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GOLDMAN: These Are The 40 Most Undervalued Stocks In The Market

Lucas Kawa | Jan. 4, 2013, 6:22 PM |

blumenbiene / Flickr

The S&P 500 booked a nice 13 percent return in 2012.

For 2013, Goldman Sachs' equity strategy team expects the index to hit 1,575 by year-end.

However, they expect some stocks to do better than others.

The firm's recently released "US Monthly Chartbook" includes a list of stocks with the most upside opportunity relative to Goldman analysts' price targets.

Many of these companies highlighted are either in energy production or energy equipment.

The stocks listed offer 24 to 44 percent upside relative to their current prices. We've arranged the stocks from least to most upside.

Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/goldman-sachs-40-stocks-with-upside-2013-1?op=1#ixzz2OsOX1l7b

Undervalued Health Stocks

Laura Joszt

Published: Monday, January 7th 2013

In 2012 the S&P 500 reported a 13% return, much better than some other stock markets in the world. And investors are proving to be perpetually optimistic, forecasting the market will do surprisingly well in 2013, as well.

Goldman Sachs’ equity strategy team released a list of stocks with the most upside given Goldman analysts’ price targets. The 40 stocks on the list offer 24% to 44% upside.

The list offers a large number of energy companies, which isn’t surprising given the fact that investors are looking to get in on America’s move toward energy independence.

Here, we’ve pulled five health-related stocks for your consideration.

(Stocks listed in alphabetical order)

Alexion Pharmaceuticals
Symbol: ALXN
Current Price: $96.80
Upside to target: 28%

A pharmaceutical company looking to develop cures for severe, life-threatening and rare diseases.

Edwards Lifesciences
Symbol: EW
Current Price: $91.79
Upside to target: 24.2%

The company designs, manufactures and markets tissue heart valves and hemodynamic monitoring devices.

PerkinElmer
Symbol: PKI
Current Price: $33.08
Upside to target: 26%

A leader in human and environmental health, offering therapeutic and disease research, prenatal screening, environmental testing and industrial monitoring.

Prudential Financial
Symbol: PRU
Current Price: $56.15
Upside to target: 36.9%

A financial services and insurance firm offering life insurance and long-term care insurance.

Stryker Corp.
Symbol: SYK
Current Price: $56.65
Upside to target: 24%

A medical device and equipment manufacturer specializing in orthopedic medical technology.

Read the full list here

Higher stock prices help Americans regain wealth

By CHRISTOPHER S. RUGABER and DAVE CARPENTER | Associated Press 

WASHINGTON (AP) — A jump in the stock market and rising home prices are bringing Americans closer to regaining the wealth they lost in the recession.

U.S. household net worth dipped in the April-June quarter, according to a Federal Reserve report released Thursday. But gains in stock and home equity since the last quarter ended have likely raised total household wealth to within 5 percent of its peak before the Great Recession.

Millions of Americans still feeling the effects of the housing bust, or who don't own any stocks, haven't benefited as much.

Still, the increased overall wealth could give many people and businesses the confidence to step up spending and boost U.S. economic growth and job creation. That's a key goal of the bond-buying plan the Federal Reserve unveiled last week. The Fed hopes to drive interest rates down and stock prices up.

Household net worth reflects the value of assets like homes, bank accounts and stocks minus debts like mortgages and credit cards. It peaked before the recession at $67.4 trillion.

Tumbling home and stock prices during the recession cost Americans nearly a quarter of their wealth. From a pre-recession peak of $67.4 trillion in the fall of 2007, household wealth plummeted to $51.2 trillion in early 2009. But as of the April-June quarter, it's climbed back to $62.7 trillion.

The Fed report also found that:

— Americans borrowed more in the April-June quarter, marking the largest increase since the first quarter of 2008. Mortgage debt declined again, as it has each quarter for more than three years. But Americans are taking on more student and auto loans.

— After-tax incomes have inched up, making debts slightly easier to manage. U.S. household debt equaled about 103 percent of after-tax income in the April-June quarter. That was down from 104 percent in the first quarter. The ratio had soared to 125 percent at the height of the housing bubble, up from about 90 percent during the 1990s.

— Corporations have begun to spend some of the cash they built up during the recession. Corporations held $1.73 trillion cash at the end of last quarter, down from its near-peak of $1.75 trillion in the first quarter. If the trend continues, it could signal that companies are investing and expanding more, which could lead to more hiring.

— State and local governments borrowed more for the first time in six quarters. That suggests that steep spending cuts by those governments, which have cost hundreds of thousands of jobs, may slow.

Bill Hampel, chief economist at the Credit Union National Association, calculates that Americans will add $1.5 trillion to $2 trillion to their net worth in the current July-September quarter. That would bring net worth to about 4.3 percent below its pre-recession peak.

"We're not there yet, but we're getting close," Hampel said. "Households are rebuilding their capacity to spend."

For now, many consumers are holding back in the face of still-sluggish job growth and a high unemployment rate, now 8.1 percent. Consumer confidence is at its lowest point since November, according to The Conference Board, a private research group.

Once consumer confidence "turns around, we could get a sustained period of pretty decent household spending," Hampel said.

Dennis Fassett, a health care IT consultant in the Detroit area, has benefited from rebounding home and stock prices. Yet he remains anxious about the economy.

Four years ago, behind in his retirement savings and worried about his job in the struggling auto industry, Fassett took a chance and bought rental real estate at reduced prices. Prices for his investment properties have since risen. And his retirement account is back within 10 percent of its pre-crash level.

"The economy's still looking funky," said Fassett, 50. "But I'm seeing signs of life."

Despite the steady increase in overall U.S. net worth, many Americans have seen little or no improvement in their own wealth. The gains have occurred mainly in stocks, bonds and other financial assets. Fifty-four percent of U.S. households owned no stocks of stock mutual funds as of the end of 2011 , according to data from the Investment Company Institute.

Home equity, the primary source of wealth for most American households, has just barely started to recover.

The value of Americans' stock and mutual fund holdings fell a little over 4 percent last quarter to $14.3 trillion. That lowered net worth by about $320 billion to $62.7 trillion. But it's well above the recession-era low of $9.1 trillion at the end of 2008.

By contrast, home equity rose in the second quarter for only the second time since 2006, up 2.1 percent to $16.9 trillion. That's up from a bottom of about $16.1 trillion. Home equity remains far below the $22.7 trillion reached in 2006, at the peak of the bubble.

Stocks account for about 22 percent of Americans' wealth. Housing makes up 27 percent, down from one-third at the peak of the bubble. The rest of household net worth is made up of savings accounts, bonds, pension fund holdings and ownership stakes in small businesses.

Stock ownership is much more concentrated than real estate. About 80 percent of stocks are held by the wealthiest 10 percent of the population. That means a majority of Americans don't enjoy much of a lift from stock-market rallies.

That said, wealthier Americans drive an outsize proportion of consumer spending: About 20 percent of Americans account for about 40 percent of spending.

Americans with 401(k) retirement savings accounts, especially those who have continued to contribute to them, have benefited from the stock market's gains. More than 96 percent of workers with 401(k) plans now have more money in their accounts than before the market top five years ago, according to the Employee Benefit Research Institute in Washington.

___

Carpenter reported from Chicago.

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/higher-stock-prices-help-americans-regain-wealth-214428620--finance.html

Top 10 Stocks Held by Investment Clubs in August 2012 in U.S.

1 AAPL Apple 1297 1 2 GE General Electric Co. 1037 2 3 JNJ Johnson & Johnson 843 3 4 F Ford Motor Co. 759 4 5 MSFT Microsoft Corporation 681 5 6 INTC Intel Corporation 656 6 7 SYK Stryker Corporation 641 7 8 PEP PepsiCo 630 8 9 PG Procter & Gamble 620 9 10 MCD McDonald's Corporation 613 10

Data by myICLUB.com, the World's Most Popular Solution for Investment Club Accounting and Operations

What Happened to the Middle Class in U.S,?

What Happened to the Middle Class?

By Morgan Housel | More Articles 
August 28, 2012 | Comments (142)

It's a bad time for millions of Americans. No surprise, then, that a survey by the Pew Research Center last week showed that 85% of self-described "middle-class" Americans say it's harder to maintain a middle-class lifestyle today than it was a decade ago. Only 9% said it was less difficult.

But here's what is surprising -- or, at least, telling. Pew asked respondents "How much do you blame (each) for the difficulties the middle class has faced in the past 10 years?" They answered:

Source: Pew Research Center. Graphic recreated.

They blamed everyone -- except themselves. How fair is this?

Step back for a second. Why middle-class finances have deteriorated is one of the most complicated subjects out there. Whenever someone points the blame at one reason or one person, stop listening. They've got it wrong. There could be thousands of reasons, most of which we don't understand. Part of the problem owes to globalization. Some of the blame lies with health care costs, changes in family structures, educational attainment... the list goes on and on.

But one factor that doesn't get enough attention is the role perceptions alone have played in the decline of the middle class.

A group of Fools and I met a business executive named Andy last year. We asked him what concerned him about America. He responded:

What concerns me most is the perception that people share that it is so terrible right now. I think life in America has been tough since the time of the Colonists all through World War 2 and all the way through today. The middle class has gotten it all twisted. Maybe it's because of the credit cards and the candy bars that people are being fed, but the reality is, I think we have the same amount of discretionary income, and the ability to guide our own future. But our values have radically shifted.

Now, discretionary incomes for millions of Americans have declined in recent years. But he makes a valid point when the dates are stretched out further.

Take measures of subjective well-being, e.g., surveys that ask, "How happy are you with life?" Most show that the percentage of Americans very satisfied with life peaked around the 1950s. Median household income back then was $31,500, adjusted for inflation. Today it's a hair over $50,000 per household. So we're richer. An average American household in 1950 spent 30% of its budget on food. Today, that's down to 13%. The shares going toward shelter and apparel have dropped sharply in the last half-century, too. So we have more disposable income. The average new American home in 1975 was 1,500 square feet. Today, it's 2,169 square feet. So we're also living in bigger, nicer homes. And all of this has happened decades after reported happiness peaked.

You don't have to take this back quite so far: In 1990, the average American family spent 5% of its budget on entertainment, while in 2010, 5.2% of spending was devoted to having fun. Or, if you want to take this back a century or so, consider this quote from Matt Ridley's bookThe Rational Optimist: "Today, of Americans officially designated as 'poor,' 99 per cent have electricity, running water, flush toilets, and a refrigerator; 95 per cent have a television, 88 per cent a telephone, 71 per cent a car and 70 per cent air conditioning. Cornelius Vanderbilt had none of these."

So why do so many middle-class Americans feel cheated? It's not so much that they've gotten poorer, but that a few have gotten so much richer. 

According to author Tim Noah, "From 1980 to 2005, 80% of the total increase in Americans'net income went to the top 1%." Nobel-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz points out another mindblower:

The upper 1 percent of Americans are now taking in nearly a quarter of the nation's income every year. In terms of wealth rather than income, the top 1 percent control 40 percent. Their lot in life has improved considerably. Twenty-five years ago, the corresponding figures were 12 percent and 33 percent.

If you're a member of the middle class watching this happen, you feel worse off. It doesn't matter that you're better off in absolute terms. When you go from a minivan to a minivan with an extra cupholder, while the corporate exec goes from a Lincoln Town Car to a fleet of Bentleys and a private jet, you feel like you've slipped behind. We don't feel richer, because the goal posts of what counts as "rich" have moved dramatically.

There's actually a theory that says this explains the consumer debt boom over the last few decades. It's the "keeping up with the Jonses" effect, where the aspirations of the middle class are inflated by the legitimate wealth of the rich. "Trickle-down economics may be a chimera, but trickle-down behaviorism is very real," writes Stiglitz.

Here's a good example of how powerful this is. Last week, Nike (NYSE: NKE  ) said the new LeBron James shoe could retail for a whopping $315. Many were shocked at the price, but others went further. Marc H. Morial, CEO of National Urban League, called on Nike to drop the shoe altogether. "To release such an outrageously overpriced product while the nation is struggling to overcome an unemployment crisis is insensitive at best," he said. "It represents twisted priorities and confused values."

There's an easy solution for those who can't afford $315 sneakers: Don't buy them. But Morial's call implies that many consumers won't be able to fight the urge.

Here's why that's important: We know that the consumer debt used to feed those urges has played a big role in the deterioration of middle-class finances in recent years. Brookings economist Karen Dynan has shown that the households that levered up with the most debt last decade have had to cut their spending by the most today. A Federal Reserve study showed that the regions that accumulated the most debt last decade saw some of the largest declines in employment over the past few years. Congress, CEOs, or the Bush administration didn't force those consumers into debt. They chose it.

To the extent that shifting values have spawned the rise in debt, which has in turn contributed to the deterioration of middle-class finances, there's no one to blame but yourself.

Median Household Income in the United States

First off - what is median household income?

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, "household median income" is defined as "the amount which divides the income distribution into two equal groups, half having income above that amount, and half having income below that amount."

The U.S. Census Bureau currently publishes median household income data from 1975 until present day.

Year

No. of Households

Nominal $

Inflation Adjusted $

2010

118,682,000

$47,022

$49,445

2009

117,538,000

$47,361

$50,599

2008

117,181,000

$47,832

$50,939

2007

116,783,000

$47,752

$52,823

2006

116,011,000

$45,817

$52,124

2005

114,384,000

$44,082

$51,739

2004

113,343,000

$42,167

$51,174

2003

112,000,000

$41,185

$51,353

2002

111,278,000

$40,347

$51,398

2001

109,297,000

$40,148

$52,005

2000

108,209,000

$39,926

$53,164

1999

106,434,000

$38,714

$53,252

1998

103,874,000

$36,932

$51,944

1997

102,528,000

$35,086

$50,123

1996

101,018,000

$33,593

$49,112

1995

99,627,000

$32,191

$48,408

1994

98,990,000

$30,321

$46,937

1993

97,107,000

$29,244

$46,419

1992

96,426,000

$28,547

$46,646

1991

95,669,000

$27,937

$47,032

1990

94,312,000

$27,601

$48,423

1989

93,347,000

$26,550

$49,076

1988

92,830,000

$24,879

$48,216

1987

91,124,000

$23,685

$47,848

1986

89,479,000

$22,588

$47,256

1985

88,458,000

$21,405

$45,640

1984

86,789,000

$20,295

$44,802

1983

85,407,000

$18,859

$43,453

1982

83,918,000

$18,422

$43,758

1981

83,527,000

$17,375

$43,876

1980

82,368,000

$16,017

$44,616

1979

80,776,000

$14,605

$46,074

1978

77,330,000

$13,121

$46,202

1977

76,030,000

$11,743

$44,481

1976

74,142,000

$10,962

$44,201

1975

72,867,000

$10,218

$43,479

1974

71,163,000

$9,600

$44,649

1973

69,859,000

$8,945

$46,109

1972

68,251,000

$8,226

$45,196

1971

66,676,000

$7,671

$43,340

1970

64,778,000

$7,396

$43,766

1969

63,401,000

$7,057

$44,108

1968

62,214,000

$6,464

$42,527

1967

60,813,000

$5,952

$40,770

Davemanuel.com Articles That Mention Median Household Income:

Report: Median Household Income Has Fallen Since Economic "Recovery" Started

Median Household Income Continues to Drop in the United States

It's Good to Live Near Washington, D.C. 

The High Cost of Gasoline

It's Now Been Three Years Since The "Great Recession" Started.. 


Source: U.S. Census Bureau (*.pdf)


http://www.davemanuel.com/median-household-income.php

Inflation Calculator
http://www.davemanuel.com/inflation-calculator.php

World power swings back to America

The American phoenix is slowly rising again. Within five years or so, the US will be well on its way to self-sufficiency in fuel and energy. Manufacturing will have closed the labour gap with China in a clutch of key industries. The current account might even be in surplus.

The making of computers, electrical equipment, machinery, autos and other goods may shift back to the US from China. Photo: AP

By Ambrose Evans-Pritchard, International Business Editor

5:53PM BST 23 Oct 2011

Assumptions that the Great Republic must inevitably spiral into economic and strategic decline - so like the chatter of the late 1980s, when Japan was in vogue - will seem wildly off the mark by then.

Telegraph readers already know about the "shale gas revolution" that has turned America into the world’s number one producer of natural gas, ahead of Russia.

Less known is that the technology of hydraulic fracturing - breaking rocks with jets of water - will also bring a quantum leap in shale oil supply, mostly from the Bakken fields in North Dakota, Eagle Ford in Texas, and other reserves across the Mid-West.

"The US was the single largest contributor to global oil supply growth last year, with a net 395,000 barrels per day (b/d)," said Francisco Blanch from Bank of America, comparing the Dakota fields to a new North Sea.

Total US shale output is "set to expand dramatically" as fresh sources come on stream, possibly reaching 5.5m b/d by mid-decade. This is a tenfold rise since 2009.

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The US already meets 72pc of its own oil needs, up from around 50pc a decade ago.

"The implications of this shift are very large for geopolitics, energy security, historical military alliances and economic activity. As US reliance on the Middle East continues to drop, Europe is turning more dependent and will likely become more exposed to rent-seeking behaviour from oligopolistic players," said Mr Blanch.

Meanwhile, the China-US seesaw is about to swing the other way. Offshoring is out, 're-inshoring' is the new fashion.

"Made in America, Again" - a report this month by Boston Consulting Group - said Chinese wage inflation running at 16pc a year for a decade has closed much of the cost gap. China is no longer the "default location" for cheap plants supplying the US.

A "tipping point" is near in computers, electrical equipment, machinery, autos and motor parts, plastics and rubber, fabricated metals, and even furniture.

"A surprising amount of work that rushed to China over the past decade could soon start to come back," said BCG's Harold Sirkin.

The gap in "productivity-adjusted wages" will narrow from 22pc of US levels in 2005 to 43pc (61pc for the US South) by 2015. Add in shipping costs, reliability woes, technology piracy, and the advantage shifts back to the US.

The list of "repatriates" is growing. Farouk Systems is bringing back assembly of hair dryers to Texas after counterfeiting problems; ET Water Systems has switched its irrigation products to California; Master Lock is returning to Milwaukee, and NCR is bringing back its ATM output to Georgia. NatLabs is coming home to Florida.

Boston Consulting expects up to 800,000 manufacturing jobs to return to the US by mid-decade, with a multiplier effect creating 3.2m in total. This would take some sting out of the Long Slump.

As Cleveland Fed chief Sandra Pianalto said last week, US manufacturing is "very competitive" at the current dollar exchange rate. Whether intended or not, the Fed's zero rates and $2.3 trillion printing blitz have brought matters to an abrupt head for China.

Fed actions confronted Beijing with a Morton's Fork of ugly choices: revalue the yuan, or hang onto the mercantilist dollar peg and import a US monetary policy that is far too loose for a red-hot economy at the top of the cycle. Either choice erodes China's wage advantage. The Communist Party chose inflation.

Foreign exchange effects are subtle. They take a long to time play out as old plant slowly runs down, and fresh investment goes elsewhere. Yet you can see the damage to Europe from an over-strong euro in foreign direct investment (FDI) data.

Flows into the EU collapsed by 63p from 2007 to 2010 (UNCTAD data), and fell by 77pc in Italy. Flows into the US rose by 5pc.

Volkswagen is investing $4bn in America, led by its Chattanooga Passat plant. Korea's Samsung has begun a $20bn US investment blitz. Meanwhile, Intel, GM, and Caterpillar and other US firms are opting to stay at home rather than invest abroad.

Europe has only itself to blame for the current “hollowing out” of its industrial base. It craved its own reserve currency, without understanding how costly this “exorbitant burden” might prove to be.

China and the rising reserve powers have rotated a large chunk of their $10 trillion stash into EMU bonds to reduce their dollar weighting. The result is a euro too strong for half of EMU.

The European Central Bank has since made matters worse (for Italy, Spain, Portugal, and France) by keeping rates above those of the US, UK, and Japan. That has been a deliberate policy choice. It let real M1 deposits in Italy contract at a 7pc annual rate over the summer. May it live with the consequences.

The trade-weighted dollar has been sliding for a decade, falling 37pc since 2001. This roughly replicates the post-Plaza slide in the late 1980s, which was followed - with a lag - by 3pc of GDP shrinkage in the current account deficit. The US had a surplus by 1991.

Charles Dumas and Diana Choyleva from Lombard Street Research argue that this may happen again in their new book "The American Phoenix".

The switch in advantage to the US is relative. It does not imply a healthy US recovery. The global depression will grind on as much of the Western world tightens fiscal policy and slowly purges debt, and as China deflates its credit bubble.

Yet America retains a pack of trump cards, and not just in sixteen of the world’s top twenty universities.

It is almost the only economic power with a fertility rate above 2.0 - and therefore the ability to outgrow debt - in sharp contrast to the demographic decay awaiting Japan, China, Korea, Germany, Italy, and Russia.

Europe's EMU soap opera has shown why it matters that America is a genuine nation, forged by shared language and the ancestral chords of memory over two centuries, with institutions that ultimately work and a real central bank able to back-stop the system.

The 21st Century may be American after all, just like the last.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/comment/ambroseevans_pritchard/8844646/World-power-swings-back-to-America.html