Best Dividend Stocks To Buy For 2014

Low-cost baby care products from Amazon.com could be a threat to the makers of both Huggies and Pampers. Image: Amazon Elements.

Amazon.com (NASDAQ: AMZN  ) thinks America is ready for transparent diapers.

Well, not actually the see-through kind, but rather ethically sourced and with full transparency about where the materials that make up the diaper come from. Priced at a significant discount to either Huggies or Pampers, they're a direct shot at consumer goods giants�Kimberly-Clark (NYSE: KMB  ) and Procter & Gamble (NYSE: PG  ) .

Although Kimberly-Clark shareholders in particular ought to take notice because the diaper maker is already losing market share, investors needn't worry about its future or its dividend.

Your slip is showing
Kimberly-Clark's Huggies are slipping. For the first time in 20 years P&G says it has more market share in diapers than its rival. Huggies volumes fell by low double-digit rates in the third quarter compared to mid single-digit growth in 2013, which more than offset the double-digit gains it made in the super-premium category.

Hot Construction Companies To Watch In Right Now: Littelfuse Inc.(LFUS)

Littelfuse, Inc. designs, manufactures, and sells circuit protection devices for use in the automotive, electronic, and electrical markets in the Americas, Europe, and the Asia-Pacific. The company offers electronic circuit protection products, such as fuses and protectors, positive temperature coefficient resettable fuses, varistors, polymer electrostatic discharge suppressors, discrete transient voltage suppression diodes, TVS diode arrays and protection thyristors, gas discharge tubes, and power switching components, as well as fuseholders, blocks, and related accessories under PICO II, and NANO2 SMF, TECCOR, SIDACtor, and Battrax brand names. It offers its electronic circuit protection products for use in wireless telephones, consumer electronics, computers, modems, telecommunications equipment, telephones, data transmission lines, and alarm systems. The company also provides automotive fuses that are used in automobiles, trucks, buses, and off-road equipment to protec t electrical circuits and the wires that supply electrical power to operate lights, heating, air conditioning, radios, windows, and other controls, as well as offers fuses for the protection of electric and hybrid vehicles. It markets its automotive fuse products under ATO, MINI, MAXI, MIDI, MEGA, MasterFuse, JCASE, and CablePro brand names. In addition, Littelfuse manufactures various low-voltage and medium-voltage circuit protection products, such as power fuses that are used in the protection from over-load and short-circuit currents in motor branch circuits, heating and cooling systems, control systems, lighting circuits, and electrical distribution networks to electrical distributors and their customers in the construction, original equipment manufacturers, and industrial maintenance and repair and operating supplies markets. Littelfuse sells its products through direct sales force and manufacturers? representatives. The company was founded in 1927 and is headquartered in Chicago, Illinois.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Rich Smith]

  Littelfuse (NASDAQ: LFUS  ) has signed an agreement to acquire Key Safety Systems' Hamlin subsidiary for $145 million in cash, Littelfuse announced Monday.

Best Dividend Stocks To Buy For 2014: Ventas Inc. (VTR)

Ventas, Inc. is a publicly owned real estate investment trust. The firm engages in investment, management, financing, and leasing of properties in the healthcare industry. It invests in the real estate markets of the United States and Canada. The firm primarily invests in healthcare-related facilities including hospitals, skilled nursing facilities, senior housing facilities, medical office buildings, and other healthcare related facilities. Ventas, Inc. was founded in 1983 and is based in Chicago, Illinois with additional offices in Louisville, Kentucky and Dallas, Texas.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Brad Thomas]

  For current investors, I still think the recent 10% price reduction still represents a premium valuation - of mispriced risk - and I would consider a rotation into a more risk-aligned healthcare REIT like Healthcare Trust of America (HTA) yielding 4.82% or Ventas, Inc. (VTR) yielding 3.47%. (See my HTA article here and my VTR article here).

• [By Monica Wolfe]

  Ventas Inc (VTR)

  On Feb. 14, Ventas declared a dividend of $0.725 per share, representing 4.50% dividend yield for the company. This dividend is payable on March 28 to shareholders of the record at the close of business on March 7, 2014.

Best Dividend Stocks To Buy For 2014: Eaton Corporation(ETN)

Eaton Corporation operates as a power management company worldwide. It provides electrical components and systems for power quality, distribution, and control; hydraulics components, systems, and services for industrial and mobile equipment; aerospace fuel, hydraulics, and pneumatic systems for commercial and military use; and truck and automotive drivetrain, and powertrain systems for performance, fuel economy, and safety. The company also manufactures screw-in cartridge valves, custom-engineered hydraulic valves, and manifold systems; and electrical and electromechanical systems. In addition, it designs, manufactures, and distributes intake and exhaust valves for diesel and gasoline engines; supplies electrical components for commercial and residential building applications and industrial controls for industrial equipment applications; and manufactures human machine interfaces, programmable logic controllers, and input/output devices. Further, the company also operates a s a provider of customized enclosures, rack systems, and air-flow management systems to store, power, and secure mission-critical IT data center electronics; and manufacturer, distributor, and service provider of single-phase and three-phase uninterruptible power supply systems. Eaton Corporation was founded in 1916 and is headquartered in Cleveland, Ohio.

Advisors' Opinion:

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

  Eaton Corp.(ETN) PLC said revenue edged up 2.2% in the latest quarter as the diversified manufacturer reported higher sales in its electrical and aerospace segments.

• [By Charles Carlson]

  If you are new to DRIP investing, treat yourself to a few DRIPs this holiday season. Trust me��t'll change your life.

  American Water Works (AWK)��ielding 2.7% with a DRIP minimum of $100
  
  Cincinnati Financial (CINF)��ielding 3.2% with a DRIP minimum of $25
  
  CVS Caremark (CVS)��ielding 1.4% with a DRIP minimum of $100
  
  Dominion Resources (D)��ielding 3.4% with a DRIP minimum of $40
  
  Domino's Pizza (DPZ)��ielding 1.2% with a DRIP minimum of $65
  
  Eaton (ETN)��ielding 2.3% with a DRIP minimum of $100
  
  Flowserve (FLS)��ielding 0.8% with a DRIP minimum of $100
  
  Kellogg (K)��ielding 3.0% with a DRIP minimum of $50
  
  New Jersey Resources (NJR)��ielding 3.7% with a DRIP minimum of $100
  
  Quest Diagnostics (DGX)��ielding 2.0% with a DRIP minimum of $100
  
  Tim Hortons (THI)��ielding 1.7% with a DRIP minimum of $25
  
  

  Subscribe to Dow Theory Forecasts here��/p>

• [By Ben Axler]

  An old spin-out of Eaton Corp. (ETN), Axcelis Technologies (ACLS) designs, manufactures and services ion implantation, dry strip and other processing equipment used in the fabrication of semiconductor chips. The semiconductor capital equipment industry is very cyclical, and as a smaller player in the industry, ACLS has not been immune, and gone through protracted periods of losses. In the past few years, the company has taken numerous steps to reposition itself for the next cyclical upswing by listening to its customers and investing heavily in R&D to revamp its product line to expand its addressable market opportunity, right-sizing its cost structure to substantially lower its breakeven level, establishing new collaborative partnerships, and optimizing its balance sheet to unlock value. Now with signs of a cyclical upswing occurring, and being led by memory - Micron (MU) and SanDisk (SNDK), ACLS is poised for accelerating earnings potential beginning in Q4'2013 that could drive its stock price substantially higher. However, with a few nearer-term catalysts on the horizon, investors may not want to wait too long before purchasing shares. As an early indicator, investors should consider that insiders recently purchased the stock in the open market in August at current levels. These stock purchases coincide with the one year anniversary of ACLS's new Purion M product line entering an evaluation period with a major customer. Sell-side analysts are starting to take notice and listening in to the company's recent conference call, which at least opens the door to new broker initiations in the future. The downside risk appears mitigated by ACLS's strengthened balance sheet, and dramatically improved operating financial model that has stemmed further cash burn. As the company hits an inflection point with new customer contracts and proves its earnings cycle is under way, we expect ACLS's valuation discount to peers to narrow and the stock to appreciate substantially

Best Dividend Stocks To Buy For 2014: Potomac Electric Power Company(POM)

Pepco Holdings, Inc., through its subsidiaries, engages in the transmission, distribution, and supply of electricity. The company also distributes and supplies natural gas. It distributes electricity to approximately 1.8 million customers in the mid-Atlantic region and delivers natural gas to approximately 123,000 customers in Delaware. In addition, the company involves in the retail supply of electricity and natural gas; provision of energy efficiency services to federal, state, and local government customers; and designs, constructs, and operates combined heat and power and central energy plants, as well as owns and operates two oil-fired generation facilities. Further, it offers high voltage electric construction and maintenance services, low voltage electric construction and maintenance services, and streetlight construction and asset management services to utilities, municipalities, and other customers in the Washington, District of Columbia. Additionally, the company holds investments in eight cross-border energy leases. Pepco Holdings, Inc. was founded in 1896 and is based in Washington, District of Columbia.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Ben Levisohn]

  Visa (V) gained 2.8% this week and Walt Disney (DIS) rose 2.7% to $80.31, to lead the Dow higher. Visa managed to gain despite sanctions being imposed on two Russian banks. Pepco Holdings (POM) surged 24% after it agreed to be purchased by Exelon (EXC) for $27.25 a share in an all-cash deal. Exelon dropped 1.2% this week. Energizer (ENR) jumped 17% after it said it would split itself into two companies.

• [By Jake L'Ecuyer]

  Top Headline
  Pepco Holdings (NYSE: POM) reported a 35% rise in its fourth-quarter profit. For the year, Pepco projects earnings of $1.12 to $1.27 per share, versus analysts' estimates of $1.22 per share. Pepco's quarterly earnings surged to $58 million, or $0.23 per share, versus a year-ago profit of $43 million, or $0.18 per share. Excluding one ��ime items, its earnings from continuing operations came in at $0.24 per share. Its total operating revenue climbed 3.3% to $1.09 billion. However, analysts were expecting earnings of $0.21 per share on revenue of $1.11 billion.

Best Dividend Stocks To Buy For 2014: Linear Technology Corporation(LLTC)

Linear Technology Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, designs, manufactures, and markets a line of linear integrated circuits. The company's products include amplifiers, comparators, voltage regulators, voltage references, monolithic filters, linear regulators, DC-DC converters, power over Ethernet controllers, battery chargers, data converters, communications interface circuits, RF signal conditioning circuits, Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Damian Illia]

  Although the stock has done pretty well, investors can have another option of investing in the tech sector with Linear Technology Corporation (LLTC) because there is no other semiconductor company that can be able to match the company's profitability. Linear Technology offers thousands of analog products to original equipment manufacturers. The company麓s plan is to specialize in market segments that require high-performance analog with focus on industrial and automotive products. Customers base decisions on quality and Linear麓s chip are considered to be products that have long life and superior technology. This is considered in prices and makes attractive margins to the company.

• [By Monica Gerson]

  Linear Technology (NASDAQ: LLTC) is expected to post its Q1 earnings at $0.54 per share on revenue of $372.59 million.

  Posted-In: Earnings scheduleEarnings News Pre-Market Outlook Markets

• [By Steven Russolillo]

  WATCH FOR:�September NFIB Small Business Survey (7:30 a.m. Eastern Time): seen 95.9; previously 96.1. Citigroup (C), CSX, Del Frisco’s, Domino's Pizza (DPZ), Intel (INTC), J.B. Hunt Transport (JBHT), Johnson & Johnson (JNJ), Linear Tech (LLTC), Wells Fargo (WFC) and Wolverine World Wide (WWW) are among companies scheduled to report quarterly results.

• [By Lauren Pollock]

  Linear Technology Corp.'s(LLTC) fiscal second-quarter profit climbed 18% as the chip manufacturer reported higher sales and gross margins.

  MeadWestvaco Corp.(MWV) expanded its cost-cutting efforts and said it plans to simplify the structure of its packaging businesses, as it strives to improve its performance.

Best Dividend Stocks To Buy For 2014: SuperValu Inc.(SVU)

SUPERVALU INC., together with its subsidiaries, operates retail food stores in the United States. Its stores offer grocery, general merchandise, health and beauty care, pharmacy, and fuel products. The company operates stores under the Acme, Albertsons, Cub Foods, Farm Fresh, Hornbacher?s, Jewel-Osco, Lucky, Shaw?s, Shop ?n Save, Shoppers Food & Pharmacy, and Star Market banners, as well as in-store pharmacies under the Osco and Sav-on banners. It operates approximately 2,394 traditional and hard-discount retail food stores, including 899 licensed Save-A-Lot stores. The company also offers supply chain services, which include wholesale distribution of products to independent retailers, including single and multiple grocery store independent operators, regional and national chains, mass merchants, and the military customers, as well as provides logistics support services. SUPERVALU was founded in 1871 and is based in Eden Prairie, Minnesota.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Dan Caplinger]

  Finally, grocery store operator SUPERVALU (NYSE: SVU  ) has soared 17% following its own favorable earnings report. The company sold off many of its most popular chains to private-equity firm Cerberus Capital earlier this year, but SUPERVALU's efforts to cut its costs and capitalize on its remaining chains have borne fruit as the company reported adjusted profits that more than doubled estimates. Going forward, the grocery industry remains challenging, as same-store sales declines reflect. But in the midst of its reorganization, SUPERVALU appears to be moving in the right direction.

• [By WWW.DAILYFINANCE.COM]

  David Paul Morris/Bloomberg via Getty Images Like millions of Americans, Darnel Ware needs to save money, even if it's 40 cents on a bag of flour. He searches for those savings during his daily visits to the Family Dollar Store near his home in Fraser, Michigan, sometimes stopping by as many as 10 times a week "if there are things I need," said the 51-year-old home care provider. "I buy a lot of everything; merchandise and food products." He said he typically spends about $30 a trip on items such as the soft drinks, paper cups and cookies he bought on a recent afternoon at the small store in a strip mall alongside other discount retailers and small factories five miles from Detroit. The small but frequent purchases of low-income customers such as Ware add up: Family Dollar Stores (FDO), which operates about 8,200 stores in mainly urban sections of the U.S., is the target of an $9 billion cash takeover offer from rival Dollar General and an $8.5 billion cash and stock offer from Dollar Tree. Both competitors are betting not only on the health of the deep discount retail sector but also on the intractability of poverty in America. Mid-market retailers such as Walmart Stores (WMT), Macy's (M) and J.C. Penney (JCP) have been struggling in recent years as consumers have been slow to return to their pre-recession, freer spending ways. On Wednesday, Target (TGT) said it was cutting its full-year earnings and slashing prices. But the popularity of so-called dollar stores is growing. Shopping by the 46.5 million Americans living below the poverty line poor helped boost the annual U.S. market for deep discount stores by 45.7 percent to $48.2 billion between 2008 and 2013, according to London-based market researcher Euromonitor International. The firm projects the sector to grow to $57 billion in 2018. The U.S. Census sets the poverty line at $24,000 a year or less for a family of four. Such forecasts help explain the battle over Family Dollar, the number-two de

• [By Ben Levisohn]

  Down, down, down Supervalu (SVU) goes and where it stops, no one knows. Not even Goldman Sachs, which cut Supervalu’s shares to Sell from Neutral, though it does have a guess.

  Goldman Sachs analysts Stephen Grambling and Christopher Prykull explain their thinking:

  SVU shares are up 183% year-to-date (vs. S&P 500 +26%) as management�� initiatives have slowed the top-line deterioration at the company�� retail banners and Save-A-Lot. As the market has started to factor in stable-to-improving EBITDA on a highly levered equity base, the stock has re-rated from 4.5X EV/EBITDA to 6.1X EV/EBITDA. With the shares now trading above the historical average and roughly in line with peers, we expect future downward revisions to consensus estimates will likely drive a rerating of the shares to a more normalized level.

  While we have been encouraged by the new management team�� success in effecting change, we believe cuts to food stamps (SNAP benefits), potential reductions to the transition service agreement, and encroaching competition will likely overwhelm operational improvements…

  Shares of Supervalu have dropped 8.3% to $6.31 at 2:59 p.m., within spitting distance of Goldman’s $6 target price, while competitors Family Dollar Stores (FDO) has gained 0.2% to $70.16,�Dollar General�(DG) has fallen 0.4% t0 $59.02,�Dollar Tree (DLTR) is off 1% to $59.33 and Wal-Mart (WMT) is little changed at $79.19.