"I was shopping around for a decent Mid-Cap Healthcare stock. I found a list of 11 from Jim Cramer's "The Street.com" and then I picked the one on that list that I liked best. That stock is ICON PLC, (Symbol ICLR)"

Dow Jones Industrial Average 18,019.35 (UP) Week ending 02-13-2015
Dow Jones Industrial Average 18,140.44 (UP) Week ending 02-20-2015

As time passes by, I find myself more and more going to the website of TheStreet.com to find the most accurate and up to date financial information about stocks. So it was no surprise that when I did a Google search for the best Mid Cap Healthcare stocks for 2015, that Jim Cramer's, (Co-Founder), The Street.com popped up to the top of the list with an article with not 1 or 2 but actually 11 different stocks.  The Street.com article on Midcap Healthcare Stocks .   

Nobody works harder to bring more information to light for us retail investors than Jim Cramer. Hands down, the best.

 Really, if you can't find anything to buy you can always lean on Cramer Fav's ,  Bristol Myers Squibb (BMY) or Kinder Morgan (KMI) as an anchor in your portfolio.

So which stock did I like the best from The Street's list of Mid Cap Healthcare stocks?

ICON PLC. (Symbol, ICLR, $60.31) is my Oscar winner from the list.

ICON public limited company has a market capitalization of $3.6 Billion.  In general "MID CAP" stocks have a market capitalization of 2 to 10 Billion. Stocks in this area are usually done with all their start-up hiccups and are growing pretty good at this point. Kind of a sweet spot in the growth cycle with more limited risk than the Small Cap's and start ups.

The company has a PEG ratio of 1.31 and a Return on Equity listed at 16.34 in one place and 13.21 in another place, so somewhere in that area. I believe that the company will be reporting earnings on 02-25-15 next week. The IDB earnings rating on the stock is 84th percentile and Zack's has is rated a #1 Strong Buy. The Street.com ranks it an "A".

The 3 year sales growth for the company has been 18% per year. This Dublin , Ireland based provider of contract development services for the pharmaceutical industry has Zero Long Term debt. The company operates at a gross margin of 33.2% and has 61.6 Million Shares outstanding.

  Earnings per share for 2015 are projected at $2.77 per share and for 2016 they look like $3.22 per share with a forward PE of 17.92.

The 1 Year trailing 12 months stock appreciation has been 23.84% and the YTD appreciation is 17.69% so this has been a mover and shaker. The stock is held in institution mutual funds to the tune of 88.9%. 

 So if you are like me and need to add something Mid Cap in your portfolio and also is in the Healthcare area, then ICON PLC , (ICLR is the stock symbol), may be just the ticket for you. 



As always , come in small, (with the the DOW at this high 18,140 level), and buy 25 shares at a time and build a position that fits your comfort level and finds a balance with your other investments. 

Good Luck with all your investments!  

Freewilly

"Time Warner Inc., (Symbol, TWX), has been spinning out non-strategic assets for years. What you have left now is the Filet Mignon of prime media properties"

Dow Jones Industrial Average 17,416.85 (UP) Week ending 01-30-2015
Dow Jones Industrial Average 17,824.00  (UP) Week ending 02-06-2015

Time Warner Inc. (Symbol TWX, $80.38) has been on a mission to hone its assets down to the very best of  media content. Time Warner the 2nd largest media company in the world is essentially made up of Turner Broadcasting, HBO, and Warner Brothers Entertainment's, 3 divisions. 

 The company has a PEG Ratio of 1.38 and a Return on Equity of 16.20%. The current PE on the company is 17.4 It also sports a Dividend yield of 1.6%.   The company will report earnings this week on 2/11/2015.

Speaking of earnings, the EPS growth last quarter was 34%. The EPS % gain for the year is  14%. The 3-5 year growth rate is 14.8%.  Earnings for 2015 are projected at $4.10 per share and for 2016 are looking like $4.66 per share.

Analysts love the stock with 22 Buy recommendations, 3 Outperform, and 8 Hold. The company operate at a 72.50% Gross Margin. Content is King!. Insiders purchasing is all positive.  

What about the price of the stock? In 3 years it has moved from $35.00 per share to $80.00 per share. The One year change in the stock TTM, (Trailing 12 months) has been 31.20 % and the 3 year Total return has been 111.69%.   

This is a good long term investment to add to your portfolio. As always buy in small and build a position over time. I also like content providers Disney, (Symbol DIS),  and LionsGate Entertainment, (Symbol LGF), which is a little higher beta, (more speculative), in the media content provider area.  

         

Freewilly says, to quote a famous Warner Bros. Pig and Duck, "That's All Folks!"

                           

"Automotive Parts stocks in general do pretty well in the stock market. Here is one that meets all my criteria, Delphi Automotive PLC (Symbol DLPH). Also one Special situation play with the Shake Shack IPO (Symbol SHAK), coming this week."

Dow Jones industrial Average 17,673 (Down) Week ending 01-23-2015

I seem to just love these transport stocks that begin with the letter "D". This one I found as a holding in the Vanguard Midcap Value Index fund as a top 10 holding. My company had just switched over our 401K plans over to Vanguard Funds, so I thought I would go in and take a look around.

Delphi Automotive PLC (Symbol DLPH, $69,67) is a leading global supplier of technologies for automotive and commercial vehicle markets with headquarters in Gillingham, United Kingdom.

Delphi meets my base criteria with flying colors with a Return on Equity of 46.12% and having a PEG Ratio of 0.96. (They were able to produce this fine return on equity number without running up excessive long term debt.)

My favorite thing about the company is that they employ 117,000 people worldwide. We need more companies in the world like that! Another good thing about Delphi is that they are buying back $1.5 Billion dollars of their stock so they are very confident in their future business prospects.

Delphi, (DLPH), has annual Revenue of $17.1 Billion dollars and 1 Year earnings growth has been 10.8% and the 3-5 year current earnings growth forecast is projected to be 12.7%, with a current PE, (Price to Earnings ratio), of 16.14 and a forward PE of 13.71 per share.

Earnings per share for 2015 are projected at $5.05 per share and for 2016 it is looking like $5.64 per share. (per CBS MarketWatch). The company also pays a dividend at a yield rate of 1.4%. I would say that you can go ahead and buy the shares right here and have a margin of safety for a 3 year investment.
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I have a "two for" for you for this week. A SPECIAL situation occurrence and a way to trade it. This is just a fun trade idea. 

The IPO of Shake Shack (Symbol SHAK), comes public this week with 5 Million shares priced at around "$14 to16 dollars". The shares will come public on Friday January 30th.

Unless you are a preferred customer of Goldman or Morgan Stanley you will probably not be able to get in on the subscription for the public offering price. But, I believe that some of the other new restaurant stocks will be carried forward and up on the coattails of this public stock offering and allow you to profit on the offering. 

Here are the two stocks I think you can buy going into this Friday and have a trade:

Zoe's Kitchen Inc. (Symbol ZOES, $30.55) which currently has a 100+ stores and are expanding out to 1600 stores.

Zoe's Kitchen, Inc. operates restaurants. The company operates its business through a single segment, fast casual restaurant serving a distinct menu of fresh, wholesome, Mediterranean-inspired dishes delivered with Southern hospitality. Zoe's Kitchen was founded by Zoë and Marcus Cassimus in 1995 and is headquartered in Plano, TX.

and second :

El Pollo Loco Holdings Inc. (Symbol LOCO, $26.15)

 El Pollo Loco, Inc. develops, franchises, licenses and operates quick-service restaurants under the name El Pollo Loco. The company specialize in flame-grilled chicken in a wide variety of contemporary mexican-influenced entrees, including specialty chicken burritos, chicken quesadillas, chicken tortilla soup, pollo bowls and pollo salads.

 Both of these stocks and also Shake Shack, if you believe in Peter Lynch's idea to buy the simple things you know around you, should be very good long term investments as they expand through the years. 

 

So a trade, or a long term investment, you decide!

 Freewilly

 

"Airline stocks have had a tremendous run. That all happened before the price of Oil dropped by 50%. I like the tail winds that are pushing Delta Airlines, (DAL), forward".

Dow Jones Industrial Average 17,737.37 (Down) Week Ending 01-09-2015
Dow Jones Industrial Average 17,512.00 (Down) Week Ending 01-16-2015

Well we begin 2015 once again in turbulent waters in the stock market. Your decision making on picking and holding stocks will be challenged each day with wild volatility. So you will need to know the reason you are buying a stock and why you need to remain committed to it, even though all around you the media will be telling you that it all is going to come crashing down. So stick with your fundamentals and rules that you have set for your stock picks, and hold firm.

One on my top stock picks for 2015 is
Delta Airlines Inc.(Symbol DAL, $45.84). Delta meets my base criteria with a PEG Ratio of 0.19 and a Return on Equity of 80.10%. It says the PE ratio is 3.99 but going forward it is more like 10. You are going to hear that December revenues for 2014 were down just like American Airlines, but pay no mind to it. They don't mention that Delta is now competing with Alaska Airlines in the Seattle market, a battle they will win. Below is a map of the routes they run. Their hub is the Hartsfield–Jackson Atlanta International Airport which is the busiest airport in North America. (Dubai and Heathrow are the world's busiest).

 I have heard one estimate that Delta will save $3 Billion dollars in cost savings if oil stays down where it is now in price. I think that they will save a good part of that with oil settling awhile in the Fifties range. 

 The company did Revenues last year of $39.79 Billion dollars and produced Net Income of $9.85 Billion dollars. They operate at a Gross Margin of 46.4%.

Earnings per share for 2014 were $3.34 per share and for 2015 it is projected at $4.88 per share.The 3 Year earnings growth for the company has been 41%. 

I have seen analysts ratings of 14 Buy -2 Outperform and 2 hold. Also 9 Strong Buy-1 Buy -and 1 Hold on "The Street.com", which is a very good source of data for your own scrutiny and analysis.

The company currently has an IBD earnings rating of 63 and pays out a dividend at the rate of 0.80% , better than a bank account.

So how has the stock done? Year to Date it is down (-6.81%), so you are buying it at a slight discount. The one year change for the trailing 12 months, (TTM) it is up 45.16%. The 3 year Total Return is a gigantic 417.87%. Again, that all took place before the price of oil dropped down.

 Hartsfield–Jackson Atlanta International Airport 

 So I am recommending that you purchase Delta stock , (DAL) and I believe the stock will end the year in the $60-$65 dollar range.

 "Stay true to your beliefs and your ideas shall guide you through."

Freewilly

"Here are the Freewilly's Stock Picker Blog "15 stocks for 2015". The more stocks, the harder the challenge. But I think I am up to the task."

Dow Jones Industrial Average 17832.99 (Down) Week Ending 01-02-2015

The Who song , "We won't get fooled again", comes to mind when I think back about my 2014 blog stock picks.  I guess I was looking for growth at an "Unreasonable" price with some of picks that either tread water or were beat up for non-delivery of immediate gigantic earnings gains. I think that that won't be a problem in 2015, although we are still staying aggressive.

So my picks are again centered around "mostly" stocks with a PEG ratio of less than 1.5 and that have a Return on Equity of 15% plus.

So here is the 2015 list of picks for this year.

1. Walt Disney (Symbol DIS)
2. Delta Airlines (Symbol DAL)
3. Constellation Brands (Symbol  STZ)
4. Johnson and Johnson (Symbol JNJ)
5. Discover Financial Services (Symbol DFS)
6. Tractor Supply (Symbol TSCO)
7. Hershey Foods (Symbol HSY)
8. Oshkosh Corp. (Symbol OSK)
9. Celgene (Symbol CELG)
10. Yahoo (Symbol YHOO)
11. Monster Beverage (Symbol MNST)
12. Dow Chemical (Symbol DOW)
13. Edward Lifesciences (Symbol EW)
14. Foot Locker ( Symbol FL)
15. Southwest Airlines (Symbol LUV)

No Small cap stocks this year. All Mid-Cap and Large cap stocks. A mix of transportation, Health care, Food and Beverage, Media, and a few retail stocks mostly. One common theme is a reduction in commodity cost for many of these companies in 2015. I sifted thorough this list over and over again trying to filter out any stocks that were too speculative. Many of these stocks also pay a nice dividend to add to your gains.

 This is a muscular team with many stock market heavyweights on it. But guess what?
You deserve to have the best investments in your portfolio and nothing less than that.
Yahoo, (YHOO), was included in this group because of it gigantic investment stock holding in Alibaba, (BABA). 

I did my part for the economy yesterday and went out and traded in my old 2001 Nissan Altima for a brand new 2015 Nissan Altima version. Lots of customer loyalty bonus incentive programs going on right now. So I guess I am optimistic about the economy this year. 

Since we have had three years in a row with double digit gains in the market I have put together a portfolio that has a degree of "Risk Off" built into it and that is the best approach to 2015.

I would be remiss not to mention, since my number one pick is Disney this year, the owner of the fantastic ESPN Network, the profound loss and passing of ESPN Sports Center analyst and major company asset Stuart Scott at the age of 49. It was announced this morning after his long bout with cancer. You would have never known it when watching him on TV. 

He had been the latest winner this summer of the Jimmy Valvano ESPY award for courageousness in facing his cancer. If you have never seen the ESPN Jimmy Valvano "30 for 30" episode it is a must see.

If you can live your life like Stuart Scott, you will have no regrets.

Freewilly

 Stuart Scott - ESPN Analyst

"Here is the recap of the 2014 Freewilly Blog Picks. I had 7 Up, 6 Down and 1 Even. 3 sectors underperformed - 3D Printing, Oil/Energy, and Heavy Equipment-Rental "

Dow Jones Industrial Average 18,053.71 (Up) Week Ending 12-26-2014

Well I would have done a lot better if I had sold my 3D Printer stocks, DDD and SSYS, back in August at the peak, when they were on the plus side. That is called hindsight and is not allowed in Annual stock picking. Semiconductors, Oil, and Heavy Equipment Rental were not my friend. So my overall total return for my 14 for 2014 stock picks was (-1.164), a small loss for the year.

Here are the winners:
Hain Celestial (HAIN)      UP 31.84%
Arris (ARRS)                     UP 29.23%
Direct TV  (DTV)              UP  29.17%
Berkshire Hathaway "B"  (BRK.B)   UP 28.27%
Yahoo  (YHOO)                  UP 25.12%
 Nike  (NKE)                        UP 23.64% 

If I had just stuck with this group above I would have been in really good shape!

Maybe the more you are diversified, the lesser is your chance of success? That is what Warren Buffett and George Soros think. Maybe something to look at is "Over-Diversification" as an issue in your investing style.

That brings us to the three stocks in the middle. All monster gain stocks in 2013.


Polaris Industries (PII) Up 5.05%
Google (GOOG)  EVEN  0
Golar Nat Gas Transport (GLNG) (-0.25%)

Apple (AAPL) would have been a much better anchor stock for you in 2014 then Google. That may flip flop around in 2015.

 So much for the GOOD and the BAD, I guess I need to tell you about the UGLY and here they are. ALL would have done much better as 6 month picks rather than 1 Year picks.

So here they are:

3D Systems (DDD)  DOWN (-64.20%)
Cree (CREE)  DOWN  (-48.16%)
Stratasys (SSYS)  Down (-35.64%)
Manitex International (MNTX) Down (-21.02%)
Holly Frontier (HFC) Down (19.35%)

It  is amazing that five little stocks could do so much damage to your annual results. 3D Systems and Stratasys and also Google were pouring money back into their business development, instead of worrying about their short term results. Wall Street had no patience for that. Maybe a little too much hyped expectations . CREE did great growing in their LED lighting business but fell short in their semiconductor business. Manitex fell in sympathy with its sector with Hertz Global and United Rentals going down. They are starting to recover now.
 

 
So what can we glean from the results?

1. Don't own too many stocks. It makes it difficult to be successful.
2. When the hype gets ahead of the results in stocks in new technologies like 3D, head for the sidelines. Don't take excessive risk in your investing.
3. Stocks who are tied to commodities like "Oil" can come down no matter how well the company is doing individually.
 
So next week, I will give you my "15 for 2015" Freewilly's Stockpicker Blog picks.

Happy New Year!        


Freewilly

" You always hear from analyst about Mastercard,Visa, and American Express as popular stocks to buy. But for my money here, the best value is Discover Financial Services (Symbol DFS)."

Dow Jones Industrial Average 17,280.83 (Way Down!) Week Ending 12-12-2014
Dow Jones Industrial Average 17,805 (Way UP!) Week Ending 12-19-2014

I can only hope that we have put in some type of bottom for a while with this drop in oil price. It will allow us some kind of baseline data to calculate how companies will do in 2015.

One company I like here with consumers having that oil savings in their pocket is Discover Financial Services (Symbol DFS, $65.09). (The price a week ago when I started writing this article was $61.81. Busy Christmas chores have delayed me.)

Discover meets my baseline investment criteria having a PEG Ratio of 1.22 and a Return on Equity of 24.09. Pretax ROE is 36%.

Annual revenue for this lesser noticed credit card company is $8.568 Billion dollars. Nothing to sneeze at. Revenue growth has been 6.1% annually.The company offers a annual dividend yield of 1.55%

The company gives off Quarterly Free Cash Flow of $1.026 Billion dollars.

On the Earnings side, the company currently has a low PE of 11.8. The 3-5 year earnings growth has been 35.6%. Earnings per share for 2013 was $4.96 per share. 2014 is projected at $5.25 per share and for 2015 it is projected at $5.53 per share.

The two year stock chart on this stock shows a nice steady and stable rise. The Year to date stock return is 12.24. The One year total return on the stock is 14.41%. the 3 Year return on the stock is 166.8%. So a good long term investment prospect for my taste. I think this would be a good investment for the "Financials" section of your diversified investment or retirement account. Don't try to be a hero in 2015. We have had 3 double digit gain years in a row, so this year you should look to stocks that have given steady returns. I would buy this one on a dip here.

Happy Holidays and eat and be well!

Merry Christmas - Freewilly   

(next week we will review the Freewilly 14 for 2014 picks to see how I did).

"Wild times as the Dow Jones approaches 18,000. Best to stick to basics here, Peg Ratio less then 1.5 and Return on Equity, (ROE) of 15% plus + "

Dow Jones Industrial Average 17,959 (UP) Week Ending 12-05-2014 

It seems like our TV is always on one of the shows presented by this network. Whether it is Food Network with Chopped, Drive-ins Diners and Dives or Restaurant Impossible or on HGTV with Love it or List It or Flip or Flop,  they all seem to be on my television all the time.

 Scripps Network Interactive, Inc. (Symbol SNI , $80.28) is a stock that meets my criteria as a stock to invest in here.  I like the PEG Ratio to be below 1.5 or bless and the stock currently has a PEG ratio of 1.22 according to GuruFocus website. The Return On Equity I like to be at 15% or better and Scripps steps up with a 27.43 ROE, (Return on Equity).

The stock is up 10.2% this year and it also adds a 1% dividend payment. That adds up  to a pretty nice annual return of 11.2%. I think in 2015 you will need to pick out stocks that give you that 10-15% return with the dividend included. It will be tougher to find those 30+ plus returns in 2015 and you may subject yourself to unwarranted risk trying to attain it.

The company has a market capitalization of $11 Billion dollars. SNI generates quarterly Free Cash flow of $248.42 Million dollars. Profit Margin is 40.1%. The company has a healthy balance sheet with a Quick Ratio or 6.3 dollars in Assets for every 1 dollar of Liability. Revenues last year were $2.651 Billion dollars.

 5 Year earnings growth for the company has been 16.4%. Earnings per share for 2013 were $3.68 and for 2014 we are looking at $3.90 per share and for 2015 we are projecting $4.47 per share. The current PE is 20.4 and the future PE based on projected earnings is 17.97. Expected earnings growth for this year is 12.07%.

Annual Net income for the company is $522 Million dollars. The IBD rating on earnings is 69 and the SMR Rating, (Sales+ Profit Margins+ ROE) is rated "A". The company has 102.8 millions shares outstanding.

The secret of this company is that there customers are interactive with their TV shows. The last Food Network Star for example was picked by the audience in the last show. This one is a winner that you can buy at anytime here. Stock symbol SNI.

Two of my favorite characters above from the show based on the real estate market in Toronto Canada, Love It or List It.

Freewilly

"Oil stocks and crude oil are crashing down in price, but let's not "throw away the baby with the bathwater". There are still some good energy stocks"

Dow Jones Industrial Average 17,810 (Up)  Week ending 11-21-2014
Dow Jones Industrial Average 17,828 (Up)  Week ending 11-28-2014

 Well, with the OPEC big four countries decision not to cut production, crude continued it's slide on Friday with West Texas Intermediate crude trading down to $66.15 per barrel, down 11.4 % and the Brent Crude fix at $70.15 , down 10.85%.

Just like any other sector in a downturn, every energy company in the group is not affected in the same way. The oil service companies, midstream pipeline companies, and some refiners will probably not be as adversely affected by the drop in crude pricing.

How about Murphy USA, (Symbol MUSA, $63.72), that has most of their gas stations near WalMart stores. The stock is up 38.4% this year.

Energy Transfer Equity, LP. (Symbol ETE, $59.39), which has a PEG Ratio of 0.81 and a 2.8% Dividend. The stock is up 58.86% this year.
 

Triangle Petroleum Corp. (Symbol TPLM, $4.82) has a PEG Ratio of 0.34 and a forward PE of 9.3. It has a Return on Equity of 17.46 and 2/3 of it's business is in midstream pipeline and oil services. It also has a 18% Operating Margin.

Kinder Morgan Inc. ,(Symbol KMI, $41.35), is probably the best quality of the group. The consolidation of Kinder's properties makes it the largest midstream pipeline provider in the country. It pays a 4.26% dividend and it is up 15.37% this year. Jim Cramer of CNBC and The Street has been pounding the table on this one for a couple years now.

So don't run for the hills when you see an area crashing down. Look for the opportunities that come available for good long term investments that would normally not be available to you to buy at these prices.

 Off to start a great December month,

Freewilly