Long term picks:
Quanex (NYSE:NX) last trade Jan 13th 53.80
Web Site:
http://www.quanex.com
Quanex Corporation manufactures engineered carbon and alloy steel bars, aluminum flat-rolled products, flexible insulating glass spacer systems, extruded profiles, and precision-formed metal and wood products for vehicular and building products markets. The company operates through two segments, Vehicular Products and Building Products. The Vehicular Products segment includes engineered steel bar manufacturing, steel bar and tube heat-treating services, and steel bar and tube corrosion and wear resistant finishing services. It provides engineered steel bars to passenger car, light truck, sport utility vehicle, heavy truck, off-road and farm equipment industries. This segment also provides tube and bar heat-treating and related services, such as quench and temper, stress relieving, normalizing, cut-to-length, and metallurgical testing. It also treats steel bars and tubes to improve the metal?s corrosion and wear resistance properties to chrome plating. The Building Products segment offers lexible insulating glass spacer systems, window and patio door screens, window cladding frames, residential exterior products, custom wood window grilles and accessories, engineered vinyl and thermoplastic alloy composite window components, custom designed and roll-formed aluminum components, and stamped aluminum shapes for manufacturers of windows for the home improvement, residential, and light commercial construction markets. Quanex markets its products through direct sales force and distributors. Quanex operates in the United States, Mexico, Canada, Asia, Europe, and other foreign countries. The company was founded in 1927 as Michigan Seamless Tube Company and changed its name to Quanex Corporation in 1977. Quanex is based in Houston, Texas.
I first bought Quanex back in 2002 at 31 a share. Since then its traded as high as 67 and I feel that it should be trading at an even higher price than that. I recently added to my holdings when it traded at 52. I am very bullish on this stock, and I expect another solid year of earnings in 2006.
http://www.forbes.com/lists/2006/88/BUDL.html?partner=yahootix&id=BUDL_NX
Popular Inc (Nasdaq BPOP)
Popular, Inc., a financial holding company, provides various financial services primarily in Puerto Rico and the United States. The company, through its principal subsidiary, Banco Popular de Puerto Rico, offers a range of individual and commercial banking services in Puerto Rico. It also provides investment banking, auto and lease financing, mortgage and consumer lending, insurance, and information processing through its other subsidiaries. As of July 15, 2005, Popular, Inc. operated 280 branches and offices in Puerto Rico. The company also operates the Hispanic-owned financial services franchise, Banco Popular North America, which provides various financial solutions in the United States. It operated approximately 135 branches in California, Texas, Illinois, New York, New Jersey, and Florida, as well as 112 financial services stores under the name of Popular Cash Express, as of July 15, 2005. In addition, the company, through its finance subsidiary, Popular Financial Holdings, operated approximately 200 retail lending locations offering mortgage and personal loans in the United States, as of the above date. It also maintains a wholesale broker network, a warehouse lending division, loan servicing, and an assets acquisition unit. Popular, Inc. also operates in the Caribbean and Latin America. The company was founded in 1917 and is headquartered in Hato Rey, Puerto Rico.
A low P/E ratio of 10.64 and a healthy dividend of 64 cents per share, yielding 3.10%, makes this a safe and secure stock to own in the financial sector of your portfolio. I first purchased this stock in late 2002 after reading about it being a possible takeover target from one of the large East Coast banks looking to make larger in-roads in the Hispanic market. Since then, its had a 2-1 split. I would have liked to see a bit more growth in the price per share, but the nice 3.1 % dividend in these days of low interest rates has kept me owning this stock.
