Pacific Ethanol is Just Getting Started (PEIX)

Have you ever noticed how the worst time to get into a stock is when the buzz is the loudest, while the best time to sneak into a stock is when nobody's talking about it? Yeah, well, you can add Pacific Ethanol Inc. (NASDAQ:PEIX) to the list of names that's pretty much fooled everyone, then, and now. PEIX was all the rage five years ago, and ended up getting trashed between 2007 and 2008. Despite repeated attempts to get, multiple headaches for the ethanol industry just never let the stock pick itself up. Now, a full year after anybody stopped caring about the stock (bearishly or bullishly), and Pacific Ethanol has quietly doled out a huge 200% gain since November.

What gives, and for that matter, is more of the same in store for PEIX? And perhaps more important, why isn't anyone talking about it? There's an answer to each of those questions.

Beginning with the last question first (Why isn't anyone talking about the massive rally we've seen from Pacific Ethanol Inc. of late?), the reason is.... nobody cares anymore, because nobody has a reason to care.

Right or wrong, most investors are driven by drama, and the ethanol industry has provided plenty of it. The drought from 2012 that put corn in short supply - and put corn at alarmingly high prices - was one source of drama. The federal government's subsidy debate was another cue for speculation. The development of technology and scale that narrowed the parity between gasoline and ethanol two to three years ago also forced the discussion among investors and the media. All of that noise encouraged and entrenched people to take a stand, which creates movement for the stock.... up and down.

But what happens when investors get tired of the rhetoric and lack of closure? Exactly what happened to PEIX shares - nothing. Between late-2012 and late 2013, shares of Pacific Ethanol Inc. stuck right around the $4.00, with no news or no progress or no major change in the price of ethanol (relative to gasoline) to spark any activity.

Nothing lasts forever, though.... not even lulls. It looks like ethanol and ethanol stocks like Pacific Ethanol are a hot button again.

Why is this happening? For starters, the price of ethanol is rising rapidly. As of the last look, it's priced at $2.05 per gallon thanks to a 29% runup since mid-December. It's the biggest advance we've seen since November, and the highest price we've seen since the same time. Unlike the November rally though, this one looks like it's built to last, which segues into the answer to another big question, is more of the same in store for PEIX? Answer: A definite 'probably.'

Top Bank Stocks For 2015

The price of ethanol is still trapped in the middle of the same love triangle, with government subsidies, the price of corn, and gasoline all pushing and pulling at ethanol prices. But, with 2014's corn yields projected to be high - along with the price of gasoline - the existing subsidies and mandates (despite being under stronger and stronger attacks) are making ethanol more marketable, even at its still-low price. Indeed, the price of ethanol could still rise to the mid-$2's, and still be more cost effective than gasoline. The biggest reason this bullishness from ethanol and of PEIX shares should continue to rise for a while, however, is corn.

Although it's conceivable 2014 could dole out another drought like we saw in 2012, that year was an exception to the norm. The smart bet is on a year of normal weather patterns, which should keep corn costs low, and therefore keep ethanol producers' input prices low. It's a year-long planting-to-harvest process though, so barring any immediate weather catastrophes, odds are that traders and speculators will maintain corn's low prices for several more months before there's even a feeling of real drought-based risk.

Bottom line? Though shares of Pacific Ethanol Inc. will remain volatile from week to week, we can take the current rally at face value, and expect more of the same through the first two to three quarters of 2014.

For more trading ideas and insights like these, be sure to sign up for the free SmallCap Network newsletter. You'll get stock picks, market calls, and more, every day. Here's what you've missed recently.
 

Hot Logistics Companies To Watch In Right Now

LONDON -- A month can be a long time when looking at the share price of a particular stock. Here are two companies that have come out of the last 30 days at opposite ends of the profit/loss spectrum:

1. Ocado
The share price of�Ocado� (LSE: OCDO  ) has advanced nearly 54% during the last four weeks or so. The gain is due entirely to news that the firm will now partner with�William Morrison Supermarkets�to help the supermarket move into the online delivery market.

The 25-year agreement will allow Morrisons to license certain technology, logistics, and distribution services in order for the chain to start to build its own online shopping service. In addition, Ocado has agreed to sell to Morrisons half the capacity of its fulfilment center at Dordon.

Ocado has received an up-front payment of 165 million pounds for the deal, most of which will be put back into the research and development of new technology. The payment was a welcome boost to Ocado's balance sheet, and will go some way to reduce the group's financial costs.

Hot Logistics Companies To Watch In Right Now: The Medicines Company(MDCO)

The Medicines Company, a pharmaceutical company, provides various medicines to hospitals for advancing the treatment of critical care patients worldwide. The company markets Angiomax, an intravenous direct thrombin inhibitor for use as an anticoagulant in combination with aspirin in patients with unstable angina undergoing percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty and for use in patients undergoing percutaneous coronary intervention; and Cleviprex, an intravenous small molecule calcium channel blocker for the reduction of blood pressure, as well as to treat neurocritical care and cardiac surgery patients. Its products under development include Cangrelor that is in Phase III clinical trial acts as an intravenous small molecule antiplatelet agent to prevent platelet activation and aggregation; and Oritavancin, which is in Phase III clinical trial acts as an investigational intravenous antibiotic for the treatment of serious gram-positive bacterial infections, including acute bacterial skin and skin structure infections. The company?s products under development also comprise MDCO-157, a pre-registration stage product for platelet inhibition in patients suffering from acute coronary syndrome (ACS), and patients experiencing myocardial infarction, stroke, or peripheral arterial disease; MDCO-2010, a small molecule serine protease inhibitor that is in Phase II clinical trial used for the reduction of blood loss during surgery; and MDCO-216, which is in Phase I clinical trial used for the reversal of atherosclerotic plaque development and the reduction of the risk of coronary events in patients with ACS. Its products also consist of Argatroban, a direct thrombin inhibitor used as anticoagulant for prophylaxis or for the treatment of thrombosis; and acute care generic products. The Medicines Company was founded in 1996 and is based in Parsippany, New Jersey.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Rich Duprey]

  If all goes well in phase 3�trials for�ProFibrix's lead biologic, Fibrocaps -- a treatment�to stop bleeding during surgery -- shareholders of the Netherlands-based drugmaker could receive a hefty payday from The Medicines Company (NASDAQ: MDCO  ) , which says it's willing to buy out the company if it can expect to bring the therapy to market here at home as well as in Europe.

• [By Brian Pacampara]

  Based on the aggregated intelligence of 180,000-plus investors participating in Motley Fool CAPS, the Fool's free investing community, drug developer The Medicines Company (NASDAQ: MDCO  ) has earned a respected four-star ranking.

• [By Jay Silverman]

  The Medicines Company (MDCO) is delivering on its plan to become the leading acute care provider of medicines in the hospital setting—in acute cardiovascular care, surgical, and perioperative medicine, and hospital-based infectious disease.

Hot Logistics Companies To Watch In Right Now: Capital Product Partners L.P.(CPLP)

Capital Product Partners L.P., a shipping company, provides seaborne transportation of refined oil products and chemicals. It provides marine transportation services under medium- to long-term time charters or bareboat charters. As of July 13, 2011, the company?s fleet consisted of 22 double-hull tankers, including 18 medium range (MR) tankers, 2 small product tankers, 1 Suezmax crude oil tanker, and 1 Capesize bulk carrier. Its tankers are capable of carrying crude and refined oil products, such as gasoline, diesel, fuel oil, and jet fuel, as well as edible oils and chemicals, including ethanol. Capital GP L.L.C. operates as a general partner of the company. Capital Product Partners L.P. was founded in 2007 and is headquartered in Piraeus, Greece.

Top High Tech Stocks To Invest In 2015: Sunedison Inc (SUNE)

SunEdison Inc, formerly MEMC Electronic Materials, Inc., incorporated on October 1, 1984, is engaged in the development, manufacture and sale of silicon wafers. The Company is a developer and seller of photovoltaic energy solutions. Through Solar Materials and Solar Energy (SunEdison), it is a developer of solar energy projects. The Company operates in two segments: semiconductor materials and solar energy. The Company�� Solar Energy segment includes the operations of its old Solar Materials segment, as well as its SunEdison business. In the Semiconductor Materials, the Company offers wafers with a variety of features. The Company�� wafers vary in size, surface features, composition, purity levels, crystal properties and electrical properties.

Semiconductor Materials

The Company�� monocrystalline wafers for use in semiconductor applications range in size from 100 millimeter to 300 millimeter and are round in shape for semiconductor customers because of the nature of their processing equipment. Its wafers are used as the starting material for the manufacture of various types of semiconductor devices, including microprocessor, memory, logic and power devices. In turn, these semiconductor devices are used in computers, cellular phones and other mobile electronic devices, automobiles and other consumer and industrial products. Its monocrystalline wafers for semiconductor applications include four general categories of wafers: prime, epitaxial, test/monitor and silicon-on-insulator (SOI) wafers.

The Company�� prime wafer is a polished, pure wafer with an ultraflat and ultraclean surface. The Company�� epitaxial (epi), wafers consist of a thin silicon layer grown on the polished surface of the wafer. Typically, the epitaxial layer has different electrical properties from the underlying wafer. This provides customers with isolation between circuit elements than a polished wafer. Its AEGIS product is designed for certain specialized applications requiring high resis! tivity epitaxial wafers and its MDZ product feature. The AEGIS wafer includes a thin epitaxial layer grown on a standard starting wafer. The AEGIS wafer�� thin epitaxial layer eliminates harmful defects on the surface of the wafer, thereby allowing device manufacturers to increase yields. The Company supplies test/monitor wafers to its customers for use in testing semiconductor fabrication lines and processes. An SOI wafer is a different starting material for the chip making process.

Solar Energy

The Company�� Solar Energy segment provides solar energy services that integrate the design, installation, financing, monitoring, operations and maintenance portions of the downstream solar market to provide a solar energy service to its customers. As of December 31, 2012, SunEdison interconnected over 675 solar power systems representing 989 megawatt of solar energy generating capacity. As of December 31, 2012, SunEdison had 73 megawatt of projects under construction and 2.6 gigawatts in pipeline. In support of its downstream solar business, its Solar Energy segment manufactures polysilicon, silicon wafers and solar modules. Additionally, its Solar Energy segment will sell solar modules to third parties in the event the opportunity aligns with itsinternal needs. It provides its downstream customers with a way to purchase renewable energy by delivering solar power under long-term power purchase arrangements with customers or feed-in tariff arrangements with government entities and utilities. Its SunEdison business is dependent upon government subsidies, including United States federal incentive tax credits, state-sponsored energy credits and foreign feed-in tariffs. The Company�� solar wafers are used as the starting material for crystalline solar cells.

The Company competes with Shin-Etsu Handotai, SUMCO, Siltronic and LG Siltron, SunPower Corporation, First Solar, Inc., Enerparc, Sharp Corporation (Recurrent Energy), Phoenix Solar, BELECTRIC, JUWI Solar Gmbh, and S! olar City! .

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Roberto Pedone]

  Another semiconductor player that's starting to move within range of triggering a near-term breakout trade is SunEdison (SUNE), which provides technology solutions to corporations, utilities, governments and chip manufacturers to transform lives around the world. This stock has been red hot so far in 2013, with shares up big by 150%.

  If you look at the chart for SunEdison, you'll notice that this stock recently formed a double bottom chart pattern at $7.08 to $7.13 a share. Following that bottom, shares of SUNE have started to spike higher and move within range of its 50-day moving average at $8.30 a share and close to triggering a near-term breakout trade.

  Traders should now look for long-biased trades in SUNE if it manages to break out above its 50-day at $8.30 a share and then once it takes out more key resistance levels at $8.35 to $8.41 a share with high volume. Look for a sustained move or close above those levels with volume that hits near or above its three-month average action of 5.81 million shares. If that breakout triggers soon, then SUNE will set up to re-fill some of its previous gap down zone from August that started at $10 a share. If this stock gets into that gap with volume, then this stock could easily re-test or take out its 52-week high at $10.47 a share.

  Traders can look to buy SUNE off any weakness to anticipate that breakout and simply use a stop that sits right below those double bottom support levels at $7.13 to $7.08 a share. One can also buy SUNE off strength once it takes out that breakout levels with volume and then simply use a stop that sits a comfortable percentage from your entry point.

• [By Paul Ausick]

  Another possible target is the solar energy division of SunEdison Inc. (NYSE: SUNE). The company said last week that it would be spinning off its semiconductor business into a separate company next year. In the second quarter of this year the semiconductor segment provided about 60% of SunEdison�� total revenues of $401.3 million. But the company�� solar business has historically provided most of the revenues and could be both a target as operating losses in the solar energy segment continue.

Hot Logistics Companies To Watch In Right Now: Petrodorado Energy Ltd (PDQ.V)

Petrodorado Energy Ltd. engages in the exploration and development of petroleum and natural gas properties in South America. It holds interests in nine blocks, including four lower risk blocks and five highly prospective blocks located in Columbia, Peru, and Paraguay. The company is headquartered in Calgary, Canada with an additional office in Bogota, Colombia.

Hot Logistics Companies To Watch In Right Now: Journal Communications Inc. (JRN)

Journal Communications, Inc. operates as a media company in the United States. Its Broadcasting segment operates approximately 34 radio stations and 15 television stations in 12 states; and 1 television station under marketing agreement. Its television and radio stations provide targeted and relevant local programming to serve listeners, viewers, and advertisers. The company�s Publishing segment publishes Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, which serves as the daily newspaper for the Milwaukee metropolitan area; and various community newspapers and shoppers in Wisconsin. Its Milwaukee Journal Sentinel newspaper is distributed through independent contract carriers and agents. The company also operates various Websites, including JSOnline.com and Milwaukeemoms.com, and the MyCommunityNOW family of 26 community Websites that provide editorial and advertising content. In addition, it publishes niche publications for advertisers and readers in the agricultural market; and offers comme rcial printing services, including cold-Web printing, sheet-fed printing, electronic prepress, mailing, bindery, and inserting for other weekly and monthly publications. Journal Communications, Inc. was founded in 1882 and is headquartered in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

Hot Logistics Companies To Watch In Right Now: Clovis Oncology Inc (CLVS.O)

Clovis Oncology, Inc. (Clovis) incorporated on April 20, 2009, is a Development-stage Company. The Company is a Biopharmaceutical Company. The Company focuses on acquiring, developing and commercializing anti-cancer agents in the United States, Europe and additional international markets. The Company also focuses on the treatment of specific subsets of cancer populations. During the year ended December 31, 2010, the Company was in the process of developing three product candidates for which it holds global marketing rights: CO-101, a lipid-conjugated form of the anti-cancer drug gemcitabine; CO-1686, an oral epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) mutant-selective inhibitor and CO-338, a poly ADP (Adenosine Diphosphate)-ribose polymerase (PARP) inhibitor. Effective November 19, 2013, Clovis Oncology Inc acquired the entire share capital of Ethical Oncology Science SpA.

CO-101 - a Lipid-Conjugated Form of the Anti-Cancer Drug Gemcitabine

CO-101 is designed to treat patients with pancreatic cancer whose tumors express low amounts of a membrane transporter protein on the surface of the cancer cell known as hENT1 and are thus expected to be resistant to standard gemcitabine-based therapy. Based on the published results of multiple studies assessing the correlation of hENT1 expression to survival outcomes in pancreatic cancer patients treated with gemcitabine, the Company estimates that approximately 40% to 50% of pancreatic patients express low levels of hENT1, and thus derive little or no benefit from gemcitabine therapy. CO-101 is in an international, randomized and controlled 360-patient study for the first-line treatment of metastatic pancreatic cancer. This open-label study compares CO-101 to gemcitabine as a first-line therapy in patients with metastatic pancreatic cancer. Clovis is partnered with Ventana Medical Systems for the development and commercialization of a companion diagnostic for the assessment of hE NT1 levels.

CO-1686-an Oral EGFR Mutant-Select! i! ve Inhibitor

CO-1686 is an orally available, small molecule covalent inhibitor of the cancer-causing mutant forms of EGFR for the treatment of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). CO-1686 targets both the initial activating EGFR mutations as well as the primary resistance mutation, T790M, it treats both first- and second-line NSCLC patients with EGFR mutations. Such initiating activating mutations occur in approximately 10% to 15% of NSCLC cases in Caucasian patients and approximately 30% to 35% of NSCLC cases in East Asian patients. Following treatment with approved NSCLC therapies, Tarceva (erlotinib) or Iressa (gefitinib), both known as tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs), approximately half of these patients develop the T790M mutation.

The Company focuses on the development of CO-1686 as both a second-line therapy for EGFR-mutated NSCLC patients who become resistant to TKIs due to the emergence of the T790M secondary mutation and as a first-line t reatment for EGFR-mutated NSCLC. Clovis is partnered with Roche Molecular Systems for the development and commercialization of a companion diagnostic for identification of EGFR mutations.

CO-338-a PARP Inhibitor

CO-338 is a small molecule PARP inhibitor that the Company focuses to develop as both monotherapy and in combination with chemotherapeutic agents for the treatment of selected cancer patients. CO-338 is in a Phase I clinical trial to determine the maximum tolerated dose of oral CO-338 that can be combined with intravenous, or IV, platinum chemotherapy in the treatment of solid tumors. This program is supplemented by two ongoing investigator-initiated trials, using the IV formulation of CO-338: a Phase I/II study in germ-line BRCA mutant breast and ovarian cancer and a Phase II study in the adjuvant treatment of germ-line BRCA mutant and triple-negative breast cancer. The Company also focuses on initiating a Phase I monotherapy study of the o ral formulation, to determine an appropriate dose and s! chedu! le! .

The Company competes with Eli Lilly, Teva Pharmaceutical Industries, APP Pharmaceuticals, AB Science SA, Amgen Inc., Astellas Pharma, BioSante Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Celgene Corporation, Immunomedics, Inc., Lorus Therapeutics, Threshold Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Boehringer Ingelheim, Pfizer, Sanofi-Aventis, Astra Zeneca, Abbott, Merck, Eisai, Cephalon and Biomarin.

Hot Logistics Companies To Watch In Right Now: Newport Corporation(NEWP)

Newport Corporation and its subsidiaries provide technology products and systems to scientific research, microelectronics, aerospace and defense/security, life and health sciences, and industrial markets in the United States, Europe, and the Pacific Rim. The company operates in three divisions: Photonics and Precision Technologies (PPT), Lasers, and Ophir. The PPT division provides photonics instruments and systems; vibration isolation systems and subsystems; precision positioning devices, systems, and subsystems; optics and optical hardware; opto-mechanical subassemblies and subsystems; and advanced manufacturing systems. It also offers automated systems for various applications in the manufacture of solar panels, and communications and electronic devices, including microwave, optical, radio frequency, and multi-chip modules. The Lasers division provides laser and laser-based system, such as ultrafast lasers and systems, diode-pumped solid state Q-switched lasers, diode-p umped solid state continuous wave (CW) and quasi-CW lasers, pulsed Nd:YAG and tunable lasers, and gas lasers. The Ophir division offers optics, photonics instruments, and three-dimensional non-contact measurement equipment and sensors. It also provides laser instrumentation, including laser power and energy meters, and laser beam profilers. This division serves the scientific research, microelectronics, aerospace, defense/security, life and health sciences, and industrial markets. The company offers its products under the ILX Lightwave, New Focus, Newport, Ophir, Optimet, Oriel Instruments, Richardson Gratings, Spiricon, and Spectra-Physics names. It sells its products to original equipment manufacturers and end-user customers through direct sales organizations, a network of independent distributors, and sales representatives, as well as through product catalogs and Web sites. Newport Corporation was founded in 1938 and is headquartered in Irvine, California.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Evan Niu, CFA]

  What: Shares of Newport (NASDAQ: NEWP  ) got crushed today, down by as much as 12% after the company reported earnings that fell short of expectations.

Hot Logistics Companies To Watch In Right Now: ASA Gold and Precious Metals Limited (ASA)

ASA Gold and Precious Metals Limited is a self management investment trust. The firm invests in the public equity markets across the globe. It primarily invests in stocks of companies engaged in the exploration, mining or processing of gold, silver, platinum, diamonds, or other precious minerals. ASA Gold and Precious Metals Limited was founded in 1958 and is based in San Mateo, California.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Joe Eqcome]

  Actionable Items:

  Highest Positive Spread: Nuveen Mortgage Opportunity Term Fund (JLS)Focus Stock: LMP Real Estate Income Fund (RIT)Last Week's Focus Stock: ASA Gold and Precious Metals (ASA)

  ECB cuts its rates: The European Central Bank (ECB) will cut its benchmark rate a quarter-of-a-point to 0.5%.

Hot Logistics Companies To Watch In Right Now: Melkior Resources Inc(MKR.V)

Melkior Resources Inc., an exploration stage company, engages in the acquisition, exploration, and evaluation of mineral resource properties in Ontario and Quebec, Canada. It explores for gold, uranium, nickel, copper, molybdenum, zinc, and platinum group metals. The company primarily focuses on its 100% owned Carscallen Timmins West property, which consists of 104 claim units covering 16.64 square kilometers located to the southwest of the city of Timmins. Melkior Resources Inc. is headquartered in Montreal, Canada.

10 Best Consumer Stocks To Watch Right Now

The inordinate growth of student loans - and its effect on the economy - is killing consumption (autos) and the housing sector. This is no short term dynamic, but will affect the economy for decades.

(click to enlarge)

The USA is a consumer driven economy. A study released this week authored by Meta Brown and Sydnee Caldwell stated:

As a result of tighter underwriting standards, higher delinquency rates, and lower credit scores, consumers with educational debt may have more limited access to housing and auto debt and, as a result, more limited options in the housing and vehicle markets, despite their comparatively high earning potential.

Both these factors-lowered expectations of future earnings and more limited access to credit-may have broad implications for the ongoing recovery of the housing and vehicle markets, and of U.S. consumer spending more generally. While highly skilled young workers have traditionally provided a vital influx of new, affluent consumers to U.S. housing and auto markets, unprecedented student debt may dampen their influence in today's marketplace.

10 Best Consumer Stocks To Watch Right Now: Green Mountain Coffee Roasters Inc.(GMCR)

Green Mountain Coffee Roasters, Inc. engages in the specialty coffee and coffee maker business. The company sources, produces, and sells approximately 200 varieties of coffee, cocoa, teas, and other beverages in K-Cup portion packs and coffee in traditional packaging, including whole bean and ground coffee selections in bags and ground coffee in fractional packs for use in at-home (AH) and away-from-home (AFH). It sells its products primarily in North America through supermarkets, club stores, and convenience stores; in restaurants and hospitality; and to office coffee distributors, as well as directly to consumers through its Website. The company also manufactures gourmet single-cup brewing systems and brewing equipment. In addition, it sells AH single-cup brewers; accessories; and coffee, tea, hot cocoa, and other beverages in K-Cup portion packs, as well as offers other licensed roasters to retailers, department stores, and mass merchandisers. Further, the company sells AFH single-cup brewers to distributors for use in offices. It provides its products under the Van Houtte, Br�erie St. Denis, Br�erie Mont-Royal, and Orient Express brands, as well as licensed Bigelow and Wolfgang Puck brands. The company was founded in 1981 and is based in Waterbury, Vermont.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Teresa Rivas]

  Green Mountain Coffee Roasters (GMCR) was falling nearly 6% as investors digested its mixed after hours third-quarter report.

  Mondelez International (MDLZ) climbed 2.4% on its better-than-expected second-quarter earnings.

• [By WALLSTCHEATSHEET.COM]

  Green Mountain�� growth might be slowing, but with a strong management team in place, innovation and finding creative ways to move the stock price are possibilities. Of course, long-term investors would prefer to see innovation for more sustainable results.

10 Best Consumer Stocks To Watch Right Now: Westbond Enterprises Corporatio (WBE.V)

WestBond Enterprises Corporation, together with its subsidiary, WestBond Industries Inc., manufactures and sells disposable paper products for medical, hygienic, and industrial uses primarily in Canada and the United States. Its product lines include clinical products consisting of sheets, drapes, examination table paper, gowns, aprons, chiropractor rolls, pillowcases, dental bibs, and dental head rest covers; personal hygiene products comprising jumbo roll bathroom tissues, conventional bathroom tissues, center pull towels, kraft roll towels, and single fold towels; long-term care products that include fold air laid wipes, roll air laid wipes, waterproof underlays, and mitts; and airline towels and pillowcases. The company markets its products directly to medium-sized janitorial contractors providing public washroom maintenance services, as well as to small and medium-sized distributors who sell to the janitorial market. WestBond Enterprises Corporation is headquartered i n Delta, Canada.

5 Best Oil Stocks To Buy Right Now: Oceanus Group Limited (579.SI)

Oceanus Group Limited, through its subsidiaries, engages in the research, development, breeding, production, and sale of Japanese breed abalones. It also engages in the vacuum packing, canning, drying, and/or curing of abalones for distribution worldwide. The company sells its products primarily to wholesalers in the People�s Republic of China and Hong Kong. Oceanus Group Limited is headquartered in Singapore.

10 Best Consumer Stocks To Watch Right Now: KERRY GROUP 'A'ORD EUR0.125(KYGA.L)

Kerry Group plc, together with its subsidiaries, develops, manufactures, and delivers technology based ingredients, flavors, and integrated solutions for the food, beverage, and pharmaceutical industries worldwide. It operates in two segments, Ingredients & Flavors and Consumer Foods. The Ingredients & Flavours segment manufactures and distributes application specific ingredients and flavors, such as savory ingredients, sweet ingredients, food coating systems, nutritional systems, and specialty protein applications. The Consumer Foods segment manufactures and supplies added value brands and customer branded foods to the Irish and the United Kingdom. This segment supplies its own brands and private label products, such as dairy spread and cheese products; meats and savory products; and chilled and frozen ready meals to retailers primarily under the Wall?s, Mattessons, Richmond, Pure, Denny, Galtee, Roscrea, Shaws, Ballyfree, Cheestrings, Charleville, Mitchelstown, LowLow, and Dairygold brand names. The company operates in Europe, the Middle East, Africa, the Americas, and the Asia-Pacific. Kerry Group plc was founded in 1972 and is headquartered in Tralee, Ireland.

10 Best Consumer Stocks To Watch Right Now: MAPLE LEAF FOODS (MFI.TO)

Maple Leaf Foods Inc. operates as a meats, meals, and bakery company in Canada, the United States, Europe, and Asia. The company operates through three segments: Meat Products Group, Agribusiness Group, and Bakery Products Group. The Meat Products Group segment offers value-added processed packaged meats; chilled meal entrees and lunch kits; and fresh pork, poultry, and turkey products. This segment sells its products to retail, foodservice, industrial, and convenience channels primarily under the brand names of Maple Leaf and Schneiders. The Agribusiness Group segment engages in the hog production. The Bakery Products Group segment offers fresh and frozen par-baked bakery products, including breads, rolls, bagels, specialty and artisan breads, sweet goods, and fresh pasta and sauces. This segment sells its products to retail, foodservice, and convenience channels under the brand names of Dempster�s, Tenderflake, Olivieri, and New York Bakery Co. The company was incorpora ted in 1927 and is headquartered in Toronto, Canada.

10 Best Consumer Stocks To Watch Right Now: Johnson Outdoors Inc.(JOUT)

Johnson Outdoors Inc., together with its subsidiaries, designs, manufactures, and markets seasonal outdoor recreation products used primarily for fishing, diving, paddling, and camping. Its Marine Electronics segment offers battery powered fishing motors for trolling or primary propulsion; sonar and GPS equipment for fish finding and navigation; downriggers for controlled-depth fishing; leisure boat navigation technology; and lake charts. The company?s Outdoor Equipment segment provides consumer tents, sleeping bags, camping furniture, and other recreational camping products; commercial tents, such as party tents and accessories, including lighting systems, interior lining options, and mounting brackets; heavy-duty tents and lightweight backpacking tents for the military, including modular general purpose tents, rapid deployment shelters, and lightweight one and two person tents; and military tent accessories, such as fabric floors, as well as field compasses and digital instruments, and performance measurement instruments. This segment also acts as a subcontract manufacturer for other providers of military tents. It primarily serves camping and backpacking specialty stores, sporting goods stores, catalog and mail order houses, general rental stores, and tent erectors. Its Watercraft segment offers canoes, kayaks, accessories, paddles, and personal flotation devices. The company?s Diving segment manufactures and markets a line of underwater diving and snorkeling equipment, including regulators, buoyancy compensators, dive computers and gauges, wetsuits, masks, fins, snorkels, and accessories for technical and recreational divers. This segment also offers diving gear to dive training centers, aquariums, and resorts. Johnson Outdoors Inc. operates primarily in the United States, Europe, Canada, and the Pacific Basin. The company was founded in 1985 and is headquartered in Racine, Wisconsin.

10 Best Consumer Stocks To Watch Right Now: Marani Brands Inc (MRIB)

Marani Brands, Inc. (Marani), incorporated on May 30, 2001, is engaged in the importation and sale of alcoholic beverage products, primarily Marani Vodka, its flagship product. The Company�� primary business is the business of Margrit Enterprises International, Inc. (MEI), which is in the distribution of wine and spirit products manufactured in Armenia. Marani Vodka is made from winter wheat harvested in Armenia, distilled three times, aged in oak barrels lined with honey and skimmed dried milk, then filtered 25 times. Bottling of the product occurs at the Eraskh distillery in Armenia. On April 4, 2008, the Company, FFBI Merger Sub Corp. and MEI executed, and on April 7, 2008, the parties closed, a three party Merger Agreement.

The Company purchases all of its products from a single supplier, Eraskh Winery, Ltd., under an exclusive distribution agreement with Eraskh, an Armenian manufacturer of wine and other spirits. The new bottles for Marani Vodka are being manufactured in France by Saver Glass Company and China by Universal Group Co., Ltd. and shipped to Armenia to be filled at Eraskh. The Company�� product is being distributed by Southern Wine & Spirits of America, Inc. (SWS), in Southern California, in conjuction with PLCB Pennsylvania and Nevada. SWS is an alcoholic beverage distributor in the United States. The Company has established additional distributors, such as QV Distributors in Arizona and Wein-Baur in Illinois.

The Company competes with Diageo, Pernod Ricard, Bacardi and Brown-Forman.

10 Best Consumer Stocks To Watch Right Now: AEP Industries Inc.(AEPI)

AEP Industries Inc. engages in the production, manufacture, and distribution of plastic packaging products in the United States and Canada. The company offers a line of polyethylene, polyvinyl chloride, and polypropylene flexible packaging products for consumer, industrial, and agricultural applications. Its products include custom films for industrial applications, including sheeting, tubing, and bags; films that protect items stored outdoors or in transit, such as boats and cars; a range of shrink films, barrier films, and overwrap films; stretch film products for hand wrap and rotary applications; and pre stretch and high performance products for commodity and specialty uses. The company also provides food wraps products, including blown plastic film fold-top bags, twist-tie bags, and food containers under the Seal Wrap brand for the supermarket and industrial markets; a range of coextruded polyolefin films and monolayer films for food, pharmaceutical, and medical appli cations; and canliners product line comprising trash bags and institutional bags. In addition, it offers printed rollstock to the food and beverage industries, and manufacturing and distributing companies; and unplasticized polyvinyl chloride films for use in battery labels, twist films, and credit card laminates; and various film products with agricultural applications, such as silage, smooth mulch films, and fumigation films. Further, the company provides disposable consumer and institutional plastic products, which include table covers and skirts, aisle runners, aprons, bibs, gloves, boots, freezer/storage bags, saddle pack bags, locker wrap and custom imprint designs for the food service, party supply, and school/collegiate markets under the Sta-Dri brand. AEP Industries Inc. markets its products directly to end-users, as well as through distributors. The company was founded in 1970 and is based in South Hackensack, New Jersey.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Brian Pacampara]

  What: Shares of plastic packaging manufacturer AEP Industries (NASDAQ: AEPI  ) sank 14% today after its quarterly results and outlook disappointed Wall Street.

10 Best Consumer Stocks To Watch Right Now: Dukang Distillers Hldgs Ltd (GJ8.SI)

Dukang Distillers Holdings Limited, an investment holding company, engages in the manufacture, marketing, and sale of baijiu products in the People�s Republic of China. It offers various baijiu products under the Dukang and Siwu brands through distributors primarily to supermarkets, flagship stores, specialty stores, and restaurants. The company was formerly known as Trump Dragon Distillers Holdings Limited and changed its name to Dukang Distillers Holdings Limited in May 2010. Dukang Distillers Holdings Limited is based in Zhengzhou City, the People�s Republic of China.

10 Best Consumer Stocks To Watch Right Now: Attitude Drinks Inc (ATTD)

Attitude Drinks Incorporated (Attitude), incorporated on May 10, 1988, is a brand-development company. The Company focuses on the non-alcoholic single serving beverage business, developing and marketing of milk based products in two segments: sports recovery and functional dairy. The Company does not directly manufacture its products but instead outsources the manufacturing process to third party packers.

Attitude has developed its second product, which is branded as Phase III Recovery is a milk-based protein drink which is available in chocolate and vanilla flavors. The Company�� co-packer for its dairy based product is O-AT-KA Milk Products Cooperative, Inc. in Batavia, New York. This product contains 35 grams of protein that are inherent in filtered milk. The product is packaged as a retort-processed shelf stable dairy-based 100% milk-based sports recovery drink in both chocolate and vanilla flavors.

The Company competes with The Coca-Cola Company and Pepsico Inc.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Peter Graham]

  Small cap stocks Attitude Drinks Inc (OTCMKTS: ATTD), Axiologix, Inc (OTCMKTS: AXLX) and Unisource Corporation (OTCMKTS: USRC) have all been getting some attention lately in investment emails or investor alerts thanks in part to paid promotions. And while there is nothing wrong with properly disclosed paid promotions or investor relations activity, such activity can backfire on unwary investors or traders. With that in mind, here is a closer look at all three small cap stocks to help you decide whether they are truly hot or not:

10 Best Consumer Stocks To Watch Right Now: Farmer Brothers Company(FARM)

Farmer Bros. Co. engages in the manufacture, wholesale, and distribution of coffee, tea, and culinary products. Its product line includes roasted coffee; liquid coffee; and coffee related products, such as coffee filters, sugar and creamers, assorted teas, cappuccino, cocoa, spices, gelatins and puddings, soup, gravy and sauce mixes, pancake and biscuit mixes, and jellies and preserves. The company distributes its products through direct and brokered sales to institutional foodservice establishments, including restaurants, hotels, casinos, hospitals, and foodservice providers, as well as retailers, such as convenience stores, coffee houses, general merchandisers, private label retailers, and grocery stores in the United States. Farmer Bros. Co. was founded in 1912 and is headquartered in Torrance, California.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Eric Volkman]

  Farmer Brothers (NASDAQ: FARM  ) has a new top financial executive. The company has appointed Mark Nelson to its CFO and treasurer positions, effective April 15. He will initially be assisted by, then replace, interim Treasurer and CFO Jeffrey Wahba.�

10 Best Consumer Stocks To Watch Right Now: Tsingyuan Brewery Ltd (BEER)

Tsingyuan Brewery Ltd., formerly Sabre Industrial, Inc., incorporated on July 25, 1996, is a manufacturer and distributor of brewer's malt and beer throughout northern and eastern China. The Company has two business lines: brewer's malt and beer production.

The brewer's malt is shipped to brewers in 10 provinces across China. The beer products are distributed throughout six provinces. The Company utilizes the German brewing techniques and uses barley, water and hops. Tsingyuan Brewery Ltd. promotes nine products under its brand names Qinglin, Qingyi, and Qingyuan.

10 Best Consumer Stocks To Watch Right Now: PREMIER FOODS ORD GBP0.01(PFD.L)

Premier Foods plc engages in manufacturing, processing, and distributing branded and retailer branded food products. The company operates in three divisions: Grocery, Hovis, and Chilled. The Grocery division offers grocery products, including cakes, soups, vegetables, stocks, gravies, spreads, desserts, home baking, cooking sauces, Asian meals, pickles, and beverages. It also provides noodles, rice, pasta, baked beans, vinegar, instant mash potatoes, custard and milk products, desserts, preserves, marmalades, honey and lemon curd, peanut butter, powdered milk creamer, Asian sauces and condiments, salt, stuffing mixes, suet, flours, and baking mixes, as well as small cakes and jam tarts, fruit pies, whole cakes, Swiss rolls, mini rolls, and cake bars. This division sells its products primarily under Batchelors, Mr Kipling, Bisto, Ambrosia, Branston, Sharwood?s, Hartley?s, Loyd Grossman, Oxo, Lyons, and Cadbury brand names. The Hovis division provides wrapped bread, frozen part-baked products, morning goods, and frozen pizza bases; and a range of bulk and bagged flours. This division offers its products primarily under Hovis, Granary, and Mother?s Pride brand names. The Chilled division offers chilled ready meals, celebration cakes, Christmas puddings, and chilled desserts under Brookes and Avana brand names. It serves multiple retailers, wholesalers, foodservice providers, food manufacturers, cash and carry depots, and convenience stores primarily in the United Kingdom and other countries in Europe. Premier Foods plc is headquartered in St Albans, the United Kingdom.

10 Best Consumer Stocks To Watch Right Now: Nestle SA (NESN)

Nestle SA is a Swiss Company engaged in the nutrition, health and wellness sectors. It is the holding company of the Nestle Group, which comprises subsidiaries, associated companies and joint ventures throughout the world. It has such business units as Food and Beverage, Nestle Waters and Nestle Nutrition. It is also active in the pharmaceutical sector. It divides its products into Powdered and liquid beverages, Water, Milk products and Ice cream, Nutrition, Prepared dishes and cooking aids, Confectionery, PetCare and Pharmaceutical products. In February 2011, the Company acquired CM&D Pharma Ltd. Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Corinne Gretler]

  Swiss stocks fell for a second day, their first back-to-back losses this month, as Nestle (NESN) SA retreated after reporting slower growth in sales.

• [By Celeste Perri]

  Nestle SA (NESN) is selling Givaudan (GIVN) SA shares worth $1.27 billion at yesterday�� closing price to institutional investors, winding down its stake in the world�� largest flavorings maker.

• [By Chad Fraser]

  These are the first significant moves made by the Caira, a former executive at Nestle SA (NYSE: NESN) who helped expand that company’s hot and cold beverage division.

10 Best Consumer Stocks To Watch Right Now: Sonoco Products Company(SON)

Sonoco Products Company provides industrial and consumer packaging products, and packaging services worldwide. It offers composite paperboard cans; paperboard packages; fiber cartridges; layered bottles and jars; laminated tubs, cups, and spools; consumer and institutional trays; and aluminum, steel, and peelable membrane easy-open closures, as well as flexible packaging, product design, tool design, fabrication, and manufacturing services. The company also produces paperboard tubes, cores, roll packaging, molded plugs, pallets, pallet components, concrete forms, rotary die boards, recycled paperboard, chipboard, tube board, lightweight corestock, boxboard, linerboard, corrugating medium, specialty grades, and recovered paper products; and steel, nailed wooden, plywood, recycled, and polyfiber reels, as well as recycles old corrugated container, paper, plastic, metal, and glass materials. In addition, it manufactures custom-printed glass covers and coasters; offers custom packing, fulfillment, and primary package filling services, as well as operates scalable service centers; contract packaging, co-packing, and fulfillment services; and temporary, semipermanent, and permanent point-of-purchase displays. Further, the company provides fabricated foam, corrugated paperboard, molded EPS and EPP, antistatic fabricated foam solutions, nesting and stacking trays, molded foam dunnage, totes and tote inserts, energy-absorbing and flotation components, and insulation components, as well as contract package testing service. Additionally, it offers insulated shippers, durable transport chests, gel packs, phase change materials, lab/pharma/diagnostic specimen transport, refrigerant materials, edge and corner protection, and temperature assurance solutions; high-visibility packaging and printed products; and blister packaging machines. The company, formerly known as Southern Novelty Company, was founded in 1899 and is based in Hartsville, South Carolina. Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Rich Smith]

  Hartsville, S.C.-based Sonoco Products (NYSE: SON  ) is hiking prices on its signature product: cardboard.

  On Friday, Sonoco announced an across-the-board price hike on "all grades of uncoated recycled paperboard (URB) products by $40 per ton, effective with shipments in the�United States and Canada�beginning July 8, 2013." The company's Primary Materials Group, North America, Vice President Marty Pignone�explained that "the�price increase�is necessary to recover rising recovered paper and other raw materials costs."

Best Construction Stocks For 2015

2013 has been a fascinating year for the energy space, and many signs point to 2014 being a great year as well. Of course, not every company has as much potential as others, and some companies may not be slated to do as well as others. Here are three companies that may not be too exciting for investors during 2014

Cheniere Energy (NYSEMKT: LNG  ) : There are some certainties that make Cheniere Energy an attractive company. It has a major leg-up in the U.S. liquefied natural gas export market with the first facility slated to come online in 2015. It also has started up the construction of a second facility in Corpus Christi evident in the recent $9.5 billion deal with construction company Bechtel. This second facility is slated to come online in 2018. Add these things together and you get a company that will have a strong cash-generating machine that will fuel its strong dividend yield once Cheniere Energy Partners (NYSEMKT: CQP  ) starts to generate surplus operational cash.

Best Construction Stocks For 2015: ARK Resources Bhd (ARKS.KL)

ARK Resources Berhad is a Malaysia-based company. The company is engaged in the provision of management services. The Company�� business segments include construction, property development, investment and other operations.The Company�� subsidiaries include Ark Development Sdn. Bhd., which is engaged in the Property development and turnkey construction, and Ark Engineering & Construction Sdn. Bhd, which is engaged in the civil, building construction and engineering works.

Best Construction Stocks For 2015: Fomento de Construcciones y Contratas SA (FCC)

Fomento de Construcciones y Contratas SA (FCC) is a Spain-based company, which is primarily engaged, together with its subsidiaries in the construction and environmental services sector. The Company�� activities include the collection, treatment and elimination of solid urban waste, street cleaning, sewer system maintenance, green areas and buildings maintenance, urban transport, treatment and elimination of industrial waste, full-service water supply management and cement manufacture. The Company is also active in the real estate development, as well as in the renewable energy industry. In addition, the Company is a parent of Grupo FCC, a group which comprises a number of controlled entities.

Hot Performing Companies To Invest In 2014: Clean Wind Energy Tower Inc (CWET)

Clean Wind Energy Tower, Inc. (Clean Wind), incorporated on January 22, 1962, focuses on becoming a provider of green energy. As of December 31, 2011, Clean Wind had designed and was preparing to develop, and construct Downdraft Towers that use non-toxic elements to generate electricity and clean water by integrating and synthesizing a range of proven, as well as emerging technologies.

The Downdraft Tower is a hollow cylinder with a water spray system at the top. Pumps deliver water to the top of the Downdraft Tower to spray a fine mist across the entire opening. The water evaporates and cools the hot dry air at the top. The cooled air is denser and heavier than the outside warmer air and falls through the cylinder at speeds up to and in excess of 50 miles per hour (mph), driving the turbines located at the base of the structure. The turbines power generators to produce electricity.

The Company competes with Southern California Edison Company, Pacific Gas & Electric Company, San Diego Gas & Electric Company, Arizona Public Service Company, Florida Power & Light Company, enXco, Inc., PPM Energy, Inc. and UNS.

Best Construction Stocks For 2015: Fluor Corporation(FLR)

Fluor Corporation, through its subsidiaries, provides engineering, procurement, construction, maintenance, and project management services worldwide. Its Oil & Gas segment offers design, engineering, procurement, construction, and project management services to upstream oil and gas production, downstream refining, chemicals, and petrochemicals industries. This segment also provides consulting services comprising feasibility studies, process assessment, and project finance structuring and studies. The company?s Industrial & Infrastructure segment offers design, engineering, procurement, and construction services to the transportation, wind power, mining and metals, life sciences, manufacturing, commercial and institutional, telecommunications, microelectronics, and healthcare sectors. Its Government segment provides engineering, construction, logistics support, contingency response, management, and operations services to the United States government focusing on the Departme nt of Energy, the Department of Homeland Security, and the Department of Defense. The company?s Global Services segment offers operations and maintenance, small capital project engineering and execution, site equipment and tool services, industrial fleet services, plant turnaround services, temporary staffing services, and supply chain solutions. Its Power segment provides engineering, procurement, construction, program management, start-up and commissioning, and operations and maintenance services to the gas fueled, solid fueled, plant betterment, renewables, nuclear, and power services markets. The company also offers unionized management and construction services in the United States and Canada. Fluor Corporation was founded in 1912 and is headquartered in Irving, Texas.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By The Energy Report]

  JH: One of the areas where the U.S. for decades has been the leading technological power is in small nuclear reactors. We've used them on our aircraft carriers and on our nuclear submarines safely and efficiently. The U.S. has an advantage in understanding small modular nuclear reactors. One of the companies that we have followed for a long time that's working on that is Babcock & Wilcox Co. (BWC). There's also Fluor Corp. (FLR), which is working on small modular nuclear reactors. President Obama and the Department of Energy are funding research on the implementation of small modular nuclear reactors.

• [By Marc Bastow]

  Professional engineering services company Fluor (FLR) raised its quarterly dividend 31.24% to 21 cents per share, payable on Apr. 2 to shareholders of record as of Mar. 4. That hike makes Fluor the second-highest increase among this week’s dividend stocks.
  FLR Dividend Yield: 1.08%

Best Construction Stocks For 2015: Fomento de Construcciones y Contratas SA (FCC.MC)

Fomento de Construcciones y Contratas SA (FCC) is a Spain-based company, which is primarily engaged, together with its subsidiaries in the construction and environmental services sector. The Company�� activities include the collection, treatment and elimination of solid urban waste, street cleaning, sewer system maintenance, green areas and buildings maintenance, urban transport, treatment and elimination of industrial waste, full-service water supply management and cement manufacture. The Company is also active in the real estate development, as well as in the renewable energy industry. In addition, the Company is a parent of Grupo FCC, a group which comprises a number of controlled entities.

Best Construction Stocks For 2015: Aegion Corp (AEGN)

Aegion Corporation, incorporated on August 17, 2011, is engaged in infrastructure protection, providing technologies and services to protect against the corrosion of industrial pipelines and for the rehabilitation and strengthening of sewer, water, energy and mining piping systems and buildings, bridges, tunnels and waterfront structures. The Company operates in five segments: Energy and Mining, North American Sewer and Water Rehabilitation, European Sewer and Water Rehabilitation, Asia-Pacific Sewer and Water Rehabilitation and Commercial and Structural. The Company�� business activities include manufacturing, distribution, installation, coating and insulation, cathodic protection, research and development and licensing. Its products and services are utilized and performed in more than 100 countries across six continents. The Company offers solutions for rehabilitating aging or deteriorating infrastructure and protecting new infrastructure from corrosion. In June 2013, Aegion Corporation announced that it has sold its 50% interest in Insituform Rohrsanierungstechniken GmbH (Insituform-Germany) to Per Aarsleff A/S. In July 2013, Aegion Corp announced that it has completed the acquisition of Brinderson, L.P.

In March 2012, the Company organized United Special Technical Services LLC (USTS), a joint venture located in the Sultanate of Oman between United Pipeline Systems and Special Technical Services LLC (STS), for the purpose of executing pipeline, piping and flow line high-density polyethylene lining services throughout the Middle East and Northern Africa. United Pipeline Systems holds a 51% equity interest in USTS and STS holds the remaining 49% equity interest. In November 2012, the Company acquired the shares of its joint venture partner, SPML Infra Limited (SPML), an unaffiliated Indian contractor, in Insituform Pipeline Rehabilitation Private Limited (Insituform-India) in order to continue to pursue business opportunities in India involving CIPP installations and third party tube! sales, as well as to promote its other products and services. In January 2012, the Company purchased Fyfe Group�� Latin American operations (Fyfe LA), which included all of the equity interests of Fyfe Latin America S.A., a Panamanian entity (and its interest in various joint ventures located in Peru, Costa Rica, Chile and Colombia), Fyfe Latin America S.A. de C.V., an El Salvadorian entity, and Fibrwrap Construction Latin America S.A., a Panamanian entity. In April 2012, the Company purchased Fyfe Group�� Asian operations (Fyfe Asia), which included all of the equity interests of Fyfe Asia Pte. Ltd, a Singaporean entity (and its interest in two joint ventures located in Borneo and Indonesia), Fyfe (Hong Kong) Limited, Fibrwrap Construction (M) Sdn Bhd, a Malaysian entity, Fyfe Japan Co. Ltd and Fibrwrap Construction Pte. Ltd and Technologies & Art Pte. Ltd., Singaporean entities.

Energy and Mining

The Company�� energy and mining operations provide rehabilitation and corrosion protection services for industrial, mineral, oil and gas piping systems and structures. The Company also offers products for gas release and leak detection systems. Its worldwide energy and mining operations are headquartered in Chesterfield, Missouri. These operations are conducted through its various subsidiaries (United Pipeline Systems based in Durango, Colorado, Bayou based in New Iberia, Louisiana, Corrpro based in Houston, Texas, CRTS based in Tulsa, Oklahoma and Hockway based in the United Arab Emirates). Certain of its energy and mining operations outside of the United States are conducted through its wholly owned subsidiaries in the United Kingdom, Portugal, Chile, Canada, Argentina, Brazil and the United Arab Emirates and through its joint ventures in Canada, Mexico, Oman, Singapore, Saudi Arabia and Morocco.

United Pipeline Systems performs pipeline rehabilitation services using its Tite Liner process. Its Bayou business performs internal and external pipeline coating, lini! ng, weigh! ting and insulation services, as well as specialty fabrication services for offshore deep water installations, including project management and logistics. Its Corrpro business performs fully-integrated corrosion prevention services including: engineering; product and material sales; construction and installation; inspection, monitoring and maintenance; andcoatings. Its CRTS business specializes in the application of internal and external corrosion coatings services and equipment for new pipeline construction projects. Its Hockway business performs cathodic protection, engineering and design, manufacturing, maintenance and installation services to the oil and gas markets.

Water and Wastewater Rehabilitation Operations

The Company�� sewer rehabilitation activities are conducted principally through installation and other construction operations performed directly by its subsidiaries. In certain geographic regions, the Company has granted licenses to unaffiliated companies. Its North American Water and Wastewater operations, including research and development, engineering, training and financial support systems, are headquartered in Chesterfield, Missouri. During the year ended December 31. 2012, tube manufacturing and processing facilities for North America were maintained in eight locations, geographically dispersed throughout the United States and Canada.

The Company also conducts Insituform CIPP process rehabilitation operations worldwide through its wholly owned subsidiaries and through direct and indirect joint venture relationships. The results from these operations are included in its European Water and Wastewater and Asia-Pacific Water and Wastewater operating segments, as appropriate. The Company utilize multifunctional robotic devices developed by its French subsidiary in connection with the inspection and repair of pipelines. The Company also maintain a manufacturing facility in Wellingborough, United Kingdom to support European operations and through wh! ich the C! ompany sell liners to third parties.

Commercial and Structural Operations

The Company�� commercial and structural operations perform rehabilitation and strengthening of pipelines, buildings, bridges, tunnels and waterfront structures throughout the United States and Canada through Fibrwrap Construction Services, headquartered in Ontario, California, in its Asian markets through Its wholly owned subsidiaries and through Its joint ventures in Borneo and Indonesia and in its Latin American markets through its joint ventures in Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica and Peru. Through Fyfe Co., headquartered in San Diego, California, the Company designs and manufactures the FRP composite systems used in these applications. It�� wholly owned Fyfe entities located in El Salvador, Singapore, Japan, Malaysia and Hong Kong and its Fyfe joint ventures in Borneo and Indonesia, provide product and engineering services throughout Latin America and Asia-Pacific. Its licensee in Greece provides product and services throughout the Middle East and Europe.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By CRWE]

  Aegion Corporation (Nasdaq:AEGN) reported the award today of two subcontracts for its Malaysian subsidiary, Insituform Linings Asia Sdn Bhd, with a total value of approximately $9.3 million (USD).

• [By Rich Duprey]

  Infrastructure protection specialist Aegion (NASDAQ: AEGN  ) announced yesterday that it was acquiring maintenance, contraction, and engineering firm�Brinderson for $150 million and that the deal will close on July 1.

• [By Alexis Xydias]

  The ISEQ Index (ISEQ) in Ireland and the ASE Index in Greece, the first two nations to receive European Union-led bailouts, have soared more than 28 percent this year to lead gains among 18 national benchmarks in western Europe. Dublin-based Independent News & Media Plc (INM) and Athens-based Aegean Airlines SA (AEGN) rose the most, with jumps of more than 180 percent. Germany�� DAX Index (DAX) has advanced 18 percent in 2013, reaching a record.

• [By Damian Illia]

  Finally, I always like to see one of the most important financial ratios applying to stockholders, the best measure of performance for a firm's management: the return on equity. The ratio has decreased when compared to its ROE from the same quarter one year prior. This is a signal of major weakness. Moreover, it is worse than those shown in the table like Aegion Corporation (AEGN), EnerNOC Inc. (ENOC), MYR GroupInc. (MYRG) and Pike Corporation (PIKE).

Best Construction Stocks For 2015: EMCOR Group Inc. (EME)

EMCOR Group, Inc. provides electrical and mechanical construction, and facilities services primarily to commercial, industrial, utility, and institutional customers in the United States, the United Kingdom, and internationally. The company offers various electrical and mechanical systems, including electric power transmission and distribution systems, such as power cables, conduits, distribution panels, transformers, generators, uninterruptible power supply systems, and related switch gear and controls; premises electrical and lighting systems, including fixtures and controls; low-voltage systems comprising fire alarms, and security and process control systems; voice and data communications systems, including fiber-optic and low-voltage cabling systems; and roadway and transit lighting and fiber-optic lines. It also provides heating, ventilation, air conditioning, refrigeration, and clean-room process ventilation systems; fire protection systems; plumbing, processing, and piping systems; controls and filtration systems; water and wastewater treatment systems; central plant heating and cooling systems; cranes and rigging; millwrighting; and steel fabrication, erection, and welding systems. In addition, the company offers facilities services comprising industrial maintenance and services; outage services to utilities and industrial plants; commercial and government site-based operations and maintenance; military base operations support; mobile mechanical maintenance and services; floor care and janitorial; landscaping, lot sweeping, and snow removal; facilities and vendor management; call center; building systems installation and support; and technical consulting and diagnostic services. Further, it provides small modification and retrofit projects; retrofit projects; and program development, management, and maintenance services for energy systems. EMCOR Group, Inc. was founded in 1966 and is headquartered in Norwalk, Connecticut.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Eric Volkman]

  EMCOR Group (NYSE: EME  ) is growing the old-fashioned way -- with the purchase of outside assets. The company announced�that it will acquire the privately held RepconStrickland, a Texas-based firm it describes as "a leading provider of recurring turnaround and specialty services to the North American refinery and petrochemical markets."

Best Construction Stocks For 2015: HSIL Ltd (HSIL)

HSIL Limited is engaged in manufacturing of sanitaryware products. The Company operates in two segments: sanitaryware and glassware. Its products include Sanitaryware, Faucets, Tiles, Kitchen appliances, Container Glass, PET Bottles and Wellness products. Its brands include Hindware, Hindware Art, Hindware Italian Collection, Raasi, Benelave and Queo. It also operates in two divisions: Building Products and Container Glass. During the fiscal year ended March 31, 2012, it launched 25 new sanitaryware products under the Hindware portfolio, two series of faucets under the Benelave brand, two new varieties of tiles (double charge tiles and three dimensional tiles) and six kitchen appliances. Its manufacturing facilities are located at Bahadurgarh, Haryana; Somanypuram, Bibinagar, Andhra Pradesh, and Bhiwadi, Rajasthan. On August 12, 2011, the Company acquired Garden Polymers Private Limited. On March 20, 2013, it disinvested/sold its entire investment in AGI Glasspack Ltd.

Best Construction Stocks For 2015: URS Corporation(URS)

URS Corporation provides engineering, construction, and technical services to the power, infrastructure, federal, and industrial and commercial market sectors in the United States and internationally. Its services for power sector include planning, designing, engineering, constructing, retrofitting, and maintaining a range of power-generating facilities; and the systems that transmit and distribute electricity, as well as the development and installation of clean air technologies that reduce emissions at fossil fuel power plants. The company?s services for infrastructure sector comprise program management, planning, architect, engineering, general contracting, construction, and construction management for surface, air, and rail transportation networks; ports and harbors; and water supply, and treatment and conveyance systems. Its services for federal sector consist of program management; planning, design, and engineering; systems engineering and technical assistance to con struction and construction management; operations and maintenance; and decommissioning and closure primarily for the United States federal government and national governments of other countries. URS Corporation?s services for industrial and commercial sector include front-end studies, engineering and process design, procurement, construction and construction management, facility management, and operations and maintenance, as well as due diligence, permitting, compliance, environmental management, pollution control, health and safety, waste management, and hazardous waste remediation. The company was formerly known as Broadview Research Corporation and changed its name to URS Corporation in 1976. URS Corporation was founded in 1904 and is headquartered in San Francisco, California.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Rich Smith]

  Continuing to laze its way through summer, the U.S. Department of Defense announced only nine mostly small new contracts Tuesday, totaling just a bit over $87 million in aggregate value. Winners today included:

Best Construction Stocks For 2015: ARK Resources Bhd (ARK)

ARK Resources Berhad is a Malaysia-based company. The company is engaged in the provision of management services. The Company�� business segments include construction, property development, investment and other operations.The Company�� subsidiaries include Ark Development Sdn. Bhd., which is engaged in the Property development and turnkey construction, and Ark Engineering & Construction Sdn. Bhd, which is engaged in the civil, building construction and engineering works.

Best Construction Stocks For 2015: Cimpor Cimentos de Portugal SGPS SA (CPR)

Cimpor Cimentos de Portugal SGPS SA is a Portugal-based holding company engaged in the construction materials sector. The Company is primarily active in the production and sale of cement and clinker. It also involved in the manufacturing and marketing of ready-mix concrete, dry mortars and aggregates. As of December 20, 2012, the Company operated in Portugal, Egypt, Cape Verde, Angola, Mozambique, South Africa, Brazil, Argentina and Paraguay. The Company�� investments are held essentially through two subsidiaries: Cimpor Portugal SGPS SA, which holds the investments in companies dedicated to the production of cement, concrete, aggregates and mortar in Portugal, and Cimpor Inversiones SA, which holds the investments in companies operating abroad.

Wolff: NBC odd man out in Comcast merger

There are lots of understandably rapacious business reasons for Comcast, the country's biggest cable provider, to acquire Time Warner Cable, the nation's second-largest cable system. But the more greedy and clever that deal seems, the less reasonable Comcast's ownership of NBC Universal appears to be.

There's a right brain, left brain conflict here.

The future of the cable business is straightforward. It will be less and less about supplying programming, and more about providing broadband service. Cable TV subscriptions are going down; Internet subscriptions are going up.

Monopoly profits will continue to flow — and, of course, you'll make even more if you figure out how to run the pipes more cheaply. Buying TWC, said Comcast, "will generate approximately $1.5 billion in operating efficiencies." In other words, $1.5 billion in redundant employees and functions.

BEHIND THE SCENES: How Comcast-Time Warner Cable deal came together

What's more, net neutrality — the FCC policy under which broadband providers have to provide the same service to all content providers at the same price — is being undone by the courts. That means a new gold mine for cable. By just owning the pipes, cable — not Netflix or Amazon — may be the biggest winner in the digital video bonanza.

Cable, recently terrorized by cord cutting, is now the all-powerful Internet utility, a lightly regulated one at that. Yum.

But then there's Comcast's left brain (or, many would argue, brainless) acquisition of NBC Universal, completed just a year ago.

Even before Comcast decided to double down on cable, NBC was an odd and unlikely addition, an entertainment company (now called "content") joined to a pipes company. Manhattan and Hollywood showbiz joined to Philadelphia infrastructure.

Indeed, Time Warner disgorged the same cable company that Comcast is now proposing to buy in part because of years of culture and business conflict between content and pipes. Certainly the Roberts family,! which controls Comcast, is a pipes family, a kind of aristocracy of pipes — or put another way, kind of 1950s local bank managers — as far in temperament, interest, and natural inclination from the media business as it is possible to be.

The reason for the NBC acquisition has always seemed peculiarly old school: synergies and horizontal integration and all sorts of largely discredited baloney. Along with the ego-boost of owning NBC, the Roberts family also got NBC's owned and operated television stations, a business increasingly from another age; its ever-troubled network; and its lagging movie studio. It's real value was in a set of lucrative cable channels —CNBC, MSNBC, Bravo, USA Network, the Weather Channel, E! and others — and a content library.

The knotty economic question there: Can you make more by giving advantages to your own content, or by not giving those advantages to other people's content? Negotiating hard with someone, or negotiating softly with yourself, is, most people have come to understand, a zero-sum paradox.

In other words, the Roberts family bought NBC for no logic other than that they could, and because they had insecurities about being who they were — cable guys.

But suddenly, they're proud again. John Malone, the other would-be cable king, through the Charter Communications cable system, made a move on TWC first, reminding the Roberts family of the importance of cable primacy, and its vast new powers over Internet life.

Alas, in order to pass the NBC deal through regulators, Comcast agreed to abide by open-Internet, or net neutrality, rules, an enforceable commitment that now overrides the dismantling of those same rules.

Ironically, the Comcast-TWC deal could mean that, while the FCC can't guarantee net neutrality, it is effectively grandfathered into the broadband infrastructure because of Comcast's side deal on NBC.

But, more likely, it means that Comcast is kicking itself — and trying to figure out how to retreat from ! its now-f! oolish commitment.

What the absence of net neutrality and the creation of a behemoth Internet provider means is that Comcast is the Internet gatekeeper — set to benefit from whatever video digital networks are serving up.

Suddenly, the most annoying aspect of the cable business — having to pay content providers — could go away.

Now cable systems pay cable channels a fee for their content, and they pay network television a separate retransmission fee. Time Warner Cable lost a big battle last year with CBS, when the cable company tried to hold the line against CBS' demand for an increase in that fee.

But without net neutrality policies and with ever-growing amounts of programming streaming over the Internet, Comcast is free to charge content providers what the market will bear for speedier and more seamless delivery. (It can also charge the consumer for better service.) A vast percentage of the new video Niagara of the Internet now potentially passes through Comcast's toll both.

Except that Comcast owns NBC and has agreed to uphold net neutrality policies.

Cue the gnashing of teeth in Philadelphia.

The Roberts family's flirtation with content was a rare moment of self-doubt. But with cable's primacy restored, and its uber status in the video equation promising to be the key power in media, losing NBC — now merely a small division amid the Comcast-TWC operations, as well as a regulatory inconvenience — will be just one of the many ripple effects of the most transformation deal in the new video age.

Facebook: My Best Moon Shot

With the exception of Facebook and Yelp Yelp, moon shots like Twitter and LinkedIn LinkedIn, even Amazon fizzled out on posted quarterly numbers.  The Street is more sensitized to revenue shortfalls than bottom line results.

This is understandable.  Stocks that sell at more than 10 times revenues or 50 times 2016's EBITDA need to compound top lines at 40% to 50% for analysts' outperformance ratings.

The cost of missing your numbers is an overnight trashing of at least 10%.  In Twitter's case, much more.  Yelp and Facebook zipped up overnight after blowing through the analyst consensus, but Yelp sells at 12 times estimated 2015 revenues and 65 times EBITDA.

Amazon dropped a snappy 44 points when quarterly revenues came in light, up 20% vs. expectations of 25%.  There is no meaningful bottom line at Amazon as yet, maybe not for years to come.  Everyone flies in a very soupy fog, basing the stock's valuation on future revenues.

Clearly, Amazon is ahead of Microsoft Microsoft on its cloud computer network development.  It fulfills third party vendor orders, but there's no breakout on what is now a meaningful profit center.  Actually, Amazon's quarterly report is fuzzier than Google's, also reluctant to breakout meaningful profit centers like YouTube.

Jeff Bezos's genius borders on insanity.  He is allergic to paying income taxes, preferring to develop new profit centers with pretax, reportable earnings.  You do this when you're running a private company, but I can't recall any other major public enterprise that followed this construct so religiously and so long.

I added to my Amazon, down some 50 points, on the belief that their powerful balance sheet and free cash flow generation capacity is intact.  They're far ahead of everyone in order fulfillment capacity with price points that are near unbeatable.

Sooner or later, Amazon's pretax profit margins surge and catch Wal-Mart which needs 1.2 million spear carriers worldwide to run its business.

I added to Facebook, too.  A year ago, The Street's big fear was that Facebook needed to negotiate a tricky transference of advertising from the computer screen to smartphones.  This past quarter proved that the transition was fully executed.

When you model Facebook's numbers you find it selling at an EBITDA ratio under 20 times 2015′s projection.  No other super growth property comes close to such a reasonable valuation.  For Salesforce.com, you need to press out a couple of more years.  This is a great software house, capable of raising client productivity by increasing their capacity to do more business.  There are accounting issues herein, relating to the capitalization of selling expenses that keep me from making this a major holding.

Facebook at Mozcon – Alex (Photo credit: Thos003)

Not that I've turned my back on stocks selling at 10 times earnings, many room-for-improvement stories.  Microsoft gets my money with its new in-house headman.  They need to catch up in the cloud computing sector, but Microsoft's enterprise computing business, heart of the company, holds very profitable.

Microsoft is a huge free cash flow machine, with untapped dividend paying capacity that exceeds IBM, Intel and other mature tech houses.  The going rate for these properties has based out at 10 to 12 times earnings.  Microsoft, alone, could reattain a mid-teens market multiplier next few years.

Like it or not, we are stuck in a stop'n'go economic setting.  Nobody ever gets his projection right on GDP momentum.  Estimates range from 2.5% to 3.5% for 2014.  I'm at the top of the range, seeing personal consumption expenditures spearheading the economy.

My backup is a projected decline in the savings rate, restoration of family wealth, rising housing prices.  Lower oil and gasoline quotes should bolster consumer confidence.  Interest rates in this setting stay contained in a narrow channel, 10-year Treasuries no higher than 3.5%, and 30-year paper peaking at 4.5%.

If I'm right, the market sells at a mid-teens or higher price earnings ratio.  It can levitate with earnings which I project up 5% to 7%.  In a low interest rate environment corporate earnings benefit from declining interest expense.  I see no major improvement in the employment numbers for years to come so wage costs hardly escalate.  Profit margins bears have little to go on unless the country lapses into recession.  Nobody's call, as yet.

Save of the Day: Made in America deals

CLEVELAND, OH -- In my continued search to find the best deals to save you time and money, and partly tied to our support for our Olympic team, we celebrate Made In America deals today.

I'm always searching for companies and product made in the U.S. or with ties to our community. Today, four of my favorite U.S. brands have some major sales lined up.

You'll find my top picks below. Want more deals? Follow @MattGranite on Twitter.

Matt Granite is a consumer reporter with Gannett's WKYC station in Cleveland. His 'Save of the Day' report offers tips to consumers on how to save money and features daily deals.

We do not receive any financial compensation for mentioning any deal or company. The only purpose of this segment is to save you money.

Buy 1, Get 1 Free Fiesta Dinnerware Settings At Macy's+ Extra 15% Off
[http://www.offers.com/macys/2139537/]
**Hands-down my favorite deal today!

$200 Off KitchenAid 5qt Stand Mixer + Free Shipping
[http://www.offers.com/kohls/1238005/]
Was: $449.99
Now: $249.99
**Mail in rebate required for coupon price.

Up To 72% Off 7 For All Mankind Jeans + Free Shipping
[http://www.offers.com/6pm/662452/]
**Nice selection of major jean deals for men and women.

$30 Off Men's Carhartt Active Jackets + $10 Shipping
[http://www.offers.com/cabelas/2139455/]
Was: $100.00
Now: $69.88

Will stocks kick off 2014 in the black?

The stock market has a habit of trading in patterns, especially, in seasonal patterns.

It tends to fare best in the six-month period from November through the end of April, a fact that has given birth to the seasonal trading strategy known as "Sell in May and Go Away." It often enjoys a late-year "Santa Claus rally." There's also the so-called "January Effect," a phenomenon in which small-company stocks do better than big stocks in the first month of the year.

More important, especially for the purposes of this column, the stock market has a habit of posting strong gains in the first two trading sessions of a new year.

2014 OUTLOOK: Will it be another slam dunk for stocks?

TOP PICKS: Stock picks by top investment strategists for 2014

Investors who think stocks can't keep up their heady pace when the calendar turns to 2014 might want to consider history. In the past 20 years, the first two trading days in January have been investor-friendly, with the Standard & Poor's 500 index posting median gains (meaning half were higher and half were lower) of 1%, according to Bespoke Investment Group. The index was up 80% of the time, including each of the past five years.

Top China Stocks To Watch For 2015

The performance in the first two days of a new year isn't a short-term fluke. Since 1928, following years in which the S&P 500 has been up 25% or more, as it is this year, it has posted gains of 0.9% and been up 71% of the time in the first two trading days.

"Based on seasonal patterns," Bespoke concludes, "the bulls have a lot going for them" starting Thursday.

Best Dividend Stocks To Buy Right Now

LONDON -- The shares of MITIE (LSE: MTO  ) lost 2.2% of their value during London trade today despite the outsourcing firm's announcement that annual revenue grew 8% to 拢2 billion. MITIE, whose name stands for "Management Incentive Through Investment Equity," also delivered a 5% increase in profit before tax to 拢111 million.

In light of these positive results, MITIE hiked its final dividend by 10%, bringing the total dividend to 10.3 pence per share. This company has increased its dividend each consecutive year for over two decades.

However, MITIE's headline profit was hit by one-off financing and restructuring costs totaling 拢40 million. These costs related to the company's 拢110 million acquisition of Enara Group and write-offs in MITIE's mechanical and electrical-engineering divisions. The company's net debt expanded by 拢85 million to 拢192 million.

Best Dividend Stocks To Buy Right Now: ConocoPhillips(COP)

ConocoPhillips operates as an integrated energy company worldwide. The company?s Exploration and Production (E&P) segment explores for, produces, transports, and markets crude oil, bitumen, natural gas, liquefied natural gas, and natural gas liquids. Its Midstream segment gathers, processes, and markets natural gas; and fractionates and markets natural gas liquids in the United States and Trinidad. The company?s Refining and Marketing (R&M) segment purchases, refines, markets, and transports crude oil and petroleum products, such as gasolines, distillates, and aviation fuels. Its Chemicals segment manufactures and markets petrochemicals and plastics. This segment offers olefins and polyolefins, including ethylene, propylene, and other olefin products; aromatics products, such as benzene, styrene, paraxylene, and cyclohexane, as well as polystyrene and styrene-butadiene copolymers; and various specialty chemical products comprising organosulfur chemicals, solvents, catalyst s, drilling chemicals, mining chemicals, and engineering plastics and compounds. The company?s Emerging Businesses segment develops new technologies and businesses. It focuses on power generation; and technologies related to conventional and nonconventional hydrocarbon recovery, refining, alternative energy, biofuels, and the environment. This segment also offers E-Gas, a gasification technology producing high-value synthetic gas. ConocoPhillips was founded in 1917 and is based in Houston, Texas.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Claudia Assis]

  On Thursday, Exxon Mobil Corp. (XOM) �and ConocoPhillips (COP) �reported results that beat analyst expectations.

• [By Matt DiLallo]

  Russia
  Not only is Russia blessed with vast conventional oil and gas reserves, but the country also tops the list in terms of technically recoverable shale oil reserves. The problem for investors is that Russia is a notoriously tough place to invest in, especially in the oil and gas sector. Global energy giants BP (NYSE: BP  ) and ConocoPhillips (NYSE: COP  ) have both held large stakes in Russian operators in the past. However, Conoco sold down its stake in Lukoil as part of its repositioning, while BP just recently cashed out of its TNK-BP venture. Investors are probably better off watching from the sideline as Russia develops its vast shale oil reserves.

• [By Tyler Crowe]

  With close proximity to the ever-important Asia Pacific market, LNG facilities located in Australia will have a leg up exporting to the region. The bulk of the facilities there will be coming on line between 2016 and 2017, putting them ahead of the plans of most American companies right now. The one problem for Australian companies, though, is cost. High labor costs and delays have put several projects well over budget, and companies like ConocoPhillips (NYSE: COP  ) have started to bow out of Australia because the economics of the projects is becoming less attractive.

Best Dividend Stocks To Buy Right Now: Consolidated Edison Company of New York Inc. (ED)

Consolidated Edison, Inc., through its subsidiaries, provides electric, gas, and steam utility services in the United States. It provides electric service to approximately 3.3 million customers and gas service to approximately 1.1 million customers in New York City and Westchester County, as well as provides steam service to office buildings and apartment houses in parts of Manhattan. The company also provides electric service to approximately 0.3 million customers in southeastern New York and in adjacent areas of northern New Jersey, and northeastern Pennsylvania; and gas service to approximately 0.1 million customers in southeastern New York and adjacent areas of northeastern Pennsylvania. In addition, Consolidated Edison involves in the sale and related hedging of electricity to wholesale and retail customers; operation of generating plants; participation in other infrastructure projects; and provision of energy-efficiency services, including the design and installation of lighting retrofits, high-efficiency heating, ventilating and air conditioning equipment, and other energy saving technologies to government and commercial customers. It serves residential, industrial, and large commercial customers. The company was founded in 1884 and is based in New York, New York.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Abba's Aces]

  Duke Energy is fairly valued based on future earnings but expensive on future growth prospects (one-year outlook). Financially, the dividend payout ratio is high and I don't believe management will be able to continue to increase the dividend going forward by much. The technical situation of how the stock is currently trading is what is telling me that it can trade a bit lower for now as the stock has downward trajectory on the RSI and MACD charts. I'm going to buy a small batch in the stock for now in hopes that I can get a larger stake at a later date with a higher yield at a lower price because I believe interest rates are going to pick up again. Consolidated Edison (ED) and Duke Energy are the only two utility companies I hold in my dividend portfolio and I like the earnings growth story better for Duke better even though the dividend growth story for Consolidated Edison is a bit brighter. I've been buying a little bit of both because I can't say that I prefer one over the other.

• [By Maxx Chatsko]

  Consolidated Edison (NYSE: ED  ) has exploited that volatility in New York City -- its primary market that also hosts the nation's largest spark spreads year round -- to increase its profit margin 22.4% since 2009. Low natural gas prices have been arguably more important than efficiency upgrades, but that advantage may be unraveling. ��

Hot Performing Companies To Invest In 2014: Cummins Inc.(CMI)

Cummins Inc. designs, manufactures, distributes, and services diesel and natural gas engines, electric power generation systems, and engine-related component products worldwide. It operates in four segments: Engine, Power Generation, Components, and Distribution. The Engine segment offers a range of diesel and natural gas powered engines under the Cummins and other customer brand names for the heavy-and medium-duty truck, bus, recreational vehicle, light-duty automotive, agricultural, construction, mining, marine, oil and gas, rail, and governmental equipment markets. This segment also provides new parts and service, as well as remanufactured parts and engines. The Power Generation segment offers power generation systems, components, and services, including diesel, natural gas, gasoline, and alternative-fuel electrical generator sets for use in recreational vehicles, commercial vehicles, recreational marine applications, and home stand-by or residential applications. This segment also provides components that make up power generation systems, such as engines, controls, alternators, transfer switches, and switchgears. The Components segment supplies filtration products, turbochargers, aftertreatment systems, intake and exhaust systems, and fuel systems for commercial diesel applications. This segment offers filtration and exhaust systems for on-and off-highway heavy-duty and mid-range equipment, as well as supplies filtration products for industrial and passenger car applications. This segment also develops after treatment and exhaust systems to help customers meet emissions standards and fuel systems. The Distribution segment provides parts and services, as well as service solutions, including maintenance contracts, engineering services, and integrated products. The company sells its products to original equipment manufacturers, distributors, and other customers. Cummins Inc. was founded in 1919 and is headquartered in Columbus, Indiana.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Jonas Elmerraji]

  Diesel engine maker Cummins (CMI) has posted reasonably perfunctory performance year-to-date, climbing 11.75% since the calendar flipped over to January. But zoom out a bit more, and CMI's rally from October looks a whole lot more impressive: Shares are up 38% since Oct. 11.

  Now this stock looks well-positioned for another big leg higher.

  Cummins is currently in the process of forming a long-term ascending triangle pattern, a price setup that's formed by horizontal resistance above shares at $121 and uptrending support to the downside. Essentially, as CMI bounces in between those two technical levels, it's been getting squeezed closer and closer to a breakout above that resistance price. When that breakout happens, we've got a buy signal for shares.

  Over the course of this setup, the 200-day moving average has acted like a proxy for support. That's where I'd recommend keeping a protective stop after the breakout.

Best Dividend Stocks To Buy Right Now: Grupo Radio Centro S.A. de C.V.(RC)

Grupo Radio Centro, S.A.B. de C.V., a radio broadcasting company, through its subsidiaries, engages in the production and broadcasting of music, entertainment, news, and special event programs in Mexico. The company owns and operates 15 radio stations, which comprise 5 AM and 6 FM stations in Mexico City, 2 AM stations in Guadalajara and Monterrey, and 1 FM station in Los Angeles, as well as 1 AM radio station in Mexico City that is operated and managed by a third party. It also operates Organizaci

Best Dividend Stocks To Buy Right Now: PetroChina Company Limited(PTR)

PetroChina Company Limited produces and distributes oil and gas in the People?s Republic of China. It operates in four segments: Exploration and Production, Refining and Chemicals, Marketing, and Natural Gas and Pipeline. The Exploration and Production segment explores, develops, produces, and markets crude oil and natural gas, oilsands, and coalbed methane. As of December 31, 2010, it had 11,278 million barrels of proved reserves of crude oil; and 65,503 billion cubic feet of proved reserves of natural gas. The Refining and Chemicals segment engages in the refining of crude oil and petroleum products; and production and marketing of petrochemical products, derivative petrochemical products, and other chemical products. This segment?s product line comprises processed crude oil, gasoline, kerosene, diesel, ethylene, synthetic resins, synthetic fiber materials, polymers, synthetic rubber, and urea. The Marketing segment involves in the marketing of refined products and tradi ng businesses. It operated 17,996 service stations. The Natural Gas and Pipeline segment engages in the transmission of natural gas, crude oil, and refined products; and the sale of natural gas. It had a total length of 56,840 kilometers (km) of oil and gas pipelines, including 32,801 km of natural gas pipelines, 14,782 km of crude oil pipelines, and 9,257 km of refined product pipelines. The company was founded in 1988 and is headquartered in Beijing, the People?s Republic of China. PetroChina Company Limited is a subsidiary of China National Petroleum Corporation.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By vaninaegea]

  I find the analysis and comparison between companies with base in different geographies an entertaining exercise that offers a singular perspective upon future prospects. In other words, business activities are approached from diverse angles according to social, political, and economical background. Hence, Petroleo Brasileiro (PBR) and PetroChina (PTR) do compete in the same segments, but results are separated by a gamut of particularities.

• [By GuruFocus]

  PetroChina Co. Ltd. (PTR) Reached the 52-Week Low of $99.78

  The prices of PetroChina Co. Ltd. (PTR) shares have declined to close to the 52-week low of $99.78, which is 31.4% off the 52-week high of $144.23. PetroChina Co. Ltd. is owned by eight Gurus we are tracking. Among them, three have added to their positions during the past quarter. Four reduced their positions. PetroChina was established as a joint stock company on Nov. 5, 1999. Petrochina Co. Ltd. has a market cap of $182.62 billion; its shares were traded at around $99.78 with a P/E ratio of 11.40 and P/S ratio of 0.49. The dividend yield of Petrochina Co. Ltd. stocks is 4.23%. Petrochina Co. Ltd. had an annual average earnings growth of 6.90% over the past 10 years. GuruFocus rated Petrochina Co. Ltd.�the business predictability rank of 3.5-star.

• [By Jonas Elmerraji]

  First up is Chinese oil and gas giant PetroChina (PTR). Saying PetroChina has seen a rough 2013 is an understatement. Year-to-date, shares of the $203 billion firm have slipped more than 22% at the same time that the S&P 500 has been in rally mode. But shareholders could be in store for a reprieve this winter thanks to a bullish setup that's been forming in shares of late.

  PetroChina is currently forming an ascending triangle bottom, a trading setup that's formed by a horizontal resistance level to the upside at $118 and uptrending support below shares. Basically, as PTR bounces between those two levels, it's getting squeezed closer and closer to a breakout above the $118 price ceiling. When that breakout happens, it's time to be a buyer.

  Whenever you're looking at any technical price pattern, it's critical to think in terms of those buyers and sellers. Triangles and other pattern names are a good quick way to explain what's going on in a stock, but they're not the reason it's tradable. Instead, it all comes down to supply and demand for shares.

  That $28 resistance level is a price where there has been an excess of supply of shares; in other words, it's a place where sellers had been more eager to step in and take gains than buyers were to buy. That's what makes this week's breakout above it so significant. The move means that buyers are finally strong enough to absorb all of the excess supply above that price level.

  If you decide to take the Pandora trade, I'd recommend keeping a protective stop at the 50-day moving average.

Best Dividend Stocks To Buy Right Now: 21st Century Holding Company(TCHC)

21st Century Holding Company, through its subsidiaries, engages in insurance underwriting, distribution, and claims processing primarily in the United States. The company underwrites homeowners? multi-peril, personal umbrella, commercial general liability, commercial excess liability, personal and commercial automobile, fire, allied lines, workers? compensation, business personal property, and commercial inland marine insurance. It also provides premium financing to its insured?s, as well as third party insured?s. The company markets and distributes its own and third-party insurer?s products and other services through contractual relationships with independent agents, and general agents. 21st Century Holding Company was founded in 1991 and is based in Lauderdale Lakes, Florida.

Best Dividend Stocks To Buy Right Now: Polo Ralph Lauren Corporation(RL)

Ralph Lauren Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, engages in the design, marketing, and distribution of lifestyle products. The company offers men?s, women?s, and children?s clothing; and accessories comprising footwear, eyewear, watches, jewelry, hats, and belts, as well as leather goods, including handbags and luggage. It also provides products for homes, including bedding and bath products, furniture, fabric and wallpaper, paint, tabletop, and giftware; and fragrance products for women men. In addition, the company licenses its products, such as men?s sportswear, men?s tailored clothing, men?s underwear and sleepwear, eyewear, fragrances, cosmetics, and color and skin care products. It offers its products under the Polo by Ralph Lauren, Ralph Lauren Purple Label, Ralph Lauren Women?s Collection, Black Label, Blue Label, Lauren by Ralph Lauren, RRL, RLX, Rugby, Ralph Lauren Childrenswear, American Living, Chaps, and Club Monaco brand names. Ralph Lauren sells its products to department stores, specialty stores, and golf and pro shops; full-price retail stores, factory retail stores, and concessions-based shop-within-shops; and online through RalphLauren.com and Rugby.com. As of April 3, 2010, it operated 179 full-price retail stores and 171 factory stores worldwide, as well as 281 concessions-based shop-within-shops and 2 e-commerce Websites. The company was formerly known as Polo Ralph Lauren Corporation and changed its name to Ralph Lauren Corporation in August 2011. Ralph Lauren Corporation was founded in 1967 and is based in New York, New York.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Grace L. Williams]

  Two very different retailers–supermarket chain Kroger (KR) and�high-end apparel retailer Ralph Lauren (RL)–caught our eye this afternoon for the same reason: analyst downgrades that slammed stock prices.

• [By Jonathan Yates]

  Luxury goods companies such as Ralph Lauren (NYSE: RL), Michael Kors (NASDAQ: KORS) and Mercedes Benz (OTC: DDAIF) count on China for increasing sales. And among the most desired items by Chinese consumers are handbags and other accessories from Coach Inc (NYSE: COH).

• [By WWW.MARKETWATCH.COM]

  NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- Ralph Lauren Corp. (RL) said Wednesday that its fiscal second quarter profit fell to $205 million, or $2.23 a share, from $214 million, or $2.29 a share. Total revenue rose to $1.92 billion from $1.86 billion. Analysts surveyed by FactSet were looking for profit of $2.20 a share on sales of $1.91 billion. The company raised the bottom end of its full-year sales forecast to a range of 5% to 7%, from a prior projection of 4% to 7%. It also raised its quarterly dividend by 12.5% to 45 cents a share. Its shares rose 2.5% in premarket trading.

• [By Rich Duprey]

  Apparel maker�Ralph Lauren (NYSE: RL  ) announced yesterday its second-quarter dividend of $0.40 per share, the same rate it's paid for the past four quarters after doubling the payout from $0.20 per share.

Best Dividend Stocks To Buy Right Now: Colgate-Palmolive Company(CL)

Colgate-Palmolive Company, together with its subsidiaries, manufactures and markets consumer products worldwide. It offers oral care products, including toothpaste, toothbrushes, and mouth rinses, as well as dental floss and pharmaceutical products for dentists and other oral health professionals; personal care products, such as liquid hand soap, shower gels, bar soaps, deodorants, antiperspirants, shampoos, and conditioners; and home care products comprising laundry and dishwashing detergents, fabric conditioners, household cleaners, bleaches, dishwashing liquids, and oil soaps. The company offers its oral, personal, and home care products under the Colgate Total, Colgate Max Fresh, Colgate 360 Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Dividend Growth Investor]

  In a previous article, I outlined that it is getting more difficult to find quality dividend paying stocks to buy. Most of the usual suspects like Kimberly-Clark (KMB) or Colgate-Palmolive (CL) are very overvalued today, which prevents me from adding to my positions there. Other companies like Chevron (CVX) are attractively valued today, but unfortunately my portfolio is overweight in them. Currently I find the oil sector to be cheap and have some of the lowest P/E ratios in the market. However, I would hate to be concentrated in one sector which is exposed to the fluctuating prices in its commodity products.

• [By Dan Caplinger]

  Investors have always been interested in stocks that pay dividends, but lately, low interest rates on bonds and other fixed-income investments have made solid dividend payers even more valuable. Among the most promising dividend stocks in the market is Colgate-Palmolive (NYSE: CL  ) , and one big reason is that it is one of the few exclusive companies to make the list of Dividend Aristocrats. In order to become a member of this elite group, a company must have raised its dividend payouts to shareholders every single year for at least a quarter-century. Only a few dozen stocks manage to make the cut, and those that do tend to stay there for a long time.

• [By Dan Caplinger]

  Procter & Gamble (NYSE: PG  ) will release its quarterly report on Friday, and investors have watched the stock hit new all-time record highs in November before falling back in the past two months. Despite the optimism, Procter & Gamble earnings face pressure from international giant Unilever (NYSE: UL  ) as well as domestic rivals Colgate-Palmolive (NYSE: CL  ) and Kimberly-Clark (NYSE: KMB  ) . The question facing investors is whether P&G can sustain its longtime competitive advantages against its rivals and bolster its growth.

Best Dividend Stocks To Buy Right Now: Dreyfus Strategic Municipals Inc. (LEO)

Dreyfus Strategic Municipals, Inc. operates as a diversified, closed-end management investment company. The fund invests primarily in municipal obligations of various states of the United States. The Dreyfus Corporation serves as the investment adviser of the fund. Dreyfus Strategic Municipals was founded in 1987 and is based in New York City.

Best Dividend Stocks To Buy Right Now: Littelfuse Inc.(LFUS)

Littelfuse, Inc. designs, manufactures, and sells circuit protection devices for use in the automotive, electronic, and electrical markets in the Americas, Europe, and the Asia-Pacific. The company offers electronic circuit protection products, such as fuses and protectors, positive temperature coefficient resettable fuses, varistors, polymer electrostatic discharge suppressors, discrete transient voltage suppression diodes, TVS diode arrays and protection thyristors, gas discharge tubes, and power switching components, as well as fuseholders, blocks, and related accessories under PICO II, and NANO2 SMF, TECCOR, SIDACtor, and Battrax brand names. It offers its electronic circuit protection products for use in wireless telephones, consumer electronics, computers, modems, telecommunications equipment, telephones, data transmission lines, and alarm systems. The company also provides automotive fuses that are used in automobiles, trucks, buses, and off-road equipment to protec t electrical circuits and the wires that supply electrical power to operate lights, heating, air conditioning, radios, windows, and other controls, as well as offers fuses for the protection of electric and hybrid vehicles. It markets its automotive fuse products under ATO, MINI, MAXI, MIDI, MEGA, MasterFuse, JCASE, and CablePro brand names. In addition, Littelfuse manufactures various low-voltage and medium-voltage circuit protection products, such as power fuses that are used in the protection from over-load and short-circuit currents in motor branch circuits, heating and cooling systems, control systems, lighting circuits, and electrical distribution networks to electrical distributors and their customers in the construction, original equipment manufacturers, and industrial maintenance and repair and operating supplies markets. Littelfuse sells its products through direct sales force and manufacturers? representatives. The company was founded in 1927 and is headquartered in Chicago, Illinois.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Rich Smith]

  Littelfuse (NASDAQ: LFUS  ) has signed an agreement to acquire Key Safety Systems' Hamlin subsidiary for $145 million in cash, Littelfuse announced Monday.

Best Dividend Stocks To Buy Right Now: Public Storage(PSA)

Public Storage operates as a real estate investment trust (REIT). It engages in the acquisition, development, ownership, and operation of self-storage facilities in the United States and Europe. The company?s self-storage facilities offer storage spaces for lease on a month-to-month basis for personal and business use. Public Storage also has interests in commercial properties containing commercial and industrial rental space; facilities that lease storage containers; and ancillary operations, which include reinsurance of policies against losses to goods stored by its self-storage tenants, retail operations comprising merchandise sales and truck rental operations. As of December 31, 2008, the company had interests in 2,012 self-storage facilities with approximately 127 million net rentable square feet in 38 states; and 181 self-storage facilities with approximately 10 million net rentable square feet in 7 western European nations. It also had direct and indirect equity int erests in approximately 21 million net rentable square feet of commercial space located in 11 states in the U.S. As a REIT, the company would not be subject to federal income tax to the extent that it distributes at least 90% of its taxable income to its shareholders. Public Storage was founded in 1971 and is based in Glendale, California.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Laura Brodbeck]

  Friday

  Earnings Expected From: Chevron Corporation (NYSE: CVX), OM Group, Inc. (NYSE: OMG), Public Storage (NYSE: PSA) Economic Releases Expected: �US ISM manufacturing index, Canadian manufacturing PMI, British manufacturing PMI, Norwegian unemployment rate

  Posted-In: Bank Of England Federal ReserveNews Eurozone Commodities Previews Global Economics Federal Reserve After-Hours Center Markets Trading Ideas Best of Benzinga

• [By Lauren Pollock]

  Public Storage's(PSA) third-quarter profit rose 7.7% on the strength of higher occupancy and rents. Meanwhile, the real estate investment trust’s funds from operations, an important metric in the sector, grew during the period.

Best Dividend Stocks To Buy Right Now: S&P GSCI(GD)

General Dynamics Corporation, an aerospace and defense company, provides business aviation; combat vehicles, weapons systems, and munitions; military and commercial shipbuilding; and communications and information technology products and services worldwide. Its Aerospace group designs, manufactures, and outfits various large and mid-cabin business-jet aircraft; provides maintenance, repair work, fixed-based operations, and aircraft management services; and performs aircraft completions for aircraft. The company?s Combat Systems group offers tracked and wheeled military vehicles, weapons systems, and munitions. Its product lines include wheeled combat and tactical vehicles; battle tanks and infantry vehicles; munitions and propellant; rockets and gun systems; and axle and drivetrain components and aftermarket parts. This group also manufactures and supplies engineered axles, suspensions, and brakes for heavy-load vehicles for military and commercial customers. The company Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Rich Smith]

  The Department of Defense awarded a round dozen defense contracts Friday, worth just under $7.2 billion in aggregate. The bulk of the contracts -- $7 billion worth -- were split among eight small privately held firms scattered around New Jersey, Maryland, Indiana, and Virginia contracted to supply software and systems engineering services in support of the Army's Software Engineering Center. But a handful of better-known -- and, more importantly to investors, publicly traded -- companies won contracts as well. Namely:

• [By Rich Smith]

  Armaments destined for the Iraqi military include Textron (NYSE: TXT  ) Bell 412 EP transport helicopters -- a dozen of them. Also, 50 M1135 Stryker wheeled armored personnel carriers from General Dynamics (NYSE: GD  ) , outfitted for survivability in a chemical warfare environment. And finally, a shipment of spare parts to be used in maintaining everything from Humvees to howitzers to heavy equipment for salvaging damaged tanks from the battlefield.