Accord Financial (ACD-T)

(A Top Pick July 26/13. Up 18.07%.) A niche lender to small businesses. Very, very well run. They raise their dividend almost every year. Insiders own piles of stock. Very conservative. They are finding new ways to grow the bottom line. Have lots of capital, which is all deployed. Expects earnings will continue to move up.

They do factoring. E.g. a furniture manufacturer ships goods to a customer and they have 90 days to pay. But they need the cash now so they sell that receivable to Accord Financial at a discount. Accord Financial takes the risk of collecting and they earn the discount. They also do working capital loans. Insiders own a lot of stock and they are the best in the business. Raise their dividend religiously every year and buy back tons of stock. Feels they will enjoy the benefits of an improving US economy as they are very heavily involved in the US. Thinks they are also starting to look at M&A which will 1) help grow the business and 2) improve their float. Yield of 4.15%.

Great little company. Not particularly liquid. Decent dividend. Well-run, but sometimes it is like a private company that is listed on the stock market. There are better names in financials.