Prudential is one of those names that’s always been there. The
origins of the company go back into antiquity with mergers and
acquisitions cropping up regularly over many decades to the extent that
the true origins of the Prudential brand have been clouded almost to
obscurity. At the same time, there are Prudential brands in other parts
of the world which have no connection with the Prudential Financial
Services based in New Jersey although they’ve all grown from the same
original root stock. Prudential Financial Services provides insurance
services for just about any situation to just about any person.
One of Prudential’s main areas of activity is in Retirement planning
and it’s probably that for which it’s best know these days. It offers a
complete range of products in this area including term life insurance,
equity planning and estate planning. Typically of a financial
institution of its standing, Prudential has an impressive portfolio of
assets. At 31st March the total asset valuation under management stood
at $496 billion making it one of the largest insurance operations in
the world as well as the United States.
In fact, Prudential is active itself in many parts the world. Apart
from the USA and Canada, it has business in Europe, mainly in the
European Union, Latin America and the Far East. Prudential stock was
first offered on the New York Stock Exchange on December 13th 2001. The
opening price was $30 and apart from a dip after 9/11, growth has been
steady to reach $67 currently. Sentiment amongst analysts however is
mixed. Of fifteen brokers, seven were neutral, six recommend“buy” but
only one was negative. Averaged out, this gives a mean just on the
negative side of neutral. Target share values are $50 as a minimum, $71
as a maximum and $60.71 as a mean - these figures being calculated from
suggestions from seven brokers. These indecisive reactions may be from
a general feeling of uncertainty over the near future of the economy.
Prudential’s main markets however are in the consumer areas where,
whilst consumables themselves may suffer from economic uncertainty or
downturn, “distress” purchases usually hold up reasonably well.
Insurance products aren’t commonly bracketed as distress purchases but
perhaps they should be? Nobody buys insurance because they want it.
Usually, somebody buys insurance, either because there’s some sort of
external pressure (a clause in a rental agreement for example) or
because a salesman has his arm twisted up behind his back and a knife
stuck between his shoulder blades. If an individual is paying
contributions to a retirement income scheme, especially if retirement
looms on the horizon, he’ll find those contributions before he does
anything else. In that respect, a weakening economy should have little
effect on the prospects of a company like Prudential Financial
Services. It’s true that the gross value of the company’s portfolio
will be affected by any downturn in the market but again, that
shouldn’t have a detrimental effect on profits, profitability and
therefore share price.
Proven Investment Advice
Get Dow Theory Forecasts - the acclaimed investing newsletter on buying, selling and holding common stocks. Build and preserve your wealth. Subscribe now and get three free reports.
Other investing articles of
interest
Stock Market Symbol for Microsoft Microsoft - one of the best known names on Planet Earth but
how many people would recognise the group of letters MSFT? MSFT is the
Stock Market Symbol for the Microsoft Corporation. When an investor
wants to check the current price of his (Continue Reading)
Best Stocks to Invest In The best stocks to invest in are those that are going to
mature in value. Really that’s an obvious, fundamental and inarguable
statement. There is of course another factor that needs to be taken
into consideration and that’s the potential for (Continue Reading)
Burger King Stock Burger King is, of course, one of the best known names in the
mall or shopping zone. The signs (as well as the Whopper itself) are
recognized universally and usually with positive reactions. Burger King
was founded in Miami in 1954 by James (Continue Reading)
Past Stock Prices Phrases like “past performance is not necessarily a guide to
future performance” is somewhat common on advertizing material
concerning investment products. As an investment medium, the stocks can
produce excellent growth as well as consistent (Continue Reading)
Dell Stock Value Dell computer stock is the computer equipment industry. Over the past ten years the
computer equipment industry has been an excellent area for stocks.
However, the first five years were stronger than the last five which
have been relatively weak. The comp (Continue Reading)
