Alaska Airlines (ALK) is on the runway and is waiting to take-off. The announced acquisition of Virgin America (VA) for $2.6 billion will mark a regional airline consolidation. With new routes it will give Alaska Airlines an opportunity to compete with the big birds, like American Airlines (AAL), UnitedContinental (UAL), Delta (DAL), and Southwest (LUV).

After a bidding war with JetBlue (JBLU), Alaska Airlines came out on top with the best offer to take over the trendy and well known for its superior customer service, Virgin America.

The acquisition announcement made many Virgin America investors very happy sending the stock price through the roof from $38.90 per share on Friday to $55.11 by the end of Monday, April 4, increasing by whopping 41.7 percent in just one day.

The short lived airline was launched by billionaire Richard Branson in 2007 and went public in 2014 at $23 per share. Branson currently owns around 30 percent of the company which will result in a nice payout once the acquisition is done.

The deal closing by 2017 is still subject to regulatory approval and, if the go-ahead is given, Alaska Airlines expects to strengthen its position on the West Coast and to generate more profits. Although with a large price tag, the acquisition of Virgin America was a necessary step towards becoming a major player in the airline world. Low fuel prices and an expanded fleet and list of destinations point to some good opportunities for the expanding Alaska Airlines.

Stocks

Analyze your investment options and build a better portfolio by using Weiss Ratings Stocks Screener. Slice and dice thousands of stocks and pick out the best.

Check out gainers and losers to see who’s up and who’s down. Or, take a look at the most active list to see stocks with largest trade volume.

ETFs

Different investors have different goals in mind and for some holding their money in a dividend paying investment is the ideal situation. You put your money in it and keep it there while receiving a dividend.

Using the ETFs Screener we selected criteria to see all ETFs with “BUY” and “HOLD” recommendations from Weiss and with at least a 6 percent dividend and expected dividend yield.

Our selection was narrowed down to only a few ETFs that fit the criteria. They have “HOLD” recommendation from Weiss, but nonetheless are worth looking into if you’re interested in dividend yield.

You may modify the criteria of our search by simply dragging the handles or typing in the desired number to adjust dividend percentage.

Mutual Funds

Mutual Fund Investing Like an Institution

Invest in a mutual fund to diversify and so reduce your risk is generally accepted as reasonable advice. So given your potential for risk aversion wouldn’t you also want to see some reward for playing it safe?

Using the Mutual Fund Screener we selected funds with over $1 billion in assets and then looked for those funds that were consistent; those with a minimum 2 percent return quarter over quarter for the past three years.

We also wanted to make sure that Weiss Ratings also had them as a “BUY” recommendation. Interestingly there was a short list of funds that met our modest criteria. All of which are institution only investments so you can’t invest in them directly. It doesn’t quite seem fair does it?

The answer can be to take a look at each of these funds’ top holdings. For each fund we list the top holdings and the rating of the holding if available.  You could then use those top rated holdings to create your own diversified portfolio that would not be a mutual fund but could mimic the principles with the advantage that you can trade the holdings when you choose as you decide what you want to buy, hold or sell.

Looking at the holdings that the institutions have will not give you the same returns of course, as you cannot follow them exactly, but you might be introduced to a stock that you had never heard of or considered.

All the screeners from Weiss Ratings are only limited by your imagination.  We aim to give YOU control over YOUR investment decisions.  Using our tools and ratings you can be a better informed investor.

Banks

Does your bank belong to a larger company, is it a part of a group of companies, or neither?

Sign into your Weiss Ratings account to find out. Your bank’s group affiliation is listed in the lower right hand corner of your bank’s summary page under “Corporate Info”.

There you will see the group to which your bank belongs to and directly underneath is its investment rating.

Click on the ticker to see the investment rating … you will be redirected to Weiss Investment Ratings page where you can continue to explore your selection.

Keep in mind that not all banks have group affiliations, so for some you may not see anything.

Some banks have other banks or even insurance companies as affiliates. Click on the “Affiliates” tab to see them all.

Credit Unions

The aftermath of the 2007 -2008 economic collapse was a period of scrutiny and regulation for the credit union industry . New laws were put in place in an effort to monitor the industry and prevent another financial downturn. The regulatory restrictions are taking a toll on credit unions and now with the financial turmoil in the past the industry is pushing back to alleviate some of that pressure.

CUNA’s (Credit Union National Association) Regulatory Burden Study analyzed the regulation impact on credit unions measuring the associated costs. The study showed that the total financial impact of regulation in 2014 amounted to $7.2 billion. The study indicated that small credit unions (under $100 million in assets) struggle the most spending 1.12 percent of their assets on regulation related areas.

From the total of $7.2 billion, $1.1 billion accounted for lost revenue and $ 6.1 billion for regulatory costs.

74 percent of the regulatory cost was spent on staff, 22 percent on third party expenses, and 4 percent on depreciation of capitalized expenses.

The credit union CEO survey revealed that the funds that are now set aside for regulatory purposes could be used in staff development, marketing, physical location expansion, and better loan and deposit rates.

Insurance

Are you in the market for insurance? Maybe you just bought a house and need homeowners insurance or are looking to switch your auto carrier or maybe you’re interested in life insurance because you want to make sure your loved ones are financially secured in case anything happens to you.  Maybe you need medical coverage, something that everyone must have these days.

Weiss Ratings has got you covered! With safety rating on over 3,600 insurers across all industries Weiss can help you make a better financial decision.

Here are lists of strongest insurers in each Weiss rated industry: Life and Annuity, Property and Casualty and Health.

You can also find recommended insurers by state. Simply select your state and the type of insurance that you’re looking for and you will see a list with a Weiss Safety Rating of B+ or higher in that state.

Failures