Best Regional Bank Stocks To Own For 2015

Best Regional Bank Stocks To Own 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. Herbalifes 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 Companys 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 C hina. On December 31, 2012, the Company acquired a manufacturing facility in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.

The Companys 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 Companys 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 prote! in product designed as a boost to Formula 1 to personalize a pe! rsons 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 i! ntro duc! ed H30 Pro in EMEA to provide an isotonic drink to indivi! duals par! ticipating in high activity sports.

Outer Nutrition

The Companys 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 No uriFusion 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, Natures Sunshine, Alticor/Amway, Melaleuca, Avon Products, Oriflame, Tupperware and Mary Kay, Weight Watchers, Jenny Craig, General Nutrition Centers and Wal-Mart.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Monica Wolfe]

  Herbalife (HLF)

  As of the close of the third quarter there were eleven guru owners of Herbalife Ltd. Thes! e gurus h! eld a combined weighting of 24.60%. During the third quarter, there were four gurus making buys and four making sells of their stake in HLF.

• [By Holly LaFon]

  Question: Ackman questions the legitimacy of Herbalife (HLF). Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.A)(BRK.B) owns Pampered Chef. Has there been any impact on Pampered Chef? Its a multi-level marketing company.

• [By David Zeiler]

  Just this year, top activist investors have made a lot of waves in the market. A few of the more prominent examples:

  A series of mid-August tweets (the first on Aug. 13) from Carl Icahn, perhaps the best-known activist investor of them all, has helped push Apple stock up 5%. Icahn is urging Apple CEO Tim Cook to step up its stock buyback program. The dramatic announcement that CEO Steve Ballmer would be surrendering the reins to Microsoft Corp. (Nasdaq: MSFT) within 12 months was driven in large part by efforts of hedge fund ValueAct. The activist shareholder used its large stake in the company to get a seat on the board. Among the items on ValueAct's agenda was a change at the top. MSFT shot up 7% on the day of the announcement. Activist investor Bill Ackman finally threw in the towel this week on his three-year attempt to revive the fortunes of troubled retailer J.C. Penney. He sold his entire 18% stake, 39 million shares, to Citigroup on Aug. 26 for a loss of some $500 million. The episode has helped erase 50% of the value of Penney stock, although the announcement that Ackman had bailed out did give JCP a 2.5% boost. Dan Loeb had much better luck than Ackman with Yahoo! Inc. (Nasdaq: YHOO). After building up a 5% stake over 2011 and 2012, Loeb pushed for the ouster of CEO Scott Thomson in favor of Marissa Mayer and persuaded the company to sell 7% of its stake in Chinese Internet company Alibaba. Yahoo bought back Loeb's shares in July, but was able to pocket a profit of nearly 80% - as were any YHOO shareholders who were along for the ride. In one of! the craz! iest cases of activist investing, Ackman and Icahn squared off over nutritional-supplement maker Herbalife Ltd. (NYSE: HLF) earlier this year. Ackman shorted the stock while Icahn increased his stake. The fight sparked a lot of short-term volatility, but at this point Icahn is winning big time - HLF is up a whopping 75% since the battle began in February.
• [By Zacks Investment Research]

  But what if that company has put together a hot streak of earnings beats? What if a company has beaten not just two or three quarters in a row, but 20 quarters in a row - or 5 years - without a miss? Apple (AAPL) had put together just such an impressive earnings surprise streak until it finally missed in late 2011. In the 6 quarters since the miss, it has missed another 3 times. Share price, however, peaked in between the second and third miss.

  But during its earnings surprise streak, investors were handsomely rewarded. Perfection Isn't Easy Even with all of the unknowns in investing, I'd rather buy a company that is on an earnings hot streak, than one that is dead cold. Companies with a perfect earnings track record for the last 5 years are a small select group. It's incredibly difficult to keep beating for 5 years through all the ups and downs in the economy. Management has to manage expectations very, very well. There's little room for error. That takes skill (and m aybe some luck.) These three companies haven't missed in 5 years. I featured two of these companies last quarter and they came through with another earnings beat. Of course, an earnings beat doesn't necessarily mean a stock will rise afterwards. Being light on guidance or an earnings/sales warning, for instance, could put the damper on an earnings beat. But I still like my chances with an earnings beat versus an earnings miss. Will their streaks continue this earnings season? 3 Companies With Perfect Earnings Surprise Track Records1. Wyndham Worldwide (WYN)Wyndham is one of the largest hospitality companies in the worl! d. It ope! rates about 630,000 hotel rooms worldwide and operates vacation rentals and exchanges with over 106,000 vacation properties in 100 countries. It also operates a network of 190 timeshare properties with about 915,000 owners.Forward P/E = 15.4Expected 2013 earnings growth = 15%Zacks Rank #3 (Hold)Reporting second quarter results on July 24 2. Jarden C orporation (JAH)Jarde

source from Top Penny Stocks For 2015:http://www.topstocksforum.com/best-regional-bank-stocks-to-own-for-2015.html