5 Best Electric Utility Stocks To Buy For 2014

Tesla's Model S doesn't have any direct competitors yet, but that could be changing soon. Photo credit: Tesla Motors

Tesla Motors (NASDAQ: TSLA  ) has made quite an impression ��on investors and the general public ��with its hot all-electric Model S sedan. Now, the race is on to compete with Tesla's battery-powered hot rod ��and the first entry could come from Toyota's (NYSE: TM  ) Lexus brand as soon as next year.

But there's a catch: Toyota's new ride won't have batteries. Instead, it'll be powered by a hydrogen fuel cell. In this video, Fool.com contributor John Rosevear looks at Toyota's latest announcement ��and at the prospects for fuel cells as a technology to rival Tesla's battery-powered electrics.

China is already the world's largest auto market ��and it's set to grow even bigger in coming years. A recent Motley Fool report, "2 Automakers to Buy for a Surging Chinese Market", names two global giants poised to reap big gains that could drive big rewards for investors. You can read this report right now for free ��just click here for instant access.

Hot High Tech Companies To Own For 2015: WPX Energy Inc (WPX)

WPX Energy, Inc. (WPX Energy), incorporated on April 19, 2011, is an independent natural gas and oil exploration and production company engaged in the exploitation and development of long-life unconventional properties. The Company focuses on exploiting its natural gas reserve base and related NGLs in the Piceance Basin of the Rocky Mountain region, and on developing its positions in the Bakken Shale oil play in North Dakota and the Marcellus Shale natural gas play in Pennsylvania. Its other areas of domestic operations include the Powder River Basin in Wyoming and the San Juan Basin in the southwestern United States. In addition, it owns a 69% controlling ownership interest in Apco Oil and Gas International, Inc. (Apco), which holds oil and gas concessions in Argentina and Colombia. As of December 31, 2010, it had proved reserves of 4,473 Bcfe, 59% of which were proved developed reserves. Average daily production as of March 31, 2011 was 1,251 MMcfe/d.

Bakken Shale

The Company acquired 89,420 net acres in the Williston Basin in North Dakota that is prospective for oil in the Bakken Shale. It acquired all of this acreage in December 2010 through the acquisition of Dakota-3 E&P Company LLC. As of December 31, 2010, it had three rigs operating on the Bakken Shale acreage. Since acquiring this acreage, the Company has drilled 10 operated wells on the Bakken Shale properties; nine Middle Bakken formation wells and one Three Forks formation well. Six of these wells have been completed and connected to sales with initial 30 day production rates ranging from 750 Boe/d to 1,100 Boe/d.

Marcellus Shale

The Company�� 99,301 net acres in the Marcellus Shale were acquired through two key transactions and additional leasing activities. In July 2010, the Company acquired 42,000 net acres in Susquehanna County in northeastern Pennsylvania. As of December 31, 2010, the Company had five rigs operating in the Marcellus Shale.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By MARKETWATCH]

  SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- Wall Street hedge-fund investor David Einhorn was active in the last quarter of 2013, taking new stakes in technology and energy companies, while trimming existing holdings in insurer Aetna (AET) , NCR Corp (NCR) and WPX Energy (WPX) , according to an SEC filing Friday. Einhorn's Greenlight Capital picked up stakes in Anadarko Petroleum (APC) , BP (BP) , McDermott Intl. (MDR) , Micron Technolgy (MU) and Take-Two Interactive (TTWO) , according to the latest 13F filing. He trimmed stakes in Aetna, Einstein Noah (BAGL) and WPX Energy, according to the filing.

• [By Ben Levisohn]

  The S&P 500 dropped 1.3% to 1,747.15–its largest fall since August 27–while the Dow Jones Industrials fell 1% to 15,593.89–its biggest drop in almost a month. Among the stocks dragging the market down: Goldman Sachs (GS), which fell 2.4% to $159.64 after it said an investigation into its mortgage-bond business could boost its legal costs, AT&T (T), which dropped 2% to $35.11 after it acknowledged charging the US government for access to customer phone records, and WPX Energy (WPX), which fell 13% to $18.65 after releasing disappointing results. Just two Dow components–International Business Machines (IBM) and EI Du Pont De Nemours (DD)–finished the day in the black.

• [By Sean Williams]

  Oil and gas exploration and production company WPX Energy (NYSE: WPX  ) is becoming a familiar visitor to this list, up another 5.3% after announcing that its Niobrara Shale discovery well in the Piceance Basin had eclipsed 1 billion cubic feet of natural gas production in a little more than 100 days of production. A combination of higher natural gas prices in recent weeks coupled with the strong possibility that demand will increase as President Obama pushes for cleaner-burning energy usage could make WPX one of the steals of the sector.

• [By John Del, Vecchio,]

  As energy takes on more of a global focus, so do the stocks of the companies that produce it. With the increase in hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, places once thought of as flyover states are now booming industrial areas because of the new ability to uncover deep underground stores of oil and natural gas. There's a lot of room for excavation and discovery in these areas, and companies such as Chesapeake Energy (NYSE: CHK  ) , WPX Energy (NYSE: WPX  ) , and InterOil (NYSE: IOC  ) are taking full advantage.

5 Best Electric Utility Stocks To Buy For 2014: SBM Offshore NV (SBMO)

SBM Offshore NV is the Netherlands-based company engaged in the offshore energy industry. It is a provider of floating production and mooring systems, in production operations and in terminals and services. The Company�� main activity is the design, supply, installation and operation of floating production, storage and offloading (FPSO) vessels. The Company�� business is divided into two segments: Lease and Operate, providing leasing and operation of oil and gas production facilities, and Turnkey, providing engineering, supply, overhaul and maintenance of Catenary Anchor Leg Mooring (CALM) buoys, swivels, mooring systems, fluid transfer systems and offloading systems. The Company has four main project execution centers located in the Netherlands, Monaco, the United States and Malaysia, and operates a number of subsidiaries. On September 4, 2013, the Company sold its cryogenic hose system technology to Trelleborg Industrial Solutions, the business area of Trelleborg AB. Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Tom Stoukas]

  PSA Peugeot Citroen and Anglo American Plc led carmakers and mining companies lower, respectively, on concern demand from China will weaken. St. James�� Place Plc tumbled the most in 4 1/2 years after Lloyds Banking Group Plc sold 77 million shares in the British wealth manager. SBM Offshore NV (SBMO) jumped to the highest price in 13 months after saying its first-quarter revenue increased 35 percent.

5 Best Electric Utility Stocks To Buy For 2014: Spirit Airlines Inc.(SAVE)

Spirit Airlines, Inc. provides passenger airline services. It provides travel opportunities principally to and from south Florida, the northeast United States, the Caribbean, and Latin America. The company also offers optional travel-related products or services. As of December 31, 2011, it had a fleet of 37 Airbus single-aisle aircrafts. The company was formerly known as Charter One and changed its name to Spirit Airlines, Inc. in 1992. Spirit Airlines, Inc. was founded in 1964 and is headquartered in Miramar, Florida.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By DAILYFINANCE]

  AP NEW YORK -- American Airlines and US Airways (LCC) have cleared the last major hurdle to merging, now that the Justice Department has agreed to the deal if they scale back their combined footprint in some major airports. But it will be several months -- if not years -- before passengers see any significant impact from a union that will create the world's biggest airline. Passengers with existing tickets on American or US Airways -- and members of both frequent flier programs -- shouldn't fret. No changes will come immediately. Since announcing the deal in February, the two airlines have been working behind the scenes to try and make the merger as seamless as possible. Following Tuesday's agreement with the Justice Department, the two airlines said they expect the deal to close in December. But that doesn't mean everything will happen overnight. When the deal does close, here's what passengers can expect: Airfares During the past five years, the airline industry has seen the combinations of Delta (DAL) with Northwest, United (UAL) with Continental and Southwest Airlines (LUV) with AirTran. The price of a domestic round-trip flight has climbed more than 15 percent since 2009, when adjusted for inflation, according to the Bureau of Transportation Statistics. The merger will give a combined American and US Airways Group Inc. the ability to increase fares. United, Delta and Southwest would be likely to follow. Although it could also pave the way for further expansion by discount airlines such as Spirit Airlines (SAVE) and Allegiant Travel (ALGT). Frequent Flier Miles Your miles will be safe. After the merger closes, the two airlines will likely combine the miles into one program and elite status from one airline will likely be honored on the other. That puts the occasional traveler closer to rewards. The merged carrier will continue American's participation in the OneWorld alliance, which was founded by American, British Airways, Cathay Pacific and Qant

• [By Adam Levine-Weinberg]

  The combined airline ("new American Airlines") is forecasting pre-tax income of $2.6 billion this year, $3.8 billion next year, and $4.4 billion in 2015. Revenue is projected at $41 billion this year; it is expected to rise 5% in 2014 and another 6% in 2015. However, these figures appear to be best-case-scenario projections. American's bankruptcy restructuring should allow the new company to be profitable, but it will still face strong competition from its two big rivals, Delta Air Lines (NYSE: DAL  ) and United Continental (NYSE: UAL  ) , as well as budget carriers like rapidly growing Spirit Airlines (NASDAQ: SAVE  ) . This heavy competition will probably keep a lid on the new American's profitability.

• [By Ben Levisohn]

  JetBlue (JBLU) and Spirit Airlines (SAVE) have both seen their stock prices rise more than analyst earnings estimates. For JetBlue, Keay and Shojaian think its move is “based on event-driven factors,” while Spirit’s is “due to investors realizing that the current multiple is out of sync with other high-growth companies.”

• [By Sean Williams]

  Another key point to Southwest's success has been its constant focus on giving the customer top value among domestic carriers. You'll certainly find a cheaper upfront ticket price if you look around for domestic flights from a small regional carrier like Allegiant Travel (NASDAQ: ALGT  ) or Spirit Airlines (NASDAQ: SAVE  ) . Then again, Southwest doesn't charge for the first two checked bags, whereas Allegiant and Spirit charge for both each checked bag as well as carry-on bags! Southwest's keep-it-simple approach and easy-to-understand pricing have been instrumental in winning over passengers.

5 Best Electric Utility Stocks To Buy For 2014: Swissquote Group Holding Ltd (SQN)

Swissquote Group Holding Ltd (Swissquote) is a provider of online financial and trading services in Switzerland. It operates an online bank that accepts deposits from its customers mainly in Swiss Francs, United States Dollars and Euros in current account form, as well as offers electronic dealing in shares, funds, options, warrants and bonds worldwide. Swissquote also provides stock brokerage services to self-directed investors and asset managers; custodian services against fees and foreign exchange; margin loans to customers against pledging of assets; fiduciary placements on behalf and at the risks of clients against commission fees and services to corporations for the management of their stock option programs, among others. Its financial portal swissquote.ch is an online platform providing the information that users need to conduct independent research on various investment vehicles. It is active domestically and abroad, including Dubai and Malta. Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Tom Stoukas]

  Swissquote Group Holding SA (SQN) surged 13 percent after agreeing to buy MIG Bank for an undisclosed price. Clariant AG lost 1.6 percent after UBS AG removed the maker of specialty chemicals from the list of its most preferred shares.