Top Financial Companies To Own In Right Now

LONDON -- Management can make all the difference to a company's success and, thus, its share price.

The best companies are those run by talented and experienced leaders with strong vested interests in the success of the business, held in check by a board with sound financial and business acumen. Some of the worst investments to hold are those run by executives collecting fat rewards as the underlying business goes to pot.

In this series, I'm assessing the boardrooms of companies within the FTSE 100. I hope to separate the management teams that are worth following from those that are not. Today, I am looking at�Compass Group� (LSE: CPG  ) , the world's largest contract caterer.

Here are the key directors:

Director

Position

Sir Roy Gardner

Chairman

Richard Cousins

Chief Executive

Hot Chemical Companies For 2015: Nuveen Virginia Premium Income Municipal Fund (NPV)

Nuveen Virginia Premium Income Municipal Fund is a closed-ended fixed income mutual fund launched by Nuveen Investments, Inc. The fund is co-managed by Nuveen Fund Advisors, Inc. and Nuveen Asset Management, LLC. It invests in the fixed income markets of Virginia. The fund invests primarily in municipal securities rated Baa/BBB or better. It invests in securities that provide income exempt from federal and Virginia income tax. The fund employs fundamental analysis with bottom-up stock picking approach to create its portfolio. It benchmarks the performance of its portfolio against the S&P National Municipal Bond Index and the S&P Virginia Municipal Bond Index. Nuveen Virginia Premium Income Municipal Fund was formed on January 12, 1993 and is domiciled in the United States.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Chuck Carnevale]

  Moreover, at this point I would like to add that the real meaning of forecasting future earnings is so we can determine what the size and amount of the future cash flows that a stock under consideration might be capable of generating for us. This is important, because assessing the net present value of our expected future income stream, is at the heart of determining fair value (intrinsic value). Calculating net present value (NPV) is functionally-related to today's wide utilization of discounted cash flow (DCF) analysis as a stock selection tool. I will elaborate more on this important metric in part B of this article.

Top Financial Companies To Own In Right Now: Bank of Hawaii Corp (BOH)

Bank of Hawaii Corporation, incorporated on February 4, 1998, is a bank holding company. The Company�� operating subsidiary is Bank of Hawaii (the Bank). The Bank provides a range of financial services and products primarily to customers in Hawaii, Guam and other Pacific Islands. The Bank's subsidiaries include Bank of Hawaii Leasing, Inc., Bankoh Investment Services, Inc. and Pacific Century Life Insurance Corporation. The Bank's subsidiaries are engaged in equipment leasing, securities brokerage, investment services and providing credit insurance. It operates in four segments: Retail Banking, Commercial Banking, Investment Services, and Treasury and Other. Its other subsidiary is the BOHC Investment Fund, LLC (the Fund). The Fund was organized to invest in and hold securities of Qualified High Technology Businesses.

Retail Banking

Retail Banking offers a range of financial products and services to consumers and small businesses. Loan and lease products include residential mortgage loans, home equity lines of credit, automobile loans and leases and installment loans. Deposit products include checking, savings, and time deposit accounts. Retail Banking also offers retail insurance products. Products and services from Retail Banking are delivered to customers through 65 Hawaii branch locations, 494 automated teller machines (ATMs) throughout Hawaii and the Pacific Islands, e-Bankoh (on-line banking service), around-the-clock customer service center, and a mobile banking service.

Commercial Banking

Commercial Banking offers products, including corporate banking, commercial real estate loans, commercial lease financing, auto dealer financing, and deposit products. Commercial lending and deposit products are offered to middle-market and large companies in Hawaii. Commercial real estate mortgages focus on customers that include investors, developers, and builders predominantly domiciled in Hawaii. Commercial Banking also includes international banking a! nd operations at the Bank's 11 branches in the Pacific Islands and also provides merchant services to its small business customers.

Investment Services

Investment Services includes private banking, trust services, investment management, and institutional investment advisory services. The private banking and personal trust group assists individuals and families in building and preserving their wealth by providing investment, credit, and trust services to high-net-worth individuals. The investment management group manages portfolios utilizing a variety of investment products. Institutional client services offer investment advice to corporations, government entities and foundations. Investment Services also provides a full service brokerage offering equities, mutual funds, life insurance, and annuity products.

Treasury and Other

Treasury consists of corporate asset and liability management activities, including interest rate risk management and a foreign exchange business. This segment's assets consist of interest-bearing deposits, investment securities, federal funds sold and purchased, government deposits, and short and long-term borrowings. The primary sources of noninterest income are from bank-owned life insurance, net gains from the sale of investment securities, and foreign exchange income related to customer driven currency requests from merchants and island visitors.

Investment Securities

The Bank�� investment securities portfolio includes debt securities issued by the United States Treasury and Government Agencies, debt securities issued by states and political sub-divisions, debt securities issued by corporations, mortgage-backed securities issued by government agencies and the United States Government-Sponsored Enterprises. As of December 31, 2012, its available-for-sale investment securities portfolio consisted of securities with an average base duration of less than three years.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By John Maxfield]

  Percentages aside, the benefit of the relative health of these housing markets can be seen in the performance of smaller, regional banks like Bank of Hawaii (NYSE: BOH  ) , BB&T (NYSE: BBT  ) , and TD Bank (NYSE: TD  ) which have large presences in Hawaii, West Virginia, and Maine, respectively. Shares of all of these banks have more than recovered since the financial crisis as a testament to this.

Top Financial Companies To Own In Right Now: iShares MSCI Spain Capped ETF (ISVS)

iShares MSCI Spain Index Fund (the Fund) seeks to provide investment results that correspond generally to the price and yield performance of publicly traded securities in the aggregate in the Spanish market, as measured by the MSCI Spain Index (the Index). The Index seeks to measure the performance of the Spanish equity market. The Index is a capitalization-weighted index that aims to capture 85% of the (publicly available) total market capitalization. Component companies are adjusted for available float and must meet objective criteria for inclusion in the Index. The Index is reviewed quarterly.

The Fund invests in a representative sample of securities included in the Index that collectively has an investment profile similar to the Index. The Fund�� investment advisor is Barclays Global Fund Advisors.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By abirk]

  This San Jose, Calif.-based company offers a line of software and services used by professionals, marketers, knowledge workers, application developers, enterprises and consumers for creating, managing, delivering, measuring and engaging with content and experiences across multiple operating systems, devices and media. Adobe has three business segments: Digital Media, Digital Marketing, and Print and Publishing. The company distributes its products through a network of distributors, value-added resellers (VARs), systems integrators, independent software vendors (ISVs), retailers, and original equipment manufacturers (OEMs).

• [By abirk]

  This San Jose, Calif.-based company offers a line of software and services used by professionals, marketers, knowledge workers, application developers, enterprises and consumers for creating, managing, delivering, measuring and engaging with content and experiences across multiple operating systems, devices and media. Adobe has three business segments: Digital Media, Digital Marketing, and Print and Publishing. The company distributes its products through a network of distributors, value-added resellers (VARs), systems integrators, independent software vendors (ISVs), retailers, and original equipment manufacturers (OEMs).

• [By abirk]

  This San Jose, Calif.-based company offers a line of software and services used by professionals, marketers, knowledge workers, application developers, enterprises and consumers for creating, managing, delivering, measuring and engaging with content and experiences across multiple operating systems, devices and media. Adobe has three business segments: Digital Media, Digital Marketing, and Print and Publishing. The company distributes its products through a network of distributors, value-added resellers (VARs), systems integrators, independent software vendors (ISVs), retailers, and original equipment manufacturers (OEMs).

Top Financial Companies To Own In Right Now: BankUnited Inc (BKU)

BankUnited, Inc. (BKU), incorporated on April 28, 2009, is a bank holding company with three wholly owned subsidiaries: BankUnited, National Association (the Bank) Herald National Bank (Herald), and BankUnited Investment Services, Inc. (BUIS), collectively, the Company. As of December 31, 2012, it provides a range of banking services to individual and corporate customers through 98 branches located in 15 Florida counties. Herald is a national banking association with 2 branch locations in the New York metropolitan area. BUIS is a Florida insurance agency providing wealth management and financial planning services. As of December 31, 2012, its distribution network also includes 97 automated teller machines (ATMs), online banking and a telephone banking service. As of December 31, 2011, the Bank had 98 branches in 15 counties. On February 29, 2012, the Company announced the completion of its acquisition of Herald National Bank (Herald).

Lending Activities

The Company�� primary lending focus is to serve consumers, commercial and middle-market businesses and their executives with a range of financial products and services. It offers a range of lending products, including small business loans, residential mortgage loans, commercial real estate loans, equipment loans and leases, term loans, asset-backed loans, municipal leases, letters of credit and commercial lines of credit. As part of the Company�� loan activities, it also purchases performing residential loans on a national basis.

The Company�� commercial loans, which are generally made to small and middle-market businesses, include equipment loans, lines of credit, acquisition finance credit facilities and an array of Small Business Administration product offerings, and typically have maturities of five years or less. It also offers term financing for the acquisition or refinancing of properties, primarily rental apartments, industrial properties, retail shopping centers and free-standing buildings, office! buildings and hotels located primarily in Florida. Other products that it provides include secured lines of credit, acquisition, development and construction loan facilities and construction financing.

The Company provides one- to four-single family residential real estate loans with terms ranging from 10 to 40 years, with either fixed or adjustable interest rates. Loans are offered to customers primarily in Florida through its branches and loan officers. The majority of its loans are owner occupied, full documentation loans. The Company offers consumer loans to its customers primarily in Florida for personal, family and household purposes, including home equity loans, auto, boat and personal installment loans.

Sources of Funds

The Company offers traditional deposit products, including checking accounts, money market deposit accounts, savings accounts and certificates of deposit with a variety of rates. Demand deposits comprised 22% of total deposits as of December 31, 2012. The Company also utilizes Federal Home Loan Bank (FHLB) advances to finance its operations.

Wealth Management

Through financial consultants and bankers, BankUnited Investment Services provides a range of wealth management product offering that includes mutual funds, annuities, life insurance and individual securities. It also provides succession planning, estate planning, and financial planning to individuals and business owners. It uses a third-party financial services company to provide its trading platform, administrative and back office support, and provides its customers with around-the-clock access to account balances and summaries, positions and portfolio views, transaction detail, portfolio view, and online statements.

The Company competes with Bank of America, BankAtlantic, BB&T, JPMorgan Chase, Regions Bank, SunTrust Banks, TD Bank and Wells Fargo.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Eric Volkman]

  BankUnited (NYSE: BKU  ) is reaching into its vault for another shareholder payout. The company has declared its latest quarterly common stock dividend, which is to be $0.21 per share paid on July 19 to shareholders of record as of July 5. That amount matches both of the firm's previous distributions, the most recent of which was paid in April. Prior to that, BankUnited dispensed $0.17 per share.

• [By Monica Gerson]

  Breaking news

  Loews (NYSE: L) reported a 59% rise in its third-quarter earnings. Loews posted a quarterly profit of $282 million, or $0.73 per share, versus a year-ago profit of $177 million, or $0.45 per share. To read the full news, click here. BankUnited (NYSE: BKU) announced today the commencement of an underwritten offering of 9,000,000 shares of its common stock by certain of its existing stockholders, subject to market and other conditions. To read the full news, click here. Liberty Global (NASDAQ: LBTYA) announced today an agreement to sell substantially all of its international content division Chellomedia to AMC Networks (NASDAQ: AMCX).To read the full news, click here. Myriad Genetics (NASDAQ: MYGN) today announced that validation data for the Myriad myPlan Lung Cancer test showed that it significantly predicted patients' risk of death from early-stage lung adenocarcinoma within five years of being diagnosed. To read the full news, click here.

  Posted-In: Bank of America US Stock FuturesNews Eurozone Futures Global Pre-Market Outlook Markets

• [By Sean Fox]

  Finding a rose among the ashes
  John Kanas is the chairman, president, and CEO of revived financial institution BankUnited� (NYSE: BKU  ) . While neither name may be familiar, the bank merits a deeper look nonetheless.

• [By MONEYMORNING.COM]

  Just last week the investor group, in the last of a series of secondary offerings, said goodbye to BankUnited (NYSE: BKU) and cashed out, having more than doubled their money.

Top Financial Companies To Own In Right Now: ProShares Trust II (YCS)

ProShares Trust II (the Trust) is a statutory trust organized into separate series. The Trust offers seven Funds. The Trust offers beneficial interest in each of its 24 series. The 24 separate series include ProShares Ultra DJ-UBS Commodity, ProShares UltraShort DJ-UBS Commodity, ProShares Ultra DJ-UBS Crude Oil, ProShares UltraShort DJ-UBS Crude Oil, ProShares Ultra DJ-UBS Natural Gas, ProShares Short DJ-UBS Natural Gas, ProShares UltraShort DJ-UBS Natural Gas, ProShares Short Gold, ProShares Ultra Gold, ProShares UltraShort Gold, ProShares Ultra Silver, ProShares UltraShort Silver, ProShares Ultra Euro, ProShares UltraShort Euro, ProShares Ultra Yen ProShares UltraShort Yen, ProShares Ultra VIX Short-Term Futures ETF, ProShares VIX Short-Term Futures ETF, ProShares Short VIX Short-Term Futures ETF, ProShares UltraShort VIX Short-Term Futures ETF, ProShares Ultra VIX Mid-Term Futures ETF, ProShares VIX Mid-Term Futures ETF, ProShares Short VIX Mid-Term Futures ETF and ProShares UltraShort VIX Mid-Term Futures ETF.

The Funds offer investors the opportunity to obtain leveraged, inverse or inverse leveraged exposure to a particular benchmark. The Funds include funds linked to futures-based commodity indexes (the Commodity Index Funds), particular commodities (the Commodity Funds) or particular currencies (the Currency Funds). ProShare Capital Management LLC serves as the Trust�� Sponsor, commodity pool operator and commodity trading advisor. Wilmington Trust Company is the sole Trustee of the Trust.

Dow Jones-UBS Commodity Index

ProShares Ultra DJ-UBS Commodity and ProShares UltraShort DJ-UBS Commodity are designed to track a multiple or an inverse multiple of the daily performance of the Dow Jones-UBS Commodity IndexSM. The Dow Jones-UBS Commodity IndexSM (the Dow Jones-UBS) is designed to be a highly liquid and diversified benchmark for the commodity futures market. It focuses to reflect the overall commodity sector by measuring the performance of commodity fu! tures contracts. The Dow Jones-UBS is a rolling index, which means that the Dow Jones-UBS does not take actual physical possession of any commodities; rather, it tracks a rolling futures position. An investor with a rolling futures position is able to avoid delivering (or taking delivery of) underlying physical commodities while maintaining exposure to those commodities. The roll for each Index component occurs over a period of five Dow Jones-UBS business days in certain months according to a pre-determined schedule. The exact roll methodology differs between certain commodities. The Index will reflect the performance of its underlying commodities, including roll costs, without regard to income earned on cash positions. The Dow Jones-UBS is consisted of eight different commodity sectors, such as petroleum, natural gas, livestock, grains, industrial metals, precious metals, softs and vegetable oils. These eight sectors track futures contracts prices of 19 specific commodities, such as natural gas, crude oil, unleaded gasoline, heating oil, live cattle, lean hogs, wheat, corn, soybeans, soybean oil, aluminum, copper, zinc, nickel, gold, silver, sugar, cotton and coffee. The Dow Jones-UBS is consisted of commodities traded on the United States exchanges, with the exception of aluminum, nickel and zinc, which trade on the London Metal Exchange.

Dow Jones-UBS Natural Gas Subindex

ProShares Ultra DJ-UBS Natural Gas and ProShares UltraShort DJ-UBS Natural Gas are designed to track twice (2x) or twice the inverse (-2x) of the daily performance of the Dow Jones-UBS Natural Gas SubindexSM, respectively The Dow Jones-UBS Natural Gas SubindexSM is intended to reflect the performance of a rolling position in natural gas futures contracts traded on the NYMEX without regard to income earned on cash positions. An investment in natural gas futures contracts may often perform very differently than the price of physical natural gas.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Ben Levisohn]

  The euro has dropped about 0.8% against the dollar, while the CurrencyShares Euro Trust ETF (FXE) has dropped 0.7% to $136.71 and the Currency Shares Japanese Yen Trust ETF (FXY) has fallen 1%. The ProShares UltrasShort Euro ETF (EUO) has gained 1.3% to $16.77, while the ProShares UltraShort Yen (YCS) has gained 1.9% to $66.58.

• [By Charles Sizemore]

  As always, use common sense when trading. You can be ��ight��about a short and still lose a lot of money if you get caught on the wrong side of a short squeeze. An ETF option to consider in lieu of shorting the yen directly would be the ProShares Ultrashort Yen (YCS).

Top Financial Companies To Own In Right Now: World Acceptance Corp (WRLD)

World Acceptance Corporation operates a small-loan consumer finance business in 12 states and Mexico. The Company is engaged in the small-loan consumer finance business, offering short-term small loans, medium-term larger loans, related credit insurance and ancillary products and services to individuals. As of March 31, 2012, the Company offered standardized installment loans through 1,137 offices in South Carolina, Georgia, Texas, Oklahoma, Louisiana, Tennessee, Illinois, Missouri, New Mexico, Kentucky, Alabama, Wisconsin, and Mexico. The Company serves individuals with limited access to consumer credit from banks, credit unions, other consumer finance businesses and credit card lenders. In the United States offices, the Company also offers income tax return preparation services to its customers and others.

During the fiscal year ended March 31, 2012 (fiscal 2012), the Company opened 69 new offices. In each state in which it operates and in Mexico, the Company offers consumer installment loans, which are standardized by amount and maturity. The Company's loans are consumer installment loans, which are payable in fully amortizing monthly installments with terms generally of 4 to 36 months, and all loans are pre-payable at any time without penalty. During fiscal 2012, the Company's average originated gross loan term was approximately 12 months. As of March 31, 2012, the annual percentage rates on loans offered by the Company, which include interest, fees and other charges as calculated for the purposes of the requirements of the federal Truth in Lending Act, ranged from 24% to 204% depending on the loan size, maturity and the state, in which the loan is made. In addition, in certain states, the Company, as agent for an unaffiliated insurance company, sells credit insurance in connection with its loan transactions.

Specific allowable charges vary by state and, consistent with industry practice, the Company generally charges at or close to the maximum rates allowable under app! licable state law in those states that limit loan rates. Statutes in Texas and Oklahoma allow for indexing the maximum loan amounts to the Consumer Price Index. The Company�� loan products are pre-computed loans in which the finance charge is a combination of origination or acquisition fees, account maintenance fees, monthly account handling fee and other charges permitted by the relevant state laws.

The Company, as an agent for an unaffiliated insurance company, markets and sells credit life, credit accident and health, credit property, and unemployment insurance in connection with its loans in selected states where the sale of such insurance is permitted by law. Credit life insurance provides for the payment in full of the borrower's credit obligation to the lender in the event of death. Credit accident and health insurance provides for repayment of loan installments to the lender, which come due during the insured's period of income interruption resulting from disability from illness or injury. Credit property insurance insures payment of the borrower's credit obligation to the lender in the event, which the personal property pledged as security by the borrower is damaged or destroyed by a covered event. Unemployment insurance provides for repayment of loan installments to the lender, which come due during the insured�� period of involuntary unemployment. The Company requires each customer to obtain specific credit insurance in the amount of the loan for all loans originated in Georgia under the Georgia Industrial Loan Act, and encourages customers to obtain credit insurance for all loans originated in South Carolina, Louisiana, Alabama and Kentucky and on a limited basis in Tennessee, Oklahoma, and Texas. Customers in those states obtain such credit insurance through the Company.

In South Carolina, Georgia, Louisiana, Kentucky and Alabama, the Company charges its borrowers for its non-file premiums in connection with certain loans in lieu of recording and perfecting the! Company� �s security interest in the loan collateral. The premiums are remitted to a third party insurance company for non-file insurance coverage. The Company also markets automobile club memberships to its borrowers in Georgia, Tennessee, New Mexico, Louisiana, Alabama, Texas, and Kentucky as an agent for an unaffiliated automobile club. Club memberships entitle members to automobile breakdown and towing reimbursement and related services. The Company is paid a commission on each membership sold.

The Company offers income tax return preparation and electronic filing. This program is provided in all but a few of the Company�� the United States offices. During fiscal 2012, the Company prepared 44,000 returns. During fiscal 2012, 93.4% of the Company�� revenues were attributable to the United States customers and 6.6% were attributable to customers in Mexico. During fiscal 2012, approximately 84.7% of the Company's loans were generated through refinancings of outstanding loans and the origination of new loans to previous customers.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Geoff Gannon]

  1. World Acceptance (WRLD)
  2. Express Scripts (ESRX)
  3. Walgreen (WAG)
  4. Humana (HUM)
  5. McDonald's (MCD)

  Those are the kinds of companies a younger ��and poorer ��Warren Buffett might buy. Actually, a few of those companies are big enough for Warren Buffett to buy today.

• [By Ong Kang Wei]

  Besides this, I would also avoid companies which had previously fooled investors by using things such as "creative accounting" or "aggressive accounting" (Remember Enron); had been involved in a scandal which required it to restate past financials or go to court with shareholders (Remember the Diamond Foods (DMND) scam); was unable to produce financial statements on time [One recent case being World Acceptance (WRLD)]; or was being investigated by the SEC. These are all some signs of management being dishonest, and I would rather avoid companies with such a history, unless there is a change in the company's management team.