10 Best Gas Utility Stocks To Buy For 2014

Protests have been cropping up across the country, urging employers and lawmakers to pay more and raise the minimum wage.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) President Obama is expected to shine a spotlight on the minimum wage in his State of the Union address on Tuesday evening, as pressure mounts in Washington to create a framework to address inequality.

Washington debates an increase: Last year, a group of Democrats introduced the Fair Minimum Wage Act, which proposed raising the minimum wage to $10.10 per hour. The current federal minimum wage is $7.25.

If the legislation passed, a full-time minimum wage worker would see a bump in pay from about $15,000 a year to roughly $21,000. That could lift a family of three above the poverty line.

Top 5 Healthcare Equipment Companies To Buy For 2015: Imperial Holdings Inc. (IFT)

Imperial Holdings, Inc., through its subsidiaries, operates as a specialty finance company in the United States. The company operates in two business segments: Life Finance and Structured Settlements. The Life Finance segment comprises life settlements and finance loan businesses. The Structured Settlement segment purchases structured settlements at a discounted rate and sells such assets to third parties. This segment primarily markets its products through the Internet and television. Imperial Holdings, Inc. was founded in 2006 and is based in Boca Raton, Florida.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By DCResearch]

  Imperial Holdings (IFT) fits the bill for all of those traits and investors today can buy Imperial Holdings for less than 0.75x book value. Upside to book value, an obvious valuation factor for most financial companies, would result in a greater than 40% return for a patient investor. I believe that this is far below the fair value for IFT�� book of life settlements, and upside is in excess of $13 per share.

10 Best Gas Utility Stocks To Buy For 2014: Nuvo Research Inc (NRI)

Nuvo Research Inc. is a specialty pharmaceutical company. The Company is engaged in building a portfolio of products for the treatment of pain through internal research and development (R&D), in-licensing and acquisition. The Company�� product portfolio includes Pennsaid, Pliaglis and Synera. Through its subsidiary Nuvo Research AG, the Company is also developing the compound WF10, for the treatment of immune related diseases. The Company�� Pain Group located in West Chester, Pennsylvania is focused on the development and commercialization of topically delivered pain products, including Pennsaid. On May 12, 2011, the Company obtained control of ZARS Pharma, Inc. On December 13, 2011, the Company acquired remaining 40% interest in Nuvo Research AG. Advisors' Opinion:

• [By GuruFocus]

  There are at least three kinds of P/E ratios used by different investors. They are Trailing Twelve Month P/E Ratio or P/E (ttm), forward P/E, or P/E (NRI). A new P/E ratio based on inflation-adjusted normalized P/E ratio is called Shiller P/E, after Yale professor Robert Shiller.

10 Best Gas Utility Stocks To Buy For 2014: American Railcar Industries Inc.(ARII)

American Railcar Industries, Inc. designs, manufactures, and sells hopper and tank railcars in North America. Its Manufacturing Operations segment manufactures general service and specialty hopper railcars that are used to transport, load, and unload grains, cement, plastic pallets, and bulk products, as well as to transport heavy ore mineral loads; and non-pressure and high pressure tank railcars used to handle various commodities, including petroleum products, ethanol, asphalt, vegetable oil, corn syrup, other food products, chlorine, anhydrous ammonia, liquid propane, and butane. This segment also manufactures custom and standard railcar components that comprise tank railcar components and valves, tank heads, discharge outlets for hopper railcars, manway covers and valve body castings, outlet components and running boards for industrial and railroad customers, and hitches for the intermodal market; and aluminum and special alloy steel castings for the trucking, construc tion, mining, and oil and gas exploration markets, as well as finished machined aluminum castings and other custom machined products. The company?s Railcar Services segment provides repair and refurbishment services that include full cleaning, interior and exterior coating, heavy repair/rebuilding, and non-destructive testing; engineering services, such as failure analysis, retrofit drawings, procedure preparation, regulatory compliance assistance, trouble shooting, and railcar inspections; and fleet management services comprising maintenance planning, project management, tracking and tracing, regulatory compliance, mileage audit, rolling stock taxes, and online service access. It sells its products through catalogs and sales force to leasing, industrial, and other non-rail companies, as well as to railroads. The company was founded in 1988 and is headquartered in St. Charles, Missouri. As of January 15, 2010, American Railcar Industries, Inc. operates as subsidiary of Icah n Enterprises L.P.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Seth Jayson]

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

• [By Anna Prior]

  American Railcar Industries Inc.(ARII) said billionaire investor Carl Icahn has resigned as a director and chairman. Mr. Icahn’s resignation didn’t stem from any disagreement, but rather he wanted to decrease the number of boards on which he served, American Railcar said in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

• [By Dan Caplinger]

  Finally, Greenbrier (NYSE: GBX  ) fell more than 4% after beating earnings estimates, but falling well short on overall sales. The railroad-services company said that deliveries fell 27% during the quarter, leading to a decline in revenue of nearly 8%. Perhaps, more importantly, Greenbrier shareholders seemed dissatisfied with the way the company has moved forward after rejecting a merger bid with American Railcar Industries (NASDAQ: ARII  ) that activist investor Carl Icahn had tried to broker. Even with expectations of better sales ahead and a cheap valuation, Greenbrier can't seem to inspire confidence among investors.

• [By Dan Caplinger]

  Bullish economic news helped the Dow finally hold onto the 16,000 level at the end of the day, even after three previous forays had failed to result in a close above that figure. Even amid the general enthusiasm over stocks as the year draws to a close, GameStop (NYSE: GME  ) , American Railcar Industries (NASDAQ: ARII  ) , and Tower Group International (NASDAQ: TWGP  ) all fell sharply. Let's figure out why these stocks dropped so badly and what their moves could mean for the broader market.

10 Best Gas Utility Stocks To Buy For 2014: InfoSonics Corp(IFON)

InfoSonics Corporation engages in the design, development, sourcing, and sale of wireless handsets and accessories in Latin America and the Asia Pacific. The company offers a line of entry-level, mid-tier, and high-end products under the verykool brand name. It contracts with electronic manufacturing services providers to manufacture its branded products. The company?s customers include carriers, agents, distributors, resellers, and original equipment manufacturers. InfoSonics Corporation was founded in 1994 and is headquartered in San Diego, California.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Monica Gerson]

  Infosonics (NASDAQ: IFON) shares jumped 22.64% to $2.06. Infosonics shares have jumped 170.97% over the past 52 weeks, while the S&P 500 index has gained 23.35% in the same period.

• [By Bryan Murphy]

  Looking for some new trading ideas? Start by putting Arrowhead Research Corp. (NASDAQ:ARWR) and InfoSonics Corporation (NASDAQ:IFON) on your watchlist... though not yet in your portfolio. Though both IFON and ARWR have laid the foundation for a rally, neither has gotten above their final humps. Here's a closer look at what it's going to take.

10 Best Gas Utility Stocks To Buy For 2014: iShares Morningstar Small-Cap Value ETF (JKL)

iShares Morningstar Small Value Index Fund (the Fund) seeks investment results that correspond generally to the price and yield performance of the Morningstar Small Value Index (the Index). The Index measures the performance of stocks issued by small-capitalization companies that have exhibited value characteristics as determined by Morningstar, Inc.'s (Morningstar) index methodology. Index constituents are drawn from the pool of liquid, United States-domiciled stocks that trade publicly on the NYSE, the AMEX or NASDAQ.

The Morningstar index methodology defines small-capitalization stocks as those stocks that form the 7% of market capitalization between the 90th and 97th percentile of the market capitalization of the stocks eligible to be included in the Morningstar US Market Index (a market index that represents approximately 97% of the market capitalization of publicly traded United States stocks). The Fund uses a representative sampling strategy in seeking to track the Index.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Todd Shriber, ETF Professor]

  Unusual volume (at least 5X ADV): QuantShares US Market Neutral Anti-Beta ETF (NYSE: BTAL), iShares 10+ Year Credit Bond ETF (NYSE: CLY), iShares Morningstar Small Value ETF (NYSE: JKL) and the PowerShares Dynamic Energy ETF (NYSE: PXI).

10 Best Gas Utility Stocks To Buy For 2014: BioFuel Energy Corp.(BIOF)

BioFuel Energy Corp. produces and sells ethanol and its co-products in the United States. The company offers dried and wet distillers grains with solubles, corn oil, and carbon dioxide. It operates 2 ethanol production facilities located in Wood River, Nebraska and Fairmont, Minnesota with a combined production capacity of approximately 220 million gallons per year. The company sells its products to independent third party marketers and distributors. The company was founded in 2006 and is headquartered in Denver, Colorado.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Roberto Pedone]

  BioFuel Energy (BIOF) is engaged in the production and sale of ethanol and its co-products through its two ethanol production facilities located in Nebraska and Minnesota. This stock closed up 9.4% to $4.04 in Tuesday's trading session.

  Tuesday's Range: $3.69-$4.04
  
  52-Week Range: $2.70-$10.75
  
  Tuesday's Volume: 152,000
  
  Three-Month Average Volume: 57,949

  From a technical perspective, BIOF soared higher here back above its 50-day moving average of $3.76 with above-average volume. This move is quickly pushing shares of BIOF within range of triggering a major breakout trade. That trade will hit if BIOF manages to take out some near-term overhead resistance levels at $3.99 to $4.12 with high volume. At last check, BIOF hit an intraday high of $4.04 and volume was well above its three-month average action of 57,949 shares.

  Traders should now look for long-biased trades in BIOF as long as it's trending above its 50-day at $3.76 or above more near-term support at $3.50 and then once it sustains a move or close above those breakout levels with volume that hits near or above 57,949 shares. If that breakout hits soon, then BIOF will set up to re-test or possibly take out its next major overhead resistance levels at its 200-day of $4.63 to $5.19. Any high-volume move above $5.19 will then put $5.50 to $6 within range for shares of BIOF.

10 Best Gas Utility Stocks To Buy For 2014: Hillenbrand Inc(HI)

Hillenbrand, Inc. designs, manufactures, distributes, and sells funeral service products to licensed funeral directors operating licensed funeral homes. The company?s products include burial caskets, cremation caskets, containers, vaults, urns, and selection room display fixturing for funeral homes, as well as other personalization and memorialization products and services, including Web-based applications, and the creation and hosting of Websites for licensed funeral homes. It markets its products under the Batesville and Options brand name through direct sales force in the United States, Puerto Rico, Canada, Mexico, the United Kingdom, and Australia. The company also designs, produces, markets, sells, and services bulk solids material handling equipment and systems for various industrial markets, including plastics, food, chemicals, pharmaceuticals, power generation, coal mining, pulp and paper, frac sand, industrial minerals, agribusiness, recycling, wood and forest pr oducts, and biomass energy generation. It offers feeders and pneumatic conveying equipment under the K-Tron brand name; and size reduction equipment, such as hammer mills, double-roll crushers, wood and bark hogs, chip sizers, screening equipment, pneumatic and mechanical conveying systems, storage/reclamation systems, and specialty crushers and other equipment under the Pennsylvania Crusher, Gundlach, and Jeffrey Rader brand names. In addition, the company manufactures dry material separation machines that sort dry, granular products based on the particle?s size serving various industries, including frac sand, potash, urea, phosphates, chemical, agricultural, plastics, and food processing. The company sells its material handling equipment and systems worldwide through a combination of a direct sales force, and a network of independent sales representatives and distributors. Hillenbrand, Inc. was founded in 2008 and is headquartered in Batesville, Indiana.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Laura Brodbeck]

  Tuesday

  Earnings Expected: Buffalo Wild Wings, Inc. (NASDAQ: BWLD), Hillenbrand Inc (NYSE: HI), Sirius XM Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ: SIRI) Economic Releases Expected: German retail sales, French consumer confidence, German unemployment rate, eurozone CPI, eurozone PPI, US trade balance, US redbook

  Wednesday