Top 5 International Stocks To Invest In 2015

The property and casualty business of insurance company Kemper� (NYSE: KMPR  ) has a new bean counter.

On Monday, the Chicago-based insurance company�announced�that Elizabeth "Libbie" Bock�will take on the role of CFO for the P&C division, where she would be�responsible for all aspects of operations, reporting, control, planning and analysis, financial management, and competitive analysis.

Bock, who comes with more than�11 years of experience in financial leadership roles, will report to Denise I. Lynch, Kemper's group executive, and who says of the new CFO, "Her leadership, experience, and insights will help us build even deeper financial acumen throughout the businesses."

Bock was with�Experian until her appointment with Kemper, and before that�she held various financial leadership positions at The Hartford. She was also a senior consultant with Towers Perrin and has served as coordinator for international affairs, in the Office of the Governor for the Mie Prefectural Government in Japan.

Top 5 International Stocks To Invest In 2015: AMR Corp (AAMRQ)

AMR Corporation (AMR), incorporated in October 1982, operates in the airline industry. The Company�� principal subsidiary is American Airlines, Inc. (American). As of December 31, 2011, American provided scheduled jet service to approximately 160 destinations throughout North America, the Caribbean, Latin America, Europe and Asia. AMR Eagle Holding Corporation (AMR Eagle), a wholly owned subsidiary of AMR, owns two regional airlines, which do business as American Eagle - American Eagle Airlines, Inc. and Executive Airlines, Inc. (collectively, the American Eagle carriers). American also contracts with an independently owned regional airline, which does business as AmericanConnection (the AmericanConnection carrier). As of December 31, 2011, AMR Eagle operated approximately 1,500 daily departures, offering scheduled passenger service to over 175 destinations in North America, Mexico and the Caribbean.

American, AMR Eagle and the AmericanConnection airline served more than 250 cities in approximately 50 countries with, on average, 3,400 daily flights and the combined network fleet numbered approximately 900 aircraft as of December 31, 2011. American Airlines is also a founding member of the oneworld alliance, which includes British Airways, Cathay Pacific, Finnair, LAN Airlines, Iberia, Qantas, JAL, Malev Hungarian, Mexicana, Royal Jordanian and S7 Airlines. Together, oneworld members serve 750 destinations in approximately 150 countries, with about 8,500 daily departures. American is also one of the scheduled air freight carriers in the world, providing a range of freight and mail services to shippers throughout its system onboard American�� passenger fleet.

To improve access to each other�� markets, American has established marketing relationships with other airlines and rail companies. As of December 31, 2011, American had marketing relationships with Air Berlin, Air Pacific, Air Tahiti Nui, Alaska Airlines, British Airways, Cape Air, Cathay Pacific, China Eastern Airl! ines, Dragonair, Deutsche Bahn German Rail, EL AL, Etihad Airways, EVA Air, Finnair, GOL, Gulf Air, Hawaiian Airlines, Iberia, Japan Airlines (JAL), Jet Airways, JetStar Airways, LAN (includes LAN Airlines, LAN Argentina, LAN Ecuador and LAN Peru), Niki Airlines, Qantas Airways, Royal Jordanian, S7 Airlines, and Vietnam Airlines.

American has established the AAdvantage frequent flyer program (AAdvantage). AAdvantage members earn mileage credits by flying on American, American Eagle and the AmericanConnection carrier or by using services of other participants in the AAdvantage program. Mileage credits can be redeemed for free, discounted or upgraded travel on American, American Eagle or other participating airlines, or for other awards. American sells mileage credits and related services to other participants in the AAdvantage program. There are over 1,000 program participants, including a credit card issuer, hotels, car rental companies, and other products and services companies in the AAdvantage program. As of December 31, 2011, AAdvantage had approximately 69 million total members.

The Company competes with Alaska Airlines (Alaska), Delta Air Lines (Delta), Frontier Airlines, JetBlue Airways (JetBlue), Hawaiian Airlines, Southwest Airlines (Southwest) and AirTran Airways (Air Tran), Spirit Airlines, United Airlines (United) and Continental Airlines (Continental), US Airways and Virgin America Airlines.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Sam Mamudi]

  The company created when American Airlines (AAMRQ) and US Airways Group Inc. (LCC) merge will list its shares on the Nasdaq Stock Market, a victory for the exchange operator after losing Twitter Inc. (TWTR)�� initial public offering.

Top 5 International Stocks To Invest In 2015: Spartan Stores Inc.(SPTN)

Spartan Stores, Inc. operates as a grocery distributor and retailer principally in Michigan and Indiana. The company operates in two segments, Distribution and Retail. The Distribution segment provides approximately 43,000 stock-keeping units, including dry groceries, produce, dairy products, meat, deli, bakery, frozen food, seafood, floral products, general merchandise, pharmacy, and health and beauty care items to approximately 375 independent grocery stores and 96 corporate-owned stores, as well as offers approximately 3,600 private brand grocery and general merchandise items. It also provides value-added services, including site identification and market analyses; store planning and development; marketing, promotion, advertising; technology and information; accounting and tax preparation; human resource; coupon redemption; product reclamation; printing; category management; real estate; and construction management services. The Retail segment operates 97 retail superma rkets in Michigan under the Glen?s Markets, Family Fare Supermarkets, D&W Fresh Markets, VG?s Food and Pharmacy, and Valu Land names; and 25 fuel centers/convenience stores that offers refueling facilities, as well as immediately consumable products under the Glen?s Quick Stop, Family Fare Quick Stop, D&W Fresh Markets Quick Stop, and VG?s Quick Stop names. Its retail supermarkets offer dry groceries, produce, dairy products, meat, frozen food, seafood, floral products, general merchandise, beverages, tobacco products, health and beauty care products, delicatessen items, and bakery goods, as well as pharmacy services. This segment also provides private brand items, including its Spartan brand; Fresh Selections; Top Care, a health and beauty care brand; Valu Time, a value brand; Full Circle, a natural and organic brand; and Paws, a pet supplies brand. The company was founded in 1917 and is headquartered in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By GURUFOCUS]

  Fair Value: In calculating fair value, I consider the NPV MMA Differential Fair Value along with these four calculations of fair value, see page 2 of the linked PDF for a detailed description:
  
  1. Avg. High Yield Price
  2. 20-Year DCF Price
  3. Avg. P/E Price
  4. Graham Number
  
  SYY is trading at a premium to all four valuations above. The stock is trading at a 37.5% premium to its calculated fair value of $26.26. SYY did not earn any Stars in this section.
  
  Dividend Analytical Data: In this section there are three possible Stars and three key metrics, see page 2 of the linked PDF for a detailed description:
  
  1. Free Cash Flow Payout
  2. Debt To Total Capital
  3. Key Metrics
  4. Dividend Growth Rate
  5. Years of Div. Growth
  6. Rolling 4-yr Div. > 15%
  
  SYY earned two Stars in this section for 2.) and 3.) above. The stock earned a Star as a result of its most recent Debt to Total Capital being less than 45%. SYY earned a Star for having an acceptable score in at least two of the four Key Metrics measured. The company has paid a cash dividend to shareholders every year since 1970 and has increased its dividend payments for 43 consecutive years.
  
  Dividend Income vs. MMA: Why would you assume the equity risk and invest in a dividend stock if you could earn a better return in a much less risky money market account (MMA) or Treasury bond? This section compares the earning ability of this stock with a high yield MMA. Two items are considered in this section, see page 2 of the linked PDF for a detailed description:
  
  1. NPV MMA Diff.
  2. Years to > MMA
  
  The NPV MMA Diff. of the $282 is below the $500 target I look for in a stock that has increased dividends as long as SYY has. If SYY grows its dividend at 3.6% per year, it will take 3 years to equal a MMA yielding an estimated 20-year average rate of 3.41%. SYY earned a check for the Key Metric 'Years to >MMA' since its 3 years is le

• [By Seth Jayson]

  Calling all cash flows
  When you are trying to buy the market's best stocks, it's worth checking up on your companies' free cash flow once a quarter or so, to see whether it bears any relationship to the net income in the headlines. That's what we do with this series. Today, we're checking in on Spartan Stores (Nasdaq: SPTN  ) , whose recent revenue and earnings are plotted below.

Hot Bank Companies To Invest In Right Now: Performant Financial Corp (PFMT)

Performant Financial Corporation (Performant), incorporated on October 8, 2003, provide technology-enabled recovery and related analytics services in the United States. The Company�� services help identify and recover delinquent or defaulted assets and improper payments for both government and private clients in a broad range of markets. The Company provides its services on an outsourced basis, where the Company handles many or all aspects of its clients��recovery processes. The Company derives its revenues from services for clients in a range of different markets. These markets include student lending and healthcare, as well as its other markets, which include delinquent state taxes and federal Treasury and other receivables. The Company�� clients include 12 of the 32 public sector participants in the student loan industry. In February 2012, it purchased a perpetual software license and computer equipment from HOPS, Inc.

Student Lending

The Company derives its revenues from the recovery of student loans. These revenues are contract-based and consist primarily of contingency fees based on a specified percentage of the amount the Company enables its clients to recover. The Company engages subcontractors to assist in the recovery of a portion of the client�� portfolio. It also receives success fees for the recovery of loans under Master Service Agreements (MSAs) and its revenues under MSA arrangements include fees earned by the activities of its subcontractors. The Company uses its technology to identify, track and communicate with defaulted borrowers on behalf of its clients to implement suitable recovery programs for the repayment of outstanding student loan balances.

The Company�� client�� contract with it to provide recovery services for large pools of student loans generally representing a portion of the total outstanding defaulted balances they manage, which they provide to us as placements on a periodic basis. The Company also restructures and r! ecovers student loans issued directly by banks to students outside of federal lending programs.

Healthcare

The Company derives revenues from the healthcare market primarily from its Recovery Audit Contractor (RAC), contract, under, which it is a prime contractor responsible for detecting improperly paid Part A and Part B Medicare claims in 12 states in the Northeastern United States. Revenues earned under the RAC contract are driven by the identification of improperly paid Medicare claims through both automated and manual review of such claims. The Company outsourced certain aspects of its healthcare recovery process to three different subcontractors.

Other

The Company derives revenues from the recovery of delinquent state taxes, and federal Treasury and other receivables, default aversion services for certain clients, including financial institutions and the licensing of hosted technology solutions to certain clients. For its hosted technology services, the Company licenses its system and integrates its technology into its clients��operations, for which it is paid a licensing fee. The Company�� revenues for these services include contingency fees, fees based on dedicated headcount to its clients and hosted technology licensing fees. The federal agency market consists of government debt subrogated to the Department of the Treasury.

For state and municipal tax authorities, the Company analyzes a portfolio of delinquent tax and other receivables placed with the Company, develop a recovery plan and execute a recovery process designed to maximize the recovery of funds. In some instances, it has also run state tax amnesty programs, which provide one-time relief for delinquent tax obligations, and other debtor management services for its clients. For the Department of the Treasury, it recovers government debt subrogated to it by numerous different federal agencies. The placements it has provided represent a mix of commercial and individual oblig! ations.

Data Management Expertise

The Company�� platform manages and stores large amounts of data throughout the workflow process. This includes both data it has compiled, as well as third-party data.

Data Analytics Capabilities

The Company�� data analytics capabilities screen and allocate massive volumes of recovery inventory. Upon receipt of each placement of student loans, the Company utilize its algorithms to assist its in determining the recovery process and the optimal allocation of recovery specialist resources for each loan. In the healthcare market, the Company analyze millions of Medicare claims to find potential correlations between claims data and improper payments.

Workflow Processes

The Company refers to the patented technology that supports its workflows as Smart Bins. The Company�� workflow processes integrate a range of functions that encompass each stage of a recovery process.

The Company competes with Health Management Systems, Inc., Connolly Consulting, Inc. and CGI Group.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Roberto Pedone]

  Performant Financial (PFMT) provides technology-enabled recovery and related analytics services in the U.S. This stock closed up 6.9% at $11.84 in Friday's trading session.

  Friday's Volume: 310,000
  
  Three-Month Average Volume: 261,916
  
  Volume % Change: 60%

  From a technical perspective, PFMT soared higher here right off both its 200-day moving average of $11.02 and its 50-day moving average at $11.06 with decent upside volume. This move is quickly pushing shares of PFMT within range of triggering a major breakout trade. That trade will hit if PFMT manages to take out some near-term overhead resistance levels at $12.47 to $13.26 with high volume.

  Traders should now look for long-biased trades in PFMT as long as it's trending above its 200-day at $11.02 and then once it sustains a move or close above those breakout levels with volume that's near or above 261,916 shares. If that breakout hits soon, then PFMT will set up to re-test or possibly take out its all-time high at $14.09. Any high-volume move above $14.09 will then give PFMT a chance to trend north of $15.

• [By Magic Diligence]

  Much of United Online's appeal was due to its over 4% dividend yield, but the company announced in late January that it would be discontinuing its dividend to focus on growth initiatives. This follows itsNovember spin-off of FTD, which leaves United with 3 cash producing but declining businesses: Classmates.com, NetZero, and Juno. NetZero Mobile Broadband is an interesting product but one with a lot of competition from the carriers. Frankly, the dividend has been the main attraction for some time, and without it this is a declining company with a fair bit of debt. That does not make for the most attractive option. PASS.

  Performant Financial (PFMT) - down 28.1%

  Performant earns fees for collecting delinquent student loans (about 60% of the business) and providing recovery services for improper Medicare payments (close to 30%). The recent sell-off in the stock seems due to comments from Sallie Mae regarding lower rehabilitation fees paid to Guarantee Agencies, which investors expect to "trickle down" to service providers like PFMT. The stock has been sold off dramatically on these assumptions. We should know more when the company reports earnings in the coming weeks, but this is one worth looking at more closely - the firm has been growing revenue at 30%+ rates. WORTHY OF CONSIDERATION.

Top 5 International Stocks To Invest In 2015: Crocs Inc.(CROX)

Crocs, Inc. and its subsidiaries engage in the design, development, manufacture, marketing, and distribution of footwear, apparel, and accessories for men, women, and children. The company primarily offers casual and athletic shoes, and shoe charms. It also designs and sells a range of footwear and accessories that utilize its proprietary closed cell-resin, called Croslite. The company?s footwear products include boots, sandals, sneakers, mules, and flats. In addition, it provides footwear products for the hospital, restaurant, hotel, and hospitality markets, as well as general foot care and diabetic-needs markets. Further, the company offers leather and ethylene vinyl acetate based footwear, sandals, and printed apparels principally for the beach, adventure, and action sports markets; and accessories comprising snap-on charms. The company sells its products through the United States and international retailers and distributors, as well as directly to end-user consumers th rough its company-operated retail stores, outlets, kiosks, and Web stores primarily under the Crocs Work, Crocs Rx, Jibbitz, Ocean Minded, and YOU by Crocs brand names. As of December 31, 2010, it operated 164 retail kiosks located in malls and other high foot traffic areas; 138 retail stores; 76 outlet stores; and 46 Web stores. Crocs, Inc. operates in the Americas, Europe, and Asia. The company was formerly known as Western Brands, LLC and changed its name to Crocs, Inc. in January 2005. Crocs, Inc. was founded in 1999 and is headquartered in Niwot, Colorado.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Ben Levisohn]

  Crocs (CROX) has dropped 5.5% to $12.93 after it was cut to Neutral from Overweight at Piper Jaffray.

  CF Industries�(CF) has gained 3.6% to $$217.51 after it sold its phosphate business to�Mosaic�(MOS) for $1.4 billion. Mosaic edged up 0.1% to $45.98.

Top 5 International Stocks To Invest In 2015: American Capital Ltd.(ACAS)

American Capital, Ltd. is a private equity and venture capital firm specializing in management and employee buyouts, mezzanine, acquisition, recapitalization, middle market, and growth capital investments. The firm seeks to invest in senior debt mezzanine and equity financing for buyouts of private equity firms and direct in private and public companies. It also invests in special situations and in government. In special situations, the firm invests in troubled situations and in distressed situations. In this area, it invests in acquisitions of true turnarounds, 363 auctions, portfolio add-ons, operationally challenged companies; financings in exit, ABL loans, second lien refinance, and direct lending to distressed companies. The firm invests in manufacturing, services, and distribution companies with a special focus on energy sector. In energy production sector, the firm invests in lower risk oil and gas exploration, production and development; natural gas liquids; coal m ining and coal-fired generation; uranium mining and nuclear-fired generation; wind-powered generation; and solar-powered generation. In energy transmission sector, the firm invests in oil and gas pipelines; LNG tankers and regasification facilities; and power transmission. In energy distribution sector, it targets propane distribution; gas distribution; electricity distribution. In energy services sector, the firm invests in oil and gas services and utility services. The firm also targets investments in companies that provide services or products to federal, state or local governments. It seeks to invest in information technology, human resources/benefit administration, outsourcing, transaction processing, engineering and construction, logistics, original equipment manufacturers ? homeland security and component, after market parts and supplies, and technology. It invests as lead or participative investor. The firm and its affiliates invest from $5 million to $300 million pe r company in North America and ?5 million ($6.92520 millio! n) to ?25 million ($34.6260 million) per company in Europe. American Capital, Ltd. was founded in 1986 and is based in Bethesda, Maryland with additional offices in United States, Europe, and Asia.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Grass Hopper]

  Examples of the first class of publicly ��raded private equity firms include Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. L.P. (KKR), The Blackstone Group L.P. (BX), and Oaktree Capital Group, LLC (OAK). Examples of the second class are Wendel SA (MF FP), Exor SpA (EXO IM) and, to some extent, Reinet Investments SCA (REI SJ). Examples of the third class are American Capital, Ltd. (ACAS), Main Street Capital, Gladstone Capital Corp. (MAIN), and Prospect Capital Corp. (PSEC).

• [By Amanda Alix]

  The hunt for yield has led many investors to the doorsteps of mortgage REITs and business development companies, both of which are legally required to hand over 90% of their profits to shareholders in order to enjoy special tax status. With few exceptions, such as American Capital (NASDAQ: ACAS  ) , these BDCs often pay out healthy dividends, providing double-digit yields similar to many mREITs.

• [By BDC Buzz]

  FDUS is one of the few BDCs to consistently grow its NAV on a quarterly basis over the last two years. This is because most BDCs are regulated investment companies ("RIC") required to distribute at least 90% of capital gains, dividends and interest to shareholders to avoid taxation at the corporate level and 98% of net investment income to avoid paying a 4% excise tax. Excluding American Capital (ACAS) which converted from a RIC to a Subchapter C and does not pay a dividend, only a few BDCs have been able to pay a healthy dividend while increasing value per share - as discussed in "Triangle Capital: Is It Priced For Total Return?" including Main Street Capital (MAIN) and Triangle Capital (TCAP).

• [By Dividend Growth Investor]

  As a dividend investor, I would expect that names in my portfolio in 2042 would likely be different than the names present in 2012. After all, since 2008 I have experienced several cuts in my income portfolio. I had one cut in 2008 (ACAS), two cuts in 2009 (GE, STT), one cut in 2010 (BP) and no cuts in 2011 and 2012. With three months to go in 2013, I have not experienced any dividend cuts either. By maintaining a relatively diversified portfolio consisting of over 40 individual issues, my total dividend income is somewhat immune by dividend cuts or eliminations. If two companies in an equally weighted portfolio of 40 issues completely eliminate dividends but the remaining 38 issues raise distributions by 5%, my dividend income would be unchanged for the year. Assuming that I manage to replace the fallen dividends stocks I sold with fresh income stocks, I might even be able to eke out a gain in total dividend income. Monitoring 40 ��50 positions should not take a lot of time as well. Assuming that investors have done their homework in the initial stage, future time could be allocated reading annual reports and maybe quarterly reports while also performing an annual checkup of their position. I would not expect this to take more than 10 -15 hours/week.