Best Transportation Stocks For 2014

In some ways, it could have been worse.

Yesterday's crash landing of Asiana Airlines Flight 214 at San Francisco International Airport left two passengers dead, and 181 injured (at last report). National Transportation Safety Board Chairman Debbie Hersman notes that with NTSB investigators only just beginning to arrive at the scene, it is "still too early to tell" exactly why the crash happened. But already, enough details have come out that we can predict that, against all odds, this crash is actually going to be good news for Boeing (NYSE: BA  ) .

Nearly every news story now discussing the crash is pointing out that despite the tragic loss of lives, Boeing's 777 appears to be the hero of this story, and not the villain.

Commenting �on the incident, for example, famed airplane Captain Chesley "Sully" Sullenberger noted that this is the first time in 18 years that a passenger aboard a Boeing 777 has died in an accident. It was also only the second significant accident involving a Triple-7 over those 18 years. The other incident, five years ago, occurred when a Boeing 777-200ER crashed short of its runway at London Heathrow.

Best Specialty Retail Companies To Buy For 2015: Saia Inc.(SAIA)

Saia, Inc., an asset-based trucking company, provides transportation and supply chain solutions primarily to the retail, chemical, and manufacturing industries in the United States. The company, through it subsidiary, Saia Motor Freight Line, LLC, offers regional and interregional less than truckload (LTL) services, selected national LTL, and time-definite services. It was formerly known as SCS Transportation, Inc. Saia, Inc. was founded in 2000 and is headquartered in Johns Creek, Georgia.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By John Udovich]

  Despite what can best be described as a�soft economy, small cap trucking stocks YRC Worldwide, Inc (NASDAQ: YRCW), Arkansas Best Corporation (NASDAQ: ABFS), Frozen Food Express Industries, Inc (NASDAQ: FFEX), Saia Inc (NASDAQ: SAIA) and USA Truck, Inc (NASDAQ: USAK) have been trucking some pretty impressive returns since the start of the year. In fact, these small cap trucking stocks are up anywhere from 72% to 150% or so since the start of the year despite the slow economy. Certainly trucking stocks provide a good indicator of how the economy is doing, but might investors be�jumping the gun by pushing up these trucking stocks?

• [By Ben Levisohn]

  Wunderlich’s Nicholas Bender thinks FedEx’s results bode well for Old Dominion (ODFL), Con-way (CNW) and Saia (SAIA):

  We expect all less-than-truckload carriers to benefit in 2Q14 from the same trends that carried FedEx Freight to a banner 4Q14. This includes Hold-rated Old Dominion, which will continue to grow at well above market rates, and Buy-rated Con-way, which we believe can leverage a strong 2Q14 to prime the pump on margin enhancement efforts. Our favorite name in the space remains Saia (SAIA-$42.92, Buy), which will once again see accelerating tonnage growth in 2Q14. Though tonnage growth will moderate in� 2H14 due to steeper comps, there remains considerable potential for the company to boost yield and continue winning incremental business with new accounts.

Best Transportation Stocks For 2014: China Metro-Rural Holdings Limited(CNR)

China Metro-Rural Holdings Limited, through its subsidiaries, primarily engages in the development and operation of agricultural logistics and trade centers in northeast China. It also involves in purchasing, processing, assembling, merchandising, and distributing pearls and jewelry products. The company markets its pearls and jewelry products to wholesale distributors and mass merchandisers in Europe, the United States, Hong Kong, and other parts of Asia. In addition, it develops, sells, and leases residential and commercial properties in Hong Kong and the People?s Republic of China. The company is based in Tsimshatsui, Hong Kong.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Katie Brennan]

  Canadian National Railway Co. (CNR) added 0.9 percent to C$104.93 and Canadian Pacific Railway Ltd. rose 1.7 percent to C$131.73.

  Niko Resources surged 3.4 percent to $8.64 after the company entered an agreement for a $60 million loan that will be funded by a group of institutional investors. Net proceeds from the loan will be used to fund working capital requirements.

Best Transportation Stocks For 2014: Union Pacific Corporation(UNP)

Union Pacific Corporation, through its subsidiary, Union Pacific Railroad Company, provides rail transportation services in North America. It has approximately 31,953 route miles linking Pacific Coast and Gulf Coast ports with the Midwest and eastern United States gateways, and provides several corridors to Mexican gateways. The company offers freight transportation services for agricultural products, including whole grains and related commodities, food, beverage products, corn for ethanol products and its by-products, animal feeds, fruits and vegetables, frozen meat, and poultry products; and automotive products, such as imported and finished vehicles, and automotive parts and materials. It also provides transportation services for chemicals, such as industrial chemicals, plastics, and liquid petroleum products; energy products comprising coal and coke; industrial products, including lumber products, paper and consumer goods, furniture and appliances, and nonferrous and i ndustrial minerals, as well as steel and construction products, such as rock, cement, and roofing materials; and intermodal containers. Union Pacific Corporation was founded in 1862 and is based in Omaha, Nebraska.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Chuck Saletta]

  The iPIG portfolio's two-for-one railroad special of CSX� (NYSE: CSX  ) and Union Pacific� (NYSE: UNP  ) also reported earnings in the last week. The news there was decidedly positive, as both companies showed growth overall, in spite of continued weakness in coal, a key commodity moved around by the railroad industry. Boding well for the iPIG's strategy of looking for dividend growth possibilities, CSX also increased its dividend by a penny, to $0.15 per quarter.

• [By Erin McCarthy]

  Union Pacific Corp.(UNP) unveiled a two-for-one stock split and said it will increase this year’s capital spending to $4.1 billion.

  Carmike Cinemas Inc.(CKEC), the nation’s fourth-largest movie theater chain, said Thursday it is acquiring Digital Cinema Destinations Corp.(DCIN), a smaller rival that does business as Digiplex.

• [By Dan Caplinger]

  Perhaps more importantly, CSX and its peers have also benefited from the huge demand in moving petroleum and other energy products from new unconventional shale plays. Union Pacific (NYSE: UNP  ) has been a pioneer in this regard, with plans to spend a quarter-billion dollars on tank cars and other assets to help it move crude out of underserved areas without pipeline coverage, most notably the Bakken in North Dakota. With major refinery companies like Phillips 66 willing to enter into long-term arrangements with producers in the Bakken and other mid-continent plays in order to secure cheaper oil than it can get from international sources on the East Coast, there's plenty of opportunity for CSX to get its share of this growing market. CSX hasn't hesitated to jump on that opportunity, with plans to spend $2.3 billion on infrastructure improvements to its rail network to move anticipated higher volumes of goods.

Best Transportation Stocks For 2014: Costamare Inc (CMRE)

Costamare Inc. (Costamare), incorporated on April 21, 2008, is an international owner of containerships, chartering the Company�� vessels to liner companies. As of February 22, 2013, it had a fleet of 57 containerships aggregating approximately 332,000 twenty feet equivalent unit (TEU). During the year ended December 31, 2012, its fleet consisted of 47 vessels in the water, aggregating approximately 242,000 TEU. The Company�� containerships operate primarily under multi-year time charters.

As of February 22, 2013, the average (weighted by TEU capacity) remaining time-charter duration for its fleet of 57 containerships was 5.1 years. During the year ended December 31, 2012, the Company�� vessels were managed by at least one of Costamare Shipping, CIEL and Shanghai Costamare. The Company�� customers include international liner companies, including A.P. Moller-Maersk, COSCO, Evergreen Marine, Hapag Lloyd, HMM, MSC and ZIM.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Seth Jayson]

  Costamare (NYSE: CMRE  ) reported earnings on July 24. Here are the numbers you need to know.

  The 10-second takeaway
  For the quarter ended June 30 (Q2), Costamare missed estimates on revenues and beat expectations on earnings per share.

• [By Rich Duprey]

  Containership owner and provider�Costamare (NYSE: CMRE  ) announced yesterday its second-quarter dividend of $0.27 per share, the same rate it's paid since late 2011.

Best Transportation Stocks For 2014: Enbridge Energy Partners LP (EEP)

Enbridge Energy Partners, L.P. (the Partnership) owns and operates crude oil and liquid petroleum transportation and storage assets, and natural gas gathering, treating, processing, transportation and marketing assets in the United States. The Company was formed by its Enbridge Energy Company, Inc. (General Partner), to own and operate the Lakehead system, which is the United States portion of a crude oil and liquid petroleum pipeline system extending from western Canada through the upper and lower Great Lakes region of the United States to eastern Canada. A subsidiary of Enbridge Inc. (Enbridge), owns the Canadian portion of the Mainline system. Enbridge, which is based in Calgary, Alberta, Canada is a provider of energy transportation, distribution and related services in North America and internationally. Enbridge is the ultimate parent of its General Partner. As of December 31, 2011, its portfolio of assets included the approximately 6,500 miles of crude oil gathering and transportation lines and 32 million barrels of crude oil storage and terminaling capacity; natural gas gathering and transportation lines totaling approximately 11,500 miles; nine natural gas treating and 25 natural gas processing facilities with an aggregate capacity of approximately 3,255 million cubic feet per day, including plants; trucks, trailers and railcars for transporting natural gas liquids (NGLs), crude oil and carbon dioxide, and marketing assets, which provide natural gas supply, transmission, storage and sales services. The Company conducts its business through three business segments: Liquids, Natural Gas and Marketing.

Liquids Segment

The Company�� Lakehead system consists of crude oil and liquid petroleum common carrier pipelines and terminal assets in the Great Lakes and Midwest regions of the United States. The Mainline system serves refining centers in the Great Lakes and Midwest regions of the United States and the Province of Ontario, Canada. Its Lakehead system spans a distance ! of approximately 1,900 miles, and consists of approximately 5,100 miles of pipe with diameters ranging from 12 inches to 48 inches, and is transporter of crude oil and liquid petroleum from Western Canada to the United States. In addition, the system has 61 pump station locations with a total of approximately 900,000 installed horsepower and 72 crude oil storage tanks with capacity of approximately 13.9 million barrels. The Mainline system operates in a segregation, or batch mode, allowing the transport in excess of 50 crude oil commodities, including light, medium and heavy crude oil, condensate and NGLs.

The Company�� Mid-Continent system is located within PADD II and is consisted of its Ozark pipeline and storage terminals at Cushing and El Dorado, Kansas. Its Mid-Continent system includes over 430 miles of crude oil pipelines and 17.3 million barrels of crude oil storage capacity. Its Ozark pipeline transports crude oil from Cushing to Wood River where it delivers to ConocoPhillips��Wood River refinery and interconnects with the Woodpat Pipeline and the Wood River Pipeline. The storage terminals consist of 91 individual storage tanks ranging in size from 58,000 to 575,000 barrels. Of the 17.3 million barrels of storage capacity on its Mid-Continent system, the Cushing terminal accounts for 16.1 million barrels. A portion of the storage facilities are used for operational purposes, while it contracts the remainder of the facilities with various crude oil market participants for their term storage requirements. Contract fees include fixed monthly capacity fees, as well as utilization fees, which it charges for injecting crude oil into and withdrawing crude oil from the storage facilities.

The Company�� Mid-Continent system operates under month-to-month transportation arrangements and both long-term and short-term storage arrangements with its shippers. Its North Dakota system is a crude oil gathering and interstate transportation system servicing the Williston basin in! North Da! kota and Montana, which includes the Bakken and Three Forks formations. The crude oil gathering pipelines of its North Dakota system collect crude oil from points near producing wells in approximately 22 oil fields in North Dakota and Montana. Its North Dakota system is made at Clearbrook to its Lakehead system and to a third-party pipeline system. As of December 31, 2011, its North Dakota system included approximately 240 miles of crude oil gathering lines connected to a transportation line, which is approximately 730 miles long, with a capacity of approximately 210,000 barrels per day. Its North Dakota system also has 21 pump stations, one delivery station and 11 storage facilities with an aggregate working storage capacity of approximately 870,000 barrels. During the year ended December 31, 2011, it added 25,000 barrels per day of capacity from Berthold, North Dakota to the international border near Lignite, North Dakota.

Natural Gas Segment

The Company owns and operates natural gas gathering, treating, processing and transportation systems, as well as trucking, rail and liquids marketing operations. It purchases and gathers natural gas from the wellhead and delivers it to plants for treating and/or processing and to intrastate or interstate pipelines for transmission to wholesale customers, such as power plants, industrial customers and local distribution companies. As of December 31, 2011, it had nine active treating plants and 25 active processing plants, including two hydrocarbon dewpoint control facilities (HCDP) plants. Its treating facilities have a combined capacity, which approximates 1,240 million cubic feet per day while the combined capacity of its processing facilities approximates 2,015 million cubic feet per day, including 350 million cubic feet per day provided by the HCDP plants.

The Company�� natural gas business consists of East Texas system, Anadarko system and North Texas system. East Texas system includes approximately 3,900 miles of nat! ural gas ! gathering and transportation pipelines, eight natural gas treating plants and five natural gas processing plants, including two HCDP plants. Anadarko system consists of approximately 2,900 miles of natural gas gathering and transportation pipelines in southwest Oklahoma and the Texas panhandle, one natural gas treating plant and 11 natural gas processing plants. North Texas system includes approximately 4,700 miles of natural gas gathering pipelines and nine natural gas processing plants located in the Fort Worth basin. Its East Texas system is located in the East Texas basin. Natural gas on its North Texas system is produced in the Barnett shale area within the Fort Worth basin conglomerate. Its Anadarko system is located within the Anadarko basin.

As of December 31, 2011, the Company�� Elk City system includes one carbon dioxide treating plant and three cryogenic processing plants with a total capacity of 370 million cubic feet per day, and a NGL production capability of 20,000 barrels per day. It also includes its trucking and NGL marketing operations in its Natural Gas segment. These operations include the transportation of NGLs, crude oil and other products by truck and railcar from wellheads and treating, processing and fractionation facilities to wholesale customers, such as distributors, refiners and chemical facilities. In addition, its trucking and NGL marketing operations resells these products. Its services are provided using trucks, trailers and rail cars, pipeline capacity, fractionation agreements, product treating and handling equipment. Its trucking operations transport NGLs, condensate and crude oil from its processing facilities and from third party producers to its United States Gulf Coast customers. As of December 31, 2011, its fleet consisted of approximately 220 trucks and 375 trailers. Its trucking and NGL marketing operations are wholesale customers, such as refineries and propane distributors. Its trucking and NGL marketing operations also market products to whol! esale cus! tomers, such as petrochemical plants.

Marketing Segment

The Company�� Marketing segment transacts with various counterparties to provide natural gas supply, transportation, balancing, storage and sales services. Its Marketing business uses third-party storage capacity to balance supply and demand factors within its portfolio. Its Marketing business pays third-party storage facilities and pipelines for the right to store gas for various periods of time. These contracts may be denoted as firm storage, interruptible storage or parking and lending services. Its Marketing business leases third-party pipeline capacity downstream from its Natural Gas assets under firm transportation contracts. This capacity is leased for various lengths of time and at rates.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Robert Rapier]

  Midcoast Energy Partners (NYSE: MEP) is an Enbridge Energy Partners (NYSE: EEP)-backed LP that went public on Nov. 7. The partnership is a pure-play US natural gas and NGL midstream business with a 39 percent controlling interest in Midcoast Operating, a limited partnership that owns a network of natural gas and NGL gathering and transportation systems, natural gas processing and treating facilities and NGL fractionation facilities primarily located in Texas and Oklahoma. Midcoast Operating also owns and operates natural gas, condensate and NGL logistics and marketing assets that support its gathering, processing and transportation business.

• [By Elliott Gue]

  Steve Halpern: Now, another company in the sector is Enbridge Energy Partners (EEP), and you specifically recommend that as a value play. Could you tell us a little about that company?