Best Prefered Stocks To Buy For 2014

Cree Inc. (NASDAQ: CREE) reported first fiscal quarter 2014 results after markets closed on Tuesday. For the quarter, the LED-lighting maker posted adjusted diluted earnings per share (EPS) of $0.39 on revenues of $391 million. In the same period a year ago, the company reported EPS of $0.27 on revenues of $315.8 million. First-quarter results compare to the Thomson Reuters consensus estimates for EPS of $0.39 and $392.31 million in revenues.

The company warned on earnings in mid-August and today�� results were right in line with the mid-points of the ranges the company gave for EPS and revenues. The damage today came from Cree�� estimate of second quarter profit. The company says it expects EPS of $0.36 to $0.41 compared with a current consensus estimate of $0.44. The company expects revenues in the range of $410 to $420 million and the analysts��estimate calls for $414.29 million.

In addition to the weak profits, gross margins are expected to be lower in the second quarter and operating expenses are going to rise as the company promotes its new LED Bulb.

Best Prefered Stocks To Buy For 2014: Casella Waste Systems Inc (CWST)

Casella Waste Systems, Inc., incorporated on March 1, 1993, is a vertically integrated solid waste, recycling, and resource management services company. The Company provide resource management and services to residential, commercial, municipal, and industrial customers, primarily in the areas of solid waste collection, transfer, disposal, recycling, and organics services. The Company operates in Vermont, New Hampshire, New York, Massachusetts, Maine, and Pennsylvania. As of May 31, 2013, the Company owned and/or operated 35 solid waste collection operations, 38 transfer stations, 16 recycling facilities, nine Subtitle D landfills, four landfill gas-to-energy facilities, one landfill permitted to accept construction and demolition, or C&D, materials.

The Company manages its solid waste operations on a geographic basis through two regional operating segments: the Eastern and Western regions, each of which includes a range of solid waste services, and its larger-scale recycling operations and commodity brokerage operations through its Recycling segment.

Solid Waste Operations

The Company solid waste operations consists a range of non-hazardous solid waste services, including collections, transfer stations, material recovery facility ( MRFs) and disposal facilities. A majority of its commercial and industrial collection services are performed under one to three-year service agreements, with prices and fees determined by such factors as collection frequency, type of equipment and containers furnished, type, volume and weight of solid waste collected, distance to the disposal or processing facility and cost of disposal or processing. Its residential collection and disposal services are performed either on a subscription basis. The Company transfer stations receive, compact and transfer solid waste collected primarily by various collection operations, for transport to disposal facilities by larger vehicles.

The Company�� MRFs, receive, sort, bale and res! ell recyclable materials originating from the municipal solid waste stream, including newsprint, cardboard, office paper, containers and bottles. The Company operates six MRFs in geographic areas served by its collection divisions. Revenues are received from municipalities and customers in the form of processing fees, tipping fees and commodity sales. The Company's MRFs, two of which are located in Vermont, two in Massachusetts and two in New York, are large-scale, high-volume facilities that process over 0.4 million tons per year of recycled materials delivered to them by municipalities and commercial customers under long-term contracts. The Company also operates MRFs as an integral part of its core solid waste operations, which generally process recyclables collected from its various residential collection operations.

Eastern region

The Eastern region consists of wastesheds located in Maine, southern and central New Hampshire and central and eastern Massachusetts. The Eastern region is vertically integrated, with transfer, landfill, organics and processing and recycling assets serviced by its collection operations. In February 2013, the Company aligned management of the NCES landfill with the Eastern region. NCES had been historically aligned with the Western region. In December, 2012 the Company acquired BBI Waste Services (BBI), which gave the Company additional hauling and transfer capacity in southern Maine.

Western region

The Western region includes wastesheds located in Vermont, north and south western New Hampshire and eastern New York that were previously included in the eliminated Central region. The portion of New York served by the Western region includes Clinton (operation of the Clinton County landfill), Franklin, Essex, Warren, Washington, Saratoga, Rennselaer and Albany counties. The Western region also consists of wastesheds in upstate New York (which includes Ithaca, Elmira, Oneonta, Lowville, Potsdam, Geneva, Auburn, Dunkirk, Jame! stown and! Olean). Its collection operations include leadership positions in nearly every rural market outside of the larger metropolitan markets, such as Syracuse, Rochester, Buffalo and Albany.

Recycling

Recycling is the processors and marketers of recycled materials in the eastern United States, consists six MRFs that process and then market recyclable materials that municipalities and commercial customers deliver to them under long-term contracts. Three of the 6 MRFs are leased, the other three are owned. During fiscal year ended April 30, 2013, Recycling segment processed and/or marketed approximately 0.5 million tons of recyclable materials including tons marketed through the Company's commodity brokerage operation. Recycling facilities are located in Vermont, New York and Massachusetts.

The Company competes with Waste Management, Inc, Republic Services, Inc, Waste Connections, Inc., Owens Corning, CertainTeed Corporation and Johns Manville.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By James Miller Phd]

  As we can see, the firm has a higher ROE than it peers: Sharps Compliance, Casella Waste Systems, Inc. (CWST), Donaldson Company, Inc. (DCI) and GSE Holding Inc. (GSEH).

Best Prefered Stocks To Buy For 2014: JinkoSolar Holding Company Limited(JKS)

JinkoSolar Holding Co., Ltd., together with its subsidiaries, engages in the manufacture and sale of solar power products in China and internationally. The company provides solar modules, silicon wafers and ingots, and solar cells, as well as processing services, including silicon wafer tolling services. It sells its products under the JinkoSolar brand name. The company?s customers include distributors, project developers, and system integrators. It trades its products under short-term contracts and by spot market sales. The company also produces accessory materials for solar power products, such as solar aluminum frame, solar junction box, aluminum materials windows, and other metal component parts. JinkoSolar Holding Co., Ltd. was founded in 2006 and is based in Shangrao, the People?s Republic of China.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Eric Volkman]

  JinkoSolar (NYSE: JKS  ) suffered a widened quarterly loss, as revealed in the release of its fiscal Q4 and 2012 results. For the quarter, revenue for the China-based solar specialist was the equivalent of $187 million, down from $192 million in the same period the previous year. Net loss widened over that time span, to $122 million, or $1.38 per share, from Q4 2011's red figure of $59 million, $0.65.

• [By Aaron Levitt]

  Like FSLR, CSIQ and JinkoSolar (JKS), ReneSola has moved beyond its original focus of creating just wafers. That means SOL stock investors are now betting on one of the more integrated solar stocks … and one that has grown to become a strong module shipper over the last few years. That includes outsourcing modules to nations like India, South Africa and Poland. SOL has done well in this regard and has been catching up to sizzling solar stocks like Yingli Green Energy (YGE).

• [By Travis Hoium]

  What: Solar stocks are shooting higher again today as the strong run in 2013 continues. LDK Solar (NYSE: LDK  ) , Canadian Solar (NASDAQ: CSIQ  ) , Yingli Green Energy (NYSE: YGE  ) , Hanwha SolarOne (NASDAQ: HSOL  ) , and JinkoSolar (NYSE: JKS  ) led the way, gaining between 10% and 22% today.

Top 10 Biotech Stocks To Invest In Right Now: Swift Transportation Company(SWFT)

Swift Transportation Company, through its subsidiary, Swift Transportation Co., LLC, operates as a multi-faceted transportation services company and truckload carrier in North America. The company offers its truckload services through dry van, temperature-controlled, flatbed, and specialized trailers; and rail intermodal services. It also provides freight brokerage and logistics management services to other trucking companies, as well as leases tractors and offers repair services. As of December 31, 2011, the company operated a tractor fleet of approximately 15,900 units, including 11,900 tractors driven by company drivers and 4,000 owner-operator tractors; 50,600 trailers; and 6,200 intermodal containers in the United States and Mexico. It serves various industries, such as retail, discount retail, consumer products, food and beverage, manufacturing, and transportation and logistics industries. The company, formerly known Swift Holdings Corp., and was founded in 1966 and is headquartered in Phoenix, Arizona.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Ben Levisohn]

  Shares of Hub have dropped 5.1% to $35.41, but the plunge doesn’t seem to be weighing on other logistic companies. CH Robinson Worldwide (CHRW), for instance, has gained 1.1% to $58.64, JB Hunt Transport Services (JBHT) has risen 1.1% to $71.61, Swift Transportation (SWFT) has advanced 0.9% to $19.56 and Ryder System (R) is up 3.1% to $59.23.

• [By Seth Jayson]

  Swift Transportation (NYSE: SWFT  ) reported earnings on April 22. Here are the numbers you need to know.

  The 10-second takeaway
  For the quarter ended March 31 (Q1), Swift Transportation met expectations on revenues and beat expectations on earnings per share.

• [By Seth Jayson]

  Swift Transportation (NYSE: SWFT  ) reported earnings on July 24. Here are the numbers you need to know.

  The 10-second takeaway
  For the quarter ended June 30 (Q2), Swift Transportation met expectations on revenues and beat expectations on earnings per share.

• [By Sean Williams]

  Swift Transportation (NYSE: SWFT  ) , for example, delivered a 4% increase in revenue this past quarter in spite of having fewer trucks in service. The company was able to realize better utilization of its existing fleet and actually saw fuel prices fall from the previous year. The results were even more robust for Knight Transportation (NYSE: KNX  ) , whose shareholders saw revenue rise by 7% as the company grew from the year-ago quarter for the 14th straight time and delivered growth from each of its business segments.

Best Prefered Stocks To Buy For 2014: Avago Technologies Limited(AVGO)

Avago Technologies Limited engages in the design, development, and supply of analog semiconductor devices with a focus on III-V based products. Its product portfolio comprises RF amplifiers, RF filters, RF front-end modules, ambient light sensors, light emitting diodes, low noise amplifiers, mm-wave mixers, optical finger navigation products, diodes, fiber optic transceivers, serializer/deserializer ASICs, motion control encoders and subsystems, optocouplers, and optical mouse sensors. The company?s products are used in cellular phones, consumer appliances, data networking and telecommunications equipment, enterprise storage and servers, renewable energy and smart power grid, factory automation, displays, optical mice, printers, voice and data communications, keypad and display backlighting, backlighting control, base stations, storage area networking, in-car infotainment, lighting, motor controls, power supplies, and optical disk drives applications. It markets its produ cts through a network of distributors and its direct sales force worldwide. The company sells approximately 6,500 products to original equipment manufacturers of wireless communications, wired infrastructure, industrial and automotive electronics, and consumer and computing peripherals markets. Avago Technologies Limited was founded in 2005 and is based in Singapore.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Dan Caplinger]

  On Wednesday, Avago Technologies (NASDAQ: AVGO  ) will release its latest quarterly results. Although the stock has largely treaded water over the past year, investors are concerned about troubling sales trends and their potential impact on the company's future.

Best Prefered Stocks To Buy For 2014: Perfumania Holdings Inc(PERF)

Perfumania Holdings, Inc., through its subsidiaries, operates as a wholesale distributor and specialty retailer of perfumes and fragrances in the United States and Puerto Rico. The company distributes designer fragrances to mass market retailers, drug and other chain stores, retail wholesale clubs, traditional wholesalers, and other distributors. It also owns and licenses designer and other fragrance brands. The company sells its products in retail stores on a consignment basis; and online through perfumania.com, an Internet retailer of fragrances and other specialty items. As of July 30, 2011, it operated a chain of 343 retail stores specializing in the sale of fragrances and related products. The company is based in Bellport, New York.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By John Udovich]

  Vitamin Shoppe Inc (NYSE: VSI), Books-A-Million, Inc (NASDAQ: BAMM) and Perfumania Holdings, Inc (NASDAQ: PERF) have the dubious distinction of being�the worst performing small cap�specialty retail stocks for this year (according to Finviz.com) with losses of 4.85% and�3% and a gain of 0.61%, respectively, since the start of the year (See my previous article: This Year�� Best Performing Small Cap Specialty Retail Stocks? UNTD, TA & HZO). I should mention that the definition of specialty retail stocks might vary from one stock screener to another, but what�� clear is that these three small cap retail stocks have been heading in the wrong direction for investors for much of this year. �With that in mind, what sort of performance should investors expect from these small cap specialty retail stocks on Black Friday and for the all important holiday season? Here is what you need to be aware of:

Best Prefered Stocks To Buy For 2014: Western Refining Inc.(WNR)

Western Refining, Inc. operates as an independent crude oil refiner and marketer of refined products. The company operates in three segments Refining Group, Wholesale Group, and Retail Group. The Refining Group segment operates two refineries in Texas and Mexico; two stand-alone refined product distribution terminals in New Mexico; and four asphalt terminals in Texas, as well as operates crude oil transportation and gathering pipeline system in New Mexico. It refines various grades of gasoline, diesel fuel, jet fuel, and other products from crude oil, other feedstocks, and blending components; and acquires refined products through exchange agreements and from various third-party suppliers. This segment sells its products through its wholesale group and service stations, independent wholesalers and retailers, commercial accounts, and sales and exchanges with oil companies. The Wholesale Group segment distributes commercial wholesale petroleum products primarily in Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Texas, and Utah for retail fuel distributors, as well as for the mining, construction, utility, manufacturing, transportation, aviation, and agricultural industries. The Retail Group segment operates service stations, which include convenience stores or kiosks that sell various grades of gasoline, diesel fuel, general merchandise, and beverage and food products to the general public. As of February 24, 2012, it operated 210 service stations with convenience stores or kiosks located in Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado, and Texas. The company was incorporated in 2005 and is headquartered in El Paso, Texas.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Aimee Duffy]

  It;s been a very robust year for master limited partnership IPOs to say the least. On Thursday, Western Refining (NYSE: WNR  ) successfully spun off its midstream logistics MLP, Western Refining Logistics (NYSE: WNRL  ) . The partnership became the 14th MLP to make its debut this year.

• [By Eric Volkman]

  Western Refining (NYSE: WNR  ) investors are about to find a few more coins in their pockets. The company has declared a Q3 dividend of $0.18 per share, to be paid on Aug. 15 to shareholders of record as of July 31. That amount is exactly 50% higher than Western Refining's previous disbursement of $0.12, which was handed out in early May.

• [By Ben Levisohn]

  My colleague Vito Racanelli recommended refining stocks, including Valero, Marathon, Hollyfrontier and Western Refining (WNR) in Barron’s on Oct. 19.

Best Prefered Stocks To Buy For 2014: BorgWarner (BWA)

BorgWarner Inc., incorporated in 1987, is a global supplier of engineered automotive systems and components primarily for powertrain applications. The Company�� products are manufactured and sold worldwide, primarily to original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) of light vehicles (passenger cars, sport-utility vehicles (SUVs), vans and light-trucks). The Company's products are also sold to other OEMs of commercial vehicles (medium-duty trucks, heavy-duty trucks and buses) and off-highway vehicles (agricultural and construction machinery and marine applications). It also manufactures and sells its products to certain Tier One vehicle systems suppliers and into the aftermarket for light, commercial and off-highway vehicles. On January 31, 2011, the Company acquired 100% of the stock of Haldex Traction Holding AB (Haldex Traction Systems) of Haldex Group. In July 2012, the Company sold its spark plug business to Federal-Mogul Corporation. The Company operates manufacturing facilities serving customers in the Americas, Europe and Asia, and is an original equipment supplier to every automotive OEM in the world. As of December 31, 2011, the Company had 10 joint ventures in which it had a less-than-100% ownership interest. Engine Engine Group products include turbochargers, emissions systems, timing devices and chain products, thermal systems, diesel cold start, gasoline ignition technology and cabin heaters. The Engine Group provides turbochargers for light, commercial and off-highway applications for diesel and gasoline engine manufacturers in the Americas, Europe and Asia. As of December 31, 2011, the Company supplied light-vehicle turbochargers to many OEMs, including Volkswagen, Renault, PSA, Daimler, Hyundai, Fiat, BMW, Ford and General Motors. The Company also supplies commercial vehicle turbochargers to Daimler, Navistar, Deutz and MAN and off-highway turbochargers to Caterpillar and John Deere. The Company's newest turbocharger technologies are its regulated two-stage turbocharging system, R2S, variable turbine geometry (VTG) turbochargers and turbochargers for gasoline direct injected engines, all of which may be found in numerous applications worldwide. Also, the Company supplies VTG turbochargers to Renault's 1.6 liter R9M diesel engine featured in the Megane Scenic. The Engine Group also designs and manufactures products to control emissions. These products include electric air pumps, turbo actuators using integrated electronics to control turbocharger speed and pressure ratio and exhaust gas recirculation (EGR) coolers, tubes and valves for gasoline and diesel applications. The Engine Group's timing devices and chain products include timing chain and timing drive systems, variable cam timing (VCT) systems, crankshaft and camshaft sprockets, tensioners, guides and snubbers, HY-VO front-wheel drive (FWD) transmission chain and four-wheel drive (4WD) chain and MORSE GEMINI chain systems for light vehicles. It is a manufacturer of timing chain systems to OEMs worldwide. BorgWarner timing chain systems are featured on Ford's family of engines, including the Duratec, Modular, and in-line four-cylinder engines, Chrysler's 3.6 liter Pentastar engine, Volkswagen's EA888 family, Hyundai's Gamma, Nu and Theta families and other applications worldwide. The Engine Group's newest chain product technology is its VCT with mid position lock. The Company is a manufacturer of chain for FWD transmissions and 4WD transfer cases. Its HY-VO chain is used to transfer power from the engine to the drivetrain. The chain in a transfer case distributes power between a vehicle's front and rear output shafts which, in turn, provide torque to the front and rear wheels. The Company is a global provider of engine thermal solutions for truck, agricultural and off-highway applications. The Engine Group designs, manufactures and markets viscous fan drives that control fans to sense and respond to multiple cooling requirements. The Engine Group also manufactures and markets polymer fans for engine cooling systems. The Company is a global automotive supplier of diesel cold start technology (glow plugs and instant starting systems), including its Pressure Sensor Glow Plug, which monitors and enhances the combustion process of a diesel engine, minimizing carbon dioxide (CO2) and nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions. The Company also designs and manufactures gasoline ignition technology (ignition coils) and electronic control units and sensor technology (diesel cabin heaters and selected sensors). Drivetrain The Drivetrain Group's products are transmission components and systems, and all-wheel drive (AWD) torque management systems. The Drivetrain Group designs and manufactures automatic transmission components and modules and is a supplier to virtually every automatic transmission manufacturer in the world for conventional automatic, new dual-clutch transmissions (DCT) and automated manual transmissions. Friction and mechanical products include dual clutch modules, friction clutch modules, friction plates, transmission bands, torque converter clutches, one-way clutches and torsional vibration dampers. Controls products feature electro-hydraulic solenoids for high pressure hydraulic systems, transmission solenoid modules and dual clutch control modules. The Company's 50%-owned joint venture in Japan, NSK-Warner Kabushiki Kaisha (NSK-Warner), is a producer of friction plates and one-way clutches in Japan. The Drivetrain Group's torque management products include rear-wheel drive (RWD)/AWD transfer case systems, FWD/AWD electromagnetic coupling systems and advanced products. Transfer cases are installed primarily on light-trucks, SUVs, RWD based cross-over utility vehicles (CUVs) and passenger cars. The Company is engaged in the AWD market for FWD based vehicles with electromagnetic couplings that use electronically controlled clutches to distribute power to the rear wheels instantly as traction is required. As of December 31, 2011, the Company supplied its eGearDrive single-speed gearbox to the Ford Transit Connect Electric. It is engaged with traditional and non-traditional OEMs on a number of other transmission programs for plug-in hybrid and electric vehicles. The Company competes with Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI), Modine, Valeo, Schaeffler Group, Tsubaki Group, Usui, NGK, Sensata, Honeywell, IHI, Behr, Pierburg, Denso, Iwis, Horton/Sachs, Bosch, Eberspacher Catem, GKN Driveline, JTEKT, Magna Powertrain, Dynax and Unick. Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Sara Murphy]

  BorgWarner (NYSE: BWA  ) makes fuel-efficiency tools for cars and is among the tips Sarbjit Nahal provided in his report. The company has outperformed every auto supplier in North America over the past three years. BorgWarner's stock has slipped recently, largely because of declines in European auto sales. That could make the timing just right to consider this solid company.

• [By Jonas Elmerraji]

  The automotive industry has fared well this past year, turning out the best sales numbers in a decade, as consumers replace a fleet that's older on average than ever before. That brisk sales pace has been a big tailwind for parts suppliers such as BorgWarner (BWA). Even if you're not familiar with the BorgWarner name, there's a good chance that your car is on the road today because of this $13 billion tier-1 parts supplier -- the firm makes engine and drivetrain components like turbochargers, timing belts, and transmissions for a huge group of automakers.

  BorgWarner boasts a big customer list that includes the likes of Volkswagen, Ford, Daimler, and GM. The emphasis on increased efficiency without sacrificing performance has been a boost for BWA -- it's one of the reasons why the market for turbochargers has grown at brisk rates, and it's helped user in the adoption of diesel cars here in the U.S. Like any tier-1 auto supplier, BorgWarner benefits by locked-in customers; since automakers rely on BWA to produce specific parts for specific vehicles, switching costs are extremely high if Ford or Volkswagen decide to switch suppliers. And OEMs aren't likely to switch in the first place, since BWA's enormous scale means that it can produce quality parts more cheaply than most.

  From a financial standpoint, BorgWarner is in solid shape, with a $1.4 billion cash and investment balance more than offsetting the firm's $1.2 billion debt load. The parts business is capital intense, but BWA has been a great capital allocator, keeping balance sheet leverage at zero. Look for a possible upside catalyst at BWA's next earnings call this coming month.

• [By Ben Levisohn]

  Shares of Lear have gained 0.2% to $77.32 at 2:24 p.m. on a day when most auto-part companies are not doing much of anything.�Delphi Automotive, the big loser, has dropped 1.1% to $57.39,�Johnson Controls�(JCI) has fallen 0.2% to $42.94 and�Borg Warner�(BWA) has risen up 0.4% to $106.70. The big winner: Tenneco�(TEN), which has jumped 3.3% $54.65 after reporting better than expected earnings.

• [By Seth Jayson]

  BorgWarner (NYSE: BWA  ) is expected to report Q2 earnings around July 24. 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 BorgWarner's revenues will expand 3.2% and EPS will grow 2.9%.