The market has hit rocky times over the last two months. This has left many equities much cheaper than they were in March. For intrepid investors who had the foresight to keep dry powder at hand, it is time to slowly go bargain hunting. One high risk/high reward equity has pulled back some 40% to $5 a share over the last few months. Given its low valuation and recent insider buying, I think Genworth Financial (GNW) should be looked at by speculative investors looking to pick up its shares on the cheap.

"Genworth Financial provides insurance, wealth management, investment, and financial solutions in the United States and internationally." (Business description from Yahoo Finance)

Five reasons to pick up Genworth Financial at $5 a share:

• Seven insiders stepped up to buy approximately $500k in new shares in May.
• The stock is selling at the bottom of its five year valuation range

By Stuart Burns

A year or two back, physical metal ETFs were all the buzz. Talk was they were the vanguard for retail investor access to the commodities markets, providing low-cost entry into speculating on the metals markets and even opening the possibility of hedging for smaller users.

Since then the OTC swaps market has created much better hedging instruments, but precious metal ETFs in particular have proved very popular on both sides of the Atlantic. Apparently an ETF cannot be created overnight; considerable regulatory hurdles must be overcome and JPMorgan Chase & Co’s (JPM) physically backed copper fund, formally known as JPM XF Physical Copper Trust, has been two years in the making.

Although slated to start in June, it has already hit weighty opposition in the form of major US copper consumers and traders objections to the damage such a fund could do to accurate price discovery.

According

MetLife (NYSE: MET) is planning, among other things, to increase sales in emerging markets. The New York-based insurer is looking to increase sales in emerging markets to approximately 20%. It has stated that the opportunity to earn higher returns is greater in emerging markets. It expects this plan to leverage its global footprint and capitalize on trends and opportunities in key markets. This is a great plan for MetLife. It wishes to continue this growth pattern until 2015, increasing sales in emerging markets 20% each year. That is a sensible plan. Not too fast, but not slow enough to miss out on the opportunities either.

MetLife is fundamentally a strong company. It currently insures 90 million customers in over 50 countries. It provides insurance, annuities, and employee benefit programs. A little over a year ago MetLife purchased American Life Insurance Company, bringing together two well-established international businesses with track records

The Bank of Nova Scotia (BNS), together with its subsidiaries, offers various personal, commercial, corporate, and investment banking services in Canada and internationally. It operates in the Money Center Banks industry.

It is scheduled to report its Q2 FY2012 results on May 29, 2012, before the market opens.

Recent EPS Actuals vs. Estimates

The company has met or exceeded analyst estimates in three out of four last quarters. In the last quarter it reported $1.23 EPS, beating consensus analyst estimates of $1.14 EPS.

Analyst Estimates

The consensus for EPS is $1.15 based on 16 analysts' estimates, down from $1.38 a year ago. The average target price by analysts for the stock is $59.74.

Average recommendation: Overweight

Source: Marketwatch

Key Metrics

• Market cap: $56.91B
• 52 week trading range: 45.79 - 61.83
• Trailing P/E: 10.82
• Forward P/E: 9.68
• P/S: 3.48
• P/B: 2.01
• PEG Ratio: 1.23
• Annual dividend yield: 4.4%
• Total debt: $93.93B

While digesting the dismal JPMorgan (JPM) news last week I was reminded of why, as a value investor, I do not buy bank stocks.

Despite the attitude of the Occupy Movement, banks are not evil companies. They provide a crucial role in allocating capital -- in fact, one could make the case that without behemoth investment banks we would not have the market efficiency and wealth creation the stock market makes possible. The main purpose of an investment bank is assisting corporations in raising capital by underwriting and/or acting as the client's agent in the issuance of securities. Most banks do this well. It is when they get involved in trading derivatives, commodities and equities that things can go sour. One trading unit, one trader, or sometimes even one trade can bring a well-respected age-old entity to its knees. For example:

Lehman Brothers (LEHMQ.PK): Largest Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing in

Clownishness, much like beauty, stands in the eye of the beholder. So let's gather together to behold a clownish trade. Granted: playing Monday Morning quarterback to lame stock trades is a bit selective, even venal. But in the end, you learn from analyzing mistakes. Plus, what's more fun than making fun of missteps and pratfalls? With all that said, welcome to the next installment of The Clownish Trade of the Day …

JPMorgan (JPM), transforming before our eyes from financial object of reverence to one of ridicule, was essential flat yesterday -- and that's a joke.

Hear this: Wall Street's newest minted laughingstock held gains after a couple of up days, even with a long-weekend lurking and the underlying reality ever present: while a good story keeps getting better, a bad story gets even worse.

And JP Morgan is one bad story. The latest chapter made it the butt of

Mid-sized BDC Fifth Street Finance (FSC) announced today the intention to buy-back below Net Asset Value ("NAV") up to $30,000,000 of it's common stock. Click here for the full press release.

BDC Reporter Two Cents: Fifth Street is no stranger to buy-backs. The company has announced stock repurchase programs before and most recently bought back some convertible debt issued last year when the price dropped to bargain levels. In this case, the NAV is at $9.87, and the stock price $9.22 at time of writing.

FSC did not explain in their press release why they have launched a stock repurchase at this time. Certainly, the discount to NAV is relatively modest (4%-6%). If you want to see a real gap between current price and NAV check out BDCs such as Gladstone Investment (GAIN) with a 23% gap and no plan to repurchase, or Apollo Investment (AINV), which has its own

The word from Mr. Warren Buffett (BRK.A, BRK.B) is that he's doubling down on his newspaper holdings, adding papers from Media General (MEG) to his investment in the Washington Post Co. (WPO) and telling all who will listen that they will have to pay and pay and pay to read any news online from now on, or the business will disappear.

He also thinks the New York Times (NYT) paywall is a raging success.

A word for Mr. Warren Buffett. News has always been free.

Oh, and the only reason your WPO investment is afloat? Kaplan. Good news for Berkshire shareholders. The boss has gotten you into the education business, not journalism.

That newspaper that dropped on your porch, the one you "paid" for? The payment didn't go to the writers and editors, or even the printers and paper company. It went to the newsboy. It went for distribution.

This

Fears related to recent economic conditions in Europe have caused somewhat erratic market behavior in which stock prices are falling independently of company performance. This sort of event has a tendency to create opportunity as stock prices fall below their stabilized values. Using simple logical techniques, we can find that a particularly attractive opportunity is Agree Realty (ADC). At the heart of any deduction is a series of premises which logically lead to a necessary conclusion, the premises I will use relating to ADC are listed here and will be demonstrated below:

1) The European economic instability created market conditions which have led to price drops.

2) The price of ADC fell significantly more than that of its sector peers.

3) ADC was not more adversely affected by the external event (European economy).

4) The price drops in both the sector and in ADC were largely NOT due to individual

Since REITs are required to pay 90 percent of their taxable income to shareholders in the form of dividends, the decision to slash or suspend dividends is a sign that a REIT's core business is suffering. A dividend increase or reinstatement, however, can be viewed as a signal of strength. As many real estate sectors are improving, REITs are showing a better outlook for 2012 and 2013. The following REITs are showing strength in improving earnings and/or increased dividends in 2012.

Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance, Inc. (ARI) operates as a commercial real estate finance company in the United States. It originates, acquires, invests in, and manages performing commercial first mortgage loans, commercial mortgage-backed securities, mezzanine financings, and other commercial real estate-related debt investments.

Apollo Commercial is a commercial real estate finance company that is managed and advised by ACREFI Management, LLC

2012 Annual Shareholders Meeting Conference Call

May 24, 2012 11:00 am ET

Executives

John P. McDaniel – Chairman

David Osnos – Director

Laura M. Franklin – Executive Vice President, Accounting and Administration, and Corporate Secretary

George F. McKenzie – President and Chief Executive Officer

Thomas C. Morey – Senior Vice President and General Counsel

Presentation

John P. McDaniel

Well, I’d like to welcome you to this Annual Meeting. I will call it to order of the Washington Real Estate Investment Trust. I’m Chairman of the Board, John McDaniel, and I'm delighted to have each and every one of you here today. It looks like a great turnout, and that’s what we were hoping for.

This is our 2012 Annual Shareholders Meeting. And over the last year, since we last met in this room as shareholders, as investors; the company has moved forward with its

I recently wrote an article on Old Republic International (ORI), highlighting my case for assessing the proper value of ORI. During the time of writing this article the company issued a press release explaining their plan to spin-off their mortgage and CCI business lines (the RFIG subsidiary). The company held a conference call, which you can listen to at the company's website and

Let me start off by saying my confidence in the Big Banks is wearing very thin. From Bank of America's (BAC) calling out of JPMorgan Chase (JPM) over who happens to be the smarter bank when it comes to derivatives, and Morgan Stanley (MS) at the center of the Facebook (FB) IPO scandal, there really isn't any short term benefit to the retail investor. The Big Banks may have the capability of posting some nice returns, but I strongly believe they will be short lived. As an alternative to the Big Banks, I've compiled a list of Midwest Regional banks that yield at least 4% and allow retail investors the ability to sleep much easier at night.

Park National Corporation (PRK) - Founded in 1908 and based in Newark, Ohio, Park National Corporation currently trades at a P/E ratio of 11.91 and yields 5.8% making the stock very inexpensive by

Wow, just a year ago Jamie Dimon was the White House's poster for good management. Today, with JPMorgan's (JPM) nearly 2 billion dollar loss already made public, and many analysts already projecting the loss has grown to between 6-7 billion dollars, with the possibility that the losses will rise.

While longs are arguing that this is a buying opportunity in JPMorgan since the company makes nearly 2 billion dollars a month, the reality is that arguing that now is a good time initiate a long position in JPMorgan on valuation because of the stock's recent significant decline is a very poor argument.

Details are only beginning to emerge, but it appears that JPMorgan was selling protection on corporate bonds for around 125 companies, which means the position has unlimited loss potential. JPMorgan's trade also appears to be too big to unwind quickly.

JPMorgan's trading loss is also likely the least

What could be better than a double digit return on a security? Low interest rates have been a boon for mREITs. That is, residential mortgage real estate investment trusts (mREITs). Equities that are classified as mREITs often hold non-agency and agency mortgages. An mREIT with agency securities has government sponsored enterprise (GSE) backed mortgages for which the principal and interest payments are guaranteed by the United States government.

American Capital Agency (AGNC) is an agency mREIT. AGNC purchases residential mortgage pass-through securities and collateralized mortgage obligations (CMOs) from GSEs such as, Fannie Mae (FNMA.OB) (the Federal National Mortgage Association), Freddie Mac (FMCC.OB) (the Federal National Mortgage Association) and Ginnie Mae (the Government National Mortgage Association). AGNC is externally managed by American Capital AGNC Management, LLC, and an affiliate of American Capital, Ltd ("American Capital"). The company was founded on January 7, 2008 and headquarters are located in Bethesda, MD.

What

With historically low interest rates likely to continue throughout the next year or two, companies in the REIT sector have benefited by way of higher earnings and increased dividends - many yielding in excess of 12%. One such REIT that has been consistently performing well for its investors is Annaly (NLY).

The variety of benefits that are obtained by investing in REITs in general are many, including a potential for two sources of income - dividends and capital gains - as well as cash flow in any market direction and a great hedge against inflation.

In this article, I will discuss why I have a particular liking for Annaly that is due in large part to the company's good earnings growth, strong quarterly revenue growth, and a very nice dividend yield.

Fundamentally Sound

Annaly owns, manages, and finances a portfolio of real estate and real estate related investments. These include

For many years income investors have turned to real estate investment trusts for a steady stream of income and the ability to create/invest in a diversified real estate portfolio. There are two ways in which these investments have taken place -- public traded REITs (which we read about -- and write about -- frequently on Seeking Alpha) and public non-traded REITs (which are, essentially, real estate partnerships with many partners).

Much like the eREIT [equity REIT like Kimco Realty (KIM)] and mREIT [mortgage REIT like Annaly Capital (NLY)] debate, there has been an ongoing debate about traded REITs and non-traded REITs and which is higher risk for the given distribution. There are benefits to both forms of REITs -- traded/non-traded, eREIT/mREIT -- and drawbacks to each form of REIT. Essentially what it comes down to is the risk/return profile of the investor/client.

Unfortunately for the non-traded REITs, the only time

Selling naked puts is a great way to purchase shares in companies you like at a predetermined price. In essence, you are getting paid to wait.

Benefits associated with selling naked puts

1. In essence, you get paid for entering a "limit order" for a stock or stocks you would not mind owning.
2. It allows one to generate income in a neutral or rising market.
3. When you sell a naked put you are in a way acting like an insurance agent. The seller of the option agrees to buy the stock in the future if it drops to a certain level before the option expires. For this, you (the seller) are paid a premium upfront. If this strategy is repeated over and over again these premiums can really help boost you returns over time.
4. Acquiring stocks via short puts is a widely used strategy by many retail traders and is considered

The major banking institutions in the U.S have experienced several twists and turns recently. The mortgage lawsuits and the emergence of a new rule requiring the banks to show how they would
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