Top Financial Companies To Own In Right Now

CFPs are debating whether the CFP Board’s recent news that it would be transitioning to computer-based exams and reducing their length and duration is the Board’s way of growing the number of CFP certificants.

Advisor, blogger, Twitterphile and ThinkAdvisor contributor Michael Kitces raised this question in a recent Nerd’s Eye View blog, asking bluntly why the Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards would chop the length of the exam by 40%, from 285 exam questions to only 170, and reduce the exam from a 10-hour, day-and-a-half exam into a 6-hour, single-day exam “if the goal wasn't to at least create the perception that the exam will be easier and therefore more appealing to take.”

The CFP Board noted in announcing that it was going to computer-based exams that the shortened exams would be “equally rigorous” to the longer paper ones, and that they would “maintain the same content detailed in CFP Board’s exam blueprint, representing the requisite knowledge and abilities to deliver financial planning services to clients.”

Hot Consumer Service Stocks To Watch For 2015: Sector Spdr Trust Sbi (XLI)

Industrial Select Sector SPDR Fund (the Fund) seeks to provide investment results that correspond to the price and yield performance of the Industrial Select Sector of the S&P 500 Index (the Index). The Index includes companies from industries, such as aerospace and defense, building products, construction and engineering, electrical equipment, conglomerates, machinery, commercial services and supplies.

The Fund utilizes a passive or indexing investment approach to invest in a portfolio of stocks that seek to replicate the Index. The Fund�� investment advisor is SSgA Funds Management, Inc.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Ben Levisohn]

  The�Consumer Discretionary Select Sector SPDR�(XLY) has dropped 1.1% to $60.39, while the�Financial Select Sector SPDR(XLF) is off 0.9% at $20.23.� Hardest hit is the�Utilities Select Sector SPDR (XLU), which has dropped 1.6% to $37.32, while the Industrial Select Sector SPDR ETF (XLI) has fallen 1% to $46.49. The�Technology Select Sector SPDR (XLK) is the top performer: It�� down 0.5% at $32.39.

• [By Selena Maranjian]

  Exchange-traded funds offer a convenient way to invest in sectors or niches that interest you. If you'd like to add some industrial stocks to your portfolio, the Industrial Select Sector SPDR ETF (NYSEMKT: XLI  ) could save you a lot of trouble. Instead of trying to figure out which companies will perform best, you can use this ETF to invest in lots of them simultaneously.
  
  The basics
  ETFs often sport lower expense ratios than their mutual fund cousins. The SPDR ETF's expense ratio -- its annual fee -- is a very low 0.18%, and it recently yielded about 2%.
  
  This ETF has performed well, outstripping the world market over the past three, five, and 10 years. As with most investments, of course, we can't expect outstanding performances in every quarter or year. Investors with conviction need to wait for their holdings to deliver.

Top Financial Companies To Own In Right Now: The Blackstone Group L.P.(BX)

The Blackstone Group, L.P., together with its subsidiaries, provides alternative asset management and financial advisory services worldwide. The company operates in five segments: Private Equity, Real Estate, Hedge Fund Solutions, Credit Businesses, and Financial Advisory. The Private Equity segment involves in private equity investing through five general private equity funds and one specialized fund focusing on communications-related investments. This segment engages in various transactions comprising leveraged buyout acquisitions of seasoned companies, transactions involving growth equity or start-up businesses in established industries, minority investments, corporate partnerships, distressed debt, structured securities, and industry consolidations. The Real Estate segment manages general opportunistic real estate funds and internationally focused opportunistic real estate funds. This segment also has debt investment funds targeting non-controlling real estate debt-rel ated investment opportunities in the public and private markets, primarily in the United States and Europe. The Hedge Fund Solutions segment manages funds of hedge funds, and Indian-focused and Asian-focused closed-end mutual funds. The Credit Businesses segment manages credit-oriented funds, CLOs, credit-focused separately managed accounts, and publicly registered debt-focused investment companies. The Financial Advisory segment offers financial and strategic advisory, including corporate finance, and mergers and acquisitions advice; restructuring and reorganization advisory; and fund placement services for alternative investment funds. Blackstone Group Management L.L.C. operates as the general partner of the company. The Blackstone Group, L.P. was founded in 1985 and is headquartered in New York, New York.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Matt Jarzemsky]

  Hotel chain Extended Stay America Inc.’s debut, expected to raise up to $593�million after today’s close, will kick off another busy week for U.S. IPOs, with�11 deals slated to price. The hotel chain is returning to the public market�three years after Blackstone Group L.P(BX)., Centerbridge Partners L.P. and New York�hedge fund Paulson & Co. led a $3.9 billion buyout, enabling Extended Stay to�exit Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.

• [By MONEYMORNING.COM]

  In the fourth deal of its kind, Blackstone Group L.P.'s (NYSE: BX) subsidiary Invitation Homes will close on almost a billion dollars' worth of real estate owned (REO)-to-rental credit-enhanced structured securities on May 30th.

• [By John Udovich]

  As the year draws to a close, theme park stocks like SeaWorld Entertainment Inc (NYSE: SEAS), Six Flags Entertainment Corp (NYSE: SIX), Cedar Fair, L.P. (NYSE: FUN) and Independent Film Development Corporation (OTCMKTS: IFLM) still have some news for investors to digest for the year closes. Just consider the following news:

  SeaWorld Entertainment And Its Backers�Continue to Face Blowback From Blackfish. As 2013 comes to an end, SeaWorld Entertainment continues to struggle to try and contain the�blowback from ��lackfish,��a feature-length documentary that casts the theme-park operator�� orca shows in an unfavorable light.�However, the Wall Street Journal�� MoneyBeat blog has pointed out that the problems could spill over to potentially hit SeaWorld Entertainment�� backer, The Blackstone Group L.P. (NYSE: BX), which continues to own about 40% of SeaWorld (a stake that is worth about $1 billion). Specifically, public pension funds like the Florida State Board of Administration, the Texas Teachers Retirement System and the California State Teachers��Retirement System all have stakes in the buyout fund Blackstone tapped to buy SeaWorld. However and so far, The Blackstone Group L.P. hasn�� heard complaints from its investors. SeaWorld Entertainment is down 14.9% since last April for retail investors.

Top Financial Companies To Own In Right Now: BM&F Bovespa SA Bolsa de Valores Mercadorias e Futuros (BVMF3)

BM&F Bovespa SA Bolsa de Valores Mercadorias e Futuros (BM&FBovespa) is a Brazil-based company primarily engaged in the operation of the Sao Paulo Stock Exchange. The Company�� business is divided into three segments: Bovespa, which manages the exchange markets and MBO national for securities trading equities, which include stocks, receipts of shares, depository receipts on shares of Brazilian companies or foreign, equity derivatives, warrants, shares of different types of closed investment funds, non-standard options to purchase and sell securities, among others; BM&F Segment covers the main steps of the cycles of trading and settlement of securities and contracts: trading systems in environments of electronic trading and trading via Internet and systems of registration, and other assets; Corporate and Institutional Products Segment refers to services as depository of securities, loans and securities and listing of securities, information signs and rating services, among others. Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Ney Hayashi]

  Equity loans may also be used to implement arbitrage strategies or fulfill an obligation to deliver the securities to settle another transaction, according to the website of BM&FBovespa SA (BVMF3), operator of Brazil�� exchange.

• [By Denyse Godoy]

  BM&FBovespa SA (BVMF3) will exclude from the gauge any companies whose shares trade for less than 1 real (44 cents), the exchange operator said in a statement yesterday. The limit on equity lending for OGX, which has plunged 91 percent this year to 38 centavos in Sao Paulo, was raised to 50 percent of shares available for trading from 45 percent, the bourse said in a separate statement. Stock loans, used in short sales, climbed to 44.9 percent on Sept. 11, data compiled by Bloomberg show.

• [By Denyse Godoy]

  OGX has the third-highest weight in the Ibovespa at 5.48 percent, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. That compares with 0.92 percent on Aug. 30, the data show. BM&FBovespa SA (BVMF3) is considering excluding stocks trading for less than 1 real, or penny stocks, from the Ibovespa, which is otherwise weighted just by trading volume, according to a statement on the exchange operator�� website.

Top Financial Companies To Own In Right Now: CoreSite Realty Corporation(COR)

CoreSite Realty Corporation operates as real investment trust in the United States. The company engages in the ownership, acquisition, construction, and management of data centers. It provides data centers that optimize, secure, and interconnect the mission-critical IT assets of the organizations. The company offers private data centers and suites, cage-to-cabinet colocation, and interconnection services, such as Any2, CoreSite's Internet exchange. Its data centers are located in Los Angeles, the San Francisco Bay and Northern Virginia areas, Chicago, and New York City. The company provides its data centre services to enterprises, cloud providers, financial firms, and Government agencies. As of March 31, 2011, its property portfolio included 11 operating data center facilities, 1 data center under construction, and 1 development site. The company was founded in 2010 and is headquartered in Denver, Colorado.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Ong Kang Wei]

  For example, Digital Realty (DLR) is the undoubted leader in the data storage industry, with a market cap of $8.3B. Its other three competitors, DuPont Fabros (DFT), CoreSite Realty (COR) and CyrusOne (CONE), have market caps of $1.5B, $930M and $430M respectively. In addition, with the level of complexity involving Digital's business making it immensely difficult for companies to operate data centre facilities, the company is in a good position for future growth. The company also has a wide network of 595 tenants (significantly more than other competitors), including CenturyLink (CTL), AT&T and Morgan Stanley (MS). This further secures its long term business prospects and also its dominance over its competitors.

• [By Monica Wolfe]

  CoreSite Realty Corp (COR)

  During the second quarter, Columbia Wanger increased their holdings in CoreSite Realty by 256.43%. The fund purchased a total of 1,176,650 shares of the company�� stock. They purchased these shares at an average price of $34.19 and since then the price per share has increased an additional 4.1%.

• [By Dividends4Life]

  CoreSite Realty Corporation (COR) engages in the ownership, acquisition, construction, and management of data centers. December 5th the company increased its quarterly dividend 30% to $0.35 per share. The dividend is payable January 15, 2014, to shareholders of record on December 31, 2013. The yield based on the new payout is 4.7%.

Top Financial Companies To Own In Right Now: The Travelers Companies Inc.(TRV)

The Travelers Companies, Inc., through its subsidiaries, provides various commercial and personal property and casualty insurance products and services to businesses, government units, associations, and individuals primarily in the United States. The company operates in three segments: Business Insurance; Financial, Professional, and International Insurance; and Personal Insurance. The Business Insurance segment offers property and casualty products and services, such as commercial multi-peril, property, general liability, commercial auto, and workers? compensation insurance. It operates in six groups: Select Accounts, which serves small businesses; Commercial Accounts that serves mid-sized businesses; National Accounts, which serves large companies; Industry-Focused Underwriting that serves targeted industries; Target Risk Underwriting, which serves commercial businesses requiring specialized product underwriting, claims handling, and risk management services; and Special ized Distribution that offers products to customers through licensed wholesale, general, and program agents. The Financial, Professional, and International Insurance segment provides surety and financial liability coverage, which uses a credit-based underwriting process; and property and casualty products primarily in the United States., the United Kingdom, Ireland, and Canada. The Personal Insurance segment offers property and casualty insurance covering personal risks, primarily automobile and homeowners insurance to individuals. It distributes its products through independent agents, sponsoring organizations, joint marketing arrangements with other insurers, and direct marketing. The company was founded in 1853 and is based in New York, New York.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Marc Bastow]

  Personal property and casualty giant Travelers (TRV) raised its quarterly dividend 10% to 55 cents per share payable June 30 to shareholders of record June 10.
  TRV Dividend Yield: 2.50%

Top Financial Companies To Own In Right Now: Center Bancorp Inc.(CNBC)

Center Bancorp, Inc. operates as the holding company for Union Center National Bank that provides various banking services to individual and corporate customers in Union and Morris counties, New Jersey. The company offers interest bearing and non-interest bearing checking accounts, savings accounts, money market accounts, certificates of deposit, and IRA accounts, as well as Christmas club accounts and vacation club accounts. It also provides secured and unsecured loans, mortgage loans, home equity lines of credit, short and medium term loans, letters of credit, working capital loans, and real estate construction loans. In addition, the company offers safe deposit boxes, money orders, and travelers? checks, as well as automated teller machine services, collection services, wire transfers, night depository, and lock box services. Further, the company, through its subsidiary, Center Financial Group LLC, provides financial services, including brokerage services, insurance an d annuities, mutual funds, and financial planning services. Additionally, it offers various money market services; and deals in the U.S. Treasury and U.S. Governmental agency securities, certificates of deposit, commercial paper, and repurchase agreements. As of December 31, 2010, the company had operations in 10 sites in Union County, New Jersey, consisting of 6 sites in Union Township, 1 in Springfield Township, 1 in Berkeley Heights, 1 in Vauxhall, and 1 in Summit; and 1 site in Madison, 1 site in Boonton/Mountain Lakes, and 1 site in Morristown located in Morris County, New Jersey. Center Bancorp, Inc. was founded in 1982 and is based in Union, New Jersey.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Holly LaFon]

  Becky Quick (CNBC): ��f you could keep one company that Berkshire owns, either a wholly-owned subsidiary, or that Berkshire owns a common equity in, which one would you keep and why?��