Top Regional Bank Companies To Watch For 2014

The broader stock market didn't seem to mind the fact that first-quarter GDP was revised downwards, and that was especially the case for regional banks today.

Unlike many Wall Street banks, these regional banks are very tied to the American consumer, and they were smiling after hearing today's new numbers.

In this segment of The Motley Fool's everything-financials show,�Where the Money Is, banking analysts Matt Koppenheffer and David Hanson discuss a few stocks moving and shaking on the news.

Banks have been on a comeback trail, leading to big outperformance by bank stocks. But many investors are still spooked by "too big to fail" banking giants and their opaque balance sheets. Could that make regional bank Huntington Bancshares the perfect investment? To help figure out whether Huntington is a buy today, I invite you to read our premium research report on the bank. Click here now for instant access.

Top 5 Telecom Companies To Buy Right Now: BankUnited Inc (BKU)

BankUnited, Inc. (BKU), incorporated on April 28, 2009, is a bank holding company with three wholly owned subsidiaries: BankUnited, National Association (the Bank) Herald National Bank (Herald), and BankUnited Investment Services, Inc. (BUIS), collectively, the Company. As of December 31, 2012, it provides a range of banking services to individual and corporate customers through 98 branches located in 15 Florida counties. Herald is a national banking association with 2 branch locations in the New York metropolitan area. BUIS is a Florida insurance agency providing wealth management and financial planning services. As of December 31, 2012, its distribution network also includes 97 automated teller machines (ATMs), online banking and a telephone banking service. As of December 31, 2011, the Bank had 98 branches in 15 counties. On February 29, 2012, the Company announced the completion of its acquisition of Herald National Bank (Herald).

Lending Activities

The Company�� primary lending focus is to serve consumers, commercial and middle-market businesses and their executives with a range of financial products and services. It offers a range of lending products, including small business loans, residential mortgage loans, commercial real estate loans, equipment loans and leases, term loans, asset-backed loans, municipal leases, letters of credit and commercial lines of credit. As part of the Company�� loan activities, it also purchases performing residential loans on a national basis.

The Company�� commercial loans, which are generally made to small and middle-market businesses, include equipment loans, lines of credit, acquisition finance credit facilities and an array of Small Business Administration product offerings, and typically have maturities of five years or less. It also offers term financing for the acquisition or refinancing of properties, primarily rental apartments, industrial properties, retail shopping centers and free-standing buildings, office! buildings and hotels located primarily in Florida. Other products that it provides include secured lines of credit, acquisition, development and construction loan facilities and construction financing.

The Company provides one- to four-single family residential real estate loans with terms ranging from 10 to 40 years, with either fixed or adjustable interest rates. Loans are offered to customers primarily in Florida through its branches and loan officers. The majority of its loans are owner occupied, full documentation loans. The Company offers consumer loans to its customers primarily in Florida for personal, family and household purposes, including home equity loans, auto, boat and personal installment loans.

Sources of Funds

The Company offers traditional deposit products, including checking accounts, money market deposit accounts, savings accounts and certificates of deposit with a variety of rates. Demand deposits comprised 22% of total deposits as of December 31, 2012. The Company also utilizes Federal Home Loan Bank (FHLB) advances to finance its operations.

Wealth Management

Through financial consultants and bankers, BankUnited Investment Services provides a range of wealth management product offering that includes mutual funds, annuities, life insurance and individual securities. It also provides succession planning, estate planning, and financial planning to individuals and business owners. It uses a third-party financial services company to provide its trading platform, administrative and back office support, and provides its customers with around-the-clock access to account balances and summaries, positions and portfolio views, transaction detail, portfolio view, and online statements.

The Company competes with Bank of America, BankAtlantic, BB&T, JPMorgan Chase, Regions Bank, SunTrust Banks, TD Bank and Wells Fargo.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Sean Fox]

  Finding a rose among the ashes
  John Kanas is the chairman, president, and CEO of revived financial institution BankUnited� (NYSE: BKU  ) . While neither name may be familiar, the bank merits a deeper look nonetheless.

• [By Monica Gerson]

  Breaking news

  Loews (NYSE: L) reported a 59% rise in its third-quarter earnings. Loews posted a quarterly profit of $282 million, or $0.73 per share, versus a year-ago profit of $177 million, or $0.45 per share. To read the full news, click here. BankUnited (NYSE: BKU) announced today the commencement of an underwritten offering of 9,000,000 shares of its common stock by certain of its existing stockholders, subject to market and other conditions. To read the full news, click here. Liberty Global (NASDAQ: LBTYA) announced today an agreement to sell substantially all of its international content division Chellomedia to AMC Networks (NASDAQ: AMCX).To read the full news, click here. Myriad Genetics (NASDAQ: MYGN) today announced that validation data for the Myriad myPlan Lung Cancer test showed that it significantly predicted patients' risk of death from early-stage lung adenocarcinoma within five years of being diagnosed. To read the full news, click here.

  Posted-In: Bank of America US Stock FuturesNews Eurozone Futures Global Pre-Market Outlook Markets

• [By Eric Volkman]

  BankUnited (NYSE: BKU  ) is reaching into its vault for another shareholder payout. The company has declared its latest quarterly common stock dividend, which is to be $0.21 per share paid on July 19 to shareholders of record as of July 5. That amount matches both of the firm's previous distributions, the most recent of which was paid in April. Prior to that, BankUnited dispensed $0.17 per share.

Top Regional Bank Companies To Watch For 2014: Boise Cascade Co (BCC)

Boise Cascade Company, formerly Boise Cascade, L.L.C., incorporated on July 26, 2004, is a vertically-integrated wood products manufacturer and building materials distributor with operations throughout the United States and Canada. The Company operates in two segments: wood products segment and our building materials distribution segment. The Company manufactures engineered wood products, plywood, lumber, and particleboard and distributes a line of building materials, including wood products manufactured by the Company�� wood products division. The Company�� products are used primarily in new residential construction, residential repair and remodeling projects, light commercial construction and industrial applications. In September 2013, the Company announced that it has completed the acquisition of Wood Resources LLC's Southeast Operations, which include Chester Wood Products LLC and Moncure Plywood LLC.

Wood Products

The Company�� wood products segment is a manufacturer of engineered wood products (EWP) and plywood in North America. It manufactures LVL, I-joists and laminated beams and also produces plywood, studs, particleboard and ponderosa pine lumber, a lumber grade sold primarily to manufacturers of specialty wood windows, moldings and doors. Most of its wood products are sold to wholesalers, including its building materials distribution segment, home improvement centers, retail lumberyards and industrial converters.

Building Materials Distribution

The Company is a wholesale distributor of building materials in the United States. Its nationwide network of 31 strategically-located distribution facilities sells a line of building materials, including EWP, oriented strand board OSB), plywood, lumber and general line items, such as framing accessories, composite decking, roofing, siding and insulation. It also operates a truss manufacturing plant located in Maine. Its products are used in the construction of new residential housing,! including single-family, multi-family and manufactured homes, repair and remodeling projects and the construction of light industrial and commercial buildings.

The Company markets its products primarily to retail lumberyards and home improvement centers that then sell the products to end customers, who are typically professional builders, independent contractors and homeowners engaged in residential construction projects. It also markets its products to industrial converters, which use its products to assemble windows, doors, agricultural bins and other products used in industrial and repair and remodel applications. The Company has more than 4,500 customers, which includes a diverse mix of wholesalers, home improvement centers, retail lumberyards and industrial converters. The Company supplies its customers through 49 located facilities (consisting of 18 manufacturing facilities and 31 distribution facilities).

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Ben Levisohn]

  Shares of Rayonier have plunged 15% to $46.97 at 12.36 p.m., but its fall doesn’t seem to have damaged other timber companies. Weyerhaeuser (WY) has gained 3.7% to $31.43 after it reported a profit of 27 cents today, beating estimates of 21 cents. Plum Creek Timber (PCL) is little changed at $49.47 and Boise Cascade (BCC) has risen 1.1% to $27.83.

• [By Eric Volkman]

  A sizable block of Boise Cascade (NYSE: BCC  ) stock is to land in new hands if a secondary common stock offering goes as planned. The company announced that major shareholder Boise Cascade Holdings will sell 10 million shares in an underwritten issue, at a price of $27.00 apiece. Additionally, the offering's underwriters have been granted a 30-day purchase option for up to an additional 1.5-million shares at the same price, minus underwriting discounts.

• [By Matt Jarzemsky]

  Installed Building Products��debut follows mixed performance from shares of some newly public building-products companies. Through Tuesday, siding manufacturer Ply Gem Holdings Inc.(PGEM)�� shares were down 39% from the offer price in its $381 May debut. Wood-products maker Boise Cascade Co.(BCC) was up 46% from its $284 million February IPO.

• [By Jon C. Ogg]

  Before you consider this just to be a bit of IPO pondering, take a step back and understand that some of this list membership already has�filed to come public or actually has�made it public recently. Boise Cascade Co. (NYSE: BCC), CDW Corp. (NASDAQ: CDW), Coty Inc. (NYSE: COTY), Global Brass and Copper Holdings Inc. (NYSE: BRSS), Noodles & Company (NASDAQ: NDLS), Restoration Hardware Holdings Inc. (NYSE: RH), Sprouts Farmers Market Inc. (NASDAQ: SFM) and many others are on the list and have made it to the post-IPO stage in the stock market.

Top Regional Bank Companies To Watch For 2014: W.W. Grainger Inc. (GWW)

W.W. Grainger, Inc. and its subsidiaries distribute facilities maintenance and other related products and services in the United States, Canada, Japan, Mexico, India, Puerto Rico, China, Colombia, and Panama. The company offers maintenance, repair, and operating supplies; and other related products and services through local branches, catalogs, and the Internet. Its products include material handling equipment, safety and security supplies, lighting and electrical products, power and hand tools, pumps and plumbing supplies, cleaning and maintenance supplies, forestry and agriculture equipment, building and home inspection supplies, vehicle and fleet components, and various other items for facilities maintenance market, as well as services comprise inventory management and energy efficiency solutions. The company also distributes tools, fasteners, safety supplies, instruments, welding and shop equipment, and other items. It serves small and medium-sized businesses to large corporations, government entities, and other institutions. W.W. Grainger, Inc. was founded in 1927 and is based in Lake Forest, Illinois.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Dan Caplinger]

  Worse than that news is the fact that some of Fastenal's competitors have held up somewhat better. MSC Industrial (NYSE: MSM  ) encountered much of the same sales weakness from the metalworking industry that Fastenal saw in its overall results, and both stocks have performed in line with each other over the past quarter. But W.W. Grainger (NYSE: GWW  ) soared after its earnings in April, as it saw its earnings rise more than 14% and boosted its guidance for full-year 2013 revenue and earnings.

• [By Marc Bastow]

  W.W. Grainger: Maintenance and repair supplier W.W. Grainger (GWW) saw net income drop 11% between 2009-10, disqualifying it as a purple chip, but has since rebounded with three consecutive years of earnings growth. Plus, through Q2, it’s on track to make it four years in a row. GWW has been a steady performer for years, and it’s topping the market with 30% gains year-to-date. Speaking of steady: GWW has increased its dividend for 42 consecutive years, putting it among InvestorPlace’s Dependable Dividend Stocks. Granted, it has a low (1.2%) dividend yield, but its payout ratio is a low 32%, so there’s room to grow that dividend.

Top Regional Bank Companies To Watch For 2014: Universal American Corp (UAM)

Universal American Corp., incorporated on December 22, 2010, through its health insurance and managed care subsidiaries, primarily serves the growing Medicare population by providing Medicare Advantage products. It provides a variety of healthcare services, including case management and care coordination, clinical quality and utilization review and behavioral health services to Medicaid agencies and other third parties. The Company�� business segments include Senior Managed Care, which provides Medicare Advantage segment reflects its Medicare Advantage HMO, PPO and PFFS businesses, and Traditional Insurance segment reflects its insurance products not offered through government programs, which includes Medicare supplement, other senior health insurance, specialty health insurance and life insurance. The Company provides medical management services, information and analysis, and other support services to enable its health care partners to serve their patients better.

In addition , it seeks an opportunity to address the high cost of health care for the remaining 75% of the Medicare population enrolled in traditional fee-for-service Medicare and have joined primarily with primary-care and multi-specialty provider groups to form thirty-one Accountable Care Organizations, or ACOs, pursuant to the Medicare Shared Saving Program, or Shared Savings Program.

On March 2, 2012, the Company acquired APS Healthcare, Inc., known as APS Healthcare. APS Healthcare provides specialty healthcare solutions primarily to Medicaid agencies. APS Healthcare offers a broad range of healthcare solutions, including case management and care coordination, clinical quality and utilization review, and behavioral health services that enable its customers to improve the quality of care and reduce healthcare costs.

Senior Managed Care - Medicare Advantage

The Company�� Senior Managed CareMedicare Advantage segment reflects its Medicare Advantage HMO, PPO and PFFS bu! sinesses.. During the year ended December 31, 2012, the Company operated Medicare coordinated care plans including PPOs and HMOs as well as its network-based private fee-for-service (PFFS) and rural PFFS business, which provides coverage to Medicare beneficiaries in 36 states. These businesses provide managed care for persons with Medicare under contracts with CMS. Its HMO plans are offered under contracts with CMS and provide all basic Medicare covered benefits with reduced member cost-sharing as well as additional supplemental benefits, including a defined prescription drug benefit. It operates HMO plans are offered under contracts with CMS and provide all basic Medicare covered benefits with reduced member cost-sharing as well as additional supplemental benefits, including a defined prescription drug benefit. It also has Medicare Advantage HMO operations in locations outside of Southeastern Texas including four counties in North Texas offering TexasFirst Health Plans through SelectCare Health Plans; nine counties in Oklahoma City offering Generations Healthcare through Today's Options of Oklahoma, Inc; and three counties in Indianapolis, Indiana offering Today's Options HMO through SelectCare Health Plans.

The Company�� PPO plans are provided under the name Today's Options PPO, which offered under contracts with CMS and provide all basic Medicare covered benefits with reduced member cost-sharing as well as additional supplemental benefits, including a defined prescription drug benefit. This coordinated care product is built around contracted networks of providers who, in cooperation with the health plan, coordinate an active medical management program. In 2012, the Company offered PPO plans to 41 markets in 120 counties in 17 states.

The Company�� PFFS plans are provided under the name Today's Options, which offered under contracts with CMS and provide enhanced health care benefits compared to traditional Medicare, subject to cost sharing and other limitations. These pl! ans have l! imited provider network restrictions, which allow the members to have more flexibility in the delivery of their health care services than other Medicare Advantage plans with limited provider network restrictions. Some of these products include a defined prescription drug benefit. In addition to a fixed monthly payment per member from CMS, individuals in these plans may be required to pay a monthly premium in selected counties or for selected enhanced products. In 2012, it offered PFFS products in a total of 36 states, which included PFFS products with network restrictions to 51 markets in 280 counties in 18 states and PFFS products without network restrictions to 1,052 counties in 32 states.

Traditional Insurance

The Company�� traditional insurance segment reflects the results of its Medicare supplement, other senior health insurance, specialty health insurance, and life insurance. It designed the products in this segment primarily for the senior market and market them through its career agency force and its network of independent general agencies. The Company discontinued marketing and selling traditional insurance products after June 1, 2012. This segment also includes other products that it stopped selling several years ago, such as long-term care, medical insurance and disability insurance, as well as previously produced or acquired term, universal life, and whole life insurance products and single and flexible premium fixed annuities.

The Company competes with United Healthcare, Humana, Wellpoint, Aetna and Cigna

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Brian Orelli]

  Health insurers such as Universal American (NYSE: UAM  ) and Humana (NYSE: HUM  ) that offer supplementary Medicare insurance could be hurt if seniors decided to drop the added coverage, but I doubt the increased premiums will put a major dent in seniors' budgets. Retirees making more than $85,000 per year will have to pay about $250 more per year than they do right now. Any losses will be more than be made up for by the�Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services' decision this month to reverse its �previously announced cuts to reimbursement rates.

• [By Omar Venerio]

  The company has a current ROE of 10.94% which is higher than the industry median and the ones exhibit by Universal American Corp. (UAM), Centene (CNC) and WellPoint (WLP). In general, analysts consider ROE ratios in the 15-20% range as representing attractive levels for investment. So for investors looking those levels or more, Cigna (CI) could be the option. It is very important to understand this metric before investing and it is important to look at the trend in ROE over time.

Top Regional Bank Companies To Watch For 2014: Spdr S&P Retail Etf (XRT)

SPDR S&P Retail Exchange Traded Fund (The Fund) seeks to replicate as closely as possible, before expenses, the performance of an index derived from the retail segment of the United States total market composite index. The Fund uses a passive management strategy designed to track the total return performance of the S&P Retail Select Industry Index (the Retail Index).

The Retail Index represents the retail sub industry portion of the S&P TMI. The S&P TMI tracks all the United States common stocks listed on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), American Stock Exchange (AMEX), National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotation (NASDAQ) National Market and NASDAQ Small Cap exchanges.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By John Udovich]

  Small cap Checkpoint Systems, Inc (NYSE: CKP) fights shoplifting or retail theft and other forms of�"shrink��that costs retailers over $112 billion worldwide last year (according to a study funded by the company), meaning it might be an interesting stock to take a closer look at and to compare its performance with that of SPDR S&P Retail ETF (NYSEARCA: XRT) and PowerShares Dynamic Retail ETF (NYSEARCA: PMR). Just how bad can shoplifting or shrink be for a retailer? Troubled retailer J.C. Penney Company, Inc (NYSE: JCP) has just reported that shoplifting took a full percentage point off the department store chain's profit margins during the quarter. Moreover and given that tens of millions of Americans are now facing higher health insurance costs thanks to Obamacare (which will likely impact consumer discretionary spending),�retailers�will need to find ways to shore up their margins and bottom lines by preventing�retail theft with solutions from company�� like Checkpoint Systems.

Top Regional Bank Companies To Watch For 2014: Otelco Inc (OTEL)

Otelco Inc. provides a range of telecommunications services on a retail and wholesale basis. These services include local and long distance calling; network access to and from its customers; data transport; digital high-speed and dial-up Internet access; cable, satellite and Internet protocol television; wireless, and other telephone related services. The principal markets for these services are residential and business customers residing in and adjacent to the exchanges the Company serves in Alabama, Massachusetts, Maine, Missouri, Vermont and West Virginia. In addition, the Company serves business customers throughout Maine and New Hampshire and provides dial-up Internet service throughout the states of Maine and Missouri. In January 2014, the Company acquired Reliable Networks, a provider of cloud hosting and managed services for companies who rely on mission-critical applications.

Local Services

The Company is a provider of wireline telephone services in seven of the 11 RLEC territories it serves. Local services enable customers to originate and receive telephone calls. The amount that it can charge a customer for certain basic services in Alabama, Maine, Massachusetts, Missouri, Vermont and West Virginia is regulated by the Alabama Public Service Commission (APSC), the Maine Public Utilities Commission (MPUC), the Massachusetts Department of Telecommunications and Cable (MDTC), the Missouri Public Service Commission (MPSC), the Vermont Public Service Board (VPSB) and the West Virginia Public Service Commission (WVPSC). It also has authority to provide service in New Hampshire from the New Hampshire Public Utilities Commission (NHPUC). The revenue derived from local services includes monthly recurring charges for voice access lines providing local dial tone and calling features, including caller identification, call waiting, call forwarding and voicemail. It also receives revenue for providing long distance services to its customers, billing and collection services for o! ther carriers under contract, and directory advertising. The Company provides local services on a retail basis to residential and business customers.

The Company offers long distance telephone services to its local telephone customers who do not purchase a local service bundle. It resells long distance services purchased from various long distance providers. It derives revenue from other telephone related services, including leasing, selling, installing, and maintaining customer premise telecommunications equipment and the publication of local telephone directories in certain of its rural local exchange carrier territories. It also provides billing and collection services for interexchange carriers through negotiated billing and collection agreements for certain types of toll calls placed by its local customers.

Network Access

Network access revenue relates primarily to services provided by the Company to long distance carriers (also referred to as interexchange carriers) in connection with their use of its facilities to originate and terminate interstate and intrastate long distance, or toll, telephone calls. As toll calls are generally billed to the customer originating the call, network access charges are applied in order to compensate each telecommunications company providing services relating to the call. Network access charges apply to both interstate and intrastate calls. The Company�� network access revenues also include revenues it receives from wireless carriers for terminating their calls on its networks pursuant to its interconnection agreements with those wireless carriers. Blountsville, Hopper, Mid-Maine, Mid-Missouri, Pine Tree and War also receive Universal Service Fund High Cost Loop (USF HCL) revenue, which is included in the Company�� reported network access revenue.

Cable Television Services

The Company provides cable television services over networks with 750 megahertz of transmission capacity in or by Interne! t Protoco! l TV ( IPTV) in its Alabama service area. Its cable television packages offer from 20 to 200 channels. It is a licensed installer of satellite television and has deployed these services to customers in its Missouri territory. In 2011, it converted its Missouri cable customers to satellite television.

Internet Services

The Company provides a variety of internet access data lines to its customers, including bulk broadband data access to support large corporate users; digital high-speed data lines in varying capacity speeds for business and residential use; and residential dial-up connectivity. Digital high-speed Internet access is provided through digital subscriber line (DSL) cable modems or wireless broadband, depending upon the location, in which the service is offered and through fiber connectivity to business customers. The Company charges its Internet customers a flat rate for unlimited Internet usage and a premium for higher speed Internet services. In Maine and Missouri, it provides legacy dial-up Internet services throughout the state.

Transport Services

The Company�� competitive local exchange carriers (CLECs) receive monthly recurring revenues for the rental of fiber to transport data. and other telecommunications services in Maine and New Hampshire. Its businesses and telecommunications carriers are 423 mile owned and leased fiber route.

Network Assets

The Company�� telephone networks include carrier grade advanced switching capabilities provided by traditional digital, as well as software based switches, fiber rings and routes and network software supporting specialized business applications. Its networks enable the Company to provide traditional and Internet Protocol ( IP), wireline telephone services and other calling features; long distance services; digital Internet access services through DSL and cable modems and circuits; and specialized customer specific applications. It offers digital signals, high-d! efinition! program content, digital video recording capability through its traditional cable plant and IPTV.

The Company competes with AT&T, Verizon, Charter Communications, Inc. and Time Warner Cable.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Laura Brodbeck]

  Monday

  Earnings Releases Expected: Sotheby�� (NYSE: BID), Otelco (NASDAQ: OTEL), Rackspace Hosting, Inc. (NYSE: RAX), Red Lion Hotels Corporation (NYSE: RLH) Economic Releases Expected: Italian industrial production, Mexican industrial production, Portuguese trade balance

  Tuesday

• [By Lisa Levin]

  Long Distance Carriers: The industry dropped 0.71% by 10:35 am. The worst performer in this industry was Otelco (NASDAQ: OTEL), which declined 0.4%. Otelco is expected to release its Q2 financial and operational results on August 6, 2014.