Top Regional Bank Stocks To Watch For 2014

Lakeland Bancorp (LBAI) is a very cost efficient, well-capitalized small-cap bank that operates 46 offices throughout northern New Jersey. With $2.9 billion in assets, $2.388 billion in deposits and $2.17 billion in loans, Lakeland has established itself as the third largest commercial bank headquartered in the state. Recently, Lakeland closed its acquisition of Somerset Hills Bancorp which added $368.9 million in assets in a deal worth $65.7 million (1.52X Somerset's tangible book value).

Since loan growth has been extremely hard for some regional banks, I think this deal is great for shareholders because it comes during a time when Lakeland has already been growing loans organically, and at a price lower than LBAI's own P/TBV. Since this new addition has yet to hit the reported books, below I have provided a review of Lakeland to help assess the banks pre-acquisition financial position and current valuation.

Best Healthcare Equipment Companies To Invest In 2015: Old Republic International Corporation(ORI)

Old Republic International Corporation, through its subsidiaries, provides various insurance and mortgage guaranty products in North America. The company operates in three segments: General Insurance, Mortgage Guaranty, and Title Insurance. The General Insurance segment provides liability insurance coverages to businesses, government, and other institutions in commercial construction, forest products, energy, general manufacturing, and financial services industries; and transportation, including trucking and general aviation industries. It provides various insurance products, such as automobile extended warranty, aviation, commercial automobile insurance, general liability, home warranty, inland marine, travel accident, and workers? compensation, as well as liability coverage for claims arising from the acts of owners or employees, and protection for the physical assets of businesses. This segment also offers financial indemnity products, such as consumer credit indemnity , errors and omissions/directors and officers, guaranteed asset protection, and surety, as well as bonds that cover the exposures for losses of monies, or debt and equity securities due to acts of employee dishonesty. The Mortgage Guaranty segment insures first mortgage loans, primarily on residential properties incorporating one-to-four family dwelling units to mortgage bankers, brokers, commercial banks, and savings institutions. The Title Insurance segment provides lenders' and owners' title insurance policies to real estate purchasers and investors based upon searches of the public records. It also provides escrow closing and construction disbursement services; and real estate information products, national default management services, and services related to real estate transfers and loan transactions. Old Republic International Corporation markets its products directly, as well as through insurance agents and brokers. The company was founded in 1887 and is based in Chi cago, Illinois.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Fredrik Arnold]

  Ten Champion dogs that promised the biggest dividend yields into July included firms representing five of nine market sectors. The top stocks were three of five from the financial sector: Universal Health Realty Trust (UHT); Mercury General Corp. (MCY); Old Republic Int'l (ORI). The other two financial firms, HCP Inc., and United Bankshares Inc. (UBSI), placed sixth and eighth.

• [By Lawrence Meyers]

  The part I like the most is that WGL sells energy credits and carbon offsets to retail customers. The company makes good money on these elements, selling to customers who just like to feel good about how they are ��elping the environment�� WGL has a long history as an energy company and has paid a dividend for 37 years. It currently pays 4.3% annually.

  Old Republic International (ORI)

  The next of our dividend stocks is one you may have heard of: Old Republic International (ORI). Old Republic started back in 1887 and is an insurance company that offers a huge array of products. A lot of insurance products are very high margin, and Old Republic has mastered the art of selling these. Extended Automobile Warranty, Home Warranty an Travel Accident Insurance are great segments to be playing in.

Top Regional Bank Stocks To Watch For 2014: Bonavista Energy Corp (BNPUF.PK)

Bonavista Energy Corporation (Bonavista) is engaged in the acquisition, exploration, development and production of oil and natural gas assets. The Company operates approximately 87% of its assets which are concentrated within three core regions in western Canada. Each core region contains a well-balanced portfolio of oil and natural gas assets with considerable opportunities. Its operations are geographically focused within three regions of Western Canada, which includes Western region, Northern region and Eastern region. The Company�� subsidiaries include Bonavista Petroleum (BP), Bonavista Energy LP (BELP) and Bonavista Energy Inc. (BEI). Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Stephan Dube]

  Cold Lake's most notable producers:

  Husky Energy (HUSK.PK), see article here.Pengrowth Energy Corporation (PGH), see article here.Southern Pacific Resource (STPJF.PK), see article here.Canadian Natural Resources (CNQ), see article here.Devon Energy (DVN), see article here.Imperial Oil (IMO), see article here.Baytex, see article here.Bonavista Energy (BNPUF.PK), see article here.

  Athabasca's most notable producers:

Top Regional Bank Stocks To Watch For 2014: U.S. Dollar Index(DX)

Dynex Capital, Inc. operates as a mortgage real estate investment trust (REIT). It invests in residential and commercial mortgage-backed securities issued or guaranteed by a federally chartered corporation, non-agency mortgage-backed securities, and securitized mortgage loans, as well as unsecuritized single-family and commercial mortgage loans. The company finances its investments through a combination of repurchase agreements, and non-recourse collateralized financing, such as securitization financing Dynex Capital, Inc. has qualified as a REIT under the Internal Revenue Code. As a REIT, it would not be subject to federal income tax, provided it distributes at least 90% of its taxable income to its shareholders. The company was founded in 1987 and is based in Glen Allen, Virginia.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Jon C. Ogg]

  Dynex Capital Inc. (NYSE: DX) is rated as Buy, with a price target of $9.00, versus a recent price of $8.02. The book value was $8.94 at the end of last quarter and was projected to be $8.91 by the end of August.

• [By Eric Volkman]

  Dynex Capital (NYSE: DX  ) is maintaining its dividend. The company on Thursday declared a Q2 common stock distribution of $0.29 per share to be paid on July 31 to shareholders of record as of June 28.

Top Regional Bank Stocks To Watch For 2014: Silicom Ltd(SILC)

Silicom Ltd. engages in the design, manufacture, marketing, and support of connectivity solutions for a range of servers and server based systems in the North America, Europe, and internationally. The company primarily offers high-end server networking cards with and without bypass that are known as server adapters. Its server adapters are used in various applications that include security appliances, wide area network optimization appliances, load balancing and traffic management appliances, network-attached storage, video on demand servers, content delivery servers, Internet service providers/Web hosting, and high end computing. Silicom Ltd. also offers intelligent and programmable cards, such as encryption acceleration cards and redirector cards; intelligent stand alone bypass units; 10 Gbps products with and without bypass; and server to appliance converters. It markets its products through original equipment manufacturers, distributors, and resellers. The company was founded in 1987 and is based in Kfar Sava, Israel.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Lisa Levin]

  Silicom (NASDAQ: SILC) jumped 33.10% to $61.88 as the company announced upbeat quarterly results.

  Netflix (NASDAQ: NFLX) moved up 16.86% to $389.98 after the company reported better-than-expected fourth-quarter results.