Top Prefered Stocks For 2014

So far in 2014, we've seen Facebook stock (Nasdaq: FB) continue its dramatic share price rebound, Twitter stock (NYSE: TWTR) plunge more than 40%, and two new social media IPOs debut - GrubHub (NYSE: GRUB) and Weibo (Nasdaq ADR: WB) - but have you ever wondered, how do social media companies make money?

We asked Money Morning E-Commerce Director Bret Holmes to give us the scoop. Part of Holmes' job is to utilize web advertising via social media platforms to best market Money Morning. As a result, he's on top of what's going on inside of today's social media giants.

Holmes said the key to unlocking value for social media companies is successful advertising models.

"Social media companies are legitimate advertising websites, no different than, say, Google or Yahoo. The same way Google made its money is the same way Twitter and Facebook will make their money," Holmes explained.

Top 10 Supermarket Stocks To Own For 2015: Unwired Planet Inc (UPIP)

Unwired Planet, Inc. (Unwired Planet), formerly Openwave Systems Inc., incorporated on December 16, 1994, is an intellectual property and technology licensing company. As of June 30, 2012, the Company had patent portfolio of approximately 200 issued United States and foreign patents and approximately 75 pending applications, many of which is considered foundational to mobile communications. In May 2012, the Company officially changed name to Unwired Planet, Inc.

On February 1, 2012, the Company sold its location business to Persistent Telecom Solutions Inc. On April 30, 2012, the Company completed the sale of its mediation and messaging product businesses to Openwave Mobility, Inc. The Company generates revenue by licensing its patented innovations and technologies to companies that develop mobile communications software infrastructure or hardware and/or develop mobile communications products.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Anora Mahmudova]

  Among individual stocks, Unwired Planet (UPIP) , an intellectual property company focused on the mobile industry, soared 49% after news that Chinese computer-maker Lenovo Group Ltd. (HK:0992) �was buying 21 of its patent families for $100 million.

• [By Wallace Witkowski]

  Shares of Unwired Planet Inc. (UPIP) �jumped 75% to $2.27 on heavy volume after Lenovo Group (HK:0992) �said it would buy about 21 patent families from Unwired for $100 million.

• [By James E. Brumley]

  If you'd rather spend your hard-earned dollars on some bargain-priced stocks rather than face the Black Friday mania at the malls (wise choice, by the way), then you've come to the right place. And, you may want to start you bargain hunt with Metabolix, Inc. (NASDAQ:MBLX) and Unwired Planet Inc. (NASDAQ:UPIP). Both names have been unduly beaten up in recent weeks, and better still, it looks like UPIP and MBLX, are ready to recover... in spades. That's an important detail, as a bargain is only a bargain if it's something actually worth owning. Take a look.

Top Prefered Stocks For 2014: GSV Capital Corp (GSVC)

GSV Capital Corp. (GSV Capital), formerly NeXt Innovation Corp., is a development-stage company. The Company is an externally managed, non-diversified closed-end management investment company. The Company�� investment objective is to maximize capital appreciation. The Company will seek to achieve its investment objective by investing primarily in privately held high growth venture backed companies and select mid cap and large cap publicly traded companies.

The Company may also invest in select publicly-traded equity securities of companies that otherwise meet its investment criteria. It seeks to acquire its investments primarily through private secondary market transactions and, to a lesser extent, through transactions executed on public securities exchanges and direct investments in its portfolio companies. The Company�� investment activities will be managed by GSV Asset Management. GSV Capital Service Company will provide the administrative services.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Helix Investment Research]

  Keating Capital is far from the only publicly traded pre-IPO investment company. There are several others, including GSV Capital (GSVC) and Firsthand Technology Value Fund (SVVC). Hercules Technology Growth Capital (HTGC) is also a pre-IPO fund, but with the bulk of its assets (over 92%) invested into loans to and debt of private companies, as opposed to their equity, the company's investment philosophy is different than that of these other pre-IPO funds. Unlike GSV Capital and Firsthand, Keating Capital, as a matter of policy, always purchases equity directly from portfolio companies, never from secondary markets such as SharesPost or SecondMarket. Mr. Keating outlined that this is due to the company's requirement that it be given access to all relevant financial data and managerial projections of its portfolio companies at all times, something that Mr. Keating believes is essential to being able to make informed investor decisions. We note that shares of Facebook (FB) and Twitter are conspicuously absent from Keating Capital's portfolio; the company declined to purchase shares of either company due to an inability to acquire direct financial information regarding these companies. In addition, Keating Capital has a stated goal of investing in the most senior equity securities available at each portfolio company.

• [By Jon C. Ogg]

  A third angle to consider is the business development company GSV Capital Corp. (NASDAQ: GSVC). This is public and it owns a slug of Twitter shares. Its recent peak was $16.90 and the shares were recently down at $15.60. This stock rose into the Facebook, Inc. (NASDAQ: FB) IPO as well, only to roll over as Facebook’s shares did. The portfolio update from GSV on October 3 showed the following: Twitter, Inc. was shown to have a fair value of GSV Capital investment of $37.6 million, or about 15.1% of net assets at the time. If the IPO price has risen, so has that value. Another hot upcoming IPO of Chegg, Inc. was shown to have a fair value of GSV investment of $14.0 million, worth some 5.6% of net assets. Be advised that this stock has doubled since mid-summer, and shares fell rapidly from $18 down to $10 after the Facebook IPO.

• [By Hibah Yousuf]

  Shares of GSV Capital (GSVC), a publicly traded fund that invests in "high growth" private companies, rallied almost 13% Friday. GSV said it holds 1.9 million shares of Twitter as of June 30. Twitter is the fund's biggest holding, at 15% of the total portfolio.

• [By Jon C. Ogg]

  Chegg, Inc. (NYSE: CHGG) was the IPO disappointment of the week. Sure it has a lot of competition, but IPOs are supposed to be on fire now. Chegg managed to gain almost 3% on Friday to close at $9.13, but one must remember that the IPO price at $12.50 never saw the $12.50 open. The stock opened at $9.80 and closed at $8.88 on the first day, a move which will baffle IPO investors of growth companies who are buying an IPO at a time when major indexes are hitting new all-time highs. By the way, GSV Capital Corp. (NASDAQ: GSVC) was a runner-up�loser along with Chegg, as this fund owned shares of Twitter and Chegg pre-IPO. The stock price was above $16 before the Twitter IPO and is now down to $12.03 after another 8.8% drop on Friday. Bye-bye.

Top Prefered Stocks For 2014: Raymond James Financial Inc (RJF)

Raymond James Financial, Inc. (RJF) is a financial services holding company whose subsidiaries are engaged in various financial services businesses predominantly in the United States of America and Canada. At September 30, 2011, its principal subsidiaries include Raymond James & Associates, Inc. (RJ&A), Raymond James Financial Services, Inc. (RJFS), Raymond James Financial Services Advisors, Inc. (RJFSA), Raymond James Ltd. (RJ Ltd.), Eagle Asset Management, Inc. (Eagle), and Raymond James Bank, FSB (RJ Bank). All of these subsidiaries are wholly owned by RJF. In April 1, 2011, the Company acquired Howe Barnes Hoefer & Arnett (Howe Barnes). The Company operates through eight business segments: Private Client Group, Capital Markets, Asset Management, RJ Bank, Emerging Markets, Securities Lending, Proprietary Capital and various corporate activities combined in the Other segment. In April 2012, Regions Financial Corporation sold Morgan Keegan & Company, Inc. and related affiliates to RJF.

PRIVATE CLIENT GROUP

The Company provides securities transaction and financial planning services to approximately two million client accounts through the branch office systems of RJ&A, RJFS, RJFSA, RJ Ltd. and Raymond James Investment Services Limited (RJIS), a joint venture in the United Kingdom. Its financial advisors offer a range of investments and services, including both third-party and products, and a variety of financial planning services. The Company charges sales commissions or asset-based fees for investment services it provides to its Private Client Group clients based on established schedules. Varying discounts may be given, generally based upon the client's level of business, the trade size, service level provided, and other relevant factors. During the fiscal year ended September 30, 2011 (fiscal 2011), the portion of revenues from this segment that the Company considers recurring include sources, such as asset-based fees, including mutual fund and annuity trailing commissions, ! and interest income and represented approximately 61% of the Private Client Group's total revenues. Its financial advisors offer a number of professionally managed load mutual funds, as well as a selection of no-load funds. RJ&A and RJFS maintain dealer sales agreements with distributors of mutual fund shares sold through broker-dealers.

The Company�� principal subsidiary, RJ&A, is the full service brokerage and investment firm headquartered in the state of Florida and with over 220 locations throughout the United States, is a retail brokerage firms in the country. RJ&A is a self-clearing broker-dealer engaged in most aspects of securities distribution, trading, investment banking and asset management. RJ&A also offers financial planning services for individuals and provides clearing services for RJFS, RJFSA, other affiliated entities and several unaffiliated broker-dealers. RJFS is an independent contractor brokerage firms in the United States., is a member of Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) and Securities Investors Protection Corporation (SIPC), but is not a member of any exchanges. Financial advisors affiliated with RJFS may offer their clients all products and services offered through RJ&A, including investment advisory products and services which are offered through its affiliated registered investment advisor, RJFSA. RJ Ltd. is its Canadian broker-dealer subsidiary, which is engaged in both retail and institutional distribution and investment banking. RJ Ltd. is a member of the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX) and the Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada (IIROC). Its United States broker-dealer subsidiary is a member of FINRA and SIPC.

CAPITAL MARKETS

Capital Markets activities consist primarily of equity and fixed income products and services. Its institutional clients are serviced by institutional equity departments of RJ&A and RJ Ltd.; the RJ&A fixed income department; RJ&A�� European offices; Raymond James Financial Intern! ational, ! Ltd, an institutional UK broker-dealer, and Raymond James European Securities, Inc., a joint venture, in which the Company hold a controlling interest. The Company charges commissions on equity transactions based on trade size and the amount of business conducted annually with each institution. Fixed income commissions are based on trade size and the characteristics of the specific security. Some European and United States offices also provide services to high net worth clients. RJ Ltd. has approximately 40 institutional equity sales and trading professionals servicing predominantly Canadian, United States and European institutional investors from offices in Canada and Europe.

Trading equity securities involves the purchase and sale of securities from and to its clients or other dealers. RJ&A makes markets in over 900 common stocks. The RJ Ltd. trading desks not only support client activity, but also take positions that are closely monitored within well defined limits. RJ Ltd. also provides specialist services in approximately 150 TSX listed common stocks. RJ&A trades both taxable and tax-exempt fixed income securities. The taxable and tax-exempt RJ&A fixed income traders purchase and sell corporate, municipal, government, government agency, and mortgage-backed bonds, asset-backed securities, preferred stock and certificates of deposit from and to its clients or other dealers.

Fixed income investment banking includes debt underwriting and public finance activities. The syndicate department consists of professionals who coordinate the marketing, distribution, pricing and stabilization of lead and co-managed equity underwritings. In addition to lead and co-managed offerings, this department coordinates the firm's syndicate and selling group activities in transactions managed by other investment banking firms. Raymond James Tax Credit Funds, Inc. (RJTCF) is the general partner or managing member in a number of limited partnerships and limited liability companies. These partnershi! ps and li! mited liability companies invest in real estate project entities that qualify for tax credits under Section 42 of the Internal Revenue Code.

ASSET MANAGEMENT

The Company�� Asset Management segment includes the operations of Eagle, the Eagle Family of Funds (Eagle Funds), the asset management operations of RJ&A (AMS), Raymond James Trust, and other fee-based programs. The majority of the revenue for this segment is generated by the investment advisory fees related to asset management services for individual investment portfolios and mutual funds. Investment advisory fees are also earned on assets held in managed and non-managed programs. Eagle Fund Distributors, Inc. (EFD), a wholly owned subsidiary of Eagle, is a registered broker-dealer engaged in the distribution of the Eagle Funds. The Eagle Funds utilize unaffiliated sub-advisors for the Capital Appreciation Fund and International Equity Fund. The Small Cap Growth Fund, Mid Cap Growth Fund, Growth and Income Fund, Large Cap Core Fund, Mid Cap Stock Fund, Investment Grade Bond Fund, and Small Cap Core Value Fund are managed by Eagle.

AMS

AMS manages several investment advisory programs which maintain an approved list of investment managers, provide asset allocation model portfolios, establish custodial facilities, monitor performance of client accounts, provide clients with accounting and other administrative services, and assist investment managers with certain trading management activities. In addition, AMS offers additional managed accounts managed within fee based asset allocation platforms under its Freedom accounts and other managed programs. Freedom�� investment committee manages portfolios of mutual funds, exchange traded funds and separately managed account models on a discretionary basis. AMS also provides certain services for their non-managed fee-based programs (Passport, Ambassador and other non-managed programs). They provide performance reporting, research, sales, accounting, trad! ing and o! ther administrative services. Client fees are based on the individual account or relationship size and may also be dependent on the type of securities in the accounts.

Raymond James Trust, National Association, (RJT) provides personal trust services primarily to existing clients of its broker-dealer subsidiaries. Portfolio management of trust assets can be subcontracted to its asset management operations. This subsidiary had a total of approximately $2 billion in client assets at September 30, 2011, including nearly $120 million in the donor-advised charitable foundation known as the Raymond James Charitable Endowment Fund.

RJ BANK

RJ Bank is a federally chartered savings bank, regulated by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), which provides corporate, residential and consumer loans, as well as Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) insured deposit accounts, to clients of our broker-dealer subsidiaries and to the general public. RJ Bank is active in corporate loan syndications and bank participations as well as purchases residential whole loan packages to hold for investment. RJ Bank generates revenue principally through the interest income earned on loans and investments, which is offset by the interest expense it pays on client deposits and on its borrowings.

RJ Bank�� assets include C&I loans, commercial and residential real estate loans, as well as consumer loans that were purchased or originated by RJ Bank. Corporate loans represent approximately 75% of RJ Bank�� loan portfolio of which 90% are Shared National Credits (SNC) or other large syndicated loans. RJ Bank purchases and originates corporate loans secured by corporate assets, commercial and industrial (C&I) loans, commercial and residential real estate loans, as well as consumer loans, all of which are funded primarily by cash balances swept from the investment accounts of our broker-dealer subsidiaries��clients.

EMERGING MARKETS

Raymond! James In! ternational Holdings, Inc. (RJIH), through its subsidiaries, has interests in operations in Latin American countries including Argentina, Uruguay and Brazil. Through these entities it operates securities brokerage, investment banking, asset management and equity research businesses. In fiscal 2011, approximately 75% of this segments��investment banking revenues arose from one client.

SECURITIES LENDING

This segment conducts its business through the borrowing and lending of securities from and to other broker-dealers, financial institutions and other counterparties. The Company conducts these activities as an intermediary. Securities Lending will also loan customer marginable securities held in a margin account containing a debit to counterparties. The borrower of the securities puts up a cash deposit on which interest is earned. The lender in turn receives cash and pays interest. These cash deposits are adjusted daily to reflect changes in the current market value of the underlying securities. Additionally, securities are borrowed from other broker-dealers to facilitate RJ&A�� clearance and settlement obligations. The net revenues of this securities lending business are the interest spreads generated.

PROPRIETARY CAPITAL

This segment consists of its principal capital and private equity activities, including various direct and third-party private equity and merchant banking investments; Raymond James Employee Investment Funds I and II (the EIF Funds), and a private equity fund which we sponsor-Raymond James Capital Partners, L.P. As of September 30, 2011, certain of its merchant banking investments include an investment in a manufacturer of crime investigation and forensic supplies, an event photography business, and an indirect investment in an allergy immunotherapy testing and treatment supply company.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Eric Volkman]

  The joint book-running managers of the issue are Raymond James Financial (NYSE: RJF  ) unit Raymond James & Associates, Royal Bank of Canada's (NYSE: RY  ) RBC Capital Markets, and the Securities divisions of Credit Suisse and Deutsche Bank (NYSE: DB  ) . The sale is expected to close on May 28.

Top Prefered Stocks For 2014: Education Realty Trust Inc. (EDR)

Education Realty Trust, Inc., a real estate investment trust (REIT), develops, acquires, owns, and manages student housing communities located near university campuses in the United States. It also provides third-party management services, including residence life and student development, marketing, leasing administration, strategic relationships, information systems, and accounting services for student housing communities owned by educational institutions and charitable foundations. In addition, the company offers third-party development consulting services, such as market analysis and evaluation of housing needs and options; co-operation with university in architectural design; negotiation of ground lease, development agreement, construction contract, architectural contract, and bond documents; oversight of architectural design process; co-ordination of governmental and university plan approvals; oversight of construction process; design, purchase, and installation of fu rniture; pre-opening marketing to students; and obtaining final approvals of construction. It provides its third-party development consulting services primarily to universities seeking to modernize their on-campus student housing communities, as well as to other third-party investors. As of December 31, 2009, the company owned 40 student housing communities located in 19 states containing 25,454 beds in 7,813 apartment units located near 35 universities. It also provided third-party management services for 20 student housing communities located in 9 states containing 10,186 beds in 3,272 apartment units at 16 universities. The company qualifies as a REIT for federal income tax purposes. As a REIT, it would not be subject to federal corporate income tax if it distributes at least 90% of its REIT taxable income to its stockholders. The company was founded in 1964 and is based in Memphis, Tennessee.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Rich Duprey]

  College dorm room operator�Education Realty Trust (NYSE: EDR  ) announced today its second-quarter dividend of $0.11 per share, a 10% hike in the payout of $0.10 per share that it made last quarter.

Top Prefered Stocks For 2014: Plains Exploration & Production Company(PXP)

Plains Exploration & Production Company, an independent oil and gas company, primarily engages in acquiring, developing, exploring, and producing oil and gas in California, Texas, and Louisiana. It owns oil and gas properties with principal operations in onshore California; offshore California; the Gulf Coast region, including Haynesville Shale, Eagle Ford Shale, and south and east Texas; the Mid-Continent region; and the Rocky Mountains. As of December 31, 2010, the company had estimated proved reserves of 416.1 million barrels of oil equivalent. Plains Exploration & Production Company was founded in 2002 and is headquartered in Houston, Texas.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Rich Duprey]

  Gold and copper miner�Freeport-McMoRan� (NYSE: FCX  ) has completed its acquisition of Plains Exploration & Production (NYSE: PXP  ) and, as previously planned, the board of directors says it will pay investors a supplemental dividend of $1.00 per share that is in addition to the regular quarterly payout of $0.3125 per share.

• [By Matt DiLallo]

  While it has diversity among metals, the company is also in the final stages of adding even more diversity among commodities. It has pending deals to acquire both McMoRan Exploration (NYSE: MMR  ) and Plains Exploration and Production (NYSE: PXP  ) . When the deals close, Freeport will shift its revenue mix from 100% mining related to around 75% mining and 25% oil and gas. That makes the company a truly diversified economic indicator as copper, oil, and natural gas are much more important to our economy than aluminum.

• [By David Smith]

  The pending purchases
  Aside from its current core metals operations, Freeport is in the process of acquiring a pair of independent oil and gas producers, Plains Exploration & Production (NYSE: PXP  ) and McMoRan Exploration (NYSE: MMR  ) . In December, Freeport announced that it would pay 0.6531 shares of its common stock and $25 in cash for each outstanding share of Plains. In addition, for McMoRan it stated that it would pay $14.75 in cash and 1.15 units of a royalty trust that will hold a 5% overriding royalty interest in McMoRan's shallow water and ultra-deepwater prospects.

• [By Dan Caplinger]

  1 (tie). Louisiana, March 29
  Louisiana climbs to the top spot by keeping property taxes below $750 and collecting just a 4% sales tax, although local options add nearly 5 percentage points to that figure and make the state one of the highest-collecting sales-tax states. Although extensive activity from energy producers Chesapeake Energy (NYSE: CHK  ) , Encana (NYSE: ECA  ) , and Plains Exploration (NYSE: PXP  ) in the Haynesville-Bossier shale play could boost incomes and lead to higher taxes, much of Louisiana's sales tax revenue comes from out-of-state tourists visiting the state, leaving the actual amount borne by residents even lower. A 6% income tax isn't enough to push Louisiana out of the top spot.

Top Prefered Stocks For 2014: The Travelers Companies Inc.(TRV)

The Travelers Companies, Inc., through its subsidiaries, provides various commercial and personal property and casualty insurance products and services to businesses, government units, associations, and individuals primarily in the United States. The company operates in three segments: Business Insurance; Financial, Professional, and International Insurance; and Personal Insurance. The Business Insurance segment offers property and casualty products and services, such as commercial multi-peril, property, general liability, commercial auto, and workers? compensation insurance. It operates in six groups: Select Accounts, which serves small businesses; Commercial Accounts that serves mid-sized businesses; National Accounts, which serves large companies; Industry-Focused Underwriting that serves targeted industries; Target Risk Underwriting, which serves commercial businesses requiring specialized product underwriting, claims handling, and risk management services; and Special ized Distribution that offers products to customers through licensed wholesale, general, and program agents. The Financial, Professional, and International Insurance segment provides surety and financial liability coverage, which uses a credit-based underwriting process; and property and casualty products primarily in the United States., the United Kingdom, Ireland, and Canada. The Personal Insurance segment offers property and casualty insurance covering personal risks, primarily automobile and homeowners insurance to individuals. It distributes its products through independent agents, sponsoring organizations, joint marketing arrangements with other insurers, and direct marketing. The company was founded in 1853 and is based in New York, New York.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Dan Carroll]

  The biggest winner so far today, has been Travelers (NYSE: TRV  ) , which has jumped 2.1% despite a potentially bumpy hurricane season to come that could weigh on the company's performance. While warnings of hurricanes to come could push some to purchase property and risk insurance in the days ahead, forecasts that up to five powerful hurricanes could form in the Atlantic Ocean this year may foretell a costly season for this insurer.

• [By JulieYoung789]

  Dow Jones Industrial Average component Travelers (TRV) reported its second quarter 2014 earnings on July 22. The company is the third financial services company in the DJIA to report second quarter earnings following JPMorgan (JPM) and Goldman Sachs (GS).

• [By Tim Travis]

  AIG ended the 1st quarter with 1.4767 billion diluted shares outstanding, so at a recent price of $44.52, the company has a market capitalization of $65.74 billion. When you look at in excess of $15 billion in parent holding cash that will be bolstered with the sale of ILFC, the undervaluation becomes even more apparent. AIG will not be paying taxes in the United States for quite some time due to its huge net operating loss carry-forwards, so pretax earnings will largely equate to cash. There is no reason AIG can't execute like Travelers (TRV) or Berkshire's insurance operations, but only time will tell. The truth is that at current prices, the company only needs to be average to produce solid returns for stockholders because the price is so low relative to intrinsic value. This strong margin of safety, fantastic upside potential and management that I trust and admire is what has made AIG my biggest investment, and I'm excited to see where that leads in the future.

Top Prefered Stocks For 2014: SunCoke Energy Inc (SXC)

SunCoke Energy, Inc. (SunCoke), incorporated on December 8, 2010, is an independent producer of coke, a principal raw material in the integrated steelmaking process. The Company has United States cokemaking operations in Virginia, Indiana, Ohio and Illinois. Outside the United States, SunCoke has cokemaking operations in Vitoria, Brazil and Odisha, India. The Company�� coal mining operations, which have more than 110 million tons of proven and probable reserves, are located in Virginia and West Virginia. In January 2012, SunCoke Energy, Inc. was spun off from Sunoco, Inc.

The Company has designed, developed and built, and owned and operated five cokemaking facilities in the United States (U.S.) and designed and operate one cokemaking facility in Brazil under licensing and operating agreements on behalf of its customer. The cokemaking facility operated in Brazil has cokemaking capacity of approximately 1.7 million tons of coke per year. As of December 31, 2012, its mining area consisted of 13 active underground mines and two active surface and highwall mine in Russell and Buchanan Counties in Virginia and McDowell County, West Virginia. As of December 31, 2012, the Company�� coal mining production was 1.5 million ton.

As of December 31, 2012, the Company owned approximately 66 acres in Vansant (Buchanan County), Virginia, on which the Jewell coke making facility is located, along with an additional 2,550 acres. As of December 31, 2012, the Company owned approximately 250 acres in Russell County, Virginia owned by the HKCC Companies. As of December 31, 2012, the Company owned approximately 400 acres in Franklin Furnace (Scioto County), Ohio. As of December 31, 2012, the Company owned approximately 41 acres in Granite City (Madison County), Illinois, adjacent to the U.S. Steel Granite City Works facility. As of December 31, 2012, the Company owned approximately 250 acres in Middletown (Butler County), Ohio near AK Steel�� Middletown Works facility. The Company leas! ed approximately 88 acres of land located in East Chicago (Lake County), Indiana. As of December 31, 2012, the Company leased approximately 22 acres of land located in Buchanan County, Virginia The Company owns and operates coal mining operations in Virginia and West Virginia that sold approximately 1.3 million tons of metallurgical coal (including internal sales to its cokemaking operations) and 0.2 million tons of thermal coal in 2012. During the year ended December 31, 2012, 69% of the coal the Company sold was used at its Jewell cokemaking facility and 8% was used at its other domestic cokemaking facilities. In addition, through its Jewell coal affiliates and the HKCC Companies, the Company lease small parcels of land, mineral rights and coal mining rights for approximately 127 thousand acres of land in Buchanan and Russell Counties, Virginia and McDowell County, West Virginia.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Johanna Bennett]

  In a note published Friday, Goldman analysts Neil Mehta and Vinit Joshi issued a mix of outlooks for the batter coal sector, among them Buy ratings on CONSOL Energy (CNX) and SunCoke Energy (SXC) and a Sell on Arch Coal (ACI).