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Company name Towers Watson & Co
Stock ticker TW
Live stock price [stckqut]TW[/stckqut]
P/E compared to competitors Good

MANAGEMENT EXECUTION

Employee productivity Poor
Sales growth Poor
EPS growth Poor
P/E growth Good
EBIT growth Good

ANALYSIS

Confident Investor Rating Fair
Target stock price (TWCA growth scenario) $116.2
Target stock price (averages with growth) $97.68
Target stock price (averages with no growth) $53.2
Target stock price (manual assumptions) $107.9

The following company description is from Google Finance: http://www.google.com/finance?q=tw

Towers Watson & Co. (Towers Watson) is a global professional services company. The Company offers solutions in the areas of benefits, talent management, rewards, and risks and capital management. The Company offers its clients comprehensive services across four business segments: Benefits, Risk and Financial Services, Talent and Rewards, and exchanges Solutions. The Company delivers consulting services and solutions, which help organizations, anticipate, identify and capitalize on emerging opportunities in benefit and human capital management. The Company advises the insurance industry on a range of strategic and risks management issues, and the Company helps its clients in all industries mitigate risk through insurance, reinsurance and capital markets transactions. In November 2013, Towers Watson and Co announced the completion of its sale of the Company’s reinsurance brokerage business to Jardine Lloyd Thompson Group plc. In November 2013, the Company acquired Liazon Corporation.

 

Confident Investor comments: At this time, I think that a Confident Investor can cautiously invest in Towers Watson & Co as long as the price is correct. Most of the fundamentals of this company are good but there are some concerns.

If you would like to understand how to evaluate companies like I do on this site, please read my book, The Confident Investor. You can review the best companies that I have found (and I probably invest my own money in most of these companies) in my Watch List.

How was this analysis of Towers Watson & Co calculated?

For owners of my book, “The Confident Investor” I offer the following analysis (you must be logged in to this site as a book owner in order to see the following analysis). If you have registered and cannot see the balance of this article, make sure you are logged in and refresh your browser.
[s2If current_user_can(access_s2member_level1)]

In order to assist you in using the techniques of this book, the values that I used when calculating the Manual pricing above were:

  • Stock price at the time of the calculation: $112.97
  • Growth: 0.12
  • Current EPS (TTM): $4.93
  • P/E: 20
  • Future EPS Calc: $8.68
  • Future Stock Price Calc: $173.76
  • Target stock price: $107.89

I hope that this makes you a better investor. [/s2If]

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grocery shopping photoGrocery shopping is probably the largest variable expense in your budget. You have a lot of control over many of the things you choose while grocery shopping so it makes sense to focus on money-saving efforts. Many monthly expenses, such as your house payment, car and other debt payments, insurance policies and utility bills, are relatively fixed, and you will have a fairly difficult time changing them. Opportunities do arise in reducing those big payments, but you probably spend money at the grocery store every week.

Here are a few thoughts in saving money in this weekly battle.

1. Always pay with a cash-back credit card when you are grocery shopping

Using a credit card for groceries is a bit controversial. If you cannot keep your balance on your card at zero every month, then don’t do this. However, that is a sign of a bigger problem. You need to takes steps to not carry a balance. Once you have learned this habit then paying for groceries with a credit card will earn you those points. The grocery store is already building in the cost of the credit card transaction into the price of their goods, so you need to get this money back.

2. Don’t do your grocery shopping at only one store

Grocery stores will try very hard to make your relationship with them to be exclusive. When it comes to grocery shopping that can also be a real budget buster. No one store is the lowest on prices all the time. Some stores will discount certain products in favor of others. By making two stops and planning ahead, you can make a big difference in your grocery bill.

3. Coupons save money when grocery shopping

You should be taking advantage of coupon offers where you can. It’s not impossible to save 10%, 15%, or even as much is 20% with diligent coupon clipping. Luckily, many stores are offering their coupons in digital format so you can avoid the piles of small pieces of paper.

4. A grocery list is essential

Don’t wander the aisles of the store looking for things that you need. You need a grocery shopping list will prevent this from happening. When you wander the aisles, you will be buying items that you don’t actually need. Stick to the list, and there will be much less chance of overspending.

5. Avoid the crowds

When the store is crowded, you will be less likely to compare brands for a better deal. Choose times that are off-peak so that you are not hurried. This way you can compare the cost per ounce to make sure that you really are getting the best deal.

6. Be lonely when you are grocery shopping

Many people find that they bring along a child or spouse, that other person’s habits will increase the number of items in the cart. This is especially true for a hungry child that will have a hard time passing by the aisle of favorite foods. I am not encouraging you to hire a baby-sitter when you shop, but if you can arrange your schedule to be alone, you will frequently make better buying decisions.

Photo by Mike Schmid