Best Net Payout Yield Companies To Buy Right Now

The U.S. Department of Defense wrapped up the workweek Friday with the announcement of nine new contracts, worth more than $791 million in total. One single contract, however, accounted for fully 62% of the funds on offer.

The winners of that contract, a $494 million firm-fixed-price, multiple-award, task-order contract for the supply of hardware, software, and related integration services needed for the U.S. Army's "Information Technology Enterprise Solution-2" (ITES-2S) enterprise business systems project, include:

Dell's (NASDAQ: DELL  ) Federal Systems business International Business Machines (NYSE: IBM  ) And four privately owned companies -- Unicom Government, CDW Government, Iron Bow Technologies, and World Wide Technology.

The specific type of contract being awarded is best described as an "umbrella" contract, setting a maximum amount of funds that can be spent (the $494 million). Dell, IBM, and the other contract winners will now need to bid against each other to sell the Army equipment and software in response to specific task orders, up until said ceiling value has been reached.

Best Net Payout Yield Companies To Buy Right Now: Bio-Reference Laboratories Inc.(BRLI)

Bio-Reference Laboratories, Inc. provides clinical laboratory testing services for the detection, diagnosis, evaluation, monitoring, and treatment of diseases primarily in the greater New York metropolitan area. It offers various chemical diagnostic tests, including blood and urine analysis, blood chemistry, hematology services, serology, radio-immuno analysis, toxicology, pap smears, tissue pathology, and other tissue analysis. The company also operates a clinical knowledge management service unit, which uses customer data from laboratory results, pharmaceutical data, claims data, and other data sources to provide administrative and clinical decision support systems. In addition, it operates a Web-based connectivity portal solution for laboratories and physicians to provide laboratory ordering and results to physician customers. The company provides its services directly to physicians, geneticists, hospitals, clinics, and correctional and other health facilities. Bio-Refe rence Laboratories, Inc. was founded in 1981 and is headquartered in Elmwood Park, New Jersey.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Lauren Pollock]

  Bio-Reference Laboratories Inc.(BRLI) projected fiscal-fourth quarter earnings below expectations and also gave a cautious view for the recently started fiscal year. The clinical-testing company said it has been under pressure from reimbursement rates, higher costs stemming from upgrading acquisitions in Florida and California, as well as substantial start-up costs for its inherited cancer program.

Best Net Payout Yield Companies To Buy Right Now: Royce Micro-Cap Trust Inc.(RMT)

Royce Micro-Cap Trust, Inc. is a closed-ended equity mutual fund launched and managed Royce & Associates, LLC. It invests in the public equity markets of the United States. The fund seeks to invest in stocks of companies operating across diversified sectors. It primarily invests in value stocks of companies with market capitalization of less than $500 million. The fund benchmarks the performance of its portfolios against Russell 2000 Index. Royce Micro-Cap Trust, Inc was formed on December 14, 1993 and is domiciled in the United States.

Best Diversified Bank Stocks For 2015: Richmond Minerals Inc (RMD.V)

Richmond Minerals Inc. engages in the exploration and development of base and precious metals in northern Ontario and Quebec, Canada. The company primarily explores for iron, copper, gold, uranium, nickel, and chromium deposits. Its principal properties include the Halle Property that is located east of Belleterre, Quebec; and the Ste. Anne du Lac Property that consists of approximately 150 claims located northeast of Mont-Laurier, Quebec. The company is headquartered in Toronto, Canada.

Best Net Payout Yield Companies To Buy Right Now: eHealth Inc.(EHTH)

eHealth, Inc. offers Internet-based insurance agency services for individuals, families, and small businesses in the United States. The company also offers technology licensing and Internet advertising services. Its ecommerce platforms organize and present health insurance information in various formats, as well as enables individuals, families, and small businesses to research, analyze, compare, and purchase various health insurance plans. The company offers various medical health insurance coverage plans, such as preferred provider organization, health maintenance organization and indemnity plans, Medicare plans, short-term medical insurance, student health insurance, and health savings account eligible health insurance plans, as well as ancillary plans, such as dental, vision, and life insurance. Its customers access its ecommerce platforms through its Websites, including eHealth.com, eHealthInsurance.com, eHealthMedicare.com, and PlanPrescriber.com, as well as through a network of marketing partners. The company was incorporated in 1997 and is headquartered in Mountain View, California.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Sean Williams]

  The other option here is eHealth (NASDAQ: EHTH  ) �a private health insurance platform for individuals, families, and small businesses that's been around for years. In its third-quarter results released last week, eHealth noted that membership had risen by 24% to 1.147 million from the year-ago period, clearly showing skepticism in the Obamacare health reform law suggesting the success and options its private platform offers. If there's any company that can use Healthcare.gov's nightmarish start to its advantage, it's eHealth!

• [By Sean Williams]

  What: Shares of eHealth (NASDAQ: EHTH  ) �-- a provider of private market online health insurance services for individuals, families, and small businesses -- jumped as much as 17% after the company reported third-quarter earnings results.

• [By David Williamson]

  Obamacare is racking up expenses, in particular, with the creation of insurance exchanges. In this video, David Williamson looks at this feature of Obamacare, and a possible free market solution. The problem is that these exchanges are proving more expensive than originally thought, up to an estimated $5.7 billion for 2014. No wonder less than half of the states in the country have come on board. One solution is an online insurance exchange. A form of such an exchange already exists. Will it work for a nationwide insurance market?�Hard to say. On the one hand, it could offer small businesses unprecedented access to insurance plans. On the other hand, an online market may simply offer those plans with the best commissions and not the best deals.� (NASDAQ: EHTH  )

Best Net Payout Yield Companies To Buy Right Now: Dollar/Yen (YY)

YY Inc., through its subsidiaries, operates an online social platform in the People�s Republic of China. It provides YY Client, a personal computer based user software that offers real-time access to user-created online social activities groups. The company also offers Web-based YY that enables users to conduct real-time interactions on the Web without any downloads or installations; and Mobile YY, a smartphone application. In addition, it operates Duowan.com, a game media Website that provides information on online games and other resources for users and online game players. The company was founded in 2005 and is based in Guangzhou, the People�s Republic of China.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Kevin Chen]

  YY (NASDAQ: YY  ) has added two independent directors to its board of directors. The China-based video social network now has a total of nine directors overseeing the company's strategy and finances.

Best Net Payout Yield Companies To Buy Right Now: Megastar Development Corp. (MDV.V)

Megastar Development Corp. engages in the acquisition, exploration, and development of mineral properties in Canada. It owns gold and base metal properties in Quebec and British Columbia. The company holds interests in the SIMKAR property consisting of 557 acres located east of Val d'Or, Quebec; and RALLEAU property consisting of located east of Qu茅villon, Quebec. It also holds an option agreement to acquire 100% interest in a total of 46 mineral claim units located in the Omineca Mining Division, British Columbia. The company is based in Vancouver, Canada.

Best Net Payout Yield Companies To Buy Right Now: Southern Cross Goldfields Ltd(SXG.AX)

Southern Cross Goldfields Limited engages in the exploration and development of mineral properties primarily in Western Australia. The company has approximately 3,300 square kilometers of permits under license or agreements in the Central Yilgarn gold and nickel province. It holds interest in the Parker Range gold project located in Southern Cross; the Marda gold project located in Marda-Diemals greenstone Belt; and the Bullfinch North nickel project located in the Southern Cross greenstone belt. The company was incorporated in 2007 and is based in West Perth, Australia.

Best Net Payout Yield Companies To Buy Right Now: Canaccord Finl Inc (CF.TO)

Canaccord Financial Inc., an independent and full-service investment dealer, provides various investment products, brokerage services, and investment banking services to private, institutional, and corporate clients. The company operates in two segments, Canaccord Genuity and Canaccord Wealth Management. The Canaccord Genuity segment engages in the investment banking, research, and trading activities on behalf of corporate, institutional, and government clients, as well as in principal trading activities. It offers an integrated platform for equity research, sales and trading, and investment banking services. This segment focuses its service offerings in the areas of mining and metals, energy, technology, life sciences, consumer products, real estate, infrastructure, sustainability and cleantech, financials, agriculture and fertilizers, media and telecommunications, transportation and industrial products, paper and forestry products, investment trusts, support services, an d structured products. The Canaccord Wealth Management segment provides wealth management solutions and brokerage services to individual investors, private clients, charities, and intermediaries. Its services include wealth management strategies, investment opportunities, and financial planning solutions. The company also offers insurance and estate planning services to its Canadian private clients, which comprise retirement protection programs, capital preservation plans, and insurance strategies for handling capital gains. The capital markets division of the company, Canaccord Genuity, has operations in Canada, the United Kingdom, Europe, the United States, Australia, China, Singapore, and Barbados. The company was founded in 1950 and is headquartered in Vancouver, Canada.

Best Net Payout Yield Companies To Buy Right Now: Orckit Communications Limited(ORCT)

Orckit Communications Ltd. and its subsidiaries engage in the design, development, manufacture, and marketing of telecom equipment. It facilitates telecommunication providers' delivery of broadband residential, business, and mobile services over wireline or wireless networks with its family of products. The company?s product portfolio includes packet transport network switches, a multi protocol label switching (MPLS) and MPLS transport profile dual stack based portfolio enabling packet, as well as legacy services over packet networks with a set of transport features. Orckit Communications markets its products directly and indirectly through strategic alliances, as well as distribution and reseller partners worldwide. The company was founded in 1990 and is headquartered in Tel-Aviv, Israel.

Best Net Payout Yield Companies To Buy Right Now: IAC/InterActiveCorp (IACI)

IAC/InterActiveCorp engages in the Internet business in the United States and internationally. The company�s Search segment develops, markets, and distributes various downloadable toolbars; provides search, reference, and content services through its destination search and other Websites, including Ask.com and Dictionary.com; and aggregates and integrates local advertising and content for distribution to publishers on Web and mobile platforms, as well as markets and distributes mobile applications through which it provides search and additional services. Its Match segment offers subscription-based and advertiser-supported online personals services through its Websites comprising Match.com, Chemistry.com, OurTime.com, BlackPeopleMeet.com, and OkCupid.com, as well as through mobile applications and Meetic-branded Websites. The company�s ServiceMagic segment offers Market Match service that matches consumers with service professionals; Exact Match service, which enables con sumers to review service professional profiles and select the service professional that meets their specific needs; and 1800Contractor.com, an online directory of service professionals. This segment also offers Website design and hosting services. Its Media and Other segment operates CollegeHumor.com, an online entertainment Website that targets young males; Vimeo, a Website on which users can upload, share, and view video; and Pronto.com, a comparison search engine. This segment also engages in the creation of video content for various distribution platforms; and operates as an Internet retailer of footwear and related apparel and accessories, as well as focuses on multimedia business. The company was formerly known as InterActiveCorp and changed its name to IAC/InterActiveCorp in July 2004. IAC/InterActiveCorp was founded in 1986 and is headquartered in New York, New York.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Eric Volkman]

  AP/Jim Mone Is Bitcoin a slam-dunk as the currency of the future? The Sacramento Kings seem to think so. The NBA team recently became the first pro sports franchise to accept Bitcoin as a form of payment. Basketball fans will be able not only to purchase tickets and merchandise online with the digital cryptocurrency, but also to use it to buy souvenirs at the arena come game time. The team is the latest in a growing number of commercial entities finding a slot in their virtual cash registers for Bitcoin. Little by little, momentum is building for a widespread acceptance of the upstart currency. Overstocking The Kings' drive towards the Bitcoin basket comes a week after the big online retailer Overstock.com (OSTK) announced it would start accepting payments in the currency. The move was an instant hit -- the first day the company had the nifty Bitcoin button as an option in its shopping cart, its customers used it to make more than 800 transactions for total sales of around $130,000. Overstock.com was by no means the first online marketplace to accept the currency. Numerous web retailers have been doing so for some time. It's a natural fit, %VIRTUAL-article-sponsoredlinks in a way, since Bitcoin exists solely in the digital realm. Customers booking flights on discount travel operator CheapAir.com, for example, can use Bitcoin to buy their tickets, as can love seekers on dating site OkCupid, owned by IAC/InteractiveCorp (IACI). These digital players are going to have plenty of company. Earlier this month, online games purveyor Zynga (ZNGA) started to dip its toes in the water, announcing that it was testing Bitcoin payments for some of its titles in conjunction with specialist transaction facilitator BitPay. But if Overstock.com didn't get there first, it's still the largest and most prominent e-retailer to take the Bitcoin plunge thus far. This is a big win for the currency and its advocates, and Overstock.com will surely be followed by more well-known comp

• [By Igor Novgorodtsev]

  InterActiveCorp (IACI) bought Ask.com for $1.85 billion in 2005. The new Perion will be worth only about 40% of that. After the merger, Perion will leapfrog its much larger rivals: Babylon and AVG (AVG). Finally, Perion should be able to increase its operating margins as it can spread its SG&A costs over a much larger base (Conduit EBITDA margin is 32% vs. Perion's 23%). Perion will keep its senior management team intact: Josef Mandelbaum will remain its CEO and Yacov Kaufman its CFO. Perion has successfully orchestrated a roll-up acquisitions of privately-held Sweetpacks and Smilebox, so I have high confidence that they know how to integrate a new business.

• [By Jayson Derrick]

  InterActiveCorp (NASDAQ: IACI) announced that its CEO is stepping down from his current position to become chairman of a new operating unit. Investors cheered the management shakeup which is potentially hinting at a spinoff. Shares hit new 52 week highs of $70.44 before closing at $68.49, up 13.98 percent.

• [By Rex Crum]

  Additionally, Devitt initiated coverage of IAC/InterActive Corp. (IACI) �with an equal weight rating and best-case stock price scenario of $67 a share.

Best Net Payout Yield Companies To Buy Right Now: Equity Residential (EQR)

Equity Residential (EQR) is a real estate investment trust (REIT). The Company is focused on the acquisition, development and management of multi-family residential properties, which includes the generation of rental and other related income through the leasing of apartment units to residents, in United States. ERP Operating Limited Partnership (or Operating Partnership), which is an Illinois limited partnership, conducts the multifamily residential property business of EQR. All of the Company's property ownership, development and related business operations are conducted through the Operating Partnership. The Operating Partnership holds all of the assets of the Company, including the Company's ownership interests in its joint ventures. As of December 31, 2011, the Company, directly or indirectly through investments in title holding entities, owned all or a portion of 427 properties located in 15 states and the District of Columbia consisting of 121,974 apartment units. In December 2012, it acquired four multifamily properties totaling 1,134 units.

The Company is structured as an umbrella partnership REIT (UPREIT). EQR is the general partner of, and, as of December 31, 2011, owned an approximate 95.7% ownership interest in ERPOP. The remaining 4.3% interest is owned by limited partners. As of December 31, 2012, the Company�� wholly owned properties included 404 properties and 113,157 apartment units. Its consolidated partially owned properties include 21 properties and 3,916 apartment units. The Company�� military housing includes two properties and 4,901 apartment units. As of December 31, 2011, the Company�� properties had an average occupancy of approximately 94.2% (94.7% on a same store basis).

During the year ended December 31, 2011, EQR acquired apartment properties consisting of 20 consolidated properties and 6,103 apartment units and acquired five land parcels; acquired one vacant land parcel in New York City in a joint venture with Toll Brothers, and acquired o! ne unoccupied property in the San Francisco Bay Area consisting of 95 apartment units. During 2011, it also acquired a 97,000-square foot commercial building adjacent to its Harbor Steps apartment property in downtown Seattle, and sold consolidated apartment properties consisting of 47 properties and 14,345 apartment units. Subsequent to 2011, the Company acquired two land parcels, and sold one property consisting of 704 apartment units.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Dimitra DeFotis]

  Among real estate trusts:

  American Tower��(AMT),�the diversified �REIT, is the best performer in the index.�It was�up 4.6% after saying�Friday it will buy the parent of tower operator Global Tower Partners for $4.8 billion. HCP (HCP), a healthcare REIT, was�up 3.3%. Prologis (PLD) an industrial REIT, was�up 2.8%. Vornado Realty Trust (VNO) was�up 2.7%. Boston Properties (BXP), the office REIT, was�up 2.3%. Equity Residential (EQR), a residential REIT, was�up 2.4%. Ventas (VTR), a healthcare REIT, was�up 2%.

   

• [By Sean Williams]

  This week, I'd like to turn your attention back to the residential real estate investment trust sector and highlight why Equity Residential (NYSE: EQR  ) is a great income-producing stock you can trust moving forward.

• [By Sean Williams]

  Residential real estate investment trust Equity Residential (NYSE: EQR  ) had a particularly good day, jumping by 3.4%. REITs that specialize in apartment community ownership are in fantastic shape if the Fed is thinking about reducing its bond buying. As lending rates rise from less monetary easing, the desire to purchase a home should drop considerably, making apartment living a smart choice. Equity Residential already has high occupancy rates, but, as rates rise, it could see occupancy tick even higher.