Hot Cheap Stocks To Own Right Now

It's been a pretty good year for my portfolio for two particular reasons: The stock market rally has been practically unstoppable, and I've remained diversified throughout the past couple of years, which has certainly helped spread around my risk and reward.

One area, though, that has been a chronic underperformer for upwards of the past year has been mining stocks. It really doesn't matter where you look: gold, silver, platinum, palladium, copper, molybdenum, and coal -- all down across the board. You'd think that a growing U.S. economy and improving global outlook would help these mined metals and commodities from a demand perspective, but that just hasn't been the case. Gold and silver are both in bear market territory, while coal has had trouble gaining traction next to cheap natural gas prices.

Top 5 Beverage Companies To Buy For 2015: Rent-A-Center Inc.(RCII)

Rent-A-Center, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, primarily engages in leasing household durable goods to customers on a rent-to-own basis. The company?s stores offer durable products, such as consumer electronics, appliances, computers, and furniture and accessories under flexible rental purchase agreements that allow the customer to obtain ownership of the merchandise at the conclusion of an agreed upon rental period. It also provides merchandise on an installment sales basis in its stores. As of December 31, 2010, the company operated 3,008 company-owned stores in the United States, and in Canada, Puerto Rico, and Mexico, including 42 retail installment sales stores under the names ?Get It Now? and ?Home Choice?; and 18 rent-to-own stores located in Canada under the ?Rent-A-Centre? name. It also operates 209 franchised rent-to-own stores in 32 states under the ColorTyme trade name; and 384 kiosk locations under the ?RAC Acceptance? model. In addition, the company, th rough its ColorTyme?s franchised stores, offers custom rims and tires for sale or rental under the trade names ?RimTyme? or ?ColorTyme Custom Wheels?. Rent-A-Center, Inc. was founded in 1986 and is headquartered in Plano, Texas.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Marc Bastow]

  Rent-to-own consumer products company Rent-A-Center (RCII) raised its quarterly dividend 10% to 23 cents per share, payable on Jan. 23 to shareholders of record as of Jan. 3.
  RCII Dividend Yield: 2.77%

• [By Jake L'Ecuyer]

  Equities Trading DOWN
  Shares of Rent-A-Center (NASDAQ: RCII) were down 21.51 percent to $24.51 on Q4 results.

  Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) shares tumbled 7.80 percent to $507.55 after the company issued weak sales forecast for the second quarter and reported downbeat holiday iPhone sales.

Hot Cheap Stocks To Own Right Now: Lattice Semiconductor Corporation(LSCC)

Lattice Semiconductor Corporation designs, develops, manufactures, and markets programmable logic products and related software. The company offers field programmable gate array (FPGA) products, including LatticeECP family for deployment in wireless infrastructure and wireline access equipment, as well as in video and imaging applications; and LatticeXP for the security, surveillance, and display markets. It also provides programmable logic device (PLD) products comprising various versions of ispMACH4000 in-system programmable complex programmable logic device family; MachXO family that is designed for a range of low density applications; platform manager, power manager, and ispClock programmable mixed signal devices; and software development tools and intellectual property cores. The company sells its products directly to end customers through a network of independent manufacturers? representatives and indirectly through a network of independent sell-in and sell-through distributors. It primarily serves original equipment manufacturers in the communications, computing, consumer, industrial, military, automotive, and medical end markets. The company was founded in 1983 and is headquartered in Hillsboro, Oregon.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By kcpl]

  Lattice Semiconductor (LSCC) is doing well. It has seen improvements in its operations. The company excels in the manufacture of programmable chips which are sold in various segments such as mobile, communications, automotives, industrial etc. The reason for the company�� strong performance has been its key customers such as China Mobile and Cisco. On the back of a strong client base, Lattice has seen a good 40% growth in its stock price. Let us take a look at its business.

• [By Lee Jackson]

  Lattice Semiconductor Corp. (NASDAQ: LSCC) is a top chip stock to buy at Jefferies. The company announced last month three new complete reference designs that will make it easier for electronic OEMs to deliver media-rich experiences to their end users by taking advantage of low-cost, industry-standard MIPI (Mobile Industry Processor Interface) camera, application processor and display technologies. The Jefferies price objective for the stock is $6.50, and the consensus is also at $6.50. Lattice closed yesterday at $4.63.

Hot Cheap Stocks To Own Right Now: Bank of America Corporation(BAC)

Bank of America Corporation, a financial holding company, provides banking and nonbanking financial services and products to individuals, small- and middle-market businesses, large corporations, and governments in the United States and internationally. The company?s Deposits segment generates savings accounts, money market savings accounts, certificate of deposits, and checking accounts; and Global Card Services segment provides the U.S. consumer and business card, consumer lending, international card and debit card services. Its Home Loans & Insurance segment offers consumer real estate products and services, including mortgage loans, reverse mortgages, home equity lines of credit, and home equity loans. It also provides property, disability, and credit insurance. The company?s Global Commercial Banking segment offers lending products, including commercial loans and commitment facilities, real estate lending, leasing, trade finance, short-term credit, asset-based lending, and indirect consumer loans; and capital management and treasury solutions, such as treasury management, foreign exchange, and short-term investing options. Its Global Banking & Markets segment provides financial products, advisory services, settlement, and custody services; debt and equity underwriting and distribution, merger-related advisory services, and risk management products; and integrated working capital management and treasury solutions. The company?s Global Wealth & Investment Management segment offers investment and brokerage services, estate management, financial planning services, fiduciary management, credit and banking expertise, and asset management products. Bank of America Corporation serves customers through a network of approximately 5,900 banking centers and 18,000 automated teller machines. It was formerly known as NationsBank Corporation and changed its name on October 1, 1998. Bank of America Corporation was founded in 1874 and is based in Charlott e, North Carolina.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Reuters]

  Chuck Burton/AP Bank of America said it settled all claims with Freddie Mac arising from residential mortgages sold to the government-backed housing agency through the end of 2009. Bank of America (BAC) will pay $404 million to settle claims related to loans sold to Freddie Mac from Jan. 1, 2000 to Dec. 31, 2009, and to compensate for certain past losses and potential future losses relating to denials, rescissions and cancellations of mortgage insurance. The payments are fully covered by the company's reserves, Bank of America said in a statement Monday. Last month, the U.S. government urged Bank of America to pay $863.6 million in damages after a federal jury found it liable for fraud over defective mortgages sold by its Countrywide unit.

  Swiss bank UBS blames a rogue trader at its London office for a $2.3 billion loss that is Britain's biggest-ever fraud at a bank. Kweku Adoboli, the 32 year old trader, is sentenced to seven years in prison. Britain's financial regulator fines UBS after finding its internal controls were inadequate and allowed Adoboli, a relatively inexperienced trader, to make vast and risky bets.

• [By Holly LaFon] tt bought $5 billion worth of Bank of America warrants to buy 700 million shares at $7.14 each until they expire in 2012, and perpetual preferred stock that yields $300 million a year. In his annual letter, Buffett said, ��ur warrants to buy 700 million Bank of America shares will likely be of great value before they expire.��Bank of America trades for $8.04 on Monday, giving Buffett a paper profit of $656 million already.

  Bank of America had mixed financial results in 2011. Deposits declined from $13.6 billion in 2010 to $12.7 billion in 2011, as 9.6 percent of all bank customers switched banks, compared to 8.7 percent in 2010. Bank of America particularly suffered customer backlash from its attempt to raise fees in order to generate revenue. Revenue declined from $52.7 billion in 2010, to $45.6 billion in 2011. Net income increased to $1.4 billion in 2011 from a net loss of $2.2 billion in 2010.

  Brian Moynihan, who Buffett extols in his shareholder letter, introduced Project New BAC, which aims to streamline the business. Phase one, which began in 2011, included the elimination of 30,000 jobs and reduction of costs by $5 billion per year by 2014. The company does not yet know where it will make reductions for Phase 2.

  ��t Bank of America, some huge mistakes were made by prior management. Brian Moynihan has made excellent progress in cleaning these up, though the completion of that process will take a number of years,��Buffett added in his letter.

  Bank of America�� P/E, P/B and P/S ratios:

  BAC pe,ps,pb Interactive Chart

  JP Morgan (JPM)

  Buffett praised JPMorgan (JPM) on his recent interview with Becky Quick on CNBC. While he does not own the stock for Berkshire Hathaway, he said he bought it for his personal portfolio. The stock hit a low of $27.85 in November last year, but has since rallied to $39 per share.

  Buffett did not go into detail about this holding, only mentioning that he admires CEO Jamie D

• [By Matt Thalman]

  Bank of America (NYSE: BAC  ) is losing out today, likely because of the disappointing pending-home-sales report. Shares are down 1.4% as investors grow concerned about the bank's plan to grow revenue by increasing its mortgage business. Bank of America and the other large financial institutions have been shifting toward the mortgage business, rather than riskier forms of banking such as trading and investing. But these plans will only work if the U.S. housing market continues to improve and provide a large quantity of new home mortgages.

• [By Diane Alter]

  Goldman Sachs Groups Inc. (NYSE: GS) grabbed the top underwriting spot, with JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE: JPM), Deutsche Bank AG (NYSE: DB), Bank of America Corp. (NYSE: BAC), Allen & Company LLC, and CODE Advisors assisting.

Hot Cheap Stocks To Own Right Now: CVS Corporation(CVS)

CVS Caremark Corporation operates as a pharmacy services company in the United States. The company?s Pharmacy Services segment provides a range of pharmacy benefit management services, including mail order pharmacy services, specialty pharmacy services, plan design and administration, formulary management, and claims processing; and drug benefits to eligible beneficiaries under the Federal Government?s Medicare Part D program. This segment primarily serves employers, insurance companies, unions, government employee groups, managed care organizations and other sponsors of health benefit plans, and individuals. As of December 31, 2010, it operated 44 retail specialty pharmacy stores, 18 specialty mail order pharmacies, and 4 mail service pharmacies located in 25 states, Puerto Rico, and the District of Columbia. This segment operates business under the CVS Caremark Pharmacy Services, Caremark, CVS Caremark, CarePlus CVS/pharmacy, CarePlus, RxAmerica, Accordant, and TheraCom names. The company?s Retail Pharmacy segment sells prescription drugs, over-the-counter drugs, beauty products and cosmetics, seasonal merchandise, greeting cards, and convenience foods through its pharmacy retail stores and online, as well as offers film and photo finishing, and health care services. This segment operated 7,182 retail drugstores located in 41 states, Puerto Rico, and the District of Columbia; and 560 retail health care clinics in 26 states and the District of Columbia under the MinuteClinic name. It has a strategic alliance with Alere, L.L.C. for the management of disease management program offerings that cover chronic diseases, such as asthma, diabetes, congestive heart failure, and coronary artery disease. CVS Caremark Corporation was founded in 1892 and is based in Woonsocket, Rhode Island.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Dan Caplinger]

  Preliminary results show decent success with Walgreen's strategy. During April, same-store sales rose 1.2%, with larger gains of 4.7% in pharmacy sales pointing to customers returning to Walgreen's fold. May's increase in comps of 2.8% showed the same tilt toward the pharmacy side of the business. Yet, rival CVS Caremark (NYSE: CVS  ) has also given investors some positive news, guiding earnings and revenue last month to the upper end of previously provided ranges amid favorable impacts of greater generic-drug availability. Despite Walgreen's success, CVS remains a strong competitive threat, especially with its combination of pharmacy benefits management and retail drug stores.

• [By Kelley Wright]

  CVS Caremark (CVS) is the 800lb gorilla in this space. An ��+��S&P Quality Ranking, and free operating cash flow of three times the dividend. CVS just produces year in and year out.

  Chevron (CVX) is just a beast. There's a lot to like here: A $4.00 per share dividend; an S&P ��+��Quality Ranking, and a Dividend Aristocrat to boot. A must position for a quality portfolio.

• [By Brian Nichols]

  Up next
  So far, it's two down and one to go for pharmacy earning reports. With Rite Aid's and Walgreen's impressive quarter, you have to like CVS' (NYSE: CVS  ) chances of also delivering a strong report.

• [By Rich Duprey]

  In response to the outrage at highlighting a terrorist instead of his victims, including 26-year-old MIT cop Sean Collier, who was killed in the shootout between the Tsarnaev brothers and the police, and 8-year-old Martin Richard, who was standing next to one of the bombs when it detonated, retailers including CVS Caremark (NYSE: CVS  ) , which operates 7,300 stores nationwide, Walgreen (NYSE: WAG  ) , with more than 8,500 stores, and Sears Holdings (NASDAQ: SHLD  ) chain Kmart have all decided not to sell the new issue of the magazine.

Hot Cheap Stocks To Own Right Now: Ur Energy Inc(URG)

Ur-Energy Inc., an exploration stage junior mining company, engages in the identification, acquisition, evaluation, exploration, and development of uranium mineral properties. The company has 13 projects located in Wyoming and Nebraska, the United States; and 3 exploration projects located in the Northwest Territories and Nunavut, Canada. Its landholdings cover approximately 90,000 acres in the United States and approximately 140,000 acres in Canada. The company was founded in 2004 and is headquartered in Littleton, Colorado.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By James E. Brumley]

  You know, were it just Uranium Resources, Inc. (NASDAQ:URRE) or just Ur-Energy Inc. (NYSEMKT:URG) or just Uranerz Energy Corp. (NYSEMKT:URZ) making a decided bullish move, I might be able to dismiss it. Similarly, if URZ had only been moving higher for one or two days (or only URG or only URRE), it might be easy to not be impressed. Neither of those situations has been the actual case, however. All three stocks have been moving upward for several days now, quite a bit, on noticeably higher volume. There's something "going on", as it were, and if prior group-wide movements are any clue, it's the kind of move worth tapping into.

• [By John Udovich]

  Since the start of the week, small cap nuclear fuel stock USEC Inc (NYSE: USU) more than doubled for investors, something that has not happened for investors in uranium stocks like Uranium Resources, Inc (NASDAQ: URRE), Denison Mines Corp (NYSEMKT: DNN), Ur-Energy Inc. (NYSEMKT: URG) and Uranerz Energy Corp (NYSEMKT: URZ). To recap: USEC Inc closed at the $6 level on Friday, but then it surged to the $15 level on Monday only to open at the $10 level on Tuesday when it ultimately closed at $12.46. So what in the world is going on with USEC Inc and is it time to revisit nuclear fuel and uranium stocks?

Hot Cheap Stocks To Own Right Now: Advance Auto Parts Inc(AAP)

Advance Auto Parts, Inc., through its subsidiaries, operates as a retailer of automotive aftermarket parts, accessories, batteries, and maintenance items. It operates in two segments, Advance Auto Parts (AAP) and Autopart International (AI). The AAP segment operates stores, which primarily offer auto parts, including alternators, batteries, chassis parts, clutches, engines and engine parts, radiators, starters, transmissions, and water pumps; accessories comprising floor mats, mirrors, vent shades, MP3 and cell phone accessories, and seat and steering wheel covers; chemicals consisting of antifreeze, freon, fuel additives, and car washes and waxes; and oil and other automotive petroleum products. This segment also provides battery and wiper installation, battery charging, check engine light reading, electrical system testing, video clinics and project brochures, loaner tool programs, and oil and battery recycling services; and sells its products through online. The AI segm ent operates stores that offer replacement parts for domestic and imported cars, and light trucks to customers in northeast and mid-Atlantic regions, as well as to warehouse distributors and jobbers in North America. As of January 1, 2011, the company operated 3,369 AAP stores, including 3,343 stores located in the northeastern, southeastern, and Midwestern regions of the United States under the Advance Auto Parts and Advance Discount Auto Parts trade names; 26 stores situated in Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands under the Advance Auto Parts and Western Auto trade names; and 194 stores under the Autopart International trade name in the United States. It serves do-it-yourself, do-it-for-me, or commercial customers. The company was founded in 1929 and is based in Roanoke, Virginia.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Brad Thomas]

  Like many of the other Triple-Net REITs, Agree operates its investment platform with a variety of free-standing net lease tenants including many household names such as Walgreens (WAG), CVS (CVS), Staples, Chase Bank, AutoZone (AZO), Advance Auto Parts (AAP), Lowe's (LOW), McDonald's (MCD), Family Dollar (FDO), Harris Teeter, Dollar General (DG), and Wawa. As shown below, Agree has a majority (88%) of nationally-recognized tenants, including many investment grade retailers (62.6%).

• [By Ben Levisohn]

  Investors really like Advance Auto Parts (AAP) deal to buy a chain of repair shops–so much so that a stock that finished yesterday in the low 80s is now trading in the mid-90s.

  Agence France-Presse/Getty Images

  Reuters has the details on the deal:

  Advance Auto Parts Inc will buy 1,418 outlets of the Carquest chain to boost its auto repair operations to complement its car parts business, sending its shares up as much as 20 percent to a record high.

  Advance Auto, which sells products such as batteries, air fresheners and engine parts, said it would buy General Parts International Inc for just over $2 billion, creating the largest North American retailer of auto parts.

  General Parts is the biggest operator of the Carquest chain, which runs auto repair shops and car parts stores. General Parts also owns Worldpac, the No.1 supplier of replacement parts for imported car and truck brands.

  Reuters notes that the finished product will be the largest supplier of auto parts by sales, just beating out Autozone (AZN).

  Credit Suisse analyst Simeon Gutman and team call the deal a “smart strategic acquisition.” They write:

  The acquisition would solve two important issues for AAP. First, it has struggled in the DIFM segment, primarily due to a weaker and less accessible distribution network. General Parts has one of the most established distribution networks in the country (~40 DCs vs. AAP’s 10) and long standing relationships with mechanics nationwide. More importantly, WORLDPAC (estimated $1 billion in sales) is the leader in foreign parts with AAP owning the number three player and we see synergies from AI flooding into WORLDPAC.

  A meaningfully positive aspect of the transaction is targeted annual cost savings of roughly $160 million within three years (~6.1% of acquired sales). This seems relatively consistent with previous DIY Auto deals. The deal is expected to be 20%+ accretive to FY 14 ca

• [By CanadianValue]

  At the end of 2011, Advance Auto Parts (AAP) and O��eilly Automotive (ORLY) were the fifth- and tenth-largest positions in the Fund, respectively, and together constituted 6.2% of our assets. Auto parts retail is a difficult business for all but the most efficient players. An auto parts retailer must carry literally thousands of hard parts for hundreds of models of cars. Not many people walk in the door needing an alternator for a 1994 Ford, but the person who does is probably experiencing a crisis. The retailer who can manage a substantial investment in slow-turning parts inventory is able to earn a high margin on sales.

• [By P.I.A.]

  路 AutoZone is the largest company of its kind with 5,201 stores, and its plan is to continue growing square footage. It currently has 362 stores in Mexico, with 21 opened during the recently concluded quarter four. Of its foremost competitors, O'Reilly and Advance Auto Parts (AAP), it is the only one with an expanding international presence in Mexico.