5 Best Financial Stocks To Own For 2014

The American College of Financial Services today launched AnalystSuccess.com, a mobile preparatory program for the chartered financial analyst exam.

The new program for CFA candidates offers web-based packages that are both self-guided and instructor-led. Depending on which package is chosen, the CFA candidate can have access to video exercises and instruction, personal mentors, and live online problem-solving webinars.

“A team of 17 top subject matter experts has collaborated to create the AnalystSuccess program with a focus on what candidates really need to succeed,” Larry Barton, president and chief executive of The American College said in a statement.

Top Oil Service Stocks To Own Right Now: Dj Wilshire Reit Etf (RWR)

SPDR DJ Wilshire REIT (the Fund), formerly DJ Wilshire REIT ETF, seeks to replicate as closely as possible the performance of the Dow Jones Wilshire REIT Index (the Index). The Fund utilizes a passive or indexing approach, and attempts to approximate the investment performance of its Index, by investing in a portfolio of stocks to replicate the Index. The Index seeks to provide an effective representation of the United States real estate investment trust (REIT) market.

The Index consists of companies whose charters are the equity ownership and operation of commercial real estate, and which operate under the REIT Act of 1960. The Index is generally rebalanced monthly. Companies are chosen based upon market capitalization, source of revenue and liquidity. Each REIT in the Index is weighted by its float-adjusted market capitalization. The Fund�� investment manager is SSgA Funds Management, Inc.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Chuck Saletta]

  Where to invest?
  There are countless possibilities for building your retirement portfolio to cover Social Security's gap, depending on your personal risk tolerance, timeline, and need for cash. Here are decent index-style ETFs across various asset types to consider when building your plan:

  Domestic stocks. The Vanguard Total Market (NYSEMKT: VTI  ) ETF is a one-stop-shop that gives you access to around 99.5% by market cap of the publicly held U.S. stocks traded on major exchanges. A mere 3% turnover and microscopically low 0.05% expense ratio makes this a low-cost way to invest in the overall stock market. Investment-grade bonds. The iShares iBoxx $Invest Grade Corp Bond � (NYSEMKT: LQD  ) ETF owns nearly $24 billion worth of investment-grade corporate bonds. A small 4% turnover and low 0.15% expense ratio make this a low-cost way to get bond exposure. Real estate. The SPDR Dow Jones REIT (NYSEMKT: RWR  ) ETF has a bit over $2 billion invested in real estate investment trusts, attempting to match the Dow Jones Select REIT index. With a reasonable 7% turnover and a still pretty low 0.25% expense ratio, this is a reasonable way to get real estate exposure without turning yourself into a landlord. Foreign stocks. Vanguard's Total International Stock Index (NASDAQ: VXUS  ) ETF has nearly $90 billion in foreign stocks under its control, owning pieces of more than 6,100 stocks from 45 countries. With a mere 3% turnover and low 0.16% expense ratio, it's one of the lowest-cost ways to get your hands on foreign companies without being an international accounting expert. Inflation-protected government bonds. The iShares Barclays TIPS Bond (NYSEMKT: TIP  ) ETF has around $20 billion invested in U.S. Treasury inflation-protected bonds. With a low expense ratio of 0.2% and a reasonable 10% turnover rate, it's a decent way to get exposure to inflation-protected bonds. Note, though, that

5 Best Financial Stocks To Own For 2014: Gramercy Property Trust Inc (GPT)

Gramercy Property Trust Inc., formerly Gramercy Capital Corp., incorporated on April 1, 2004, is an integrated, self-managed real estate investment and asset management company. The Company�� principal business is to acquire and manage industrial and office properties, net leased to tenants in major markets throughout the United States. The Company owns, directly or in joint venture, a portfolio of 112 buildings totaling approximately 4.2 million square feet of office and 1.5 million square feet of industrial, net leased on a long-term basis to tenants, including Bank of America, Nestle Waters, Philips Electronics and others. In September 2013, it closed on five new acquisitions. In October 2013, it acquired an approximately 220,000 square foot food-grade cold storage and distribution facility located in Yuma, Arizona. In October 2013, the Company acquired approximately 120,350 square foot industrial facility in Austin, Texas. In November 2013, the Company announced the acquisition of six new properties.

In June 2013, the Company announced that it has closed on the acquisition of a build-to-suit of an approximately 120,0000 square foot industrial facility located in Hialeah, Gardens, Florida in the Miami Metropolitan Statistical Area. In July 2013, Gramercy Property Trust Inc closed on four acquisitions; a wholesale automotive auction facility in Dallas, Texas, an industrial cold storage facility in Southern New Jersey and two cross-dock truck terminals located in Houston, Texas and Orlando, Florida.

The Company's property management business, operating under the name Gramercy Asset Management, manages for third-parties commercial properties leased primarily to regulated financial institutions and affiliated users throughout the United States. The Company is actively acquiring industrial and office assets leased to companies in a variety of industries. The Company will primarily acquire long-term leased assets, but will acquire shorter leases with risk adjusted returns.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Jeff Reeves]

  Next Page

  Best Stocks to Buy for Around $5: Gramercy Property Trust (GPT)

  Gramercy Property Trust (GPT) is a real estate investment trust that manages mainly industrial and office properties across the U.S. As of last year, GPT controlled more than 110 buildings with about 4.2 million square feet of office space and 1.5 million square feet of industrial space.

• [By Chris DeMuth Jr.]

  This article is intended to update our readers on the progress on Gramercy Property Trust (GPT) through 2Q 2013. For background you may want to go back and read our previous articles. In this particular article, I will focus on 4 particular points:

5 Best Financial Stocks To Own For 2014: Piedmont Office Realty Trust Inc.(PDM)

Piedmont Office Realty Trust, Inc. engages in the acquisition and ownership of commercial real estate properties in the United States. Its property portfolio primarily consists of office and industrial buildings, warehouses, and manufacturing facilities. As of December 31, 2007, the company owned interests in 83 properties that are wholly owned and controlled through consolidated joint ventures. It has elected to be taxed as a real estate investment trust and would not be subject to federal income tax, if it distributes approximately 90% of its taxable income to its shareholders. The company was incorporated in 1997 and is headquartered in Norcross, Georgia.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By alicet236]

  Piedmont Office Realty Trust Inc. (PDM) Reached the Five-Year Low of $16.73

  The prices of Piedmont Office Realty Trust Inc. (PDM) shares have declined to close to the 5-year low of $16.73, which is 32.6% off the five-year high of $21.32. Piedmont Office Realty Trust, Inc. is owned by one Guru we are tracking. Among them, 0 have added to their positions during the past quarter. One reduced their position. Piedmont Office Realty Trust Inc., a Maryland corporation was incorporated in 1987. Piedmont Office Realty Trust Inc. has a market cap of $2.7 billion; its shares were traded at around $16.73 with a P/E ratio of 33.10 and P/S ratio of 5.02. The dividend yield of Piedmont Office Realty Trust Inc. stocks is 4.78%. Piedmont Office Realty Trust Inc. had an annual average earnings growth of 27.60% over the past five years.

5 Best Financial Stocks To Own For 2014: ICICI Bank Ltd (IBN)

ICICI Bank Limited (the Bank), incorporated on January 5, 1994, is a banking company. The Bank, together with its subsidiaries, joint ventures and associates, is a diversified financial services group providing a range of banking and financial services, including commercial banking, retail banking, project and corporate finance, working capital finance, insurance, venture capital and private equity, investment banking, broking and treasury products and services. It operates under four segments: retail banking, wholesale banking, treasury and other banking. Retail Banking includes exposures of the Bank, which satisfy the four criteria of orientation, product, granularity and low value of individual exposures for retail exposures. Wholesale Banking includes all advances to trusts, partnership firms, companies and statutory bodies, which are not included under Retail Banking. Treasury includes the entire investment portfolio of the Bank. Other Banking includes hire purchase and leasing operations and other items. As of March 31, 2012, the Bank had 17 subsidiaries. During the fiscal year ended March 31, 2013, the Company added 348 branches and 1,475 automated teller machines (ATMs) to its network, taking its branch and ATM count to 3,100 and 10,481 respectively at March 31, 2013.

Retail Banking

The branch network serves as an integrated channel for deposit mobilization, selected retail asset origination and distribution of third-party products, as well as the focal point for customer service. During fiscal 2011, the Bank continued its focus on increasing the proportion of low-cost retail deposits in its funding base. During fiscal 2011, its retail disbursements increased as it focused on opportunities in residential mortgages, vehicle finance and construction equipment finance. The Company also continued to focus on cross-selling new products and products of its life and general insurance subsidiaries to its existing customers. As of March 31, 2013, its ATMs offer services such a! s opening fixed deposits, payment of credit card and utility bills, payment of insurance premium, mobile re-charges and ultra fast cash.

Small Enterprises

The Company offers banking solutions to small and medium enterprises across industry segments. The Company supports the growth of the small and medium enterprises sector while adopting a cluster-based financing approach for enterprises with a homogeneous profile in industries, such as infrastructure, engineering, information technology, education, life-sciences and agri-based businesses. The Company also offers supply chain financing solutions to the channel partners of large corporates.

Corporate Banking

The Bank offers a suite of corporate banking products, including rupee and foreign currency debt, working capital credit, structured financing, loan syndication and commercial banking products and services. The Company also puts in place product specific teams with a view to focus on designing financial solutions for clients spread across structured finance, project finance, loan syndication and markets. The relationship team also works with its Markets Group to assist customers in devising and executing risk management strategies to address foreign currency, interest rate and liquidity risks. Its loan syndication franchise enables the Bank to structure, underwrite and syndicate rupee and foreign currency debt with Indian and offshore investors. The Bank has built robust sector-specific syndication skills across project finance, merger and acquisition (M&A) financing and structured finance to provide optimal financing solutions.

International Banking

The Company�� international banking business is focused on meeting the foreign currency needs of its Indian corporate clients and partnering them in their global expansion, taking select trade finance exposures linked to imports to India. ICICI Bank has subsidiaries in the United Kingdom, Russia and Canada, branches in the U! nited Sta! tes, Singapore, Bahrain, Hong Kong, Sri Lanka, Dubai International Finance Centre and Qatar Financial Centre and representative offices in the United Arab Emirates, China, South Africa, Bangladesh, Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia. The Bank�� wholly owned subsidiary, ICICI Bank UK PLC, has 11 branches in the United Kingdom and a branch each in Belgium and Germany. ICICI Bank Canada has nine branches. ICICI Bank Eurasia Limited Liability Company has one branch.

The Company develops products and service offerings to meet the requirements of the Non Resident Indian (NRI) community. The Bank launched I-Express, an instant cross-border money transfer option for NRIs through its select partners in the Middle East. The I-Express facility offers the remitter an option of visiting any partner outlet for instant credit into the beneficiary account maintained with ICICI Bank in India, at no extra cost. The Company also launched Fixed Rupee on Money2India.com, a facility that enables NRIs to send the exact rupee amount remittance to India since the exchange rate is confirmed at the time of initiating the remittance.

Inclusive and Rural Banking

Inclusive and Rural Banking include offering credit to the rural market through the Bank's branches and dedicated field teams and financial inclusion through business correspondents. The Bank focuses on improving its product and service offerings to meet the requirements of all participants in the rural market, including farmers, traders, commission agents, small processors and other medium agri-corporates. The Bank focuses on building capacity to implement its financial inclusion plan. The Bank also focused on opening accounts for routing benefit payments under various government schemes and has received the mandate for opening accounts of individuals under these schemes in certain states.

The Bank has also identified 25 business correspondents having a network of over 7,500 customer service points, to service these cust! omers. Th! e Bank provides basic financial services to the unbanked and underbanked

population comprising small and marginal farmers, daily wage labourers, beneficiaries of government. Around 47% of the Bank�� branches are in rural and semi-urban areas

Treasury

The Bank provides provide foreign exchange and derivative products and services to customers through its Markets Group. These products and services include foreign exchange products for hedging currency risk, foreign exchange and interest rate derivatives, such as options and swaps and bullion transactions.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Anuchit Nguyen]

  Indian stocks declined, with the benchmark index halting a four-week rally, after central bank Governor Raghuram Rajan�� comment that inflation is still high. ICICI Bank (IBN) dropped to the lowest level since Sept. 5. The S&P BSE Bankex Index retreated 1.8 percent.

• [By Chuck Carnevale]

  ICICI Bank Limited-ADR (IBN)

  My second featured aggressive financial is ICICI Bank Limited-ADR (IBN), an ADR (American Depository Receipt) headquartered in India. This company is the largest private sector bank in India. Current low valuation is what most attracted me to this aggressive selection. However, I believe that prospective investors should carefully consider the amount of price volatility that has historically occurred with their share price. Nevertheless, for those dividend growth investors with a stomach for risk, this company may be worth taking a closer look at.

• [By Selena Maranjian]

  Finally, Viking's biggest closed positions included News Corp.�and Schlumberger. Other closed positions of interest include India-based ICICI Bank (NYSE: IBN  ) . In April, the bank reported double-digit profit increases and rising ROE, and it recently yielded 2%. Analysts at Zacks downgraded the bank earlier this month, though, citing deterioration of its credit quality and expected steep operating expenses. ICICI is a major lender in India and is growing briskly there, and is�expanding abroad, targeting even China. Its stock is up about 29% over the past year and has averaged 20.5% annually over the past decade.

• [By Selena Maranjian]

  Finally, Caxton Associates' biggest closed positions included Sprint Nextel�and JPMorgan Chase. Other closed positions of interest include India-based ICICI Bank (NYSE: IBN  ) . In April, the bank reported double-digit profit increases and rising ROE. Analysts at Zacks downgraded the bank earlier this month, though, citing deterioration of its credit quality and expected steep operating expenses.