Shutterstock, tomsza Looking for allergy relief? Prescriptions, rather than OTC remedies, are often more effective and cheaper in the long run. 1. Avoiding treatment can be costly Nearly a third of adults have allergies. Suffer through the symptoms, and you could pay the price at work. During allergy attacks, one study found, employees lost more than two hours of productivity a day. If you regularly take over-the-counter pills, get tested to pinpoint your allergens and fine-tune treatment. The common skin-prick test is faster than a blood test and may save you a second office trip, says North Aurora, Ill., allergist Sakina Bajowala. 2. A prescription pays in more than one way What your doctor prescribes may be more effective. For example, steroidal nasal sprays like Flonase beat OTC sprays, which shouldn't be used for more than a few days because they're habit forming, says Richard Madden, a physician in Belen, N.M. Even when an OTC drug like Claritin or Zyrtec works fine for you, ask for a prescription anyway. That way, you can pay for the pills with the pretax dollars in your flexible spending account. 3. Shots pay off over time Your doctor may suggest immunotherapy -- shots one or two times a week for up to eight months, tapering down to monthly over three to five years. A recent study in the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology found that immunotherapy patients saw 38% lower treatment costs owing to fewer overall doctor visits and drugs. "You put in your work and expense upfront and get all the benefit down the road," says Bajowala. 4. An alternative treatment is on you Acupuncture, biofeedback, hypnosis, and even eating local honey are touted as treatments, but there's little clinical data to prove widespread effectiveness over the long term. While your insurance may pay for a $100 acupuncture session for back pain, allergies are less likely to be covered. One homebrew that gets a thumbs-up from doctors: nasal irrigation. No need to spring for a $100 contraption -- a $20 drugstore variety with distilled water is fine for most. 5. For gear, there's no need to splurge The best air purifier is your air conditioner, says Gaithersburg, Md., allergist Jacqueline Eghrari-Sabet. Just add a HEPA filter to trap pollen, dust, and mold spores. With no AC, a basic $50 HEPA air purifier works fine, especially in small rooms.
Top Cheap Stocks For 2015: Hewlett-Packard Company(HPQ)
Hewlett-Packard Company and its subsidiaries provide products, technologies, software, solutions, and services to individual consumers and small- and medium-sized businesses (SMBs), as well as to the government, health, and education sectors worldwide. Its Personal Systems Group segment offers commercial personal computers (PCs), consumer PCs, workstations, calculators and other related accessories, and software and services for the commercial and consumer markets. The company?s Services segment provides consulting, outsourcing, and technology services to infrastructure, applications, and business process domains. Its Imaging and Printing Group segment provides consumer and commercial printer hardware, supplies, media, and scanning devices, such as inkjet and Web solutions, laser jet and enterprise solutions, managed enterprise solutions, graphics solutions, and printer supplies. The company?s Enterprise Servers, Storage, and Networking segment offers industry standard s ervers, business critical systems, storage platforms, and networking products, including switches, routers, wireless LAN, and TippingPoint network security products. Its HP Software segment provides enterprise IT management software, information management solutions, and security intelligence/risk management solutions. The company?s HP Financial Services segment offers leasing, financing, utility programs, and asset recovery services; and financial asset management services for enterprise customers, as well as specialized financial services to SMBs, and educational and governmental entities. Hewlett-Packard Company also provides business intelligence solutions that enable businesses to standardize on consistent data management schemes, connect and share data across the enterprise, and apply analytics, as well as licenses its specific technology to third parties. The company was founded in 1939 and is headquartered in Palo Alto, California.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Matt Thalman]
Meanwhile, shares of PC manufacturer Hewlett-Packard (NYSE: HPQ ) and chip maker Intel (NASDAQ: INTC ) are down 4.3% and 2.3%, respectively, for a number of reasons. The first, as my colleague Dan Caplinger noted this morning, is that HP was crushing the market so far in 2013, so as we move into a correctional period, HP will naturally take a bigger hit than some of its fellow Dow components. But even with today's drop, the stock it still up more than 60% in 2013, while the Dow is only up 11.35%.
Top Cheap Stocks For 2015: UnitedHealth Group Incorporated(UNH)
UnitedHealth Group Incorporated provides healthcare services in the United States. Its Health Benefits segment offers consumer-oriented health benefit plans and services to national employers, public sector employers, mid-sized employers, small businesses, and individuals; and non-employer based insurance options for purchase by individuals. It also provides health and well-being services for individuals aged 50 and older; and for services dealing with chronic disease and other specialized issues for older individuals, as well as health plans for the beneficiaries of acute and long-term care Medicaid plans. This segment offers its services through a network of 730,000 physicians and other health care professionals, and 5,300 hospitals. Its OptumHealth segment provides health, financial, and ancillary services and products that assist consumers through personalized health management solutions; benefit administration, and clinical and network management; health-based financi al services; behavioral solutions; and specialty benefits, such as dental, vision, life, critical illness, short-term disability, and stop-loss product offerings. The company?s Ingenix segment offers database and data management services, software products, publications, consulting and actuarial services, business process outsourcing services, and pharmaceutical data consulting and research services. Its Prescription Solutions segment provides integrated pharmacy benefit management services comprising retail network pharmacy contracting and management, claims processing, mail order pharmacy services, specialty pharmacy, benefit design consultation, rebate contracting and management, drug utilization review, formulary management programs, disease therapy management, and adherence programs to employer groups, union trusts, managed care organizations, Medicare-contracted plans, Medicaid plans, and third party administrators. The company was founded in 1974 and is based in Minne tonka, Minnesota.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Sean Williams]
These numbers are great news for health benefits providers like CIGNA�and UnitedHealth Group (NYSE: UNH ) . UnitedHealth is one of Colorado's largest insurers, while CIGNA offers a big presence in Utah. If fewer people are dealing with high blood pressure and diabetes in these states, then UnitedHealth and CIGNA would be expected to keep more of their premium as profit since people in these states should be visiting the doctor less often. Understandably the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act will cap health insurers' medical loss ratio at 80%, but this is still great news for insurers operating in these states.
- [By Ben Levisohn]
The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.7% to 15,746.88–its 33rd this year, tying it with the S&P 500–led higher by Microsoft’s (MSFT) 4.2% gain, UnitedHealth Group’s (UNH) 2.3% rise and Chevron’s (CVX) 2.3% advance. Only three Dow stocks finished in the red today, including Nike (NKE), which dropped 0.6%, and the Home Depot (HD), which fell 0.3%. Yes, it was that kind of day.
- [By Ben Levisohn]
The Dow Jones Industrials got a boost from UnitedHealth Group (UNH), which gained 2.8% to $78.77 this week, its highest close in more than one month. UnitedHealth announced this week that it would join the Illinois health exchange.
- [By Keith Speights]
Florida already announced contracts with seven managed-care organizations, including UnitedHealth Group� (NYSE: UNH ) and Amerigroup, which was acquired in 2012 by WellPoint (NYSE: WLP ) . �Medicaid managed care is a big business for both large insurers. UnitedHealth reported $16.4 billion in 2012 revenue from its business unit that handles Medicaid programs.�WellPoint doesn't break out its Medicaid revenue separately, but Amerigroup reported more than $6.4 billion in revenue during the first three quarters of 2012, of which a high percentage stemmed from Medicaid.
Hot Shipping Companies To Invest In 2015: International Business Machines Corporation(IBM)
International Business Machines Corporation (IBM) provides information technology (IT) products and services worldwide. Its Global Technology Services segment provides IT infrastructure and business process services, including strategic outsourcing, process, integrated technology, and maintenance services, as well as technology-based support services. The company?s Global Business Services segment offers consulting and systems integration, and application management services. Its Software segment offers middleware and operating systems software, such as WebSphere software to integrate and manage business processes; information management software for database and enterprise content management, information integration, data warehousing, business analytics and intelligence, performance management, and predictive analytics; Tivoli software for identity management, data security, storage management, and datacenter automation; Lotus software for collaboration, messaging, and so cial networking; rational software to support software development for IT and embedded systems; business intelligence software, which provides querying and forecasting tools; SPSS predictive analytics software to predict outcomes and act on that insight; and operating systems software. Its Systems and Technology segment provides computing and storage solutions, including servers, disk and tape storage systems and software, point-of-sale retail systems, and microelectronics. The company?s Global Financing segment provides lease and loan financing to end users and internal clients; commercial financing to dealers and remarketers of IT products; and remanufacturing and remarketing services. It serves financial services, public, industrial, distribution, communications, and general business sectors. The company was formerly known as Computing-Tabulating-Recording Co. and changed its name to International Business Machines Corporation in 1924. IBM was founded in 1910 and is based in Armonk, New York.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Alex Planes]
Despite opening an early position in CPUs, Intel remained very much a memory-chip maker until the 1980s, when low-cost Japanese competition buzz-sawed its way through American memory-makers. Intel, unlike its peers, had recently opened a fallback position that would transform it into one of the most successful technology companies in history: the IBM (NYSE: IBM ) PC, which had been built with off-the-shelf components -- including Intel's 8088 processor, an offshoot of the 8086 -- to get to market faster.
- [By Rich Smith]
This series, brought to you by Yahoo! Finance, looks at which upgrades and downgrades make sense, and which ones investors should act on. Today, our headlines include new buy ratings for IBM (NYSE: IBM ) and Toyota Motor (NYSE: TM ) . But it's not all good news, so let's start off with a look at why one analyst is ...
- [By Dan Caplinger]
IBM (NYSE: IBM )
IBM sent the Dow plunging on the day after it reported earnings, missing expectations by a nickel per share despite posting a 3% increase in net income for the quarter. Sales fell 5% from the year-ago quarter, as orders from the U.S. and Chinese governments were particularly weak.
Top Cheap Stocks For 2015: AeroVironment Inc.(AVAV)
AeroVironment, Inc. designs, develops, produces, and supports unmanned aircraft systems (UAS), and efficient energy systems for various industries and governmental agencies. Its UAS provide intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance, including real-time tactical reconnaissance, tracking, combat assessment, and geographic data to the small tactical unit or individual war fighter. The UAS wirelessly transmit critical live video and other information generated by their payload of electro-optical or infrared sensors directly to a hand-held ground control system, enabling the operator to view and capture images during the day or at night on a hand-held ground control unit. AeroVironment also provides spare equipment, alternative payload modules, batteries, chargers, repair services, and customer support for the UAS. In addition, the company produces industrial productivity and clean transportation solutions for commercial and government customers, develops potential clean t ransportation solutions, and performs contract engineering services; offers PosiCharge electric vehicle charging systems for industrial electric material handling fleets, electric vehicle charging systems for passenger and fleet vehicles, and power cycling and test systems for developers and manufacturers of plug-in electric and hybrid vehicles, as well as battery packs, electric motors, and fuel cells; and supplies power cycling and test systems to research and development organizations that focus on developing electric propulsion systems, electric generation systems, and electricity storage systems. It supplies its UAS primarily to the organizations within the United States department of defense. AeroVironment, Inc. was incorporated in 1971 and is headquartered in Monrovia, California.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Rex Moore and Blake Bos]
The latest in drone and robotics technology was on display recently at the world's largest unmanned systems exhibition in Washington, D.C. California-based AeroVironment (NASDAQ: AVAV ) , which makes several unmanned aircraft systems, announced at the conference that a solar solution for its hand-launched Puma AE drone has extended its flight time from three to nine hours -- significantly longer than other small drones used in the field today.
- [By Lauren Pollock]
AeroVironment Inc.'s(AVAV) fiscal second-quarter profit fell 81% on a sharp decline in revenue and margins. However, shares were up 4.4% at $28.10 in premarket trading as the maker of pilotless drones and rechargeable-batteries reported adjusted earnings and revenue that topped expectations.
- [By Abigail W., Adams]
General Atomics' Predators and Reapers, however, are losing their status. DOD contracts for MQ-9 Reaper procurement fell from $979 million in 2013 to $411 million for 2015. Predator procurement was reduced from $28 million in 2013 to $5 million for 2015. AeroVironment's (NASDAQ: AVAV ) RQ-11 Raven, a portable UAV capable of reconnaissance, surveillance, and target identification, were also a favorite for combat operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. The Raven, however, took an enormous hit in 2015. Procurement contracts for the compact drone dropped from $30 million in 2013 to $13 million for 2015.
Top Cheap Stocks For 2015: USG Corporation(USG)
USG Corporation, through its subsidiaries, engages in the manufacture and distribution of building materials worldwide. The company offers gypsum and related products, including gypsum wallboard, joint compounds used for finishing wallboard joints, cement boards, glass mat sheathing, gypsum fiber panels, poured gypsum underlayments, ultra light panels, and various construction plaster products. Its gypsum products are used in various building applications to finish the interior walls, ceilings, and floors in residential, commercial, and institutional constructions, and repair and remodel constructions. The company also produces gypsum-based products for agricultural and industrial customers to use in various applications, including soil conditioning, road repair, fireproofing, and ceramics. In addition, it manufactures ceiling grid and acoustical ceiling tile for electrical and mechanical systems, and air distribution and maintenance applications. USG Corporation distribut es its gypsum products through specialty wallboard distributors, building materials dealers, home improvement centers and other retailers, contractors, and a network of distributors. Further, it distributes other manufacturers? gypsum wallboard, joint compound and other gypsum products, as well as drywall metal, insulation, and roofing products and accessories. The company sells its products under SHEETROCK, DUROCK, FIBEROCK, SECUROCK, LEVELROCK, RED TOP, IMPERIAL, DIAMOND, SUPREMO, AURATONE, ACOUSTONE, DONN, DX, FINELINE, CENTRICITEE, CURVATURA, and COMPASSO brands. The company was founded in 1901 and is based in Chicago, Illinois.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Holly LaFon]
Pimco managing director Mark Kiesel mentions Whirlpool (WHR), Weyerhaeuser (WY), USG (USG), Toll Brothers (TOLL) and KB Home (KBH) as good plays on housing:�
- [By Matt Jarzemsky]
While economists attributed some of the downtick to cold and snowy weather, some are wondering if the Federal Reserve�� plan to dial back its stimulus program this year could lead to a rise in interest rates, putting the brakes on the housing recovery. The SPDR S&P Homebuilders exchange-traded fund��hich tracks a broad basket of housing-related stocks from builders to Sheetrock maker USG Corp.(USG)��s down about 3.6% year-to-date.
- [By Seth Jayson]
USG (NYSE: USG ) reported earnings on April 24. Here are the numbers you need to know.
The 10-second takeaway
For the quarter ended March 31 (Q1), USG missed estimates on revenues and missed estimates on earnings per share. - [By Eric Volkman]
She also serves as chairman of the United States Steel and Carnegie Pension Fund, and on that organization's investment committee. Outside of U.S. Steel, she sits on the board of directors of USG (NYSE: USG ) and the Pennsylvania Business Council, among other entities.
Top Cheap Stocks For 2015: Partner Communications Company Ltd.(PTNR)
Partner Communications Company Ltd. provides various telecommunications services in Israel. It offers cellular telephony services on GSM/GPRS and UMTS/HSDPA networks. The company also provides basic services, including domestic mobile calls, international dialing, roaming, voice mail, short message services, intelligent network services, content based on its cellular portal, data and fax transmission, and other services. In addition, it offers Internet services provider services that provides access to the Internet, as well as home WiFi networks; value added services, such as anti-virus and anti-spam filtering; and transmission services; and Web video on demand services, music tracks, and games. Further, the company provides voice over broadband and primary rate interface fixed-line telephone services; and data capacity services. Additionally, it offers content services comprising voice mail, text, and multimedia messaging, as well as downloadable wireless data application s, including ring tones, music, games, and other informational content; and sells handsets, phones, routers, and related equipment. The company markets its products through its sales centers, business sales representatives, traditional networks of specialized dealers, and non-traditional networks of retail chains and stores under the Orange brand name. Partner Communications Company Ltd. was founded in 1997 and is headquartered in Rosh Ha-ayin, Israel.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Roberto Pedone]
Another under-$10 wireless telecom player that's starting to move within range of triggering a major breakout trade is Partner Communications (PTNR), a telecommunications company, provides cellular and fixed-line telecommunication services in Israel. This stock is off to a strong start in 2013, with shares up sharply by 29%.
If you take a look at the chart for Partner Communications, you'll notice that this stock has been trending sideways for the last month, with shares moving between $7.28 on the downside and $7.96 on the upside. Shares of PTRN are bucking the overall market weakness today as the stock starts to move within range of triggering a breakout trade above the upper-end of its sideways trading chart pattern.
Market players should now look for long-biased trades in PTNR if it manages to break out above some near-term overhead resistance levels at $7.80 to $7.85 a share and then once it clears its 52-week high at $7.96 a share with high volume. Look for a sustained move or close above those levels with volume that registers near or above its three-month average volume of 107,303 shares. If that breakout triggers soon, then PTNR will set up to enter new 52-week-high territory, which is bullish technical price action. Some possible upside targets off that move are $10 to $12.20 a share.
Traders can look to buy PTNR off any weakness to anticipate that breakout and simply use a stop that sits right below some key near-term support levels at $7.38 to $7.28, or below its 50-day at $6.97 a share. One can also buy PTNR off strength once it clears those breakout levels with volume and then simply use a stop that sits a comfortable percentage from your entry point.
Top Cheap Stocks For 2015: S&P Smallcap 600(PH)
Parker Hannifin Corporation manufactures fluid power systems, electromechanical controls, and related components worldwide. Its Industrial segment offers pneumatic and electromechanical components, and systems; filters, systems, and instruments to monitor and remove contaminants from fuel, air, oil, water, and other liquids and gases; connectors that control, transmit, and contain fluid; hydraulic components and systems for builders and users of industrial and mobile machinery and equipment; critical flow components for process instrumentation, healthcare, and ultra-high-purity applications; and static and dynamic sealing devices. This segment sells its products to original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and their replacement markets in the manufacturing, transportation, and processing industries. The company?s Aerospace segment provides flight control systems and components, including hydraulic, electrohydraulic, electric backup hydraulic, electrohydrostatic, and electro -mechanical components for precise control of aircraft rudders, elevators, ailerons, and other aerodynamic control surfaces. It also provides electronics thermal management heat rejection systems, and single-phase and two-phase heat collection systems for radar, ISAR, and power electronics. This segment markets its products primarily to OEMs in the commercial, military, and general aviation markets, as well as to end users. Its Climate and Industrial Controls segment offers systems and components primarily for use in the mobile and stationary refrigeration, and air conditioning industry; and in fluid control applications in various industries, such as processing, fuel dispensing, beverage dispensing, and mobile emissions. This segment serves OEMs and their replacement markets. Parker-Hannifin Corporation markets its products through direct-sales employees, independent distributors, wholesalers, and sales representatives. The company was founded in 1918 and is headquartered i n Cleveland, Ohio.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Charles Mizrahi, President and CEO, Hampton Investors, Inc.]
Parker Hannifin (PH) generates strong revenue from its aerospace division, while its primary industrial segment is lagging.
Overall, we like the company's balanced portfolio. PH had solid order rates this past year with backlog of $3.6 billion between its industrial and aerospace segments.
- [By Ben Levisohn]
The market in aggregate might have gone nowhere, but that wasn’t for lack of big moves from individual stocks. Parker-Hannifin (PH) gained 2.4% to $115.06 after it was upgraded to Outperform from Neutral at Baird, while Newmont Mining (NEM) gained 2.2% as gold miners headed higher today.
Top Cheap Stocks For 2015: Uranium Resources Inc.(URRE)
Uranium Resources, Inc. engages in the acquisition, exploration, development, and mining of uranium properties, using the in situ recovery or solution mining process. It owns developed and undeveloped uranium properties in South Texas; and undeveloped uranium properties in New Mexico. The company?s primary customers include utilities who utilize nuclear power to generate electricity. Uranium Resources, Inc. was founded in 1977 and is based in Lewisville, Texas.
Advisors' Opinion:- [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?
- [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 James E. Brumley]
Well, I'll give myself an A for effort, but a C- for timing. But, I can bump that C- up to a B+ if my intuition is right as we head into the last few days of 2013 and the first few of 2014. What I'm talking about is a bullish commentary I penned back on November 26th regarding Uranerz Energy Corp. (NYSEMKT:URZ), Uranium Resources, Inc. (NASDAQ:URRE), and Ur-Energy Inc. (NYSEMKT:URG). All three stocks were perking up, and more than that, the buzz surrounding URG, URRE, and URZ was getting louder. More often than not, when the fervor and bullish action and chatter reaches the levels they had reached a month ago, an explosion is right around the corner.
- [By Bryan Murphy]
If you listened to my bullish calls from December 27th and/or February 24th about Uranerz Energy Corp. (NYSEMKT:URZ), Uranium Resources, Inc. (NASDAQ:URRE), and Ur-Energy Inc. (NYSEMKT:URG), then congratulations - you're now up as much as 50%, depending on when you stepped into a trade, and which stock you chose. Now get out. See, as well as URZ and URG have done and are doing (URRE not so much), it looks like the short-term rally I first spotted a little more than a couple of months ago has fully run its course, and now these names are setting up a pullback.
Top Cheap Stocks For 2015: Whole Foods Market Inc.(WFM)
Whole Foods Market, Inc. engages in the ownership and operation of natural and organic food supermarkets. The company offers produce, seafood, grocery, meat and poultry, bakery, prepared foods and catering, coffee and tea, nutritional supplements, and vitamins. It also provides specialty products, such as beer, wine, and cheese; body care and educational products, such as books; and floral, pet, and household products. As of February 9, 2011, the company operated 302 stores in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom. Whole Foods Market, Inc. was founded in 1978 and is headquartered in Austin, Texas.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Rich Duprey]
Last year the old Kraft snack foods company (now Mondelez International) stirred up controversy by posting a picture of a rainbow Oreo to its Facebook page.�J.C. Penney (NYSE: JCP ) has also come in for sustained criticism for hiring openly gay entertainer Ellen DeGeneres as its spokeswoman, and Whole Foods Markets (NASDAQ: WFM ) CEO John Mackey has long considered inclusiveness as part of his "conscious capitalism" credo.�
- [By Kristen Coia]
In the following video, Motley Fool contributor Kristen Coia sits down with Fool consumer goods analyst Isaac Pino to discuss factors that contribute to Whole Foods' (NASDAQ: WFM ) widening competitive moat. Incredible branding, an ability to stay connected with customers, and being at the forefront of emerging food trends have helped Whole Foods thrive even through the recession, despite its reputation for selling high-end premium products. Can the company continue to exceed customer expectations and deliver for investors? Kristen points out what the company is doing right and where Whole Foods needs improvement.
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