How to Invest in the Olympics

The 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro had its opening ceremony yesterday, August 5, 2016, and will run until August 21. There will be over 207 nations participating with more than 10,000 athletes. The United States has already received its first gold medal for the women's 10-meter air rifle event.

In 2008, the Summer Olympics had the largest global viewership, and the highest peak viewer share in the world of any television broadcast. With that track record, if 2016 comes even close to that, it will been a boon to the companies connected with the Olympics.

Investors that are looking for a way to play the Olympics have several companies that they can choose from.

First, you have the airlines. United (UAL) is the official airline of the Olympics. LATAM Airlines (LFL ) serves the South American market and will be bringing a large number of passengers to Rio.

In terms of clothing and apparel, there is Ralph Lauren (RL) which made the Olympic outfits. Nike (NKE) is a proud sponsor, and we will be seeing many Nike shoes in several events. Under Armour (UA) is not an official sponsor but has made the uniforms for the US gymnastics teams, and should benefit from the publicity. Finally, there is Dick's Sporting Goods (DKS), which markets various types of athletic apparel and exercise equipment. It is an official sponsor.

Next there is the media. The Olympics are being broadcast on the NBC television network, which is owned by Comcast (CMCSA). Media General (MEG) will have the Olympics aired on 13 of its NBC affiliates.

 Last but not least is Visa (V), an official sponsor, which is handling the Olympic payment system.

Hopefully, some of these stocks can provide a gold medal for your portfolio.

You can see an investment motif of Olympics Stocks at motifinvesting.com. If you like interesting stock lists like this, you should check out many of the free stock lists at WallStreetNewsNetwork.com.

Disclosure: Author didn't own any of the above at the time the article was written.

By Stockerblog.com

Marijuana Airlines

The marijuana stocks have been on fire lately. No matter how tenuous the connection to medical marijuana or recreational marijuana or hemp, it has caused a lot of activity in the stocks. Whether it's growing supplies, processing transactions for dispensaries, or vending machines, extensive attention is given to these companies. The flurry has caused the Stockerblog.com Marijuana Stock Index to rise 30% in the last month, and an incredible 326% in the last two months, according to the index analysis at WallStreetNewsNetwork.com.

Now the latest tenuous connections are the airlines that have a hub at Denver, Colorado, due to the huge increase in the number of travelers to Colorado to take advantage of the new law. There are actually several airlines that serve Denver, but three main airlines with hubs there. First, there is Frontier Airlines, which is privately owned.

Second, there is United Airlines, a division of United Consolidated Holdings (UAL). Denver is the western hub for the airline, which flies all over the United States. The stock trades at 29 times trailing earnings and eight times forward earnings. Revenues for the latest quarter were up 7.2%, and the company reported earnings of 1.53 per share.

The third airline with a Denver hub is the regional airline Great Lakes Airlines (GLUX), which flies to Phoenix, Los Angeles, Minneapolis, and other major cities. For the quarter ended September 30, earnings were down 41.5% on a revenu drop of 15.4%.

To see a list of all the other marijuana related stocks, which includes a description of its business and connection, go to WallStreetNewsNetwork.com.

Disclosure: Author owns GLUX.

By Stockerblog.com

Stocks With Lots of Cash

Lots of cash is great, whether you are an individual or a company. One key statistic that value investors examine who look at value stocks is the cash per share. The cash per share is determined by taking all the cash on the company's book divided by all the shares that are outstanding. If the price of the stock is below the cash per share, and assuming the company has little or no debt, then it may be a great value investment.

There are plenty of stocks that sell below the cash per share, but you may want to avoid certain ones because they carry huge amounts of debt. A few airlines fall into that category, such as US Airways Group (LCC) and United Continental (UAL), both of which trade way below the cash per share but have debt in the billions.

Fortunately, investors can still find stocks trading below cash with little or no debt. WallStreetNewsNetwork.com just updated its list of stocks selling below cash, which also includes data on the forward price to earnings ratio, the market capitalization, the cash per share, and the total debt.

One example is the Livermore, California based FormFactor, Inc. (FORM), which makes and markets precision and high performance advanced semiconductor wafer probe cards used for testing chips and other devices. The company should continue to benefit from the appetite for microprocessors. This debt-free stock has over $6.25 in cash per share yet closed at only $5.71, a 9% discount. The stock is also selling at a big discount to its book value of 7.48. The stock trades at 1.61 times sales. The company reported a net loss of 1.17 per share for the latest quarter, but generated a 10% increase in revenues.

Another example is Digital River Inc. (DRIV), a Minnesota based outsourcer of e-commerce solutions, primarily online sales channel capability. The stock trades at 15.43 trading at a 13% discount to its cash per share of 17.79 and its book value of 17.74. The stock trades at 12.7 times forward earnings, and 1.51 times sales, with revenues rising 123%. The does have some debt in the mount of $354 million.

For a list of stocks trading below cash per share, which you can update and sort, go to WallStreetNewsNetwork.com.

Disclosure: Author didn't own any of the above at the time the article was written.

By Stockerblog.com

Could the News be Any Worse for Airline Companies?

Talk about bad news. AMR Corporation (AMR) will be announcing its latest quarterly earnings on October 17, and from what you read on almost every financial website, a bankruptcy may be looming for this company in the opinion of many investors. After all, for the quarter ending June 30, the company generated negative earnings of 2.02 per share.

On top of that, a woman has just sued Continental Airlines, a subsidiary of United Continental Holdings, Inc. (UAL), because a flight she was on was too turbulent for her. The woman claims that she has post-traumatic stress disorder from the stress of the flight, causing her to fear flying, and in turn has affect her career. It makes you wonder if there are any airline stocks worth buying.

Fortunately there are a few airlines that are generated positive earnings and even paying dividends. WallStreetNewsNetwork.com has turned up a dozen airline stocks, a third of which generate dividends. As an example, Ryanair Holdings plc (RYAAY) is the Dublin based airline with flights in Ireland, the United Kingdom, Europe, and Morocco. The stock trades at 13.9 times current ernings and 10.5 times future earnings. It has a price to earnings growth ratio of 0.82. The company paid its first cash dividend last year.

Cathay Pacific Airways Ltd. (CPCAY.PK), the Hong Kong based airline, has flights throughout Asia, the Middle East, Africa, and North America. It pays a generous yield of 2.5% and trades at 5.0 times forward earnings.

If you want to check out some of the other airlines, see the free list of airline stocks at WallStreetNewsNetwork.com.

Disclosure: Author owns RYAAY.

By Stockerblog.com