Hot Financial Stocks To Invest In 2014

The Fed has committed to keeping short-term rates near zero, which should keep many consumer loans from getting more expensive.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) When it comes to your personal finances, 2014 may be your best chance to take advantage of low interest rates and get out of debt -- before it really starts costing you.

Since the 2008 financial crisis, the Fed has made monthly bond purchases in order to keep rates extraordinarily low and encourage consumer spending and borrowing. With the economy on the mend, the Fed is now slowly pulling back on those purchases, or tapering.

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Long-term interest rates have already risen in anticipation of the Fed's decision, so there likely won't be a rapid spike in mortgage rates, which are already more than a percentage point higher than last year's historic lows. Still, prospective borrowers could see mortgage rates reach more than 5% this year as the economy continues to strengthen, said Keith Gumbinger, vice president at mortgage information site HSH Associates.

Best Biotech Stocks To Invest In Right Now: Powershares Water Resource Portfolio (PHO)

PowerShares Water Resources Portfolio (the Fund) seeks investment results that correspond generally to the price and yield of an equity index called the Palisades Water Index (the Index). The Palisades Water Index includes water companies drawn from sectors, which include water utilities, treatment, analytical and monitoring, infrastructure and distribution, water resource management, and conglomerate water companies. The Index includes companies that focus on the provision of potable water, the treatment of water and the technology and services that are directly related to water consumption. The Palisades Water Index was created by Hydrogen Ventures, LLC.

The Fund will normally invest at least 80% of its total assets in American depositary receipts (ADRs) and common stocks of companies in the water industry. For purposes of this 80% policy, a company will be considered to be in the water industry if at least 50% of its revenues come from water-related activities. The Fund will normally invest at least 90% of its total assets in ADRs and common stocks that comprise the Index. The Fund, using an indexing investment approach, attempts to replicate the performance of the Index. The Fund generally will invest in the stocks comprising the Index in proportion to their weightings in the Index. The Fund�� investment advisor is PowerShares Capital Management LLC.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Todd Shriber, ETF Professor]

  Unusual volume (at least 5X ADV): iShares Utilities ETF (NYSE: IDU), First Trust Utilities AlphaDEX Fund (NYSE: FXU), iShares MSCI Germany Small Cap ETF (NYSE: EWGS), iShares MSCI USA ETF (NYSE: EUSA), SPDR S&P Emerging Europe ETF (NYSE: GUR), PowerShares Water Resources (NYSE: PHO) and the Vanguard Industrials ETF (NYSE: VIS).

• [By Aaron Levitt]

  Given just how many different water stocks there are, investors may be better suited in a broad portfolio. With nearly $1 billion in assets, the PowerShares Water Resources (PHO) is the largest exchange-traded fund (ETF) that covers the sector.

Hot Financial Stocks To Invest In 2014: Credit Lyonnais SA (CLP)

Cr茅dit Lyonnais Group is engaged in retail financial services, asset management and investment and corporate banking. The Company's banking activities include personal banking, professional and small business banking, e-banking and middle market banking. The Company offers cash management and associated services, international business, advisory services and corporate finance. Its asset management services are involved in mutual funds, institutional clients and defining the investment strategy for the domestic private banking unit. The Company also offers structured finance, export finance and international trade finance. Cr茅dit Lyonnais has a network of 1,834 branches in France and operations in 55 countries worldwide. Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Rich Duprey]

  Multifamily real estate investment trust�Colonial Properties Trust (NYSE: CLP  ) announced yesterday its third-quarter dividend of $0.21 per share, the same rate it's paid for the past two quarters after raising the payout 17% from $0.18 per share.

• [By Sean Williams]

  Another growth driver looks to be its pending $8.6 billion merger with Colonial Properties Trust (NYSE: CLP  ) . The combined entity would become the second-largest U.S. based residential REIT, with 85,000 apartment units. Opposition to the deal from some of Colonial's shareholders does exist, but comparatively speaking, MAA is in great shape either way. It already has a high occupancy rate, and the addition of Colonial's properties would only further serve to enhance its rental pricing power.

• [By Rich Duprey]

  Apartment-only real estate investment trust�Mid-America Apartment Communities� (NYSE: MAA  ) once again is snapping up properties, this time announcing Monday that it is adding�multifamily housing operator Colonial Properties Trust (NYSE: CLP  ) to its portfolio in an $8.6 billion transaction.�

Hot Financial Stocks To Invest In 2014: Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank Egypt SAE (ADIB)

Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank Egypt SAE, formerly National Bank for Development (NBD), is an Egypt-based public shareholding company engaged in the provision of retail, corporate and investment banking services through a network of 69 branches located across Egypt. The Bank�� products and services are structured into four segments: the Personal banking segment includes current and saving account, investment account, club finance, charitable accounts and sukuk, among others; the Microfinance segment includes microfinance program; the Wholesale banking segment includes corporate banking, financial institutions and trade, cash management and corporate finance, and the Treasury segment includes foreign exchange, sharia-compliant products and market analysis/updates. In January 2014, the Company sold 11,619,575 shares representing 77.46% stake in National Company for Glass and Crystal�� share capital to Abu Dhabi Islamic Financial Investments Holding. Advisors' Opinion:

• [By reports.droy]

  Soon after the U.S. settlement was announced last week, SCB said that it was interested in exiting the SME business in the UAE as part of a broader effort to solidify its strategic focus. Recently in April, Barclays, its competitor, has sold its retail banking operations in the UAE to the Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank (ADIB), a deal by which the UAE bank acquired 11,000 customers.

• [By Gregor Stuart Hunter]

  Tirad Mahmoud, the chief executive of Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank (ADIB), has warned of "irrational exuberance" in the UAE's corporate lending market, saying companies are seeking to lower borrowing costs by so much that banks may no longer find it appealing to lend.

Hot Financial Stocks To Invest In 2014: Old National Bancorp Capital Trust I(ONB)

Old National Bancorp operates as a holding company for Old National Bank, which provides financial services to individuals and commercial customers primarily in Indiana, eastern and southeastern Illinois, and central and western Kentucky. The company?s Community Banking segment originates loans, such as home equity lines of credit, residential real estate loans, consumer loans, commercial loans, commercial real estate loans, letters of credit, and lease financing; and generates deposit products comprising noninterest-bearing demand, negotiable order of withdrawal, savings and money market, and time deposits. It also offers debit and ATM cards, telephone access, online banking, and other electronic banking services. In addition, this segment provides investment services and various brokerage products, including investment options and investment advice. Further, it offers merchant cash management and other services relating to the general banking business; reinsures credit life insurance; and provides property and casualty insurance. The company?s Treasury segment manages investments, wholesale funding, interest rate risk, liquidity, and leverage for the bank; and provides capital markets products, including interest rate derivatives, foreign exchange, and industrial revenue bond financing for its commercial clients. Old National Bancorp also offers fiduciary and trust services; and insurance brokerage services, such as commercial property and casualty, surety, loss control services, employee benefits consulting and administration, and personal insurance. As of December 31, 2010, it operated 161 banking financial centers, as well as loan production or other financial services offices. The company was founded in 1834 and is headquartered in Evansville, Indiana.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Sean Williams]

  First Merchants' biggest competitor is Old National Bancorp (NASDAQ: ONB  ) , the largest bank by assets in Indiana ($9.4 billion in assets). Old National has been exercising its regional flexibility of late by closing more than a dozen Indiana-based branches and purchasing some 20 offices from Bank of America�in Michigan.

Hot Financial Stocks To Invest In 2014: Eastern Virginia Bankshares Inc.(EVBS)

Eastern Virginia Bankshares, Inc. operates as the holding company for EVB, a state-chartered community bank that provides a range of personal and commercial banking services to individuals and small to medium-sized businesses primarily in eastern Virginia. The company offers various interest-bearing deposits, including checking, savings, money market, and certificate of deposit and other time deposit accounts, as well as noninterest-bearing demand deposits. It also provides commercial business, industrial, agricultural, one-to-four family residential real estate, multi-family residential real estate, construction, farmland, non-farm and non-residential real estate, and consumer loans. In addition, the company, through the subsidiaries of its bank, offers investment brokerage services; originates and sells residential mortgages; underwrites and sells title insurance to mortgage loan customers; and sells various insurance products as an agent. As of December 31, 2010, it own ed and operated 24 full-service branch offices that serve customers in Caroline, Essex, Gloucester, Hanover, Henrico, King and Queen, King William, Lancaster, Middlesex, New Kent, Richmond, Northumberland, Southampton, Surry, and Sussex counties, as well as in the city of Colonial Heights. The company was founded in 1910 and is headquartered in Tappahannock, Virginia.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Bristol Voss]

  Eastern Virginia Bankshares (Nasdaq: EVBS) is a bank holding company. It received $24 million in financial bailout funds, but it's been released from its agreement with regulators because it raised enough money through private placement. Its $66.7 million market cap puts it in the middle of the group, although its share price is currently the lowest at just over $6. It has a forward P/E of 9.2, but its 1.1% dividend yield is the least of the three. Net income and earnings were down for the most recent quarter, mainly on charge-offs for non-performing and uncollectible assets and other losses.

Hot Financial Stocks To Invest In 2014: Arbor Realty Trust Inc (ABR)

Arbor Realty Trust, Inc., incorporated in June 2003, is a specialized real estate finance company. The Company invests in a diversified portfolio of structured finance assets in the multi-family and commercial real estate markets. It invests primarily in real estate-related bridge and mezzanine loans, including junior participating interests in first mortgages, preferred and direct equity, and in limited cases, discounted mortgage notes and other real estate-related assets (collectively, structured finance investments). The Company also holds investments in mortgage-related securities and real estate property. It conducts all of its operations and investing activities through its operating partnership, Arbor Realty Limited Partnership, and its wholly-owned subsidiaries. The Company serves as the general partner of its operating partnership, and owned a 100% partnership interest in its operating partnership as of December 31, 2011.

Targeted Investments

The Company offers bridge financing products to borrowers who are seeking short-term capital to be used in an acquisition of property. The bridge loans it makes range in size from $1 million to $75 million and are predominantly secured by first mortgage liens on the property. The Company offers junior participation financing in the form of junior participating interest in the senior debt. Junior participation financings have the same obligations, collateral and borrower as the senior debt. Its junior participation loans range in size from $1 million to $60 million and have terms of up to 10 years. The Company offers mezzanine financing in the form of loans that are subordinate to a conventional first mortgage loan and senior to the borrower�� equity in a transaction. The Company holds a majority of its mezzanine loans through subsidiaries of its operating partnership that are pass-through entities for tax purposes or taxable subsidiary corporations. The Company provides financing by making preferred equity investments in entit! ies that directly or indirectly own real property. Its preferred equity investments typically range in size from $1 million to $75 million, and have terms up to 10 years.

Structured Finance Investments

The Company owns a diversified portfolio of structured finance investments consisting primarily of real estate-related bridge, junior participation interests in first mortgages, and mezzanine loans, as well as preferred equity investments and mortgage-related securities. As of December 31, 2011, it had 119 loans and investments in its portfolio, totaling $1.5 billion. These loans and investments were for 72 multi-family properties, 25 office properties, nine land properties, seven hotel properties, three retail properties, two condominium properties and one commercial property.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Lee Jackson]

  Arbor Realty Trust Inc. (NYSE: ABR) recently increased its cash position with a secondary offering of 6 million shares of stock. The company invests in multifamily and commercial real estate-related bridge loans, junior participating interests in first mortgages, mezzanine loans, preferred and direct equity, discounted mortgage notes and other real estate-related assets, as well as holds investments in mortgage-related securities and real estate property. Arbor Realty Trust is rated as a stock to buy at Deutsche Bank with a $9.50 price target. The Thomson/First Call estimate for the stock is $9.25. Investors are paid a very solid 7.2% divided. The stock closed Friday at $6.88.