5 Best Railroad Stocks To Invest In 2014

Next Tuesday, Norfolk Southern (NYSE: NSC  ) 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.

As a major railroad company, Norfolk Southern gained a substantial amount of business when high fuel prices made rail transportation a more energy-efficient choice for moving goods than alternatives. With a substantial amount of its business coming from coal-mining customers, though, weak coal prices have led to lower shipping volumes for the railroad. Let's take an early look at what's been happening with Norfolk Southern over the past quarter and what we're likely to see in its report.

Stats on Norfolk Southern

Analyst EPS Estimate

$1.17

Best High Tech Stocks To Watch For 2015: Plains All American Pipeline L.P.(PAA)

Plains All American Pipeline, L.P., through its subsidiaries, engages in the transportation, storage, terminalling, and marketing of crude oil, refined products, and liquid petroleum gas (LPG) products in the United States and Canada. The company operates in three segments: Transportation, Facilities, and Supply and Logistics. The Transportation segment transports crude oil and refined products on pipelines, gathering systems, trucks, and barges. As of December 31, 2011, this segment owned and leased 16,000 miles of active crude oil and refined products pipelines and gathering systems; 23 million barrels of above-ground tank capacity used primarily to facilitate pipeline throughput; 67 trucks and 382 trailers; and 82 transport and storage barges, and 44 transport tugs. The Facilities segment provides storage, terminalling, and throughput services for crude oil, refined products, and LPG and natural gas, as well as offers LPG fractionation and isomerization, and natural gas processing services. The Supply and Logistics segment purchases crude oil at the wellhead, and pipeline and terminal facilities; waterborne cargoes at their load port and various other locations in transit; and LPG from producers, refiners, and other marketers. This segment also resells or exchanges crude oil and LPG; and transports oil and LPG on trucks, barges, railcars, pipelines, and ocean-going vessels to various delivery points. It has 622 trucks and 731 trailers, and 2,453 railcars. The company also owns and operates natural gas storage facilities. Plains All American Pipeline, L.P. was founded in 1998 and is headquartered in Houston, Texas.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Dan Caplinger]

  Still, Enerplus faces several challenges. In the Bakken, EOG Resources (NYSE: EOG  ) still has a huge cost advantage over Enerplus in terms of well costs, spending a third less on its Bakken wells than Enerplus. In addition, although Enbridge (NYSE: ENB  ) and Plains All American (NYSE: PAA  ) have helped increase the availability of rail transport to help get energy products out of the region, the additional costs involved still keep Enerplus from realizing the full value of its oil and gas.

• [By Jon C. Ogg]

  Plains All American Inc. (NYSE: PAA) was raised to Outperform from Neutral with a $64 price target at Credit Suisse.

  Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. (NYSE: RCL) was maintained Buy and its target was raised by $2 to $46 at Argus.

• [By Aimee Duffy]

  Distributions are incredibly important to master limited partnerships -- they are the reason many investors buy in, and ultimately what drive the market performance for this asset class. As news of distribution increases trickle in for the third quarter, Fool.com contributor Aimee Duffy takes a look at the payouts from Genesis Energy (NYSE: GEL  ) , Plains All American Pipeline (NYSE: PAA  ) , and Memorial Production Partners (NASDAQ: MEMP  ) , as all three MLPs are leading the way with the biggest distribution increases.

• [By Robert Rapier]

  But much of this newfound oil and gas production is taking place in regions that haven�� been traditional producers of oil and gas. This has created strong demand for midstream providers to build the gathering systems, pipelines and storage tanks required to move oil and gas from fields in North Dakota and Pennsylvania to customers on the Gulf Coast and in the Northeast. This profited such midstream MLP giants as�Kinder Morgan Energy Partners�(NYSE: KMP),�Enterprise Products Partners�(NYSE: EPD), and�Plains All American Pipeline�(NYSE: PAA).

5 Best Railroad Stocks To Invest In 2014: Meritage Homes Corp (MTH)

Meritage Homes Corporation, incorporated on May 26 1988, operates as holding company. The Company through its subsidiaries is a designer and builder of single-family detached homes based on the number of home closings. The Company primarily builds in regions of the western and southern United States and offer a variety of homes that are designed to appeal to a range of homebuyers, including first-time, move-up, active adult and luxury. It has operations in three regions: West, Central and East, which consists of seven states: Arizona, California, Nevada, Texas, Colorado, Florida, and the Carolinas. Operations within the Carolinas include the Raleigh and Charlotte metropolitan areas, with some Charlotte communities located across the border into South Carolina. These three regions are its principal business segments. The Company�� homebuilding and marketing activities are conducted under the Meritage Homes brand, except for Arizona and Texas where it operates under the name Monterey Homes. As of December 31, 2012, it was selling homes in 158 communities. Effective September 4, 2013, Meritage Homes Corporation acquired Phillips Builders Inc from Beazer Homes USA Inc.

The Company�� homes range from entry level to luxury. The Company purchases a combination of finished lots and partially-developed or undeveloped lots. As of December 31, 2012, in addition to its approximately 17,500 owned lots, it also had approximately 3,300 committed lots under option or contract. It also participates in three mortgage and one title business joint ventures. The mortgage joint ventures are engaged in mortgage activities, and they provide services to both its customers and other homebuyers. The Company acts as a general contractor.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Paul Ausick]

  Of five stocks we looked at, only one shows a gain over the past 12 months. Meritage Homes Corp. (NYSE: MTH) has a market cap of $1.68 billion and the stock closed at $45.39 last Friday, in a 52-week range of $38.42 to $52.95. The stock is up more than 8% over the past 12 months. The consensus price target is around $50.10, which indicates an implied gain of about 10%, about half the implied gain we saw in December. Meritage has easily beaten EPS in each of the past four quarters. Shares were up nearly about 0.8% at $45.82 on Monday morning. Meritage reports earnings on February 5 and is expected to post EPS of $1.03 on revenues of $537.3 million.

5 Best Railroad Stocks To Invest In 2014: Vail Resorts Inc. (MTN)

Vail Resorts, Inc., through its subsidiaries, operates resorts in the United States. The company operates in three segments: Mountain, Lodging, and Real Estate. The Mountain segment operates eight ski resort properties, including the Vail Mountain, Breckenridge Ski, Keystone, Beaver Creek, Heavenly Mountain, Northstar, Kirkwood Mountain, and Canyons resorts; and two urban ski areas, such as Afton Alps and Mount Brighton Ski areas, as well as provides ancillary services, primarily ski school, dining, and retail/rental operations. Its resorts offer various recreational activities comprising skiing, snowboarding, snowshoeing, snowtubing, sightseeing, mountain biking, guided hiking, children's activities, and other recreational activities, as well as ski and snowboard lessons, equipment rental and retail merchandise services, dining venues, and private club services. This segment also leases its owned and leased commercial space; and provides real estate brokerage services. Th e Lodging segment owns and/or manages a collection of luxury hotels under the RockResorts brand, and other lodging properties; various condominiums located in and around the company�s ski resorts; destination resorts; and golf courses, as well as offers resort ground transportation services. This segment operates approximately 5,100 owned and managed hotel and condominium rooms. The Real Estate segment owns, develops, markets, and sells real estate properties in and around the company�s resort communities. Vail Resorts, Inc. was founded in 1997 and is based in Broomfield, Colorado.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By WWW.DAILYFINANCE.COM]
  Slow but steady -- that seems to be the new mantra here on Wall Street. The Dow Industrials and the S&P 500 plowed further into record territory on Friday. The catalyst for today's advance was the monthly jobs report, which showed the total number of people employed finally topped the 2008 peak it hit just before the Great Recession took hold. The Dow Jones industrial average (^DJI) gained 88 points, the Standard & Poor's 500 index (^GPSC) rose 9, and the Nasdaq composite (^IXIC) gained 25 points. Financial stocks helped lead the advance. Goldman Sachs (GS) and American Express (AXP) both gained more than 2 percent. Bank of America (BAC) rose 1 percent on reports that it's in talks with the Justice Department to settle another set of probes into the bank's handling of mortgages leading up to and during the financial crisis. News reports say the company could pay more than $12 billion, which is more than it earned in all of 2013. But this could allow Bank of America to finally put this long-running problem behind it. Its stock has been virtually flat over the past 6 months. Amazon (AMZN) posted a strong gain for second straight day, rising 2 percent, on indications that it's about to enter the smartphone business. And Sears (SHLD) gained nearly 2 percent on a Reuters report that the company's chairman has held talks with outgoing Ford (F) CEO Alan Mulally, sparking rumors that he might head the retailer's turnaround effort. Elsewhere, Hertz (HRZ) drove into a ditch, sliding 9 percent after saying it will restate earnings from 2011 through 2013 because of accounting issues. Diamond Foods (DMND) fell 11 percent. Its quarterly loss widened, due to higher wholesale prices for nuts. But Vail Resorts (MTN), Men's Wearhouse (MW), and VeriFone (PAY) all gained after beating expectations. Vail was up 6 percent; Men's Wearhouse rose 5½ percent; and VeriFone jumped 9 percent. Demand for its merchant payment systems has been helped by growing con
• [By Monica Gerson]

  Vail Resorts (NYSE: MTN) is projected to post a Q4 loss at $1.71 per share on revenue of $117.82 million.

  Natuzzi SpA (NYSE: NTZ) is estimated to post its Q2 earnings.

5 Best Railroad Stocks To Invest In 2014: Nature's Sunshine Products Inc.(NATR)

Nature?s Sunshine Products, Inc., a natural health and wellness company, together with its subsidiaries, primarily engages in the manufacture and direct sale of nutritional and personal care products worldwide. The company offers herbal products in the form of capsules or tablets; and single herbs and herb combinations in the form of liquid herbs and extracts under ALJ, Cardio Assurance, Blood Pressurex, LBS II, CleanStart, Mistica, Liquid Chlorophyll, Noni Plus, and Core Greens brands. It also provides vitamins and mineral supplements, including a line containing natural antioxidants in the form of chewable or non-chewable tablets under EverFlex, Super Supplemental, Vitamin B Complex, Probiotic Eleven, Food Enzyme, ProArgi-9 Plus, SyneMax, and Vitazone brands; and personal care products, such as oils and lotions, aloe vera gels, herbal shampoos, herbal skin treatments, toothpastes, and skin cleansers under Tei-Fu, Pau-D Arco, EverFlex, Pro-G Yam, Hydrating Toner, 5 in 1 Shampoo, Repair Complex, and Bright Renewal Serum brands. In addition, the company offers various other products, such as homeopathic products, powders, sales aids, and other miscellaneous products under Lavender Oil, Tei-Fu Oil, Peppermint Oil, Flower Essences, and Massage Oil brands. It sells its products to a sales force of independent distributors and managers, who use the products themselves or resell them to other independent distributors or consumers. Nature?s Sunshine Products, Inc. was founded in 1972 and is based in Provo, Utah.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Garrett Cook]

  In trading on Monday, non-cyclical consumer goods & services shares dropped by just 0.33 percent. Top gainers in the sector included The Clorox Company (NYSE: CLX), up 6.9 percent, and Nature's Sunshine Products (NASDAQ: NATR), up 5.3 percent.

• [By Rick Aristotle Munarriz]

  Alamy You can never know in advance all the news that will move the market in a given week, but some things you can see coming. From a direct marketer of wellness supplements stepping up with healthy financials (we hope) to Olive Garden's parent checking in with a report on the dreary state of casual dining, here are some of the things that will help shape the week that lies ahead on Wall Street. Monday -- Human Nature Nature's Sunshine Products (NATR) distributes natural wellness products through its growing direct sales force of more than 340,000 reps worldwide, and it also happens to be kicking off the new trading week with its latest financials. Analysts expect to see healthy bottom-line growth in Monday morning's quarterly report. They predict a profit of $0.35 a share, well ahead of the $0.28 a share it rang up a year earlier. The rub is that Nature's Sunshine has come up short against Wall Street profit targets in three of the past four quarters. Tuesday -- Photoshop These Financials Adobe Systems (ADBE) reports on Tuesday. The desktop publishing software giant behind Photoshop, Flash, and PDF authoring platform Acrobat has seen better days. The market's bracing for a dip in revenue and profitability in its latest quarter. That probably isn't much of a surprise. There are now free or nearly free Web-based alternatives to many of Adobe's products. The alternatives may not have as many features, but they're more than enough for casual users. Adobe is going to need new products to get back on the growth track. Wednesday -- New Home Sales Brewing One of the economy's biggest turnaround stories is the residential real estate revival. Folks are buying houses again and they're willing to pay more for them, which is making developers a lot of money. After all, their component costs aren't rising at the same clip as home prices. We'll get a great snapshot of the industry this week. KB Home (KBH) reports on Wednesday, and Lennar (LEN) follows a day lat