The View From the Summit

The Investing Daily Summit

This week I will speak about energy investing at Investing Daily's annual Investing Summit in Alexandria, Virginia. Last year's presentation in Scottsdale, Arizona was my first since joining Investing Daily, and I laid out my personal philosophies for creating long-term wealth. They are:

Spend less than I earn and invest the rest

Minimize personal debt

Invest in businesses I understand

Understand the risk level

Avoid investments that are dependent on government subsidies and/or mandates

Identify long-term trends and invest accordingly

Have an exit strategy

I will cover a number of long-term trends in the energy business. One is that oil will continue to be hard to replace, and even though new supplies are coming online, voracious demand from developing countries and the higher costs of developing unconventional reserves will keep prices high. Another is that coal and nuclear power both face a lot of headwinds, and investors have to be extremely picky if they choose to invest in these sectors. On the other hand, solar power's prospects look bright, and solar will in the long run become perhaps our most important source of energy.

Natural Gas Powers Ahead

But the story of the year for me is the developing picture with natural gas. In my presentation last year, I had a slide that simply said "Natural gas is cheap." I went on to explain why I felt like natural gas was undervalued, and I made the case for investing in natural gas producers on the basis of several long-term bullish drivers.

What has happened since then?

Natural gas prices are up about 20 percent since I wrote that, and natural gas producers — undervalued for so long in my opinion — have begun to surge. Over the course of the year we added a number of natural gas producers to the various Energy Strategist portfolios, and by my count now! hold 10 of the country's top 20 as shown in the table below:

Top 20 natural gas producers in 2013. Source: Natural Gas Supply Association

For example, we added Chesapeake Energy (NYSE: CHK) — the country's second-largest natural gas producer — to our Aggressive Portfolio on May 13 and have gained 42 percent since. (Check the latest Energy Strategist for our current advice on Chesapeake and the other natural gas producers.)

Devon Finally Bounces

But Chesapeake isn't an exception to the rule. All of our natural gas producers in the portfolios — 100 percent — are sitting on gains. I personally bought the nation's fourth-largest natural gas producer — Devon Energy (NYSE: DVN) — last September because I felt the market was discounting both the potential for higher gas prices and Devon's moves toward even more lucrative liquids production. Devon's shares were pretty flat from the time I bought them until early February. I was in no hurry, because remember, I am targeting long-term trends and positioning accordingly.

But the very cold winter meant I didn't have to wait for investors to recognize the long-term bullish factors that I believe will support a natural gas price rise. The short-term factors lined up as well, as natural gas inventories depleted at a record pace this winter. Since Feb. 1, Devon shares have surged by more than 20 percent, and are regularly breaking through new 52-week highs:

Devon Energy’s share price, Feb. 3 through April 25

A similar picture has emerged for other natural gas stocks. They have all begun to move higher over the past few months. Since most natural gas producers also ha! ve substa! ntial liquids production, oil prices that are stubbornly clinging to $100 a barrel have helped.

Cabot's Production Surges

As I have been saying for months, most of these producers will report better year-over-year results versus last year. Last week Cabot Oil & Gas (NYSE: COG) — with most of its focus in Pennsylvania's gas-rich Marcellus Shale and the Eagle Ford crude oil shale of Texas — reported first-quarter results. Some highlights for the quarter were:

Natural gas and liquids production of 119.9 billion cubic feet equivalent (Bcfe), an increase of 34 percent over last year’s comparable quarter

Discretionary cash flow of $319.5 million, an increase of 36 percent over last year’s comparable quarter

Net income excluding selected items of $109.7 million, an increase of 102 percent over last year’s comparable quarter

Total unit costs of $2.66 per thousand cubic feet equivalent (Mcfe), a 19 percent improvement over last year’s comparable quarter

Despite what was shaping up to be a good quarter, shares had recently sold off after Cabot announced production would be flat during the first half of the year as a result of a transition to the more efficient pad drilling. Several brokerage houses even downgraded the company on the basis of this short-term outlook, but shares have surged since last week's earnings report, and are now up 17 percent in the last 10 trading days.

Conclusions

Based on my forecast for natural gas prices this year, I expect this to be a great year for the shares of most major natural gas producers. Some have already made strong advances, but many are still undervalued. For the long-term investor especially, it's certainly not too late to buy in.

(Follow Robert Rapier on Twitter, LinkedIn, or Facebook.)

Amazon, Internet stocks cool tech rally; Apple gains

SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) — Losses from Internet stocks largely overshadowed gains from Apple Inc. and Microsoft Corp. Monday as declines from Amazon.com Inc. stood out following the e-commerce giant's latest business forecasts.

Bloomberg Amazon stock is down more than 10% since the company reported earnings Thursday.

Amazon (AMZN)  came back from its session lows, but fell by 2.4% to close at $296.58. It was the first time the online-retailer's stock closed below $300 a share since Sept. 16, 2013. Amazon's shares have fallen more than 10% since the company reported first-quarter results on Thursday. Amazon gave an upbeat first-quarter report, but said its expenses are going to increase as its spends more on delivery services and new technology products such as its Amazon Fire TV set-top box.

Other losses came from Salesforce (CRM) , down almost 7%; Netflix Inc. (NFLX) , which fell 2.4%; Groupon Inc. (GRPN) , off by more than 2%; LinkedIn Corp. (LNKD) , which fell more than 6%; and Pandora Media Inc. (P) , down by almost 3%.

/quotes/zigman/63011/delayed/quotes/nls/amzn AMZN 296.58, -7.25, -2.39% Amazon shares

EBay Inc. (EBAY)  ended the day down by 8 cents a share at $53.64 a day ahead of the company's first-quarter earnings report.

Apple Inc. (AAPL)  and Microsoft Corp. (MSFT)   held on to their gains Monday, but those tech leaders proved to be among the outliers. Apple (AAPL)  rose almost 4% to close at $594.09, while Microsoft (MSFT)  rose 2.4% to end the day at $40.87.

Top Trucking Companies To Buy Right Now

Microsoft was dealing with the headache of a security vulnerability in its Internet Explorer browser, which was disclosed over the weekend.

IBM Corp. (IBM)  shares rose almost 2% to $193.14.

The Nasdaq Composite Index (COMP)  spent the day alternately rising and falling by large amounts before finally closing with a loss of 1 point at 4,074. The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index (SOX)  also ended the day in the red.

Investors were having their sentiment tested by several matters, including the continuing crisis between Russia and Ukraine. The U.S. and the EU announced a series of new sanctions against Russia over its role in the upheaval in Ukraine.

More news from MarketWatch:

U.S., EU hit Russia with fresh sanctions over Ukraine

Charter, Comcase reach subscriber deal

10 things not to buy in 2014

CBIZ Whiffs on Revenues

CBIZ (NYSE: CBZ  ) reported earnings on July 29. Here are the numbers you need to know.

The 10-second takeaway
For the quarter ended June 30 (Q2), CBIZ whiffed on revenues and missed estimates on earnings per share.

Compared to the prior-year quarter, revenue dropped. Non-GAAP earnings per share dropped. GAAP earnings per share grew significantly.

Margins grew across the board.

Revenue details
CBIZ chalked up revenue of $172.5 million. The two analysts polled by S&P Capital IQ hoped for revenue of $211.0 million on the same basis. GAAP reported sales were 8.5% lower than the prior-year quarter's $188.6 million.

Source: S&P Capital IQ. Quarterly periods. Dollar amounts in millions. Non-GAAP figures may vary to maintain comparability with estimates.

EPS details
EPS came in at $0.11. The two earnings estimates compiled by S&P Capital IQ averaged $0.15 per share. Non-GAAP EPS of $0.11 for Q2 were 8.3% lower than the prior-year quarter's $0.12 per share. GAAP EPS of $0.18 for Q2 were 50% higher than the prior-year quarter's $0.12 per share.

Top Warren Buffett Companies To Invest In Right Now

Source: S&P Capital IQ. Quarterly periods. Non-GAAP figures may vary to maintain comparability with estimates.

Margin details
For the quarter, gross margin was 12.1%, 50 basis points better than the prior-year quarter. Operating margin was 7.7%, 10 basis points better than the prior-year quarter. Net margin was 5.3%, 220 basis points better than the prior-year quarter. (Margins calculated in GAAP terms.)

Looking ahead
Next quarter's average estimate for revenue is $196.0 million. On the bottom line, the average EPS estimate is $0.12.

Next year's average estimate for revenue is $821.3 million. The average EPS estimate is $0.65.

Investor sentiment
The stock has a four-star rating (out of five) at Motley Fool CAPS, with 119 members out of 127 rating the stock outperform, and eight members rating it underperform. Among 34 CAPS All-Star picks (recommendations by the highest-ranked CAPS members), 34 give CBIZ a green thumbs-up, and give it a red thumbs-down.

Of Wall Street recommendations tracked by S&P Capital IQ, the average opinion on CBIZ is buy, with an average price target of $8.50.

Looking for alternatives to CBIZ? It takes more than great companies to build a fortune for the future. Learn the basic financial habits of millionaires next door and get focused stock ideas in our free report, "3 Stocks That Will Help You Retire Rich." Click here for instant access to this free report.

Add CBIZ to My Watchlist.

Will Wall Street stay world's financial capital?

"People think you can just walk right in," the bemused security guard said to his co-worker, who snickered, shook his head and returned to his outpost under the tented area outside the otherwise-regal entrance to the New York Stock Exchange.

The dejected tourist walked away after learning that, no, there is no visitors' gallery at the exchange where he could watch what was happening inside. He then disappeared into a dense crowd of tourists browsing the mall around the exchange one pleasant early April day. Apparently, the man had made multiple efforts — "guard shopping" as one of the security personnel put it — to get a look at the trading inside the confines of 11 Wall St.and was unsuccessful each time.

Nearby, folks posed in front of the George Washington statue at Federal Hall, across the walkway from the exchange. They aimed their camera phones curiously around Broad and Wall streets, many drawn to the enormous American flag that flies in front of the NYSE, where it has stood proudly since shortly after the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks.

PAYMENTS IN THE FUTURE: Wallets obsolete?

FINANCE IN 25 YEARS: Wall Street banks fade away

TRILLIONAIRES?: We'll probably see some in coming years

And they wondered what was going on inside. This is, after all, supposed to be the financial capital of the world, so there must have been some really amazing beehives of activity happening.

If they only knew.

Truth is, there's really not that much to see anymore inside these majestic halls.

An exchange that used to house more than 5,000 traders shouting out their business now is a mostly docile habitat in which those still left on the floor quietly tap out orders on hand-held computers and barely make a peep at swift changes in market activity.

Things indeed have changed a lot for the exchange over the past 25 years.

The next 25 years — well, things could get dicey.

Will the exchange still exist? Will it be a museum? An office complex? An au! tomated emporium run by robots?

More importantly, will New York still be the financial capital of the world?

Nobody seems quite sure, though the building itself does maintain its nostalgic appeal even if it's lost much of its relevance as a trading center.

"Symbols matter," said Nicholas Colas, chief market strategist at New York-based brokerage ConvergEx. "It's important to have a symbol that people can relate to, and it's much easier to relate to a physical space. It will be important for the New York Stock Exchange to maintain some relevance with investors."

As things stand in 2014, the prospects for 2039 for the building and what happens inside it hinge on three things: Just how far the trading community pushes automation, how hard regulators push back and how well the 80 or so locations now where stocks are traded can maintain their trust and credibility with the investing public.

A rapidly changing ecosystem

New York faces a bevy of challenges. Automated trading has taken up about four-fifths of the market's volume. Dark pools—privately run trading centers away from the NYSE — are scattered around the metropolitan area. Exchanges around the world such as those in Tokyo, London and Shanghai are seeing their volumes increase, though they still draw just a fraction of the volume seen in New York at the NYSE and the Nasdaq.

The current market is dealing with one whale of a black eye caused by suspicion over high-frequency trading and its stranglehold on market activity. The proliferation of trading aberrations such as 2010's "Flash Crash" and the intense debate over Michael Lewis' HFT-centered book "Flash Boys" has underscored the credibility problem, which will have to be rectified — and soon — if the market is to have a future in 2½ decades.

Conversations with the folks who help make the market machinery work reveal some interesting — and surprising — thought trends.

For instance, there is a pervasive belief that the market will bec! ome less ! fractured and perhaps even a bit slower than the current incomprehensible millisecond-moving speeds. While automation is a fact of life, there is no widely shared dystopian view of a market run by faceless machines without accountability.

There's even a bit of whimsy.

Market veteran Art Hogan peered into his crystal ball at CNBC.com's request and saw two megamergers that would shake Wall Street at its core. One would see Facebook and Twitter join to take over the New York Stock Exchange; the other would have Apple and Google combine forces to wrest control of the Nasdaq, which trades mostly tech stocks.

In the Hogan scenario, the two mammoths blow out the rest of the 80 or so exchanges and dark pools where trades currently take place and defragment the market. At the same time, regulators change trading "ticks," or the increments in which stocks can trade, from the current decimalization to nickel sizes, eliminating the benefits that high-frequency traders enjoy from capitalizing on moves of pennies.

Hogan is kidding . . . sort of, but in a way that indicates the general direction the market needs to trend to win back investor confidence.

"You've got a world (in 25 years) where technology, social media and financial markets have come together to increase investor confidence in markets," said Hogan, the chief market strategist at Wunderlich Securities. In his future vision, "Wall Street gets to play its role again as the greatest place to form capital for emerging companies, and to research those emerging companies."

Don't laugh too loudly.

Hogan's scenario of a market that undergoes massive transformation that actually benefits the retail investor and re-establishes some sanity in a market that has lost so much of its trading volume over the years is a widely shared vision.

"We're moving faster and faster. The speeds are incredible, but we're going to get to the point where it doesn't go any faster," said Peter Costa, president of Empire Executions and an ! NYSE gove! rnor with 33 years of trading experience.

A quieter street

In the Costa scenario, trading changes completely.

In a future world where cash becomes marginalized and digital "credits" take over as a system of payments, companies find old-fashioned stock issuance a trite method of raising funds. Stocks, meanwhile, start to more closely resemble mutual funds, with very little if any price movement during market hours and instead "a final pricing at the end of the day," Costa said.

"There will be more financial options for investors," said Todd Schoenberger, managing partner at LandColt Capital. "For example, we now have stocks, bonds, mutual funds, etc. Look for new products to enter the market, which will be a real hassle for regulators. But, expanded options is what you get when you have too many players transacting business."

Whatever form trading takes — high speed, low speed or no speed — what will matter most is fairness, and many Wall Street pros expect Washington regulators to continue their pursuit of an equitable environment.

"What they're realizing is money managers like myself don't care about getting a sell in half a second," said Michael Cohn, chief market strategist at Atlantis Asset Management. "I don't care about the pennies, I care about the perception and the fairness. It affects my business if people think the market is not fair."

If there is a common theme in terms of hopes for the future, it indeed would be some simple fairness.

"You can still have automation, but it would be nice to bring back some sort of ecosystem into it," said Joe Saluzzi, co-founder of Themis Trading and an ardent campaigner against the ills of high-frequency trading.

Saluzzi hopes the next 25 years hold a greater emphasis on human involvement, not less.

"You like to have someone involved. The investor relations officer, the chief financial officer, really has no idea what's going on in their stock," he said. "There are no specialists involved. They! need mor! e information as to what's going on. It's not there anymore."

While the amount of bodies on the exchange floor indeed has dimmed considerably over the years, the level of employment in financial services has remained fairly and surprisingly resilient.

Financial services jobs peaked out in late 2006 at about 8.4 million, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. While that level certainly has declined, the nearly 6% drop to 7.9 million as of March 2014 could have been much worse considering the way Wall Street banks cut jobs en masse during the crisis.

A shift to markets abroad

Expectations, though, are for even fewer footsteps on the Street.

"The amount of employees that will be working on Wall Street, if you want to call it that, is going to continue to go down year after year," said Marc Pfeffer, a former trader at Goldman Sachs and the defunct Bear Stearns who now works as a portfolio manager at CLS Investments. "I am perplexed till today to understand why there are that many people at these firms. I think they're going to be cut by a huge percentage, if they even exist at all."

So where does that leave the exchange as a physical property?

If you close your eyes tightly enough you can almost see the tumbleweeds rolling across the cobblestones past the Wall Street subway station, past the Deutsche Bank building and gliding on a path to nowhere. After all, what possible use could there be for such a structure in the next age of trading?

"I don't think the NYSE exists anymore period," said Dick Bove, the outspoken banking analyst and vice president of equity research at Rafferty Capital Markets. "I think it's a good television set for you guys."

Well, there's that. It's true that on some days the most excitement comes from the guests that CNBC and other media attract, whether that's market veterans like Kenny Polcari, CEOs such as AIG's Robert Benmosche or professional celebrities like Kim Kardashian. But is it possible the building will serve no! function! ?

Bove sees the global financial center shifting from New York only to various other places around the world—Canada, China, wherever countries are committed to a thriving banking sector and not obsessed with handcuffing "too big to fail" institutions. He also points out that the exchange isn't even owned by a New York firm anymore, and that most of the trading happens at high-frequency nerve centers in New Jersey.

Other challenges New York faces include its inability to attract technology-focused industries, intensified regulation from city and state politicians, and the rise of financial centers around the world that will provide major competition.

5 Best Net Payout Yield Stocks To Buy Right Now

All those factors, he said, will make the NYSE, if not obsolete, at least substantially declining in relevance.

"It's a historical oddity. It should be given to one of the historical preservation societies," Bove added. "It does not exist today. It will not exist in 25 years."

Follow Cox on Twitter: @JeffCoxCNBCcom.

© CNBC is a USA TODAY content partner offering financial news and commentary. Its content is produced independently of USA TODAY.

Fiduciaries: Steer Clear of T. Rowe, Fidelity and Vanguard TDFs

Target-date funds were supposed to be the best thing since sliced bread when the 2006 Pension Protection Act popularized them as default investments in 401(k) plans.

But the sliced-bread investment innovation quickly turned investors into burnt toast just two short years later during the 2008 financial crisis, when the average 2010 target-date fund lost 25% — though such funds ostensibly envisioned a glide path to a retirement just two years away.

Because the Employee Retirement Income Security Act still hallows target-date funds as the most popular of the three safe options for use as qualified default investment alternatives — the other two being balanced funds and managed accounts — advisors who serve as plan fiduciaries need to know their ins and outs.

That is the rationale for the publication of a new book, Fiduciary Handbook for Understanding and Selecting Target Date Funds — due out in a week — by pension consultant Ron Surz, attorney John Lohr and ethicist Mark Mensack. (Surz is an occasional ThinkAdvisor contributor.)

Understanding the funds’ assumed fiduciary status, their popularity with investors and the opportunities for advisors to earn fees, but all too aware of the potential for these funds to blow up investors’ nest eggs again as they did in 2008, the authors endeavor to arm advisors with the ability to help clients and avoid unseen professional hazards.

For example, advisors may assume the government’s imprimatur may serve as a shield against all legal threats, but the authors point out there have been 522 ERISA-related fiduciary breach cases since 2013.

Most of those have concerned excessive fees, but the authors want advisors to think through selection and monitoring issues that could potentially put them, plan sponsors and asset managers on the hook the next time there is a crisis.

And the authors are emphatic that the next crisis is a matter of when, not if.

“Sometime in the future there will be a market correction of the magnitude of a 2008 or even a 1929. Unless risk controls are tightened, especially near the target date, fiduciaries will be sued as a result of losses. It remains to be seen whether the litigation will impact fund companies or fiduciaries, or both,” the authors write.

And that’s the thing of it. The authors’ core argument is that target-date funds are too risky, especially at the target date.

This is because the three mutual fund companies that dominate the target-date fund industry, T. Rowe Price, Fidelity, Vanguard — the book’s chief villains — have risky levels of stock ownership at the target date.

Though they do not play a fiduciary role (as do employers and advisors) relative to the retirement plans that offer their products, the big fund companies are essentially driving the whole risky process — one that has swung far away from the period before the Pension Protection Act of 2006, when cash was the dominant investment default for investors approaching retirement.

Best Beverage Companies To Watch In Right Now

In contrast, the Big 3 companies have end-date equity exposure averaging 55%.

And the crux of the fiduciary problem may not be the Big 3 — who, again, aren’t fiduciaries. It’s that advisors aren’t researching and evaluating the Small 30 — the rest of the target-date fund universe available to plan participants.

“Choosing one of the Big 3 might be all right if competing TDFs were all inferior, but they are not. Most important, these Big 3 maintain the same equity exposure today at the target date as they had in the 2008 fiasco, setting the stage for a repeat calamity, this time much more devastating.”

Surz, Lohr and Mensack’s book is thus something of a cri-de-coeur beyond a mere technical explanation of “Duty of Care,” “Establishing Selection Criteria,” and “Benchmarks,” to cite just three of the book’s 10 chapters, commendably averaging just four pages of the book’s slim 51-page total.

The authors do not think fund companies will change anything of their own volition.

“You alone can improve target-date funds," they write. "Nothing will change unless and until you set the objectives for TDFs and seek solutions that can meet those objectives.”

The authors stress that fiduciaries may pay the price — financially, legally and ethically — for the less-than-exemplary state of the TDF industry.

“If you decide not to act, there could be a personal price to pay in the form of lawsuits. The duty of care requires that you protect the financially unsophisticated. It’s like the duty to protect your young children,” they write of the tens of millions of Americans whose retirement income security is at stake.

Meritage Homes Pushed to the Brink by Bad Housing News (MHO, KBH, MTH)

Given the bad news regarding new-home sales unveiled  this morning, it's no real surprise that homebuilder stocks like KB Home (NYSE:KBH) and M/I Homes Inc. (NYSE:MHO) are struggling. KBH is down 2.8% as of the last look, while MHO shares are off 4.1%. None of the major homebuilder names are underwater as much as Meritage Homes Corp. (NYSE:MTH) is today, though, with its 8.6% drubbing. Already struggling, today's stumble from MTH may well jump-start a more serious selloff that the bulls have thus far been able to stave off.

First things first. The reason M/I Homes, Meritage Homes, and KB Home shares are getting hit so hard on Wednesday is largely because the Census Bureau reported this morning that new homes only sold at an annualized pace of 384,000 in March. That's the lowest reading seen since last July's reading of 373,000; the vast majority of the readings since then have been well above the 400 mark.

Truth be told, however, the last few months' worth of ALL the real estate and housing data had already left the likes of MTH, KBH, and MHO vulnerable to pullbacks. As the chart below shows, existing home sales have been falling since mid-2013, starts and permits have been slowing, as have home prices. While it's hyperbole to say the housing market is imploding, it wouldn't be out of line to say the very best days of the housing recovery are behind it.

So what is it that makes shares of Meritage Homes Corp. a riskier bet than M/I Homes or KB Home here? It's largely a technical one... MTH has been trending lower for a while, as evidenced by the fact that (1) the 200-day moving average line (green) is now pointed lower, and Meritage Homes shares are on the underside of that long-term line, and (2) with today's low of $38.70, MTH is knocking on the door of moving below a huge support level at $38.30 that was formed in August of last year.

To be clear, Meritage Homes Corp. really needs to close under that floor to really get past the point of no return. The bears have momentum on their side though, and one more stumble could do it here in the shadow of a waning housing market.

For more trading ideas and insights like these, be sure to sign up for the free SmallCap Network newsletter. You'll get stock picks, market calls, and more, every day. Here's what you've missed recently.

JetBlue pilots vote to unionize

JetBlue Airways pilots voted to unionize and join the Air Line Pilots Association, the National Mediation Board announced Tuesday.

About 74% of the airline's eligible pilots voted to join ALPA, which already represents about 50,000 pilots nationwide. Capt. Lee Moak, ALPA's president, called it a great day for the pilots, the airline and the union.

"JetBlue pilots and JetBlue the company are both going to benefit from this relationship as we work together to affect government policy that will enhance the airline industry," Moak said.

JetBlue CEO Dave Barger issued a brief statement basically confirming the union vote, and saying the company and the union will organize negotiating committees.

Henry Harteveldt, an industry analyst with Atmosphere Research, said JetBlue pilots were already well-compensated and the Federal Aviation Administration has already set strict rules for pilot rest, so he doesn't expect customers to notice changes.

"JetBlue is a very customer-focused airline," Harteveldt said. "Even its pilots are hired not just for their professional capabilities, but their mind-set toward customer service."

The union represents pilots in negotiations over pay, benefits and work rules. Moak said he expected the first contract to be negotiated "in short order."

JetBlue pilots voted twice before to reject unionization. But Moak said repeatedly said the union would represent pilots in policy debates in Washington.

The union has lobbied strenuously against creation of a federal Customs and Border Protection checkpoint in Abu Dhabi considered anti-competitive because no U.S. airlines fly directly from there. The union has also strongly urged the Transportation Department to reject a bid from Norwegian Air International's certificate to fly to the U.S. because of concerns about hiring lower-cost pilots overseas.

"The aviation landscape has changed dramatically over the last few years," Moak said. "Here in Washington especially, if you're not at the t! able, you're probably on the menu. I think they decided to organize so that they were at the table."

Harteveldt said JetBlue hasn't been affected by those disputes. But he said adding the pilots should boost ALPA's political clout, especially where JetBlue has large crew bases in New York and Florida.

"It certainly bolsters ALPA's credibility with elected officials," Harteveldt said. "It adds to ALPA's political clout."

JetBlue had been the largest U.S. airline to not have unions, and Moak declined to comment on whether the pilots' move would encourage other workers at the airline to organize. Other airlines that are already unionized include American, United, Delta and Southwest.

JetBlue stock fell nearly 2% during Tuesday's trading, finishing at $8.59 a share.

Customers probably won't notice a difference in the near future, but that pilots would work with the company to serve its passengers, Moak said.

"In the near-term, everything will be exactly the same for JetBlue and its customers as we continue to work together," Moak said. "It can only benefit what we're trying to do as airline pilots, what we're trying to do for our customers and for the competitive landscape.

JetBlue has about 2,600 pilots and 2,429 were eligible to vote, with 1,790 voting to join the union and 639 opposed, Moak said.

2 Numbers That Explain Why Fox Wants to Make Mark Millar’s 'Superior' Into a Movie

Co-creators Mark Millar and Leinil Francis Yu have sold the movie rights to the indie comic book, Superior. Credit: ICON/Marvel Entertainment.

Comic books and comic book movies have rarely been more popular, which explains why Twenty-First Century Fox (NASDAQ: FOXA  ) picked up the movie rights to creator Mark Millar's Superior. But will the deal pay off for the studio? Or has the market become overcrowded with niche adaptations?

Host Ellen Bowman puts these questions to analysts Nathan Alderman and Tim Beyers in this week's episode of 1-Up On Wall Street, The Motley Fool's web show in which we talk about the big-money names behind your favorite movies, toys, video games, comics, and more.

The story is clever enough, and could play well with moviegoers. An M.S.-stricken young boy longing to regain his athleticism wishes to become a superhero dubbed "Superior." Soon after, the creature that granted the wish -- a demon monkey from Hell -- reveals to the boy that he'll have to sell his soul if he's to retain his new, more powerful form.

There's also history to consider. When looking at estimated return on investment, Nathan found that six of the 10 most profitable comic book movies were sourced from independent properties. The Mask tops the list with a better than 409% return, followed closely by the original Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles at 398%. Distributor New Line Cinema, now part of Time Warner, was independent at the time these movies were released.

Now big studios such as Fox want a bigger piece of the indie action, and they're turning to proven performers like Millar. Movies adapted from his independent comics have earned an estimated 9.2% return on investment after factoring in budget, marketing, and distribution, Nathan says. That's a huge difference from the average indie, which checks in at a 6% box office loss.

Tim adds that there's also parallel track emerging wherein different studios are tackling different aspects of the genre. Marvel and DC are pursuing the PG-13 crowd, and enjoying big grosses as a result. Indies, by contrast, tend to carve out darker, R-rated stories.

Investors shouldn't presume that these properties are going to drive huge profits because R-rated properties almost never do -- unless the movie in question is cheap to make, like a good horror flick. Or, The Mask. Or the original Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Fox needs to be thinking similarly when it comes to Superior and other indies it acquires.

Now it's your turn to weigh in using the comments box below. Would you be buying stock in media companies that are betting bigger on indie comics properties? Why or why not? Click the video to watch as Ellen puts Nathan and Tim on the spot, and then be sure to follow us on Twitter for more segments and regular geek news updates!

One superior stock you can bank on now
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 with life-changing potential. Everything you need to know in order to cash in now is in the special free report, "The Motley Fool's Top Stock for 2014." Just click here for your copy and we'll reveal the name of this under-the-radar company.

Who Really, Really Wants Some More Pfizer Stock?

An entity with deep pockets is looking to buy boatloads of Pfizer (NYSE: PFE  ) stock. And we're talking yacht-sized boatloads -- not canoe-sized ones. Who is this big spender eager to buy shares of the pharmaceutical giant?

None other than Pfizer itself.

Familiar pattern
Pfizer's board authorized a new $10 billion share-repurchase program this week. That comes on top of $3.9 billion remaining under the company's current share-buyback authorization.

The latest move is part of a familiar pattern for Pfizer. Over the past two and a half years, the company has embarked upon four different repurchase programs. Including the latest authorization, the combined amount of these buybacks totals around $39 billion. That's a boatload of money in anyone's book.

This new buyback of $10 billion plus the remaining $3.9 billion from the last authorization comes to nearly 7% of the company's current market cap. Pfizer also plans to retire around $11.4 billion in shares with its spinoff of animal-health business Zoetis.

Other alternatives
Of course, some investors might have preferred that Pfizer bump up its dividend instead. Pfizer's yield stands at 3.4% currently. That's not bad at all, but it's lower than the five-year average yield of 4.4% that shareholders have enjoyed.

On the other hand, Pfizer's yield already stacks up pretty well against some other big pharmas. Bristol-Myers Squibb (NYSE: BMY  ) has a dividend yield of 3.1%. Merck's (NYSE: MRK  ) yield stands at 3.7%. Pfizer fits right in the middle but still pretty close to both of these peers.

Other investors might wish that Pfizer would use some of its cash to acquire a few smaller companies. Protalix BioTherapeutics (NYSEMKT: PLX  ) has been mentioned as one possible candidate. The two companies already partner together on Gaucher disease drug Elelyso. In February, Protalix spurred rumors that Pfizer could be interested in buying the company after it announced that it had engaged Citigroup to pursue a "broad array of strategic alternatives."

The Elelyso connection does appear to make Protalix a reasonable fit for Pfizer. Israeli newspaper Calcalist reported in February that Protalix wanted to sell for $1 billion. That's more than twice the current market cap of the company and could be more than what larger players are willing to pay. However, that price tag is only a drop in the bucket for Pfizer.

Motley Fool analyst Max Macaluso suggested nearly a year ago that Pfizer should seriously consider partnering with MannKind (NASDAQ: MNKD  ) . Max saw some synergies in the two companies' working together on commercializing MannKind's inhalable insulin product, Afrezza. MannKind has stated that it is in discussions with potential partners.

Partnering is a different proposition than buying a smaller company. However, many of the same reasons given for a partnership could also apply to an outright acquisition. Even with MannKind's big stock run-up this year, Pfizer could easily foot the bill if it chose to buy the up-and-coming biotech.

Regardless of which company investors think Pfizer should buy, such a move seems unlikely unless CEO Ian Read has a change of mind. Read's philosophy so far has been that the company's money is better spent on buybacks than acquisitions or dividend increases.

While buying other companies hasn't been a priority, partnering certainly has -- and not just with small biotechs. Pfizer and Bristol-Myers Squibb collaborated on blood-thinning drug Eliquis. The two companies received FDA approval for the drug in late 2012 and previously received regulatory clearance in Europe and Japan.

Pfizer announced a major partnership with Merck earlier this year. The two big pharma organizations joined forces on development and marketing of diabetes drug ertugliflozin. They will also collaborate on using the experimental drug with Merck's Januvia.

Good move?
Pfizer's new buyback is a good move for investors. Shares are more than 9% lower than this year's high reached in April. The stock looks to be valued attractively.

With Pfizer itself wanting more of Pfizer stock, should investors jump on board also? While economic issues could make the rest of the year less rosy than the first part of 2013, I think Pfizer is a good buy over the long run. My view is that the $10 billion the company uses to buy shares back will end up being a pretty good investment.

While Pfizer views its own stock as the most desirable of all, there's one stock Warren Buffett would like to buy -- but can't? The price of becoming the world's greatest investor is that Buffett can no longer make many of types of investments that made him rich in the first place. Find out about one such opportunity in "The Stock Buffett Wishes He Could Buy." The free report details a sector of the economy Buffett's heavily invested in right now and exactly why he can't buy one attractive company in that sector. Click here to keep reading. 

Microsoft Stock Needs a Little Help From Its Friends

Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT  ) turned heads last week with its move to open 500 stores inside Best Buy (NYSE: BBY  ) locations this summer. Microsoft stock didn't get the kind of bubbly reception that Best Buy shares received on the news, but it's still a smart move for both companies.

However, a quick look at Microsoft's ad promoting the venture shows that Microsoft doesn't feel as if its brand is enough. 

In this video, longtime Fool contributor Rick Munarriz explains why Netflix (NASDAQ: NFLX  ) , Barnes & Noble (NYSE: BKS  ) , and even Amazon.com (NASDAQ: AMZN  ) are featured brands in the Microsoft mini-store ad. This is a humbler Mr. Softy than we've seen before, and that may ultimately pay off for Microsoft stock.

The titans of tech
It's incredible to think just how much of our digital and technological lives are almost entirely shaped and molded by just a handful of companies. Find out "Who Will Win the War Between the 5 Biggest Tech Stocks?" in The Motley Fool's latest free report, which details the knock-down, drag-out battle being waged by the five kings of tech. Click here to keep reading.

Editor's note: The video refers to Audible as an "e-book reader." It's actually a provider of audiobooks and other spoken audio programming.

GT Advanced Technologies

Top Oil Service Companies To Own In Right Now

GT Advanced Technologies (GTAT) has delivered impressive results in 2014. GT Advanced Technologies, along with other Apple suppliers, had gained popularity when smartphone growth was at its peak, but then gradually faded away as time passed. However, GT Advanced Technologies is a good buy for many reasons.

A Strong Quarterly Performance

Before highlighting its outlook for current fiscal 2014, let's take a look at GT's recently reported quarter. The company has performed exceedingly well during the quarter and as a result, its shares have gained. Its bottom line topped analysts' estimates by $0.10 per share. The company boosted investor confidence by providing strong guidance for the current fiscal year.

GT anticipates its total revenue to be in the range of $600 million to $800 million for the current fiscal year, better than Wall Street's analysis of $691.8 million. GT also said that its revenue in 2015 will exceed $1 billion. Also, GT Advanced Technologies anticipates that its earnings will be in the range of $0.02 per share to $0.18 per share, which is ahead of consensus estimates at the mid-point. Therefore, the company is quite upbeat about its long-term prospects and could be a strong performer in the long run.

The Way Forward

GT Advanced Technologies looks like an attractive investment due to several reasons such as its anticipated growth trajectory. Because of strong end-market prospects, its HICz and PV technologies are experiencing great momentum, and the potential for its new polysilicon technology business is growing.

GT intends to position itself not only as an exceptional sapphire supplier to Apple, but also as an unparalleled world class supplier of sapphire material and equipment for a variety of other customers. This will help GT enter other segments and enhance its presence in LED, power electronics, advanced solar and the industrial market.

GT has a definite plan for its Hyperion technology, silicon carbide HVPE, PVB, HiCz and new polysilicon products that are in the pipeline. The company intends to aggressively commercialize these solutions. These new product launches are expected to reap results with orders expected in the latter part of 2014.

GT is also targeting HVPE and PVD equipment offerings apart from providing sapphire growth solutions for the LED sector. As ASF customers are running at high utilization rates and expecting increased prices, the demand will shoot-up for traditional LED applications. This can lead to substantial revenue gain for GT in the current fiscal 2014.

Apart from this, the company is also benefiting from its LED sector, where demand is continuously increasing, and as a result, volumes are adversely impacting supply-demand dynamics in the industry in a positive way. Of late, it has been noticed that the Tier 1 solar companies are posting positive margins and there is potential for fresh capital investment. This could lead to a greater opportunity for GT to diversify its market and capture substantial market share.

Also, end market demand has picked up due to a drop in prices. Demand is forecasted to grow to 49GW in 2014 from 36GW in 2013. With these amazing projections and the positive financial performance of some of the key players in the solar industry, the photovoltaic sector is showing signs of improvement, and this is a tailwind for GT going forward.

Conclusion

The company anticipates that the current fiscal 2014 will be a transformational year, where the company will undergo a boom in its sapphire materials business while the prospects of the solar market will also help it grow. So, investors should not ignore this growth stock as it is all set to scale new heights in the future.

Currently 0.00/512345 Rating: 0.0/5 (0 votes)

Subscribe via Email Subscribe RSS Comments Please leave your comment:
More GuruFocus Links

Latest Guru Picks	Value Strategies
Warren Buffett Portfolio	Ben Graham Net-Net
Real Time Picks	Buffett-Munger Screener
Aggregated Portfolio	Undervalued Predictable
ETFs, Options	Low P/S Companies
Insider Trends	10-Year Financials
52-Week Lows	Interactive Charts
Model Portfolios	DCF Calculator
RSS Feed	Monthly Newsletters
The All-In-One Screener	Portfolio Tracking Tool

MORE GURUFOCUS LINKS

Latest Guru Picks	Value Strategies
Warren Buffett Portfolio	Ben Graham Net-Net
Real Time Picks	Buffett-Munger Screener
Aggregated Portfolio	Undervalued Predictable
ETFs, Options	Low P/S Companies
Insider Trends	10-Year Financials
52-Week Lows	Interactive Charts
Model Portfolios	DCF Calculator
RSS Feed	Monthly Newsletters
The All-In-One Screener	Portfolio Tracking Tool

GTAT STOCK PRICE CHART 16.17 (1y: +393%) $(function(){var seriesOptions=[],yAxisOptions=[],name='GTAT',display='';Highcharts.setOptions({global:{useUTC:true}});var d=new Date();$current_day=d.getDay();if($current_day==5||$current_day==0||$current_day==6){day=4;}else{day=7;} seriesOptions[0]={id:name,animation:false,color:'#4572A7',lineWidth:1,name:name.toUpperCase()+' stock price',threshold:null,data:[[1366347600000,3.28],[1366606800000,3.29],[1366693200000,3.54],[1366779600000,3.54],[1366866000000,3.72],[1366952400000,3.66],[1367211600000,3.89],[1367298000000,3.93],[1367384400000,3.86],[1367470800000,3.67],[1367557200000,3.84],[1367816400000,3.79],[1367902800000,3.73],[1367989200000,3.81],[1368075600000,3.87],[1368162000000,3.87],[1368421200000,4.03],[1368507600000,3.95],[1368594000000,4.18],[1368680400000,4.31],[1368766800000,4.52],[1369026000000,4.53],[1369112400000,4.49],[1369198800000,4.21],[1369285200000,4.29],[1369371600000,4.38],[1369717200000,4.37],[1369803600000,4.37],[1369890000000,4.59],[1369976400000,4.45],[1370235600000,4.575],[1370322000000,4.35],[1370408400000,4.33],[1370494800000,4.35],[1370581200000,4.26],[1370840400000,4.29],[1370926800000,4.13],[1371013200000,3.94],[1371099600000,4.06],[1371186000000,3.78],[1371445200000,3.77],[1371531600000,3.98],[1371618000000,3.99],[1371704400000,3.78],[1371790800000,3.735],[1372050000000,3.5],[1372136400000,3.52],[1372222800000,3.61],[1372309200000,4.11],[1372395600000,4.15],[1372654800000,4.065],[1372741200000,4.08],[1372827600000,4.17],[1373000400000,4.19],[1373259600000,4.2],[1373346000000,4.15],[1373432400000,4.2],[1373518800000,4.32],[1373605200000,4.38],[1373864400000,4.58],[1373950800000,5],[1374037200000,5.01],[1374123600000,5.08],[1374210000000,4.96],[1374469200000,5.07],[1374555600000,5.06],[1374642000000,4.95],[1374728400000,4.8],[1374814800000,4.74],[1375074000000,4.75],[1375160400000,5.1],[1375246800000,5.185],[1375333200000,5.175],[1375419600000,5.08],[1375678800000,5.18],[1375765200000,5.47],[1375851600000,5.39],[1375938000000,5.34],[1376024400000,5.32],[1376283600000,5.56],[1376370000000,5.74],[1376456400000,5.8],[1376542800000,6.03],[1376629200000,6.27],[1376888400000,6.04],[1376974800000,6.28],[1377061200000,6.18],[1377147600000,6.44],[1377234000000,6.69],[1377493200000,6.66],[1377579600000,6.31],[1! 377666000000,6.38],[1377752400000,6.54],[1377838800000,6.46],[1378184400000,6.71],[1378270800000,6.81],[1378357200000,6.78],[1378443600000,6.8],[1378702800000,6.93],[1378789200000,7.02],[1378875600000,6.95],[1378962000000,6.64],[1379048400000,6.57],[1379307600000,6.73],[1379394000000,6.89],[1379480400000,7.55],[1379566800000,8.35],[1379653200000,8.221],[1379912400000,8.2],[1379998800000,8.48],[1380085200000,8.47],[1380171600000,8.35],[1380258000000,8.385],[1380517200000,8.51],[1380603600000,8.74],[1380690000000,8.8],[1380776400000,8.77],[1380862800000,9.07],[1381122000000,8.79],[1381208400000,8.24],[1381294800000,7.99],[1381381200000,8.265],[1381467600000,8.135],[1381726800000,8.08],[1381813200000,8.1],[1381899600000,8.31],[1381986000000,8.359],[1382072400000,8.63],[1382331600000,9.13],[1382418000000,8.975],[1382504400000,8.45],[1382590800000,8.65],[1382677200000,8.17],[1382936400000,7.97],[1383022800000,8.01],[1383109200000,7.8],[1383195600000,7.495],[1383282000000,8.075],[1383544800000,8.38],[1383631200000,10.1],[1383717600000,9.85],[1383804000000,9.31],[1383890400000,9.47],[1384149600000,10.24],[1384236000000,9.97],[1384322400000,10.4],[1384408800000,10.295],[1384495200000,10.19],[1384754400000,9.93],[1384840800000,9.56],[1384927200000,9.44],[1385013600000,9.915],[1385100000000,9.82],[1385359200000,9.86],[1385445600000,10],[1385532000000,9.82],[1385704800000,9.81],[1385964000000,9.94],[1386050400000,9.28],[1386136800000,8.92],[1386223200000,8.89],[1386309600000,8.67],[1386568800000,8.37],[1386655200000,8.55],[1386741600000,8.22],[1386828000000,8.05],[1386914400000,8.02],[1387173600000,8.39],[1387260000000,8.5],[1387346400000,8.49],[1387432800000,8.54],[1387519200000,8.37],[1387778400000,8.57],[1387864800000,8.61],[1388037600000,8.47],[1388124000000,8.57],[1388383200000,8.8],[1388469600000,8.715],[1388642400000,9.12],[1388728800000,9.32],[1388988000000,9.03],[1389074400000,9.31],[1389160800000,9.47],[1389247200000,9.3],[1389333600000,9.32],[1389592800000,8.74],[1389679200000,9.14],[1389765600000,9.16]! ,[1389852! 000000,9.22],[1389938400000,9.06],[1390284000000,9.28],[1390370400000,9.22],[1390456800000,9.01],[1390543200000,9.09],[1390802400000,9.67],[1390888800000,9.82],[1390975200000,9.63],[1391061600000,10.08],[1391148000000,10.27],[1391407200000,9.77],[1391493600000,9.57],[1391580000000,9.18],[1391666400000,9.45],[1391752800000,10.74],[1392012000000,11.74],[1392098400000,10.88],[1392184800000,11.18],[1392271200000,11.71],[1392357600000,11.67],[1392703200000,12.64],[1392789600000,12.23],[1392876000000,12.5],[1392962400000,12.11],[1393221600000,14.14],[1393308000000,13.86],[1393394400000,14.57],[1393826400000,15.04],[1393912800000,16.7],[1393999200000,17.08],[1394085600000,16.98],[1394172000000,17.5],[1394427600000,17.02],[1394514000000,17.19],[1394600400000,17],[1394686800000,16.23],[1394773200000,16.81],[1395032400000,17.15],[1395118800000,18.24],[1395205200000,18.99],[1395291600000,19.14],[1395378000000,18.61],[1395637200000,17.87],[1395723600000,17.49],[1395810000000,16.37],[1395896400000,16.72],[1395982800000,17.17],[1396328400000,17.38],[1396414800000,18.669],[1396501200000,17.8],[1396587600000,16.9],[1396846800000,16.43],[1396933200000,16.87],[1397019600000,17.26],[1397106000000,16.1],[1397192400000,16.2],[1397451600000,15.86],[1397538000000,15.62],[1397624400000,16.34],[1397710800000,16.17],[1397879316000,16.17],[1397879316000,16.17],[1397746800000,16.17]]};var reporting=$('#reporting');Highcharts.setOptions({lang:{rangeSelectorZoom:""}});var chart=new Highcharts.StockChart({chart:{renderTo:'container_chart',marginRight:20,borderRadius:0,events:{load:function(){var chart=this,axis=chart.xAxis[0],buttons=chart.rangeSelector.buttons;function reset_all_buttons(){$.each(chart.rangeSelector.buttons,function(index,value){value.setState(0);});series=chart.get('GTAT');series.remove();} buttons[0].on('click',function(e){chart.showLoading();reset_all_buttons();chart.rangeSelector.buttons[0].setState(2);var extremes=axis.getExtremes();$.getJSON('/modules/chart/price_chart_json.php?symbol=GTAT&ser=1d',function(data){if(data!=null){var extremes=axis.getExtremes();axis.setExtremes(data[1][0][0],data[1][data[1].length-1][0]);chart.addSeries({name:'GTAT',id:'GTAT',color:'#4572A7',data:data[1]});if(data[0][1]>=0){display=data[0][0]+" (1D: +"+data[0][1]+"%)";reporting.html(display);}else{display=data[0][0]+" (1D: "+data[0][1]+"%)";reporting.html(display);} chart.hideLoading();}});});buttons[1].on('click',function(e){chart.showLoading();reset_all_buttons();chart.rang

Top 5 Cheapest Companies To Buy For 2015

Popular Posts: Follow Insider Buying Into These Cheap StocksThe 3 Cheapest Stocks in the WorldGet Paid by Following Insiders Recent Posts: 2 Small Bank Stocks With Huge Upside Bargain-Hunt Like a Private Equity Guru With These 3 Stocks Get Paid by Following Insiders View All Posts

I have written often about the potential for small bank stocks during the next decade. The regulatory and economic hurdles facing the smaller banks is going to force many of these institutions to merge with a larger competitor, and that�� going to be a source of huge profits for patient investors.

Top 5 Cheapest Companies To Buy For 2015: MKS Instruments Inc.(MKSI)

MKS Instruments, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, provides instruments, subsystems, and process control solutions that measure, control, power, monitor, and analyze parameters of manufacturing processes worldwide. It offers instruments and control systems, such as pressure measurement and control, materials delivery, gas composition analysis, and control and information technology products. The company also provides power and reactive gas generation products comprising power delivery, reactive gas generation, processing thin films, and equipment cleaning products; and vacuum technology products, including vacuum containment components, vacuum gauges, vacuum valves, effluent management subsystems and custom stainless steel chambers, vessels, and pharmaceutical process equipment hardware and housings. Its products are used in the semiconductor processing steps, such as depositing thin films of material onto silicon wafer substrates, and etching and cleaning circuit patt erns; manufacture of flat panel displays, light emitting diodes, solar cells, data storage media, and other coatings, including architectural glass; energy generation and environmental monitoring processes, such as nuclear fuel processing, fuel cell research, greenhouse gas monitoring, and chemical agent detection; medical instrument sterilization; consumable medical supply manufacturing; and pharmaceutical applications. The company also offers maintenance and repair, software maintenance, installation, and training services. It serves semiconductor capital equipment and device manufacturers, thin film capital equipment manufacturers, energy generation, environmental monitoring, and manufacturing companies, as well as government, university and industrial research laboratories. The company sells its products primarily through its direct sales force, as well as through sales representatives and agents. MKS Instruments, Inc. was founded in 1961 and is headquartered in Andover, Massachusetts.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Ben Axler]

  In the table below, we've listed a sample of small-cap semiconductor capital equipment stocks such as Entegris (ENTG), Advanced Energy Industries (AEIS), ATMI Inc. (ATMI), MKS Instruments (MKSI), Photronics Inc. (PLAB), Rudolph Technologies (RTEC),FormFactor (FORM) and Mattson Technology (MTSN). The peers trade at approximately 1.0x and 15.5x 2014E revenues and EPS, respectively. Furthermore, the average peer trades at 2.1x tangible book value. However, these multiples are based on average 2014E industry revenue and earnings growth of 18% and 119%, respectively. Axcelis is poised to grow at a rate substantially above the industry average.

• [By James E. Brumley]

  What do small cap stocks MKS Instruments, Inc. (NASDAQ:MKSI), Tanger Factory Outlet Centers Inc. (NYSE:SKT), and Kaman Corporation (NYSE:KAMN) have in common? Absolutely nothing, on the surface, and no, it's not a setup for painfully bad punchline. There is a common thread among KAMN, SKT, and MKSI right now, however... they're all three going into my mental (though publicly-tracked) portfolio this afternoon.

Top 5 Cheapest Companies To Buy For 2015: HopFed Bancorp Inc.(HFBC)

HopFed Bancorp, Inc. operates as the holding company for Heritage Bank that provides various banking products and services primarily in western Kentucky, and middle and western Tennessee. The company offers a range of deposit products, including demand deposits, time deposits, money market accounts, passbook savings accounts, individual retirement accounts, and certificates of deposit. Its loan portfolio comprises one-to-four family residential loans, multifamily residential loans, construction loans, nonresidential loans, commercial real estate loans, and land and land development loans, as well as loans secured by deposits, other consumer loans, and commercial loans. The company, through its subsidiary, Fall and Fall Insurance Agency, sells life and casualty insurance products to individuals and businesses. HopFed Bancorp offers its products and services through its branch offices located in Hopkinsville, Murray, Cadiz, Elkton, Fulton, Calvert City, and Benton, Kentucky; and in Clarksville, Pleasant View, Ashland City, Kingston Springs, and Erin, Tennessee. The company was founded in 1879 and is headquartered in Hopkinsville, Kentucky.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Louis Navellier]

  HopFed Bancorp (HFBC), at $85 million in market cap, operates 18 branches in middle Tennessee and Western Kentucky and can be thought of as poster child for what is going on in the small banking sector. An activist investor took a stake in the bank and opposed an ill-advised acquisition. Instead, he suggested HopFed management get its own house in order. Management went along and canceled the deal, instituted a stock buyback plan and doubled the dividend. HFBC was upgraded to an “A” back in May and still is a “strong buy” right now.

5 Best Construction Stocks To Own Right Now: Sandridge Energy Inc.(SD)

SandRidge Energy, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, operates as an independent natural gas and oil company in the United States. The company engages in the exploration, development, and production of oil and gas properties. Its Exploration and Production segment explores for, develops, and produces natural gas and oil reserves with focus on the Mid-Continent and Permian Basin. This segment also operates leasehold positions in the West Texas Overthrust (WTO), Gulf Coast, and Gulf of Mexico. The company?s Drilling and Oil Field Services segment is involved in the contract drilling of oil and natural gas wells primarily in the west Texas region. This segment also offers oil field services, including providing pulling units, trucking, rental tools, location, and road construction and roustabout services. Its Midstream Gas Services segment engages in purchasing, gathering, treating, and selling natural gas in west Texas. As of December 31, 2011, its estimated proved reserv es were 470.6 million barrels of oil equivalent, of which approximately 52% were oil. The company also had interests in 5,043 gross producing wells, as well as in approximately 2,695,000 gross acres under lease. In addition, it had 21 rigs drilling in the Mid-Continent and 15 rigs drilling in the Permian Basin. SandRidge Energy, Inc. is headquartered in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Matthew DiLallo]

  When I started writing this article SandRidge Energy's (NYSE: SD  ) stock had closed just one penny below $6 per share. It's a level the stock hasn't seen since February. The stock has climbed nearly 30% off 2013 lows seen this past April. While in obvious hindsight those lows were the best price to buy, will we look back at today and think that just under $6 was also a good price?

• [By Matthew DiLallo]

  For SandRidge Energy (NYSE: SD  ) , that pay has come from the Mississippi Lime formation. However, the company has really only been scratching the surface of that play. It turns out the company is quite possibly sitting on more areas of pay than previously thought.

• [By Ant贸nio Costa]
  SandRidge Energy Inc. (NYSE: SD) continues to trades within a steady uptrend channel. Next buy point will be on the day it blows through $6.25 on heavy volume. ( click to enlarge )

Top 5 Cheapest Companies To Buy For 2015: Remy International Inc (REMY)

Remy International, Inc. (Remy), incorporated on November 22, 1993, is a global vehicular parts designer, manufacturer, remanufacturer, marketer and distributor of aftermarket and original equipment electrical components for automobiles, light trucks, heavy-duty trucks and other vehicles. Remy sells its products worldwide primarily under the Delco Remy, Remy, and World Wide Automotive brand names. The Company�� products include light-duty and heavy-duty starters and alternators for both the original equipment and the remanufactured markets, and hybrid power technology. These products are principally sold or distributed to original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) for both original equipment manufacture and aftermarket operations, as well as to warehouse distributors and retail automotive parts chains. The Company sells its products principally in North America, Europe, Latin America and Asia-Pacific. In January 2014, Remy International, Inc. acquired all assets of USA Industries.

The Company�� original equipment division consists of three primary channels: automotive, heavy-duty vehicles and electric motors for electric and hybrid applications. Remy is a supplier for such original equipment manufacturers as General Motors, DaimlerChrylser, Toyota, Honda and Hyundai/Kia. The Company is a supplier of original equipment and aftermarket starters and alternators for heavy-duty vehicles in North America. Remy is an independent production electric motor supplier and in many aspects of hybrid and electric vehicle technology, including the patented hairpin stator technology. Its original equipment (OE) business has operations in the United States, Mexico, Brazil, China and Korea.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Rich Smith]

  On Monday, auto parts maker Remy International (NASDAQ: REMY  ) announced that it is taking 100% control of its Remy Hubei Electric Co. (REH) joint venture, buying out partner Hubei Super Electric Auto Motor Company's 49% interest in the JV.

Top 5 Cheapest Companies To Buy For 2015: Teck Resources Ltd(TCK)

Teck Resources Limited operates as a diversified mining, mineral processing, and metallurgical company. It is involved in exploring, developing, smelting, refining, safety, environmental protecting, product stewardship, recycling, and researching activities. The company offers zinc and lead concentrates, and copper and molybdenum concentrates; zinc and lead, and alloys in a range of compositions and shapes; specialty metals, such as germanium, indium, and cadmium; and precious metals, including refined silver and gold dore. It also provides materials comprising low alpha lead materials, as well as delivers low alpha tin and copper electroplating anodes for semiconductors and integrated circuits; indium-based paste for thermal interfaces; and metal salt solutions used in the production of solar panels and other plating applications. In addition, Teck Resources Limited offers non-ferrous metal refining, metal alloying and casting, electro-winning and electro-refining, metal distilling, metal atomizing, metal salt producing, and metal recycling services for product development. Further, it provides industrial chemicals comprising copper arsenate, copper sulphate pentahydrate, ferrous granules, molten sulphur, sodium antimonate, sulphur dioxide, and sulphuric acid; ammonium sulphate solution and zinc sulphate solution; steelmaking coal; and fertilizers. The company has exploration operations in various countries of the Americas, the Asia Pacific, Europe, and Africa. Teck Resources Limited holds interest in oil sands development assets; wind power project; and a portfolio of copper, zinc, and gold exploration properties. It also owns interests in approximately 13 mines in Canada, the United States, Chile, and Peru, as well as 1 metallurgical complex in Canada. The company was formerly known as Teck Cominco Limited and changed its name to Teck Resources Limited in April 2009. Teck Resources Limited was founded in 1906 and is headquartered in Vancou ver, Canada.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By The Gold Report]

  Tickers related to the original interview with Don Mosher include: Teck Resources (TCK) and Kirrin Resources (KIRRF.PK).

  DISCLOSURE:
  1) Streetwise Reports does not accept stock in exchange for its services or as sponsorship payment.
  2) Kevin Campbell: I was not paid by Streetwise Reports for participating in this interview. Comments and opinions expressed are my own comments and opinions and may not represent those of Haywood Securities. I had the opportunity to review the interview for accuracy as of the date of the interview and am responsible for the content of the interview.
  3) Interviews are edited for clarity. Streetwise Reports does not make editorial comments or change experts' statements without their consent.
  4) The interview does not constitute investment advice. Each reader is encouraged to consult with his or her individual financial professional and any action a reader takes as a result of information presented here is his or her own responsibility. By opening this page, each reader accepts and agrees to Streetwise Reports' terms of use and full legal disclaimer.
  5) From time to time, Streetwise Reports LLC and its directors, officers, employees or members of their families, as well as persons interviewed for articles and interviews on the site, may have a long or short position in securities mentioned and may make purchases and/or sales of those securities in the open market or otherwise.

• [By Sean Williams]

  What the Teck?
  If you invest in commodity-based companies or miners, you've probably uttered the phrase "What the heck?" a few times over the past year. I know I have! However, I feel there are plenty of reasons to believe that Teck Resources (NYSE: TCK  ) , a miner of everything from copper and zinc to coal and silver, will turn things around.

• [By Matt DiLallo]

  Goldcorp isn't alone in cutting its capital budget amid falling metal prices. Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE: FCX  ) , for example, is slashing $1.9 billion from its capital budget over the next two years so that it can maintain balance sheet flexibility in light of falling copper and gold prices. It's the same story at Teck Resources (NYSE: TCK  ) , which is also reducing its capital expenditures over the next two years. Teck is cutting $150 million out of its original $2 billion capex budget. Meanwhile, the company is targeting to keep its sustaining capex to $500 million next year. These moves are to better align these companies with current market conditions, as well as to improve cash flow and strengthen balance sheets.

• [By Bruce Kennedy]

  The Anglo-Australian mining company BHP Billiton (NYSE: BHP) and Canadian firm Teck Resources (NYSE: TCK) also reported no disruptions at their Chilean mining operations ��although some BHP Billiton personnel were evacuated from port facilities during the tsunami warning.

10 Best Construction Material Stocks For 2015

The intense battle to grab market share in the fastest growing parts of the device market will get even hotter in 2014, predicts MoneyShow's Jim Jubak, also of Jubak's Picks, who feels these companies may enjoy the spoils of war the most.

Shipments of devices�� category that, in this case, includes PCs, tablets, ultra mobiles, and mobile phones��ill hit 2.5 billion units in 2014, according to technology market research company Gartner.

If you've been paying attention to ��he PC is dead��argument on and off Wall Street, you won't be surprised to hear that shipments of traditional PCs are forecast to drop by 7% in 2014, to 278 million units.

By the numbers, mobile phones dominate device shipments with a projected 1.9 billion units to be shipped in 2014. That would be a 5% increase from 2013.

But the growth stars for the device universe come from the ultra mobile category of tablets, hybrids, and clamshells. The overall category will grow by 54% in 2014, Gartner projects. Inside that larger category, the worldwide market for tablets is forecast to grow by 47%.

10 Best Construction Material Stocks For 2015: Eagle Materials Inc (EXP)

Eagle Materials Inc., incorporated on January 27, 1994, manufactures and distributes gypsum wallboard and also manufactures and sells cement. Gypsum wallboard is distributed throughout the United States with particular emphasis in the geographic markets nearest to its production facilities. The Company sells cement in six regional markets, including northern Nevada and California, the greater Chicago area, the Rocky Mountain region, the Central Plains region and Texas. Its gypsum wallboard business is supported by its recycled paperboard business, while its cement business is supported by its concrete and aggregates business. The Company operates in Cement and Concrete and Aggregates, and Gypsum Wallboard and Recycled Paperboard segments. As of March 31, 2013, the Company operated six cement plants (one of which belongs to its joint venture company), five gypsum wallboard plants, one recycled paperboard plant, seventeen concrete batching plants and four aggregates facilities. The Company�� products are used in the construction and renovation of houses, roads, bridges, commercial and industrial buildings and other, newer generation structures like wind farms.

Cement, Concrete and Aggregates Operations

The Company�� cement production facilities are located in or near Buda, Texas; LaSalle, Illinois; Laramie, Wyoming; Sugar Creek, Missouri; Tulsa, Oklahoma and Fernley, Nevada. The Company�� cement subsidiaries are wholly-owned except the Buda, Texas plant, which is owned by Texas Lehigh Cement Company LP, a limited partnership joint venture owned 50% by the Company and 50% by Lehigh Cement Company LLC, a subsidiary of Heidelberg Cement AG. Its LaSalle, Illinois plant operates under the name of Illinois Cement Company; the Laramie, Wyoming plant operates under the name of Mountain Cement Company; the Fernley, Nevada plant operates under the name of Nevada Cement Company and its Sugar Creek, Missouri and Tulsa, Oklahoma plants operate under the name Central Plains Cement Com! pany. The Company produces and distributes ready-mix concrete from Company-owned sites north of Sacramento, California; Austin, Texas and the greater Kansas City area. The Company�� activities in its frac sand business are in the Utica, Illinois area and in south Texas. The Company sells aggregates to building contractors and other customers engaged in a variety of construction activities.

Gypsum Wallboard and Recycled Paperboard Operations

The Company owns five gypsum wallboard manufacturing facilities. As of March 31, 2013, the Company�� gypsum wallboard production totaled 1,950 million square feet. Total gypsum wallboard sales were 1,909 million square feet during the fiscal year ended March 31, 2013 (fiscal 2013). The Company also manufactures alternative products, including containerboard grades (such as linerboard and medium) and lightweight packaging grades (such as bag liner). In addition, recycled industrial paperboard grades (tube/core stock and protective angle board stock) are produced to maximize manufacturing efficiencies. The Company�� manufactured recycled paperboard products are sold to gypsum wallboard manufacturers and other industrial users.

The Company competes with USG Corporation, National Gypsum Company and Koch Industries.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Dan Caplinger]

  Tomorrow, Eagle Materials (NYSE: EXP  ) will release its latest quarterly results. The key to making smart investment decisions on stocks reporting earnings is to anticipate how they'll do before they announce results, leaving you fully prepared to respond quickly to whatever inevitable surprises arise. That way, you'll be less likely to make an uninformed knee-jerk reaction to news that turns out to be exactly the wrong move.

• [By Rich Duprey]

  Cement and building materials maker�Eagle Materials� (NYSE: EXP  ) �announced yesterday�its second-quarter dividend of $0.10 per share, the same rate it's paid since 2008.

10 Best Construction Material Stocks For 2015: Ply Gem Holdings Inc (PGEM)

Ply Gem Holdings, Inc. (Ply Gem Holdings), incorporated on January 23, 2004, is a manufacturer of residential exterior building products in North America. The Company operates in two segments: Siding, Fencing, and Stone and Windows and Doors. These two segments produce a product line of vinyl siding, designer accents, cellular polyvinyl chloride (PVC) trim, vinyl fencing, vinyl and composite railing, stone veneer and vinyl windows and doors used in both new construction and home repair and remodeling in the United States and Western Canada. It also manufactures vinyl and aluminum soffit and siding accessories, aluminum trim coil, wood windows, aluminum windows, vinyl and aluminum-clad windows and steel and fiberglass doors, enabling it to bundle complementary and color-matched products and accessories with its core products. The Company�� subsidiaries includes including Ply Gem Industries, MWM Holding, AWC Holding Company, MHE, and Pacific Windows. On July 30, 2012, Ply Gem acquired substantially all of the assets of Greendeck Products, LLC.

Siding, Fencing, and Stone Segment

In the Siding, Fencing, and Stone segment, its principal products include vinyl siding and skirting, vinyl and aluminum soffit, aluminum trim coil, J-channels, wide crown molding, window and door trim, F-channels, H-molds, fascia, undersill trims, outside/inside corner posts, rain removal systems, injection molded designer accents, such as shakes, shingles, scallops, shutters, vents and mounts, vinyl fence, vinyl and composite railing, and stone veneer. It sells its siding and accessories under its Variform, Napco, Mastic Home Exteriors, and Cellwood brand names and under the Georgia-Pacific brand name through a private label program. It also sells its Providence line of vinyl siding and accessories to Lowe�� under its Durabuilt private label brand name. Its vinyl and vinyl-composite fencing and railing products are sold under its Kroy and Kroy Express brand names. Ply Gem Holdings stone veneer produ! cts are sold under its United Stone Veneer brand name.

The Company sells the siding and accessories to specialty distributors (one-step distribution) and to wholesale distributors (two-step distribution). Its specialty distributors sell directly to remodeling contractors and builders. Its wholesale distributors sell to retail home centers and lumberyards who, in turn, sell to remodeling contractors, builders and consumers. In the specialty channel, it has developed a network of approximately 800 independent distributors, serving over 22,000 contractors and builders nationwide.

Windows and Doors Segment

In the Windows and Doors segment, its principal products include vinyl, aluminum, wood and clad-wood windows and patio doors, and steel, wood, and fiberglass entry doors that serve both the new home construction and the repair and remodeling sectors in the United States and Western Canada. Its products in its Windows and Doors segment are sold under the Ply Gem Windows, Great Lakes Mastic by Ply Gem, and Ply Gem Canada brands.

The Company competes with Alsco, Gentek, U.S. Fence, Homeland, Westech, Bufftech, Royal, Azek., Eldorado Stone, Coronado Stone, Jeld-Wen, Simonton, Pella and Andersen, MI Home Products, Atrium, Weathershield, Milgard, Jeld-Wen, Gienow, All Weather and Loewen.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Lisa Levin]

  Ply Gem Holdings (NYSE: PGEM) shares reached a new 52-week low of $11.48 after the company reported wider-than-expected Q4 loss and issued a weak Q1 revenue forecast.

• [By Matt Jarzemsky]

  Installed Building Products��debut follows mixed performance from shares of some newly public building-products companies. Through Tuesday, siding manufacturer Ply Gem Holdings Inc.(PGEM)�� shares were down 39% from the offer price in its $381 May debut. Wood-products maker Boise Cascade Co.(BCC) was up 46% from its $284 million February IPO.

• [By Traders Reserve]

  There hasn�� been a January effect rally in shares of Ply Gem (PGEM). In fact, it has been quite the opposite. Shares are down a whopping 25% during the month. For a stock I rated as on of the Top 10 Sizzling Stocks, such a move is painful, but not disastrous. Sizzling Stocks are meant to be held for the duration of the year and we have 11 months to go. Small-cap stocks like Ply Gem can move sharply one direction or the other.

10 Best Paper Stocks To Buy Right Now: Holcim Ltd (HOLN)

Holcim Ltd (Holcim) is a Switzerland-based holding company that specializes in the manufacture, distribution and marketing of building materials. The Company operates four business segments, including Cement, Aggregates, Other construction materials and services, and Corporate. The Cement segment is engaged in the development of cement and comprises clinker and other cementitious materials, among others. The Aggregates business segment includes crushed stone, gravel and sand. The Other construction materials and services business segment comprises ready-mix concrete, concrete products, asphalt, construction and paving, and trading, among others. Additionally, other construction materials and services segment provides environmental services, including waste management, among others. The Corporate segment is engaged in holding activities and general management. It operates through subsidiaries in Asia Pacific, Latin America, Europe, North America, Africa and Middle East regions. Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Sofia Horta e Costa]

  Holcim Ltd. (HOLN) lost 0.9 percent to 68.15 francs in Zurich. Bank of America Corp.�� Merrill Lynch unit cut its rating on the world�� largest cement maker to underperform, similar to a sell recommendation, from neutral. Merrill Lynch cited the company�� exposure to emerging markets.

10 Best Construction Material Stocks For 2015: Texas Industries Inc (TXI)

Texas Industries, Inc., incorporated on April 19, 1951, is a supplier of construction materials in the southwestern United States. The Company operates in three segments: cement, aggregates and consumer products. Its cement segment produces gray portland cement and specialty cements. The Company�� cement production and distribution facilities are concentrated primarily in Texas and California. Its aggregates segment produces natural aggregates, including sand, gravel and crushed limestone. The Company�� consumer products segment produces ready-mix concrete. It is also a supplier of natural aggregates and ready-mix concrete in Texas and northern Louisiana and in Oklahoma and Arkansas. As of May 31, 2013, the Company had 123 manufacturing facilities in five states.

Cement Segment

The Company produces specialty cements, such as masonry and oil well cements. Its cement production facilities are located at Midlothian, Texas, south of Dallas/Fort Worth, Hunter, Texas, between Austin and San Antonio, and Oro Grande, California, near Los Angeles. It also operates a cement terminal and packaging facility at its Crestmore plant near Riverside, California, and the Company operates its gray portland cement grinding facility on an as needed basis. During the fiscal year ended May 31, 2013 (fiscal 2013), it produced approximately 4.3 million tons of finished cement. The Company shipped approximately 4.4 million tons during fiscal 2013, of which 3.8 million tons were shipped to outside trade customers.

Aggregates Segment

The Company�� operations are conducted from facilities primarily serving the Dallas/Fort Worth and Austin areas in Texas; the southern Oklahoma area, and the Alexandria and Monroe areas in Louisiana. The Company produced approximately 14.2 million tons of natural aggregates during fiscal 2013. It shipped approximately 14.8 million tons of natural aggregates during fiscal 2013, of which 11.3 million tons were shipped to outside trade customers! . The Company shipped approximately 1.0 million cubic yards of lightweight aggregates during fiscal 2013, of which approximately 0.9 million cubic yards were shipped to outside trade customers.

Consumer Products Segment

The Company�� ready-mix concrete operations are situated in three areas in Texas (the Dallas/Fort Worth/Denton area of north Texas, the Austin area of central Texas and from Beaumont to Texarkana in east Texas), in north and central Louisiana, and in southwestern Arkansas. It is also a 40% partner in a joint venture that has ready mix concrete operations in the northern part of central Texas area centered around Waco, Texas. It shipped approximately 2.8 million cubic yards of ready-mix concrete during fiscal 2013. The Company manufacture and supply a substantial amount of the cement and aggregates raw materials used by our ready-mix plants. The Company also marketed its Maximizer packaged concrete mixes in southern California.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Sean Williams]

  Texas Industries (NYSE: TXI  )
  In spite of the steady rebound in the construction industry, certain companies look predisposed to underperform. Take Texas Industries as a perfect example. It provides heavy construction aggregates to the commercial construction industry while also acting a cement supplier to the consumer segment. Although its orders, and even to some remote extent its pricing power for cement, has improved modestly as the housing sector has rebounded, Texas Industries is still turning only marginal profits. In fact, looking toward next year you'd see a forward P/E approaching 500!

10 Best Construction Material Stocks For 2015: Boral Ltd (BLD)

Boral Limited (Boral), is engaged in the manufacture and supply of building and construction materials in Australia, the United States and Asia. The Company�� operating segments include Construction Materials & Cement, Building Products, Boral Gypsum, and Boral USA. The Construction Materials & Cement is engaged in quarries, concrete, asphalt, transport, landfill, property, cement and concrete placing. The Building Products segment is engaged in Australian bricks, roof tiles, masonry, timber products and windows. The Boral Gypsum involves Australian and Asian plasterboard. The Boral USA is engaged in Bricks, cultured stone, roof tiles, fly ash, concrete and quarries. Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Eric Lam]

  Ballard Power (BLD), which designs and manufactures hydrogen fuel cells, slumped 15 percent to C$1.42, the biggest decline since March. The company yesterday said it will sell about 9 million units at $1.40 a unit for proceeds of about $12.6 million. The cash generated will be used to fund working capital, support growth and general corporate purposes, the company said.

10 Best Construction Material Stocks For 2015: Amcol International Corp (ACO)

AMCOL International Corporation (AMCOL), incorporated on December 3, 1959, is focused on the development and application of minerals and technology products and services to various industrial and consumer markets. It operates in five segments: performance materials, construction technologies, energy services, transportation and corporate. Its performance materials segment previously referred to as its minerals and materials segment is a supplier of bentonite related products. Its construction technologies segment previously referred to as its environmental segment provides products for non-residential construction, environmental and infrastructure projects worldwide. Its energy services segment previously referred to as its oilfield services segment offers a range of patented technologies, products and services for both upstream and downstream oil and gas production. Its transportation segment serves domestic subsidiaries, as well as third parties, is a dry van and flatbed carrier and freight brokerage service provider.

Performance Materials Segment

The Company supplies chromite and leonardite, and operates more than 25 mining or production facilities worldwide. It mines chromite, an iron chromium oxide, from open cast mines in South Africa and transport it to our nearby processing facility. Its primary uses include metalcasting, drilling fluid additive, and agricultural applications. Its performance materials segment conducts its business through wholly owned subsidiaries and investments in affiliates and joint ventures throughout the world. It consists of four product lines: metalcasting; specialty materials; basic minerals, and pet products. Its principal products are marketed under various registered trade names, including VOLCLAY, PANTHER CREEK, PREMIUM GEL, ADDITROL, ENERSOL, and Hevi-Sand.

The Company�� metalcasting products include blended mineral binders containing sodium and calcium bentonite and organic additives sold under the trade name ADDITROL. I! n the ferrous casting market, the Company specializes in blending bentonite of various grades by themselves or with mineral binders containing sodium bentonite, calcium bentonite, seacoal and other ingredients. It also has a line of formulated additives that introduce silicon and carbon in the melt phase of the casting process. In the steel alloy casting market, it sells a chromite product with a particle size distribution specific to a customer�� needs.

The Company�� specialty materials products contain bentonite and synthetic additives offering solutions for consumer and industrial applications. It also offers products for bio-agricultural applications. The markets and applications of its specialty materials products include fabric care, personal care, basic materials and pet products. It supply high-grade, agglomerated bentonite and other mineral additives used in fabric care products. It manufactures adsorbent polymers and purified grades of bentonite for sale to manufacturers of personal skin care products. The adsorbent polymers are used to deliver high-value actives in skin-care products. Microsponge and Poly-Pore are the principal trade names under which these products are sold. Its basic minerals product line supplies minerals to a variety of markets and industrial applications, including drilling fluid additives, ferro alloys and other industrial.

The Company�� pet products include sodium bentonite-based scoopable (clumping), traditional and alternative cat litters, as well as specialty pet products sold to grocery and drug stores, mass merchandisers, wholesale clubs and pet specialty stores throughout the United States. It is primarily a private-label producer of cat litter, and its products are marketed under various trade names. These products are sold solely in the United States from three principal sites from which it package and distribute finished goods. Its transportation segment provides logistics services and is a component of its capability in supplyi! ng custom! ers on a national basis.

Construction Technologies Segment

The Company�� construction technologies segment serves customers engaged in a range of construction projects, including site remediation, concrete waterproofing for underground structures, liquid containment on projects ranging from landfills to flood control, and drilling applications including foundation, slurry wall, tunneling, water well and horizontal drilling. Its construction technologies segment conducts its business through wholly owned subsidiaries and joint ventures throughout the world. This segment consists of four product lines: building materials; contracting services; drilling products, and lining technologies.

The Company sells lining and other products for a variety of applications, most of which are directed to preserving or remediating environmental issues. It helps customers protect ground water and soil through the sale of geosynthetic clay liner products containing bentonite. It market these products under the BENTOMAT and CLAYMAX trade names principally for lining and capping landfills, mine waste disposal sites, water and wastewater lagoons, secondary containments in tank farms, and other contaminated sites. It also provides associated geosynthetic materials for these applications, including geotextiles and drainage geocomposites.

The Company�� lining technologies product line also includes specialized technologies to mitigate vapor intrusion in new building construction. It also provides reactive capping technologies and solutions to contain residual contamination, reduce costs associated with ex-situ remedies, and aid in environmental protection. Products offered include Liquid Boot, a liquid applied vapor barrier system; REACTIVE CORE-MAT, an in-situ sediment capping material; ORGANOCLAY, which absorbs organic containments, and QUIK-SOLID, a super absorbent media.

The Company offer a variety of active and passive waterproofing and greenroof technolog! ies for u! se in protecting the building envelope of non-residential constructions, including buildings, subways, and parkway systems. Its products include VOLTEX, a waterproofing composite comprised of two polypropylene geotextiles filled with sodium bentonite; ULTRASEAL, an advanced membrane using a active polymer core, and COREFLEX, featuring heat-welded seams for protection of critical infrastructure. In addition to these membrane materials, it also provides roofing products and a variety of sealants and other accessories required to create a functional waterproofing system.

The Company drilling products are used in environmental and geotechnical drilling applications, horizontal directional drilling, mineral exploration and foundation construction. The products are used to install monitoring wells, facilitate horizontal and water well drilling, and seal abandoned exploration drill holes. VOLCLAY GROUT, HYDRAUL-EZ, BENTOGROUT and VOLCLAY TABLETS are among the trade names for products used in these applications. It also offer a range of drilling products used in the excavation of foundations for large buildings, bridges and dams; these products include SHORE PAC and PREMIUM GEL. Contracting services, which involve installation of products, are occasionally offered to customers for select projects.

Energy Services Segment

The Company�� energy services segment provides services to improve the production, costs, compliance, and environmental impact of activities performed in the oil and gas industry. Operating as CETCO Energy Services, it offer a range of patented technologies, products and services for all phases of oil and gas production, transportation, refining, and storage throughout the world. It provide both land-based and offshore water treatment, well testing, pipeline separation, nitrogen, coil tubing and other services to the oil and gas industry. The Company provides its services through subsidiaries located in Australia, Brazil, Malaysia, Nigeria, the United Ki! ngdom, an! d the United States, principally in the Gulf of Mexico and the surrounding on-shore area. Its principal services include water treatment, coil tubing, well testing, nitrogen services and pipeline. The Company helps customers comply with regulatory requirements by providing equipment, technologies, personnel and filtration media to treat waste water generated during oil production.

The Company's coil tubing services utilize metal piping, which comes spooled on a large reel. It provide both equipment and operating personnel to perform services ranging from acid stimulation, reverse circulation, cementing, pressure control, nitrogen injection, and other operations that involve pumping fluids into a well. Horizontal wells and shale completions are a large component of its operations. It provide equipment and personnel to help customers control well production, as well as to clean up, unload, separate, measure component flow, and dispose of fluids from oil and gas wells. Nitrogen services are provided in jetting wells that are loaded with fluid; stimulating wells, including fracturizing and acidizing; displacing completion fluids prior to perforating; inflating flotation devices for offshore installations, and pressure testing and other maintenance activities.

Transportation Segment

The Company operates a long-haul trucking business through Ameri-Co Carriers, Inc., and a freight brokerage business through Ameri-Co Logistics, Inc. primarily for delivery of finished products throughout the continental United States. These services are provided to its subsidiaries, as well as third-party customers.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Seth Jayson]

  AMCOL International (NYSE: ACO  ) is expected to report Q2 earnings on July 26. Here's what Wall Street wants to see:

  The 10-second takeaway
  Comparing the upcoming quarter to the prior-year quarter, average analyst estimates predict AMCOL International's revenues will grow 1.6% and EPS will wither -16.9%.

• [By Jake L'Ecuyer]

  Leading and Lagging Sectors
  In trading on Friday, Basic Materials shares were relative leaders, up on the day by 0.78 percent. Top gainer in the sector was AMCOL International (NYSE: ACO), up 9 percent.

10 Best Construction Material Stocks For 2015: CEMEX SAB de CV (CX)

CEMEX, S.A.B. de C.V. (CEMEX), incorporated on January 20, 1931, is a global cement manufacturer with operations in North America, Europe, South America, Central America, the Caribbean, Africa, the Middle East and Asia. The Company is a holding company engaged through the operating subsidiaries in the production, distribution, marketing and sale of cement, ready-mix concrete, aggregates and clinker. As of December 31, 2009, the Company�� cement production facilities were located in Mexico, the United States, Spain, the United Kingdom, Germany, Poland, Croatia, Latvia, Colombia, Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, Panama, Nicaragua, Puerto Rico, Egypt, the Philippines and Thailand.

The Company manufactures cement through a closely controlled chemical process, which begins with the mining and crushing of limestone and clay, and, in some instances, other raw materials. The clay and limestone are then pre-homogenized, a process which consists of combining different types of clay and limestone. The mix is typically dried, then fed into a grinder, which grinds the various materials in preparation for the kiln. The raw materials are calcined, or processed, at a very high temperature in a kiln, to produce clinker. Clinker is the intermediate product used in the manufacture of cement.

Ready-mix concrete is a combination of cement, fine and coarse aggregates, admixtures (which control properties of the concrete including plasticity, pumpability, freeze-thaw resistance, strength and setting time), and water. The Company is a supplier of aggregates primarily the crushed stone, sand and gravel, used in virtually all forms of construction.

Mexican Operations

During the year ended December 31, 2009, the Mexican operations represented approximately 21% of the Company�� net sales. CEMEX Mexico is a direct subsidiary of CEMEX and is both a holding company for some of the operating companies in Mexico and an operating company involved in the manufacturing and ma! rketing of cement, plaster, gypsum, groundstone and other construction materials and cement by-products in Mexico. CEMEX Mexico, indirectly, is also the holding company for the international operations. The Company owns Tolteca, Monterrey, Maya, Anahuac, Campana, Gallo, and Centenario brands in Mexico. As of December 31, 2009, the Company owned 100% of CEMEX Mexico.

The Company competes with Holcim Ltd., Sociedad Cooperativa Cruz Azul, Cementos Moctezuma, Grupo Cementos Chihuahua and Lafarge Cementos in Mexico.

U.S. Operations

As of December 31, 2009, the Company�� operations in the United States represented approximately 19% of the Company�� net sales. As of December 31, 2009, the Company held 100% of CEMEX, Inc. As of December 31, 2009, CEMEX had a cement manufacturing capacity of approximately 17.9 million tons per year in the United States operations. As of December 31, 2009, the Company operated 14 cement plants located in Alabama, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee and Texas. As of December 31, 2009, it also had 48 rails or water served active cement distribution terminals in the United States. As of December 31, 2009, the Company had 336 ready-mix concrete plants located in the Carolinas, Florida, Georgia, Texas, New Mexico, Nevada, Arizona, California, Oregon and Washington and aggregates facilities in North Carolina, South Carolina, Arizona, California, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, New Mexico, Nevada, Oregon, Texas, and Washington.

Spanish Operations

As of December 31, 2009, the operations in Spain represented approximately 5% of the Company�� net sales. As of December 31, 2009, the Company held approximately 99.8% of CEMEX Espana, the main operating subsidiary in Spain. The cement activities in Spain are conducted by CEMEX Espana. The ready-mix concrete activities in Spain are conducted by Hormicemex, S.A., a subsidiary of CEMEX Espana, and the aggregates activities in Spain ar! e conduct! ed by Aricemex S.A., also a subsidiary of CEMEX Espana.

U.K. Operations

As of December 31, 2009, the Company�� operations in the United Kingdom represented approximately 8% of the Company�� net sales. As of December 31, 2009, it held 100% of CEMEX Investments Limited, the holding subsidiary in the United Kingdom. The Company is a provider of building materials in the United Kingdom with vertically integrated cement, ready-mix concrete, aggregates and asphalt operations. It is also a provider of concrete and precast materials solutions, such as concrete blocks, concrete block paving, roof tiles, flooring systems and sleepers for rail infrastructure.

The Company competes with Lafarge, Heidelberg, Tarmac, and Aggregate Industries in the United Kingdom.

German Operations

As of December 31, 2009, the operations in the Rest of Europe consisted of the operations in Germany, France, Ireland, Poland, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Latvia, Austria and Hungary, as well as the other European assets. The Company is a provider of building materials in Germany, with vertically integrated cement, ready-mix concrete, aggregates and concrete products operations (consisting mainly of prefabricated concrete ceilings and walls). It maintains a network for ready-mix concrete and aggregates in Germany. As of December 31, 2009, the Company held 100% of CEMEX Deutschland AG, the holding subsidiary in Germany.

The Company competes with Heidelberg, Dyckerhoff, Lafarge, Holcim and Schwenk in Germany.

French Operations

As of December 31, 2009, the Company held 100% of CEMEX France Gestion (S.A.S.), the holding subsidiary in France. It is a ready-mix concrete producer and aggregate producer in France. As of December 31, 2009, the Company operated 239 ready-mix concrete plants in France, one maritime cement terminal located in LeHavre, on the northern coast of France, 20 land distribution centers and 42 aggregates quarries.

The Company competes with Lafarge, Holcim, Italcementi, Vicat, Lafarge, Italcementi, Colas (Bouygues) and Eurovia (Vinci) in France.

Irish Operations

As of December 31, 2009, the Company held approximately 61.2% of Readymix Plc, the operating subsidiary in the Republic of Ireland. The operations in Ireland produce and supply sand, stone and gravel, as well as ready-mix concrete, mortar and concrete blocks. As of December 31, 2009, we operated 43 ready-mix concrete plants, 27 aggregates quarries and 15 block plants located in the Republic of Ireland, Northern Ireland and the Isle of Man. The Company imports and distributes cement in the Isle of Man.

The Company competes with CRH, the Lagan Group and Kilsaran in the Republic of Ireland.

Polish Operations

As of December 31, 2009, the Company held 100% of CEMEX Polska Sp. z.o.o. (CEMEX Polska), the holding subsidiary in Poland. It is a provider of building materials in Poland serving the cement, ready-mix concrete and aggregates markets. As of December 31, 2009, CEMEX operated two cement plants and one grinding mill in Poland, with a total installed cement capacity of three million tons per year. As of December 31, 2009, the Company also operated 39 ready-mix concrete plants and nine aggregates quarries in Poland. As of December 31, 2009, the Company also operated 10 land distribution centers and two maritime terminals in Poland.

The Company competes with Heidelberg, Lafarge, CRH and Dyckerhoff in Poland.

Southeast European Operations

As of December 31, 2009, the Company held 100% of CEMEX Hrvatska d.d. (Hrvatska), the operating subsidiary in Croatia. As of December 31, 2009, it operated three cement plants in Croatia, with an installed capacity of 2.4 million tons per year. As of December 31, 2009, the Company also operated ten land distribution centers, three maritime cement terminals, eight ready-mix concrete facilities and one aggregates quarry! in Croat! ia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Slovenia, Serbia and Montenegro.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Monica Wolfe]

  Cemex SAB de CV (CX)

  As of the close of the third quarter there were nine guru owners of Cemex. These gurus held a combined weighting of 5.30%. During the third quarter, there were three gurus making buys and nine making sells of their stake in CX.

• [By Ben Levisohn]

  Shares of Vulcan have gained 7.6%, and given a lift to other cement makers today, including Martin Marietta Materials (MLM), which has risen 4.9% and reports earnings on Thursday, Cemex (CX), which has advanced 1.5%, and Texas Industries (TXI), which is up 4.9%.

• [By Dan Caplinger]

  Even now, though, it's far from clear whether the recent rebound has staying power. Earlier this month, peer Vulcan Materials (NYSE: VMC  ) reported 5% lower shipments of aggregates, although rising prices helped offset the impact, and the company noted double-digit-percentage increases in shipments to hot housing areas including Arizona, California, and Florida. Similarly, Cemex (NYSE: CX  ) posted a substantial loss for its March quarter on with 5% lower revenue, but the Mexican company pointed to strength in the U.S. and Asian markets as offsetting weakness in Mexico, Europe, and Latin America.

10 Best Construction Material Stocks For 2015: Societe Libanaise des Ciments Blancs SAL (CBN)

Societe Libanaise des Ciments Blancs SAL is a Lebanon-based joint stock company that operates in the construction materials industry sector. The Company is engaged in the production and sale of white cement. The Company is a 65.99% owned by Holcim (Liban) SAL. Advisors' Opinion:

• [By CanadianValue]

  Nigeria�� reformed banking system has provided many foreigners with an attractive means to invest in the fast-growing domestic economy. The banking industry is important, not only because of the rise of microfinance, but because of the move by banks into consumer banking. Until recently, banks were mainly financing large businesses or the government through bond purchases. Following a banking crisis in 2008, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) conducted an audit of the commercial banking sector. All banks that failed the audit had their CEOs replaced. The state-owned Asset Management Corporation (AMCON) was created to purchase non-performing loans and recapitalize the unhealthy banks. A recent review of the country�� banks by the IMF showed a dramatic increase in profits for the industry in 2012, while the capital adequacy ratio was above the minimum requirement of 10% and non-performing loans were below the mandated threshold of 5%5.