5 Best Gas Utility Stocks To Invest In Right Now

It's been a volatile year for the roofing industry, and over the last three months, investors have seen more downside. Roofing materials distributor Beacon Roofing Supply (NASDAQ: BECN  ) is down 11.5% in the last three months, and building products manufacturer Owens Corning (NYSE: OC  ) fell 5.5% in the same period -- all in a year when many commentators thought this sector would outperform.�

It's complicated
A resurgent housing market should lead to a marginal increase in new residential roofing demand, while the underlying reroofing demand should provide its usual support. Indeed, these conditions looked like they were in place for 2013, and analysts built a fair amount of optimism into their expectations. So what went wrong?

First, the US has had some unusual weather patterns in recent years. In previous years, hurricane Irene (and to a lesser extent Sandy) helped to generate reroofing demand, while this year's weather has been far more clement. Worse yet, according to Owens Corning, those storms pulled forward reroofing work that homeowners might otherwise have planned to do this year. And this spring's bout of wet weather further hurt roofing activity, because contractors simply couldn't work.

Hot Heal Care Companies To Buy For 2015: Spdr Dj Wilshire Small Cap Value Etf (SLYV)

SPDR DJ Wilshire Small Cap Value (ETF) seeks to replicate, as closely as possible, the performance of the Dow Jones Wilshire Small Cap Value Index (the Index). The Index represents the small-cap portion of the Dow Jones Wilshire 5000 Composite Index (the Composite Index). The Composite Index tracks all the United States common stocks regularly traded on the NYSE, the AMEX and the NASDAQ National Market.

The Index includes the components of the Composite Index ranked 751 to 2,500 by full market capitalization and that are classified as value based on analysis that accounts for six factors. The six factors are projected price-to-earnings ratio (P/E), projected earnings growth, price-to-book ratio, dividend yield, trailing revenue growth and trailing earnings growth. The Fund uses a passive management strategy designed to track the total return performance of the float-adjusted Index.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Tom Lydon]

  The following ETFs are some of the top-ranked small-cap ETFs by Zacks. SPDR S&P 600 Small Cap Value ETF (SLYV) is up 5.8% over the past three months, and up 20.6% in 2013. The financial and industrial sectors are top weightings. Vanguard S&P Small Cap 600 Value ETF (VIOV) is up 6.4% and has gathered 21.5% year-to-date. Similar to SLYV, VIOV is heavy on the financial and industrial sectors.

5 Best Gas Utility Stocks To Invest In Right Now: iShares Transportation Average ETF (IYT)

iShares Dow Jones Transportation Average Index Fund (the Fund) seeks investment results that correspond generally to the price and yield performance of the Dow Jones Transportation Average Index (the Index). The Index measures the performance of the transportation sector of the United States equity market, and includes companies in primary groups, such as airlines, trucking, railroads, air freight, transportation services and industrial services.

The Index is subset of the Dow Jones U.S Total Market Index. The components stocks are weighted based on the price of the component securities, with the highest priced securities generally having higher weighting in the Index. The Index is adjusted to reflect changes in capitalization resulting from mergers, acquisitions, stock rights, substitutions and other capital events. The Fund invests in a representative sample of securities included in the Index that collectively has an investment profile similar to the Index. The Fund�� investment advisor is Barclays Global Fund Advisors.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Mark Thomas]

  I focus more on fundamentals to select the stocks that I trade and suggest on my site. However, I can't ignore technical analysis, and this week there were some very important things that appeared on some very long-term charts. With the S+P 500 (SPY) breaking above 1576 and the Dow Jones industrials (DIA) and the Transportation index (IYT) confirming the move to new all-time highs, the thirteen year secular bear market in stocks is over for now-- and based on history, will be probably for quite a while like for two or three more years.

5 Best Gas Utility Stocks To Invest In Right Now: MS Structured Asset Corp Saturns GE Cap Corp Series 2002-14 (MKS)

MKS Instruments, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, provides instruments, subsystems, and process control solutions that measure, control, power, monitor, and analyze parameters of manufacturing processes worldwide. It offers instruments and control systems, such as pressure measurement and control, materials delivery, gas composition analysis, and control and information technology products. The company also provides power and reactive gas products comprising power delivery, reactive gas generation, processing thin films, and equipment cleaning products; and vacuum products, including vacuum containment components, vacuum gauges, vacuum valves, effluent management subsystems and custom stainless steel chambers, vessels, and pharmaceutical process equipment hardware and housings. Its products are used in the semiconductor processing steps, such as depositing thin films of material onto silicon wafer substrates, and etching and cleaning circuit patterns; manufacture of f lat panel displays, light emitting diodes, solar cells, data storage media, and other coatings, including architectural glass; energy generation and environmental monitoring processes, such as nuclear fuel processing, fuel cell research, greenhouse gas monitoring, and chemical agent detection; medical instrument sterilization; consumable medical supply manufacturing; and pharmaceutical applications. In addition, the company offers maintenance and repair, software maintenance, installation, and training services. It serves semiconductor capital equipment and device manufacturers, thin film capital equipment manufacturers, energy generation, environmental monitoring, and manufacturing companies, as well as government, universities, and industrial research laboratories. The company sells its products primarily through its direct sales force, as well as through sales representatives and agents. MKS Instruments, Inc. was founded in 1961 and is headquartered in Andover, Massachuse tts.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Jonathan Morgan]

  Marks & Spencer Group Plc (MKS), the U.K.�� largest clothing retailer, advanced 4.5 percent to 509 pence after reporting the smallest decline in general-merchandise sales in more than two years. Sales at stores open at least a year fell 1.3 percent in the quarter ended Sept. 28, M&S said. That beat the median estimate of 17 analysts for a 1.5 percent drop.

5 Best Gas Utility Stocks To Invest In Right Now: Exone Co (XONE)

The ExOne Company, incorporated on December 21, 2012, is engaged in manufacturing and selling three-dimensional (3D) printing machines and printing products to specification for its customers using its in-house 3D printing machines. The Company provides 3D printing machines, 3D printed products and related services to industrial customers in the aerospace, automotive, heavy equipment, energy/oil/gas and other industries. It offers pre-production collaboration and print products for customers through its production service centers (PSCs), which are located in the United States, Germany and Japan. On January 1, 2013, the Company merged its predecessor company, The Ex One Company, LLC, with and into EXO Acquisitions Inc., which changed its name to The ExOne Company.

The Company produces an array of materialization systems to support a range of customer needs and facility requirements. It offers two printers on the world market for 3D printing of sand and metal materials, offering build sizes as large as 1800 x 1000 x 700 mm (70 x 39 x 27 in.) for sand and 780 x 400 x 400 mm (30.7 x 15.75 x 15.75 in.) for metal. It also offers Orion short pulse laser systems, utilizing a five-axis machine tool with four additional axes available on the trepanning head. The Company builds 3D printing machines at its facilities in the United States and Germany. The Company also supplies the associated products, including consumables and replacement parts, and services, including training and technical support, necessary for purchasers of its machines to print products. The Company�� 3D printing machines are able to manufacture casting molds and cores from specialty silica sand and ceramics, which are the traditional materials for these casting products.

The Company competes with 3D Systems Corporation, Stratasys Inc., Solidscape, Inc. and Objet Ltd., EOS Optronics GmbH, EnvisionTEC GmbH, and Solid Model Ltd.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Sean Williams]

  What: Shares of 3-D printing and services company ExOne (NASDAQ: XONE  ) soared as much as 15% after its CEO Kent Rockwell announced that his company was targeting gross margins of 50% within three years, according to a Reuters report.