Top 5 Healthcare Equipment Stocks For 2014

It's 15,000 and beyond for the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJINDICES: ^DJI  ) this year as stocks have surged. Unemployment has fallen, the economy has risen steadily higher, and it looks like we're finally rising out of the shadow of the recession. If nothing else, investors have certainly capitalized with the markets' run-up.

Yet stocks haven't turned drastically expensive during this time. According to data compiled by the Financial Times, the Dow's P/E average remains at a manageable 15 even with its 14.3% rise this year. American stocks as a whole are a bit pricier, with an average P/E ratio of 17.9 according to the FT's data, but how do stocks here in the U.S compare with their international rivals?

Are U.S. stocks too expensive?
Surprisingly, you don't have to look to a certain type of economy -- whether growing or struggling -- to find similar valuations as the average American stock. Japan's stocks average a P/E ratio of 17.6, even as the country's Nikkei (NIKKEIINDICES: ^NI225  ) index has topped all competition this year by rising a whopping 31.7%. Easy money from Japan's massive stimulus program, brought about as new prime minister Shinzo Abe tries to reverse more than two decades of stagnation, have helped push the country's top firms ahead -- particularly banks and other financial institutions.

Top 5 Healthcare Equipment Stocks For 2014: Crocs Inc.(CROX)

Crocs, Inc. and its subsidiaries engage in the design, development, manufacture, marketing, and distribution of footwear, apparel, and accessories for men, women, and children. The company primarily offers casual and athletic shoes, and shoe charms. It also designs and sells a range of footwear and accessories that utilize its proprietary closed cell-resin, called Croslite. The company?s footwear products include boots, sandals, sneakers, mules, and flats. In addition, it provides footwear products for the hospital, restaurant, hotel, and hospitality markets, as well as general foot care and diabetic-needs markets. Further, the company offers leather and ethylene vinyl acetate based footwear, sandals, and printed apparels principally for the beach, adventure, and action sports markets; and accessories comprising snap-on charms. The company sells its products through the United States and international retailers and distributors, as well as directly to end-user consumers th rough its company-operated retail stores, outlets, kiosks, and Web stores primarily under the Crocs Work, Crocs Rx, Jibbitz, Ocean Minded, and YOU by Crocs brand names. As of December 31, 2010, it operated 164 retail kiosks located in malls and other high foot traffic areas; 138 retail stores; 76 outlet stores; and 46 Web stores. Crocs, Inc. operates in the Americas, Europe, and Asia. The company was formerly known as Western Brands, LLC and changed its name to Crocs, Inc. in January 2005. Crocs, Inc. was founded in 1999 and is headquartered in Niwot, Colorado.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Dan Caplinger]

  Stock investors got rewarded again for their risk tolerance Wednesday as major market benchmarks including the S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrials rose to new all-time record highs. Even amid the generally bullish sentiment, RealD (NYSE: RLD  ) , Crocs (NASDAQ: CROX  ) , and Sina (NASDAQ: SINA  ) stood out because of their impressive gains. Let's look more closely at these stocks to see why they soared today.

Top 5 Healthcare Equipment Stocks For 2014: Arch Therapeutics Inc (ARTH)

Arch Therapeutics, Inc. (Arch), formerly Almah, Inc., incorporated on September 16, 2009, operates as a life science company developing polymers containing peptides intended to form gel-like barriers over wounds to stop or control bleeding. Arch is a medical device company offering an approach to the rapid cessation of bleeding (hemostasis) and control of fluid leakage (sealant) during surgery and trauma care. Arch�� products are in preclinical development. The first product, AC5, is designed for hemostasis in minimally invasive (laparoscopic) and open surgical procedures.

AC5

AC5 is a synthetic peptide consisting of naturally occurring amino acids. When squirted or sprayed onto a wound, AC5 intercalates into the nooks and crannies of the connective tissue where it builds itself into a physical, mechanical structure. That structure provides a barrier to leaking substances, including blood and other bodily fluids, regardless of type of surgery or, based on early data, clotting ability.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By John Udovich]

  Small cap stocks Derma Sciences Inc (NASDAQ: DSCI), Oculus Innovative Sciences, Inc (NASDAQ: OCLS)�and Arch Therapeutics Inc (OTCBB: ARTH) specialize or have a focus on wound care���a medical problem that has plagued mankind since the dawn of time. After all and think back to our Civil War when disease along with infections resulting from improper wound care probably killed more soldiers than actual battles. Even today, infection after surgery or after receiving a wound or injury of any kind is still a constant threat. And then there is the scaring that can result from any sort of invasive surgery or injury. With those thoughts in mind, here are three small cap wound care stocks trying address these problems:

• [By Bryan Murphy]

  When traders think of post-surgical wound management stocks, they may first think of names like Cytomedix, Inc. (OTCBB:CMXI) or Alliqua Inc. (OTCMKTS:ALQA). And well they should. Both companies have something of a history in the arena. ALQA is the purveyor of SilverSeal and Hydress antibiotic bandages, while CMXI is the developer of the AutoloGel system, which induces an affected patient's on body to do what it's supposed to do if there's a wound that won't heal. Cytomedix also makes the Angel platelet-rich plasma (PRP) delivery system. There's a relatively new name to add to the list of game-changing stocks in wound-management industry, however.... Arch Therapeutics Inc. (OTCBB:ARTH). The company is developing - well, has developed - a product called AC5 that nips post-surgical bleeding in the bud, largely negating the need for other post-surgical bleeding-control measures.

• [By John Udovich]

  Laparoscopic surgery or minimally invasive surgery (MIS) is a type of surgical technique where�operations in the abdomen are performed through small incisions while small cap stocks ArthroCare Corporation (NASDAQ: ARTC), EDAP TMS S.A. (NASDAQ: EDAP), SafeStitch Medical Inc (OTCBB: SFES) and Arch Therapeutics Inc (OTCBB: ARTH) are all in some way focused on aiding minimally invasive procedures. According to a 2012 report produced by MedMarket Diligence, LLC, approximately 114 million surgical and procedure-based wounds occur annually worldwide,�including�36 million in the US, and perhaps�up to a quarter of these procedures can be described as laparoscopic in nature.�Moreover,�use of the technique is bound to increase�as�it reduces�pain and hemorrhaging plus leads to a�shorter recovery time.

Top Valued Companies To Invest In Right Now: China Mobile(Hong Kong)

China Mobile Limited, an investment holding company, provides mobile telecommunications and related services primarily in the Mainland China. It offers various services comprising local calls, domestic long distance calls, international long distance calls, domestic roaming, and international roaming. The company also provides voice value-added services, including caller identity display, caller restrictions, call waiting, call forwarding, call holding, voice mail, and conference calls; customer-to-customer messages and corporate short message services; and mobile Internet access services. In addition, it engages in other data businesses, which primarily include multimedia messaging services; color ring services that enable users to customize the answer ring tone from various selection of songs, melodies, sound effects, or voice recordings; and mobile reading, mobile gaming, mobile video, mobile payment/wallet, mobile TV, mobile market, and Internet data center services. F urther, the company offers telecommunications network planning, design, and consulting services; roaming clearance services; technology platform development and maintenance services; and mobile data solutions, and system integration and development services, as well as operates a network and business coordination center. Additionally, China Mobile Limited sells mobile phone handsets and devices. As of March 31, 2011, it served approximately 600.8 million customers. The company was formerly known as China Mobile (Hong Kong) Limited and changed its name to China Mobile Limited in May 2006. China Mobile was founded in 1997. The company is based in Central, Hong Kong, and is considered a Red Chip company due to its listing on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. China Mobile Limited is a subsidiary of China Mobile Hong Kong (BVI) Limited.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By GuruFocus]

  China Mobile Ltd. was incorporated under the laws of Hong Kong on Sept. 3, 1997, as a limited liability company under the name China Telecom (Hong Kong) Limited. China Mobile Ltd. has a market cap of $194.9 billion; its shares were traded at around $48.48 with a P/E ratio of 9.70 and P/S ratio of 2.20. The dividend yield of China Mobile Ltd. stocks is 4.20%. China Mobile Ltd. had an annual average earnings growth of 16.60% over the past 10 years. GuruFocus rated China Mobile Ltd.�the business predictability rank of 3.5-star.

Top 5 Healthcare Equipment Stocks For 2014: Boulder Brands Inc (BDBD)

Boulder Brands, Inc., incorporated on May 31, 2005, is a supplier of gluten-free and health and wellness products in the United States and Canada. The Company distributes its products in all retail channels, including natural, grocery, club and mass merchandise. The Company also has a presence in the foodservice and industrial channels. The Company�� product portfolio consists of spreads, milk and other grocery products marketed under the Smart Balance, Earth Balance and Bestlife brands, and gluten-free products sold under the Udi's, Glutino and Gluten-Free Pantry brands. The Company operates in two segments: Smart Balance and Natural. The Smart Balance segment consists of its branded products in spreads, butter, grocery and milk. The Natural segment consists of its Earth Balance, Glutino and Udi's branded products. In December 2013, the Company announced that it has acquired 100% interests of Phil's Fresh Foods, LLC, owner of EVOL Foods (EVOL).

Smart Balance Products

The Smart Balance line of products is available in a range of categories, formats and sizes in the supermarket, mass merchandise and convenience store channels of distribution. Some of the Company�� buttery spreads are also available in bulk and individual serving formats for use in the industrial and foodservice channels. The Company�� Smart Balance buttery spreads are made from a patented blend of natural oils to help balance fats in the consumer's diet and to help improve the good-to-bad cholesterol ratio when used as part of the Smart Balance Food Plan. Smart Balance Spreadable Butters, available in original, light and extra virgin olive oil varieties, are a blend of creamery fresh butter and canola oil that contain less saturated fat than butter, as well as functional ingredients like EPA/DHA Omega-3 and plant sterols.

The Company offers a range of enhanced milk products, with different varieties containing EPA/DHA Omega-3s, plant sterols, and added levels of calcium and protein. The Comp! any use low and fat-free milks enhanced with non-fat milk solids to give the taste and texture of whole or reduced fat milk. The Company�� milk varieties include fat-free milk, 1% lowfat milk and lactose-free milk and are available in markets across the United States. The Company�� peanut butter products contain ALA Omega-3 from flax oil. The Company�� cooking oil and cooking sprays are designed for use in cooking, baking and salads to aid in avoiding trans fat and hydrogenated oils. The Company also markets a Smart Balance Buttery Burst Spray. The spray has zero calories, zero carbs and zero fats per serving and can be used as a pan spray or as a topping.

The Company�� Smart Balance Light Mayonnaise Dressing has half the fat of regular mayonnaise, is non-hydrogenated, contains zero grams of trans fat and contains natural plant sterols and ALA Omega-3. The Company created the Smart Balance Food Plan, incorporating many of its Smart Balance products, in order to help consumers achieve a healthy balance of natural fats in their daily diet. The plan includes menus, as well as numerous recipes.

Natural

The Earth Balance line of products offers a range of buttery spreads, sticks, soymilks, nut butters and vegan mayo dressings formulated for consumers interested in natural, plant based and organic products. Glutino offers a range of shelf stable and frozen gluten-free products, including snack foods, frozen baked goods, frozen entrees and baking mixes, throughout the United States and Canada. Glutino also offers a range of fresh breads under the Genius brand name. Based in Denver, Colorado, Udi's markets gluten-free products under the Udi's Gluten Free Foods brand in the retail market. The Company owns and operates a health and wellness, subscripton-based Website at www.thebestlife.com, which is based on the philosophies of Bob Greene.

The Company competes with Unilever, ConAgra Foods, Dean Foods, Land O' Lakes, Hain Celestial Group, Inc., Food for L! ife, Van'! s, Nature's Path, Mary's Gone Crackers, Enjoy Life, Pamela's Gluten Free, Rudi's Gluten-Free, French Meadow Bakery, Schar, Kinnikinnick, Amy's Gluten Free, Snyder's, Blue Diamond Gluten-Free, Bob's Red Mill Gluten-Free and Food Should Taste Good.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Ben Levisohn]

  Shares of Hain have gained 2.2% to $79.91 today at 11:13 a.m–and trumping other health-food stocks today.� Annie’s Homegrown (BNNY) has ticked up 0.4% to $49.61, Boulder Brands (BDBD) has risen 0.6% to $15.96 and Whitewave Foods (WWAV) has dropped 1.3% to� $18.93.

• [By David Sterman]

  Although shares of Boulder Brands (Nasdaq: BDBD) are up more than 60% since then, Home Loan Servicing (Nasdaq: HLSS) has merely treaded water while Swift Energy has continued its downward ascent.

Top 5 Healthcare Equipment Stocks For 2014: PowerShares WilderHill Clean Energy Portfolio (PBW)

PowerShares WilderHill Clean Energy Portfolio (the Fund) is based on the WilderHill Clean Energy Index and seeks investment results that correspond generally to the price and yield (before the Fund�� fees and expenses) of that equity index. The sectors covered by the Fund include Energy-Alternate Sources, Semiconductors, Electrical Components and Equipment, Chemicals, Electric, Electronics, Computers, Auto Parts and Equipment, Biotechnology and Agriculture. PowerShares Capital Management LLC is the Fund's investment adviser.

PowerShares WilderHill Clean Energy Portfolio�� top 10 holdings include SunPower Corp., Class A, Echelon Corp., Cypress Semiconductor Corp., Cree, Inc., First Solar, Inc., OM Group, Inc., Universal Display Corp., KYOCERA Corp. ADR (Japan), Suntech Power Holdings Co., Ltd. ADR (Cayman Islands) and Applied Materials, Inc.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Selena Maranjian]

  Exchange-traded funds offer a convenient way to invest in sectors or niches that interest you. If you'd like to add some clean-energy-related stocks to your portfolio, the PowerShares WilderHill Clean Energy Portfolio ETF (NYSEMKT: PBW  ) could save you a lot of trouble. Instead of trying to figure out which companies will perform best, you can use this ETF to invest in lots of them simultaneously.
  
  The basics
  ETFs often sport lower expense ratios than their mutual fund cousins. The PowerShares ETF's expense ratio -- its annual fee -- is 0.70%. The fund is fairly small, too, so if you're thinking of buying, beware of possibly large spreads between its bid and ask prices. Consider using a limit order if you want to buy in.

• [By Wall Street Sector Selector]

  Another ETF which invests in the solar sector is the PowerShares WilderHill Clean Energy ETF (PBW). Although its holdings are not limited to the solar sector, its most significant holding is SunPower Corporation at 4.96% of the weight. Its number three holding is MEMC Electronic Materials at 3.42% of the weight. PBW's average trading volume is robust at over 400,000 shares per day. Its market cap is $135 million.

Mexican Restaurants Squeezed by Surging Lime Prices

Best Chemical Stocks For 2014

Katherine Frey/The Washington Post via Getty Images SAN ANTONIO -- Mexican restaurants in the United States are being squeezed by a sudden jump in the price of limes, an essential ingredient, which has led managers in places like San Antonio that are a hotbed for the cuisine to alter recipes. "Mexico received some heavy rains that destroyed a large amount of the lime crop, so with limited supplies we are seeing lime prices skyrocket," Bryan Black, director of communications for the Texas Department of Agriculture, said on Thursday. Texas like most U.S. states receives most of their limes form Mexico. John Berry, who runs La Fonda, a prominent Mexican restaurant in San Antonio, said Thursday the price he pays for a case of limes has jumped to nearly $100 from $14 last year. "Real simple," Berry said. "We don't buy them. We substitute lemons." Limes are used in guacamole and to garnish beers. Serving a margarita without a lime garnish is burning at the heart of Louis Barrios, who runs the family-owned Mexican restaurant chain "Los Barrios." But he's doing without. "Ninety nine percent of the time, people don't squeeze it into the margarita anyway," Barrios says. A combination of factors has prompted the spike in lime prices. Most limes consumed in the United States come from the Mexican states of Oaxaca, Colima, and Guerrero, which have been hit by an unusual combination of cold weather and flooding, wholesalers said. Shipments have also been disrupted by violence attributed to drug gangs, they said. The high prices aren't expected to end any time soon, according to wholesalers. Pre-made soups can contain a large number of ingredients containing GMOs. For instance, Campbell's (CPB) popular condensed Tomato Soup lists high fructose corn syrup as its second biggest ingredient. According to the Non-GMO Project, nearly 88 percent of all corn planted in the United States is GMO.

Why the Average McDonald's Makes Twice as Much as Burger King

Alamy McDonald's (MCD) may recently have struggled to lure customers, but it still does far more business at each location than rival burger chains. The average McDonald's restaurant in the U.S. drew $2.6 million in revenue last year. Average sales for No. 2 chain Burger King (BKW): $1.2 million, according to data from its largest franchisee, Carrols Restaurant Group (TAST). What accounts for this more-than-a-million gap? "Everything from marketing and site selection to product initiatives and franchisee selection have been historical factors," said Nick Setyan, vice president in charge of equity research at Wedbush Securities, in an email. Here are four factors that drive higher sales volumes at McDonald's: 1. McDonald's gets more customers during off-peak hours. Look no further than the strength of its breakfast business relative that of Burger King, says Darren Tristano, executive vice president at restaurant consultancy Technomic. Egg McMuffin is part of the fast-food vocabulary in a way Burger King can't match. And beverage and snack offerings such as McCafe and wraps have helped increase McDonald's sales between meals. The dramatic impact from off-peak business explains why chains such as Taco Bell (YUM) are entering the battle for morning customers, while others such as Starbucks (SBUX) are seeking more afternoon and evening business. 2. The power of the Happy Meal. McDonald's has the largest share of kids meal sales in the fast-food industry and gets about 10 percent of total sales from Happy Meals, the most commonly advertised child-oriented fast-food item on television. Burger King, meanwhile, is still trying to win back "parties with kids and seniors and women," said Josh Kobza, Burger King's chief financial officer, at a conference last year. One way to do that: "We got rid of the creepy king character that tended to scare away women and children." 3. McDonald's has an edge on efficiency. Despite recent operational challenges at McDonald's, which have slowed down service, it is still more efficient. Its drive-through service can handle more cars at peak times, Tristano says, and McDonald's restaurants are adding a third service window to get customers through even faster. The average service time at McDonald's drive-throughs is 189.49 seconds, compared to 198.48 at Burger King, according to QSR Magazine. Drive-through service is important: Burger King franchisee Carrols gets 65 percent of its sales from the drive-through. 4. More marketing dollars. McDonald's spends a lot more on marketing than competitors, as Tristano points out. Its advertising costs in 2012 were $787.5 million vs. Burger King's $48.3 million, and the gap widened last year when Burger King itself spent only a few million on advertising in order to focus on equipment updates. In its 10-K submission, Burger King said it expects to spend less on advertising until 2016; the company declined to comment for this story. -.

5 Best Growth Stocks To Buy For 2014

Tucked away at the McDonald's C.O.B. — or Campus Office Building — is the test kitchen, where the fast food chain comes up with all sorts of products.

Best Stocks Update: VIG’s Time Is Coming

Popular Posts: Best Stocks Update: VIG’s Time Is Coming Recent Posts: Best Stocks Update: VIG’s Time Is Coming VIG – Your Best Way to Navigate Rockier Waters in 2014 View All Posts

Editor's note: This column is the latest update in our Best Stocks for 2014 contest. Brendan Conway’s pick for the contest is the Vanguard Dividend Appreciation ETF (VIG).

The word is right in my fund's name, but it ain't happening yet. Vanguard Dividend Appreciation ETF (VIG) is down by 0.3% in 2014 at this writing versus the S&P 500's 1.4% total return.

My Best Stocks for 2014 entry these days is weighed down by lackluster returns in massive stocks like Exxon Mobil (XOM), Chevron (CVX) and Walmart (WMT), and disappointment in the retail sector. Fortunately, VIG isn't about shooting the moon — it's about favorable risk-adjusted returns.

The year is shaping up as a rocky one, with signs that momentum investors are getting exhausted. That's good for the relative returns of a pick like VIG. The ETF's standard deviation over the last six months is 10.67%, which is in the 93rd percentile of the market's roughly 1,000 equity exchange-traded funds, XTF.com data show. This just underscores the port-in-a-storm quality to VIG that helped it beat the index in a difficult 2011 and suffer less than competitors in 2008.

If the market gets rockier, you can expect investors to flock to megacap stocks and dividend payers, both of which are present here. At the same time, we'll participate nicely in a rising market, too, should that happen instead.

Now have a look at what momo investors are facing as of late March: a 12% one-month slump in the high-flying biotechnology sector, trouble for social media stocks and the apparent exhaustion of another 2013 winner, solar energy.

Top Solar Stocks To Buy For 2014

Since early February, the chart of this contest's early leader, Tesla (TSLA), looks like the Matterhorn.

So stick around. A year isn't a long time, but three months is practically a blink of an eye.

View the full list of Best Stocks for 2014 picks here.

As of this writing, Brendan Conway did not hold a position in any of the aforementioned securities. More of his writing can be found at Barron's Focus on Funds blog.

Facebook Enters the Matrix, Buys Oculus VR for $2 Billion

Matthew Lloyd/Bloomberg via Getty ImagesGamers wear high-definition virtual reality headsets, manufactured by Oculus VR, at an expo in London. Facebook (FB) has announced one of the most peculiar acquisitions in its 10-year history. It has agreed to buy virtual reality headset maker Oculus VR for $2 billion in cash and stock. "There are not that many companies building technologies that can be the next major computer platform," said Facebook Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg in a conference call with investors. "We are making a long-term bet that immersive virtual reality will be a part of people's lives." I recently wrote about Oculus, which is developing the Rift virtual reality system for PCs. It's racing against Sony (SNE), which also has its own prototype VR technology, called Project Morpheus, for the PlayStation 4. The Rift, which looks like a thick pair of darkened goggles, lets gamers immerse themselves in a rich, computer-generated 3D world. It's not yet for sale in stores, but the company just unveiled a kit for developers, which sells for $350. The startup, based in Irvine, Calif., was founded by the excellently named 21-year-old Palmer Lucky. It has one of the most famous game developers in the world as its chief technology officer -- John Carmack, the maker of iconic shoot-'em-ups Doom and Quake. So imagine chatting with your Facebook friends not just via instant messages or VoIP calls, but by settling into a virtual cafe with them for an imaginary cup of coffee. Or visiting a doctor halfway across the world and explaining your symptoms in a virtual examination room. Remember Second Life? Like that, but with electronic headwear. For now, the Rift is aimed at gamers. But Zuckerberg seems to be paying more attention to the Rift's other potential uses. He writes:

Best Cheapest Stocks For 2014

After games, we're going to make Oculus a platform for many other experiences. Imagine enjoying a court side seat at a game, studying in a classroom of students and teachers all over the world or consulting with a doctor face-to-face -- just by putting on goggles in your home. This is really a new communication platform. By feeling truly present, you can share unbounded spaces and experiences with the people in your life. Imagine sharing not just moments with your friends online, but entire experiences and adventures.

Facebook stock dropped slightly in after-hours trading on the announcement. It recently announced an acquisition of text-messaging company WhatsApp for $16 billion. Oculus raised $91 million from investors such as Andreessen Horowitz. Chris Dixon, a partner at the venture capital firm, said he didn't quite believe in the Rift until he visited the company's headquarters and tried it on for the first time. He says he was instantly sold and compared previous attempts at VR to the ill-fated Apple Newton in the 1990s: "People in tech knew we would have handheld computers. The only question was when." In VR, he added, "The reality is that the technology -- like screens, sensors, and software -- hasn't been good enough until now." (Bloomberg LP, the parent of Bloomberg Businessweek, is an investor in Andreessen Horowitz.) Dixon's bet, and now Facebook's, is that the Rift is the iPhone for virtual reality. And the acquisition gives Facebook a way to combat Google (GOOG), Amazon (AMZN), and others in the hardware business.

Hot US Stocks To Own Right Now

U.K. stocks fell for the first time in four days, led by a selloff in mining companies, as base metals declined and U.S. economic growth trailed forecasts.

Rio Tinto Group and Anglo American Plc (AAL) retreated more than 2.5 percent as copper and lead declined. Eurasian Natural Resources Corp. (ENRC) sank 6.8 percent as analysts downgraded the shares. Standard Life Plc slipped 1.2 percent as Chief Financial Officer Jackie Hunt resigned to move to a rival insurer. Ocado Group Plc (OCDO) fell for the first day this week as the online grocer ruled out a takeover by William Morrison Supermarkets Plc.

The FTSE 100 (UKX) Index lost 16.17 points, or 0.3 percent, to 6,426.42 at the close in London. The benchmark gauge is still up 2.2 percent this week, the biggest advance since Jan. 4, amid speculation the European Central Bank will cut interest rates next week. The broader FTSE All-Share Index fell 0.3 percent today, and Ireland�� ISEQ Index slid 1 percent.

�� am a little bit cautious in the short term,��said Ian Williams, a market strategist at Peel Hunt LLP in London. �� am not surprised we have see a bit of a flattening out in the market. Next week, the macro calender is packed. There are quite a few banana skins, so I would be pulling back on some of the more bullish positions.��

Hot US Stocks To Own Right Now: Texas Instruments Incorporated(TXN)

Texas Instruments Incorporated engages in the design and sale of semiconductors to electronics designers and manufacturers worldwide. The company?s Analog segment offers high-performance analog products comprising standard analog semiconductors, such as amplifiers, data converters, and interface semiconductors; high-volume analog and logic products; and power management semiconductors and line-powered systems. Its Embedded Processing segment includes DSPs that perform mathematical computations to process and enhance digital data; and microcontrollers, which are designed to control a set of specific tasks for electronic equipment. The company?s Wireless segment designs, manufactures, and sells application processors and connectivity products. Its Other segment offers smaller semiconductor products, which include DLP products that are primarily used in projectors to create high-definition images; and application-specific integrated circuits. This segment also provides handhe ld graphing and scientific calculators, as well as licenses technologies to other electronic companies. The company serves the communications, computing, industrial, consumer electronics, automotive, and education sectors. Texas Instruments Incorporated sells its products through a direct sales force, distributors, and third-party sales representatives. It has collaboration agreements with PLX Technology Inc.; Neonode, Inc.; and Ubiquisys Ltd. The company was founded in 1938 and is headquartered in Dallas, Texas.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Dan Caplinger]

  Texas Instruments (NASDAQ: TXN  ) will release its quarterly report next Monday, but shareholders already have seen the stock soar to levels it hasn't seen in years. The question for investors, though, is whether Texas Instruments earnings can finally start growing at a fast-enough pace to justify further share-price gains in the future.

• [By Monica Gerson]

  Texas Instruments (NASDAQ: TXN) is projected to post its Q4 earnings at $0.46 per share on revenue of $2.99 billion.

  Halliburton Company (NYSE: HAL) is expected to report its Q4 earnings at $0.89 per share on revenue of $7.55 billion.

Hot US Stocks To Own Right Now: Grana y Montero SAA (GRAM)

Grana y Montero SAA is a Peru-based holding company primarily engaged in the four business areas: Construction and Engineering Industry, Real Estate, Oil Services, and Operation of Public Concessions and Business Support Services. Through its subsidiaries, the Company provides such services as the development and management of real estate properties and leisure facilities; the exploration, production and sale of oil, natural gas and its derivates; the storage and distribution of combustibles; information technology services; engineering consultancy; the operation and maintenance of rails and roads concessions; as well as the execution and management of projects related to the generation of electric power; among others. The Company owns such subsidiaries as GMD SA, Concar SA, Survial SA, Norvial SA and Promotores Asociados de Inmobiliarios SA, among others. Advisors' Opinion:

• [By alicet236]

  Grana y Montero SAA (GRAM) Reached the Five-Year Low of $20.90

  The prices of Grana y Montero SAA (GRAM) shares have declined to close to the five-year low of $20.90, which is 17.3% off the five-year high of $22.14. Grana y Montero SAA is owned by four Gurus we are tracking. Among them, four have added to their positions during the past quarter. Zero reduced their positions. Grana y Montero SAA was established in Peru on August 12, 1996 as a result of the equity spin-off of Inversiones GyM S. Grana Y Montero Saa has a market cap of $2.75 billion; its shares were traded at around $20.90 with a P/E ratio of 24.60 and P/S ratio of 1.24.

Top High Dividend Companies To Buy For 2014: Arrow Electronics Inc. (ARW)

Arrow Electronics, Inc. provides products, services, and solutions to industrial and commercial users of electronic components and enterprise computing solutions worldwide. It operates in two segments, Global Components and Global Enterprise Computing Solutions. The Global Components segment distributes electronic components and related services to original equipment manufacturers and contract manufacturers. This segment provides online catalogs for electronic components; cloud-based design tools that expedite product development cycles; factory-direct end-of-life product inventory; reverse logistics; and electronics asset disposition solutions to redeploy, remarket, and recycle technology assets. Its products and services include semiconductor products and related services; passive, electro-mechanical, and interconnect products consisting primarily of capacitors, resistors, potentiometers, power supplies, relays, switches, and connectors; computing and memory; and other p roducts and services. The Global Enterprise Computing Solutions segment provides enterprise and midrange computing products, services, and solutions to value-added resellers; and unified communications products and related services, as well as cloud computing, security, and networking services. It also offers a suite of online supply chain tools. The company�s customers include manufacturers of consumer and industrial equipment, telecommunications products, automotive and transportation, aerospace and defense, scientific and medical devices, and computer and office products, as well as value-added resellers of enterprise computing solutions. The company was founded in 1935 and is headquartered in Englewood, Colorado.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Monica Wolfe]

  Arrow Electronics Inc (ARW)

  FPA Capital's third largest stock holding is in Arrow Electronics. The guru holds on to a total of 1,515,500 shares of Arrow, representing 1.51% of the company�� shares outstanding and 9.2% of his total portfolio.

• [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 Arrow Electronics (NYSE: ARW  ) , whose recent revenue and earnings are plotted below.

Hot US Stocks To Own Right Now: Atech Holdings Ltd (ATH)

ATech Holdings Limited is an Australia-based company. As of June 30, 2010, the Company was engaged in the investment of its cash reserves. The Company�� controlled entities include SEAA (151 Sturt St, South Melbourne) Pty Limited and SEAA (Boronia) Pty Limited. Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Eric Lam]

  Athabasca Oil Corp. (ATH), which is seeking a joint-venture partner for its Duvernay holdings, jumped 9.3 percent to C$7.97, the most in seven weeks.

Hot US Stocks To Own Right Now: ANA Holdings Inc (ALNPF)

ANA HOLDINGS INC., formerly All Nippon Airways Co., Ltd., is a Japan-based airline holding company. Its Air Transportation segment is engaged in the air transportation business, the provision of various services at airports, the provision of reservation services via telephone, the freight express business, and the maintenance of aircrafts in domestic and overseas markets. The Traveling segment plans and sells tour packages under the brand names ANA Hello Tour and ANA Sky Holiday, it also offers services to travelers at arrival areas and sells travel products and air tickets. The Others segment involves in the information communication, trading and merchandise business, building management, logistics and airplane fixture repair business, and hotel operation. On March 4 and March 5, 2013, it fully acquired all shares of one and two consolidated subsidiaries through stock swap, respectively, made them become wholly-owned subsidiaries. Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Daniel Inman]

  In Tokyo, ANA Holdings (JP:9202) � (ALNPF) �declined 4.7% after the airline lowered its 2013 fiscal-year net profit forecast by 65% on higher fuel costs and slow service expansion because of delays in Boeing (BA) �787 Dreamliner deliveries.

Hot US Stocks To Own Right Now: Digital Power Corp (DPW)

Digital Power Corporation (Digital), incorporated in 1969, is a solution-driven organization that designs, develops, manufactures and sells high-grade customized and flexible power system solutions for the demanding applications in the medical, military, telecom and industrial markets. It also has a wholly owned subsidiary, Digital Power Limited (DPL), which operates under the brand name of Gresham Power Electronics (Gresham). DPL is located in Salisbury, England, and it designs, manufactures and sells power products and system solutions mainly for the European marketplace, including power conversion, power distribution equipment, direct current/active current (DC/AC) inverters and uninterrupted power supply (UPS) products. DPL�� defense business has specialists in the field of naval applications of power distribution conversion. It markets and sells its products to many diverse market segments, including the telecom, industrial, medical and military/defense industries. Its products serve a global market, with an emphasis on North America and Europe. The Company offers a product variety, including a full custom product design and production, high-speed switching power front-end, modified-standard and value added products, open-frame, Compact-PCI, ATSC front-ends and power over Ethernet (PoE) product solutions, providing power output from 50 to 24,000 watts. On June 16, 2011 the Company has acquired Telkoor Telecom Ltd.

Power System Solutions

The Company provides custom power system solutions, high-grade flexibility series power supply products and value-added services to diverse industries and markets, including military/defense, telecom, medical and industrial. It provides high-grade custom power system solutions to numerous customers in multiple industry segments. Each custom solution that it develops is based on high power density and a special layout to meet each of its customer�� operation environments where efficiency, size and performance are key.

Di! gital Power Limited (Gresham Power Electronics)

DPL designs, manufactures, and distributes switching power supplies, uninterruptible power supplies, and power conversion and distribution equipment frequency converters for the commercial and military markets, under the name Gresham. Frequency converters manufactured by Gresham are used by navel warships to convert their generated 60-cycle electricity supply to 400 cycles. This 400-cycle supply is used to power their critical equipment such as gyro, compass, and weapons systems. Gresham also designs and manufactures transformer rectifiers for naval use. Typically, these provide battery supported back up for critical DC systems, such as machinery and communications. In addition, higher power rectifiers are used for the starting and servicing of helicopters on naval vessels, and Gresham supplies these as part of overall helicopter start and servicing systems.

The Company competes with Power-One, Emerson (Astec) Technologies, Inc., Lambda Electronics, and Mean-Well Power Supplies.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Robert Wall]

  One of the country�� largest employers with more than 150,000 staff, Royal Mail has shifted away from letters to more lucrative package shipping, competing with TNT Express NV (TNTE) of the Netherlands and Deutsche Post AG (DPW)�� DHL Express.

Hot US Stocks To Own Right Now: Sterling Consolidated Corp (STCC)

Sterling Consolidated Corp., incorporated on January 31, 2011, is a holding company. The Company�� operations are conducted through its four subsidiaries: Sterling Seal & Supply, Inc. (Sterling Seal), ADDR Properties, LLC (ADDR), Q5 Ventures, LLC (Q5), and Integrity Cargo Freight Corporation (Integrity). The Company through its subsidiary, Sterling Seal engages primarily in the distribution and sale of O-rings, rubber seals, oil seals, custom molded rubber parts, custom Teflon parts, Teflon rods, O-ring cord, bonded seals, O-ring kits, and stuffing box sealant. The Company also owns real property through its subsidiaries ADDR and Q5. In addition, the Company�� subsidiary Integrity Cargo Freight Corporation (Integrity) is a freight forwarding business. In September 2013, the Company announced the acquisition of Superior Seals and Service in High Point, NC.

Sterling Seal sells directly to smaller distributors and original equipment manufacturers in need of seals. It offers a catalogue of standard sizes, and will take orders for special sizes not available in the standard catalogue. O-rings and the other products that Sterling Seal sells are used in a variety of industries, including automotive, pump, transmissions, oil and energy, machinery, and packaging. Integrity are primarily responsible for transporting products the Company order from its suppliers back to its warehouse in Neptune, NJ. After Sterling Seal confirms from its supplier that a product is ready to be picked up, Integrity Cargo is responsible for picking up the products and getting them to the dock and delivered to the Sterling Seal warehouse. ADDR owns a 28,000 square foot facility in Neptune, NJ. Q5 Ventures, LLC owns a 5,000 square foot facility in Apopka, Florida, which is used by Sterling Seal for its Florida operations.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Peter Graham]

  Small cap stocks Pulse Network Inc (OTCBB: TPNI), Sterling Consolidated Corp (OTCBB: STCC) and diaDexus, Inc (OTCMKTS: DDXS) have or could start to sizzle for investors. However, I should also mention that two of these stocks have been the subject of paid promotions while a third apparently has not been, and could be the real deal. With that in mind, here is a closer look along with a quick reality check about all three small caps to help you decide whether they are hot or not:

Hot US Stocks To Own Right Now: IDGlobal Corp (IDGC)

ID Global Corporation (IDGC), incorporated on March 1, 2006, is a diversified holdings company with a focus on emerging and middle market investment opportunities in North America. The Company seeks to invest in emerging and private companies. The Company acts as a catalyst between the companies to raise and infuse capital when required.

The Company offers finance, social media and eco friendly products so that companies can independently manage and operate their business. IDGC through its debt and equity investments, controls interests in private companies, as well as special situation start-ups.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Peter Graham]

  Small cap stocks IDGlobal Corp (OTCMKTS: IDGC), Embarr Downs Inc (OTCMKTS: EMBR) and SourcingLink.net, Inc (OTCMKTS: SNET) have been getting some extra attention in various investment newsletters or investor alerts lately as at least two of these stocks have been the subject of paid promotions or other types of investor relations activities. Of course, there is nothing wrong with properly disclosed promotions or investor relations activities. But just how hot are these two small cap stocks? Here is a closer look and a quick reality check:

Hot US Stocks To Own Right Now: Lorillard Inc(LO)

Lorillard, Inc., through its subsidiaries, engages in the manufacture and sale of cigarettes in the United States. The company offers 43 different product offerings under the Newport, Kent, True, Maverick, and Old Gold brand names. Lorillard, Inc. sells its products primarily to wholesale distributors, who in turn service retail outlets, chain store organizations, and government agencies, including the United States? Armed Forces. The company was founded in 1760 and is headquartered in Greensboro, North Carolina.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Shauna O'Brien]

  Shares of Lorillard Inc. (LO) dipped on Wednesday morning after the company reported earnings below analysts’ estimates.�

  LO’s Earnings in Brief�

  LO posted Q4 earnings of�$293 million, down from $309 million a year ago. On a per share basis, earnings remained flat at 80 cents due to less shares outstanding in the most recent quarter. Excluding special items, earnings were 82 cents per share, up from 79 cents per share last year. On average, analysts expected LO to report earnings of 86 cents per share. Sales for the quarter rose to�$1.74 billion from $1.70 billion in the same quarter last year. Analysts expected to see sales of $1.31 billion.

  CEO Commentary

  LO’s chairman, president, and CEO, Murray S. Kessler, said in a statement:�”Lorillard delivered industry leading double digit EPS growth and its eleventh consecutive year of market share growth in 2013 while the Company concurrently made investments in electronic cigarettes, new cigarette products, and made process changes to smooth wholesale inventory fluctuations in the fourth quarter.�These investments, combined with the remarkable strength and loyalty of the core Newport brand, give us confidence in our ability to deliver on our stated goal of a double digit total shareholder return as measured by EPS growth and the dividend yield once again in 2014 and for many years to come.”

  LO’s Dividend

  LO did not mention its next quarterly dividend, but we expect the company to make a dividend announcement sometime in February. The company made its last dividend payment of 55 cents on December 10.

  Stock Performance�

  Lorillard shares were down 94 cents, or 1.88%, during pre-market trading Wednesday. The stock is down 1.44% YTD.

• [By Sean Williams]

  Few domestic tobacco producers are prospering, with the exception of Lorillard (NYSE: LO  ) , which has seen a decade's worth of market share gains thanks in large part to the success of its premium Newport brands and its discount brands such as Maverick. Unfortunately for much of Big Tobacco, what gains these companies do see in the volume of discount cigarette sales, they are losing in their margins, which are often much lower than premium brands, making it much tougher for tobacco companies to simply maintain their profits as the number of smokers slowly dwindles.

• [By John Udovich]

  There is a new ��tudy��out that electronic cigarettes, or so-called e-cigarettes or e-cigs, may contain a comparable level of carcinogens to regular cigarettes; but that�� unlikely to stop big tobacco stocks like Altria Group Inc (NYSE: MO), Lorillard Inc (NYSE: LO) and Reynolds American, Inc (NYSE: RAI) who are rushing to get their products established in the sector. Specifically, a report released this week �in France�� National Consumer Institute magazine claims that�many e-cigarettes (approximately�3 in 10 e-cigarettes) actually contain "a significant quantity of carcinogenic molecules" than had been reported in earlier studies while the Wall Street Journal has recently reported that the FDA has been in discussions with the e-cigarette industry about a possible online-sales ban of the product. The Journal also noted estimates that US�electronic cigarette sales will hit the $1 billion mark this year while Wells Fargo Securities���onnie Herzog predicts sales could hit $10 billion in five years as smokers switch from tobacco to battery-operated nicotine-vaporizing technology. Moreover, electronic cigarettes don�� face the same sort of restrictions as their smoke emitting counterparts���meaning they are bound to catch on with the country�� 45 million or so smokers given the increasingly draconian smoking laws.

• [By Dan Caplinger]

  As I observed earlier this week, the entire cigarette industry has been under siege from regulatory and public health authorities. Altria's rivals Reynolds American (NYSE: RAI  ) and Lorillard (NYSE: LO  ) were able to defeat an FDA proposal to force them to show graphic warnings on cigarette packs, but between negative ad campaigns and new attempts to eliminate tobacco display cases in New York City stores, Altria isn't getting any help in fighting a long-term trend of declining U.S. cigarette volume.

Apple, Comcast accept inevitability of…

Apple may have finally found a TV content partner that can flex some muscle.

After years of trying but largely failing to launch its own smart TV product that can satisfy a wide band of audience, Apple may be joining hands with Comcast, the largest pay-TV provider in the U.S.

The two companies are in early stage talks to offer live TV and on-demand video through Apple's set-top box -- perhaps its current Apple TV device --- in dedicated cables for Comcast customers, according to a report by The Wall Street Journal Monday.

The new device presumably would be offered as an option along with Comcast's own X1 set-top box, now required for its video customers. The new option would allow Comcast to generate revenue from "cord-cutters," who may only want Internet service and not the pay-TV video portion of their monthly subscription.

Apple and Comcast declined to comment.

If true, it's the latest piece of evidence that cable companies are acknowledging and reacting to the inevitability of live-TV streaming over the Internet. Rather than being resigned to customers ditching pay TV, traditional TV service providers are becoming more pro-active in finding hardware partners to stream video content perhaps even beyond the limited geographical markets where they operate.

For proponents of net neutrality -- the principle that Internet providers shouldn't discriminate against various types of content, so long as they're legal -- the deal also highlights the level of influence Internet providers have in deciding how video is distributed through their pipes.

In the arrangement, the content streamed through Apple's device would "get special treatment on Comcast's cables to ensure it bypasses congestion on the Web," the WSJ report said.

Comcast would gain a hardware partner known for its elegant design in seeking to expand its TV-over-the-Net initiative. Apple, after years of failing to broaden its video menu beyond a few partners, gets access to Comcast's wide array of progra! mming.

"A deal like this is what Apple has needed from the beginning," said Peter Csathy, CEO of Manatt Digital Media Ventures, a digital media consulting company. "It only makes sense if they get all the live-TV channels, especially ESPN. They've not been able to effectively negotiate on its own."

While cable operators are currently limited to its designated markets, Comcast may be eyeing this deal as a way to offer live-TV nationally, Csathy says. There are no rules that would prohibit Comcast to offer TV-over-the-Internet in a competitor's market, he says. "Apple will be in the TV game. Comcast can either take the lead or follow," Csathy said.

Comcast's ability to stream its TV programming nationally depends on the distribution rights. While content owners generally place some limit on the markets where their shows can be distributed, pay-TV providers are increasingly seeking national distribution rights. "Apple's iTV could be (a system of) programming by Comcast through the cable Internet offered by another ISP in that market. That's a beautiful thing for Comcast."

The news of the talks comes at an awkward time for Comcast. The Philadelphia-based company is trying to persuade federal regulators to approve its proposed $45 billion agreement to buy Time Warner Cable, the second largest pay-TV provider in the U.S. The prospect of the two companies' merger and enlarging their market share to 30% of the U.S. pay-TV market has prompted heavy opposition from consumer advocates who worry about the combined company's potential ability to assert influence over content makers and raise prices.

The prospect of Comcast working with Apple might send a signal to regulators that the larger Comcast "might be willing to work with people and they are not going to be a monolith that's going to go their own way on all matters," says Phil Swann, president of TVPredictions.com.

Comcast also struck a deal recently with Netflix to receive payment in exchange for a more direct path for the! popular ! streaming service to send its movies to Comcast's network. The arrangement would result in quicker, smoother streaming of Netflix's content for Comcast customers.

But net neutrality proponents say the deal could lead to more pay-to-play agreements that may leave smaller video providers out in the cold. Even Netflix CEO Reed Hastings said last week that he agreed to the deal "reluctantly" and urged regulators to establish stronger net neutrality rules.

In buying a majority stake in NBC Universal, Comcast agreed in 2011 to several FCC mandates that last seven years, including a pledge to not discriminate against third-party programs that seek access to Comcast's distribution channels.

But Comcast can get around the pledge by labeling the content streamed through Apple's device as a "managed service," which is exempt from the FCC-ordered mandates. "Those services travel on a special portion of the cable pipe that is separate from the more congested portion reserved for public Internet access," the WSJ report said.

The managed services exception was never defined clearly as the FCC granted Comcast its mandates, now allowing Apple and Comcast to test the limits, says Michael Weinberg, acting co-president of technology consumer advocacy group Public Knowledge,

"We said in 2010 that there's always the possibility it's an exception that swallows the rule," he said. "Internet service providers can declare anything managed services, but hopefully the FCC can say no. It's potentially very broad."

Weinberg also questioned the timing of the news, saying it supports the Comcast-TWC merger opponents' arguments. "This deal seems to draws more attention to Comcast's gate-keeping position, especially when a new video service wants to come in," Weinberg said. "All the incentives that cause an Internet service provider to upgrade the work is inverted if they're getting paid by (a video content provider) to get around those problems.

5 tax tips for soon-to-be retirees

Jerry sits near the door at the last stop for retirees and others who are receiving free tax help one cold, but sunny, March day at City Hall in Warren, Mich. He makes sure the tax filers authorize that returns can be electronically filed and he reviews returns, too.

At 91, he's been volunteering nearly 31 years to prepare taxes for the AARP Foundation Tax-Aide service.

"I was doing it when we did it on paper," said Jerry, who, like other volunteers, goes by just a first name. The volunteers do not use a last name because they don't want to be called at home to answer tax questions or track down refunds.

Many retirees and those on modest incomes who use the free services appreciate being able to save $200 or more on tax preparation, even if they need to make a second trip to a tax site because the time slots for the free service fill up quickly.

FREE HELP: Find free tax teturn preparation for qualified taxpayers

The volunteers see it all. Some tax filers pack their financial story into plastic grocery bags to be sorted out on a tax return. Some remember a tax filer being pretty upset to be told that yes, you did earn enough that your Social Security benefits will be taxed on this return.

"They're confused because they listen to a lot of people other than their tax preparer," said John J., 81, a retired CPA who lives in Grosse Pointe Woods, Mich., and is a district coordinator for the AARP Tax-Aide sites. Volunteers are trained to fill out basic schedules, but taxpayers with more complex returns are advised to seek paid tax assistance.

As more Baby Boomers move into their retirement years, they're needing to understand different tax breaks and rules, too. The AARP's site at aarp.org/taxaide also offers information on frequently asked tax questions and will let you submit questions online.

Here are five tips to consider for seniors:

Are your Social Security benefits taxable?

Many retirees who receive Social Security — and have extra income from ! a job or other source — face the challenge of figuring out whether they will need to pay income taxes on some Social Security benefits.

The IRS points out one quick way. See Form SSA-1099, the Social Security Benefit Statement, to show you how much you received in Social Security benefits. Your total benefit is shown in Box 3.

First, add one-half of all your Social Security benefits to all your other income, including any tax-exempt interest. This is called your "provisional income."

IRS PUBLICATION 915: Social Security and Equivalent Railroad Retirement Benefits

Generally, some Social Security benefits are taxable for singles if your total provisional income is more than $25,000. Or some benefits would be taxable if your total provisional income is more than $32,000 for married couples filing jointly.

You can go to www.irs.gov and use an interactive tool to see whether any Social Security benefits are taxable.

What about medical expenses?

For the 2013 tax year, some seniors are able to hold onto a better federal income tax break relating to medical and dental expenses, said Diane Aksten, a certified public accountant at George W. Smith & Co.

If you are 65 or older, you can deduct medical expenses that are greater than 7.5% of your adjusted gross income. This works even if your spouse is 65 or older and you're younger. But this break only applies from 2013 through 2016. Starting in 2017, the threshold goes to 10%. Taxpayers not in that age group cannot deduct medical expenses in 2013 unless they exceed 10% of your adjusted gross income.

FROM THE IRS: Changes to the itemized deduction for medical expenses

What if I cannot itemize deductions?

If you were 65 or older at the end of 2013, you're eligible for a larger standard deduction. If both spouses are 65 or older, they can claim a standard deduction of $14,600 on a 2013 return — or an extra $2,400 for the standard deduction. Singles who are 65 and up can claim a standard deducti! on of $7,! 600 — or $1,500 higher than younger singles.

Best Japanese Stocks To Buy For 2014

If you have high mortgage payments, large charitable contributions and other deductions, however, it still is best to compare itemizing deductions with taking the standard deduction.

What about retirement distributions?

Once you hit age 59 1/2, you are able to take out money from your IRA or 401(k) without a penalty. But those distributions are usually taxable.

There are some exceptions to avoid the 10% early-withdrawal penalty for distributions taken out before age 59 1/2, too.

The 10% additional penalty, for example, does not apply to distributions that are made because you are totally and permanently disabled. Or made from a qualified employer-sponsored plan after your separation from service in or after the year you reached age 55.

Some other exceptions exist, too. Be careful, though, some exceptions apply only to IRAs or to employer plans, such as a 401(k), said Jackie Perlman, principal tax research analyst from the Tax Institute at H&R Block.

When do older seniors need to withdraw money from retirement savings?

When you hit age 70 1/2, you need to take care of required minimum distributions each year.

You can delay required distributions from your employer's plan until you retire from that employer — but IRA distributions must start at 70 1/2 no matter what.

If you did not take the required minimum amount in your 70 1/2 year, then you must receive distributions by April 1 of the following year.

The required minimum distribution for any year after you turn 70 1/2 must be made by Dec. 31 of that year. And there's a complex set of calculations to figure out that required distribution based on age and amount of savings.

Taking your required minimum distribution in time is necessary because there is a rather large penalty for failing to take out that! required! amount each year.

If you do not take any distributions, or if the distributions are not large enough, you may have to pay a 50% excise tax on the amount not distributed as required.

Roth IRAs are treated differently from traditional IRAs for both contribution and withdrawal rules. Minimum distributions are not required for Roths.

Follow Susan Tompor on Twitter @tompor.

Tesla Motors Inc. Loses in New Jersey But Remains Optimistic in Arizona

The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJINDICES: ^DJI  ) was trading 24 points higher, or 0.15%, by midafternoon after the Federal Reserve announced that 29 of the largest 30 U.S. banks had the capital cushions to survive a severely adverse economic scenario.

Let's zoom in on the automotive industry today after the sector started off 2014 a little slower than anticipated due to adverse winter weather. Here are some details, what to expect going forward, and one automaker making headlines.

LMC Automotive and J.D. Power this week announced a cut to their joint 2014 forecast for light-vehicle sales in the U.S. market. The new sales estimates of roughly 16.1 million vehicles sold is down slightly from the previous figure of 16.2 million vehicles.

Vehicle sales declined 3.1% in January and remained flat last month. Despite the forecast reduction, automotive investors are hopeful the slow start to the year will be made up in March as weather allows for more people to hit the showrooms. New retail light-vehicle sales for March are expected to be 7% higher than in March 2013.

"The severe weather had an impact on retail sales in January and February, but as the weather has improved, so have sales," John Humphrey, senior vice president of the global automotive practice at J.D. Power, said in a press release. "Additionally, stronger pricing coupled with lower reliance on fleet continues to bode well for the overall health of the sector."

Top 10 Supermarket Stocks To Buy Right Now

In addition to increasing sales, the average new-vehicle retail transaction price in March remains nearly $700 higher than last year. Should this persist, it would be the highest mark ever recorded for the month of March. If automakers are able to hold down incentives for March, while transaction prices rise, it will help profitability in their first-quarter reports.

Tesla's Model S. Source: Tesla

In more specific automotive news, Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA  ) is using leverage to push back in its fight to sell vehicles directly to consumers, rather than through the typical dealership business model. New Jersey recently banned direct to consumer sales, which ruffled the feathers of Tesla's management team. In better news for the automaker, an Arizona Senate committee is pushing a bill forward that would allow Tesla to sell its vehicles directly to consumers in the state. The bill is now going before another committee for review before it goes to the full state Senate.

This is an important move for Tesla investors worried about additional states following New Jersey's decision. One likely reason Arizona decided to jump on this is because the state is competing with three other states for Tesla's future "gigafactory" battery production plant. Tesla's factory will be crucial to the company's production expansion and is estimated to cost roughly $5 billion and employ as many as 6,500 people. It's possible the leverage of these potential jobs could incentivize the other three states vying for Tesla's factory -- Nevada, Texas, and New Mexico -- to push similar bills through their legislatures. Only time will tell.

There's a huge difference between a good stock and a stock that can make you rich. The Motley Fool's chief investment officer has selected his No. 1 stock for 2014, and it's one of those stocks that could make you rich. You can find out which stock it is in the special free report "The Motley Fool's Top Stock for 2014." Just click here to access the report and find out the name of this under-the-radar company.

10 Best Transportation Stocks To Buy For 2014

Japan's bold new stimulus moves have set the Nikkei (NIKKEIINDICES: ^NI225  ) on fire this year, but prime minister Shinzo Abe won't stop with what he's gained so far. As the Nikkei finished up yet another week of solid gains by rising 2.5% over the past five days, Abe unveiled a new list of goals for his aggressive monetary easing plans. Strong economic data helped Japan's stocks surge this week, but what news has emerged that will impact investors?

No goal too big for Shinzo Abe
Abe outlined a number of targets�for his stimulus and regulatory reforms to achieve in a speech on Friday, and the prime minister's thinking big. He hopes for transportation and power-generation exports to triple in coming years, growing total infrastructure exports to $291 billion, or 30 trillion yen, by 2020. Along with doubling tourism and farm exports, Abe's aiming for Japan to recover all its economic losses inflicted by the 2008 recession.

10 Best Transportation Stocks To Buy For 2014: CryoPort Inc (CYRX)

Cryoport, Inc. (CryoPort), incorporated on May 25, 1990, provides frozen shipping logistics solutions to the biotechnology and life science industries. The Company�� solutions are disruptive to old technologies and provide reliable, economic alternatives to existing products and services utilized for frozen shipping in biotechnology and life sciences including stem cells, cell lines, vaccines, diagnostic materials, semen and embryos for in-vitro fertilization, cord blood, bio-pharmaceuticals, infectious substances and other items that require continuous exposure to frozen or cryogenic temperatures.

The Company offer its solutions to companies in the biotechnology and life sciences industries and specific verticals including manufacturers of stem cells and cell lines, diagnostic laboratories, bio-pharmaceuticals, contract research organizations, in-vitro fertilization, cord blood, vaccines, tissue, animal husbandry, and other producers of commodities requiring reliable frozen solutions for logistics problems.

The CryoPort Express System

Cryoport Express Solutions include a cloud-based logistics management software branded as the Cryoportal. The Cryoportal supports the management of the entire shipment process through a single interface which includes initial order input, document preparation, customs clearance, courier management, shipment tracking, issue resolution, and delivery. Cryoport�� total turnkey logistics solutions offer reliability, cost effectiveness, and convenience, while the use of recyclable and reusable components provides green, environmentally friendly solutions. The Cryoportal provides an array of information dashboards and validation documentation for every shipment.

Cryoport Express Solutions include recording and retaining a fully documented chain-of-custody and, at the client�� option, chain-of-condition for every shipment, helping ensure that safety, efficacy, and stability of shipped commodities are maintained. This re! corded and archived information allows its customers to meet the exacting requirements necessary for scientific work and for regulatory purposes. Cryoport Express Solutions can be used by customers, as a turnkey solution, through direct access to the cloud-based Cryoportal, or by contacting Cryoport Client Care for order entry tasks. Cryoport provides 24/7/365 logistics services through its Client Care team and also provides complete training and process management services to support each client�� specific requirements.

The CryoPort Express System

The CryoPort Express System consists of the CryoPort Express Portal, which programmatically manages order entry and all aspects of shipping operations, CryoPort Express Shippers, the CryoPort Express Smart Pak data logger, and CryoPort Express Analytics, which monitors shipment performance metrics and evaluates temperature-monitoring data collected by the data logger during shipment. In addition, the Company provides a containment bag, which is used in connection with the shipment of infectious or dangerous goods using the CryoPort Express Shipper and other accessories used in the shipment of biological and pharmaceutical specimens.

CryoPort Express Portal

The CryoPort Express Portal is used by CryoPort, the Company�� customers and its business partners to automate the entry of orders, prepare customs documentation and to facilitate status and location monitoring of shipped orders while in transit it is used by CryoPort to manage shipping operations. It is also used to support the high level of customer service. The CryoPort Express Portal also serves as the communications nerve center for the management, collection and analysis of Smart Pak data collected from Smart Pak data loggers in the field.

The CryoPort Express Shippers

The Company�� CryoPort Express Shippers are cryogenic dry vapor shippers capable of maintaining cryogenic temperatures of minus 150掳 Celsius or below f! or a peri! od of 10 or more days. A dry cryogenic shipper is a device that uses liquid nitrogen contained inside a vacuum insulated bottle, which serves as a refrigerant to provide stable storage temperatures below minus 150掳 Celsius. It has developed a retention system to ensure that liquid nitrogen stays inside the vacuum container, which allows the shipper to be designated as a dry shipper meeting International Air Transport Association (IATA) requirements. The Company is offering two sizes of dry vapor shippers, the CryoPort Express Standard Shipper with a storage capacity of up to 75 0.2 milliliter vials and the CryoPort Express High Volume Shipper, which was introduced, in January of 2012 with a capacity of up to 500 0.2 milliliter vials.

The CryoPort Express Standard Shipper

The Standard CryoPort Express Shippers are lightweight, re-usable dry vapor liquid nitrogen storage containers. A Standard CryoPort Express Shipper is composed of an aluminum metallic dewar flask, with a well for holding the biological material in the inner chamber.

The CryoPort Express High Volume Shippers

The Cryoport Express High Volume Shipper also uses a dry vapor liquid nitrogen (LN2) technology to maintain below -150掳 C temperatures with a dynamic shipping endurance of 10 days. The CryoPort Express High Volume dry shipper uses a dry vapor liquid nitrogen (LN2) technology to maintain below -150掳 Celsius temperatures. The High Volume dry shipper has a storage capacity of up to 500 0.2 milliliter vials.

The CryoPort Express Smart Pak

Phase II of the Company�� Smart Pak System, which is a self-contained automated data logger capable of recording the internal and external temperatures of samples shipped in its CryoPort Express Shipper is used in every shipment. Phase III of its Smart Pak System consists of developing and rolling out a chip with wireless connectivity to enable its customers to monitor a shipper�� location, specimen temperature and over! all state! of health via its Web portal. The Company is developing the requirements for Phase III.

Cryoport Express Analytics

The Cryoportal is an important information technology element of its business strategy and has been designed to support planned future features to allow for an expansion of its solutions offering. Analytics is a term used by IT professionals to refer to performance benchmarks or Key Performance Indicators (KPI��) that management utilizes to measure performance against desired standards. Examples for analytics tracked through the Cryoportal include time-based metrics for order processing time and on-time deliveries by its shipping partners, as well as profiling shipping lanes to determine average transit times and predicting potential shipping exceptions based on historical metrics.

Biological Material Holders

The Company has developed a containment bag, which is used in connection with the shipment of infectious or dangerous goods using the CryoPort Express Shipper. Up to five vials, watertight primary receptacles are placed onto aluminum holders and up to fifteen holders (75 vials) are placed into an absorbent pouch, which is designed to absorb the entire contents of all the vials in the event of leakage. This pouch containing up to 75 vials is then placed in a watertight secondary packaging Tyvek bag capable of withstanding cryogenic temperatures, and then sealed. This bag is then placed into the well of the cryogenic shipper.

The Company competes with MVE/Chart Industries, Taylor Wharton and Air Liquide, Marathon Products Inc., Kodiak Thermal Technologies, Inc, BioStorage Technologies and BioMatrica, Inc.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By CRWE]

  Today, CYRX has shed (-10.00%) down -0.050 at $.450 with�179,695 shares in play thus far (ref. google finance Delayed: 12:35PM EDT October 4, 2013).

  Cryoport, Inc. and OCASA, Inc. have previously entered into a master services agreement to provide global cold chain logistics solutions for life science and biotech commodities requiring cryogenic temperatures. OCASA will have access to Cryoport�� full range of cryogenic business solution capabilities including its proprietary Cryoport Express庐 Shippers and cloud-based logistics management software platform, the CryoportalTM. Cryoport will leverage OCASA�� global logistics network to provide more complete global services to its customers. In conjunction with Cryoport and OCASA providing each other with logistics solutions, the Companies will engage in co-marketing, joint sales activities, and a wide range of customer-driven support requirements to provide comprehensive and seamless solutions to the life sciences and biotech industries

10 Best Transportation Stocks To Buy For 2014: Bollore SA (BOL)

Bollore SA is a France-based holding company which operates in 110 countries. The Company is active in several divisions: Bollore Africa Logistics, including freight forwarding, stevedoring, shipping lines and railways; Bollore Logistics with a presence in five continents; Bollore Energie which supplies domestic fuel and petroleum products; IER which designs, manufacture and markets terminals for controlling and reading tickets; Plastic Films for condensers, capacitors and packaging; Batteries and Supercapacitors, Electric Vehicles; Autolib��which offers a network of electric car rental; Communication and Media, which launched Digital Terrestial Television (DTT); Plantations because the Company owns oil palm and rubber plantations, through the Socfin Group and Financial Assets. As of September 27, 2012, the Company acquired minority stake in Vivendi SA and sold Direct 8 and Direct Star to Canal Plus SA. In January 2014, it acquired the outstanding 51% stake of LCN. Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Sofia Horta e Costa]

  Rio Tinto Group climbed 2.9 percent after saying it will cost $3 billion less than projected to increase iron ore output capacity. Boliden AB (BOL) added 3.1 percent as Morgan Stanley raised its rating on the stock. Thomas Cook Group Plc (TCG) rose 13 percent after the travel operator posted a 49 percent increase in full-year earnings. British tobacco companies slipped following a report that after a U.K. minister announced the review of cigarette packaging.

Best New Stocks To Invest In Right Now: Frontline Ltd (FRO)

Frontline Ltd., incorporated on June 12, 1992, is a shipping company. The Company is engaged primarily in the ownership and operation of oil tankers and oil/bulk/ore (OBO) carriers. The Company operates tankers of two sizes: very large crude carriers (VLCCs), which are between 200,000 and 320,000 deadweight tons, and Suezmax tankers, which are vessels between 120,000 and 170,000 deadweight tons. As of December 31, 2010, its tanker and OBO fleet consisted of 73 vessels. The fleet consists of 44 VLCCs, which are either owned or chartered in, 21 Suezmax tankers, which are either owned or chartered in and eight Suezmax OBOs, which are chartered in. The Company also had five VLCC newbuildings and two Suezmax newbuildings on order and three VLCCs under its commercial management. In February 2010, it purchased the VLCC Front Vista from Ship Finance International Limited (Ship Finance). In January 2011, it sold the VLCC Front Shanghai.

The Company operates through subsidiaries and partnerships located in the Bahamas, Bermuda, the Cayman Islands, India, the Isle of Man, Liberia, Norway, the United Kingdom and Singapore. The Company is also engaged in the charter, purchase and sale of vessels. In April 2010, the Company delivered the single hull Suezmax Front Voyager. During the year ended December 31, 2010, six newbuildings were completed. Four Suezmax vessels were delivered: the Northia, on January 5, 2010; the Naticina, on March 9, 2010; the Front Odin, on May 5, 2010, and the Front Njord on August 12, 2010. Two VLCCs were delivered: the Front Cecilie on June 10 and the Front Signe on August 9, 2010. As of December 31, 2010, the Company's newbuilding program consisted of two Suezmax tankers and five VLCCs.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Karee Venema]

  One equity that falls under the small-cap umbrella, and looks poised to benefit from a contrarian boon is shipping concern Frontline Ltd. (FRO).

  Shares of Frontline have more than doubled in value since hitting a decade-plus low of $1.71 last May. In fact, the stock tagged a new annual high of $5.18 in early January.

• [By Tyler Crowe]

  Oil tankers could also see a benefit as well. With potential of the SUMED pipeline being shut down, it would mean that tankers would need to increase traffic by 2 million barrels per day and increase its shipment times as much as LNG tankers.�Norway's�Frontline� (NYSE: FRO  ) , the world's largest oil tanker fleet, has day rates of about $25,000 for its oil carriers, so it's not as much of a win as LNG carriers. Also, higher fuel prices for all shipments will eat into that revenue boost.�

10 Best Transportation Stocks To Buy For 2014: Kinder Morgan Management LLC (KMR)

Kinder Morgan Management, LLC is a limited partner in Kinder Morgan Energy Partners, L.P (KMP), and manages and controls its business and affairs pursuant to a delegation of control agreement. Kinder Morgan G.P., Inc., of which Kinder Morgan, Inc. indirectly owns all of the outstanding common equity, is the general partner of Kinder Morgan Energy Partners, L.P. (KMP). Kinder Morgan G.P., Inc., pursuant to a delegation of control agreement among the Company, Kinder Morgan G.P., Inc. and KMP, has delegated to the Company, to the fullest extent permitted under Delaware law and KMP�� limited partnership agreement, all of its rights and powers to manage and control the business and affairs of KMP, subject to the general partner�� right to approve specified actions.

KPM is a pipeline limited partnerships in the United States. KMP owns an investment in or operates approximately 28,000 miles of pipelines and 180 terminals. Its pipelines transport products, such as natural gas, crude oil, gasoline, and CO2, and its terminals store petroleum products and chemicals and handle materials like coal. Almost all of Kinder Morgan assets are owned by KMP, KMP operates in five business segments : Natural Gas Pipelines, Products Pipelines, CO2, Terminals and Kinder Morgan Canada.

Kinder Morgan is a transporter and marketer of carbon dioxide in North America. It delivers approximately 1.3 billion cubic feet per day of CO2 through about 1,300 miles of pipelines. It is an oil producer in Texas, producing over 55,000 barrels of oil per day at the SACROC Unit and the Yates Field in the Permian Basin. In addition to CO2 pipelines and oil producing fields, this business segment owns interests in and operates CO2 source fields, natural gas and gasoline processing plants, and a crude oil pipeline. Kinder Morgan owns and operates approximately 24,000 miles of gas pipelines in the Rocky Mountains, the Midwest and Texas. Through its Products Pipelines business unit, it transports over two million barre! ls per day of gasoline, jet fuel, diesel, natural gas liquids and other fuels through more than 8,000 miles of pipelines. The Company also has approximately 50 liquids terminals in this business segment that store fuels and offer blending services for ethanol and other products.

Kinder Morgan have more than 180 terminals that store petroleum products and chemicals, and handle bulk materials like coal, petroleum coke and steel products. Kinder Morgan operates a number of pipeline systems and terminal facilities in Canada including the Trans Mountain pipeline, the Express and Platte pipelines, the Cochin pipeline, the Puget Sound and the Trans Mountain Jet Fuel pipelines, the Westridge marine terminal, the Vancouver Wharves terminal in British Columbia and the North Forty terminal in Edmonton, Alberta.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Albert Alfonso]

  (click to enlarge)
  Kinder Morgan Energy Partners is part of the Kinder Morgan family of companies with a combined enterprise value of over $115B. Kinder Morgan, Inc (KMI) is Kinder Morgan Energy Partners' general partner and has incentive distribution rights and owns about 10% of the partnership. Another way to own Kinder Morgan Energy Partners is via Kinder Morgan Management (KMR), whose shares are pari passu with Kinder Morgan Energy Partners and has an equal distribution but pays its dividend in additional shares instead of cash. This in effects acts as a dividend reinvest program.

• [By The Part-time Investor]

  I sold Kinder Morgan Energy Partners (KMP), 168 shares at $80.38, and I replaced it with Kinder Morgan Management (KMR), 264 shares at $75.39. KMR pays its quarterly distribution in extra shares, rather than in cash, as KMP does. For some (crazy) reason this makes it okay to hold it in a retirement account without the tax implications.

10 Best Transportation Stocks To Buy For 2014: FedEx Corporation(FDX)

FedEx Corporation provides transportation, e-commerce, and business services in the United States and internationally. It operates in four segments: FedEx Express, FedEx Ground, FedEx Freight, and FedEx Services. The FedEx Express segment offers various shipping services for the delivery of packages and freight. This segment also provides international trade services specializing in customs brokerage, and ocean and air freight forwarding services; customs clearance services, as well as global trade data, an information tool that allows customers to track and manage imports; and international trade advisory services, including assistance with the customs-trade partnership against terrorism program, as well as publishes customs duty and tax information in various customs areas. In addition, it offers supply chain solutions, including critical inventory logistics, transportation management, fulfillment, and fleet services. The FedEx Ground segment provides business and reside ntial ground package delivery services. It primarily serves customers in the small-package market in North America. The FedEx Freight segment offers less-than-truckload freight services, as well as freight-shipping services. As of May 31, 2010, this segment operated approximately 60,000 vehicles and trailers from a network of 492 service centers. The FedEx Services segment provides sales, marketing, information technology support, and customer service support services; and access to copying and digital printing through retail and Web-based platforms, signs and graphics, professional finishing, computer rentals, and a range of ground shipping and time-definite express shipping services. The company was founded in 1971 and is headquartered in Memphis, Tennessee.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By CNBC]

  Alamy Consumers are expected to take to the Web to get the best deals delivered in time for Christmas on Monday in what is expected to be the busiest online shopping day of the year, but it may not be all good news for retailers. Analysts warn that the latest retail data show average spending over the Thanksgiving weekend is falling. This year, more than 131 million Americans are expected to go online for the shopping extravaganza nicknamed "Cyber Monday," according to data published by the National Retail Federation, up from 129 million in 2012. Consumers making the most of online deals-and the intense competition between retailers in the lead-up to Christmas -- have also proved a boon for delivery firms, with courier FedEx (FDX) expecting to ship 22 million packages worldwide Monday. One leading retail analyst said there was "lots and lots of impetus behind Cyber Monday." "Everyone's just been paid, it's the final pay check that they can feasibly use to order online to guarantee delivery in time for Christmas and a lot of people have generally been in the stores for general Christmas shopping anyway," Bryan Roberts, retail insights director at Kantar Retail, told CNBC's "Worldwide Exchange" on Monday. "That's on top of global newspapers being full of recommendations of decent gifts for friends and family." Roberts expected over 110 million visits Monday to e-commerce websites, following a record amount of shoppers over the Thanksgiving weekend in the U.S. Since "Black Friday" last week (the day following Thanksgiving in the U.S. that traditionally kicks off the Christmas shopping season) the NRF estimates that $57.4 billion was spent by 141 million unique shoppers this Thanksgiving weekend. Spending over the weekend is expected to have declined 2.9 percent, however, an NRF survey of 4,500 shoppers revealed. Dana Telsey, chief executive of the consulting brokerage firm Telsey Advisory Group, told CNBC that the spending decline was in no small part

10 Best Transportation Stocks To Buy 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 Lee Jackson]

  EQT Midstream Partners L.P. (NYSE: EQM) has everything the Oppenheimer team is looking for: low-risk, fee-based contracts in an attractive region, low financial leverage, high distribution growth and coverage and a supportive parent with assets to sell. Oppenheimer has a $55 price target for the stock. The Thomson/First Call estimate is at $54. Investors are paid a 3.4% distribution which Oppenheimer thinks may grow to 4.3% in 2014. Remember, MLP distributions may include return of principal.

10 Best Transportation Stocks To Buy For 2014: CSX Corporation (CSX)

CSX Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, provides rail-based transportation services. The company offers traditional rail service, and the transport of intermodal containers and trailers. It transports crushed stone, sand and gravel, metal, phosphate, fertilizer, food, consumer, agricultural, automotive, paper, and chemical products; and utility, industrial, and export coal to electricity-generating power plants, steel manufacturers, industrial plants, and deep-water port facilities. The company also provides intermodal transportation services through a network of approximately 50 terminals transporting manufactured consumer goods in containers in the eastern United States, as well as performs drayage services and trucking dispatch operations. In addition, it operates distribution centers and storage locations; connects non-rail served customers to the benefits of rail by transferring products, such as ethanol and minerals, from rail to trucks; engages in the real estate sale, leasing, acquisition, and management and development activities. CSX Corporation operates approximately 21,000 route mile rail network, which serves various population centers in 23 states east of the Mississippi River, the District of Columbia, and the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Quebec, as well as operates approximately 4,000 locomotives. It also serves production and distribution facilities through track connections to approximately 240 short-line and regional railroads. CSX Corporation was founded in 1978 and is based in Jacksonville, Florida.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Sara Murphy]

  CSX (NYSE: CSX  ) and Kansas City Southern (NYSE: KSU  ) are all over the eastern seaboard, and they're both getting skin in the game. CSX plans to spend $2.3 billion on wide-ranging expansion activities such as raising highway bridges, enlarging mountain tunnels, and clearing obstacles to make room for double-decker containers from the Midwest to the mid-Atlantic ports.

• [By Taylor Muckerman, Joel South, and Michael Olsen, CFA]

  Who can benefit from a rise in natural gas prices? How about CSX (NYSE: CSX  ) ? Here is a company that has made coal transportation a big part of its business. At current levels, utilities are indifferent to coal or natural gas use, but if prices rise much higher, the coal-to-gas switching that permeated 2012 could begin to reverse. This would be to CSX and its investors' benefit. There are a few other reasons CSX might be hoping for a price increase, and our analysts cover them in the following video.

10 Best Transportation Stocks To Buy For 2014: United Parcel Service Inc.(UPS)

United Parcel Service, Inc., a package delivery company, provides transportation, logistics, and financial services in the United States and internationally. It operates in three segments: U.S. Domestic Package, International Package, and Supply Chain & Freight. The U.S. Domestic Package segment engages in the time-definite delivery of letters, documents, and packages in the United States. The International Package segment offers air and ground delivery of small packages and letters to approximately 220 countries and territories, including shipments outside the United States, as well as shipments with either origin or distribution outside the United States; export services; and domestic services move shipments within a country?s borders. The Supply Chain & Freight segment provides forwarding and logistics services, such as supply chain design and management, freight distribution, customs brokerage, mail, and consulting services in approximately 195 countries and territorie s; and less-than-truckload and truckload services to customers in North America. In addition, the company offers various technology solutions for automated shipping, visibility, and billing; information technology systems and distribution facilities to various industries comprising healthcare, technology, and consumer/retail; and a portfolio of financial services that provides customers with short-term working capital, government guaranteed lending, global trade financing, credit cards, and export financing. It operates a fleet of approximately 99,800 package cars, vans, tractors, and motorcycles; an air fleet of 527 aircraft; and 33,800 containers used to transport cargo in its aircraft. The company was founded in 1907 and is headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Rich Smith]

  UPS (NYSE: UPS  ) was an early entrant into the national move to use more natural gas in transportation vehicles, experimenting with the fuel for more than 10 years, and making a big buy of trucks powered by engines from nat-gas engine pioneer Westport Innovations (NASDAQ: WPRT  ) back in 2011. As we see this week, UPS's enthusiasm for the technology hasn't waned.

10 Best Transportation Stocks To Buy For 2014: Union Pacific Corporation(UNP)

Union Pacific Corporation, through its subsidiary, Union Pacific Railroad Company, provides rail transportation services in North America. It has approximately 31,953 route miles linking Pacific Coast and Gulf Coast ports with the Midwest and eastern United States gateways, and provides several corridors to Mexican gateways. The company offers freight transportation services for agricultural products, including whole grains and related commodities, food, beverage products, corn for ethanol products and its by-products, animal feeds, fruits and vegetables, frozen meat, and poultry products; and automotive products, such as imported and finished vehicles, and automotive parts and materials. It also provides transportation services for chemicals, such as industrial chemicals, plastics, and liquid petroleum products; energy products comprising coal and coke; industrial products, including lumber products, paper and consumer goods, furniture and appliances, and nonferrous and i ndustrial minerals, as well as steel and construction products, such as rock, cement, and roofing materials; and intermodal containers. Union Pacific Corporation was founded in 1862 and is based in Omaha, Nebraska.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Alex Planes]

  Standardization and consolidation greatly improved the quality of rail service during this period, and three more transcontinental railroads (following the completion of the first in 1869) had also been built in the two years prior to the publication of the Transportation Index. Two of these transcontinental railroad operators, the Northern Pacific and the Union Pacific (NYSE: UNP  ) , were part of the first index, and when Dow expanded the index to 14 components a year later, the Central Pacific (the western half that joined Union Pacific in building the 1869 transcontinental line) also became a component. Dow eventually settled on 12 components in 1886; this would inform the construction of the Industrial Average when it was first published a decade later.

• [By Wallace Witkowski]

  Industrials also play a large role in the coming week with Honeywell International Inc. (HON) , Textron Inc. (TXT) , CSX Corp. (CSX) , Union Pacific Corp. (UNP) �and General Electric Co. (GE) �reporting.

• [By Ben Levisohn]

  Union Pacific (UNP) has dropped 1.1% to $153.74 after the railroad company said it would earn between�$2.45 and $2.48, below analyst forecasts for $2.56.

• [By Isac Simon]

  An appropriate reaction?
  The market's reaction to railroad companies hasn't been favorable. Canadian National Railway (NYSE: CNI  ) (NYSE: CNI  ) traded down today by 0.6%, while Union Pacific (NYSE: UNP  ) (NYSE: UNP  ) lost more than 0.7% of its market value. Clearly, the markets took Saturday's accident seriously. However, with so much crude oil ready for cross-country trips, railroad companies are unlikely to be affected in the grander scheme of things, at least in the near term.

10 Best Transportation Stocks To Buy For 2014: World Point Terminals LP (WPT)

World Point Terminals, LP, incorporated on April 19, 2013, is a fee-based Delaware limited partnership formed to own, operate, develop and acquire terminals and other assets relating to the storage of light refined products, heavy refined products and crude oil. WPT GP, LLC is the general partner of the Company. It operates in a single reportable segment consists primarily of the fee-based storage and terminaling services it performs under contracts with its customers. The Company�� storage terminals are located in the East Coast, Gulf Coast and Midwest regions of the United States and, as of May 31, 2013, had a combined available storage capacity of 12.4 million barrels. The Company provides terminaling and storage of light refined products, such as gasoline, distillates and jet fuels; heavy refined products, such as residual fuel oils and liquid asphalt, and crude oil. Most of its terminal facilities are located on waterways, and have truck racks. Several of its terminal facilities also have rail or pipeline access. As of May 31, 2013, approximately 93% of its available storage capacity was under contract.

The Company generates revenue from Storage Services Fees, Ancillary Services Fees and Additive Services Fees. Storage Services Fees are its customers pay base storage services fees, which are fixed monthly fees paid at the beginning of each month to reserve storage capacity in its tanks and to compensate it for receiving up to a base product volume on their behalf. The Company charges ancillary services fees to its customers for providing services, such as heating, mixing and blending its customers��products that are stored in its tanks; transferring its customers��products between its tanks; at its Granite City terminal, adding polymer to liquid asphalt, and rail car loading and dock operations. The Company generates revenue from fees for injecting generic gasoline, gasoline, lubricity, red dye and cold flow additives to its customers��products.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Jon C. Ogg]

  World Point Terminals L.P. (NYSE: WPT) was initiated as Outperform with a $23 price target at Credit Suisse.

  See also more analyst upgrades and downgrades for Tuesday.

• [By John Emerson]

  Berman pioneered the idea of the World Poker Tour (WPT) and sold the concept to the Travel Channel. Watching poker on television had always been boring since the viewing audience could not see the down cards which the players held. Berman remedied that problem by allowing a camera to expose the down cards to the TV audience. That idea suddenly transformed Texas Holdem into a fascinating spectator�� sport. By the end of 2003 the stock had reached its book value of 15 dollars a share and I decided to take my profits, perhaps a bit prematurely. The stock quickly climbed to about 30 dollars a share on sheer momentum.

• [By Robert Rapier]

  World Point Terminals (NYSE: WPT) owns and operates terminals and other assets for the storage of light refined products, heavy refined products and crude oil. World Point’s storage terminals are located in the East Coast, Gulf Coast and Midwest regions of the US. The partnership debuted on Aug. 9, and units have gained 2 percent since. The partnership agreement provides for a minimum quarterly distribution of $1.20 per unit on an annualized basis. At the recent closing price of $19.64/unit, this equates to a minimum annualized yield of 6.1 percent.