to remote electronic devices. The company sells its products through a network of distributors, systems integrators, and value added resellers for a range of businesses and institutions, as well as to original equipment manufacturers primar ily in North America, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Asia, and Latin America. It has strategic alliances with VMware, Ember, Freescale, Qualcomm, Ericsson, Itron, AT&T, Sprint, Verizon, Bell Mobility, and Rogers. The company was founded in 1985 and is headquartered in Minnetonka, Minnesota.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By John Udovich]

  Small cap machine-to-machine (M2M) stock Elecsys Corp (NASDAQ: ESYS) jumped 8.99% yesterday and is up 254% over the past year, meaning it might be time to take a closer look at the stock and its performance verses other small cap M2M stocks like Digi International Inc (NASDAQ: DGII), Numerex Corp (NASDAQ: NMRX) and Sierra Wireless, Inc (NASDAQ: SWIR). First of all though, I should mention that machine-to-machine (M2M) broadly refers to technologies that allow both wireless and wired systems to communicate with other devices of the same type and this can be through any type of technology ranging from instruments to networks to applications that create connections between devices.

• [By John Kell]

  Digi International Inc.'s(DGII) fiscal first quarter earnings fell, as high costs masked a slight rise in revenue. The wireless-product provider’s results were well-below the company’s previous guidance. Shares slumped 9.9% to $10.89 premarket.

• [By Seth Jayson]

  Basic guidelines
  In this series, I examine inventory using a simple rule of thumb: Inventory increases ought to roughly parallel revenue increases. If inventory bloats more quickly than sales grow, this might be a sign that expected sales haven't materialized. Is the current inventory situation at Digi International (Nasdaq: DGII  ) out of line? To figure that out, start by comparing the company's inventory growth to sales growth. How is Digi International doing by this quick checkup? At first glance, not so great. Trailing-12-month revenue decreased 5.8%, and inventory increased 3.2%. Comparing the latest quarter to the prior-year quarter, the story looks decent. Revenue shrank 1.7%, and inventory grew 3.2%. Over the sequential quarterly period, the trend looks healthy. Revenue grew 2.6%, and inventory grew 1.7%.

Hot Asian Stocks For 2015: Ulta Salon Cosmetics and Fragrance Inc (ULTA)

Ulta Salon, Cosmetics & Fragrance, Inc. (Ulta), incorporated on January 9, 1990, is a beauty retailer, which provides one-stop shopping for prestige, mass and salon products and salon services in the United States. During the year ended January 28, 2012 (fiscal 2011), the Company opened 61 new stores. It operates full-service salons in all of its stores. Its Ulta store format includes an open and modern salon area with approximately eight to 10 stations. The entire salon area is approximately 950 square feet with a concierge desk, skin treatment room, semi-private shampoo and hair color processing areas. Each salon is a full-service salon offering hair cuts, hair coloring and permanent texture, with salons also providing facials and waxing.

The Company offers products in the categories, such as cosmetics, which includes products for the face, eyes, cheeks, lips and nails; haircare, which includes shampoos, conditioners, styling products, and hair accessories; salon styling tools, which includes hair dryers, curling irons and flat irons; skincare and bath and body, which includes products for the face, hands and body; fragrance for both men and women; private label, consisting of Ulta branded cosmetics, skincare, bath and body products and haircare, and other, including candles, home fragrance products and other miscellaneous health and beauty products. The Company has combined its three operating segments: retail stores, salon services and e-commerce, into one reportable segment.

The Company competes with Macy��, Nordstrom, Sephora, Bath & Body Works, CVS/pharmacy, Walgreens, Target, Wal-Mart, Regis Corp., Sally Beauty and JCPenney salons.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By DailyFinance Staff]

  Stocks bounced in and out of the plus column before picking a direction on Friday. Unfortunately, the path chosen was down again, though not far. The Dow Jones industrial average (^DJI) extended its losing streak to five days, dropping another 43 points. The Standard & Poor's 500 (^GSPC) fell 5 and the Nasdaq composite (^IXIC) lost 15 points. In all, each of the major averages lost in the neighborhood of a quarter of a percent Friday, and all lost ground for the week. Meanwhile, another once-popular teen retailer took a tumble. Shares of Aeropostale (ARO) tumbled 20 percent after the retailer posted a wider than expected quarterly loss. The stock is now down 60 percent over the past year. But investors were buying some other retailers. Zumiez (ZUMZ), also geared toward teens, rose 2½ percent despite forecasting a loss in the current quarter. A couple of chains geared toward women did well. Ulta Salon (ULTA) gained nearly 6½ percent as earnings topped expectations. Ann (ANN), best known for its Ann Taylor stores, rose 7½ percent. And Coach (COH) gained 2 percent. Other gainers today: Green Mountain (GMCR), maker of Keurig, was up 7 percent, after expanding its deal with Starbucks. Liberty Media (LSTZA) ended its deal to buy those shares of Sirius XM (SIRI) it doesn't already own. Both stocks gained on the news; Liberty up 7 percent, Sirius up 2 percent. And Castlight Health (CSLT) soared nearly 150 percent above its $16 a share IPO price. The company, which helps workers choose healthcare benefits, stands to gain from Obamacare. On the downside: Tesla (TSLA) lost another 3 percent on reports that New York could become the fifth state to block the company from selling direct to consumers. Still, Tesla has a pretty good track record. It's stock has soared more than 500 percent over the past year. Biotechs continued to lose ground. Celgene (CELG) fell 4 percent on a double dose of bad news. British regulators reportedly plan to rejec

• [By Jake L'Ecuyer]

  Equities Trading UP
  Ulta Salon, Cosmetics & Fragrance (NASDAQ: ULTA) shares shot up 7.17 percent to $95.93 after the company reported better-than-expected fourth-quarter earnings. Ulta Salon posted its quarterly earnings of $1.09 per share, beating analysts' estimates of $1.07 per share.

Hot Asian Stocks For 2015: Market Vectors Coal ETF (KOL)

Market Vectors-Coal ETF�� (the Fund) investment objective is to replicate as closely as possible, before fees and expenses, the price and yield performance of the Stowe Coal Index (the Coal Index). Van Eck Associates Corporation is the investment adviser to The Fund.

As of December 31, 2007, the Stowe Coal Index consists of the stocks of 60 publicly traded companies. These companies are engaged in the mining and/or transportation of coal, the manufacture of coal mining equipment and the production of clean coal.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Ben Levisohn]

  The�Market Vectors Coal�ETF�(KOL) dropped 21% last year, but has gained 6.3% during the past six months. Peabody Energy�(BTU), meanwhile, fell 25% last year but has climbed 27% during the past six months, Alpha Natural Resources�(ANR) declined 27% but has gained 41% and Arch�Coal�(ACI) plunged 38% but gained 25% during the last six months. Consol Energy (CNX) rose 20% last year and gained 19% during the last six months.

• [By John Udovich]

  We recently added small cap coal stock�Alpha Natural Resources, Inc (NYSE: ANR) to our SmallCap Network Elite Opportunity (SCN EO)�portfolio as a short-term position despite the fact it has underperformed the Market Vectors-Coal ETF (NYSEARCA: KOL) along with President Obama�� ��ar on coal.��And while you might be leery of betting on a coal stock with almost four years left for the current administration to wield power, but there is a good reason why investors in small cap coal stocks like Alpha Natural Resources could be rewarded.

• [By Jonathan Yates]

  As a result, the exchange traded funds for gold, SPDR Gold Shares (NYSE: GLD) and its coal-related counterpart, Market Vectors Coal (NYSE: KOL), are both down by more than 20 percent for 2013. Demand from Asia, the largest consumer of coal and gold, is needed to raise the share prices of Market Vectors Coal and SPDR Gold Shares.

• [By Jonathan Yates]

  Even though China is not posting double-digit economic growth like it did before, shipping (NYSE: SEA), natural gas (NYSE: UNG) and coal (NYSE: KOL) should all fear the way the leadership is positioning the country.

Hot Asian Stocks For 2015: pSivida Corp.(PSDV)

pSivida Corp., together with its subsidiaries, develops drug delivery products for treatment of back-of-the-eye diseases that are administered by implantation, injection, or insertion. The company?s lead product candidate includes Iluvien, which is in Phase III clinical trials and delivers fluocinolone acetonide (FA) for the treatment of diabetic macular edema (DME), a cause of vision loss. It is also conducting Phase II clinical trials with Iluvien for the treatment of wet and dry form of age-related macular degeneration, and retinal vein occlusion. In addition, the company?s products include Retisert for the treatment of posterior uveitis, an autoimmune condition characterized by inflammation of the posterior of the eye that can cause sudden or gradual vision loss; and Vitrasert for cytomegalovirus retinitis, a blinding eye disease that occurs in individuals with advanced AIDS. It is developing the Latanoprost product, an injectable, bioerodible drug delivery implant i n Phase I/II dose-escalating study for the treatment of glaucoma and ocular hypertension; the Posterior Uveitis product candidate in a Phase I/II study for the treatment of posterior uveitis; BioSilicon technology system, which is nano-structured porous silicon designed for use as a drug delivery platform and to deliver smaller molecules; and Tethadur, which utilizes BioSilicon to deliver large biologic molecules, including peptides and proteins. It has strategic collaborations with Bausch & Lomb Incorporated; Alimera Sciences, Inc.; Pfizer, Inc.; and Intrinsiq Materials Cayman Limited. The company was founded in 1987 and is headquartered in Watertown, Massachusetts.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By John Kell]

  Specialty pharmaceutical firm pSivida Corp.(PSDV) said the U.S. Food and Drug Administration didn’t approve a treatment for an eye disease found in patients with diabetes. The company’s stock tumbled 47% to $2 premarket, while shares of Alimera Sciences Inc.(ALIM) were down 39% to $1.66, as the treatment is licensed and sold by Alimera in other markets.

• [By Smith On Stocks]

  This note focuses on the implications of the complete response letter (CRL) received by Alimera (ALIM) for Iluvien. This product was developed by pSivida (PSDV) but was partnered with Alimera. This report deals only with the investment significance for pSivida.

Hot Asian Stocks For 2015: Agrium Inc.(AGU)

Agrium Inc., together with its subsidiaries, produces and markets agricultural nutrients, industrial products, and specialty products worldwide, as well as involves in the retail supply of agricultural products and services in North and South Americas. The company?s Retail segment markets crop nutrient products, including nitrogen, phosphate, potash, sulphur, and micronutrients; crop protection products, such as herbicides, fungicides, adjuvants, and insecticides; and seeds. This segment also offers agronomic services, as well as product application, soil and leaf tissue testing and analysis, and crop scouting services. This segment operates 1,192 outlets in the United States, Canada, Australia, Argentina, Chile, and Uruguay. The company?s Wholesale segment produces, markets, and distributes nitrogen, phosphate, potash, sulphate, and other crop nutrient products for agricultural and industrial customers. This segment also owns and operates facilities that upgrade ammonia t o other nitrogen products, such as urea, nitric acid, and ammonium nitrate, as well as provides Rainbow plant food products. Agrium?s Advanced Technologies segment produces and markets controlled-release crop nutrients and micronutrients for the agriculture, specialty agriculture, professional turf, horticulture, and consumer lawn and garden markets. The company was formerly known as Cominco Fertilizers Ltd. and changed its name to Agrium Inc. in 1995. Agrium Inc. was founded in 1931 and is headquartered in Calgary, Canada.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Chad Fraser]

  The agriculture ETF is heavily weighted toward the U.S., with 45.8% of its assets there, but it is geographically diverse, with exposure to countries such as Canada (9.9%), Switzerland (8.5%), Japan (6.7%) and Singapore (5.1%).
  
  Potash Cartel Breakup Has Weighed on This Agriculture ETF
  
  The ETF’s unit price declined in the first half of 2013, partly because of the breakup of the Belarusian Potash Company (BPC), through which Russia’s Uralkali, the world’s No. 1 potash producer, and Belaruskali of Belarus distribute their potash. The market is dominated by BPC and Canpotex, owned by Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan (NYSE: POT), Mosaic and Agrium Inc. (NYSE: AGU).
  
  Together, the two cartels control 70% of global potash exports, so the breakup of BPC will result in a more fractured market, which seems likely to push potash prices lower. Shares of major potash producers fell sharply on the news, as did Market Vectors Agribusiness ETF due to its potash stock holdings, which include Agrium, Potash Corp. and Mosaic.

Hot Asian Stocks For 2015: PowerShares DWA Energy Momentum Portfolio (PXI)

PowerShares Dynamic Energy Sector Portfolio (the Fund) seeks investment results that correspond generally to the price and yield of an equity index called the Dynamic Energy Sector Intellidex Index (the Index). The Index consists of stocks of 60 United States energy companies. These are companies that are principally engaged in the business of producing, distributing or servicing energy-related products, including oil and gas exploration and production, refining, oil services, pipeline, and solar, wind and other non-oil-based energy. Stocks are selected principally on the basis of their capital appreciation potential as identified by the AMEX (the Intellidex Provider) pursuant to an Intellidex methodology. The Fund�� investment adviser is PowerShares Capital Management LLC.

The Fund, using an indexing investment approach, attempts to replicate the performance of the Index. The Fund generally will invest in all of the stocks comprising the Index in proportion to their weightings in the Index. The Fund will normally invest at least 80% of its total assets in common stocks of energy companies. The Fund will normally invest at least 90% of its total assets in common stocks that comprise the Index.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Todd Shriber, ETF Professor]

  Unusual volume (at least 5X ADV): QuantShares US Market Neutral Anti-Beta ETF (NYSE: BTAL), iShares 10+ Year Credit Bond ETF (NYSE: CLY), iShares Morningstar Small Value ETF (NYSE: JKL) and the PowerShares Dynamic Energy ETF (NYSE: PXI).

Hot Asian Stocks For 2015: Xerium Technologies Inc.(XRM)

Xerium Technologies, Inc. manufactures and supplies consumable products used in the production of paper clothing and roll covers primarily in North America, Europe, South America, and the Asia-Pacific. It operates in two segments, Clothing and Roll Covers. The Clothing segment provides various types of industrial textiles used on paper-making machines and other industrial applications. This segment offers forming fabrics, press felts, and dryer fabrics; and fabrics used in other industrial applications, such as pulp, steel, plastics, leather, and textiles manufacturing. The Roll Covers segment manufactures, refurbishes, and replaces roll covers for working rolls, including vacuum rolls and press rolls; calendar rolls; and coater rolls that are used on paper-making machines. This segment also refurbishes previously installed roll covers; provides mechanical maintenance and repair services for the internal mechanisms of rolls used on paper-making machines; and manufactures a nd repairs spreader rolls. The company markets its products through its direct sales force under Huyck Wangner, Weavexx, Stowe Woodward, Mount Hope, Robec, and Xibe brand names. Xerium Technologies, Inc. was founded in 1999 and is headquartered in Raleigh, North Carolina.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Seth Jayson]

  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 Xerium Technologies (NYSE: XRM  ) , whose recent revenue and earnings are plotted below.