Getty Images Given the record gains Wall Street posted in 2013, you might be tempted to think the financial dog days are behind us, at least for now. But many wealthy investors continue to pour more of their fortunes into nonfinancial "treasure assets," such as collectible rare coins, in an attempt to diversify their portfolios. "In the environment that exists right now, where the Dow is very high ... most of the people buying rare coins ... are people who are taking profits as a result of a semibull market ... and want to reinvest some of that money into nondollar-based-type investments," said Terry Hanlon, president of the Professional Numismatists Guild. While the wealthy have always acquired art, antiques and other such valuables, experts believe that many of today's treasure seekers figure they're not only getting a beautiful object with their purchase but a savvy investment as well. "We've been seeing many new buyers entering the rare-coin market in recent years," said Greg Rohan, president of Heritage Auctions, which claims to be the world's largest collectibles auctioneer. "Many have collected fine art and invested in precious metals but now also are diversifying their portfolios with rare coins because they can appreciate their beauty and history, while the coins appreciate in value over the long term." In 2012 the world's millionaires devoted an average of 9.6 percent of their fortunes to nonfinancial assets, such as collectibles, according to a survey by Barclays Wealth and Investment Management and Ledbury Research. The poll, of 2,000 people with investable assets of $1.5 million or more, also found that the proportion of wealthy individuals who own treasure assets has increased over the past five years. Coin collections, specifically, are up about 2 percent. Drawing a Pretty Penny But what really motivates investors to buy collectibles? Is it perceived financial benefits, emotional impulse or, perhaps, both? The answer isn't clear.
Markets in fashionable alternatives such as art [and] coins ... are all inherently speculative investments. They produce no income [and] have no future productive capacity.
5 Best Tech Stocks To Watch For 2015: MEMSIC Inc.(MEMS)
MEMSIC, Inc. provides semiconductor sensor and system solutions based on integrated micro electro-mechanical systems (MEMS) technology and mixed signal circuit design. It offers sensor products, principally accelerometers. The company?s sensors are used for motion, direction, and pressure sensing applications; and accelerometer products are used to measure tilt, shock, vibration, and acceleration, as well as in various applications, such as mobile phones, automotive safety systems, video projectors, global positioning systems, video gaming systems, interactive toys, inclination sensing, earthquake detection, cardiac pacemakers, and image projectors. Its system solution products include wireless sensors that connect the physical environment with enterprise management and information systems to provide monitoring, automation, and control solutions for a range of industries, as well as inertial systems that provide end-users and systems integrators with MEMS-based solutions for the measurement of static and dynamic motion in a various environments, such as avionics, remotely operated vehicles, agricultural and construction vehicles, automotive test, and wind power turbines. The company also engages in the development of multi-sensor and MCU integrated system products at the integrated circuit level for the consumer and mobile market, as well as at the module level for the industrial, automotive, and general aviation markets. It sells its products directly, as well as through systems integrators, resellers, distributors, and sales representatives worldwide. The company was founded in 1999 and is headquartered in Andover, Massachusetts.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By mitu77]
The company is focusing the IoT market and this is exemplified by its launch of Wireless Internet Connectivity for Embedded Devices (WICED�� family to empower engineers to quickly model plans and ideas for IoT gadgets and applications. The Broadcom庐 WICED Sense development kit is a bundled pack of IoT. The main ingredients to this development kit is Broadcom�� latest Bluetooth smart chip, five miro electro-mechanical systems (MEMS) with Bluetooth 4.1 enabled software. Broadcom's WICED Sense kit provides innovators of all sizes a cost-effective platform that minimizes set-up time and enables rapid demos of IoT concepts for hardware and software developers. This kit supports both iOS and Android OS developers.
5 Best Long Term Stocks To Buy For 2014: HMS Holdings Corp (HMSY)
HMS Holdings Corp. provides cost containment, coordination of benefits, and program integrity services. The company?s services enable clients to recover amounts due from liable third parties, reduce fraud, and ensure regulatory compliance. Its coordination of benefits services route claims paid by a government program to the liable third party, which reimburses the government payor; cost avoidance services provide validated insurance coverage information that is used by government payors to reject claims that are the responsibility of a third party; and program integrity services are designed to identify payment errors and recover the erroneous payments. The company also offers audit programs, program design, benefit management, and general and pharmacy systems consulting services. It serves state Medicaid agencies, Medicaid and Medicare managed care plans, government and private self-funded employers, pharmacy benefit managers, child support agencies, the Veterans Health Administration, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, commercial plans, healthcare payors and sponsors, business outsourcing and technology firms, and government. The company was founded in 1974 and is headquartered in New York, New York.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Seth Jayson]
HMS Holdings (Nasdaq: HMSY ) is expected to report Q2 earnings on July 26. Here's what Wall Street wants to see:
The 10-second takeaway
Comparing the upcoming quarter to the prior-year quarter, average analyst estimates predict HMS Holdings's revenues will increase 3.0% and EPS will shrink -8.7%.
5 Best Long Term Stocks To Buy For 2014: Balfour Beatty PLC (BIH)
Balfour Beatty plc is a global infrastructure company that delivers services essential to the development, creation and care of infrastructure assets; from finance and development, through design and project management to construction and maintenance. The Company operates in four segments: Professional Services segment is engaged in the provision of project management; Construction Services segment is engaged in the activities resulting in the physical construction of an asset; Support Services segment is engaged in the activities, which support existing assets or functions, and Infrastructure Investments segment is engaged in the acquisition, operation and disposal of infrastructure assets, such as PPP concessions and airports. In July 2013, it announced the disposal of its 50% interest in the Salford Hospital PFI asset. In December 2013, Balfour Beatty Plc completed the sale of its UK facilities management business to GDF Suez Energy Services. Advisors' Opinion:- [By Vanina Egea]
A few companies excel over their market peers, granting them an unconventional competitive advantage. Everybody knows the market leaders, or the mammoth companies, but there are other particular services that can give a firm greater exposure. No other example is more relevant than the rotary rig count offered by Baker Hughes (BIH). The Baker Hughes Rig Counts provides a weekly count of U.S. and Canadian drilling activity to the industry since 1944, and has become an important business barometer for the drilling industry and its suppliers. Most importantly, the index allows industry analysts to identify industry trends, while providing valuable information to prospect investors beyond Baker Hughes itself. After experiencing a decline in performance from mid-2011 to the end of 2012, the company saw great improvement in overall performance during 2013. Can the trend be expected to continue?
5 Best Long Term Stocks To Buy For 2014: Shutterstock Inc (SSTK)
Shutterstock, Inc. (Shutterstock) operates as a marketplace for commercial digital imagery. Commercial digital imagery consists of licensed photographs, illustrations and videos that companies use in their visual communications, such as Websites, digital and print marketing materials, corporate communications, books, publications and video content. As of April 30, 2012, Shutterstock's image library contained more than 19 million images. It operates in North America, Europe and Rest of the world. The Company offers a range of content types, including photography, illustrations, vector art and video footage. Shutterstock�� brands include Shutterstock and Bigstock. Its online marketplace provides a freely searchable library of commercial digital images that its users can pay to license, download and incorporate into their work. Users can search its library and preview watermarked versions of its content. In November 2011, Shutterstock launched Shutterstock for iPad, an application enabling visitors to search, browse and organize images using an iPad.
The Company�� products consist of Photographs, Illustrations and Vector Art, and Video Footage. The Company offers photographs that cover a range of subjects, including animals/wildlife, the arts, backgrounds/textures, beauty/fashion, buildings/landmarks, business/finance, celebrities, education, food and drink, healthcare/medical, holidays, nature, objects, people, religion, science, sports/recreation, technology and transportation. Its photography collection is made up of images that can be used in both commercial and editorial contexts. Images that are marked as editorial-only, such as photographs of celebrities and newsworthy events, which constitute fewer than 5% of its total images, cannot be used to promote a product or service; instead these images are licensed for use in editorial settings, such as newspapers, blogs and magazines. Photographs are available in a range of sizes, including small files that are appropriate for mobile b! rowsing and large files appropriate for large format prints and high-resolution displays. As of December 31, 2011, photographs made up 69% of its library.
In addition to photographic images, the Company also offers images that have been created using illustration tools and software. These images are made up of two types: illustrations (raster graphics) and vector art (vector graphics). Raster graphics are stored as a fixed set of pixels, whereas vector graphics are stored using geometric modeling. As of December 31, 2011, illustrations an vector art made up 28% of its library. For users engaged in producing video advertisements, commercial motion pictures, television programming, video games, interactive applications and other video-based media, it also provides video footage. Footage clips are available in a range of formats and sizes, including high definition (HD). As of December 31, 2011, its video footage library contained more than 400,000 video clips and made up 3% of its library.
The Company competes with iStockphoto, Fotolia, Dreamstime, Getty Images, Corbis Corporation, Reuters Group PLC, the Associated Press, Thought Equity Motion, Facebook and Flickr.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Brian D. Pacampara]
Based on the aggregated intelligence of 180,000-plus investors participating in Motley Fool CAPS, the Fool's free investing community, online imagery marketplace operator Shutterstock (NYSE: SSTK ) has received an alarming one-star ranking.
- [By Paul Ausick]
It is not often that a secondary stock offering sends a company�� shares higher, but we are seeing that very phenomenon Friday morning. Chinese solar PV maker JinkoSolar Holding Co. Ltd. (NYSE: JKS) and stock image company Shutterstock Inc. (NASDAQ: SSTK) both priced secondary offerings this morning and shares in both companies have risen sharply.
- [By Dave and Donald Moenning]
Internet Software & Services has been the place to be in 2013. In addition to Shutterstock (SSTK), just take a look at these constituents of this red-hot sub-industry: Pandora Media (P), Facebook (FB), j2 Global (JCOM), Yelp (YELP), CoStar Group (CSGP),LinkedIn (LNKD), etc. The list of superb stocks in the Internet Software & Services space goes on and on. Focusing on stocks in the top-performing sub-industries usually helps bullish trades, so today, let's take a closer look at Shutterstock Inc for a short-term long trade.
- [By Paul Ausick]
But the real news is the near vertical trajectory in share prices for the two stocks. This could be another manifestation of the market�� hunger for some momentum plays, as we noted earlier this morning the bump to share prices for both JinkoSolar Holding Co. Ltd. (NYSE: JKS) and Shutterstock Inc. (NASDAQ: SSTK), both of which held secondary share sales this morning.
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