Tag Archives: DIS

2 Highflying Dow Stocks to Buy Today

By Anders Bylund, The Motley Fool

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Past performance is never a guarantee of future success. But some stocks rise for good reason. Here are two Dow Jones stocks that are chasing all-time highs as we speak — without getting expensive in the process. These are momentum stocks of exceptionally high quality, and they may never be this cheap again.

If you need another indication that the market is firing on all cylinders, consider this: 15 of the 30 Dow components trade within 10% of their all-time highs right now.

Health insurance giant UnitedHealth set its all-time record in December of 2005. Then the company was hit with an options-backdating scandal that ultimately displaced its CEO, an industrywide bout of investor skepticism, and, of course, the pitch-black recession shared by the rest of the known universe.

Now UnitedHealth is back in record-level neighborhood and looking stronger than before. You can — and probably should — buy this stock right now.

UNH data by YCharts.

Since its fall from the original summit, UnitedHealth has reshaped its business plan, increased dividend payments nearly eightfold, and finally joined the elite Dow index. It’s a longtime and extremely successful recommendation of two Foolish newsletters and has a perfect five-star CAPS rating to boot. The reasons to buy this stock pile up to the rafters of Wall Street and Main Street alike.

Walt Disney is a more obvious success story. This stock hit its lifelong peak as recently as last month and has crushed the Dow by more than tripling in price over the last decade. Is the Mouse bound to run out of steam, or can you still buy the stock at current prices?

DIS data by YCharts.

I think it’s pretty obvious that the best is yet to come. Disney thrives on game-changing acquisitions like its Pixar and Marvel buyouts. Pixar still churns out surefire hits like clockwork, the benefits of the Marvel buy are still unfolding, and now Han Solo has joined the party in the recent Lucasfilm buyout. It’s like pouring nitroglycerin on the fire.

Mickey Mouse is shrinking in the Disney universe as he becomes surrounded by equally powerful consumer-attention magnets. The character stable is becoming as diversified as the business operations, which include movies, TV content, cruise ships, theme parks, lunch boxes, and more. It’ll take a meltdown of epic proportions to stop this gravy train.

So if you’re looking for stocks to buy right now, you really can’t go wrong with these two winners. They’re rising for a reason and won’t be going back down.

It’s easy to forget that Walt Disney is more than just the House of Mouse. Much of Disney’s allure for investors lies in its diversity, and The Motley Fool’s premium research report lays out the case for investing in Disney today. This report includes the key items investors must watch, as well as the opportunities and threats the company faces going …read more

Source: FULL ARTICLE at DailyFinance

Notable ETF Outflow Detected – IWD, GS, USB, DIS

By ETFChannel.com

Looking today at week-over-week shares outstanding changes among the universe of ETFs covered at ETF Channel, one standout is the iShares Russell 1000 Value Index Fund (AMEX: IWD) where we have detected an approximate $23.5 million dollar outflow — that’s a 0.1% decrease week over week (from 203,800,000 to 203,500,000). Among the largest underlying components of IWD, in trading today Goldman Sachs Group Incorporated (NYSE: GS) is up about 0.9%, U.S. Bancorp (NYSE: USB) is up about 0.8%, and Walt Disney Co. (NYSE: DIS) is higher by about 0.4%. For a complete list of holdings, visit the IWD Holdings page » …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Forbes Markets

Sony Sticks with Starz Through 2021 (SNE, STRZB, NFLX, DIS, LMCA)

By 24/7 Wall St.

Sony Store

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A division of Sony Corp. (NYSE: SNE) and Starz (NASDAQ: STRZB) have extended a multi-year agreement under which Starz will remain the exclusive first-run TV outlet for new movies from Sony. The deal will runs through 2012, replacing a prior agreement that would have expired in 2016.

In December, Netflix Inc. (NASDAQ: NFLX) signed a deal with The Walt Disney Co. (NYSE: DIS), outbidding Starz and its sister Encore channels which were still owned at the time by Liberty Media Corp. (NASDAQ: LMCA). There’s no indication that Netflix was in the running for a deal with Sony, but it would be surprising if the streaming video purveyor hadn’t at least made some initial inquiries.

The Netflix deal with Disney starts in 2016, after Disney’s current contract with Starz expires. Netflix is thought to be paying about $300 million annually for the exclusive streaming rights to films from Lucasfilm’s Star Wars franchise, Pixar Animation Studios, and Marvel Studios among others. Starz had to counter and the deal with Sony is the response.

Maybe Netflix was never in contention or maybe the company just didn’t want to add another hundred million or so to its future financial commitments. The company needs to add about 3.7 million subscribers between now and 2016 to pay for the Disney deal without raising its monthly subscription rate.

Netflix shares are getting a shave today, down about 2.4% at $176.70 after a two-and-a-half week run of nearly daily 52-week highs.

Filed under: 24/7 Wall St. Wire, Cable Companies, Entertainment, Internet, Media, TV Tagged: DIS, LMCA, NFLX, SNE, STRZB

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Source: FULL ARTICLE at DailyFinance

Notable ETF Inflow Detected – ACWI, SLB, AMZN, DIS

By ETFChannel.comLooking today at week-over-week shares outstanding changes among the universe of ETFs covered at ETF Channel, one standout is the iShares MSCI ACWI Index Fund (NASD: ACWI) where we have detected an approximate $37.9 million dollar inflow — that’s a 1.2% increase week over week in outstanding units (from 67,600,000 to 68,400,000). Among the largest underlying components of ACWI, in trading today Schlumberger Ltd. (NYSE: SLB) is down about 0.2%, Amazon.com Inc. (NASD: AMZN) is up about 1.1%, and Walt Disney Co. (NYSE: DIS) is lower by about 0.2%. For a complete list of holdings, visit the ACWI Holdings page »
Source: Forbes Markets