Latest news with #OUSA
Yahoo
4 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Is ALPS (OUSA) a Strong ETF Right Now?
The ALPS (OUSA) was launched on 07/14/2015, and is a smart beta exchange traded fund designed to offer broad exposure to the Style Box - Large Cap Value category of the market. Products that are based on market cap weighted indexes, which are strategies designed to reflect a specific market segment or the market as a whole, have traditionally dominated the ETF industry. Market cap weighted indexes offer a low-cost, convenient, and transparent way of replicating market returns, and are a good option for investors who believe in market efficiency. But, there are some investors who would rather invest in smart beta funds; these funds track non-cap weighted strategies, and are a strong option for those who prefer choosing great stocks in order to beat the market. This kind of index follows this same mindset, as it attempts to pick stocks that have better chances of risk-return performance; non-cap weighted strategies base selection on certain fundamental characteristics, or a mix of such characteristics. Even though this space provides many choices to investors--think one of the simplest methodologies like equal-weighting and more complicated ones like fundamental and volatility/momentum based weighting--not all have been able to deliver first-rate results. Because the fund has amassed over $806.55 million, this makes it one of the average sized ETFs in the Style Box - Large Cap Value. OUSA is managed by Alps. Before fees and expenses, OUSA seeks to match the performance of the FTSE US Qual / Vol / Yield Factor 5% Capped Index. The OShares U.S. Quality Dividend Index measures the performance of publicly-listed large-capitalization and mid-capitalization dividend-paying issuers in the United States. Expense ratios are an important factor in the return of an ETF and in the long-term, cheaper funds can significantly outperform their more expensive cousins, other things remaining the same. Operating expenses on an annual basis are 0.48% for this ETF, which makes it on par with most peer products in the space. OUSA's 12-month trailing dividend yield is 1.32%. It is important to delve into an ETF's holdings before investing despite the many upsides to these kinds of funds like diversified exposure, which minimizes single stock risk. And, most ETFs are very transparent products that disclose their holdings on a daily basis. Representing 23% of the portfolio, the fund has heaviest allocation to the Financials sector; Information Technology and Healthcare round out the top three. Taking into account individual holdings, Visa Inc. (V) accounts for about 5.32% of the fund's total assets, followed by Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) and Home Depot Inc. (HD). OUSA's top 10 holdings account for about 43.23% of its total assets under management. So far this year, OUSA return is roughly 1.10%, and it's up approximately 10.33% in the last one year (as of 06/06/2025). During this past 52-week period, the fund has traded between $47.97 and $55.50. The ETF has a beta of 0.85 and standard deviation of 14.01% for the trailing three-year period, making it a medium risk choice in the space. With about 101 holdings, it effectively diversifies company-specific risk. ALPS is a reasonable option for investors seeking to outperform the Style Box - Large Cap Value segment of the market. However, there are other ETFs in the space which investors could consider. Schwab U.S. Dividend Equity ETF (SCHD) tracks Dow Jones U.S. Dividend 100 Index and the Vanguard Value ETF (VTV) tracks CRSP U.S. Large Cap Value Index. Schwab U.S. Dividend Equity ETF has $68.29 billion in assets, Vanguard Value ETF has $133.45 billion. SCHD has an expense ratio of 0.06% and VTV charges 0.04%. Investors looking for cheaper and lower-risk options should consider traditional market cap weighted ETFs that aim to match the returns of the Style Box - Large Cap Value. To learn more about this product and other ETFs, screen for products that match your investment objectives and read articles on latest developments in the ETF investing universe, please visit Zacks ETF Center. Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report ALPS (OUSA): ETF Research Reports Microsoft Corporation (MSFT) : Free Stock Analysis Report Visa Inc. (V) : Free Stock Analysis Report The Home Depot, Inc. (HD) : Free Stock Analysis Report Vanguard Value ETF (VTV): ETF Research Reports Schwab U.S. Dividend Equity ETF (SCHD): ETF Research Reports This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research ( Zacks Investment Research
Otago Daily Times
30-05-2025
- Politics
- Otago Daily Times
Student pub still wanted: referendum
A new student pub gets a big tick, but a boycott on products with ties to the Israeli government proved less favourable among the student populace. Those are the results of just two of the many questions the Otago University Students' Association (OUSA) asked its members over the past month. The results, which were published this week, could form the basis of student activism over the next year. OUSA president Liam White said he was very pleased with the level of engagement, with about 1900 people responding. "We got more students engaging with our referendum than we did with our executive election. So I can't be too disappointed with that. "I think having close to 2000 students voting is awesome." The referendum asked an array of questions, including "Should OUSA establish student-friendly bars and pubs in North Dunedin" which got a 70% favourable response. Meanwhile, only 53.5% of respondents believed OUSA should adopt a policy for its operations that aligned with the "Boycotts, Divestment and Sanctions" movement (BDS) against the government of Israel. The latter question was asked after the OUSA received two formal complaints about its decision to bar Domino's Pizza from "Tent City" during O Week. Mr White said he was not surprised at the support for the student bar. "I don't think that one will go away anytime soon. "We've been talking about this for years, and I think I sat through for about two hours when it came out and read all the student comments and a lot of them were pretty harsh. "But I think it's a fair frustration for the student body that we've been trying to advocate for this for years, come close, then had to step away again, and it just kind of feels like they've gone round in circles on it." Asked about the BDS question, Mr White said the result was "clear as mud" and meant it probably needed to be sent back to the executive. He was more surprised there appeared to be just as much division over whether OUSA should receive alcohol sponsorship. "It's clear that there's not a particularly united front there." There was however "overwhelming support" (68%) to adopt a policy of educating students on affirmative consent. "It seems like the appropriate time for that." Meanwhile, Mr White's attempt to extend the president's reign to two years proved less popular — 62% voted against it. "There were a lot of Trump jokes [in the responses]. I'm not taking it personally."
Otago Daily Times
18-05-2025
- General
- Otago Daily Times
Healthy homes checks coming for student flats
University of Otago students may soon find out whether their cold, mouldy flat adheres to new healthy homes requirements. The Ministry of Business Innovation and Employment (MBIE) has said its tenancy compliance and investigations team would visit a selection of student rentals in Dunedin this week to check they are complying with the Residential Tenancies Act 1986 (the Act). The visits will identify any breaches of the Act and prompt action by landlords who are found to be not complying with their legal obligations. Aciting tenancy compliance and investigations team leader Clare Lyons-Montgomery said landlords must provide rental homes that are warm, safe and dry. 'Young people are a priority population for our team, as they can be vulnerable and unaware of their rights because they are new to renting.' 'Landlords have obligations and responsibilities under the Residential Tenancies Act and must provide a rental home that complies with all building, health and safety requirements in additional to tenancy law. ''Landlords have responsibilities throughout the life of each rental, including at the commencement. This includes attending to maintenance and repairs in a timely manner.'' Ms Montgomery said all rental properties must also comply with the healthy homes standards by July. Landlords were responsible for ensuring their properties meet the healthy homes standards and continue to do so over time, she said. 'This visit is an opportunity to change the perception that living in a run-down student flat is a 'rite of passage' and just part of university life. We want to make it clear to landlords what their responsibilities are and what the consequences of non-compliance are. 'MBIE regularly engages with student associations, including those at the University of Otago. This visit is another opportunity to encourage them to speak with their landlords about issues in their rental homes and then if they cannot resolve issues between themselves they can speak with us.' Otago University Students Association (OUSA) President Liam White said many Otago students were forced to live in cold, old, and mouldy flats and their landlords must be held to account. 'We're proud to support MBIE's flat inspections and hope to send a clear message: if you rent a flat, you must meet legal standards or face the consequences,' He said students often told OUSA that they hesitated to raise issues with landlords or property managers out of fear of jeopardising future references or creating more problems for themselves. ''Even when they do speak up, many face radio silence or endless delays. 'Otago students deserve better. Warm, healthy homes aren't optional—they're the legal minimum. We back every move to ensure these standards are enforced, and through OUSA Student Support, we continue to empower students with advice, advocacy, and education across the academic year.'' If a tenant thinks the property they are renting is not up to standard they should speak to their landlord. If they are still not satisfied they should put their concerns in writing to the landlord giving them a reasonable time to fix any problems, or issue a 14-day notice to their landlord. If the landlord still doesn't fix the issue or satisfy the tenants' concerns they can make a complaint on the Tenancy Services website or apply to the Tenancy Tribunal to make a decision on the dispute — APL
Yahoo
29-01-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Is Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) Among Kevin O'Leary's Stock Picks for 2025?
We recently published a list of . In this article, we are going to take a look at where Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) stands against other Kevin O'Leary's stock picks for 2025. Television personality, financier, and entrepreneur, Kevin O'Leary, also known as 'Mr. Wonderful' is recognized mostly as one of the panelists on the reality shows Shark Tank and Dragon's Den. In 1986, the Irish-Canadian began his business career by launching the educational software company Softkey with $10,000 from his mother's investment and leveraging the proceeds from the sale of his SET share. When it comes to stock investing, Mr. Wonderful seeks names that meet three criteria: They must be quality companies that boast consistently strong financial performance and a solid balance sheet. Second, he believes that a stock portfolio must be diverse across multiple market sectors. Most importantly, however, he demands income, stressing that the companies he invests in should be ones that pay dividends to shareholders. The ALPS O'Shares U.S. Quality Dividend ETF, an ETF offered by O'Shares Investment Advisors, aims to encompass O'Leary's strategies by holding stocks that combine all three of these characteristics. Since its launch, the ETF has returned 115.18% to shareholders. While high-risk, high-reward investments like those on Shark Tank or volatile assets like Bitcoin can be thrilling, O'Leary believes that a focus on consistent, dependable income should be the basis of a sound portfolio. The venture capitalist summed up this view in a LinkedIn post: 'OUSA is part of the S&P 500, cherry-picking the highest quality balance sheets with positive cash flow from around 100 out of the 500 names. Then there's OUSM, which grabs the Russell 2000 and weeds out the underperformers – those companies not making any real dough. Forget Shark Tank, forget Bitcoin. Sure, I've got a 5% stake in Bitcoin and another 5% in gold, but the meat of my US portfolio? It's in OUSA or OUSM.' Former president Joe Biden recently signed a bipartisan bill that deemed TikTok a national security threat and required Bytedance, the platform's Chinese parent company, to either sell or divest from the platform completely in order for the social media platform to remain available in the United States. During a recent appearance on Fox News' 'America's Newsroom', Kevin O'Leary claimed to have made an offer of $20 billion in cash to TikTok's owners to purchase the platform, saying 'Right now, $20 billion is on the table, cash, cash, $20 billion.' However, he added that the federal government wasn't able to verify whether the data of American account holders was actually being shared with Chinese leaders. That said, he believes the risk wasn't worth it. Moreover, in light of the dwindling timeframe, he said that companies are weighing the risks of maintaining the app's availability in the U.S., while keeping in mind the potential penalties for any provider who permits access beyond the cutoff date. 'As of midnight on the 19, any service provider … that could be an Apple, that could be an Oracle, it could be a video compression technology company that's being paid as a consulting service, any of them that keep this thing alive is subject to $5,000 a day fine times 170 million. That's over a billion dollars a day.' O'Leary typically favors equities of well-established, financially stable companies with strong balance sheets and a history of consistent dividend growth. The following holdings are the top 15 from the ALPS O'Shares U.S. Quality Dividend ETF (BATS:OUSA). For these stocks, we have also provided the hedge fund sentiment, as of Q3 2024. Why are we interested in the stocks that hedge funds pile into? The reason is simple: our research has shown that we can outperform the market by imitating the top stock picks of the best hedge funds. Our quarterly newsletter's strategy selects 14 small-cap and large-cap stocks every quarter and has returned 275% since May 2014, beating its benchmark by 150 percentage points. (see more details here). A smiling baby with an array of baby care products in the foreground. Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 81 Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) is a major player in the healthcare industry, with a portfolio that includes pharmaceuticals, Medtech devices, and consumer health products. The company is known for developing drugs to treat a wide range of conditions and diseases, including cancer, diabetes, and HIV/AIDS. In its recent earnings report, Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) announced a sales increase of 5.3% to $22.5 billion, with operational growth of 6.7%. Moreover, JNJ's full-year sales increased by 4.3% to $88.8 billion, all while the company highlighted significant progress in its R&D pipeline, which includes advances in treatments for diseases like multiple myeloma and lung cancer. J&J's MedTech division also experienced considerable growth, owing to innovations in cardiovascular and general surgery products. Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) has provided guidance for 2025 as well, predicting operational sales growth of 2.5% to 3.5% alongside an adjusted operational EPS increase of 8.7% at the midpoint. Overall, JNJ ranks 6th on our list of Kevin O'Leary's stock picks for 2025. While we acknowledge the potential of JNJ, our conviction lies in the belief that certain AI stocks hold greater promise for delivering higher returns, and doing so within a shorter time frame. If you are looking for an AI stock that is more promising than JNJ but that trades at less than 5 times its earnings, check out our report about the . READ NEXT: 20 Best AI Stocks To Buy Now and Complete List of 59 AI Companies Under $2 Billion in Market Cap Disclosure: None. This article is originally published at Insider Monkey. Sign in to access your portfolio
Yahoo
29-01-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Is Alphabet Inc. (GOOGL) Among Kevin O'Leary's Stock Picks for 2025?
We recently published a list of . In this article, we are going to take a look at where Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) stands against other Kevin O'Leary's stock picks for 2025. elevision personality, financier, and entrepreneur, Kevin O'Leary, also known as 'Mr. Wonderful' is recognized mostly as one of the panelists on the reality shows Shark Tank and Dragon's Den. In 1986, the Irish-Canadian began his business career by launching the educational software company Softkey with $10,000 from his mother's investment and leveraging the proceeds from the sale of his SET share. When it comes to stock investing, Mr. Wonderful seeks names that meet three criteria: They must be quality companies that boast consistently strong financial performance and a solid balance sheet. Second, he believes that a stock portfolio must be diverse across multiple market sectors. Most importantly, however, he demands income, stressing that the companies he invests in should be ones that pay dividends to shareholders. The ALPS O'Shares U.S. Quality Dividend ETF, an ETF offered by O'Shares Investment Advisors, aims to encompass O'Leary's strategies by holding stocks that combine all three of these characteristics. Since its launch, the ETF has returned 115.18% to shareholders. While high-risk, high-reward investments like those on Shark Tank or volatile assets like Bitcoin can be thrilling, O'Leary believes that a focus on consistent, dependable income should be the basis of a sound portfolio. The venture capitalist summed up this view in a LinkedIn post: 'OUSA is part of the S&P 500, cherry-picking the highest quality balance sheets with positive cash flow from around 100 out of the 500 names. Then there's OUSM, which grabs the Russell 2000 and weeds out the underperformers – those companies not making any real dough. Forget Shark Tank, forget Bitcoin. Sure, I've got a 5% stake in Bitcoin and another 5% in gold, but the meat of my US portfolio? It's in OUSA or OUSM.' Former president Joe Biden recently signed a bipartisan bill that deemed TikTok a national security threat and required Bytedance, the platform's Chinese parent company, to either sell or divest from the platform completely in order for the social media platform to remain available in the United States. During a recent appearance on Fox News' 'America's Newsroom', Kevin O'Leary claimed to have made an offer of $20 billion in cash to TikTok's owners to purchase the platform, saying 'Right now, $20 billion is on the table, cash, cash, $20 billion.' However, he added that the federal government wasn't able to verify whether the data of American account holders was actually being shared with Chinese leaders. That said, he believes the risk wasn't worth it. Moreover, in light of the dwindling timeframe, he said that companies are weighing the risks of maintaining the app's availability in the U.S., while keeping in mind the potential penalties for any provider who permits access beyond the cutoff date. 'As of midnight on the 19, any service provider … that could be an Apple, that could be an Oracle, it could be a video compression technology company that's being paid as a consulting service, any of them that keep this thing alive is subject to $5,000 a day fine times 170 million. That's over a billion dollars a day.' O'Leary typically favors equities of well-established, financially stable companies with strong balance sheets and a history of consistent dividend growth. The following holdings are the top 15 from the ALPS O'Shares U.S. Quality Dividend ETF (BATS:OUSA). For these stocks, we have also provided the hedge fund sentiment, as of Q3 2024. Why are we interested in the stocks that hedge funds pile into? The reason is simple: our research has shown that we can outperform the market by imitating the top stock picks of the best hedge funds. Our quarterly newsletter's strategy selects 14 small-cap and large-cap stocks every quarter and has returned 275% since May 2014, beating its benchmark by 150 percentage points. (see more details here). Photo by on Unsplash Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 202 Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) is renowned in the technology industry for being a global giant due to its diverse products, including Google Cloud and Google Services, which dominate a number of market segments. Google's main products—Search, YouTube, Android, Chrome, and advertising services—lead their respective markets, thanks to cutting-edge advances in artificial intelligence. Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) and Taiwan's HTC recently agreed to invest $250 million to strengthen their position in XR (extended reality) technology. The agreement follows Google's December release of the Android XR platform, which was created in collaboration with Qualcomm and Samsung Electronics. The purchase aligns with Google's development of the Android XR platform for smart glasses and headsets. Stifel analyst Mark Kelley increased his price target for GOOGL stock from $200 to $225 while keeping the shares at a buy rating. Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) is still the 'dominant leader in search and ad-supported online video,' says Kelley, who also noted that the company has a 'long-term growth opportunity' in both AI and digital advertising. Additionally, Stifel appreciates that the company offers a variety of business tools, such as AI-powered advertising solutions, in addition to Google Gemini, the company's flagship AI assistant. Qualivian Investment Partners stated the following regarding Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) in its : 'Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL): Q2 2024 revenues and EPS beat expectations, with total revenues growing 14%, Search ad revenues growing 14%, YouTube ads growing 13%, and Google Cloud revenues growing 29%. Revenue growth in the quarter constituted a continued sequential improvement from earlier quarters in the year, suggesting a continued rebound in Alphabet's core business except for YouTube ad revenues, which missed expectations and showed deceleration in the growth rate as compared to Q1 when it grew 21%. Operating margins improved by 310 bps vs. the same quarter last year. Overall, GOOGL ranks 5th on our list of Kevin O'Leary's stock picks for 2025. While we acknowledge the potential of GOOGL, our conviction lies in the belief that certain AI stocks hold greater promise for delivering higher returns, and doing so within a shorter time frame. If you are looking for an AI stock that is more promising than GOOGL but that trades at less than 5 times its earnings, check out our report about the . READ NEXT: 20 Best AI Stocks To Buy Now and Complete List of 59 AI Companies Under $2 Billion in Market Cap Disclosure: None. This article is originally published at Insider Monkey. Sign in to access your portfolio
