One of the more popular investing themes has been for several years: The demand for food around the world is going to grow, and the need for chemicals to fertilize and help grow food are going to�cause�demand to surge for many decades to come. Because of this, investors should own fertilizer and chemical companies that supply the products to meet this long-lasting demand.
5 Best European Stocks To Buy For 2015: Sun Life Financial Inc.(SLF)
Sun Life Financial Inc., together with its subsidiaries, provides various life and health insurance, savings, investment management, retirement, and pension products and services to individuals and corporate customers. It offers individual life insurance policies, including individual term life, universal life, critical illness, disability, accident, and accidental death and dismemberment insurance policies; and group life insurance policies. The company also provides individual health insurance, long-term care insurance, group health benefits, dental benefits, and group insurance; and various individual and group annuity, retirement, and investment income products and services, such as mutual and pooled funds, variable and fixed annuities, savings, retirement and pension plans, and education savings. In addition, it offers asset management services for corporate retirement plans, separate accounts, public or government funds, and insurance company assets to institutional clients; and advisory services to individual investors. Further, the company provides run-off reinsurance services. Sun Life Financial Inc. distributes its products through direct sales agents, independent and managing general agents, financial intermediaries, broker-dealers, banks, pension and benefit consultants, and other third-party marketing organizations. The company operates primarily in Bermuda, Canada, China, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Ireland, the Philippines, the United States, and the United Kingdom. Sun Life Financial Inc. was founded in 1999 and is based in Toronto, Canada.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Tim Brugger]
Initially, the deal Sun Life Financial (NYSE: SLF ) struck in December to sell its U.S. annuity portfolio and some life insurance products for $1.35 billion to Delaware Life Holdings, a Guggenheim Partners-owned company, was scheduled to be completed by Q2 of 2013.
- [By Patricio Kehoe] sport a 200% ratio. Moreover, the company�� excessive capital should allow it to maintain the above average dividend yield of 2.66% offered to shareholders.
Valuation
Over the next five years growth in the Asian market will likely boost the overall modest premium growth rate, averaging it at 2%, while the total revenue CAGR recovers to 3% after the steep declines reported since 2012. Furthermore, Manulife�� ROE will continue its current upward trend, increasing from 2013�� 10.9% to an average 12% by 2018, accompanied by the steadily expanding net margins of 16.8%. While it will take some time for the company�� growth to accelerate, I feel bullish about management�� optimism regarding its business shift, and see the dividend yield and returns on equity as solid benefits for a long term investment. Moreover, the firm is currently trading at a 10% price discount relative to the industry average of 14.0x, making it a relatively inexpensive buy.
Disclosure: Patricio Kehoe holds no position in any stocks mentioned.
Also check out: George Soros Undervalued Stocks George Soros Top Growth Companies George Soros High Yield stocks, and Stocks that George Soros keeps buyingAbout the author:Patricio KehoeA fundamental analyst at Lone Tree Analytics Currently 5.00/512345Rating: 5.0/5 (1 vote)
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Top 5 Insurance Companies To Buy 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 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.
- [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.
Top 5 Insurance Companies To Buy For 2014: RSA Insurance Group PLC (RSA)
RSA Insurance Group plc is the holding company of the RSA group of companies whose principal activity is the transaction of personal and commercial general insurance business. The Company operates in four segments: Scandinavia, Canada, United Kingdom and Western Europe, and Emerging Markets. The Company provides insurance covers for a range of renewable energy technologies, including Wind Energy, which includes onshore and offshore facilities; Solar Energy, which includes photovoltaic, concentrated and thermal installations; Small Hydro, which includes power stations producing an output up to 50 megawatt, and Bio energy, which includes Biomass, Biogas and Waste to Energy plants. The Company works with both large and small brokers. The Company works with partners, such as building societies, banks, retailers, motor manufacturers, charities, utilities and unions to offer their customers appropriate insurance products. Advisors' Opinion:- [By Sarah Jones]
RSA Insurance Group Plc (RSA) gained 0.8 percent to 114.1 pence after Morgan Stanley upgraded the insurer to overweight from underweight, saying the share price will benefit from a stronger prospective U.K. performance. The stock has declined 9.2 percent so far this year, while the FTSE 350 Insurance Index has rallied 10 percent.
- [By Sofia Horta e Costa]
RSA Insurance Group Plc (RSA), which insures cars, homes and ships in the U.K., Scandinavia and emerging markets, rose 0.8 percent to 114.1 pence. Morgan Stanley raised its rating on the stock to overweight, the equivalent of a buy recommendation, from underweight.
Top 5 Insurance Companies To Buy For 2014: Cigna Corp (CI)
Cigna Corporation (Cigna), incorporated on November 3, 1981, is a holding company. Cigna is a global health service company, with insurance subsidiaries that are providers of medical, dental, disability, life and accident insurance and related products and services. In the United States, these products and services are offered through employers and other groups, and in selected international markets, Cigna offers supplemental health, life and accident insurance products and international health care coverage and services to businesses, governmental and non-governmental organizations and individuals. The Company also has certain run-off operations, including a Run-off Reinsurance segment. Cigna�� revenues are derived from premiums, fees, mail order pharmacy, other revenues and investment income. Cigna operates in five segments: Health Care, Disability and Life, International, Run-off Reinsurance, and Other Operations, including Corporate-owned Life Insurance. On January 31, 2012, Cigna acquired HealthSpring, Inc. On November 30, 2011, the Company acquired FirstAssist Group Holdings Limited. In August 2012, the Company acquired Great American Supplemental Benefits from American Financial Group, Inc. In January 2013, the Company acquired select Arcadian and Humana Medicare Advantage plans in Arkansas, Oklahoma and Texas. In September 2013, Cigna Corporation completed its acquisition of Alegis Care, a portfolio company of Triton Pacific Capital Partners. Effective September 3, 2013, Cigna Corp acquired Home Physicians Management LLC.
Health Care
Cigna�� Health Care segment (Cigna HealthCare) offers insured and self-insured medical, dental, behavioral health, vision, and prescription drug benefit plans, health advocacy programs and other products and services that may be integrated to provide health care benefit programs. Cigna HealthCare companies offer these products and services in all 50 states, the District of Columbia and the United States Virgin Islands. Cigna offers a ! range of products and services to employers and other groups that sponsor group health plans. With the exception of Health Maintenance Organization (HMO), Medicare, Voluntary and stop loss products, each of Cigna HealthCare�� products is offered with alternative funding options. Cigna may sell multiple products under the same funding arrangement to the same employer. Approximately 85% of the Company�� medical customers are enrolled in self-insured plans, with the remainder split between guaranteed cost and experience-rated insured plans. Approximately 90% of its medical customers are enrolled in self-insured and experience-rated plans. Cigna also offers guaranteed cost medical and dental insurance to individuals. Cigna HealthCare offers a product line of indemnity managed care benefit plans on an insured (guaranteed cost or experience-rated) or self-insured basis. The Network, Network Open Access, and Open Access Plus In-Network products cover only those services provided by Cigna HealthCare participating health care professionals (in-network) and emergency services provided by non-participating health care professionals (out-of-network). The Network point of service (POS), Network POS Open Access and Open Access Plus plans (OAP) cover health care services provided by participating, and non-participating health care professionals.
Cigna HealthCare offers a Preferred Provider Plans (PPO) product line that features a national network. Like Network and Open Access Plus Plans, the PPO product line is offered on an insured (guaranteed cost or experience-rated) or self-insured basis. Cigna HealthCare offers the Cigna Choice Fund suite of products, including Health Reimbursement Accounts (HRA), Health Savings Accounts (HSA) and Flexible Spending Accounts (FSA). Cigna HealthCare offers stop loss insurance coverage for self-insured plans. This stop loss coverage reimburses the plan for claims in excess of a predetermined amount, either for individuals (specific) or the entire group (aggregate), ! or both. ! Cigna HealthCare provides Taft-Hartley trusts and other entities access to its national provider network and provides claim re-pricing and other services. Cigna HealthCare�� voluntary medical products are offered to employers with 51 or more eligible employees. As a result of the acquisition of HealthSpring, Cigna operates Medicare Advantage coordinated care plans in 11 states and the District of Columbia. Under the Medicare program, Medicare-eligible beneficiaries may receive health care benefits, including prescription drugs, through a managed care health plan, such as the Company�� coordinated care plans, and The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services reimburse the Company pursuant to a risk adjustment payment methodology.
Cigna�� Medicare Part D prescription drug program, Cigna Medicare Rx, provides a number of plan options, as well as service and information support to Medicare and Medicaid eligible customers. Cigna Medicare Rx is available in all 50 states and the District of Columbia. Cigna HealthCare offers medical management, disease management, and other health advocacy services to employers and other plan sponsors. These services are offered to customers covered under Cigna HealthCare administered plans, as well as individuals covered under plans insured and/or administered by competing insurers/third-party administrators. Cigna�� onsite services include more than 75 health centers and the annual administration of more than 400,000 biometric screenings, as well as approximately 2,200 wellness seminars each year. As a result of the acquisition of HealthSpring, Cigna operates three LivingWell Health Centers, where Medicare customers can receive care from physicians, nurse practitioners, nurses, pharmacists, and nurses educators. Cigna arranges for behavioral health care services for customers through its network of participating behavioral health care professionals. Cigna offers behavioral health care case management services, employee assistance programs (EAP), and wor! k/life pr! ograms to employers, Government entities and other groups sponsoring health benefit plans. As of December 31, 2011, Cigna�� behavioral national network had approximately 108,000 access points to psychiatrists, psychologists and clinical social workers and approximately 9,000 facilities and clinics.
Cigna Pharmacy Management offers prescription drug plans to its insured and self-funded customers both in conjunction with its medical products and on a stand-alone basis. With a network of over 62,000 contracted pharmacies, Cigna Pharmacy Management is a pharmacy benefits manager (PBM) offering clinical integration programs, specialty pharmacy solutions and home delivery of prescription medicines. Cigna�� specialty pharmacy outcome management program, TheraCare, manages specialty conditions. TheraCare is coordinated with other Cigna health advocacy programs and all data is captured for analysis and reporting. Cigna Dental Health offers a variety of dental care products, including dental health maintenance organization plans (Dental HMO), dental preferred provider organization (DPPO) plans, dental exclusive provider organization plans, traditional dental indemnity plans and a dental discount program. As of December 31, 2011, Cigna Dental Health customers totaled approximately 10.9 million. Managed dental care products are offered in 38 states for Dental HMO and 43 states and the District of Columbia for Dental PPO through a network of independent health care professionals that have contracted with Cigna Dental Health to provide dental services. Cigna Dental Health customers access care from the dental PPO network in the United States and one of the dental HMO networks in the United States, with approximately 235,500 DPPO-contracted access points (approximately 92,000 health care professionals) and approximately 58,000 dental HMO-contracted access points (approximately 16,500 health care professionals).
Disability and Life
Cigna�� Disability and Life segment (Cign! a Disabil! ity and Life) provides insurance products and their related services, such as group long-term and short-term disability insurance, group life insurance and accident and specialty insurance. These products and services are provided by subsidiaries of Cigna Corporation. Cigna Disability and Life markets products in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the United States Virgin Islands and Canada. Cigna Disability and Life also provides assistance to employees in returning to work and assistance to their employers in managing the cost of employee disability. Cigna Disability and Life offers personal accident insurance coverage, which consists primarily of accidental death and dismemberment and travel accident insurance to employers. Group accident insurance may be employer-paid or employee-paid. Cigna Disability and Life also offers specialty insurance services that consist primarily of disability and life, accident, and hospital indemnity products to professional or trade associations and financial institutions.
International
CIGNA�� International segment (CIGNA International) offers supplemental health, life and accident insurance products, as well as international health care products and services. These products and services are provided by subsidiaries of Cigna Corporation, including foreign operating entities. Cigna International provides employers, affinity groups and individuals with local and global health care and related financial protection programs. Supplemental health products provide a specified payment for a range of health risks and include personal accident, accidental death, critical illness, hospitalization, travel, dental, cancer and other dread disease coverages. Term life, as well as variable universal life insurance and other savings products are also included in the product portfolio. Cigna International�� supplemental health, life and accident insurance products are offered in South Korea, Taiwan, Indonesia, Hong Kong, the European Un! ion, Chin! a, New Zealand, Thailand and Turkey. In China, Cigna International owns a 50% interest in a joint venture through, which its products and services are offered. Cigna International�� health care businesses primarily consist of products and services to meet the needs of local and multinational companies and organizations and their local and globally mobile employees and dependents. These products and services include insurance and administrative services for medical, dental, vision, life, accidental death and dismemberment, and disability risks. In addition, Cigna International�� health care businesses include products and services, which are primarily provided through group benefits programs to employees of businesses and other organizations in the United Kingdom and Spain. These products and services include medical indemnity insurance coverage, with some offerings having managed care or administrative service aspects.
Run-off Reinsurance
Cigna�� reinsurance segment reinsured guaranteed minimum death benefits (GMDB) (also known as variable annuity death benefits (VADBe)), under certain variable annuities issued by other insurance companies. These variable annuities are investments in mutual funds combined with a death benefit. The Company purchased retrocessional protection that covers approximately 5% of the assumed risks. The Company also maintains a dynamic hedge program. Cigna also reinsured guaranteed minimum income benefits (GMIB) under certain variable annuities issued by other insurance companies. These variable annuities are investments in mutual funds combined with minimum income and death benefits. These products under Cigna�� Run-off Reinsurance segment were sold principally in North America and Europe through a sales force and through intermediaries.
Other Operations
The principal products of the Corporate-owned Life Insurance (COLI) business are permanent insurance contracts sold to corporations to provide coverage on the lives ! of certai! n employees for the purpose of funding employer-paid future benefit obligations. The principal services provided by the COLI business are issuance and administration of the insurance policies. COLI policies provide a death benefit for which Cigna collects fees to cover mortality risk. COLI policies also allow policy owners to borrow against a portion of their cash surrender value.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Keith Speights]
Cigna's (NYSE: CI ) senior medical director for coverage policy, Julie Kressel, said the company doesn't anticipate any major changes. She noted that Cigna already pays for obesity treatments in many cases. The company hasn't classified obesity as a disease in the past but views it as a chronic medical condition.
- [By Sean Williams]
For the insurers themselves, it would be a bit of a mixed bag. On one hand, the big three insurers that reached into their pockets and spent a fortune in the wake of Obamacare's passing --�WellPoint (NYSE: WLP ) with its purchase of Amerigroup, Cigna� (NYSE: CI ) with its purchase of HealthSpring, and Aetna (NYSE: AET ) buying Coventry Health Care -- will be left waiting even longer for their membership numbers to rise. No enforceable mandate means enrollment figures will only marginally move higher in a best-case scenario.
- [By Anora Mahmudova]
Cigna Corporation (CI) �shares tumbled 9.2% after the health insurer�� disappointing fourth-quarter earnings added to Wall Street worries that insurers are getting squeezed by rising medical costs.
- [By Keith Speights]
Anthem, which is owned by WellPoint (NYSE: WLP ) , for example, required prior authorizations only 2.14% of the time. Cigna (NYSE: CI ) and Aetna (NYSE: AET ) have higher frequencies -- 4.74% and 5.42%, respectively. Humana (NYSE: HUM ) is even higher, but still in the single digits with a 8.42% prior authorization rate. Of the publicly traded insurers, only UnitedHealth Group (NYSE: UNH ) requires prior authorizations more than 10% of the time, with a rate of 12.43%.
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