Hot Railroad Companies To Watch In Right Now

When�TransCanada� (NYSE: TRP  ) first announced its plan to construct the Keystone XL pipeline, I'm sure company executives never thought it would wind up as one of the most polarizing environmental symbols in recent memory. Nor could they have predicted that the approval process would take, well, forever.

The exceedingly long duration of that process has allowed the Keystone XL to grow from a large pipeline to a larger than life feedstock for environmental, political, and economic arguments, and even a conspiracy theory or two. Some have really taken to the notion, for example, that Warren Buffett has a hand in delaying the pipeline project in order to boost his railroad business. The theory is that Buffett is encouraging President Obama into stalling on his decision to approve or deny Keystone XL. If the President does deny Keystone XL, the thinking goes, that is only further proof of Buffett's hold on him. Some of us may think this is a ridiculous theory, but given the power of money in Washington, let's take a closer look anyway.

Hot Dow Dividend Companies To Watch In Right Now: CoStar Group Inc (CSGP)

CoStar Group, Inc. (CoStar), incorporated on February 2, 1998, is a provider of information, analytics and marketing services to the commercial real estate industry in the United States and United Kingdom. The Company�� suite of online service offerings includes information about space available for lease, comparable sales information, tenant information, information about properties for sale, Internet marketing services, analytical capabilities, information for clients' Websites, information about industry professionals and their business relationships, data integration and industry news. Its service offerings span all commercial property types, including office, industrial, retail, land, mixed-use, hospitality and multifamily. In April 2012, the Company completed the acquisition of LoopNet, Inc.

The Company�� subscription-based information services consist primarily of CoStar Property Professional, CoStar Tenant, CoStar COMPS Professional and FOCUS services. CoStar Property Professional, CoStar Tenant, and CoStar COMPS Professional are generally sold as a suite of similar services and through its mobile application, CoStarGo, and consists of its primary service offering in its United States operating segment. FOCUS is its primary service offering in its International operating segment. As of January 31, 2013, our database of real estate information covered the U.S., London, England and other parts of the U.K., and contained information about approximately 1.6 million sale and lease listings; approximately 4.2 million total properties; approximately 9.0 billion square feet of sale and lease listings; Approximately 5.8 million tenants; approximately 1.9 million sales transactions valued in the aggregate at approximately $4.5 trillion, and approximately 13.8 million digital attachments, including building photographs, aerial photographs, plat maps and floor plans.

CoStar Property Professional

CoStar Property Professional (CoStar Property) is the Company�� fl! agship service. It provides subscribers an inventory of office, industrial, retail and multifamily properties and land in markets throughout the United States and United Kingdom, including for-lease and for-sale listings, historical data, building photographs, maps and floor plans. Commercial real estate professionals use CoStar Property to identify available space for lease, evaluate leasing and sale opportunities, value assets and position properties in the marketplace. Its clients also use CoStar Property to analyze market conditions by calculating current vacancy rates, absorption rates or average rental rates, and forecasting future trends based on user selected variables. When used together with CoStar Connect, CoStar Property enables subscribers to share space surveys and transaction-related documents with their clients, accessed through their corporate Website. CoStar Property, along with all of CoStar�� other core information, analytics and marketing services, is delivered solely via the Internet.

CoStar COMPS Professional

CoStar COMPS Professional (COMPS Professional) provides coverage of comparable sales information in the United States and United Kingdom commercial real estate industries. COMPS Professional offers subscribers numerous fields of property information, access to support documents (deeds of trust) for new comparables, demographics and the ability to view for-sale properties alongside sold properties in three formats, plotted on a map, aerial image or in a table.

CoStar Tenant

CoStar Tenant is a detailed online business-to-business prospecting and analytical tool providing commercial real estate professionals with the commercial real estate-related the United States and United Kingdom tenant information available. CoStar Tenant profiles tenants occupying space in commercial buildings across the United States and provides updates on lease expirations, as well as occupancy levels, growth rates and numerous other facts. Deliverin! g this in! formation through the Internet allows users to target prospective clients quickly through a searchable database that identifies only those tenants meeting certain criteria.

CoStarGo

CoStarGo is an iPad application, which integrates and provides mobile access to subscribers of its property, tenant and comparable sales information in our suite of online service offerings-CoStar Property Professional, CoStar Tenant and CoStar COMPS Professional. CoStarGo provides a single, location-centric mobile interface that allows users to access and display information on millions of properties and gain instant access to analytic data and demographic information from the field.

CoStar Advertising

CoStar Advertising offers property owners and brokers a targeted and way to market a space for lease or a property for sale directly to the CoStar subscribers looking for that type of space through interactive advertising. With the CoStar Advertising program, when the advertiser�� listings appear in a results set, they receive priority positioning and are enhanced to stand out. The advertiser can also purchase exposure in additional submarkets, or the entire market area so that this ad will appear even when this listing would not be returned in a results set.

PPR

The Company�� subsidiary, PPR, and its United Kingdom subsidiary, PPR United Kingdom, offer products and services designed to meet the research needs of commercial real estate investors and lenders. PPR covers metropolitan areas throughout the United States, United Kingdom and Europe, with offerings, including historical and forecast market data and analysis by market and property type, and services, including access to PPR�� analysts, economists, and strategists to develop and deliver custom research solutions. PPR Portal is PPR�� primary delivery platform for research, forecasts, analytics, and granular data surrounding a specific address and property type. PPR COMPASS is PPR�� ! premier c! ommercial real estate risk management tool.

Resolve Portfolio Maximizer

Resolve Portfolio Maximizer is an industry real estate portfolio management software solution. Resolve Portfolio Maximizer allows users to model partnership structures, calculate waterfall distributions and fees, model and analyze debt obligations, and create multiple what if scenarios for alternative investment decision.

Resolve Request

Request is the business intelligence software solution built specifically for managing commercial real estate investments. Request helps users eliminate some of the difficulties of consolidating real estate investment data from disparate sources and facilitates standardization of information presentation and reporting across an organization. Request also provides a platform for users to develop business intelligence and reporting capabilities.

VP Corporate Edition

The Company�� subsidiary, Virtual Premise, offers VP Corporate Edition, a real estate management software solution designed for corporate real estate managers, company executives, business unit directors, brokers and project managers. VP Corporate Edition helps users connect real estate initiatives with company strategic goals, streamline portfolio operations, automate the process for collecting and managing space requests, reduce occupancy costs with analytics that track location performance against targets, and maximize location performance through proactive portfolio management. Virtual Premise also provides lease abstraction and data review services in order to facilitate the effective implementation of this software solution.

VP Retail Edition

VP Retail Edition is a real estate management software solution designed for company executives, real estate dealmakers and store planning and construction managers. VP Retail Edition helps users to utilize and real-time data to establish goals and store strategies, manage the execution of r! eal estat! e strategies, summarize critical portfolio data and prerequisite store-level information and metrics for maximizing location performance through proactive portfolio management. Virtual Premise also provides lease abstraction and data review services in order to facilitate the effective implementation of this software solution.

LoopNet Basic and Premium Membership

The Company�� subsidiary, LoopNet, offer two types of memberships on the LoopNet marketplace, basic and premium. As of January 31, 2013, LoopNet had approximately 6.8 million registered members, of which 82,915 were premium members. LoopNet Premium Lister is designed for commercial real estate professionals and other customers who seek the broadest possible exposure for their listings, access to leads lists, and advanced marketing and searching tools. LoopNet Premium Searcher is designed for members searching for commercial real estate who need unlimited marketplace searching access, professional-quality reports and advanced searching tools.

LoopLink

LoopLink is an online real estate marketing and database services suite that enables commercial real estate firms to showcase their available properties both on the LoopNet marketplace and on the brokerage firm�� Website using hosted search software. Within LoopNet, each LoopLink listing is branded with the client�� logo and is hyperlinked to the client�� Website. The LoopNet import service offers the opportunity to simplify the process of submitting listings to LoopNet from the client�� internal databases, and features advanced data matching and data integrity rules and file conversion capabilities. LoopNet charges a monthly subscription fee to commercial real estate firms for the LoopLink service.

LandsofAmerica and LandAndFarm

LandsofAmerica and LandAndFarm are online marketplaces for rural land for sale. Sellers pay a fee to list their land for sale, and interested buyers can search LoopNet's listings for f! ree.

BizBuySell and BizQuest

BizBuySell and BizQuest are online marketplaces for operating businesses for sale. Business sellers pay a fee to list their operating businesses for sale, and interested buyers can search LoopNet's listings for free. The BizBuySell and BizQuest Franchise Directories allow interested business buyers to search hundreds of franchise opportunities, and franchisors can list their availabilities in the directory on a cost per lead basis.

FOCUS

The Company�� the United Kingdom subsidiary, CoStar U.K. Limited, offers several services; its primary service is FOCUS. FOCUS is a digital online service offering information on the United Kingdom commercial real estate market. This service seamlessly links data on individual properties and companies across the United Kingdom, including comparable sales, available space, requirements, tenants, lease deals, planning information, socio-economics and demographics, credit ratings, photos and maps.

Grecam

The Company�� French subsidiary, Grecam S.A.S., provides commercial real estate information throughout the Paris region through its Observatoire Immobilier D��Entreprise (OIE) service offering. The OIE service provides commercial property availability and transaction information to its subscribers through both an online service and market reports.

The Company competes with commercialsearch.com, PropertyLine.com, Reed Business Information Limited, officespace.com, MrOfficeSpace.com, TenantWise, Inc., www.propertyshark.com, WorkplaceIQ, RealPoint LLC, estatesgazette.com, Xceligent, Inc., eProperty Data, CBRE Economic Advisors, Marshall & Swift, Yale Robbins, Inc., Reis, Inc., Real Capital Analytics, Inc., The Smith Guide, Inc., Catalyst, the National Association of Realtors, CCIM Institute, Society of Industrial and Office Realtors the Commercial Association of Realtors Data Services, the Association of Industrial Realtors, Cougar Software, Yardi Systems, MRI ! Software,! Altus, Intuit Inc., Accruent, Tririga, Manhattan Software and AMT.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Garrett Cook]

  Financial sector was the top gainer in today’s trading. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included CoStar Group (NASDAQ: CSGP), up 11.5 percent, and Intermountain Community Bancorp (NASDAQ: IMCB), up 10.36 percent.

• [By Matt Jarzemsky var popups = dojo.query(".socialByline .popC"); popups.forEach]

  It�� been a tough year for Internet stocks, but you wouldn�� know it looking at a hot stock offering by CoStar Group Inc.(CSGP) late last week.

Hot Railroad Companies To Watch In Right Now: StoneMor Partners L.P.(STON)

StoneMor Partners L.P., together with its subsidiaries, engages in the ownership and operation of cemeteries in the southeast, northeast, and west regions of the United States. It offers funeral and cemetery products and services in the death care industry. The company sells interment rights, caskets, burial vaults, cremation niches, markers, and other cemetery related merchandise; provides opening and closing that is the digging and refilling of burial spaces to install the vault and place the casket into the vault; and various other services, including the installation of other cemetery merchandise and the perpetual care related to interment rights. It also offers various funeral-related services, such as family consultation, the removal of and preparation of remains, and the use of funeral home facilities for visitation. As of December 31, 2011, it operated 274 cemeteries, including 253 own cemeteries in 26 states and Puerto Rico; and owned and operated 69 funeral homes in 18 states and Puerto Rico. StoneMor GP LLC serves as the general partner of the company. StoneMor Partners L.P. was founded in 1999 and is headquartered in Levittown, Pennsylvania.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Dan Caplinger]

  On Tuesday, StoneMor Partners (NYSE: STON  ) 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.

Hot Railroad Companies To Watch In Right Now: MedAssets Inc.(MDAS)

MedAssets, Inc. provides technology enabled products and services for hospitals, health systems, and other non-acute healthcare providers in the United States. It operates in two segments, Spend and Clinical Resource Management, and Revenue Cycle Management. The Spend and Clinical Resource Management offers a suite of cost management services, supply chain analytics, and data capabilities; medical device and clinical resource consulting, which includes implantable physician preference items, utilization management, and service line consulting; supply chain outsourcing and procurement services; capital equipment lifecycle management; lean process and workforce optimization solutions; process improvement consulting; business intelligence tools; and performance analytics and data management tools, such as service line analytics, spend analytics and strategic information services, e-commerce, client master item file services, electronic contract portfolio catalog, and decision support services. The Revenue Cycle Management segment provides a suite of products and services spanning the revenue cycle workflow from patient access and financial responsibility; case management, coding, and documentation; charge capture and revenue integrity; strategic pricing; claims processing; denials management and reimbursement integrity; revenue cycle and supply chain integration; revenue recovery and accounts receivable management; and outsourced services. It delivers technology-enabled solutions primarily through the company-hosted software, software-as-a-service, or Web-based applications. As of December 31, 2011, the company served approximately 4,200 acute care hospitals and 100,000 ancillary or non-acute provider locations. MedAssets, Inc. was incorporated in 1999 and is headquartered in Alpharetta, Georgia.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Javier Hasse, Insider Monkey]

  Fundamentally, ADT looks appealing. Its stock trades at 16.5 times the company�� earnings, versus an industry average of 29.4x, while it boasts industry leading margins and above average returns on equity and assets. However, above-average debt levels are concerning, so its financial standing must be further analyzed.

  MedAssets (MDAS)

  The second company in this list is MedAssets (MDAS), a $1.37 billion market cap provider of technology-enabled products and services.

Hot Railroad Companies To Watch In Right Now: Cardtronics Inc.(CATM)

Cardtronics, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, provides automated consumer financial services through its network of automated teller machines (ATMs) and multi-function financial services kiosks. As of December 31, 2011, it offered services to approximately 52,900 devices across its portfolio, which included approximately 46,000 devices located in 50 states of the United States, as well as in the U.S. territories of Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands; approximately 3,500 devices throughout the United Kingdom; approximately 2,800 devices throughout Mexico; and approximately 600 devices in Canada. The company also deployed approximately 2,200 multi-function financial services kiosks in the United States. Its ATMs and financial services kiosks offer cash dispensing and bank account balance inquiry services, as well as other consumer financial services, including bill payments, check cashing, remote deposit capture, and money transfer services. In addition, the compan y provides various forms of managed service solution, including monitoring, maintenance, cash management, customer service, and transaction processing services. Further, it partners with national financial institutions to brand its ATMs and financial services kiosks with their logos. As of December 31, 2011, the company had approximately 15,400 company-owned ATMs under contract with financial institutions to place their logos on those machines. Additionally, it provides financial institutions with surcharge-free program through its Allpoint network, as well as owns and operates an electronic funds transfer transaction processing platform that provides transaction processing services to its network of ATMs and financial services kiosks, and ATMs owned and operated by third parties. The company was formerly known as Cardtronics Group, Inc. and changed its name to Cardtronics, Inc. in January 2004. Cardtronics, Inc. was founded in 1989 and is headquartered in Houston, Texas.

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 Cardtronics (Nasdaq: CATM  ) , whose recent revenue and earnings are plotted below.