Hot Electric Utility Stocks To Buy For 2014

JPMorgan (JPM), once the Derek Jeter of U.S. banking, is trading more like its Andy Stankiewicz.

AFP/Getty Images

During the past 12 months, JPMorgan’s stock has gained just 19%, closer to Citigroup’s (C) 13% rise than to Bank of America’s (BAC) 38% advance or Wells Fargo’s (WFC) 31% gain.

Morgan Stanley’s Betsy Graseck and Michael Cyprys, however, are strangely bullish on JPMorgan’s shares and recommend investors scoop them up ahead of the banking giant’s Investor Day on February 25. They explain why:

[JPMorgan]�is the cheapest money center bank under our coverage at just 8.5x 2015 P/E. This is surprising given�[JPMorgan's] higher ROE vs peers. We expect [JPMorgan's] multiple to expand as it drives up its ROE from 9.0% in 2013 to 11.3% in 2015e. EPS estimates are more likely to move up than down post investor day, in our view, given the likely day-long theme of efficiency and market share opportunities.

Top 5 Paper Companies To Buy Right Now: Spdr S&P Pharmaceuticals Etf (XPH)

SPDR S&P Pharmaceuticals Exchange Traded Fund (The Fund) seeks to replicate as closely as possible, before expenses, the performance of an index derived from the pharmaceuticals segment of a United States total market composite index. The Fund uses a passive management strategy designed to track the total return performance of the S&P Pharmaceuticals Select Industry Index (the Pharmaceuticals Index).

The Pharmaceuticals Index represents the pharmaceuticals sub-industry portion of the S&P TMI. The S&P TMI tracks all the United States common stocks listed on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), American Stock Exchange (AMEX), National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotation (NASDAQ) National Market and NASDAQ Small Cap exchanges.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Selena Maranjian]

  Exchange-traded funds offer a convenient way to invest in sectors or niches that interest you. If you'd like to add some pharmaceutical stocks to your portfolio, the SPDR S&P Pharmaceuticals ETF (NYSEMKT: XPH  ) could save you a lot of trouble. Instead of trying to figure out which companies will perform best, you can use this ETF to invest in lots of them simultaneously.
  
  The basics
  ETFs often sport lower expense ratios than their mutual fund cousins. The SPDR ETF's expense ratio -- its annual fee -- is a relatively low 0.35%.
  
  This ETF has trounced the world markets over the past three and five years. As with most investments, of course, we can't expect outstanding performances in every quarter or year. Investors with conviction need to wait for their holdings to deliver.

Hot Electric Utility Stocks To Buy For 2014: Baoye Group Co Ltd (BKG)

Baoye Group Company Limited is engaged in the provision of construction service, manufacture and distribution of building materials and development and sale of properties. The Company three segments: construction, which includes provision of construction services; property development, which includes development and sale of properties, and building materials, which includes manufacture and distribution of building materials. Its subsidiaries include Zhejiang Baoye Construction Group Co., Ltd., Zhejiang Baoye Curtain Wall Decoration Co., Ltd., Zhejiang Baoye Infrastructure Construction Co., Ltd., Zhejiang Guangyi Construction and Decoration Co., Ltd., Zhejiang Baoye Real Estate Group Co., Ltd., Shaoxing Baoye Four Seasons Garden Real Estate Co., Ltd., Zhejiang Baoye Building Materials Industrialisation Co., Ltd., Zhejiang Baoye Steel Structure Co., Ltd. and others. During the year ended 31 December 2011, the Company acquired three parcels of new land in Wuhan, Shanghai, and Henan. Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Inyoung Hwang]

  Berkeley Group Holdings Plc (BKG) surged 8.3 percent after saying first-half profit rose 22 percent. London Stock Exchange Group Plc (LSE) climbed 2.4 percent after Bank of America Corp.�� Merrill Lynch unit recommended buying the stock. Givaudan SA (GIVN) lost 1.3 percent after Nestle SA said it will sell $1.27 billion of shares in the world�� largest flavorings maker.

Hot Electric Utility Stocks To Buy For 2014: Kayne Anderson MLP Investment Co (KYN)

Kayne Anderson MLP Investment Company, incorporated on June 4, 2004, is a non-diversified, closed-end investment company. The Company�� investment objective is to obtain a high after-tax total return by investing at least 85% of its total assets plus any borrowings in energy-related master limited partnerships (MLPs) and their affiliates, and in other companies that, as their principal business, operate assets used in the gathering, transporting, processing, storing, refining, distributing, mining or marketing of natural gas, natural gas liquids, crude oil, refined petroleum products or coal (collectively with MLPs referred to as Midstream Energy Companies). The Company�� portfolio investments principally consist of equity securities issued by MLPs.

Kayne Anderson MLP Investment Company may invest up to 15% of its total assets in any single issuer. It may invest up to 20% of its total assets in debt securities, which may include below investment-grade securities. The Company�� portfolio includes investments in pipeline MLPs, propane MLPs, shipping MLPs, coal MLPs and upstream MLPs. The Company�� investment advisor is Kayne Anderson Capital Advisors, L.P.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Jon C. Ogg]

  The ETFs and funds held up on Monday:

  JPMorgan Alerian MLP Index ETN (NYSEArca: AMJ) was down only 0.3% at $46.86, versus a 52-week range of $42.18 to $49.31. Volume was 1.1 million shares versus an average of about 628,000. ALPS Alerian MLP ETF (NYSEArca: AMLP) closed down 0.45 at $17.57, versus a 52-week range of $16.75 to $18.36. This ETF traded more than 3.1 million shares, up from an average of about 2.85 million shares. The closed-end fund of Kayne Anderson MLP Investment Company (NYSE: KYN) even managed to rise by 0.26% to $38.70 against a 52-week range of $33.11 to $40.22. Its volume was also almost 300,000 shares versus an average volume of closer to 218,000 shares.

  It still seems more than interesting that the investment community did not pound the rest of the sector in sympathy with Boardwalk. This Boardwalk MLP still has a $3.1 billion market cap, even after getting cut almost in half. Usually investors try to tie in peers when one implosion is seen versus others. It seems as though they are trusting that negative natural gas exposure here is not going to spill over into the rest of the sector, and maybe not even spill over into the price of units in its more direct peers.

Hot Electric Utility Stocks To Buy For 2014: Connecticut Water Service Inc. (CTWS)

Connecticut Water Service, Inc., through its subsidiaries, operates as a regulated water company in Connecticut. It operates in three segments: Water Activities, Real Estate Transactions, and Services and Rentals. The Water Activities segment supplies drinking water. The Real Estate Transactions segment involves in the sale or donation of its real estate holdings. The Services and Rentals segment provides contracted services to water and wastewater utilities and other clients, which include contract operations of water and wastewater facilities; Linebacker, an optional service line protection program that comprises repairing or replacing leaking or broken water service line, curb box, curb box cover, meter pit, meter pit cover, meter pit valve, and in-home water main shut off valve before the meter; and providing bulk deliveries of emergency drinking water to businesses and residences through tanker trucks. This segment also engages in leasing and renting residential and c ommercial properties. As of December 31, 2009, Connecticut Water Service, Inc. served 88,534 customers in 54 towns in Connecticut. The company was founded in 1956 and is headquartered in Clinton, Connecticut.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By David Dittman]

  Note that water utilities and UF Portfolio Holdings American Water Works Co Inc (NYSE: AWK), Aqua America Inc (NYSE: WTR) and Connecticut Water Service Inc (NSDQ: CTWS) posted 2013 total returns of 16.1 percent, 18.8 percent and 23.1 percent, respectively, underperforming the broader S&P 500 but besting the traditional safe-haven subgroups.

• [By David Dittman]

  Answer: Water utilities have great track records of dividend growth: Aqua America, American Water Works Co Inc (NYSE: AWK) and Connecticut Water Service Inc (NSDQ: CTWS).

• [By David Dittman]

  Answer: Our favorite water utilities–American Water Works, Aqua America Inc (NYSE: WTR), Connecticut Water Service Inc (NSDQ: CTWS)–are solid dividend growers throughout the cycle, and they all have pretty good growth prospects because of the abundance of small-scale municipal water utilities in their footprints.

Hot Electric Utility Stocks To Buy For 2014: Brandenburg Energy Corp (BBM)

Brandenburg Energy Corp. is engaged in the business of acquiring and exploring oil and gas properties. The Company�� properties include Holloman Cooper Basin Joint Venture, VG Mineral Claims, Senn Property, Exploration License No. 0932, Labana Property and African Properties. The Senn Property earns a 100% interest on the Senn Block of mineral claims (the Senn Property) located in the District of Kenora, Ontario, Canada. The Uganda-based East African Gold Sniffing Company Limited (EA Gold) is a holder of Mineral Exploration License No. 0932 (EL 0932) covers about two square kilometers. EL 0932 lies 287 kilometers southwest of the Ugandan capital, Kampala, 29 kilometers north of the city of Kasese, in Kasese province. The Labana Property consists of four oil and gas blocks in the Republic of Niger, which includes Dibeilla 1, Dibeilla 2, Dalo, and Mandaram. Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Muhammad Bazil]

  The value of BlackBerry�� stock was at $7.44 as of yesterday�� (Jan. 1, 2014) close. Although this is still a far cry from its 52-week peak of $18.32, it does represent a month-long recovery coming shortly after the launch of its new BlackBerry Messenger (BBM) application for iPhones and Android devices.

Hot Electric Utility Stocks To Buy For 2014: Stellus Capital Investment Corp (SCM)

Stellus Capital Investment Corporation is an externally managed, closed-end, non-diversified management investment company. The Company was formed to originate and invest primarily in private middle-market companies.

The Company is focusing on a variety of industry sectors, including business services, energy, general industrial, government services, healthcare, software and specialty finance. Its investment activities will be managed by its investment adviser, Stellus Capital Management. It intends to originate and invest primarily in private middle-market companies through first lien, second lien, unitranche and mezzanine debt financing.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Investing Caffeine]

  DISCLOSURE: Sidoxia Capital Management (SCM) and some of its clients hold long positions in certain exchange traded funds (ETFs), but at the time of publishing SCM had no direct position in GS, SCHW, ICE, or any other security referenced in this article. No information accessed through the Investing Caffeine (IC) website constitutes investment, financial, legal, tax or other advice nor is to be relied on in making an investment or other decision. Please read disclosure language on IC Contact page.

• [By Investing Caffeine]

  With the stock market reaching all-time record highs (S&P 500: 1900), you would think there would be a lot of cheers, high-fiving, and back slapping. Instead, investors are ignoring the sunny, blue skies and taking off their rose-colored glasses. Rather than securely sleeping like a baby (or relaxing during a three-day weekend) with their investment accounts, people are biting their fingernails with clenched teeth, while searching for a market boogeyman in their closets or under their beds.If you don�� believe me, all you have to do is pick up the paper, turn on the TV, or walk over to the office water cooler. An avalanche of scary headlines that are spooking investors include geopolitical concerns in Ukraine & Thailand, slowing housing statistics, bearish hedge fund managers (i.e., Tepper Einhorn, Cooperman), declining interest rates, and collapsing internet stocks. In other words, investors are looking for things to worry about, despite record corporate profits and stock prices. Peter Lynch, the manager of the Magellan Fund that posted +2,700% in gains from 1977-1990, put short-term stock price volatility into perspective:��ou shouldn�� worry about it. You should worry what are stocks going to be 10 years from now, 20 years from now, 30 years from now.��ather than focusing on immediate stock market volatility and other factors out of your control, why not prioritize your time on things you can control. What investors can control is their asset allocation and spending levels (budget), subject to their personal time horizons and risk tolerances. Circumstances always change, but if people spent half the time on investing that they devoted to planning holiday vacations, purchasing a car, or choosing a school for their child, then retirement would be a lot less stressful. After realizing 99% of all the short-term news is nonsensical noise, the next important realization is stocks are volatile securities, which frequently go down -10 to -20%. As much