As two of the world's most closely followed investors for the past half-century, it's safe to say people usually like to listen to Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE: BRK-A ) (NYSE: BRK-B ) CEO Warren Buffett and his right-hand man, Vice Chairman Charlie Munger.
To be sure, their fortunes have consistently stood out to investors as encouraging symbols for what can be accomplished through long-term patience and fortitude. So it follows that the men's words have become a gospel of sorts to investors hoping to increase their own fortunes -- like you and I.
Even so, it's important to remember both men have never shied away from rebuking bad behavior, and many of their assertions can be equated to tough love for professionals and everyday retail investors alike.
Here are a few examples, then, of some of their more difficult-to-swallow advice.
Best Quality Stocks For 2015: Herbalife Ltd (HLF)
Herbalife Ltd., incorporated on April 4, 2002, is a global network marketing company that sells weight management, nutritional supplements, energy, sports and fitness products and personal care products through a network of approximately 2.7 million independent distributors, except in China, where the Company sells its products through retail stores. The Company is a network marketing company that sells a range of weight management products, nutritional supplements and personal care products. As of December 31, 2011, the Company sold products in 79 countries throughout the world. Herbalife�� products are grouped in four principal categories: weight management, targeted nutrition, energy, sports and fitness and Outer Nutrition, along with literature and promotional items. The Company�� generates revenue from its six regions: North America, Mexico, South and Central America; EMEA, which consists of Europe, the Middle East and Africa, Asia Pacific (excluding China), and China. On December 31, 2012, the Company acquired a manufacturing facility in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.
The Company�� products are manufactured by third party providers and by the Company in its Suzhou, China facility and in its manufacturing facility located in Lake Forest, California, and then are sold to independent distributors who sell Herbalife products to retail consumers or other distributors. As of December 31, 2011, Herbalife marketed and sold 138 products encompassing over 4,400 stock keeping units (SKUs) through its distributors.
Weight Management
Weight Management is the Company�� largest product category representing 62.5% of its net sales during the year ended December 31, 2011. Formula 1, its product, is a healthy meal with soy protein, essential vitamins, minerals, herbs and nutrients that is available in seven flavors and can help support weight management. Personalized Protein Powder is a soy and whey protein product designed as a boost to Formula 1 to personalize a pe! rson�� daily protein intake to help achieve their desired weight and shape. Weight-loss enhancers, including Herbal Tea Concentrate, Total Control and Prolessa Duo address specific challenges associated with dieting, such as lack of energy, hunger and food craving, fluid retention, decreased metabolism and digestive challenges, by building energy, boosting metabolism, curbing appetite and helping to promote weight loss. Healthy snacks are formulated to provide between-meal nutrition and appetite satisfaction.
Targeted Nutrition
Herbalife markets numerous dietary and nutritional supplements designed to meet its customers��specific nutritional needs. Each of these supplements contains botanicals, vitamins, minerals and other natural ingredients and focuses on specific life stages of its customers, including women, men, children and those with health concerns, including heart health, healthy aging, digestive health, or immune solutions. Niteworks is a product that supports energy, circulatory and vascular health and enhances blood flow to the heart, brain and other vital organs. Garden 7 is designed to provide the phytonutrient benefits of seven servings of fruits and vegetables and has anti-oxidant and health-boosting properties. Best Defense is an effervescent drink that helps boost immunity. In 2011, the Company expanded distribution of its Active Fiber line by introducing its Apple flavored Active Fiber Complex in the South and Central America region.
Energy, Sports and Fitness
Herbalife entered into the energy drink with the introduction of Liftoff, an energy drink containing a blend of B-vitamins, guarana, ginseng, ginkgo and caffeine to increase energy and improve mental clarity for better performance throughout the day. It launched H3Otm Fitness Drink to provide hydration, sustained muscle energy plus antioxidant protection for people living a healthy, active lifestyle. It also introduced H30 Pro in EMEA to provide an isotonic drink to indivi! duals par! ticipating in high activity sports.
Outer Nutrition
The Company�� Outer Nutrition products complement its weight management and targeted nutrition products and aim to improve the appearance of the body, skin and hair. These products include skin cleansers, toners, moisturizers and facial masks, shampoos and conditioners, body-wash items and a selection of fragrances for men and women. Its Herbal Aloe line is its introductory line providing distributors with cleansers, lotions and soaps that help sooth the skin. NouriFusion Multivitamin skin care products are formulated with antioxidant Vitamins A, C and E. It launched a line of anti-aging products as an extension of its Skin Activator product, an advanced face cream that contains a collagen-building Glucosamine Complex to reduce the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles. It also launched a number of regional products including a Soft Green Body Care line in Brazil, the Whitening Serum under the NouriFusion brand in the Asia Pacific region, and the Lively Fragrances perfume line.
Literature, Promotional and Other Products
Herbalife also sells literature and promotional materials, including sales aids, informational audiotapes, videotapes, compact discs (CDs) and digital versatile discs (DVDs) designed to support its distributors��marketing efforts, as well as start-up kits called International Business Packs for new distributors. It introduced BizWorks, a customizable retail Website for its distributors to enhance the on-line experience.
The Company competes with NuSkin Enterprises, Nature�� Sunshine, Alticor/Amway, Melaleuca, Avon Products, Oriflame, Tupperware and Mary Kay, Weight Watchers, Jenny Craig, General Nutrition Centers and Wal-Mart.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Teresa Rivas]
Shares of Herbalife (HLF) were falling more than 4% in morning trading, after news late Monday that the New York attorney general is investigating the company.
Anonymous sources told The New York Post that Eric Schneiderman–much like the Federal Bureau of Investigations and the Justice Department–is looking into allegations that Herbalife is a pyramid scheme, based on testimony from at least two whistleblowers.
The sources also note that Schneiderman�� office has received complaints from former Hispanic Herbalife distributors who claim that the company defrauded them.
Herbalife�� Tuesday slide erases nearly all of the gains it clawed back yesterday, as the stock sold off heavily on Friday when news broke of the federal investigations.
At recent check, Nu Skin�(NUS) and Usana Health Sciences�(USNA) were also trading down.
- [By Patrick M. Sheridan]
Another stock that took a pounding on Friday, but is bouncing back today is Herbalife (HLF). Shares of the multi-level marketer plunged after a report in the Financial Times saying the that the Department of Justice and the FBI had launched a criminal probe of the company. But Herbalife (HLF) said it had "no knowledge of any ongoing investigation by the DOJ or the FBI."
Hot Warren Buffett Stocks To Watch Right Now: Central Iron Ore Ltd (CIO)
Central Iron Ore, Ltd. is a Canada-based exploration and development company. The Company is engaged in the search for and development of iron ore and gold. Its projects include Yilgarn Iron Ore Project, South Darlot Gold Project and Eureka Gold Project. Advisors' Opinion:- [By Monica Wolfe]
These four insiders made their buys during the public offering for $6 per share, and since their buys the price per share is down about -0.83%.� Highlighted below are the insiders��individual buys:
Timothy Keating (CEO):� Bought 8,000 shares for $48,000.� Now holds 98,000 shares of KIPO stock. Taylor Simonton (D):� Bought 3,000 shares for $18,000. Now holds 13,000 shares of KIPO stock. Kyle Rogers (CIO):� Bought 3,072 shares for $18,432.� Now holds 8,096 shares of company stock. Frederic Schweiger (CFO/COO):� Bought 8,000 shares for $48,000.� Now holds on to 26,700 shares of KIPO stock.
Hot Warren Buffett Stocks To Watch Right Now: Zillow Inc (Z)
Zillow, Inc. (Zillow), incorporated on December 13, 2004, is a real estate and home-related information marketplaces. Zillow provides products and services to help consumers through every stage of homeownership buying, selling, renting, borrowing and remodeling. The Company make home-related decisions, and enabling homeowners, buyers, sellers and renters to find and connect with local professionals. Individuals and businesses that use Zillow have updated information on more than 37 million homes and have added nearly 100 million home photos. These profiles include detailed information about homes such as property facts, listing information, and purchase and sale data. In June 2012, the Company acquired RentJuice Corporation. In October 2012, the Company acquired Buyfolio, an online and mobile collaborative shopping platform. In December 2012, the Company acquired San Francisco-based HotPads, a map-based rental and real estate search site.
Zillow generates revenues from local real estate professionals, primarily on an individual subscription basis, and from mortgage professionals and brand advertisers. The Company�� revenues include marketplace revenues, consisting of subscriptions sold to real estate agents and advertising sold on a cost per click (CPC) basis to mortgage lenders, and display revenues consisting of advertising placements sold primarily on a cost per thousand impressions (CPM) basis. The Company provides current home value estimates, or Zestimates, and current rental price estimates, or Rent Zestimates, on approximately 100 million United States homes.
Marketplace Revenues
Marketplace revenues consist of subscriptions sold to real estate agents under its Premier Agent program and CPC advertising related to the Company�� Zillow Mortgage Marketplace sold to mortgage lenders. The Company�� premier agent program offers a suite of marketing and business technology solutions to help real estate agents grow their businesses and personal brands. The! premier agent program allows agents to select products and services that they can tailor to meet their business and advertising needs. In Zillow Mortgage Marketplace, participating qualified mortgage lenders make a prepayment to gain access to consumers interested in connecting with mortgage professionals. Consumers who request rates for mortgage loans in Zillow Mortgage Marketplace are presented with personalized lender quotes from participating lenders. The Company charges mortgage lenders a fee when users click on their links for more information regarding a mortgage loan quote. Mortgage lenders who exhaust their initial prepayment can then prepay additional funds to continue to participate in the marketplace.
Display Revenues
Display revenues primarily consist of graphical Web and mobile advertising sold on a CPM basis to advertisers primarily in the real estate industry, including real estate brokerages, home builders, mortgage lenders and home services providers. The Company�� advertising customers also include telecommunications, automotive, insurance and consumer products companies.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Austin Smith]
The Fool recently explored Seattle. In the video below, CEO Spencer Rascoff introduces us to Zillow (NASDAQ: Z ) , telling us how the online home and real estate marketplace works, what he considers its greatest strengths, and what investors should know about it.
- [By Austin Smith]
The Fool is exploring Seattle. Today, CEO Spencer Rascoff introduces us to Zillow (NASDAQ: Z ) , telling us how the online home and real estate marketplace works, what he considers its greatest strengths, and what investors should know about it.
- [By Rick Munarriz]
Back in April, Zillow (NASDAQ: Z ) became the first company to solicit investor questions ahead of the conference call via Twitter and Facebook. The fast-growing real estate site has always fancied itself a trendsetter. It became the first company with a single letter ticker symbol to list on Nasdaq.
Hot Warren Buffett Stocks To Watch Right Now: Ameren Corp (AEE)
Ameren Corporation (Ameren), incorporated on August 7, 1995, is a utility holding company. The Company�� principal subsidiaries are Union Electric Company (Ameren Missouri) and Ameren Illinois Company (Ameren Illinois). The Company's segments include Ameren Missouri and Ameren Illinois. Ameren Missouri operates a rate-regulated electric generation, transmission and distribution business, and a rate-regulated natural gas transmission and distribution business in Missouri. Ameren Illinois operates a rate-regulated electric and natural gas transmission and distribution business in Illinois. AER consists of non-rate-regulated operations, including Ameren Energy Generating Company (Genco), AmerenEnergy Resources Generating Company (AERG) and Ameren Energy Marketing Company (Marketing Company). In December 2013, the Company announced that it has completed the divestiture of its merchant generation business, formerly known as Ameren Energy Resources Company, LLC (AER).
Ameren Missouri supplies electric and natural gas service to a 24,000-square-mile area in central and eastern Missouri. This area has an estimated population of 2.8 million and includes the Greater St. Louis area. Ameren Missouri supplies electric service to 1.2 million customers and natural gas service to 127,000 customers. Ameren Illinois supplies electric and natural gas utility service to portions of central and southern Illinois having an estimated population of 3.1 million in an area of 40,000 square miles. Ameren Illinois supplies electric service to 1.2 million customers and natural gas service to 806,000 customers. Ameren has other subsidiaries responsible for activities, such as the provision of shared services. Ameren owns an integrated transmission system that consists of the transmission assets of Ameren Missouri, Ameren Illinois and ATXI.
Ameren operates two balancing authority areas, AMMO (which includes Ameren Missouri), and AMIL (which includes Ameren Illinois, ATXI, AERG, and Genco excluding EEI an! d Genco�� Elgin CT energy center). During the year ended December 31, 2012, the peak demand was 8,868 megawatts in AMMO and 9,720 megawatts in AMIL. The Ameren transmission system directly connects with 15 other balancing authority areas for the exchange of electric energy. Ameren Missouri, Ameren Illinois and ATXI are transmission-owning members of MISO. EEI operates its own balancing authority area and its own transmission facilities in southern Illinois. The EEI transmission system is directly connected to the transmission systems of MISO, the Tennessee Valley Authority, and Louisville Gas and Electric Company. EEI�� energy centers are dispatched separately from those of Ameren Missouri, Genco and AERG.
Ameren�� portfolio of natural gas supply resources includes firm transportation capacity and firm no-notice storage capacity leased from interstate pipelines. Ameren Missouri primarily use the interstate pipeline systems of Panhandle Eastern Pipe Line Company, Trunkline Gas Company, Natural Gas Pipeline Company of America, and Mississippi River Transmission Corporation to transport natural gas to energy centers. Ameren Missouri and Ameren Illinois develop and manage a portfolio supply under term agreements with producers, interstate and intrastate firm transportation capacity, firm storage capacity leased from interstate pipelines, and on-system storage facilities to maintain natural gas deliveries to customers throughout the year and especially during peak demand periods. Ameren Missouri and Ameren Illinois primarily use Panhandle Eastern Pipe Line Company, Trunkline Gas Company, Natural Gas Pipeline Company of America, Mississippi River Transmission Corporation, Northern Border Pipeline Company, and Texas Eastern Transmission Corporation interstate pipeline systems to transport natural gas to their systems.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Richard Stavros]
Meanwhile, the companies that are projected to be spending more in 2015 than they are presently include The AES Corp (NYSE: AES), Ameren Corp (NYSE: AEE), American Electric Power Co Inc (NYSE: AEP), CMS Energy Corp (NYSE: CMS), and Northeast Utilities (NYSE: NU).
- [By Ben Levisohn]
Abbvie (ABBV)
Ameren Corp. (AEE)
Arthur J. Gallagher (AJG)
E.I. DuPont de Nemours & Co. (DD)
ENSCO (ESV)
Enterprise Products Partners LP (EPD)
General Mills (GIS)
H&R Block (HRB)
Hancock Holding (HBHC)
Kraft Foods Group (KRFT)
Lorillard (LO)
Magellan Midstream Partners LP (MMP)
MarkWest Energy Partners L P (MWE)
McDonald’s (MCD)
Microchip Technology (MCHP)
NextEra Energy (NEE)
Regency Centers (REG)
TELUS Corp. (TU)
West Corp. (WSTC)
Williams Companies (WMB) - [By Justin Loiseau]
Regulations station
Ameren (NYSE: AEE ) missed last quarter on sales and earnings, but the company's making major moves to stabilize its income. Since an announcement last December, Ameren has been selling off its generation business to move entirely into regulated territory.
Hot Warren Buffett Stocks To Watch Right Now: Nevada Gold Corp (NVGC)
Nevada Gold Corp., incorporated on May 31, 2011, is an exploration-stage company. The Company is primarily engaged in the acquisition and exploration of mining properties.
The Company has an option to acquire certain claims located the Long Canyon Gold Trend of Northern Nevada State. As of February 28, 2013, the Company had no revenue.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By John Udovich]
Small cap OTC stocks Sovereign Lithium Inc (OTCMKTS: SLCO), Life Stem Genetics Inc (OTCMKTS: LIFS), Nevada Gold Corp (OTCMKTS: NVGC), Guar Global Ltd (OTCMKTS: GGBL) and Makism 3D Corp (OTCMKTS: MDDD) all saw their trading halted late last year by the SEC, but now all of these stocks are trading again. So what's going on and why the sudden crackdown? First, here is a quick look at what happened to the following five small cap stocks:
Hot Warren Buffett Stocks To Watch Right Now: Coinstar Inc.(CSTR)
Coinstar, Inc., through its subsidiaries, provides automated retail solutions primarily in the United States, Canada, Puerto Rico, Ireland, and the United Kingdom. The company owns and operates self-service Redbox kiosks that enable consumers to rent or purchase movies and video games; and self-service coin-counting kiosks where consumers can convert their coin to cash, a gift card, or an E-certificate. It also engages in identifying, evaluating, building, and developing new self-service concepts in the automated retail space, which includes coffee, refurbished electronics, and photo self-service concepts. As of December 31, 2011, the company had 35,400 Redbox kiosks in 29,300 locations and 20,200 coin-counting kiosks in 19,900 locations primarily in supermarkets, drug stores, mass merchants, financial institutions, convenience stores, and restaurants. Coinstar, Inc. was founded in 1991 and is headquartered in Bellevue, Washington.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Canadian Value]
Position % of Fund Assets 1) First American Financial Corp. (FAF) 7.0% 2) Apple, Inc. (AAPL) 6.5% 3) Coinstar, Inc. (CSTR) 4.8% 4) EMC Corp. (EMC) 4.4% 5) Coach, Inc. (COH) 4.4% 6) Kohl's Corp. (KSS) 4.1% 7) Blucora, Inc. (BCOR) 4.0% 8) Tetra Tech, Inc. (TTEK) 3.1% 9) OM Group, Inc. (OMG) 3.0% 10) American International Group, Inc. (AIG) 2.8% TOTAL 44.1% One area that we believe still offers some value in the market is in high quality, large��ap technology stocks that may be momentarily out��f��avor as they transition from rapid growth to slower growth. In particular, we become interested when that transition is also accompanied by a change in capital allocation policies designed to return more cash to shareholders in the form of dividends and share repurchases. We believe that Apple and EMC are two of the absolute highest quality technology businesses in the world and both have recently announced very material, shareholder��friendly changes to how they will allocate capital.
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