fisher capital management research: Provident Financial Services Inc. Reports Operating Results (10-K)

Provident Financial Services Inc. (PFS) filed Annual Report for the period ended 2010-12-31.

Provident Financial Services Inc. has a market cap of $893.8 million; its shares were traded at around $14.81 with a P/E ratio of 16.5 and P/S ratio of 2.8. The dividend yield of Provident Financial Services Inc. stocks is 3%.
Mutual Fund and Other Gurus that owns PFS: John Keeley of Keeley Fund Management, Kenneth Fisher of Fisher Asset Management, LLC.

Highlight of Business Operations:

The Company is a Delaware corporation which became the holding company for The Provident Bank (the “Bank”) on January 15, 2003, following the completion of the conversion of the Bank to a stock chartered savings bank. On January 15, 2003, the Company issued an aggregate of 59,618,300 shares of its common stock, par value $0.01 per share in a subscription offering and contributed $4.8 million in cash and 1,920,000 shares of its common stock to The Provident Bank Foundation, a charitable foundation established by the Bank. As a result of the conversion and related stock offering, the Company raised $567.2 million in net proceeds, of which $293.2 million was utilized to acquire all of the outstanding common stock of the Bank. The Company owns all of the outstanding common stock of the Bank, and as such, is a bank holding company subject to regulation by the Federal Reserve Board.

At December 31, 2010, the Company had total assets of $6.82 billion, net loans of $4.34 billion, total deposits of $4.88 billion, and total stockholders’ equity of $921.7 million. The Company’s mailing address is 239 Washington Street, Jersey City, New Jersey 07302, and the Company’s telephone number is (732) 590-9200.

Capital Management. The Company paid cash dividends totaling $25.0 million and repurchased 17,700 shares of its common stock at a cost of $193,000 in 2010. The Company has curtailed common stock repurchase activity since 2009 to preserve capital in response to the difficult economic environment. The Company and the Bank were “well capitalized” at December 31, 2010 under current regulatory standards.

Asset Quality. As of December 31, 2010, non-performing assets were $100.1 million or 1.47% of total assets, compared to $90.9 million or 1.33% of total assets at December 31, 2009. While the Bank’s non-performing asset levels have been adversely impacted by the troubled residential real estate market and the challenging economic environment, the Bank continues to focus on conservative underwriting criteria and on aggressive collection efforts.

Emphasis on Relationship Banking and Core Deposits. The Bank emphasizes the acquisition and retention of core deposit accounts, such as checking and savings accounts, and expanding customer relationships. Core deposit accounts totaled $3.60 billion at December 31, 2010, representing 73.8% of total deposits, compared with $3.39 billion, or 69.2% of total deposits at December 31, 2009. The Bank also focuses on increasing the number of households and businesses served and the number of bank products per customer.

Non-Interest Income. The Bank’s focus on transaction accounts and expanded products and services has enabled the Bank to generate non-interest income. Fees derived from core deposit accounts are a primary source of non-interest income. The Bank also offers investment products and wealth and asset management services to generate non-interest income. Total non-interest income was $31.6 million for the year ended December 31, 2010, compared with $31.5 million for the year ended December 31, 2009, and fee income was $23.7 million for the year ended December 31, 2010, compared with $24.2 million for the year ended December 31, 2009.

Fisher Capital Management Investment: California Water Service Group Reports Operating Results 10-K -- GuruFocus.com

California Water Service Group (CWT) filed Annual Report for the period ended 2010-12-31.

California Water Service has a market cap of $734.9 million; its shares were traded at around $35.28 with a P/E ratio of 19.5 and P/S ratio of 1.6. The dividend yield of California Water Service stocks is 3.5%. California Water Service had an annual average earning growth of 3.2% over the past 10 years.
Mutual Fund and Other Gurus that owns CWT: Kenneth Fisher of Fisher Asset Management, LLC, Mario Gabelli of GAMCO Investors.

Highlight of Business Operations:

In February 1996, we entered into an agreement to operate the City of Hawthorne water system. The system, which is located near the Hermosa-Redondo district, serves about half of Hawthorne’s population. The agreement required us to make an up-front $6.5 million lease payment to the city that is being amortized over the lease term. Additionally, annual lease payments of $0.2 million are made to the city and indexed to changes in water rates. Under the lease we are responsible for all aspects of system operation and capital improvements, although title to the system and system improvements reside with the city. In exchange, we receive all revenue from the water system, which was $7.5 million, $6.1 million and $5.2 million in 2010, 2009, and 2008, respectively. At the end of the lease, the city is required to reimburse us for the unamortized value of capital improvements made during the term of the lease. The 15-year lease expired in February 2011 and was extended on a month-to-month basis. The City of Hawthorne is in the process of determining how they will handle their water system and we plan to submit a proposal to the City during 2011 to provide these services for an additional fifteen year period

In July 2003, an agreement was negotiated with the City of Commerce to lease and operate its water system. The lease requires us to pay $0.8 million per year in monthly installments and pay $200 per acre-foot for water usage exceeding 2,000 acre-feet per year plus a percentage of certain operational savings that may be realized.

Under the lease agreement, we are responsible for all aspects of the system’s operations. The city is responsible for capital expenditures, and title to the system and system improvements resides with the city. We bear the risks of operation and collection of amounts billed to customers. The agreement includes a procedure to request rate changes for costs changes outside of our control and other cost changes. In exchange, we receive all revenue from the system, which totaled $1.8 million in 2010, $1.7 million in 2009 and $2.0 million in 2008. The City of Commerce lease is a 15-year lease and expires in 2018.

We lease antenna sites to telecommunication companies, which place equipment at various Company-owned sites. Lease revenues totaled $2.2 million, $2.0 million, and $2.0 million in 2010, 2009 and 2008, respectively. The antennas are used in cellular phone and personal communication applications. We continue to negotiate new leases for similar uses.

In 2006, we started an Extended Service Protection program (ESP) in California covering certain repairs to residential customer’s water line between the meter and the home. The non-regulated program was operated by CWS Utility Services. Typically the utility is responsible for servicing and maintaining the water line up to and including the meter. The home owner is responsible for the water line from the meter to the house. In late 2007, we contracted with Home Service USA to replace the ESP program with an insurance product. Home Service USA now provides water line protection insurance, sewer line protection insurance, and internal plumbing protection insurance to Cal Water’s customers. Cal Water includes charges for these optional non-tariffed services on its bills and CWS Utility Services facilitates marketing these products to its customers. Revenues for these services were $2.0 million, $1.7 million, and $1.5 million in 2010, 2009, and 2008, respectively.

fisher capital management investment: FISHER CAPITAL CONSTRUCTION MANAGEMENT

FISHER CAPITAL CONSTRUCTION MANAGEMENT
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Bechtel is one of the world's largest engineering-construction firms. Founded in 1898, we provide premier technical, management, and directly related services to develop, manage, engineer, build, and operate installations for our customers worldwide. Our 50,000 employees are teamed with customers, partners, and suppliers on 950 projects in 67 countries. In 2001, we booked $9.3 billion in new business and worked off $13.4 billion in revenue. Continually seeking to innovate and improve, Bechtel is the only major engineering and construction company to use Six Sigma, a problem-solving methodology to identify and eliminate errors in critical processes. Bechtel is privately owned and in its fourth generation of Bechtel family leadership.

Fluor Corporation is one of the world's largest, publicly owned engineering, procurement, construction, and maintenance services organizations. Over the past century, Fluor, through its operating subsidiaries, has become a trusted global business leader by providing exceptional expertise and technical knowledge across every phase of a project. Customers rely on Fluor to deliver world-class solutions that optimize customers' assets, improve their competitive position, and increase their long-term business success. Consistently rated as one of the world's safest contractors, Fluor's primary objective is to develop, execute, and maintain capital projects on schedule, within budget, and with operational excellence. The individual and collective expertise of our international work force of more than 50,000 employees provides cost-effective, intelligent solutions in a timely manner. In addition to project offices, Fluor maintains a network of offices in more than 25 countries across 6 continents. Our outstanding dependability, expertise, and safety distinguish Fluor as the preeminent leader in the global building services marketplace. Engineering News-Record (ENR) magazine consistently ranks Fluor Corporation among the top three on "The Top

fisher capital management investment:Fisher Capital Management - Japan Elects a New Premier Part 1

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
(Free-Press-Release.com) March 1, 2011 --

Fisher Capital Management Eight and a half months after riding the Democratic Party of Japan’s (DPJ) historic lower house victory into office, Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama announced his resignation, having haphazardly frittered away a chest brimming with political capital.

Major newspapers said that Hatoyama was resigning mainly for two reasons: his failure to keep his promise to relocate the functions of US Marine Corps Air Station Futenma, Okinawa, out of Okinawa Prefecture, and a political funding scandal that included his mother’s provision of some ¥1.26 billion to him over years.

Following Hatoyama’s resignation, Minister of Finance Naoto Kan was elected as the new Prime Minister, the fifth in four years. At his inaugural press conference Kan proposed a comprehensive reconstruction of the economy, public finance, and social security as his priority, in addition to reforming public administration, and conducting responsible diplomatic and defence policy.

Fisher Capital Management Report- Japan Elects a New Premier Part 1: The biggest question surrounding the once-popular new government is whether Kan can really turn over a new leaf for the DPJ. In his first policy speech to the Diet as prime minister, Kan sought to set his administration apart from the previous one by vowing to build “a strong economy, strong finances and strong social welfare”.

Kan stressed the need to jolt Japan out of its currently weak state, which he attributed to “anaemic economic growth, ballooning public debt and dwindling public trust in the viability of Japan's social security system”.

Observers and practitioners believe that the government is unlikely to announce any significant new policy initiatives, as Kan was already one of the main architects behind the previous administration’s economic policy, although some changes have just been announced in the DPJ election manifesto for the Upper House
election. For instance it drops the promise of doubling monthly child allowances to ¥26000 next year.

“I hope to carry over the torch of rebuilding Japan passed on to me by Hatoyama”, he observed at a press conference after his election. Alan Feldman, chief economist at Morgan Stanley in Japan, says that “although Kan’s initial speech did include some new elements, the main message was continuity with Hatoyama’s economic policies. Investors are likely to welcome the innovations, but to remain sceptical of the overall philosophy”.

However, economists believe Kan will face a mountain of challenges both at home and abroad in the near future. First, he needs to rebuild that political capital ahead of the upper house elections. Public support for the DPJ has recovered sharply after his appointment suggesting that voters have, for now, forgiven the ruling Democrats for the previous leaders’ policy mistakes. But it remains to be seen whether the initial popularity of the Kan administration will translate into a strong performance, and whether Kan will ultimately be given a strong enough mandate to push through difficult policy decisions.

Major newspaper polls give Prime Minister approval ratings of between 60 and 70 percent; but such ratings can be very fickle. The election will be an uphill battle for the DPJ. The DPJ is without one of its coalition partners, the Social Democratic Party who left the ruling camp over Hatoyama’s failure to remove the US base from Okinawa, as demanded by its leader, Mizuho Fukushima. The two parties that remain, the DPJ and the People’s New Party, hold 122 of the upper house’s 242 seats, the slimmest majority possible. Should the coalition lose that majority in the coming election, it would mean a split Diet — its majority would only remain in the lower house. And that would make passing bills extremely difficult.

Fisher Capital Management Report- Japan Elects a New Premier Part 1: Kan will have plenty on the economic front too. In terms of fiscal policy, as a former Finance minister he has turned into a fiscal conservative, having been a champion of funnelling revenue from higher taxes toward government spending in order to achieve economic growth. “Economic growth, fiscal reconstruction and social welfare reform will be achieved together”, he told reporters.