Tuesday, January 6, 2015

Top Railroad Stocks To Buy For 2014


Source: Norfolk Southern.

Shares of railroad giant Norfolk Southern (NYSE: NSC  ) have performed extremely well lately, climbing toward all-time record highs as investors get more confident about the railroad industry's future. In particular, even though Norfolk Southern has more exposure to some of the toughest segments in the railroad sector than peers like Union Pacific (NYSE: UNP  ) , its most recent earnings report showed just how well the company is adapting to changing conditions.

A quarter full of records for Norfolk Southern

Norfolk Southern's second-quarter results read like a page from the record books, as the railroad managed to set new high-water marks in a number of key measures of its financial performance. Operating revenues from its railways climbed 9% to $3 billion, and operating income jumped 22% to climb above the $1 billion mark. That sent net income to a new record of $562 million, or $1.79 per share, easily eclipsing the $1.46 per share that the company posted in the year-ago quarter.

5 Best Biotech Stocks For 2015: Whitecap Resources Inc (SPGYF.PK)

Whitecap Resources Inc., formerly Spitfire Energy Ltd., is engaged in the exploration, development and production of crude oil, natural gas and natural gas liquids in Western Canada. The Company�� activities are concentrated primarily in Northwest Central Alberta and Southwest Saskatchewan. On July 1, 2010, the Company amalgamated with its wholly owned subsidiary Whitecap Resources Inc. During fiscal 2010, the Company produced an average of 355 barrels of oil equivalent per day (boed). On July 12, 2010, the Company entered into an agreement to acquire a private company. The primary assets to be acquired are located in the Pembina region of west central Alberta with production and reserves focused in the Cardium formation. In October 2013, the Company announced that it has completed the acquisition of a Cardium light oil property and a working interest consolidation of its Eagle Lake Viking unit. Advisors' Opinion:
  • [By Caiman Valores]

    The recent surge in oil prices has renewed investor interest in the small-cap oil and gas E&P sector. One company that stands out for all the right reasons is Canadian domiciled small-cap, Whitecap Resources (SPGYF.PK). Since 2009 the company has unlocked considerable value for investors through a range of acquisitions as well as development and exploration projects. This has seen its share price surge in value to be up by almost 53% over the last year alone. However, it is clear that the market has yet to fully recognize the true value of Whitecap and there is still considerable upside potential of over 30% for investors. This along with Whitecap's dividend growth strategy makes it a particularly appealing deep-value investment in the oil and gas E&P sector.

Top Railroad Stocks To Buy For 2014: Platinum Group Metals Ltd (PLG)

Platinum Group Metals Ltd. (Platinum Group) is a platinum focused exploration and development company conducting work on mineral properties it has staked or acquired by way of option agreements in the Republic of South Africa and in Canada. The Company conducts its South African exploration and development work through its wholly owned direct subsidiary, Platinum Group Metals (RSA) (Proprietary) Limited (PTM RSA). PTM RSA holds the Company�� interests in the Project 1 platinum mine (Project 1) and Project 3. PTM RSA also holds 100% of Wesplats Holding (Proprietary) Limited (Wesplats), and a 37% interest in Wildebeest Platinum (Pty) Limited (Wildebeest), a company set up to hold prospecting rights for the exploration joint venture between the Company and Sable Platinum Mining (Pty) Ltd. (Sable) and Umnotho NREF Joint Venture. In September 2011, it purchased the Providence Copper-Nickel-Cobalt-Platinum Group Metals (Cu-Ni-Co-PGM) property from Arctic Star Exploration (Arctic Star). Advisors' Opinion:
  • [By Zacks Investment Research]

    Investors hoping for a turnaround in precious metals prices and looking for exposure to precious metals miners could consider Platinum Group Metals (PLG), currently ranked #2 (Buy) by Zacks.

Top Railroad Stocks To Buy For 2014: Cleco Corporation (CNL)

Cleco Corporation, through its subsidiaries, engages in the generation, transmission, distribution, and sale of electricity in Louisiana. As of December 31, 2009, it had ownership interest in 3 steam electric generating stations and 1 gas turbine with a combined name plate capacity of 1,359 megawatts, and a combined electric net generating capacity of 1,318 megawatts. The company served approximately 277,000 customers in 107 communities in the central and southeastern Louisiana. It also owns and operates a natural gas-fired merchant power plant, as well as has a 50% interest in another natural gas-fired merchant power plant located in Louisiana. Cleco Corporation was founded in 1934 and is based in Pineville, Louisiana.

Advisors' Opinion:
  • [By Garrett Cook]

    Utilities sector was the top gainer in the US market on Thursday. Top gainers in the sector included Cleco (NYSE: CNL), Korea Electric Power (NYSE: KEP), and Regency Energy Partners LP (NYSE: RGP).

Top Railroad Stocks To Buy For 2014: Diamond Foods Inc.(DMND)

Diamond Foods, Inc., a packaged food company, engages in processing, marketing, and distributing snack products, as well as culinary, in-shell, and ingredient nuts. Its snack products include glazed nuts, roasted and mixed nuts, breakfast trail mix products, microwave popcorn products, and potato and tortilla chips. The company?s culinary nuts comprise shelled nuts, pegboard nuts, and harvest reserve premium nuts. Its in-shell nuts consist of uncracked nuts and mixed nuts; and ingredient/food service products include shelled and processed nuts, and custom-processed nuts. The company offers its products under the Emerald, Pop Secret, Kettle, and Diamond of California brand names. It markets its culinary nuts to individuals, who prepare meals or baked goods at home; and ingredient and food service nuts to food processors, restaurants, bakeries, and food service companies and their suppliers. Diamond Foods, Inc. sells its products directly to retailers, such as national groce ry stores, club stores, mass merchandisers, and drug store chains; and indirectly through wholesale distributors, who serve independent and small regional retail grocery store chains and convenience stores. The company offers its products in the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, the Netherlands, Spain, Italy, Canada, South Korea, Turkey, and Japan. Diamond Foods, Inc. was founded in 1912 and is based in San Francisco, California.

Advisors' Opinion:
  • [By Rick Munarriz]

    We can start with Diamond Foods (NASDAQ: DMND  ) .�Analysts were expecting the snack distributor to post a steep loss of $0.17 a share. Diamond surprised the pros by generating an actual profit of $0.05 a share.

Top Railroad Stocks To Buy For 2014: Miller/Howard High Income Equity Fund (HIE)

Miller/Howard Fund (the Fund) is a closed-end, non-diversified management investment company. The Fund�� primary investment objective is to provide a high level of income from dividends, distributions and interest. As a secondary objective, the Fund seeks capital appreciation. The Fund focuses to invest in a portfolio of equity securities generating high income with an emphasis on dividend growth. The Fund focuses to invest primarily in securities of United States companies and in holdings of non-United States companies traded on United States exchanges, such as through American Depositary Receipts (ADRs). The Fund may invest up to 25% of its assets in securities of master limited partnerships (MLPs), generally in the energy sector. Miller/Howard Investments, Inc. serves as the Fund�� investment advisor (the Investment Advisor). Advisors' Opinion:
  • [By Richard Cox]

    During periods of heightened volatility in equity markets, income strategies become much more appropriate. �This approach offers investors added yield protection that can make it much easier to survive any bearish downturns that might be seen in the benchmark stock indices. �One of the newest selections in this space can be found in the Miller/Howard High Income Equity Fund (NYSE:HIE), which offers access to an expertly managed portfolio of high-yielding stocks with solid potential for long-term dividend growth. �

Top Railroad Stocks To Buy For 2014: KKR Financial Holdings LLC (KFN)

KKR Financial Holdings LLC, incorporated on January 17, 2007, is a specialty finance company focused on a range of asset classes. The Company�� holdings primarily consist of below investment grade syndicated corporate loans, also known as leveraged loans, high yield debt securities, private equity, interests in joint ventures and partnerships, and working and royalty interests in oil and gas properties. It operates in three segments: Credit, Natural resources, and other. The Credit segment includes primarily below investment grade corporate debt comprised of senior secured and unsecured loans, mezzanine loans, private and public equity investments, high yield bonds, and distressed and stressed debt securities. The Natural Resources segment consists of non-operated working and overriding royalty interests in oil and natural gas properties. Natural Resources segment excludes private equity focused on the oil and gas sector. The Other segment includes all other portfolio holdings, including commercial real estate.

The Company�� majority of holdings consist of corporate loans and high yield debt securities held in collateralized loan obligation (CLO) transactions that are structured as on-balance sheet securitizations and are used as long term financing for its investments in corporate debt. The Company is externally managed and advised by KKR Financial Advisors LLC. The Company�� collateralized loan obligation (CLO) consist of seven CLO transactions, KKR Financial CLO 2005-1, Ltd. (CLO 2005-1), KKR Financial CLO 2005-2, Ltd. (CLO 2005-2), KKR Financial CLO 2006-1, Ltd. (CLO 2006-1), KKR Financial CLO 2007-1, Ltd. (CLO 2007-1), KKR Financial CLO 2007-A, Ltd. (CLO 2007-A), KKR Financial CLO 2011-1, Ltd. (CLO 2011-1) and KKR Financial CLO 2012-1, Ltd. (CLO 2012-1) (collectively the Cash Flow CLOs). The Company�� objective is to provide long-term value for its shareholders by generating an attractive total return through cash distributions and increased enterprise value.

Advisors' Opinion:
  • [By Regarded Solutions]

    The Team Alpha portfolio consists of Ford (F) Chevron (CVX) Apple (AAPL), McDonald's (MCD), Exxon Mobil (XOM), Johnson & Johnson (JNJ), AT&T (T), General Electric (GE), BlackRock Kelso Capital (BKCC), KKR Financial (KFN), Procter & Gamble (PG), CSX Corp. (CSX), Realty Income (O), Coca-Cola (KO), Annaly Capital (NLY), Cisco (CSCO), Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMY), Newmont Mining (NEM), and Wells Fargo (WFC), and Intel (INTC).

Top Railroad Stocks To Buy For 2014: athenahealth Inc.(ATHN)

athenahealth, Inc., a business services company, provides ongoing billing, clinical-related, and other related services to medical group practices primarily in the United States. It provides services through the athenaNet, a proprietary Internet-based practice management application. The company primarily offers athenaCollector, a revenue cycle management service that automates and manages billing-related functions for physician practices, and includes a practice management platform. The athenaCollector assists its physician clients with the handling of claims and billing processes to help manage reimbursement. The company also provides Anodyne Analytics, a business intelligence application, which provides physicians and practice managers with insight into practice performance. In addition, it offers athenaClinicals, an electronic health record service that automates and manages medical-record-management-related functions for physician practices, as well as assists medical groups with the handling of physician documentation, orders, and related inbound and outbound communications. Further, the company provides athenaCommunicator that allows practices to manage patient communication tasks electronically, including the use of automated reminder calls; the creation of a self-service patient portal for registration, appointment requests, bill payments, and general communication; automatic generation of emails to patients; and patient education tools. It sells its products through a direct sales force, as well as through channel partners. The company was formerly known as athenahealth.com, Inc. and changed its name to athenahealth, Inc. in November 2000. athenahealth, Inc. was incorporated in 1997 and is headquartered in Watertown, Massachusetts.

Advisors' Opinion:
  • [By Monica Gerson]

    athenahealth (NASDAQ: ATHN) is expected to post its Q3 earnings at $0.31 per share on revenue of $154.99 million.

    The Blackstone Group LP (NYSE: BX) is estimated to report its Q3 earnings at $0.55 per share on revenue of $1.25 billion.

No comments:

Post a Comment