Life & Health Insurance

Below are the top 5 small-cap stocks on the NYSE and the NASDAQ in terms of highest free cash flow. UAL Corporation (NASDAQ: UAUA)(FREE stock trend analysis) has free cash flows of $1.48 billion. UAUA’s market capitalization is $1.88 billion. Jesup & Lamont upgraded UAUA from “hold” to “buy.”...

Prudential Financial Inc. (NYSE: PRU) is expected to make an after-tax gain of $1.5 billion from the sale of its minority stake in Wachovia Securities (AMEX: TSV) to Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE: WFC). Wells Fargo & Company said earlier this week that it would pay about $4.5 billion in cash...

The shares of Prudential Financial, Inc. (NYSE: PRU) increased 5.11% to $51.16, after it announced that it expects a $1.5 billion after-tax gain on selling its minority stake of a brokerage joint venture with Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE: WFC). The gain will be reflected in net income, but not...

After announcing the repayment of $25 billion in government bail-out money, Wells Fargo & Co. (NYSE: WFC)(FREE stock trend analysis) said it would buy out Prudential Financial Inc.'s (NYSE: PRU)(FREE stock trend analysis) stake for a $4.5 billion in cash in its retail brokerage joint venture....

Barclays retained its Overweight rating and price target of $34 for Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE: WFC)(FREE stock trend analysis). Wells Fargo has announced that it will redeem its $25 billion of TARP and will pay cash to purchase the stake of Prudential Financial (NYSE: PRU)(FREE stock trend...

Banks and financial services firms in the developed world have seen their fair share of hardship over the past two years, but that doesn't mean emerging markets don't offer potential for investors looking to get some exposure to financials. In fact, countries like Brazil and China are home to banks...

Below are the top 5 small-cap stocks on the NASDAQ in terms of EPS (ttm). The trailing-twelve-month EPS for National Western Life Insurance Company (NASDAQ: NWLI) is $12.01. NWLI’s market capitalization is $621.7 million. NWLI’s shares have risen by 9.07% over the past 52-weeks, as compared to a 22...

MetLife Inc (NYSE: MET) forecast 2010 earnings that could beat average Wall Street expectations, helped by cost cuts, improved investment returns and higher revenue, but said it did not see a return to historical growth levels until at least 2011. The largest publicly traded U.S. life insurer said...

Nick Thakore, Fund Manager at Putnam Voyager Fund (NASDAQ: PVOYX) believes in diversifying his portfolio for better risk management. During the market meltdown, he added Apple {NASDAQ: AAPL) that got down to just below 80 in January. At that level, 40% of Apple's market value was in cash. The stock...

Qualcomm, Inc. (NASDAQ: QCOM), Aflac Inc (NYSE: AFL) and DirecTV (NASDAQ: DTV) are the best picks, according to Putnam Voyager Fund. The rationale offered is that Qualcomm is expected to report a 30% and above earning-growth for the next couple of years. Aflac has grown operating earnings per...

MetLife Inc (NYSE: MET) has said that its operating profit for 2010 may meet the estimates of the analysts who expect a higher per share earnings as compared to this year. Metlife, the largest US life insurer expects the earnings excluding the investment results to be between $4 to $4.40 per share...

• MetLife (NYSE:MET) provided better-than-consensus 2010 earnings expectations of $4.00-$4.40, ahead of the Street forecast of $4.11.  The firm said it sees fourth-quarter revenues and fees of $8.50-$9.10 billion, with earnings of 90-95 cents • Cummins (NYSE:CMI) was added to Goldman Sachs' (NYSE:...

2010 Operating Earnings Projected to Increase 50% Over 2009. Q4 2009 Premiums, Fees & Other Revenues Expected to Grow 7% over Prior Period Full Year. 2009 Premiums, Fees & Other Revenues Estimated to Rise 2% Over 2008. 2009 Year-End Book Value per Share Expected to Increase 49% Over 2008....

Analyst Edward A Spehar of Bank of America Merrill Lynch maintains his “buy” rating on Principal Financial Group (NYSE: PFG), while reducing his estimates for the company. The target price for PFG has been reduced from $33 to $32. Principal Financial has announced its 2010 operating EPS guidance...

BioFuel Energy Corp (NASDAQ: BIOF) soared 36.79% to $2.64. The 52-week range for BIOF is $0.25-$2.85. BIOF shares jumped after EPA announced that it will decide on raising ethanol levels in gasoline in mid-2010. Phoenix Companies Inc (The) (NYSE: PNX) jumped by 18.15% to $2.93. PNX’s share price...