Hot Financial Companies To Invest In Right Now

PetSmart (NASDAQ: PETM  ) will soon have a new CFO to go with its new CEO and COO.

In January, the pet supplies superstore confirmed that David K. Lenhardt would become its new chief executive officer, and Joseph O'Leary would assume the chief operating officer's post. That was two down, one to go, and the company named the third member of its C-level triumvirate Monday: Carrie Teffner, who will become chief financial officer effective June 3.

Teffner comes to PetSmart from an unusual direction, having most recently worked as CFO of privately held barbecue grill manufacturer Weber-Stephen Products LLC, and before that, as CFO of Timberland Company.

In a filing with the SEC Monday, PetSmart revealed that it will be paying Teffner an annual salary of $550,000, plus:

short-term incentive pay targeting 75% of base salary an extra incentive bonus for her first year of work (if she stays through year-end) $500,000 in stock options and "performance share units" (PSUs) vesting over three years an additional one-time initial equity grant worth $200,000, also divided between stock options and PSUs an additional $100,000 one-time cash bonus and assorted other benefits

Adding to the attractiveness of the offer, PetSmart shares declined 2.7% in price on Monday, and the dollar value in which Teffner's equity awards are stated should be worth a few extra shares as a result.

Hot Asian Stocks To Buy For 2015: Home Federal Bancorp Inc. of Louisiana(HFBL)

Home Federal Bancorp, Inc. of Louisiana operates as the holding company for Home Federal Bank, which provides financial services to individuals, corporate entities, and other organizations in northwest Louisiana. The company?s deposit products include savings accounts, NOW accounts, money market accounts, and certificate accounts, as well as passbook savings, certificates of deposit, and demand deposit accounts. Its loan portfolio comprises real estate loans, such as one to four family residential loans; commercial-real estate loans; multi-family residential loans; commercial business loans; land loans; construction loans; home equity and second mortgage loans; equity lines of credit; and consumer loans, including loans secured by deposit accounts, automobile loans, and other unsecured loans. The company also offers wealth management services. As of December 7, 2010, it operated through its main office, two branch offices, and one agency office in Shreveport, Louisiana. T he company is based in Shreveport, Louisiana.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Lauren Pollock]

  Bank-holding company Banner Corp.(BANR) on Tuesday said it had agreed to buy Home Federal Bancorp Inc.(HFBL) (HOME) for $197 million in cash and stock. The deal, expected to close in the first quarter of 2014, will result in a combined company with about $5.2 billion in assets, making it the fourth-largest bank in the Pacific Northwest by assets, the companies said.

Hot Financial Companies To Invest In Right Now: First Trust Exchange Traded Fund (FVL)

First Trust Value Line 100 Fund (the Fund) is a diversified closed-end management investment company. The Fund seeks to outperform the Standard & Poor's 500 Composite Stock Price Index (the S&P 500 Index) by adhering to a strategy of investing in a diversified portfolio of the 100 common stocks ranked number 1 in Value Line's Timeliness Ranking System. The Fund invests 80% of its net assets in the stocks that are ranked number one in the Value Line Timeliness Ranking System. As of March 31, 2006, the Fund had invested in sectors, such as household durables, metals and mining, specialty retail, oil and gas, software, machinery, hotels, restaurants and leisure, computers and peripherals, biotechnology, information technology services, and textiles, apparel and luxury goods.

As of March 31, 2006, the Fund's top 10 holdings were Palm, Inc., United INDL Corp., AAR Corp., Accenture LTD, Citrix Systems, Inc., Cymer Inc., Guess, Inc., Henry Jack & Assoc., Inc., Micrel Inc. and Molecular Devices Corp. The Fund had a large capitalization orientation to its portfolio holdings as of December 31, 2005. As of December 31, 2005, the 100 stocks in the portfolio consisted of large-cap stocks (34), mid-cap stocks (35) and small-cap stocks (31). During the year ended December 31, 2005, the Fund posted a net asset value (NAV) total return of 11.9% and a market value total return of 7.5%. This compared to a gain of 4.8% for the S&P 500 Index. The Fund's investment advisor is First Trust Advisors, L.P.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By David Trainer]

  First Trust Value Line 100 ETF (FVL) is in the Danger Zone this week. FVL is another example of a supposedly "passive" ETF that purportedly tracks an index but actually resembles an actively managed portfolio. FVL's methodology tracks an index, but it is an index in name only.

• [By David Trainer]

  First Trust Value Line 100 ETF (FVL) is my worst-rated All Cap Blend ETF and Clarity Fund (CLRTX) is my worst-rated All Cap Blend mutual fund. FVL earns my Dangerous rating, while CLRTX gets my Very Dangerous rating.

Hot Financial Companies To Invest In Right Now: CubeSmart (CUBE)

CubeSmart, incorporated on July 26, 2004, is a self-managed real estate company focused primarily on the ownership, operation, management, acquisition and development of self-storage facilities in the United States of America. As of December 31, 2012, the Company owned 381 self-storage facilities located in 22 states and in the District of Columbia. It owns, operates, develops, manages and acquires self-storage facilities. The Company owns all of its assets and conducts its operations through CubeSmart, L.P. (the Operating Partnership). The Company is the sole general partner of the Operating Partnership and, as of December 31, 2012, owned an approximately 97.6% interest in the Operating Partnership.

As of December 31, 2012, the Company owned 381 and 370 facilities, respectively, that contained an aggregate of 25.5 million and 24.4 million rentable square feet with occupancy rates of 84.4% and 78.4%, respectively. In addition, as of December 31, 2012, the Company managed 133 properties for third parties bringing the total number of properties which it owned and/or managed to 541. As of December 31, 2012, approximately 84.4% of the rentable square footage at its owned facilities was leased to approximately 182,000 tenants. As of December 31, 2012, CubeSmart had facilities in the District of Columbia and 27 states: Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas , California, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, and Virginia.

The Company�� self-storage facilities are designed for its residential and commercial customers. Its customers rent storage cubes for their use, on a month-to-month basis. Its facilities are designed to accommodate both residential and commercial customers with features, such as security systems and wide aisles and load-bearing capabilities for truck access. All ! of its facilities have an on-site manager during business hours, and 256, or approximately 67%, of its facilities have a manager who resides in an apartment at the facility. Its customers can access their storage units during business hours, and some of its facilities provide customers with round the clock access through computer controlled access systems. Approximately 76% of its facilities include climate controlled units.

The Company competes with Public Storage, Sovran Self Storage and Extra Space Storage Inc.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Rich Duprey]

  Self-storage facility operator�CubeSmart� (NYSE: CUBE  ) �announced yesterday its second-quarter dividend of $0.11 per share, the same rate it's paid the past two quarters after raising the payout 38%, from $0.08 per share.

• [By Marc Bastow]

  Self-storage facilities real estate investment trust (REIT) operator CubeSmart (CUBE) raised its quarterly dividend 18% to 13 cents per share, payable on Jan. 15 to shareholders of record as of Jan. 2.
  YSI Dividend Yield: 3.2%

Hot Financial Companies To Invest In Right Now: Bank of Ireland (BKIR)

Bank of Ireland 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 distributes a range of financial products and services through the Bank�� branch operations in the Republic of Ireland and through its direct channels. The Company operates in the life and pensions market in Ireland through its wholly owned subsidiary New Ireland Assurance Company plc (NAIC).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. Corporate and Treasury division consists of Corporate Banking, Global Markets and IBI Corporate Finance. Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Sarah Jones]

  In Dublin, Bank of Ireland (BKIR) slipped 3.4 percent to 14.1 euro cents and Permanent TSB Group Holdings Plc (IPM) tumbled 13 percent to 2.6 cents. Allied Irish Banks Plc (ALBK), which is owned by the state, slid 1.5 percent to 6.5 cents.

Hot Financial Companies To Invest In Right Now: Vanguard FTSE All World ex US Index Fund Investor Shares (VEU)

Vanguard FTSE All-World ex-US ETF (the Fund) is an exchange-traded class of shares of Vanguard FTSE All-World ex-US Index Fund. The Fund seeks to track the performance of an index that measures the investment return of stocks of companies located in developed and emerging markets worldwide. The Fund employs a passive management or indexing investment approach designed to track the performance of the FTSE All-World ex US Index (the Index), a free-float-adjusted, market capitalization-weighted index designed to measure equity market performance of international markets.

The Index includes approximately 2,200 stocks of companies located in 47 countries, including both developed and emerging markets. The Fund typically holds 1,200 to 1,300 stocks in the Index (covering nearly 95% of the Index�� total market capitalization) and a representative sample of the remaining stocks. The Fund holds a range of securities that, in the aggregate, approximate the full Index in terms of key characteristics. These key characteristics include industry weightings and market capitalization, as well as certain financial measures, such as price/earnings ratio and dividend yield. The Fund�� investment advisor is The Vanguard Group, Inc.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Philip Springer, President, Retirement Wealth Management, Inc.]

  Our favorite is Vanguard FTSE All-World ex-US (VEU). This all-in-one ETF combines broad diversification, a high yield (4.7%) and a rock-bottom expense ratio (0.15%).