Top Logistics Stocks To Invest In 2014

On Friday, the U.S. Department of Defense announced it has awarded Lockheed Martin (NYSE: LMT  ) a pair of new contract "modifications" worth nearly $90 million in total.

The larger of the two awards ups Lockheed's contract for 2013 Contractor Logistics Support, Legacy Sustainment, and Combined Task Force Support by $75.2 million, resulting in a cumulative contract value of $181.1 million. Lockheed will be working on the Space Based Infrared System (SBIRS) Survivable Endurable Evolution, Increment 1, implementing "permanent sustainment modifications" to the system's Mobile Ground System. The aim here is to enable ground systems to process Defense Support Program and SBIRS geosynchronous orbit satellites mission data, and to also issue "limited contingency" commands to the satellites, when needed. Lockheed's work on the contract will continue through January 31, 2017.

The smaller award, to Lockheed's Integrated Systems unit, is worth $14.4 million, and extends Lockheed's logistics support for Iraq's C-130E Hercules transport aircraft for a fourth option year, through June 30, 2014. Total contract value on this one is now up to $61.6 million.

Hot Airline Companies To Buy Right Now: Nordson Corporation(NDSN)

Nordson Corporation manufactures equipment used for precision dispensing, testing and inspection, and surface preparation and curing. Its Adhesive Dispensing Systems segment manufactures equipment for applying adhesives, lotions, and liquids to disposable products; automated adhesive dispensing systems for the food and beverage, and packaged goods industries; hot melt and cold glue adhesive dispensing systems for the paper and paperboard converting industries; adhesive and sealant dispensing systems for bonding or sealing plastic, metal, and wood products; and laminating and coating systems to manufacture continuous-roll goods in the nonwovens, textile, paper, and flexible-packaging industries. The company?s Advanced Technology Systems segment comprises automated gas plasma treatment systems used to clean and condition surfaces for the semiconductor, medical, and printed circuit board industries; controlled manual and automated systems for applying materials in customer pr ocesses requiring precision and material conservation; ultraviolet equipment used in curing and drying operations for specialty coatings, semiconductor materials, and paints; and bond testing and automated optical and x-ray inspection systems used in the semiconductor and printed circuit board industries. Its Industrial Coating Systems segment provides automated and manual dispensing systems used for applying coatings, paint, finishes, sealants, and other materials. Nordson Corporation markets its products in the United States and internationally through a direct sales force, as well as through qualified distributors and sales representatives. It serves various markets, including the appliance, automotive, bookbinding, container, converting, electronics, food and beverage, furniture, life sciences and medical, metal finishing, non woven, packaging, and semiconductor industries. The company was founded in 1935 and is headquartered in Westlake, Ohio.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Lauren Pollock]

  Nordson Corp.'s(NDSN) fiscal fourth-quarter earnings fell 12% on weaker demand, though the maker of dispensing equipment noted improvement in recent order trends.

• [By Travis Hoium]

  What: Shares of industrial product manufacturer Nordson (NASDAQ: NDSN  ) dropped as much as 10% today after the company reported fiscal second-quarter earnings.

Top Logistics Stocks To Invest In 2014: American Equity Investment Life Holding Company (AEL)

American Equity Investment Life Holding Company, through its subsidiaries, operates in the insurance business in 50 states and the District of Columbia. The company underwrites fixed annuities, including fixed index annuities and fixed rate annuities, as well as single premium immediate annuities. It also offers life insurance products comprising traditional ordinary and term, universal life, and other interest-sensitive life insurance products. The company markets its products through a brokerage distribution network of approximately 60 national marketing organizations and approximately 24,000 independent agents. American Equity Investment Life Holding Company was founded in 1995 and is based in West Des Moines, Iowa.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By U.S. News]

  In at least one Texas bank and one Ohio credit union, 3D video banking is currently undergoing testing, according to TheFinancialBrand.com, a website for bank and credit union marketing executives. Three-dimensional video banking is similar to a consumer video conference with a bank representative –- only in this case, the executive looks like a living, breathing person sitting across from you. Thanks to theater surround sound, the representative also sounds as if they're in the same room. And since the consumer is interacting with a real person and not an automated hologram, the experience apparently isn't much different than the real thing. Banking and managing money isn't what it used to be. The 1970s and 1980s brought us the rise of the ATM. Consumers became acquainted with online banking during the 1990s and the first decade of the 2000s. The 2010s are shaping up as the era of mobile banking. That was underscored Sept. 10-11 in New York City when Mitek Systems Inc. (MITK), a San Diego-based technology company, debuted its Mobile Photo Account Opening product at Finovate, a trade show where banking tech products are often unveiled. The product allows consumers to open a bank account within 60 seconds. If you have your bank's app, you can use your smartphone's camera to take a photo of the front and back of your driver's license, and presto, your new checking, savings or credit card account is open. Here's a look at other financial products and services personal financial experts think we'll be using in the future. Within 10 years. "The economic payments system will begin to 'know us,' either through biometrics, optical sensor or facial recognition," says Joshua Siegel, managing principal of StoneCastle Partners, a New York-based asset management firm that invests in banks. That's already happening to some extent with smartphones –- the new Apple (AAPL) iPhone 5S, for example, uses fingerprint scanning to unlock the phone. Meanwhile, some fi

• [By CRWE]

  American Equity Investment Life Holding Company (NYSE:AEL), a leading underwriter of index and fixed rate annuities, reported that Wendy C. Waugaman, Chief Executive Officer and President, will take a medical leave of absence, effective immediately. She will remain on American Equity�� Board of Directors and will participate in certain management and strategic discussions as her health permits.

• [By Louis Navellier]

  American Equity Life (AEL) specializes in fixed-rate and index annuities, and business has been booming as cautious investors and savers look for places to put their money. The company has posted four consecutive positive earnings surprises, causing analysts to raise their estimates for 2014 in the past few months. The shares are still cheap when viewed thought the lenses of the P/E ratio, but more importantly, AEL has the type of solid fundamentals and investor demand that signify a potential winning stock. Shares of American Equity were upgraded to an ����grade back in August, and AEL remains a ��trong buy.��/p>

Top Logistics Stocks To Invest In 2014: Astec Industries Inc.(ASTE)

Astec Industries, Inc. engages in the design, engineering, manufacture, and marketing of equipment and components for road building, utility, and related construction activities worldwide. The company?s Asphalt Group segment offers hot-mix asphalt plants, concrete mixing plants, and related components; heating and heat transfer processing equipment; and thermal fluid storage tanks for asphalt paving and other non-related industries. Its Aggregate and Mining Group segment provides jaw, cone, and impact crushers; vibrating feeders; inclined and horizontal screens; various crushing plants; digital crusher controllers; aggregate and ore processing equipment; mobile screening plants; screen structures; vibrating screens; stationary rockbreaker systems; articulated production and utility vehicles; hydraulic breakers; compactors; demolition attachments; and bulk material handling and minerals processing equipment primarily for the aggregate, metallic mining, and recycling market s. The company?s Mobile Asphalt Paving Group segment provides asphalt pavers, asphalt material transfer vehicles, milling machines, and asphalt reclaiming and soil stabilizing machinery; asphalt paver screeds; windrow pickup machines; asphalt rollers and screeds primarily for road construction markets; and dirt and asphalt compaction equipment. Its Underground Group segment produces heavy-duty trenchers, compact horizontal directional drills, high pressure diesel powered pump trailers; maxi drills, auger boring machines, and down-hole tooling for these units; and vertical drills, water well drills, oil and gas drilling rigs, material handling trailers, and tools for the oil and gas, geothermal, and water well industries. The company also offers whole-tree pulpwood chippers, biomass chippers, horizontal grinders, and blower trucks. Astec Industries, Inc. sells its products through sales agents, distributors, and dealers. The company was founded in 1972 and is based in Chatta nooga, Tennessee.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By GURUFOCUS]

  
  John Maynard Keyes once opined: ��uccessful Investing is anticipating the anticipation of others.��That notion applies in spades when it comes to theme investing. Typically, a stock moves upwards long before its improvement in earnings comes to fruition. Warren Buffett colorfully observed: ��f you wait for the robins, spring will be over.��Should an investor wait for an earnings confirmation to validate his/her theory, then the time to invest will have already passed. I will end today�� discussion by profiling two successful investments I made in high quality cyclical companies during the period of the mid-2000s. The companies are: Maverick Tube (formerly MVK) and Astec (ASTE).

• [By James E. Brumley]

  What do Prospect Capital Corporation (NASDAQ:PSEC), Astec Industries, Inc. (NASDAQ:ASTE), and First Financial Corp. (NASDAQ:THFF) have in common? Not much, on the surface. In fact, were it not for something very specific to one particular person (me), they'd have nothing in common at all. This week though, THFF, ASTE, and PSEC all have at least one thing in common, and that's the fact that they're all going into my mental/hypothetical portfolio.

Top Logistics Stocks To Invest In 2014: Star Gas Partners L.P.(SGU)

Star Gas Partners, L.P., through its subsidiaries, operates as a home heating oil distributor and services provider in the United States. It provides its services to residential and commercial customers to heat their homes and buildings. As of March 31, 2011, the company served approximately 408,000 full-service residential and commercial home heating oil, and propane customers. It also sold home heating oil, gasoline, and diesel fuel to approximately 40,000 customers. In addition, Star Gas Partners installed, maintained, and repaired heating and air conditioning equipment, as well as provided ancillary home services, including home security and plumbing to approximately 11,000 customers. Kestrel Heat, LLC operates as the general partner of the company. Star Gas Partners, L.P. was founded in 1995 and is headquartered in Stamford, Connecticut.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Rich Smith]

  Stamford, Conn.-based Star Gas Partners (NYSE: SGU  ) is about to get a new CEO.

  The company (which, despite the name, actually spends more time delivering oil than gas for home heating), announced Tuesday that Chief Executive Officer Dan Donovan intends to retire on Sept. 30. When that happens, Chief Operating Officer Steve Goldman will move up to take the CEO's chair.

Top Logistics Stocks To Invest In 2014: Gentium SpA(GENT)

Gentium S.p.A., a biopharmaceutical company, focuses on the development and manufacture of its primary product candidate, defibrotide, an investigational drug based on a mixture of single-stranded and double-stranded DNA extracted from pig intestines. It develops defibrotide for the treatment and prevention of hepatic veno-occlusive disease (VOD), a condition that occurs when veins in the liver are blocked as a result of cancer treatments, such as chemotherapy or radiation, that are administered prior to stem cell transplantation. The company has completed a Phase III clinical trial of defibrotide for the treatment of severe VOD in the United States, Canada, and Israel; and a Phase II/III pediatric trial in Europe for the prevention of VOD. It also offers sulglicotide that is developed from swine duodenum, and has ulcer healing and gastrointestinal protective properties in South Korea; and urokinase, which is made from human urine to treat various vascular disorders, such as deep vein thrombosis and pulmonary embolisms. The company was formerly known as Pharma Research S.r.L. and changed its name to Gentium S.p.A. in July 2001. Gentium S.p.A. was founded in 1993 and is headquartered in Villa Guardia, Italy.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Sean Williams]

  A parabolic problem
  It has also been a year to remember for shareholders of biopharmaceutical company Gentium (NASDAQ: GENT  ) whose share price has catapulted approximately 600% off its lows thanks to growth in its lead drug Defibrotide (known as Defitelio in the European Union).

• [By Jake L'Ecuyer]

  Shares of Jazz Pharmaceuticals Public Limited Company (NASDAQ: JAZZ) got a boost, shooting up 7.77 percent to $123.65 after the company announced its plans to buy Gentium SpA (NASDAQ: GENT) for around $1 billion.

• [By James Oberweis]

  Gentium Spa (GENT) is focused on the development and commercialization of its leading product, defibrotide, to treat certain complications arising from chemotherapy, and bone marrow and stem cell transplantation therapy.

Top Logistics Stocks To Invest In 2014: The Pantry Inc.(PTRY)

The Pantry, Inc. operates a chain of convenience stores in the southeastern United States. The company?s stores offer a selection of merchandise, fuel, and ancillary products and services. Its merchandise products include cigarettes, grocery and other tobacco products, packaged beverages, beer, and wine. The company operates stores under various selected banners, which primarily include Kangaroo Express. As of September 29, 2011, it operated 1,649 convenience stores located in Florida, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Tennessee, Mississippi, Virginia, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Indiana, and Missouri; and 233 quick service restaurants. The company was founded in 1967 and is headquartered in Cary, North Carolina.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Geoff Gannon]

  For one thing, I can�� tell a great oil company from a not so great oil company. I can�� evaluate the company�� culture, management, etc. There was no way I was ever going to answer questions like that. But I can easily split Murphy�� U.S. retail business from its other operations. And I can compare that part of the company to other public companies like Pantry (PTRY) and Susser (SUSS). I can also ��this is much harder ��look at Murphy�� reserves and compare them to other oil companies��reserves. The SEC now requires a standardized way of reporting discounted net cash flows for all oil companies. So, there�� certainly a specific number available for every company. Whether it�� a very good number or not depends on the assumptions the method uses.

• [By Sean Williams]

  Much of the same can be said about The Pantry (NASDAQ: PTRY  ) , a predominantly Southeastern U.S. convenience store chain that operates under the Kangaroo Express name. Food inflation has been minimal, the weather hasn't been as cooperative, and consumer traffic fell 4.6% in its most recent quarter. But where other investors see weakness, I see an opportunity.

• [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 Pantry (Nasdaq: PTRY  ) , whose recent revenue and earnings are plotted below.

• [By Jeremy Bowman]

  What: Shares of The Pantry (NASDAQ: PTRY  ) were down as much as 15% today after the convenience-store chain posted a second-quarter loss and missed Wall Street estimates.

Top Logistics Stocks To Invest In 2014: Mack-Cali Realty Corporation (CLI)

Mack-Cali Realty Corporation is a real estate investment trust (REIT). It engages in the leasing, management, acquisition, development, and construction of commercial real estate properties in the United States. The firm invests in the real estate markets of the United States primarily in the northeastern United States, as well as in the District of Columbia. It primarily invests in office and office/flex buildings, totaling approximately 30.0 million square feet, and developable land. The firm�s properties also include industrial/warehouse buildings, retail properties, a hotel, and parcels of land leased. Mack-Cali Realty was incorporated in 1994 and is based in Cranford, New Jersey.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Lisa Levin]

  Mack-Cali Realty (NYSE: CLI) shares moved up 4.90% to $19.50. The volume of Mack-Cali Realty traded was 998% higher than normal. Mack-Cali announced that CEO Mitchell E. Hersh will step sown.