Seeking Alpha: Market Headwinds Slow The Progress At AllianceBernstein

There's a good potential turnaround story at AllianceBernstein L.P. (NYSE:AB), but it is going to take a cooperative market environment and that hasn't been the case lately. The shares have taken a dive since my last update, along with peers like Franklin Resources (NYSE:BEN), Invesco (NYSE:IVZ), Legg Mason (NYSE:LM), and Janus (NYSE:JNS), as market conditions have made it noticeably harder to gather and retain the assets under management (AUM) that fuels the fee-generating model.

AllianceBernstein hasn't made the progress with AUM accumulation or margins that I had hoped for a year ago, but there's still upside here. If management can leverage relatively good actively-managed fund performance into improved AUM, margin leverage could be significant. That said, investors can't afford not to consider the risks that the margin leverage fails to materialize and the company never truly manages to harmonize the Alliance and Bernstein businesses. I still believe that a fair value in the mid-to-high $20s is in play, along with a rich tax-advantaged distribution, but asset managers need relatively healthy markets to make headway.

Read more here:
Market Headwinds Slow The Progress At AllianceBernstein

Seeking Alpha: Forget Turning Around, AllianceBernstein Is Growing

Turnarounds can be powerful drivers for higher stock prices, but the real winners are the companies that not only pull out of the dive but actually start gaining altitude again. I think AllianceBernstein (NYSE:AB) very much belongs in that group, as the company has being doing a good job of driving improved asset flows and generating better margins from its cost base. Better still, management is thinking growth again (and delivering), with expanding platforms in index, asset allocation, and alternative investments offering more margin leverage as the flows materialize.

AllianceBernstein shares are up about 20% from when I last wrote, doing better than rivals like Invesco (NYSE:IVZ), BlackRock (NYSE:BLK), Franklin Resources (NYSE:BEN), and Legg Mason (NYSE:LM) before considering the significant yield here. I think that AB has a good chance of generating 10% annualized earnings growth between 2014 and 2019, and discounting that back gives me a fair value of about $34.50 today.

Read more here:
Forget Turning Around, AllianceBernstein Is Growing

Seeking Alpha: AFP Provida - A Very Different Dividend Play

There aren't too many companies out there quite like AFP Provida (PVD). Provida is part of the Chilean pension system; a system that requires Chilean workers to contribute to privately-run pension plans that manage the money on their behalf for retirement. With a growing population and a lucrative fee-collecting business, Provida is an interesting way for American investors to collect significant dividends from a company heavily levered to economic growth in one of the more stable Latin American economies.

A Weird Mix Of Private And Public
There is nothing especially normal or straightforward about the system in which Provida operates. A long time ago now, the Chilean government decided to scrap its public retirement system in favor of a system that would let private pension companies invest and manage money on behalf of workers.

Read the complete piece here:
AFP Provida: A Very Different Dividend Play