Hot Clean Energy Companies To Invest In 2014

Last week, the Potential Gas Committee released a new report that estimates the potential natural gas resources available in the U.S. at 2,384 trillion cubic feet, an eye-popping 26% increase over the group's late 2010 calculation. While reduced natural gas prices have led to such projects as the Clean Energy Fuels (NASDAQ: CLNE  ) America's Natural Gas Highway and Berkshire Hathaway's (NYSE: BRK-A  ) BNSF Railway pilot program to test liquefied natural gas (LNG) locomotives, the price of the commodity has also put downward pressure on natural gas stocks in general ��Chesapeake Energy (NYSE: CHK  ) , for example, is down about 40% over the last two years.

As is the case with most things, the impact on the long-term viability of LNG as a U.S.-based substitute for other energy sources is one of balance. If the right blend of supply and demand can be maintained, natural gas stocks should soar. If supply becomes too plentiful, however, driving down prices too much, companies will have less financial incentive to develop natural gas further. With the explosion of shale-based supply, the impact on natural gas stocks is in its infancy but a critical area for investors to watch.

Best Food Stocks To Watch Right Now: Oxford Resource Partners LP(OXF)

Oxford Resource Partners, LP, together with its subsidiaries, engages in the production of steam coal and surface mined coal in the United States. It holds interests in approximately 21 active surface mines that are managed as 8 mining complexes located in Northern Appalachia and the Illinois Basin to serve its primary market area of Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia. The company sells its coal primarily to utilities with coal-fired, base-load scrubbed power plants under long-term coal sales contracts, as well as to municipalities, cooperatives, and industrial customers. Oxford Resource Partners, LP was founded in 1985 and is based in Columbus, Ohio.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Robert Rapier]

  1. Oxford Resource Partners

  The coal industry in the US has been badly battered over the past few years. Oxford Resource Partners (NYSE: OXF) was a casualty, as the unit price fell 73 percent in 2013. The biggest problem for this producer of coal in the northern Appalachia and the Illinois Basin was that it had to suspend cash distributions in January in response to continued weakness in the coal markets.
  

  2. Rentech Nitrogen Partners

• [By Robert Rapier]

  The National Association of Publicly Traded Partnerships (NAPTP) lists five MLPs in the category ��atural Resources – Coal,��although two of the five are Alliance Holdings (NYSE: AHGP) and its operating affiliate, Alliance Resource Partners (NYSE: ARLP). The other three are Natural Resource Partners (NYSE: NRP), Rhino Resource Partners (NYSE: RNO), and Oxford Resource Partners (NYSE: OXF).

• [By Robert Rapier]

  The worst performer in the first half was�Oxford Resource Partners�(NYSE: OXF), a coal producer that suspended its distribution more than a year ago and has seen its unit price continue to decline. It is down 31.5 percent in 2014.�Boardwalk Pipeline Partners�(NYSE: BWP) saw the second worst decline in the first half of 2014 after announcing a distribution cut of more than 80 percent. BWP saw its unit price plunge by 46 percent in a single trading session. It has since recovered somewhat, but is down 28.8 percent year-to-date.

• [By Robert Rapier]

  There are a few US coal MLPs, many of which have seen their market caps decimated in the past 2 ½ years. Most MLP investors should avoid this sector, as more restrictive EPA regulations and competition from natural gas and renewables will continue to put pressure on coal producers. For bargain hunters who are prepared for the possibility of further downside, there are one or two that have strong balance sheets. But don’t go bargain hunting just on the basis of price. Remember that the worst-performing of all MLPs in 2013 was coal producer Oxford Resource Partners (NYSE: OXF) — down 73 percent for the year and illustrative of the coal industry’s struggles.

Hot Clean Energy Companies To Invest In 2014: Pacific Rubiales Energy Corp (PEGFF.PK)

Pacific Rubiales Energy Corp. (Pacific Rubiales) is a producerand seller of natural gas and heavy crude oil. The Company also purchases crude oil from third parties to be used as diluents and for trading purposes. The Company owns Meta Petroleum Corp. (Meta), an oil branch which operates the Rubiales/Piriri and Quifa oil fields in the Llanos Basin in association with Ecopetrol; and Pacific Stratus Energy Colombia Corp. (Pacific Stratus), which operates the wholly owned La Creciente gas field in the northern part of Colombia and other light and medium oil fields. In addition to its production assets, it has investment in oil pipelines in Colombia, including the Oleoducto de los Llanos S.A. Pipeline and the new Oleoducto Bicentenario de Colombia pipeline, under construction. In November 2013, Pacific Rubiales Energy Corp acquired Petrominerales Ltd. Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Value Digger]

  C&C Energia was acquired by Pacific Rubiales (PEGFF.PK) for $9.5 (including the shares for Platino Energy), three months later. Nobody else had ever written an online article about C&C Energia.

• [By Value Digger]

  Apart from the momentum traders, the growth seekers have to check it out too. Manitok Energy is another growth company with a non-existent coverage from the online publications, although it has been growing by leaps and bounds during the last couple of years. I really enjoy uncovering such companies. In fact, by discovering under-followed growth companies with very attractive valuations is how I started my articles with SeekingAlpha one year ago. It was when I uncovered C&C Energia. I recommended this debt-free South American producer at ~$5.7 in August 2012. C&C Energia was bought out by Pacific Rubiales (PEGFF.PK) a couple of months later at $9.81. My article is here.

Hot Clean Energy Companies To Invest In 2014: Marin Software Inc (MRIN)

Marin Software Incorporated, incorporated on March 16, 2006, provides cloud-based digital advertising management platform to advertisers and agencies. The Company�� Revenue Acquisition Management platform is a software-as-a-service (SaaS), analytics, workflow, and optimization solution for marketing professionals, enabling them to manage their digital advertising spend across search, display, social and mobile advertising channels. Its platform integrates with publishers, such as Baidu, Bing, Facebook, Google, Yahoo! and Yahoo! Japan, as well as Web analytics and ad-serving solutions, and key enterprise applications to enable marketers to measure the return on investment of their marketing programs.

The Company�� software platform serves as a system-of-record for advertising performance, revenue and conversion data and allows advertisers to correlate advertising spend to subsequent revenue outcomes or business events. It enables its customers to simultaneously run large-scale digital advertising campaigns across multiple publishers and channels, making it easy for marketers to create, publish, modify and optimize campaigns in real time.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Evan Niu, CFA]

  What: Shares of Marin Software (NYSE: MRIN  ) got clobbered today, down by as much as 21% after the company reported earnings.

  So what: Revenue in the first quarter totaled $17.2 million, which resulted in a non-GAAP net loss of $9.4 million, or $0.39 per share. The freshly public software maker saw gross margin decline to 57%, and its losses grew from a year ago. Investors obviously wanted more.

Hot Clean Energy Companies To Invest In 2014: Fifth Third Bancorp(FITB)

Fifth Third Bancorp operates as a diversified financial services holding company in the United States. The company?s Commercial Banking segment offers credit intermediation, cash management, and financial services; lending and depository products; and foreign exchange and international trade finance, derivatives and capital markets services, asset-based lending, real estate finance, public finance, commercial leasing, and syndicated finance for business, government, and professional customers. Its Branch Banking segment provides deposit and loan, and lease products to individuals and small businesses. This segment?s products include checking and savings accounts, home equity loans and lines of credit, credit cards, loans for automobile and personal financing needs, and cash management services. The company?s Consumer Lending segment engages in the mortgage and home equity lending activities, such as origination, retention, and servicing of mortgage and home equity loans ; and other indirect lending activities, which include loans to consumers through mortgage brokers and automobile dealers. Its Investment Advisors segment offers investment alternatives for individuals, companies, and not-for-profit organizations. It offers retail brokerage services to individual clients, and broker dealer services to the institutional marketplace. This segment also provides asset management services; holistic strategies to affluent clients in wealth planning, investing, insurance, and wealth protection; and advisory services for institutional clients, as well as advises the company?s proprietary family of mutual funds. As of December 31, 2011, the company operated 1,316 full-service banking centers, including 104 Bank Mart locations; and 2,425 automated teller machines in 12 states in the midwestern and southeastern regions of the United States. The company was founded in 1862 and is headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Rich Smith]

  Few regional banking stocks in the U.S. today cost more than BB&T (NYSE: BBT  ) stock. Indeed, the stock's biggest distinguishing factor is probably its priciness. Valued at 14.1 times trailing earnings, shares of BB&T cost 14% more than bigger rival US Bancorp (NYSE: USB  ) , and 33% more than smaller Fifth Third Bancorp (NASDAQ: FITB  ) . But is there a good reason for investors to pay up for BB&T stock?

• [By Amanda Alix]

  Large regional banks have been getting in on the act, too. KeyCorp (NYSE: KEY  ) , Huntington Bancshares (NASDAQ: HBAN  ) , and Fifth Third Bancorp (NASDAQ: FITB  ) all boosted their commercial loan portfolios last year between 18% and 20%.

• [By Tom Reese]

  Regional banker Fifth Third Bancorp (FITB) on Monday received a big upgrade from analysts at Evercore Partners.

  The firm lifted its rating on FITB from “Equal Weight” to “Overweight” while boosting its price target to $23. That new target suggests a 15% upside to the stock’s Friday closing price of $20.09.

  Evercore analyst Andrew Marquardt commented, “We are upgrading shares of FITB to OW (from EW) based on above avg top line growth/profitability, expense flexibility, continued AQ leverage, and strong capital/deployment.” Accordingly, the firm also lifted its earnings estimates for the company through 2015.

  Fifth Third Bancorp shares were inactive in pre-market trading Monday. The stock has gained 32% since the beginning of 2013.

• [By Monica Gerson]

  Fifth Third Bancorp (NASDAQ: FITB) is expected to report its Q3 earnings at $0.41 per share on revenue of $1.55 billion.

  Stryker (NYSE: SYK) is projected to post its Q3 earnings at $1.00 per share on revenue of $2.15 billion.

Hot Clean Energy Companies To Invest In 2014: Southern Copper Corporation(SCCO)

Southern Copper Corporation engages in mining, exploring, producing, smelting, and refining copper and other minerals in Peru, Mexico, and Chile. It is involved in the mining, milling, and flotation of copper ore to produce copper and molybdenum concentrates; smelting of copper concentrates to produce anode copper; and refining of anode copper to produce copper cathodes, as well as refined silver. The company operates Toquepala and Cuajone mines in the Andes Mountains located southeast of the city of Lima, Peru, as well as a smelter and refinery in the coastal city of Ilo, Peru. It also operates La Caridad and Buenavista copper mines, and smelting and refining plants in Mexico. In addition, the company operates five underground mines that produce zinc, copper, lead, silver, and gold; a coal mine which produces coal and coke; and a zinc refinery. Further, it has 145,064 hectares of mineral rights in Peru; 176,250 hectares of exploration concessions in Mexico; 1,068 hectares of exploration concessions in Argentina; 35,958 hectares exploration concessions in Chile; and 2,544 hectares of exploration concessions in Ecuador. The company was founded in 1952 and is based in Phoenix, Arizona. Southern Copper Corporation is a subsidiary of Americas Mining Corporation.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Dan Caplinger]

  China is responsible for about 40% of the world's copper consumption, so a slowdown there bodes ill for world demand. But one key element with copper is the increase in supply, with major players Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold (NYSE: FCX  ) and Southern Copper (NYSE: SCCO  ) among companies trying to spur production growth in the metal. With copper often acting as a barometer of overall industrial activity, its drop has far more troubling implications for views on global growth than gold's crash.

• [By IAEResearch]

  On March 27th, Freeport McMoRan Copper and Gold Inc. (FCX) declared a cash dividend of $0.3125 continuing its run of consistent and strong dividends. FCX operates in the international mining industry generating a substantial proportion of its revenues, approximately 80%, from copper. The company is one of the largest publicly traded copper mining companies. The major competitors of the company include Southern Copper Corp. (SCCO) and Newmont Mining Corp. (NEM).

• [By Lee Jackson]

  Southern Copper Corp. (NYSE: SCCO) may be the top way to play the copper trade. The current drop in copper prices is due largely�to the global slowdown triggered by reduced growth in China, which accounts for nearly 40% of global copper consumption. However, according to the International Copper Study Group, worldwide copper demand for 2013 is still expected to grow by 4.3% and increase to 5.1% for 2014. Merrill Lynch has a $36 price objective. The consensus number stands lower at $32. Investors are paid a 1.7% dividend.

Hot Clean Energy Companies To Invest In 2014: Seattle Genetics Inc.(SGEN)

Seattle Genetics, Inc., a clinical stage biotechnology company, focuses on the development and commercialization of monoclonal antibody-based therapies for the treatment of cancer and autoimmune diseases in the United States. Its lead product, SGN-35 is in pivotal trial stage used for the treatment of patients with relapsed or refractory hodgkin lymphoma. The company?s other product candidates in various stages of clinical trials include SGN-75, which is in Phase I clinical trials for metastatic renal cell carcinoma and non-Hodgkin lymphoma; ASG-5ME, a preclinical antibody-drug conjugate product candidate for the treatment of solid tumors; dacetuzumab (SGN-40), a humanized anti-CD40 antibody; SGN-70, a humanized anti-CD70 antibody for the treatment of autoimmune diseases; and SGN-19A, a preclinical antibody-drug conjugate product candidate for the treatment of hematologic malignancies. It has collaborations with Bayer Pharmaceuticals Corporation; Celldex Therapeutics, Inc .; Daiichi Sankyo Co., Ltd.; Genentech, Inc.; GlaxoSmithKline LLC; Millennium; and PSMA Development Company LLC. The company also has an antibody-drug conjugates co-development agreement with Agensys, Inc.; and Genmab A/S. Seattle Genetics, Inc. was founded in 1997 and is headquartered in Bothell, Washington.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Henry Kawabe]

  One of the variables that differentiates SMDCs from another cancer treatment in development, like Seattle Genetics' (SGEN) antibody-drug conjugates (ADC), are that SMDCs are 100-150 times smaller than an antibody. These small conjugates are able to penetrate solid tumors more effectively than large molecules ADCs. In preclinical studies, Endocyte saw a 20 to 30 fold improvement in drug concentration inside solid tumors with small molecule drug conjugates compared to large molecule drug conjugates. The small size also demonstrated faster excretion, which helped to reduce the drug's toxicity.

• [By Henry Kawabe]

  A number of analysts believe the stock of the biotech company Seattle Genetics (SGEN) has risen too high too quickly to support its current price, and have issued much lower target prices on the stocks than where it currently sits. On Thursday August 1st, Analysts at Cantor Fitzgerald issued a target price of $24 a share with a "sell" recommendation as they see the potential downside of the stock could drop 40.77% from its July 31st close. Previously, on June 10th, Zacks downgraded the stock and placed a price target of $41.20 per share. In May, analysts at UBS AG issued a price target from $30.00 to $36.00 giving the stock a "neutral" rating, while analysts at Leerink Swann issued a price target of $42.00. So far, the analysts have been wrong as Seattle Genetics has blown past their price targets, and as of August 2nd, the stock continued to rise, closing at $43.28 per share.

• [By Lee Jackson]

  While very upbeat on the sector as a whole, UBS was very cautious on sell-rated Ironwood Pharmaceuticals, Inc (NASDAQ: IRWD) and ImmunoGen Inc. (NASDAQ: IMGN). Neutral-rated Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ: VRTX) and Seattle Genetics Inc. (NASDAQ: SGEN) were also viewed with a skeptical eye.

Hot Clean Energy Companies To Invest In 2014: AvWorks Aviation Corp (SPLI)

AvWorks Aviation Corp., formerly Datamill Media Corp., incorporated on January 15, 1990, and its wholly owned subsidiary, Young Aviation, LLC (Young Aviation) operate as a diversified broker and supplier of parts and services to the worldwide aviation and aerospace markets. The Company services a broad range of clients such as aircraft leasing companies, major airlines, repair stations, fixed-base operators, leasing companies and aftermarket suppliers. The Company was a management consulting firm that planned to educate and assist small businesses to improve their management, corporate governance, regulatory compliance and other business processes, with a focus on capital market participation.

On October 3, 2011, the Company acquired 100% interests in Young Aviation. Young Aviation is a diversified broker and supplier of parts, components and products to the general aviation and aerospace markets of the United States, Europe and Asia. Young Aviation services a range of clients, such as aircraft leasing companies, major airlines, repair stations, fixed-base operators, leasing companies and after market suppliers.In December 2011, the Company announced the purchase and salvage of a Lear Jet 24 from a private owner. On June 22, 2011, Datamill Media Sub Corp. was organized as a wholly owned subsidiary of Datamill Media Corp. The principal business of this subsidiary was to act as a merger vehicle for the pending merger with M3X Media, Inc. On August 12, 2011, the Company terminated the Merger Agreement with M3X Media, Inc.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By James E. Brumley]

  It's admittedly scary to try and catch a falling knife, but sometimes it's worth the risk. Case in point? AvWorks Aviation Corp. (OTCMKTS:SPLI) .... better known as Vapor Group. Without knowing more about the stock, the sheer fact that SPLI has fallen nearly 90% since March 26th - with about a third of that coming today alone - the stock would be best left avoided by nearly any trader. For the small group of savvy traders that know the tell-tale signs and know how the market really works, however, AvWorks Aviation, or Vapor Group, may be in a prime buying situation today.... yes, even in the midst of this bloodbath.