Best Transportation Companies To Buy For 2014

Mike Kane/Bloomberg via Getty Images WASHINGTON -- Orders to U.S. factories fell in July by the sharpest amount in four months, held back by weaker demand for commercial aircraft and heavy machinery. A key category that reflects business investment plans also fell. Factory orders dropped 2.4 percent in July compared with June, when orders rose 1.6 percent, the Commerce Department reported Thursday. Orders for core capital goods, a category viewed as a proxy for business investment spending, fell 4 percent in July. Core capital goods are considered a good measure of businesses' confidence in the economy. They include items that point to expansion -- such as machinery, computers and heavy trucks -- while excluding volatile orders for aircraft and defense. The July setback was expected to be temporary. Orders for durable goods, items expected to last at least three years, declined 7.4 percent, a slightly bigger drop than the 7.3 percent fall estimated in a preliminary report last week. It was the biggest decline since a 12.9 percent fall in August 2012. Orders for nondurable goods, items such as chemicals, food and paper, rose 2.4 percent in July after a 0.5 percent decline in June. Excluding the volatile transportation category, factory goods orders were up 1.2 percent. The big drop in core capital goods orders suggests the third quarter is off to a weaker start than some had hoped. While economists cautioned that it's just one month of data, a few lowered their growth estimates for the July-September quarter after seeing the durable goods report. Some believe that growth may only come in around 1.9 percent for the current quarter, a drop from previous estimates of 2.5 percent growth. Overall manufacturing has slumped this year, hurt by weakness overseas that has dragged on U.S. exports. But there have been signs that factory activity could pick up in the second half of the year. But the Institute for Supply Management reported Tuesday that its closely watched gauge of manufacturing activity rose in August to a reading of 55.7, up from 55.4 in July. That was the highest level since June 2011 and offered encouragement that manufacturing may be starting to pull out of its slowdown. The economy expanded at an annual rate of 2.5 percent in the April-June quarter.

Top Growth Companies To Own For 2015: Canadian Pacific Railway Limited(CP)

Canadian Pacific Railway Limited, through its subsidiaries, operates as a transcontinental railway providing freight transportation services, logistics solutions, and supply chain expertise in Canada and the United States. It transports bulk commodities, including grain, coal, sulphur, and fertilizers; merchandise freight; finished vehicles and automotive parts; forest products, which include wood pulp, paper, paperboard, newsprint, lumber, panel, and oriented strand board; and industrial and consumer products comprising chemicals, energy, and plastics, as well as mine, metals, and aggregates. The company provides rail and intermodal transportation services over a network of approximately 14,700 miles serving the principal business centers of Canada, from Montreal to Vancouver, British Columbia; and the Midwest and Northeast regions of the United States. Canadian Pacific Railway Limited was founded in 1881 and is headquartered in Calgary, Canada.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Vanina Egea]

  Conditions for railroad operations in the U.S. do not look as good as on the other side of the Great Lakes. While Canadian National (CNI) and Canadian Pacific (CP) have wrestled with a greater demand and adverse environmental conditions ���onditions that have sparked a heated debate at Congress ���.S. railroad operators lack the necessary demand to be noticed by the market.

• [By Vanina Egea]

  Canada is being home to one of the hottest transport debates seen in the last decade. Surprisingly enough it is far from legislating over auto pilots, bio fuels or frisking. The focus of Bill C-30, according to the Calgary Herald, is ��ederal legislation aimed at getting more grain moving on the rails.��Canadian Pacific (CP)�� chief operating officer Keith Creel told a House of Commons committee, however, that he had a great concern over the bill�� real effect. Company representatives argue that giving shippers the ability to transfer traffic to alternate railways may indeed slow down the grain supply chain due to increased handlings.

Best Transportation Companies To Buy For 2014: Western Refining Logistics LP (WNRL)

Western Refining Logistics, LP, incorporated on July 17, 2013, owns, operates, develops, and acquires terminals, storage tanks, pipelines, and other logistics assets. As of December 31, 2012, the Company�� assets includes pipeline and gathering assets and terminalling, transportation, and storage assets in the Southwestern portion of the United States, which included approximately 300 miles of pipelines and approximately 7.9 million barrels of active storage capacity, as well as other assets. The Company's assets are integral to the operations of Western�� refineries located in El Paso, Texas, and near Gallup, New Mexico.

As of December 31, 2012, the Company owns and operates two refineries, in El Paso, Texas and Gallup, New Mexico, with a total crude oil throughput capacity of 153,000 barrels per day (bpd). The Company does not take ownership of the hydrocarbons or products (other than certain additives) that it handles or engages in the trading of any commodities.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Robert Rapier]

  Western Refining Logistics (NYSE: WNRL) debuted on Oct. 10. The partnership was formed by Western Refining (NYSE: WNR) to own, operate, develop and acquire terminals, storage tanks, pipelines, and other logistics assets. WNRL’s assets include 300 miles of crude oil pipelines, gathering systems, and 566,000 barrels of crude oil storage located primarily in the Permian Basin. Most of its revenue is expected to be derived from two 10-year, fee-based agreements with Western Refining.

• [By Aimee Duffy]

  It;s been a very robust year for master limited partnership IPOs to say the least. On Thursday, Western Refining (NYSE: WNR  ) successfully spun off its midstream logistics MLP, Western Refining Logistics (NYSE: WNRL  ) . The partnership became the 14th MLP to make its debut this year.

Best Transportation Companies To Buy For 2014: CAI International Inc (CAP)

CAI International, Inc., incorporated on January 30, 2007, is a equipment leasing and management company, operating primarily in the international intermodal marine cargo container leasing business. The Company also owns a fleet of railcars, which it leases in North America. The Company operates in two segments: equipment leasing and equipment management. The equipment leasing segment specializes primarily in the ownership and leasing of intermodal containers, while the equipment management segment manages equipment for third-party investors. The Company leases its equipment principally to international container shipping lines located throughout the world. The Company sells equipment primarily to third-party investor groups and provides management services to those investors in return for a management fee.

The equipment leasing segment derives its revenue primarily from the ownership and leasing of containers to container shipping lines and freight forwarders. The equipment management segment derives its revenue from management fees earned from portfolios of equipment and associated leases which are managed on behalf of third-party investors. As of March 31, 2013, our fleet consisted of 1,091,117 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) of containers and 1,453 railcars.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Joseph Hogue]

  Because of management's missteps, the company is one of the most hated in the space. Investors have borrowed and sold short 2.3 million shares, amounting to almost 11% of the shares available for trading. That compares with short interest of just 3.9% in closest peer CAI International (NYSE: CAP).

• [By Sarah Jones]

  SAP AG (SAP) climbed 1.2 percent to 57.36 euros and Cap Gemini SA (CAP) gained 1.8 percent to 39.95 euros as peer Infosys Ltd. surged the most in six months in Mumbai trading after first-quarter profit rose and the company�� sales forecast in dollar terms beat analyst estimates.

• [By CRWE]

  CAI International, Inc. (NYSE:CAP), a leading lessor of intermodal container, reported that its Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, Timothy Page, is scheduled to present at the Dahlman Rose Global Transportation Conference in New York on Thursday, September 6, 2012 at 12:20 p.m. ET.

Best Transportation Companies To Buy For 2014: Ryanair (RYAAY)

Ryanair Holdings plc (Ryanair Holdings), incorporated in 1996, is a holding company for Ryanair Limited (Ryanair). Ryanair operates a low-cost, scheduled-passenger airline serving short-haul, point-to-point routes between Ireland, the United Kingdom, Continental Europe, and Morocco. As of June 30, 2012, the Company offered approximately over 1,500 scheduled short-haul flights per day serving approximately 160 airports largely throughout Europe with an operating fleet of 294 aircraft flying approximately 1,500 routes. Ryanair sells seats on a one-way basis. The Company also holds a 29.8% interest in Aer Lingus Group plc. As of June 30, 2012, Ryanair�� operating fleet was composed of 294 Boeing 737-800 aircraft, each having 189 seats. Ryanair�� fleet totaled 294 Boeing 737-800s at March 31, 2012. As of June 30, 2012, Ryanair owned and operated four Boeing 737-800 full flight simulators for pilot training. Ryanair provides ancillary services and engages in other activities connected with its core air passenger service, including non-flight scheduled services, Internet-related services, and the in-flight sale of beverages, food, and merchandise. As part of its non-flight scheduled and Internet-related services Ryanair incentivizes ground service providers at airports it serves to levy correct excess baggage charges for any baggage, which exceeds Ryanair�� published baggage allowances. Excess baggage charges are recorded as non-flight scheduled revenue. Ryanair distributes accommodation services and travel insurance through its Website. For hotel services, Ryanair has a contract with Hotelscombined PTY Ltd. (Hotelscombined), which operates a price comparison Website, pursuant to which Hotelscombined handles all aspects of such services marketed through Ryanair�� Website and pays a fee to Ryanair. Ryanair also has contracts with other accommodation providers that enable Ryanair to offer hostel, bed-and-breakfast, guesthouse, villa and apartment accommodation to its customers. In addition Ryanair has a contract with Hertz, pursuant to which Hertz handles all car rental services marketed through Ryanair�� Website or telephone reservation system. Ryanair also sells bus and rail tickets onboard its aircraft and through its Website. Ryanair also sells attractions and activities on its Website. Ryanair sells gift vouchers on its Website, which are also redeemable online. The Company has an contract with Webloyalty International Ltd, which offers Ryanair�� customers who have a United Kingdom, German or French billing address a retail discount and cash-back program. Ryanair has agreements, pursuant to which the Company promotes Ryanair-branded credit cards issued by MBNA, GE Money, Access Prepaid and Banco Santander on its Internet site. The MBNA agreement relates to Irish residents only, the GE Money agreement relates to Swedish and Polish residents only and the Banco Santander agreement relates to United Kingdom residents only. During the fiscal year ended March 31, 2012, Ryanair rolled out handheld Electronic Point of Sale (EPOS) devices across its route network. These EPOS devices replaced manual and paper based systems on board the aircraft. The EPOS device enables cabin crew to sell and record their on-board sales transactions. The EPOS device also issues bus and rail tickets and tickets for tourist attractions. The Company also offers reserved seating in twenty-one extra legroom seats on each aircraft for a fee on certain routes. Ryanair provides its own aircraft and passenger handling and ticketing services at Dublin Airport. Third parties provide these services to Ryanair at other airports it serves. Servisair plc provides Ryanair�� ticketing, passenger and aircraft handling, and ground handling services at airports in Ireland and the United Kingdom(excluding London (Stansted) Airport where these services are provided by Swissport Ltd.), while similar services in continental Europe are provided by the local airport authorities, either directly or through sub-contractors. Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Jake L'Ecuyer]

  Equities Trading UP
  Ryanair Holdings plc (NASDAQ: RYAAY) shares shot up 7.51 percent to $54.81 after the company reported full-year results. Ryanair's net profit for the year ended March 31 slipped to 522.8 million euros ($716 million), versus a year-ago profit of EUR569.3 million.

• [By Monica Gerson]

  Ryanair Holdings plc (NASDAQ: RYAAY) dipped 4.09% to $49.43 in pre-market trading after falling 1.06% on Thursday.

  Posted-In: PreMarket LosersNews Movers & Shakers Pre-Market Outlook Markets

• [By GURUFOCUS]

  In the world of publicly-owned businesses, we try to invest with the same sort of individuals. In our opinion, Michael O'Leary, Ryanair's Chairman and CEO, is one such example of a talented, driven executive. Michael was born on a farm in Ireland, the second oldest of six siblings. Although his beginnings were not remarkable, Michael figured out how to get the best education he could by attending the best schools he could. After attending a Jesuit boarding school as a young boy, he graduated from Trinity College with an accounting degree; began his career working for KPMG, a large public accounting firm; and, soon afterwards, became a financial advisor to Tony Ryan, Ryanair's founder. In 1986, Michael was hired to work for Ryan and initially advised him to close the airline immediately since it was losing so much money! In 1989, when Ryanair (RYAAY) was on the brink of insolvency, Ryan offered Michael the job of Deputy CEO of the airline and in 1994 as its CEO. Michael accepted, on the condition that if he couldn't make it profitable, he would be allowed to shut it down! He also chose to work for a percentage of profits rather than for a salary from the money losing business.

• [By Jon C. Ogg]

  Ryanair Holdings PLC (NASDAQ: RYAAY) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at UBS.

  Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE: VZ) was reiterated as Buy and on the Focus List with a $59 price target at Argus, and it was raised to Outperform at RW Baird.

Best Transportation Companies To Buy For 2014: CSX Corporation (CSX)

CSX Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, provides rail-based transportation services. The company offers traditional rail service, and the transport of intermodal containers and trailers. It transports crushed stone, sand and gravel, metal, phosphate, fertilizer, food, consumer, agricultural, automotive, paper, and chemical products; and utility, industrial, and export coal to electricity-generating power plants, steel manufacturers, industrial plants, and deep-water port facilities. The company also provides intermodal transportation services through a network of approximately 50 terminals transporting manufactured consumer goods in containers in the eastern United States, as well as performs drayage services and trucking dispatch operations. In addition, it operates distribution centers and storage locations; connects non-rail served customers to the benefits of rail by transferring products, such as ethanol and minerals, from rail to trucks; engages in the real estate sale, leasing, acquisition, and management and development activities. CSX Corporation operates approximately 21,000 route mile rail network, which serves various population centers in 23 states east of the Mississippi River, the District of Columbia, and the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Quebec, as well as operates approximately 4,000 locomotives. It also serves production and distribution facilities through track connections to approximately 240 short-line and regional railroads. CSX Corporation was founded in 1978 and is based in Jacksonville, Florida.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Taylor Muckerman, Joel South, and Michael Olsen, CFA]

  Who can benefit from a rise in natural gas prices? How about CSX (NYSE: CSX  ) ? Here is a company that has made coal transportation a big part of its business. At current levels, utilities are indifferent to coal or natural gas use, but if prices rise much higher, the coal-to-gas switching that permeated 2012 could begin to reverse. This would be to CSX and its investors' benefit. There are a few other reasons CSX might be hoping for a price increase, and our analysts cover them in the following video.

• [By Chad Fraser]

  The winter of 2013/2014 was one most transportation companies��ncluding railroads��ould probably like to forget.
  
  As the so-called polar vortex lashed the Midwest, Northeast and much of Canada, many railways were forced to shorten their train lengths and their crews��exposure to the frigid temperatures. The weather also delayed numerous shipments, which weighed on some railways��first quarter profits.
  
  CSX Corp. (NYSE: CSX), for example, cited the brutal winter as the main reason why its first quarter earnings fell 13.9% from a year earlier. The company said the weather cost it $0.08 to $0.09 a share in higher expenses and lost revenue.
  
  Polar Vortex Couldn�� Keep Union Pacific Down
  
  One railway that managed to prosper despite the wild winter was Union Pacific (NYSE: UNP), a recommendation of our Personal Finance newsletter.
  
  Union Pacific�� roots go all the way back to the Civil War, when President Lincoln approved the Pacific Railroad Act of 1862 to encourage expansion in non-Confederate territories. Since then, it has grown through mergers and acquisitions, including the Southern Pacific, Missouri Pacific and Western Pacific railroads.
  
  Today, the company operates a 32,000-mile freight network in the western two-thirds of the country, where it spans 23 states.
  
  Union Pacific�� revenue is well-diversified across six different categories of freight: intermodal, or containers that can be loaded onto ships, trucks or trains (20% of 2013 revenue); coal (19%); industrial products (18%); agricultural (16%); chemicals, including oil from U.S. shale plays like the Bakken, Permian and Eagle Ford (17%); and automotive (10%).
  
  Despite the wintry blast��nd an earlier caution from the company that the severe winter would affect its profits��ts first quarter net income rose 13.7% from a year earlier, to $1.09 billion. Per-share earnings gained 17.2%, to $2.38, on a lower share count due to Union Pacific�� on

• [By Jonas Elmerraji]

  Railroads may seem like an antiquated means of transportation, but in many ways, they're one of the most advanced ways to transport goods -- particularly hefty commodities. In the last few years, CSX (CSX) has done its part in making the advantages of rail abundantly clear: the $25 billion rail firm has made leaps and bounds in efficiency since the Great Recession started, and it's attracting plenty of freight dollars as a result.

  CSX owns 21,000 miles of track spread across the eastern U.S., specializing in shipping coal, chemicals and intermodal containers across its network. When other industries were shoring up their businesses in 2007 and 2008, CSX was too -- and investors shouldn't ignore the margin improvement it's been able to accomplish.

  In a world with triple-digit crude oil prices, trains make a lot of sense for freight shippers. While trucking (the biggest alternative to rail freight) is generally a more simple solution for a distribution chain, it's also more expensive -- generally four times more expensive than train shipping per ton. That's a material difference as fuel costs cause shipping costs to swell. CSX also has a big advantage in its location. The firm's tracks are focused on the eastern U.S., where the majority of the population is located; that means that products going to the big cities on the eastern seaboard need to use CSX's track.

  We're betting on shares of this Rocket Stock this week.

Best Transportation Companies To Buy For 2014: QEP Midstream Partners LP (QEPM)

QEP Midstream Partners, LP (QEP), incorporated on April 19, 2013, is a limited partnership formed by QEP Resources, Inc. to owns, operates, acquires and develops midstream energy assets. The Company�� primary assets consist of ownership interests in four gathering systems and two Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC)-regulated pipelines, through which it provides natural gas and crude oil gathering and transportation services. The Company�� assets are located in, or are within close proximity to, the Green River Basin located in Wyoming and Colorado, the Uinta Basin located in eastern Utah, and the portion of the Williston Basin located in North Dakota. As of December 31, 2012, the Company�� gathering systems had 1,475 miles of pipeline and an average gross throughput of 1.8 million british thermal units per hour of natural gas and 18,224 barrels of crude oil.

Green River System

The Company�� Green River System, located in western Wyoming, consists of three complimentary systems owned by Green River Gathering, Rendezvous Gas and Rendezvous Pipeline and gathers natural gas production from the Pinedale, Jonah and Moxa Arch fields. In addition to gathering natural gas, the system also gathers and stabilizes crude oil production from the Pinedale Field, transports the stabilized crude oil to an interstate pipeline interconnect, and gathers and handles produced and flowback water associated with well completion activities in the Pinedale Field. The Green River Gathering assets are comprised of 405 miles of natural gas gathering pipelines, 61 miles of crude oil gathering pipelines, 81 miles of water gathering pipelines and a 60-mile, FERC-regulated crude oil pipeline located in the Green River Basin. The Rendezvous Gas assets consist of three parallel, 103-mile high-pressure natural gas pipelines, with 1,032 million cubic feet per day of throughput capacity and 7,800 basic hydrogen peroxide of gas compression. Rendezvous Pipeline�� sole asset is a 21-mile, FERC-regu! lated natural gas transmission pipeline that provides gas transportation services from QEP�� Blacks Fork processing complex in southwest Wyoming to an interconnect with the Kern River Pipeline.

Vermillion Gathering System

The Vermillion Gathering System consists of gas gathering and compression assets located in southern Wyoming, northwest Colorado and northeast Utah, which, when combined, include 454 miles of low-pressure, gas gathering pipelines and 23,197 basic hydrogen peroxide of gas compression. The Vermillion Gathering System is primarily supported by life-of-reserves and long-term, fee-based gas gathering agreements with minimum volume commitments, which are designed to ensure that it will generate a certain amount of revenue over the life of the gathering agreement by collecting either gathering fees for actual throughput or payments to cover any shortfall. The primary customers on our Vermillion Gathering System include Questar, Samson Resources Corporation (Samson Resources), QEP and Chevron USA, Inc. (Chevron).

Three Rivers Gathering System

Three Rivers Gathering is a joint venture between QEP and Ute Energy Midstream Holdings, LLC (Ute Energy) that was formed to transport natural gas gathered by Uintah Basin Field Services, L.L.C., an indirectly owned subsidiary of QEP (Uintah Basin Field Services), and other third-party volumes to gas processing facilities owned by QEP and third parties. The Three Rivers Gathering System consists of gas gathering assets located in the Uinta Basin in northeast Utah, including approximately 50 miles of gathering pipeline and 4,735 basic hydrogen peroxide of gas compression.

Williston Gathering System

The Williston Gathering System is a crude oil and natural gas gathering system located in the Williston Basin in McLean County, North Dakota. The Williston Gathering System includes 17 miles of gas gathering pipelines, 17 miles of oil gathering pipelines 239 basic hydrogen peroxide o! f gas com! pression, and a crude oil and natural gas handling facility, located primarily on the Fort Berthold Indian Reservation.

The Company competes with Enterprise Products Partners, L.P., Western Gas and The Williams Companies, Inc.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Dimitra DeFotis]

  But things aren’t all bad. A spate of initial public offerings traded at nice prices Friday. Among them was QEP Midstream Partners (QEPM), an energy master limited partnership. (Press release here). More on IPOs from Bloomberg here.