logo
ENFRع
#

Latest news with #financialmarkets

3 Reasons AFL is Risky and 1 Stock to Buy Instead
3 Reasons AFL is Risky and 1 Stock to Buy Instead

Yahoo

timean hour ago

  • Business
  • Yahoo

3 Reasons AFL is Risky and 1 Stock to Buy Instead

Since January 2025, Aflac has been in a holding pattern, posting a small loss of 1.9% while floating around $102.89. The stock also fell short of the S&P 500's 4.3% gain during that period. Is now the time to buy Aflac, or should you be careful about including it in your portfolio? Get the full stock story straight from our expert analysts, it's free. Why Is Aflac Not Exciting? We're cautious about Aflac. Here are three reasons why you should be careful with AFL and a stock we'd rather own. 1. Declining Net Premiums Earned Reflects Weakness Net premiums earned commands greater market attention due to its reliability and consistency, whereas investment and fee income are often seen as more volatile revenue streams that fluctuate with market conditions. Aflac's net premiums earned has declined by 7.8% annually over the last four years, much worse than the broader insurance industry. 2. Projected Revenue Growth Is Slim Forecasted revenues by Wall Street analysts signal a company's potential. Predictions may not always be accurate, but accelerating growth typically boosts valuation multiples and stock prices while slowing growth does the opposite. Over the next 12 months, sell-side analysts expect Aflac's revenue to rise by 2.4%. Although this projection suggests its newer products and services will fuel better top-line performance, it is still below the sector average. 3. EPS Barely Growing We track the long-term change in earnings per share (EPS) because it highlights whether a company's growth is profitable. Aflac's EPS grew at an unimpressive 9.6% compounded annual growth rate over the last five years. On the bright side, this performance was better than its 5% annualized revenue declines and tells us management adapted its cost structure in response to a challenging demand environment. Final Judgment Aflac isn't a terrible business, but it doesn't pass our quality test. With its shares lagging the market recently, the stock trades at 2.1× forward P/B (or $102.89 per share). This valuation tells us it's a bit of a market darling with a lot of good news priced in - you can find more timely opportunities elsewhere. Let us point you toward our favorite semiconductor picks and shovels play. Stocks We Like More Than Aflac Donald Trump's April 2024 "Liberation Day" tariffs sent markets into a tailspin, but stocks have since rebounded strongly, proving that knee-jerk reactions often create the best buying opportunities. The smart money is already positioning for the next leg up. Don't miss out on the recovery - check out our Top 6 Stocks for this week. This is a curated list of our High Quality stocks that have generated a market-beating return of 183% over the last five years (as of March 31st 2025). Stocks that made our list in 2020 include now familiar names such as Nvidia (+1,545% between March 2020 and March 2025) as well as under-the-radar businesses like the once-small-cap company Exlservice (+354% five-year return). Find your next big winner with StockStory today. StockStory is growing and hiring equity analyst and marketing roles. Are you a 0 to 1 builder passionate about the markets and AI? See the open roles here.

3 Cryptocurrencies I've Got My Eye On for the Second Half of 2025
3 Cryptocurrencies I've Got My Eye On for the Second Half of 2025

Yahoo

timean hour ago

  • Business
  • Yahoo

3 Cryptocurrencies I've Got My Eye On for the Second Half of 2025

Key Points It's often worth keeping an eye on stocks even if you don't plan to buy them. The tail end of 2025 is likely to present many opportunities to crypto investors. At the moment, I'm watching Solana, Ethereum, and Shiba Inu, among others. 10 stocks we like better than Solana › If the first half of 2025 taught investors anything, it is that crypto's center of gravity can swing extremely quickly. For long-term investors, the churn is distracting, but it is also fertile ground for spotting the projects most likely to matter when the dust settles. From where I sit, three very different coins are worth special attention over the next six months: Solana, (CRYPTO: SOL) Ethereum, (CRYPTO: ETH) and Shiba Inu (CRYPTO: SHIB). One is sprinting ahead on real-world utility; one is a veteran chain that could be staging a genuine renaissance; and one is a lightning rod for market froth that doubles as an early-warning system. Here's why I'm watching them. 1. Solana is showing that tokenization is moving fast The single fastest-growing pocket of Solana's ecosystem right now is tokenized equities. If you're not familiar, a tokenized equity is just a crypto token that represents ownership of a stock such that the stock can be traded on a blockchain instead of on the traditional financial markets. In early July, the value of stock tokens minted on Solana tripled to surpass $48 million in just two weeks, later going on to surpass $100 million, largely on the back of the launch of a platform called xStocks. The adoption speed matters more than the headline figure here; there's a long way to go before the volume of tokenized stock trading on Solana ever approaches the volume of the actual stock market, but it's now undeniable that the chain is at the forefront of the trend of asset tokenization, along with Ethereum. And that means it's exposed to a lot of capital flowing in. If that pipeline keeps flowing, the coin's demand drivers will become increasingly distinct from the meme coin flows that powered its last rally. Assuming regulatory guidance does not tighten abruptly, I plan to keep dollar-cost-averaging into Solana. The main wild card here is whether regulators will handle tokenized assets in the same way as they do normal stocks or if there will be additional requirements that asset issuers find burdensome. 2. Ethereum's comeback is underway After a bruising first quarter, Ethereum bounced by roughly 138% in the last three months as institutional inflows returned, and inflows from exchange-traded funds (ETFs) climbed past $1.1 billion in June alone. Separately, more than 28% of the circulating supply of Ether is now staked, locking coins out of the liquid market and making every incremental buy matter a little more. Meanwhile, the May Pectra update introduced native account abstraction and smaller, cheaper data blobs, trimming the network's long-standing cost bottleneck. Average gas fees have drifted lower for long stretches this year to reach a level not seen since 2020. They could continue to go even lower, which would be remarkable if the chain's volume picks up even more alongside its native token's rising price. The cocktail of tighter float and cheaper block space could, in theory, send Ether parabolic if developers and users flood back from their months-long hiatus. The market already sniffed out the change, and sentiment is now improving very rapidly. If I had fresh capital on hand today, I would start to nibble and buy the coin. If there's a good opportunity to purchase some later this year, I'll be jumping on it. 3. Shiba Inu is a smart coin to watch Meme coins are speculative by design, yet they are superb barometers of risk appetite. Shiba Inu's rallies tend to arrive when marginal dollars are chasing whatever still looks cheap in an otherwise frothy environment. That means when it starts to surge, it can signal a reason to start to be a bit more cautious. There's not any tech development going on with this coin, nor is there much else that could send its price higher, except for very favorable macroeconomic conditions and investors hungry to take on overly risky speculative bets. And right now, there are no flashing lights whatsoever; its price is still lower than a year ago. If this dog coin does rip later this year, history suggests the broader crypto market could be approaching a top. My playbook is therefore to treat any Shiba Inu spike as a cue to trim risk elsewhere (ideally, by realizing some profits) and to redeploy my capital only after the froth subsides. Do the experts think Solana is a buy right now? The Motley Fool's expert analyst team, drawing on years of investing experience and deep analysis of thousands of stocks, leverages our proprietary Moneyball AI investing database to uncover top opportunities. They've just revealed their to buy now — did Solana make the list? When our Stock Advisor analyst team has a stock recommendation, it can pay to listen. After all, Stock Advisor's total average return is up 1,034% vs. just 180% for the S&P — that is beating the market by 853.75%!* Imagine if you were a Stock Advisor member when Netflix made this list on December 17, 2004... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you'd have $641,800!* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you'd have $1,023,813!* The 10 stocks that made the cut could produce monster returns in the coming years. Don't miss out on the latest top 10 list, available when you join Stock Advisor. See the 10 stocks » *Stock Advisor returns as of July 21, 2025 Alex Carchidi has positions in Ethereum and Solana. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Ethereum and Solana. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. 3 Cryptocurrencies I've Got My Eye On for the Second Half of 2025 was originally published by The Motley Fool Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data

Japan's Top Global Pension Fund Keeps Strategy Amid Volatility
Japan's Top Global Pension Fund Keeps Strategy Amid Volatility

Bloomberg

time5 hours ago

  • Business
  • Bloomberg

Japan's Top Global Pension Fund Keeps Strategy Amid Volatility

Japan's Government Pension Investment Fund plans to maintain its asset allocation targets even as a US trade deal whipsaws financial markets and fiscal concerns pummel domestic government bonds. 'Short-term moves in the market will not affect our management at all,' GPIF President Kazuto Uchida said in his first media interview since taking charge of the $1.7 trillion fund in April. 'We need to monitor the global economy and the impact of tariffs but when you look at market conditions, there is no need to change our model portfolio.'

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into a world of global content with local flavor? Download Daily8 app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store