Best Gas Utility Stocks For 2014

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- An important piece of news seems to have been overlooked, or even ignored, in the past month, thanks to our nation's debt ceiling debacle and Affordable Care Act bickering.

We all know that Janet Yellen has been nominated to succeed Ben Bernanke as the next Federal Reserve chairperson. Yellen is notoriously dovish, meaning she has supported Bernanke's stance on short-term interest rates and is likely to remain highly accommodative into 2014. This isn't news either, but digging a little deeper, we can see that the continuation of Bernanke's policies may have farther-reaching effects than it appears at first glance.

Why is this so important?

Top Telecom Companies To Invest In 2015: Ishares Msci Singapore Ews (EWS)

iShares MSCI Singapore Index Fund (the Fund) seeks to provide investment results that correspond generally to the price and yield performance of publicly traded securities in the aggregate in the Singaporean market, as measured by the MSCI Singapore Index (the Index).

The Index seeks to measure the performance of the Singaporean equity market. The Index is a capitalization-weighted index that aims to capture 85% of the (publicly available) total market capitalization. The Fund invests in a representative sample of securities in the Index, which has a similar investment profile as the Index. iShares MSCI Singapore Index Fund's investment advisor is Barclays Global Fund Advisors.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Doug Fabian]

  The country seems to have been boosted by an unexpected rise in manufacturing and gains in the service sector. One way to invest in Singapore is through the iShares MSCI Singapore ETF (EWS).

Best Gas Utility Stocks For 2014: The Andersons Inc.(ANDE)

The Andersons, Inc. engages in the grain, ethanol, plant nutrient, railcar leasing and repair, turf products production, and general merchandise retailing businesses. It operates in six segments: Grain, Ethanol, Rail, Plant Nutrient, Turf & Specialty, and Retail. The Grain segment operates grain elevators; and is involved in the storage, merchandising, and trading of grains, as well as offers marketing, risk management, and corn origination services to its customers. The Ethanol segment operates three ethanol production facilities; and provides facility operations, risk management, and ethanol and distillers dried grains marketing to the ethanol plants. The Rail segment buys, sells, leases, rebuilds, and repairs a fleet of approximately 23,000 railcars and locomotives; offers fleet management services to private railcar owners; engages in metal fabrication business; and invests in short-line railroad. The Plant Nutrient segment manufactures, distributes, and retails dry an d liquid agricultural nutrients, and pelleted lime and gypsum products to agricultural farm supply dealers; and essential crop nutrients, crop protection chemicals, and seed products, as well as provides application and agronomic services to commercial and family farmers. This segment also offers warehousing, packaging, and manufacturing services to manufacturers and other distributors; and various industrial products, including nitrogen reagents for air pollution control systems. The Turf & Specialty segment produces granular fertilizer and control products for the turf and ornamental markets; and fertilizer and control products, and corncob-based animal bedding and cat litter for the consumer markets. The Retail segment operates The Andersons retail stores; The Andersons Market, a specialty food market; a distribution center; and a lawn and garden equipment sales and service shop. The Andersons, Inc. was founded in 1947 and is headquartered in Maumee, Ohio.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Michael Vodicka]

  The Anderson's, Inc. (ANDE) is an agriculture conglomerate, operating in 5 divisions that includes a rail shipping and nutrient business. But its Grain division is its biggest, accounting for more than 60% of revenue, where the company is a wholesaler of grain and grain storage services. The company's share price has been hot in 2013, posting a market and industry crushing return of 58%. Take a look below.

Best Gas Utility Stocks For 2014: American Midstream Partners LP (AMID)

American Midstream Partners, LP, incorporated on August 20, 2009, owns, operates, develops and acquires a portfolio of natural gas midstream energy assets. The Company is engaged in the business of gathering, treating, processing and transporting natural gas through its ownership and operation of 10 gathering systems, four processing facilities and a 50% non-operating interest in a fifth plant, two interstate pipelines and four intrastate pipelines. Its assets are located in Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi, Tennessee and Texas, provide infrastructure, which links producers and suppliers of natural gas to diverse natural gas markets, including interstate and intrastate pipelines, as well as utility, industrial and other commercial customers. In December 2013, American Midstream Partners, LP acquired Blackwater Midstream Holdings, LLC from an affiliate of ArcLight Capital Partners, LLC. In February 2014, Penn Virginia Corporation sold all of its Eagle Ford Shale natural gas midstream assets to the Company.

The Company operates in two segments: Gathering and Processing, and Transmission. In its gathering and processing segment, it receives fee-based and fixed-margin compensation for gathering, transporting and treating natural gas. Where it provide processing services at the plants that it owns, or obtain processing services for its own account under its elective processing arrangements. During the year ended December 31, 2012, it owned four processing facilities that produced an average of approximately 49.9 million gallons of liquid per day of gross natural gas liquids (NGLs). In addition, under its elective processing arrangements, it contracts for processing capacity at a third-party plant where it has the option to process natural gas that it purchases. During 2012, under these arrangements, it sold an average of approximately 27.9 million gallons of liquid per day of net equity NGL volumes. It also receives fee-based and fixed-margin compensation in its transmission segment related to ! capacity reservation charges under its firm transportation contracts and the transportation of natural gas.

Gathering and Processing

The Company�� gathering and processing segment provides wellhead to market services for natural gas to producers of natural gas and oil, which include transporting raw natural gas from various receipt points through gathering systems, treating the raw natural gas, processing raw natural gas to separate the NGLs and selling or delivering pipeline quality natural gas, as well as NGLs to various markets and pipeline systems. It gathers and processes natural gas pursuant to arrangements, including fee-based arrangements, fixed-margin arrangements and percent-of-proceeds arrangements.

The Company competes with Tennessee Gas Pipeline (TGP), Gulf South and ANR.

Transmission Segment

The Company�� transmission segment transports and delivers natural gas from producing wells, receipt points or pipeline interconnects for shippers and other customers, which include local distribution companies (LDCs), utilities and industrial, commercial and power generation customers. Results of operations from its transmission segment are determined by capacity reservation fees from firm transportation contracts and the volumes of natural gas transported on the interstate and intrastate pipelines it owns. Its transportation arrangements include firm transportation arrangements, interruptible transportation and fixed-margin contracts. Its Midla and AlaTenn systems are interstate natural gas pipelines. Its Bamagas system is a Hinshaw intrastate natural gas pipeline, which travels west to east from an interconnection point with TGP in Colbert County, Alabama to two power plants owned by Calpine Corporation (Calpine), in Morgan County, Alabama. The Bamagas system consists of 52 miles of high pressure, 30-inch pipeline with a design capacity of approximately 450 million cubic feet per day.

The AlaTenn system is an intersta! te natura! l gas pipeline that interconnects with TGP and travels west to east delivering natural gas to industrial customers in northwestern Alabama, as well as the city gates of Decatur and Huntsville, Alabama. Its AlaTenn system has a design capacity of approximately 200 million gallons of liquid per day and is consisted of approximately 295 miles of pipeline with diameters ranging from three to 16 inches and includes two compressor stations with combined capacity of 3,665 horsepower. The AlaTenn system is connected to four receipt and 61 delivery points, including the Tetco Pipeline system, an interstate pipeline owned by Duke Energy Corporation, and the Columbia Gulf Pipeline system, an interstate pipeline owned by NiSource Gas Transmission and Storage.

The Company�� Midla system is an interstate natural gas pipeline with approximately 370 miles of pipeline linking the Monroe Natural Gas Field in Northern Louisiana and interconnections with the Transco Pipeline system and Gulf South Pipeline system to customers near Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Its Midla system also has interconnects to Centerpoint, TGP and Sonat along a high-pressure lateral at the north end of the system, called the T-32 lateral. Its Midla system is located near the Perryville Hub, which is a hub for natural gas produced in the Louisiana and broader Gulf Coast region, including natural gas from the Haynesville shale, Barnett shale, Fayetteville shale, Woodford shale and Deep Bossier formations of Northern Louisiana, Central Texas, Northern Arkansas, Eastern Oklahoma and East Texas, respectively. The Midla system is connected to nine receipt and 19 delivery points. The northern portion of the system, including the T-32 lateral, consists of approximately four miles of high pressure, 12-inch diameter pipeline. Natural gas on the northern end of the Midla system is delivered to two power plants operated by Entergy by way of the T-32 lateral and the CLECO Sterlington plant by way of the Sterlington lateral.

The Company�� s mainlin! e of the system has a design capacity of approximately 198 million cubic feet per day and consists of approximately 172 miles of low pressure, 22-inch diameter pipeline with laterals ranging in diameter from two to 16 inches. During 2012, average throughput on the Midla mainline was approximately 72.7 million cubic feet per day. The southern portion of the system, including interconnections with the MLGT system and other associated laterals, consists of approximately two miles of high and low pressure, 12-inch diameter pipeline. This section of the system primarily serves industrial and LDC customers in the Baton Rouge market. In addition, this section includes two small offshore gathering lines, the T-33 lateral in Grand Bay and the T-51 lateral in Eugene Island 28, each of which are approximately five miles in length. Natural gas delivered on the southern end of the system is sold under both firm and interruptible transportation contracts with average remaining terms of two years.

The MLGT system is an intrastate transmission system that sources natural gas from interconnects with the FGT Pipeline system, an interstate pipeline owned by Florida Gas Transmission Company, the Tetco Pipeline system, the Transco Pipeline system and its Midla system to a Baton Rouge, Louisiana refinery owned and operated by ExxonMobil and five other industrial customers. Its million cubic feet per day system has a design capacity of approximately 170 million cubic feet per day and is consisted of approximately 54 miles of pipeline with diameters ranging from three to 14 inches. The MLGT system is connected to seven receipt and 16 delivery points. During 2010, average throughput on the MLGT system was approximately 50.5 million cubic feet per day.

The Company�� other transmission systems include the Chalmette system, located in St. Bernard Parish, Louisiana, and the Trigas system, located in three counties in northwestern Alabama. The approximate design capacities for the Chalmette and Trigas sys! tems are ! 125 million cubic feet per day and 60 million cubic feet per day, respectively. During 2012, the approximate average throughput for these systems was 9.8 MMcf/d and 10.6 MMcf/d. It also owns a range of interconnects and small laterals that are referred to as the SIGCO assets.

The Company competes with Southern Natural Gas Company and Louisiana Intrastate Gas.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Lauren Pollock]

  Vacation-home rental website operator HomeAway Inc.(AWAY) and midstream energy owner American Midstream Partners LP(AMID) separately disclosed plans to offer shares and units, respectively. HomeAway is aiming to raise proceeds for general corporate purposes, while American Midstream is looking to use some of the funds to pay for a previously disclosed acquisition.

• [By Robert Rapier]

  American Midstream Partners (NYSE: AMID) gained 96 percent in 2013 before accounting for distributions. American Midstream is engaged in the business of gathering, treating, processing, fractionating and transporting natural gas and natural gas liquids. Operations are organized into two segments, Gathering and Processing and Transmission. Assets are primarily located in Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi, Tennessee and Texas. The partnership operates 2,100 miles of pipelines that gather and transport over 850 MMcf/d of natural gas. Units currently yield 6.8 percent.

• [By Seth Jayson]

  Calling all cash flows
  When you are trying to buy the market's best stocks, it's worth checking up on your companies' free cash flow once a quarter or so, to see whether it bears any relationship to the net income in the headlines. That's what we do with this series. Today, we're checking in on American Midstream Partners (NYSE: AMID  ) , whose recent revenue and earnings are plotted below.

Best Gas Utility Stocks For 2014: XenoPort Inc.(XNPT)

XenoPort, Inc., a biopharmaceutical company, focuses on developing and commercializing internally discovered product candidates that utilize the body?s natural nutrient transport mechanisms to enhance the therapeutic benefits of drugs. The company licenses its lead product candidate Gabapentin Enacarbil, a transported prodrug of gabapentin, to Astellas Pharma Inc. in Japan and five Asian countries, as well as to Glaxo Group Limited in the United States. Astellas Pharma Inc. filed new drug application for the approval of Gabapentin Enacarbil as a treatment for restless legs syndrome in Japan. The company also develops Arbaclofen Placarbil, which completed a Phase II clinical trial for the treatment of spasticity in patients with spinal cord injury. In addition, it develops Arbaclofen Placarbil for the treatment of gastroesophageal reflux disease. Further, the company develops XP21279, which is in Phase II clinical trial for the treatment of Parkinson?s disease; and XP2382 9, a novel prodrug of methylhydrogenfumarate that is in preclinical stage. It has strategic alliances with Astellas Pharma, Inc. and Glaxo Group Limited. The company was founded in 1999 and is based in Santa Clara, California.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Monica Gerson]

  Breaking news

  Acceleron Pharma (NASDAQ: XLRN) today announced that it has commenced an underwritten public offering of $100 million of its common stock. To read the full news, click here. XenoPort (NASDAQ: XNPT) announced today that it intends to offer and sell 10,000,000 shares of its common stock, subject to market and other conditions, in an underwritten public offering. To read the full news, click here. Affymetrix (NASDAQ: AFFX) today announced that it has received 510(k) clearance from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to market its CytoScan庐 Dx Assay. To read the full news, click here. Verizon Communications (NYSE: VZ) and Intel (NASDAQ: INTC) today announced an agreement for Verizon to purchase from Intel the assets of Intel Media, a business division dedicated to the development of Cloud TV products and services. To read the full news, click here.

  Posted-In: Evercore Partners US Stock FuturesNews Eurozone Futures Global Pre-Market Outlook Markets

• [By Johanna Bennett]

  XenoPort (XNPT) rose 5.41% to $8.77 after RBC Capital Markets analyst Michael Yee reportedly said on CNBC late Monday that the stock was an ��nder the radar play.��/p>

• [By CRWE]

  XenoPort, Inc. (Nasdaq:XNPT) reported that it has submitted an Investigational New Drug (IND) application to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to begin clinical studies of XP23829 as a potential treatment for relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis (RRMS).

• [By Max Macaluso, Ph.D.]

  Treatments for RLS
  While a better understanding of RLS and its long-term impact on health are needed, there are FDA-approved drugs available to treat the symptoms of this disorder. GlaxoSmithKline (NYSE: GSK  ) brought a RLS drug, Requip, to market eight years ago, and the drug was also approved for Parkinson's disease. Total sales of the medication have been falling in recent years due to generic competition and reached only 164 million pounds ($257.5 million) in 2012. Until recently, GSK also had a second RLS drug called Horizant in collaboration with biotech company XenoPort (NASDAQ: XNPT  ) . GSK recently handed the rights to the drug back to XenoPort after sales failed to meet its expectations, and the biotech is now commercializing the drug alone.

Top 10 Recreation Companies For 2015

Top 10 Recreation Companies For 2015: Performance Sports Group Ltd (PSG)

Performance Sports Group Ltd, formerly Bauer Performance Sports Ltd., designs, develops, manufactures and sells performance sports equipment and accessories for ice hockey, roller hockey, lacrosse, baseball and softball, as well as related apparel, including soccer apparel. Its products are marketed under the BAUER, MISSION, MAVERIK, CASCADE, COMBAT and INARIA brand names. The ice hockey products include skates, skate blades, protective gear, sticks, team apparel and accessories. The roller hockey products include skates, protective gear and accessories. Its products are available in over 45 countries through a network of more than 3,700 distributors. The Company has associations with many of the hockey, lacrosse, baseball and softball organizations, including the NHL, CHL, Hockey Canada, USA Hockey, IIHF, NCAA, Ivy League, Big East Conference, US Lacrosse, International Lacrosse Federation, USSSA, ASA, NPF, NSA Canada, Softball USA, Softball Canada, USA Baseball, ISA and ISF . Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Peter Graham]

  The Q3 2014 earnings report for small cap golf stock Callaway Golf Co (NYSE: ELY), a potential peer of sporting goods or sporting equipment stocks like Toronto listedPerformance Sports Group Ltd (NYSE: PSG) and Johnson Outdoors Inc (NASDAQ: JOUT), is scheduled for after the market closes on Thursday (October 23rd). Aside from the Callaway Golf earnings report, it should be said that Performance Sports Group Ltd reported Q1 2015 on October 9th (revenues were up 28% to $197.1 million) while the estimated release date for the Q4 2014 Johnson Outdoors Inc earnings report isOctober 31st. However, Callaway Golf is the last publicly tradedpure play golf equipment stockgiving investors direct exposure to the game especially since Dicks Sporting Goods Inc (NYSE: DKS)recently took a $20.4 million pretax golf restructuring charge and plans to focus more attention on other sports.

sour! ce from Top Penny Stocks For 2015:http://www.seekpennystocks.com/top-10-recreation-companies-for-2015.html

Top 5 Railroad Stocks To Own Right Now

Top 5 Railroad Stocks To Own Right Now: TTM Technologies Inc.(TTMI)

TTM Technologies, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, provides printed circuit board (PCB) products and backplane assemblies worldwide. Its PCB products include conventional, high density interconnect, flexible, and rigid-flex PCBs, as well as backplane assemblies and IC substrates. The company also offers various services, such as design for manufacturability support during new product introduction stages, PCB layout design, simulation and testing services, quick turnaround production, and drilling and routing services. Its customers include original equipment manufacturers and electronic manufacturing service companies that primarily serve the networking/communications, aerospace/defense, high-end computing, cell phone, and medical/industrial/instrumentation end markets of the electronics industry. TTM Technologies, Inc. was founded in 1978 and is headquartered in Santa Ana, California.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Garrett Cook]

  Shares of Viasystems Group (NASDAQ: VIAS) got a boost, shooting up 35.81 percent to $15.89 after TTM Technologies (NASDAQ: TTMI) announced its plans to buy Viasystems for a total value of $16.46 per share.

source from Top Penny Stocks For 2015:http://www.seekpennystocks.com/top-5-railroad-stocks-to-own-right-now-2.html

Top 10 Services Stocks To Invest In Right Now

With shares of BlackBerry (NASDAQ:BBRY) trading around $10, is BBRY an OUTPERFORM, WAIT AND SEE or STAY AWAY? Let�� analyze the stock with the relevant sections of our Cheat Sheet investing framework:

T = Trends for a Stock’s Movement

BlackBerry is a designer, manufacturer, and marketer of wireless solutions for the worldwide mobile communications market. Through the development of integrated hardware, software, and services, it provides platforms and solutions for seamless access to information, including email, voice, instant messaging, SMS, Internet, and intranet-based applications and browsing. �Its portfolio of products, services, and embedded technologies are used by thousands of organizations and millions of consumers around the world and include the BlackBerry wireless solution, the Research In Motion Wireless Handheld product line, the BlackBerry PlayBook tablet, software development tools, and other software and hardware. Several economies around the world are growing and adopting the technologies into their daily lives. The company has also recently rebranded its products, which may offer a boost to their bottom line. However, a recent negative earnings report has the stock hurting.

Best Food Companies To Watch For 2015: New York & Company Inc.(NWY)

New York & Company, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, operates as a specialty retailer of women's fashion apparel and accessories in the United States. The company offers a range of wear-to-work, and casual apparel and accessories, including pants, jackets, knit tops, blouses, sweaters, denim, T-shirts, activewear, handbags, and jewelry. It sells its products under the New York & Company, Lerner, Lerner New York, New York Style, City Stretch, City Style, and NY&C brand names. The company sells its branded merchandise through its network of retail stores and E-commerce store at nyandcompany.com. As of March 15, 2012, it operated 532 stores in 43 states. The company, formerly known as NY & Co. Group, Inc., was founded in 1918 and is headquartered in New York, New York.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Jeremy Bowman]

  What: Shares of New York & Company (NYSE: NWY  ) were looking sharp, gaining as much as 10% two market days after reporting earnings, as Janney Montgomery Scott today reaffirmed its buy rating and upped its price target by 50% to $6.

• [By Anna Prior]

  New York & Co(NWY).’s fiscal third-quarter loss narrowed as the women’s apparel retailer recorded comparable-store-sales growth and benefited from lower costs.

Top 10 Services Stocks To Invest In Right Now: Rent-A-Center Inc.(RCII)

Rent-A-Center, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, primarily engages in leasing household durable goods to customers on a rent-to-own basis. The company?s stores offer durable products, such as consumer electronics, appliances, computers, and furniture and accessories under flexible rental purchase agreements that allow the customer to obtain ownership of the merchandise at the conclusion of an agreed upon rental period. It also provides merchandise on an installment sales basis in its stores. As of December 31, 2010, the company operated 3,008 company-owned stores in the United States, and in Canada, Puerto Rico, and Mexico, including 42 retail installment sales stores under the names ?Get It Now? and ?Home Choice?; and 18 rent-to-own stores located in Canada under the ?Rent-A-Centre? name. It also operates 209 franchised rent-to-own stores in 32 states under the ColorTyme trade name; and 384 kiosk locations under the ?RAC Acceptance? model. In addition, the company, th rough its ColorTyme?s franchised stores, offers custom rims and tires for sale or rental under the trade names ?RimTyme? or ?ColorTyme Custom Wheels?. Rent-A-Center, Inc. was founded in 1986 and is headquartered in Plano, Texas.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Grace L. Williams]

  Rent-A-Center (RCII) grabbed our attention when the new CFO joined a director for a cluster buy. Most notable were Guy Constant, who bought 10,000 shares for $248,400 and J.V. Lentell, a director, who bought 5,000 shares for $119,000. InsiderScore notes that the buys occurred in the wake of a three-year low at the rent-to-own durable goods retailer.

• [By Garrett Cook]

  Rent-A-Center (NASDAQ: RCII) shares tumbled 12.42 percent to $25.45 after the company issued a downbeat guidance for the second quarter. The company expected adjusted earnings of $0.36 to $0.38 per share on revenue of around $773 million.

• [By Anna Prior]

  Among the companies with shares expected to actively trade in Friday’s session are Lorillard Inc.(LO), Wells Fargo (WFC) & Co. and Rent-A-Center Inc.(RCII)

Top 10 Services Stocks To Invest In Right Now: WellPoint Inc.(WLP)

WellPoint, Inc., through its subsidiaries, operates as a health benefits company in the United States. The company offers various network-based managed care plans to large and small employer, individual, Medicaid, and senior markets. Its managed care plans include preferred provider organizations; health maintenance organizations; point-of-service plans; traditional indemnity plans; and other hybrid plans, including consumer-driven health plans, hospital only, and limited benefit products. The company also provides various managed care services comprising claims processing, underwriting, stop loss insurance, actuarial services, provider network access, medical cost management, disease management, wellness programs, and other administrative services to self-funded customers. In addition, it offers specialty and other products and services, including life and disability insurance benefits; dental, vision, and behavioral health benefit services; radiology benefit management; personal health care guidance; and long-term care insurance. Further, the company serves as an intermediary providing administrative service for the Medicare program that offers coverage for persons, who are 65 or older and for persons who are disabled or with end-stage renal disease. WellPoint, Inc. markets its products through a network of independent agents and brokers, consultants, in-house sales force, or Internet. The company, formerly known as Anthem, Inc., was founded in 1944 and is headquartered in Indianapolis, Indiana.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Sean Williams]

  One big benefit and a potentially huge problem
  There is a chance this move could have benefits to the insurance sector and health-benefit providers like WellPoint (NYSE: WLP  ) in that it gives businesses an extra year to figure out how to operate with a part-time labor force and exempt themselves from the penalties that could be associated with needing to offer health insurance and subsidizing their employees. If medium-to-large businesses choose to reduce hours, it could cause employees in increasing number to seek out insurance plans on the state-run exchanges, ultimately validating the effectiveness of Obamacare and making WellPoint -- which purchased AMERIGROUP last year to expand its individual market Medicaid-based member group -- look like a genius.

• [By Tom Rojas and Maria Armental var popups = dojo.query(".socialByline .popC"); ]

  WellPoint Inc.(WLP) on Wednesday became the latest health insurer to raise its outlook after posting higher-than-expected quarterly earnings. Shares gained 1.7% to $122 premarket.

Top 10 Services Stocks To Invest In Right Now: Towers Watson & Co (TW)

Towers Watson & Co. operates as a global professional services company that provides human capital, and financial consulting services worldwide. The company operates in four segments: Benefits, Risk and Financial Services, Talent and Rewards, and Exchange Solutions. The Benefits segment offers benefits consulting and administration services, such as retirement solutions, which support organizations in designing, managing, administering, and communicating retirement plans; and health and group benefits that provides advice on the strategy, design, financing, delivery, ongoing plan management, and communication of health and group benefit programs. This segment also offers its technology and administration solutions to deliver benefit outsourcing solutions; and international consulting services, which provide expertise in dealing with international human capital management and related benefits, and compensation advice. The Risk and Financial Services segment offers risk cons ulting and financial modeling software solutions primarily to the insurance industry; reinsurance and insurance brokerage services; and investment consulting and solutions covering investment strategy risk assessment, asset allocation, and investment manager selection to institutional investors. The Talent and Rewards segment provides executive compensation advisory services; employee rewards, talent management, and communication and change management services; and data, analytics, survey, and technology solutions. The Exchange Solutions segment operates the private Medicare insurance exchange in the United States that enables employers to transition their retirees to individual, defined contribution health plans. The company was formerly known as Watson Wyatt Worldwide, Inc. and changed its name to Towers Watson & Co. in January 2010 as a result of merging with Towers, Perrin, Forster & Crosby, Inc. Towers Watson & Co. was founded in 1871 and is headquartered in New York, N ew York.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Anna Prior]

  Towers Watson(TW) & Co.’s board authorized a roughly 22% increase to the consulting firm’s dividend. The company said Friday it will now pay a quarterly cash dividend of 14 cents per share, up from 11.5 cents a share previously.

• [By Benjamin Shepherd] The US health care industry is among the heaviest regulated in the nation. Most health care-related companies must answer to federal, state and, in many cases, local regulators.
  
  That regulatory burden will only grow more complex, as myriad new rules under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, or “Obamacare,” come into effect over the next few months. In just 22 days, the first insurance exchanges are supposed to come online. On January 1, the individual mandate and changes in coverage standards become effective.
  
  Many health care businesses and organizations were dragging their feet in complying with Obamacare’s provisions, waiting to see how the Supreme Court would come down on the law. The court didn’t rule on Obamacare until June 2012, a decision in which it upheld the law almost in its entirety.
  
  Given that delayed decision, a study conducted by the Government Accountability Office this past June found that only 44 percent of key activities required for full compliance had been completed, particularly where health insurance exchanges were concerned.
  
  As a result, there’s a massive scramble underway to achieve minimum compliance levels with the law. But there’s a paucity of workers with the requisite knowledge of federal and insurance regulations required to help companies and state governments navigate the labyrinth of regulations.
  
  That’s creating a lot of work for consultancies such as Huron Consulting Group (NSDQ: HURN), which focuses almost exclusively on the health care sector.
  
  While the company also works in the legal, financial, education and life sciences arenas, it primarily helps hospitals, health systems and physician groups reduce costs, maximize reimbursements from both federal and private insurers and transition towards the value-based care mandated under Obamacare. In future years, reimbursements will transition towards rewarding health care organizations tha
• [By Keith Speights]

  Towers Watson (NYSE: TW  ) wasn't far behind in announcing several large health insurers signing up to participate in its OneExchange private health insurance exchange. Participating insurers include Aetna, Anthem, Kaiser Permanante, and UnitedHealthcare. Towers Watson also recently bought Extend Health, which runs the largest private Medicare exchange in the nation.�

• [By Dan Caplinger]

  The real test for Obamacare
  In any event, the biggest challenge that Obamacare faces is getting its Health Insurance Marketplace up and running by Oct. 1. Although private exchanges from Marsh & McLennan (NYSE: MMC  ) subsidiary Mercer as well as Towers Watson (NYSE: TW  ) have done a good job of getting Aetna, UnitedHealth, and other popular insurers to participate in their programs, the reception that public exchanges have gotten has been far less favorable. Without a smooth launch in less than three months, Obamacare could find itself facing much greater criticism than it is today.

Top 10 Services Stocks To Invest In Right Now: J.D. HUTT Corp (JABA)

J.D. Hutt Corporation, formerly Gold Standard Mining Corp. incorporated on December 11, 2007, packages water supplies for worldwide distribution to areas affected by emergencies or disasters. As of October 15, 2012, the Company had the equipment and resources to supply and package two gallon boxes of water on a large scale and on short notice to emergencies anywhere in the world. In August 2013, J.D. Hutt Corporation announced the acquisition of Sea Treasure Recovery Corp.

As of December 31, 2011, the Company was in the process of reaching out to federal emergency management agency (FEMA), the Red Cross, and other charities and foundations that provide aid during emergencies. The Company focuses to contract with sources of water to enable the Company to respond to disasters and emergencies.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Jonathan Yates]

  The timing for JD Hutt's (OTCBB: JABA) acquisition of Sea Treasure Recovery Corp. could not have been better as the news channels are filled today with the recovery of $350,000 in sunken treasure off the Florida coast.

Top 10 Services Stocks To Invest In Right Now: Science Applications International Corp (SAIC)

Science Applications International Corporation, formerly SAIC Gemini, Inc., incorporated on February 1, 2013, is a scientific, engineering, and technology applications company. The Company uses its domain knowledge to solve problems in national security, energy and the environment, critical infrastructure, and health. The Company serves customers in the United States Department of Defense, the intelligence community, the United States Department of Homeland Security, other United States Government civil agencies and selected commercial markets. The Company provides services in two segments: government segment and commercial segment. Its government segment provides an array of technical services and solutions, primarily to United States federal, state and local government agencies and foreign governments. Its commercial segment provides technology-driven consulting, systems integration and outsourcing services and solutions in selected commercial markets.

Services

The Company provides systems development, technical and consulting services to federal, state, local law enforcement and criminal justice agencies, further promoting efficiency and effectiveness in preventing and controlling crime through systems, such as CODIS and LEO. The Company safeguards business-critical information, systems, and Websites with information security assessments and public key infrastructure solutions. The Company simplifies access to government goods and services through pre-negotiated federal contract vehicles. It provides government, commercial, and international clients with solutions to complex financial and resource problems. The Company provides geospatial products, services, and solutions for several industries, including agriculture, utility and defense. It provides a comprehensive portfolio of technology and domain specific solutions to its federal, state and local government and commercial health customers.

The Company helps companies to y operate, maintain, and manage wid! ely dispersed assets through consulting, enterprise asset management (EAM), help desk services and network services. The Company supports all phases for drug development: discovery, pre-clinical and clinical development and operations and compliance. It develops technologies, engineer solutions and provide analytical systems for maritime markets. It helps organizations improve product quality, more accurately determine product development or production schedule/cost, and increase productivity. The Company helps National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and the military, space and intelligence communities transition to faster, better and cheaper business processes through applied research & technology; information systems, and modeling and simulation. The Company offers corporate and individual training services ranging from elearning to training evaluation.

Aviation

The Company supports commercial and government customers with the latest aviation technology products. The Company�� products include Model 3800 Autopilot, FODetect , AeroPlanner, Memory Unit Tactical Air Crew Training System (MUTACTS), and SAIC Mission Planning System (MPS). The Model 3800 Autopilot is designed for installation in high-performance jet and turboprop aircraft but will function well in a range of fixed-wing aircraft. FODetect is an automated system that provides continuous monitoring with high-resolution and high-speed detection of foreign object debris (FOD) on critical aircraft operating areas. AeroPlanner provides a common tactical picture between control and combat systems by accessing parallel data from naval tactical data systems and retransmitting serially into multiple formats. SAIC's MUTACTS provides quick, accurate and post-flight review and analysis of military aircraft training missions. SAIC MPS consists of a line of simple to use computerized aircraft mission planning systems available for aircraft around the world.

Geospatial Products

The Company o! ffers a f! amily of geospatial solutions to support and gather GIS information for defense, intelligence and commercial customers. Its products include AeroPlanner.com, GRGlobe, GeoRover Software Products, ike 504, Percept, and WebCentric Geospatial Collaboration. AeroPlanner.com is a comprehensive flight-planning application for pilots of all levels. The GRGlobe desktop application brings core GIS functionality to a three dimensional (3D) globe environment providing the ability to create, edit, and visualize GIS data natively while supporting multiple formats such, as KML, shapefile and geodatabase. GeoRover geospatial software products are designed and sold as extensions of plug-in to the ArcMap component of Esri ArcGIS software versions 8.x and 9.x. The ike 504 is a handheld, GIS-related device that provides operators with methods to collect geospatial information on a target, including GPS coordinates and a photograph from a position up to 1,000 meters (3,280 feet) away. The SAIC Percept suite connects essential business information with real-world infrastructure and properties data. WebCentric Geospatial Collaboration is a Web-based, commercial-off-the-shelf geospatial presentation tool providing to dimensional (2D), 3D, and four dimensional (4D) views.

Ocean and Marine Systems

The Company develops marine products. These products monitor global climate change and marine meteorology, chart and analyze hydrographic data, and help to manage waste and control pollution. iTs products include COBIA Buoy, SAIC Tsunami Buoy (STB) Systems, ISS-2000, Survey Analysis and area Based EditoR (SABER), Incident Command Tool for Drinking Water Protection (ICWater), Plastics Waste Processor (PWP), Compress Melt Unit (CMU) Mod 0, Compress Melt Unit (CMU) Mod 1: Plastics Waste Processor, Large and Small Pulpers, Large and Small Pulpers, 10 GPM Oily Waste Polishing Unit, Topside and Dockside Chlorinators, and Ship Dechlorinator. COBIA Buoy is designed as a modular and fully reconfigurable buoy platform b! ased on t! echnologically advanced maritime expertise. SAIC Tsunami Buoy (STB) Systems are an enhanced version of the buoy system in use by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's DART detection system. The ISS-2000 Integrated Survey System was designed for professional hydrographers and surveyors and supports a range of high-performance, shallow-water survey operations. SABER is a tool for processing, editing, updating, viewing and analyzing hydrographic survey data. ICWater is designed to model drinking water contamination in real-time for a rapid, effective emergency response.

Rugged Hardware

The Company�� rugged hardware provides a range of commercial off-the-shelf equipment, as well as specialized custom-designed solutions, for installation into harsh tactical and industrial environments. Its products include Quicklock Cargo Restraint System, Passive LINK Tap (PLT), 1RU 8 Circuit Rugged Power Distribution Assembly (PDA), 1RU Fixed Expansion Chassis, 2RU Rugged cPCI Chassis High-Security Firewall System, Rugged Large liquid-crystal display (LCD) Color Flat Panel Displays (FPDs), Rugged Small LCD FPDs, Neptune 2 Rack Unit Workstation Consoles, and Rugged TigerShark Workstation Consoles. PLT provides a common tactical picture between control and combat systems by accessing parallel data from naval tactical data systems and retransmitting serially into multiple formats. The Quicklock Cargo Restraint System allows for secure tie-down of almost any cargo shape and is designed to prevent damage to and loss of equipment while in transit.

Safety and Security

The Company offers a variety of products to enhance safety and security in transportation, military, emergency response and other applications. Its product includes VACIS Cargo and Vehicle Inspection Systems, VACIS IP6500 FullScan Integrated Inspection System, VACIS XPL Passenger Vehicle Scanning System, and All-Terrain VACIS Imaging System. The Company�� VACIS systems scan cargo containers, tru! cks, cars! and other vehicles to help authorities search for weapons, nuclear material, narcotics, undeclared goods and other contraband at cargo terminals, border crossings, military facilities and other checkpoints. The VACIS IP6500 system safely scans occupied trucks and other vehicles of all sizes. The VACIS XPL system safely scans occupied cars and and other light vehicles.

Simulation

The Company provides a range of simulation products using in system engineering, software engineering, component engineering, signal and image processing, and custom system integration. Its products include OLIVE: On-Line Interactive Virtual Environment, RADSIM Radar Simulation 3.0, Reconfigurable Tactical Operations Simulator (RTOS), Non-Rated Crew Member Manned Module (NCM3), RC-12X Cockpit Procedural Trainer (CPT), Common Driver Trainer (CDT) Product Line, Combat Training Center-Instrumentation Systems (CTC-IS), STK/Missile Modeling Tools (STK/MMT), Tactical Engagement Simulation (TES) Systems, Common Vehicle System (CVS) Kit, CVS Abrams Adapter Kit, CVS Bradley Adapter Kit, Wireless Independent Target System (WITS), MK-19 Simulator Player Unit, Wireless Individual Weapon System (W-IWS), Mini MILES, Air Defense Weapons Systems (ADWS) MILES Kits, and Aviation Tactical Engagement Simulation System (AV-TESS). The Aviation Tactical Engagement Simulation System (AV-TESS) provides a flexible, training solution, tracking and weapons simulation system, and supports live force-on-force and force-on-target training and the evaluation and testing of new air vehicles and weapons systems. The Wireless Independent Target System (WITS) provides noncombat vehicles and targets, such as trucks, bridges and buildings, with a high-fidelity detection system for real-time casualty assessment.

Software

The Company is an SEI Partner for the Capability Maturity Model Integration (CMMI) project, a collaborative effort to provide models for achieving product and process improvement. Its products inc! lude Voic! e Identity Biometric Services (VIBES), Scale2Insight, Secure Multi-Tenancy, Advanced Analytics Suite, TeraText Database System, SIAM, Antfarm, EMTOOLS, MICHELLE, Enterprise Energy Dashboard, GeoRover Software Products, GeoViz- WebCentric GeoSpatial Collaboration, ISS-2000, Survey Analysis and area Based EditoR (SABER), AIMES, ISRCrossCue, RAVE, Omnifluent Suite of Human Language Technology Products, Flexible Tax Manager, SCOPTIMA Supply Chain Software, and Supply Operations Control System (SOCS). The Supply Operations Control System (SOCS) is a personal computer (PC) based inventory management system, and provides asset visibility, inventory control and supply support. SCOPTIMA Supply Chain Software is a secure, Web-enabled inventory system planner that provides demand forecasting to support efficient management and replenishment of large inventories of spare parts for aircraft and other platforms.

Transportation Products

The Company�� transportation systems helps companies and government agencies around the world improve efficiency, enhance safety and security, reduce errors and cut costs. Its products include Integrated Container Information System (ICIS), Intelligent Intermodal Solutions (IIS), Gatestand Driver Kiosk, CraneView Crane-Mounted OCR System, RailView Digital Video Recording System for Locomotives, and Transportation Visibility and Metrics System (TransVM). The RailView system continuously records digital video and key events as the locomotive travels, providing a reliable record for analysis of rail incidents. The CraneView system automatically identifies containers and records stow positions as the containers are moved by quay cranes in real time.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By alicet236]

  Science Applications International Corp (SAIC) Reached the Five-Year Low of $32.20

  The prices of Science Applications International Corp (SAIC) shares have declined to close to the five-year low of $32.20, which is 26.3% off the five-year high of $39.88. Science Applications International Corp is owned by one Guru we are tracking. Among them, 1 have added to their positions during the past quarter. Zero reduced their positions. Science Applications International Corp has a market cap of $2.76 billion; its shares were traded at around $32.20 with a P/E ratio of 18.50 and P/S ratio of 0.45. The dividend yield of Science Applications International Corp stocks is 0.87%.

• [By John Reese]

  Indeed, in 2013, the Greenblatt-based portfolio has bounced back strong, returning more than 50%. Below is a look at its current holdings.

  EBIX, Inc. (EBIX)
  
  Western Refining (WNR)
  
  DirecTV (DTV)
  
  ITT Educational Services (ESI)
  
  Science Applications International (SAIC)
  
  Weight Watchers International (WTW)
  
  ConocoPhillips (COP)
  
  AmSurg Corp. (AMSG)
  
  PDL BioPharma (PDLI)
  
  AFC Enterprises (AFCE)
  
  

  Subscribe to Validea here��/p>

• [By John Kell and Lauren Pollock var popups = dojo.query(".socialByline .popC"); ]

  Science Applications International Corp.(SAIC) said its fiscal fourth-quarter earnings fell 23%, as the government contractor posted weaker revenue that was partly offset by lower expenses related to its spinoff by the former SAIC Inc. last year and other one-time items.

Top 10 Services Stocks To Invest In Right Now: GTSI Corp.(GTSI)

GTSI Corp., together with its subsidiaries, provides information technology (IT) hardware and solutions to federal, state, and local government customers, as well as to prime contractors in the United States. It offers IT infrastructure solutions, including data center consolidation and optimization solutions, server and desktop virtualization solutions, cloud computing solutions, network modernization solutions, unified communications and collaboration solutions, database and software development solutions, asset management solutions, and financial services solutions. The company also provides various services comprising software development and maintenance, program and project management, database development and maintenance, and legacy systems modernization services. In addition, it offers computer hardware, software, and peripheral products, as well as provides technical support and assistance services. The company markets and sells its computer hardware and software, and solutions through GTSI.com. It has strategic partner relationships with Cisco, Hewlett Packard, Crossmatch Technologies, Microsoft, Dell, Oracle, Net App, and Hitachi. GTSI Corp. was founded in 1983 and is headquartered in Herndon, Virginia.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Geoff Gannon]

  Someone who reads my articles sent me this question: My��uestion has to do with the type of investments you tend to put your energy toward. Evaluating a net-net is a whole lot different than evaluating a company that has a competitive advantage and trades at much higher multiples. To me, the net-net evaluation process is a whole lot more straightforward, as there are fewer intangibles (if any) and less prediction about the future involved. I don't have to worry about whether GTSI (GTSI) has any competitive advantage ��I know it doesn't. Then again, I look at a company like Becton Dickenson (BDX) and I see a highly predictable company with a decent moat selling at a reasonable price. I can look at BDX and figure I might earn 10-15% annually over a long time frame. That's really different from thinking about investing in a net-net where I can see how it's 30-50% undervalued now, but it's not something I'm going to hold onto for decades. It's more of a matter of waiting for that one-time "pop" that will happen sometime in the next 1-5 years. How do you decide where to put your energy?

• [By Geoff Gannon]

  I picked GTSI (GTSI) for the Ben Graham: Net-Net Newsletter.

  And that is not a good business. It lost money in about half of the last 10 years. It had no history of earning more than about 6% on equity over time. It was a truly terrible business.

• [By Geoff Gannon]

  I would never assume that $1 of retained earnings at GTSI (GTSI) was worth $1. It�� not.

  So it would be hard to buy GTSI on an earnings basis. I didn��. I bought it for the Ben Graham: Net-Net Newsletter�� model portfolio simply based on its cash, receivables, and stake in another company. Those 3 things meant the company�� liquidation value was higher than the price I paid for the stock.

Top 5 Warren Buffett Stocks To Watch Right Now

Top 5 Warren Buffett Stocks To Watch Right Now: Union First Market Bankshares Corp (UBSH)

Union First Market Bankshares Corporation is a bank holding company. The Company offers financial services through its community bank subsidiary Union First Market Bank and three non-bank financial services affiliates. The Companys non-bank financial services affiliates are Union Mortgage Group, Inc., Union Investment Services, Inc. and Union Insurance Group, LLC. The Company operates in two segments: traditional full service community banking business and its mortgage loan origination business. The Company is a community banking organization based in Virginia and provides full service banking to the Northern, Central, Rappahannock, Shenandoah, Tidewater, and Northern Neck regions of Virginia through Union First Market Bank. Union First Market Bank (the Bank) is a full service community bank offering consumers and businesses a range of banking and related financial services, including checking, savings, certificates of deposit and other depository services, as well as l oans for commercial, industrial, residential mortgage and consumer purposes. The Bank issues credit cards and delivers automated teller machine (ATM) services. The Bank also offers Internet banking services and online bill payment for all customers, whether retail or commercial. The Bank also offers private banking and trust services to individuals and corporations through its Financial Guidance Group. In January 2014, the Company acquired StellarOne Corporation.

As of December 31, 2011, Union First Market Bank operated 99 locations in the counties of Albemarle, Caroline, Chesterfield, Essex, Fairfax, Fauquier, Fluvanna, Frederick, Hanover, Henrico, James City, King George, King William, Lancaster, Loudoun, Nelson, Northumberland, Richmond, Spotsylvania, Stafford, Warren, Washington, Westmoreland, York, and the independent cities of Charlottesville, Colonial Heights, Culpeper, Fredericksburg, Harrisonburg, Newport News, Ric! hmond, Staunton, Stephens City, Waynesb oro, Williamsburg, and Winchester. Union First Market Bank also operates loan production offices in Staunton, Winchester, and Tappahannock. Union Investment Services, Inc. provides brokerage services; Union Mortgage Group, Inc. provides a line of mortgage products, and Union Insurance Group, LLC offers various lines of insurance products. Union First Market Bank also owns a non-controlling interest in Johnson Mortgage Company, L.L.C.

Union Investment Services, Inc. provides securities, brokerage and investment advisory services. It has 11 offices within the Banks trade area and is a full service investment company handling all aspects of wealth management, including stocks, bonds, annuities, mutual funds and financial planning. Securities are offered through a third party contractual arrangement with Raymond James Financial Services, Inc., an independent broker dealer. Union Mortgage Group, Inc., (UMG) has offices in Virginia (seven), Maryland (three), North Carolina (three), and South Carolina (two). UMG is also licensed to do business in selected states throughout the Mid-Atlantic and Southeast, as well as Washington, D.C. It provides a variety of mortgage products to customers in those areas. The mortgage loans originated by UMG are generally sold in the secondary market through purchase agreements with institutional investors. Union Insurance Group, LLC (UIG), an insurance agency, is owned by the Bank and Union Mortgage. This agency operates in a joint venture with Bankers Insurance, LLC, an insurance agency owned by community banks across Virginia and managed by the Virginia Bankers Association. UIG generates revenue through sales of various insurance products, including long term care insurance and business owner policies.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By GuruFocus]

  Reduced: Union First Market Bankshares Corp (UBSH)

  Tom Gayner reduced to his holdings in Union First Market Bankshares Corp by 12.64%. His sale prices ! were betw! een $18.24 and $20.59, with an estimated average price of $19.52. The impact to his portfolio due to this sale was -0.18%. Tom Gayner still held 1,658,339 shares as of 06/30/2013.

• [By Sean Williams]

  What: Shares of StellarOne (NASDAQ: STEL  ) , a commercial, mortgage, and wealth management bank servicing small and medium-sized businesses in Virginia, jumped as much as 20% after agreeing to be purchased by Union First Market Bancshares (NASDAQ: UBSH  ) .

source from Top Stocks To Buy For 2015:http://www.topstocksforum.com/top-5-warren-buffett-stocks-to-watch-right-now-3.html

'Mad Money' Lightning Round: Take a Pass on Sony

Top Industrial Disributor Companies To Invest In Right Now

Search Jim Cramer's "Mad Money" trading recommendations using our exclusive "Mad Money" Stock Screener.

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Here's what Jim Cramer had to say about some of the stocks callers offered up during the "Mad Money Lightning Round" Friday evening:

First Majestic Silver (AG): "I'd rather you be in a gold ETF rather than a single mining stock."

Sony (SNE): "I'd take a pass on that one." MGM Resorts (MGM): "I think it can see $25 a share." Icahn Enterprises (IEP): "It's never to late to get into this stock." Atmel (ATML): "No. There's nothing there. I don't want to own it." To read a full recap of "Mad Money" on CNBC, click here. To sign up for Jim Cramer's free Booyah! newsletter with all of his latest articles and videos please click here. To watch replays of Cramer's video segments, visit the Mad Money page on CNBC. -- Written by Scott Rutt in Washington, D.C. To email Scott about this article, click here: Scott Rutt Follow Scott on Twitter @ScottRutt or get updates on Facebook, ScottRuttDC

Top 5 Cheap Companies For 2014

European Central Bank (ECB) president Mario Draghi yesterday promised “decisive action” if necessary to keep Europe’s sluggish economic recovery going. He said the ECB was “ready to consider all available instruments” to address either further weakness in consumer prices or increases in short-term money market rates that could stress banks.

Draghi’s statement echoed his now-famous July 2012 declaration that he would do “whatever it takes” to protect the euro.

An ECB statement emphasized that it will “maintain an accommodative stance of monetary policy for as long as necessary.”

“The recovery is there, but it’s weak and it’s fragile,” Draghi said recently. The region’s unemployment rate has remained stuck at 12.1 percent since last April.

In November, the ECB cut its benchmark rate to a new record low of 0.25 percent from 0.5 percent. Despite years of cheap money, though, lending to businesses in the euro zone shrank by a hefty 3.9 percent in November from a year earlier.

Top Tech Companies To Buy For 2015: 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]

  We know, too, that MSC intends to install these lamps on the 14 newish Lewis and Clark-class Auxiliary Cargo�and Ammunition�Ships that General Dynamics (NYSE: GD  ) built for it over the past 12 years, retrofitting these relatively new ships with even newer lighting technology.

• [By Rich Smith]

  Found money
  Next to $1 billion in IT contracts, General Dynamics' (NYSE: GD  ) $208 million in funding to buy submarine "long-lead-time" parts doesn't look like a lot. But General D's contract win Friday was nonetheless noteworthy.

• [By Rich Smith]

  This led to warnings of further weakness ahead, with Textron cutting its guidance for b-jet deliveries this year, saying it will deliver fewer than it did in 2012. Going forward, it bodes ill for rival General Dynamics (NYSE: GD  ) , which has a big business jet division as well.

• [By Chad Tracy]

  Let's take a look at three stocks in the aerospace and defense sector that look more attractive at today's prices.

  General Dynamics (NYSE: GD) General Dynamics is currently trading around $86 per share, which is close to its 52-week high of $87.85. Yet earnings support this valuation, and the company's forward price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio is only 11, compared with an industry average of 18. The current price to book value is 2.5. The company also carries very little debt, with a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.3.

  General Dynamics generates huge revenue through its contracts with the U.S. government. Its marine systems division owns three of the six submarine shipyards in the U.S. Long-term contracts with the U.S. government are estimated to be worth $78 billion for attack submarines and $140 billion for ballistic missile submarines.

Top 5 Cheap Companies For 2014: Compass Minerals Intl Inc(CMP)

Compass Minerals International, Inc., through its subsidiaries, produces and markets inorganic mineral products primarily in North America and the United Kingdom. The company operates in two segments, Salt and Specialty Fertilizer. The Salt segment produces salt and magnesium chloride for use in road deicing and dust control, food processing, water softeners, pool salt, and agricultural and industrial applications. This segment also purchases potassium chloride and sells as a finished product. The Specialty Fertilizer segment produces and markets sulphate of potash crop nutrients and industrial grade sulfate of potash for use in the production of specialty fertilizers for vegetables, fruits, potatoes, nuts, tobacco, and turf grass. The company also produces and markets consumer deicing and water conditioning products, ingredients used in consumer and commercial food preparation, and other mineral-based products for consumer, agricultural, and industrial applications. In ad dition, Compass Minerals provides records management services to businesses located in the U.K. The company operates rock salt mines in Goderich, Ontario, Canada; and Winsford, Chesire, the United Kingdom. It primarily serves producers of intermediate chemical products used in the production of vinyls and other chemicals, and pulp and paper, as well as water treatment and other industrial uses. The company markets its products through direct sales personnel, contract personnel, and a network of brokers or manufacturers? representatives. Compass Minerals International, Inc., formerly known as Salt Holdings Corporation, was founded in 1993 and is headquartered in Overland Park, Kansas.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By cody56]

  Meridian Growth Fund performance

  Compass Minerals�(CMP) is a leading producer of rock salt and specialty potash fertilizer. Its unique collection of resource assets has helped the company generate historically high returns on capital. We invested in Compass as we believed that earnings were due to turn after four years of weak road salt demand driven by mild Northeast winters and production problems at its potash mines. During 2013 the potash industry was rocked by the potential collapse of a European cartel, which led to falling potash prices. Facing significant uncertainty for the future of the potash market, we sold the stock.

  We continue to remain focused on individual stock selection and portfolio construction that identifies quality companies that we believe are experiencing temporary disruptions to their businesses. These disruptions enable us to buy the businesses at attractive prices and provide the portfolio with what we believe is an attractive risk-reward profile for our shareholders.

• [By Brendan Mathews]

  Compass Minerals (NYSE: CMP  ) is a sleepy producer of a boring product: rock salt. But it has a strong competitive advantage. It owns the world's largest rock salt mine, which luckily is conveniently located near the major deicing markets of the Great Lakes region. This combination of a great mining resource and ideal location provide the company with a wide, crocodile-filled competitive moat.

Top 5 Cheap Companies For 2014: Kohl's Corporation(KSS)

Kohl?s Corporation operates department stores in the United States. The company?s stores offer private and exclusive, as well as national branded apparel, footwear, and accessories for women, men, and children; soft home products, such as sheets and pillows; and housewares primarily to middle-income customers. As of January 29, 2011, it operated 1,089 stores in 49 states. The company also offers on-line shopping on its Web site at Kohls.com. Kohl?s Corporation was founded in 1962 and is headquartered in Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Jayson Derrick]

  Analysts at Stifel Nicolaus maintained a Buy rating on Kohl's (NYSE: KSS) with a price target raised to $68 from a previous $60. Shares hit new 52-week highs of $59.89 before closing the day at $59.43, up 0.24 percent.

• [By Laura Brodbeck]

  Thursday

  Earnings Expected From: Wal-Mart (NYSE: WMT), Nordstrom (NYSE: JWN), Kohl�� (NYSE: KSS), Flowers Foods (NYSE: FLO) Economic Releases Expected: �US industrial production, US CPI, eurozone GDP, eurozone CPI, German GDP, French GDP

  Friday

• [By Lauren Pollock]

  Among the companies with shares expected to actively trade in Thursday’s session are Wal-Mart Stores Inc.(WMT), Kohl's Corp.(KSS) and Viacom Inc.(VIAB)

• [By Ben Levisohn]

  JC Penney’s weakness is all its own. Macy�� (M) has gained 0.4% to $44.64, Sears�(SHLD) has risen 3.7% to $56.50 and Kohl���(KSS) has ticked down 0.1% to $53.90.

Top 5 Cheap Companies For 2014: Whole Foods Market Inc.(WFM)

Whole Foods Market, Inc. engages in the ownership and operation of natural and organic food supermarkets. The company offers produce, seafood, grocery, meat and poultry, bakery, prepared foods and catering, coffee and tea, nutritional supplements, and vitamins. It also provides specialty products, such as beer, wine, and cheese; body care and educational products, such as books; and floral, pet, and household products. As of February 9, 2011, the company operated 302 stores in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom. Whole Foods Market, Inc. was founded in 1978 and is headquartered in Austin, Texas.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Tabitha Jean Naylor]

  Offering specialty alternatives to the foods carried by the more traditional supermarket chains, the boutique market -- such as Whole Foods (NASDAQ: WFM) and Harris Teeter, which was acquired by Kroger (NYSE: KR) on January 28, 2014 -- has become an indispensable part of life for millions of Americans who look to live a healthier lifestyle. Let’s take a look at how these two companies fared in 2013 and beyond.

• [By David Hanson]

  7. Whole Foods Market (NASDAQ: WFM  ) Whole Foods Market is often jokingly labeled "Whole Paycheck" because of its steeper-than-average grocery prices. Similarly, the company's stock price also sports a high price tag. Despite trading over 10% lower than its all-time high, the stock still trades at almost 34 times trailing earnings. The grocer's fiercely loyal customer base and brand power are not compelling enough for Buffett to pay up for shares of the leader in a historically low-margin industry.

Top 5 Recreation Companies To Watch In Right Now

High times are here in Colorado and Washington State, and since we’re an investing blog, we might as well consider: Is it possible to play the legalization of marijuana?

Benjamin Rasmussen

Yes, according to this article from Agence France Presse–and investors already are. They report:

Stocks of companies involved in the marijuana industry — medical or otherwise — hit fresh highs Thursday after Colorado launched the first legal US sale of recreational pot.

Investors took the huge lines outside pot retailers in Colorado as a harbinger of potential growth in the still-new industry.

With one study predicting a $10 billion a year industry by 2018, hopes are that the legalization of private cannabis use could eventually divert the fortunes reaped by illicit growers and traffickers to shareholders.

Top 10 Growth Companies To Watch For 2015: Dale Jarrett Racing Adventure Inc (DJRT)

Dale Jarrett Racing Adventure, Inc., incorporated on November 24, 1998, offers entertainment based oval driving schools and events. The Company owns several National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR) type racecars. These classes are conducted at various racetracks throughout the country. As of December 31, 2011, the Company owned 15 racecars, and had purchased six additional racecars for its Las Vegas hub. These racecars are classified as stock cars and are equipped for oval or round tracks only.

The Company offers five types of ride or drive programs for individuals and corporations. The Qualifier is a three lap ride with a professional driver, which lasts about five minutes, depending on the length of the track. The Season Opener is a half day training class culminating in the student driving 10 laps. The Rookie Adventure and Happy Hour are also half day driving classes with the students driving 20 or 30 laps, respectively. The Advanced Stock Car Adventure is a full day 60 lap class. The main purpose of each event is the thrill of actually driving the race car. It owns a Miller Semi Tractor Trailer to haul the cars from track to track. The Company also offers a range of add-on sale items, including compact disks (CDs) from its adventure cam located in the car, clothing, souvenirs and photography.

The Company competes with Richard Petty Driving Experience.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Peter Graham]

  Small cap stocks Alliance Creative Group Inc (OTCMKTS: ACGX), Dale Jarrett Racing Adventure Inc (OTCMKTS: DJRT), Inscor Inc (OTCMKTS: IOGA) and Solar Thin Films Inc (OTCMKTS: SLTZ) have all been getting some attention lately in various investment newsletters and it should come as no surprise that two out of four of these stocks have been the subject of paid promotions ��which tend to benefit traders. However, two out of four of these stocks also have pretty good financials for being small cap OTC stocks and that might make them attractive to investors with a long term time horizon. So which of these stocks might make traders some profits in the short term and investors some profits over the longer term? Here is a closer look to help you decide:

Top 5 Recreation Companies To Watch In Right Now: Marine Products Corp (MPX)

Marine Products Corporation (Marine Products), incorporated on August 31, 2000, designs, manufactures and sells recreational fiberglass powerboats in the sportboat, deckboat, cruiser, sport yacht and sport fishing markets. The Company sells its products to a network of 135 domestic and 69 international independent authorized dealers. The Company focuses to remain a manufacturer of recreational powerboats for sale to a range of consumers globally. The Company manufactures Chaparral sterndrive and inboard-powered pleasure boats including H2O Sport and Fish & Ski boats, SSi and SSX Sportboats, Sunesta Sportdecks and Xtreme Tow boats, Signature Cruisers, Premiere Sport Yachts and Robalo outboard sport fishing boats. The Company offers a range of products to the family recreational, cruiser and sport yacht markets through its Chaparral brand, and to the sport fishing market through its Robalo brand.

The Company's products include Chaparral - H2O Sport Series, which is a fiberglass multipurpose runabouts; Chaparral - SSi Wide tech, which is a fiberglass closed deck runabouts; Chaparral - SSX Sportdecks, which is a fiberglass bowrider crossover sportboats; Chaparral - Sunesta Xtreme Tow Boats, which is a fiberglass pleasure boats; Chaparral - Signature Cruisers, which is a fiberglass, accommodation-focused cruisers; Chaparral - Premiere Sport Yacht, which is a fiberglass sport yacht, and Robalo - Sport Fishing Boats, which is a sport fishing boats for freshwater lakes or saltwater use. Domestic sales are made through approximately 74 Chaparral dealers, 16 Robalo dealers and 45 dealers that sell both brands located in markets throughout the United States. Marine Products also has 69 international dealers.

The Company competes with Sea Hunt, Sea Fox, Grady-White, Boston Whaler, Everglades and Parker.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Sean Williams]

  Sink or swim
  Sometimes the best short-sale opportunities are small, under-the-radar companies. One that I feel fits the bill perfectly is fiberglass boat maker Marine Products (NYSE: MPX  ) .

Top 5 Recreation Companies To Watch In Right Now: Nikon Corp (NINOF)

NIKON CORPORATION is mainly engaged in the manufacture and sale of image and video equipment. The Company operates in four business segments. The Precision Equipment segment offers semiconductor exposure apparatus and liquid crystal (LC) exposure apparatus. The Image segment provides digital single-lens reflex (SLR) cameras, compact digital cameras and interchangeable lens. The Instruments segment offers microscopes, measuring machines and semiconductor inspection equipment. The Others segment provides LC photomask substrates and optical components. As of March 31, 2013, the Company has 87 subsidiaries and 10 associated companies. Advisors' Opinion:

• [By MARKETWATCH]

  LOS ANGELES (MarketWatch) -- With the yen holding on to its gains and investors cautious as earnings season kicks off, Japanese stocks slid lower Friday after closing the previous day with some late-session gains. The Nikkei Stock Average (JP:NIK) fell 0.9% to 14,358.28, with the Topix down 0.8%, as the dollar bought 97.36 yen, little changed from 24 hours earlier. The relatively strong yen weighed on some names with high global exposure, as Sharp Corp. (JP:6753) (SHCAF) lost 1%, Pioneer Corp. (JP:6773) (PNCOF) dropped 1.6%, and Bridgestone Corp. (JP:5108) (BRDCF) fell 1.2%. An outlook cut from Canon Inc. (JP:7751) (CAJ) helped send its shares down 1%, while rival Nikon Corp. (JP:7731) (NINOF) lost 1.8%, though Olympus Corp. (JP:7733) (OCPNF) gained 1%. Telecoms were weak, with Softbank Corp. (JP:9984) (SFTBF) falling 2.5%, KDDI Corp. (JP:9433) (KDDIF) down 1.7%, and NTT DoCoMo Inc. (JP:9437) (NTDMF)

• [By MARKETWATCH]

  LOS ANGELES (MarketWatch) -- Japanese stocks opened lower Thursday, as gains for the yen and losses for Wall Street conspired to drive the Nikkei Stock Average (JP:NIK) down 1.2% to 15,333.35, extending Wednesday's 0.6% loss. The Topix fell 0.7%, with the U.S. dollar (USDJPY) slipping to 102.46 yen, down from around 楼102.80 at the start of the previous session, but off its lows in late Wednesday trade. Electronics firms and other techs helped lead the loss, with Sony Corp. (JP:6758) (SNE) falling 1.4%, Nikon Corp. (JP:7731) (NINOF) off 2.4%, and Alps Electric Co. (JP:6770) 1.8% lower. The Nikkei Asian Review reported Thursday that Japan looked set to post its first trade deficit for electronics goods this year. Shares of Yahoo Japan Corp. (JP:4689) (YAHOF) lost 1.4%, even as Bloomberg reported the firm was offering its stake in market-research firm Macromill Inc. (JP:3730) to U.S. private-equity firm Bain Capital at a premium to its most recent close. Shares of Macromill were untraded. Among gainers, Nippon Telegraph & Telephone Corp. (JP:9432) (NTT) rose 2.1%, following a 1.1% gain for its U.S.-listed shares.

Top 5 Recreation Companies To Watch In Right Now: Callaway Golf Co (ELY)

Callaway Golf Company, incorporated on May 7, 1999, together with its subsidiaries, designs, manufactures and sells golf clubs (drivers, fairway woods, hybrids, irons, wedges and putters) and golf balls, and also sells golf accessories (such as golf bags, golf gloves, headwear, towels, umbrellas and travel gear) under the Callaway Golf and Odyssey brand names. The Company sells pre-owned golf products through its Website, www.callawaygolfpreowned.com. In addition, it sells Callaway Golf and Odyssey products direct to consumers online through its Websites shop.callawaygolf.com and www.odysseygolf.com. The Company also licenses its trademarks and service marks in exchange for a royalty fee to third parties for use on golf related accessories, including apparel, footwear, eyewear, rangefinders and practice aids. Its products are sold in the United States and in approximately 100 countries around the world.

The Company designs, manufactures and sells golf clubs and golf balls, and designs and sells golf accessories. The Company�� products are designed for golfers of all skill levels, both amateur and professional. The Company�� principal products include Drivers, Fairway Woods and Hybrids; Irons; Putters; Golf Balls, and Accessories, Softgoods and Other. Drivers, Fairway Woods and Hybrids product category includes sales of the Company�� drivers, fairway woods and hybrid products, which are sold under the Callaway Golf brand. Irons include sales of the Company�� irons and wedges, which are sold under the Callaway Golf brand. Putters include sales of the Company�� putters, which are sold under the Odyssey brand. Golf Balls includes sales of the Company�� golf balls, which are sold under the Callaway Golf and Strata brands. Accessories, Softgoods and Other includes sales of golf bags, golf gloves, golf footwear, rangefinders, golf apparel, packaged club sets, headwear, towels, umbrellas, eyewear and other accessories, as well as sales of pre-owned products through www.callawaygolfpre! owned.com. Additionally, this product category includes royalties from licensing of the Company�� trademarks and service marks on products such as golf apparel, golf footwear, rangefinders and practice aids.

The Company competes with TaylorMade, Ping, Acushnet, Puma, SRI Sports Limited, Mizuno, Bridgestone, and Nike.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Jayson Derrick]

  Analysts at Raymond James upgraded Callaway Golf (NYSE: ELY) to Strong Buy from a previous Market Perform with a price target of $9.50. The analysts are confident in the company's turnaround prospects. Shares gained 7.16 percent, closing at $8.53.

• [By Charley Blaine]

  Callaway Golf (NYSE: ELY) was also up, gaining 19.83 percent to $8.70 after the company reported a narrower third-quarter loss and lifted its 2013 forecast. DA Davidson upgraded the stock from Neutral to Buy and lifted its price target from $7.50 to $11.

• [By Jake L'Ecuyer]

  Callaway Golf (NYSE: ELY) was down as well, dropping 9.70 percent to $7.54 after the Dick's Sporting goods earnings report unveiled a weakness in the golf market which traders applied to Callaway, using it as a catalyst to push the shares lower.

• [By Jeff Reeves]

  Callaway Golf (ELY) is the ultimate consumer discretionary play, since its drivers and golf bags are hardly something people splurge on when times are tough. However, consumer spending continues to improve and the hopes of a decent Christmas shopping season and strong 2014 could bode well for Callaway.

Top 5 Gas Companies To Watch For 2014

Move your business to the cloud, and you'll save time and money, improve flexibility. Stay away, and you're missing out.

Well, maybe. If it fits your business. If you can figure out how to get there efficiently, without major hitches, while keeping your business going and ��gulp ��not losing your data.

Most CEOs aren't tech experts. And even old-school IT teams may not know how to engineer the transition, or weigh the range of benefits and, yes, the downsides that exist in the nebulous, jargony and rapidly evolving world that is "cloud computing," one of the gassiest buzzwords on or off Planet Earth. At its core, cloud computing is accessing computer systems and infrastructure via the Internet, rather than connecting directly via a physical server or hard drive.

Getting a company transitioned from its legacy systems and onto the cloud is more than a snap of the fingers.

Top 10 Warren Buffett Stocks To Buy For 2015: QEP Midstream Partners LP (QEPM)

QEP Midstream Partners, LP (QEP), incorporated on April 19, 2013, is a limited partnership formed by QEP Resources, Inc. to owns, operates, acquires and develops midstream energy assets. The Company�� primary assets consist of ownership interests in four gathering systems and two Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC)-regulated pipelines, through which it provides natural gas and crude oil gathering and transportation services. The Company�� assets are located in, or are within close proximity to, the Green River Basin located in Wyoming and Colorado, the Uinta Basin located in eastern Utah, and the portion of the Williston Basin located in North Dakota. As of December 31, 2012, the Company�� gathering systems had 1,475 miles of pipeline and an average gross throughput of 1.8 million british thermal units per hour of natural gas and 18,224 barrels of crude oil.

Green River System

The Company�� Green River System, located in western Wyoming, consists of three complimentary systems owned by Green River Gathering, Rendezvous Gas and Rendezvous Pipeline and gathers natural gas production from the Pinedale, Jonah and Moxa Arch fields. In addition to gathering natural gas, the system also gathers and stabilizes crude oil production from the Pinedale Field, transports the stabilized crude oil to an interstate pipeline interconnect, and gathers and handles produced and flowback water associated with well completion activities in the Pinedale Field. The Green River Gathering assets are comprised of 405 miles of natural gas gathering pipelines, 61 miles of crude oil gathering pipelines, 81 miles of water gathering pipelines and a 60-mile, FERC-regulated crude oil pipeline located in the Green River Basin. The Rendezvous Gas assets consist of three parallel, 103-mile high-pressure natural gas pipelines, with 1,032 million cubic feet per day of throughput capacity and 7,800 basic hydrogen peroxide of gas compression. Rendezvous Pipeline�� sole asset is a 21-mile, FERC-regu! lated natural gas transmission pipeline that provides gas transportation services from QEP�� Blacks Fork processing complex in southwest Wyoming to an interconnect with the Kern River Pipeline.

Vermillion Gathering System

The Vermillion Gathering System consists of gas gathering and compression assets located in southern Wyoming, northwest Colorado and northeast Utah, which, when combined, include 454 miles of low-pressure, gas gathering pipelines and 23,197 basic hydrogen peroxide of gas compression. The Vermillion Gathering System is primarily supported by life-of-reserves and long-term, fee-based gas gathering agreements with minimum volume commitments, which are designed to ensure that it will generate a certain amount of revenue over the life of the gathering agreement by collecting either gathering fees for actual throughput or payments to cover any shortfall. The primary customers on our Vermillion Gathering System include Questar, Samson Resources Corporation (Samson Resources), QEP and Chevron USA, Inc. (Chevron).

Three Rivers Gathering System

Three Rivers Gathering is a joint venture between QEP and Ute Energy Midstream Holdings, LLC (Ute Energy) that was formed to transport natural gas gathered by Uintah Basin Field Services, L.L.C., an indirectly owned subsidiary of QEP (Uintah Basin Field Services), and other third-party volumes to gas processing facilities owned by QEP and third parties. The Three Rivers Gathering System consists of gas gathering assets located in the Uinta Basin in northeast Utah, including approximately 50 miles of gathering pipeline and 4,735 basic hydrogen peroxide of gas compression.

Williston Gathering System

The Williston Gathering System is a crude oil and natural gas gathering system located in the Williston Basin in McLean County, North Dakota. The Williston Gathering System includes 17 miles of gas gathering pipelines, 17 miles of oil gathering pipelines 239 basic hydrogen peroxide o! f gas com! pression, and a crude oil and natural gas handling facility, located primarily on the Fort Berthold Indian Reservation.

The Company competes with Enterprise Products Partners, L.P., Western Gas and The Williams Companies, Inc.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Dimitra DeFotis]

  But things aren’t all bad. A spate of initial public offerings traded at nice prices Friday. Among them was QEP Midstream Partners (QEPM), an energy master limited partnership. (Press release here). More on IPOs from Bloomberg here.

• [By Jon C. Ogg]

  QEP Midstream Partners L.P. (NYSE: QEPM) was started as Buy at Janney Capital, and note that four other firms started coverage earlier this week.

  ServiceNow Inc. (NYSE: NOW) was started as Buy with a $55 price target at Canaccord Genuity.

• [By Lauren Pollock]

  QEP Resources Inc.(QEP) plans to separate its midstream business, QEP Field Services Co., into a separate entity, including its interest in QEP Midstream Partners LP(QEPM).

Top 5 Gas Companies To Watch For 2014: EQT Midstream Partners LP (EQM)

EQT Midstream Partners, LP owns, operates, acquires and develops midstream assets in the Appalachian Basin. The Company provides substantially all of its natural gas transmission, storage and gathering services under contracts with fixed reservation and/or usage fees. The Company focuses its operations in the Marcellus Shale fairway in southern Pennsylvania and northern West Virginia. It provides midstream services to EQT Corporation in the Appalachian Basin across 22 counties in Pennsylvania and West Virginia through its two primary assets: its transmission and storage system, which serves as a header system transmission pipeline, and its gathering system, which delivers natural gas from wells and other receipt points to transmission pipelines.

Equitrans Transmission and Storage System

As of December 31, 2011, the Company�� transmission and storage system included an approximately 700 mile FERC-regulated interstate pipeline system that connects to five interstate pipelines and multiple distribution companies, and it is supported by 14 associated natural gas storage reservoirs with approximately 400 million cubic feet per day of peak withdrawal capability and 32 billion cubic feet of working gas capacity. As of December 31, 2011, its transmission assets had total throughput capacity of approximately 1.0 trillion British thermal units per day.

Equitrans Gathering System

The Company�� gathering system consists of approximately 2,100 miles of FERC-regulated low-pressure gathering lines that have multiple delivery interconnects with its transmission and storage system and a gathering and interstate pipeline system owned and operated by Dominion Transmission, Inc.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Matt DiLallo]

  Unfortunately for XTO Energy, there was one small and, unbeknownst to anyone, unresolved matter. You see, LINN had a contract to sell its gas through a unit of Dominion Resources (NYSE: D  ) , which was gathering the gas in its system. However, LINN's gas wasn't up to the system's standards, so it began to look for another gatherer and it approached Equitrans, which is now part of EQT Midstream Partners (NYSE: EQM  ) but formerly was a unit of EQT Corp. (NYSE: EQT  ) -- they talked, but nothing was signed. However, an EQT employee later that year thought that it had and began crediting gas to the wrong company.

Top 5 Gas Companies To Watch For 2014: Tesoro Petroleum Corporation(TSO)

Tesoro Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, engages in refining and marketing petroleum products in the United States. It operates in two segments, Refining and Retail. The Refining segment refines crude oil and other feed stocks into transportation fuels, such as gasoline, gasoline blendstocks, jet fuel, and diesel fuel, as well as other products, including heavy fuel oils, liquefied petroleum gas, petroleum coke, and asphalt. This segment also sells refined products in the wholesale market primarily through independent unbranded distributors; and in the bulk market primarily to independent unbranded distributors, other refining and marketing companies, utilities, railroads, airlines and marine, and industrial end-users. It owns and operates 7 refineries with a combined crude oil capacity of 665 thousand barrels per day. The Retail segment sells gasoline, diesel fuel, and convenience store items through company-operated retail stations, and third-party branded dea lers and distributors in the western United States. As of December 31, 2011, this segment had 1,175 branded retail stations under the Tesoro, Shell, and USA Gasoline brands. The company was formerly known as Tesoro Petroleum Corporation and changed its name to Tesoro Corporation in November 2004. Tesoro Corporation was founded in 1939 and is headquartered in San Antonio, Texas.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Ben Levisohn]

  The S&P 500 gained 0.03% to 1,868.20, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.07% to 16,340.08. Chevron’s 1% gain, which came after being added to the Focus List at Credit Suisse, and Wal-Mart’s 0.8% rise helped balance out�Visa’s 0.5% fall and� Boeing’s 1% drop, which came after UBS cut its price target. Tesoro (TSO) jumped 4.1% to $54.50 after oil prices fell, making the refiner the S&P 500′s biggest winner.

• [By Ben Levisohn]

  Pick a refiner, any refiner, and there’s a good chance it’s lagging the S&P 500′s 24% gain this year. HollyFrontier (HFC), for one, has lost 3.8% in 2013, while Tesoro (TSO) has gained just 7.1% and Marathon Petroleum (MPC) has advanced about 13%.

• [By Robert Rapier]

  Robert Rapier: The oil refiners, that's an interesting story. You really have to stay on top of oil refiners and that is not a sector that I recommend for a buy and hold investor. When I joined the Energy Strategist a year ago, that's one of the first recommendations I made, was buy the oil refiners, Valero (VLO), Tesoro (TSO).

• [By Claudia Assis]

  Tesoro Corp. (TSO) �shares declined 0.5%.

Top 5 Gas Companies To Watch For 2014: HRT Participacoes em Petroleo SA (HRTPY.PK)

HRT Participacoes em Petroleo SA, formerly BN 16 Participacoes Ltda, is a Brazil-based holding company engaged in the oil and gas industry. The Company is primarily involved in the exploration and production (E&P) of oil and natural gas in Brazil and Namibia. Through its subsidiaries, it is active in the geophysical and geological research, exploration, development, production, import, export and sale of oil and natural gas, as well as in the provision of air logistics services in transporting people and equipment related to oil and gas activities in the exploratory campaign in the Solimoes Basin. As of December 31, 2011, the Company had seven subsidiaries, including Integrated Petroleum Expertise Company Servicos em Petroleo Ltda (IPEX), HRT O&G Exploracao e Producao de Petroleo Ltda, HRT Netherlands BV, HRT America Inc, HRT Africa, HRT Canada Inc and Air Amazonia Servicos Aereos Ltda.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By stanh30]

  In 2010 Brazil�� HRT Participacoes em Petroleo S.A. (HRTPY.PK) raised $1.5 billion in an IPO to fund a highly touted and highly expensive oil & gas exploration campaign in both the Amazon and offshore Namibia. Management was very promotional and overpromised and underdelivered. The three exploration wells in Namibia were all failures and the Conclusion of Solimoes Gas Monetization Study leads the market (myself included) to conclude that there is little or no present value in the discoveries in the Solimoes basin. The stock has lost 85% in just the last year, and over 97% in the last three years. Early investors like Southeastern Asset Management have lost most of their money and have either given up or believe the market cap has become too small and insignificant to warrant further examination.

Judge nixes Nissan’s $1B New York City taxi plan

Plans to flood New York's streets with the Taxi of Tomorrow hit a roadblock Tuesday when a judge ruled that the city's Taxi and Limousine Commission went too far when it ordered operators to buy a only a single brand of vehicle.

The big loser in this case is Nissan, which has specially equipped its NV 200 as the "Taxi of Tomorrow" in a deal worth $1 billion over 10 years.

In an action brought by taxicab operators, state Supreme Court Justice Shlomo Hagler in Manhattan says the commission can't require the purchase of a particular vehicle under the city charter.

Nissan had gone to great lengths to try to outfit the perfect taxicab, with germ-killing seat upholstery, rear-seat video, big sliding doors and "low-annoyance" horns. Plus, the taxis are far more fuel efficient than the Ford Crown Victorias they replace. But at $29,700, the taxis are pricey.

Top 5 Construction Material Companies To Buy Right Now

Nissan issued a statement saying it is undeterred.

"We are disappointed in the court's decision, but it will not prevent our plan to start upgrading the NYC taxi fleet with the Nissan Taxi of Tomorrow at the end of the month," the statement says. "Given the specific NYC taxi research and development that we have conducted, we are confident that the Nissan taxi provides optimal safety, comfort and convenience for passengers and drivers alike. We are evaluating options for next steps regarding the exclusivity contract."

The court ruling opens the door to a raft of other automakers, many of whom already have footholds in the New York taxi fleet.

One is Ford, which just unveiled the 2014 version of its Transit Connect taxi. It has been scratching to stay in the New York market, where Transit Connects and Escape Hybrid SUVs are already part of the mix.

"Ford has consistently taken the position that a competitive market is in the best interest of the tax! i fleet and their customer," it said in a statement. "Ford has a proven track record of developing products that meet the needs of taxi fleets across the country and in New York City through continually improving our products in response to customer demands."

Contributing: The Associated Press