Hot US Stocks To Own For 2015

It's been all the rage the past few years.

And with good reason... This new technology has literally reshaped the world energy market and put America back on the oil and natural gas map.

Of course, I am talking about the shale revolution. Many investors seem to be clamoring to own a piece of the next big shale play -- at higher and higher prices.

But while investors are champing at the bit to get their hands on the next shale field, I am selling most of my holdings in this space. In fact, I've sold five oil and gas companies from the portfolio in my Scarcity & Real Wealth newsletter in the past few weeks so I can focus my money elsewhere.

 

Let me explain why...

There's a lot of talk about the growth potential of shale-focused producers (which admittedly has been explosive), and little talk of the risks involved with growing costs and infrastructure issues in areas that have never been drilled before.

Top Construction Material Stocks To Buy For 2016: Expeditors International of Washington Inc.(EXPD)

Expeditors International of Washington, Inc. provides logistics services in the United States and internationally. The company?s services include consolidation or forwarding air and ocean freight; distribution management; vendor consolidation; cargo insurance; purchase order management; and customized logistics information. Its airfreight services comprise the procurement of shipments from its customers; determination of the routing; consolidation of shipments bound for a particular airport distribution point; and selection of the airline for transportation to the distribution point. The company also offers breakbulk services that include receiving and breaking down consolidated airfreight lots and arranging for distribution of the individual shipments. Its ocean freight and ocean services include ocean freight consolidation; and handling full container loads. In addition, the company acts as a customs broker, who assists importers to clear shipments through customs by pre paring required documentation, calculating and providing for payment of duties on behalf of the importer, arranging for any required inspections by governmental agencies, and arranging for delivery; and provides other value added services at destination, such as warehousing and product distribution, time definite transportation, and inventory management. Further, it offers custom clearances for goods moving by rail and truck between the United States, Canada, and/or Mexico; and customs consulting services The company?s customers primarily include retailers, distributors of consumer electronics, department store chains, clothing and shoe wholesalers, manufacturers, and catalogue stores. Expeditors International of Washington, Inc. was founded in 1979 and is based in Seattle, Washington.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Ben Levisohn]

  The express-delivery company has gained 28% during the past three months, trumping the 18% return from�United Parcel Service�(UPS), the 4.6% gain in J.B. Hunt Transport Services (JBHT) and the 0.2% rise in Expeditors International of Washington�(EXPD).

• [By Rich Duprey]

  Global logistics specialist Expeditors International (NASDAQ: EXPD  ) announced yesterday that the company's CEO would retire effective�March 1.�

• [By Rich Smith]

  This series, brought to you by Yahoo! Finance, looks at which upgrades and downgrades make sense, and which ones investors should act on. Today, three new ratings in the shipping sphere are grabbing headlines, as investment banker RBC Capital Markets upgrades UPS (NYSE: UPS  ) to outperform, but cuts both FedEx (NYSE: FDX  ) and shipping facilitator Expeditors International (NASDAQ: EXPD  ) to underperform.

• [By Brian Pacampara]

  Based on the aggregated intelligence of 180,000-plus investors participating in Motley Fool CAPS, the Fool's free investing community, global logistics company Expeditors International of Washington (NASDAQ: EXPD  ) has earned a respected four-star ranking.

Hot US Stocks To Own For 2015: Norfolk Souther Corporation(NSC)

Norfolk Southern Corporation, through its subsidiaries, engages in the rail transportation of raw materials, intermediate products, and finished goods primarily in the United States. The company transports coal products, such as coal, coke, and iron ore; automotive products, including finished vehicles and auto parts; chemicals products consisting of sulfur and related chemicals, petroleum products, chlorine and bleaching compounds, plastics, rubber, industrial chemicals, chemical wastes, and municipal wastes; metals and construction products comprising steel, aluminum products, machinery, scrap metals, cement, aggregates, bricks, and minerals; and paper, clay, and forest products, including lumber and wood products, pulp board and paper products, wood fibers, wood pulp, scrap paper, and clay. It also transports agriculture, consumer, and government products, such as soybeans, wheat, corn, fertilizer, animal and poultry feed, food oils, flour, beverages, canned goods, swee teners, consumer products, ethanol, and items for the military. In addition, it engages in the intermodal operations that include moving of shipments in trailers, the United States and international containers, and roadrailer equipment. Further, the company transports overseas freight through various Atlantic and Gulf Coast ports, as well as provides a range of logistics services; and operates passenger and commuter trains. Additionally, it involves in the acquisition, leasing, and management of coal, oil, gas, and minerals; the development of commercial real estate; telecommunications; and the leasing or sale of rail property and equipment. As of December 31, 2010, the company operated approximately 20,000 route miles in 22 states and the District of Columbia. The company was founded in 1883 and is based in Norfolk, Virginia.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Johanna Bennett]

  Norfolk Southern (NSC), Toll Brothers (TOL) and J.C. Penney Co. (JCP) are just some of the stocks moving during today’s market action:�Here�� a rundown:

  Toll Brothers rose 3.3% to $33.29 after the home builder posted better-than-expected revenue for the quarter ended Oct. Sales surged 29% to $1.35 billion, lifted by strong demand in the home builder’s West Coast division to top the $1.31 billion expected by analysts. Leucadia National (LUK) has been among the worst performers of the S&P�� 85 financial stocks. Today, the shares gained 1.4% to $24.13 after Barron�� editor Andrew Bary referred to the company as �� Mini-Berkshire At a Bargain Price.��The stock has been hurt by low returns outside Jefferies, the investment bank it bought early y last year. Still, many of its other business arte valuable, including Berkadia, a 50/50 joint venture with Berkshire How about the real Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.B)? Warren Buffett’s holding company rose 0.75% to $144.68 after it posted Friday a drop in profit tied to an investment loss. Still, results overall beat expectations as the company�� railroad arm and other units continued to ride a rebounding U.S. economy. J.C. Penney dropped 5.6% to $7.38 after Barron�� writer Jack Hough warned readers that the troubled retailer may have set unrealistic financial goals. At its Oct. 8 analyst day, Penney set a goal of $1.2 billion in earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization, by 2017, or close to four times this year�� estimate. To get there, requires lifting sales at longstanding stores by 5.4% a year, boosting gross margins, and holding spending flat. Norfolk Southern surged 2.6% to $115.89 after Barron�� writer Robyn Goldwyn Blumenthal weighed in bullishly on the stock amid merger talks within the railroad industry. Talks have circulated of a deal between Canadian Pacific (CP) and CSX (CSX) but fell apart last week. On Friday, hedge fund manager Bill Ackerman specu
• [By Roadmap2Retire]

  I am also considering various stocks that are not currently in my portfolio, but the current high valuations do not provide many options.

  Canadian National Railway (CNR.TO) engages in transportation of goods including petroleum and chemicals, grain and fertilizers, coal, metals and minerals, forest products, intermodal, and automotive products. The company operates 20,100 route miles of track that spans Canada adn mid-America connecting the three coasts of Atlantic, Pacific and Gulf of Mexico. CNR is a dividend contender that has been raising its dividends for 17 consecutive years and has a 5-yr DGR of 13.9% and a 10-yr DGR of 17.4%. Norfolk Southern (NSC) engages in rail transportation of raw materials, intermediate and finished goods operating approximately 20,000 router miles across the southern and eastern US. NSC and other railroads stand to benefit from the oil boom in continental US, and before permanent pipelines are put in place, railroads are the only option available to transport the huge supplies. NSC is a dividend contender raising its dividends for 12 consecutive years and has a 5-yr DGR of 10.8% and 10-yr DGR of 21.1%. Procter & Gamble (PG) and Unilever plc (UL) are giants in the consumer packaged goods field. PG has five segments - beauty, grooming, healthcare, fabric care and home care. UL has four segments - personal care, foods, refreshment and home care. PG has been raising dividends for 57 years; has a 5-yr DGR of 10.2% and a 10-yr DGR of 10.8%. UL has been raising dividends for 25 years; has a 5-yr 7.07%. Aerospace & Defense Sector: With the global turmoils continuing and the rise of new conflicts across Eastern Europe and Middle East, I am considering adding some exposure to the Aerospace & Defense Sector. I recently posted an article regarding the current valuation of the stocks in the sector here. Index Funds - China ETF, Emerging Markets - I am considering adding a new index fund to my portfolio to track the Chinese marke

Hot US Stocks To Own For 2015: Saes Getters SpA (SG&A)

SAES Getters SpA is an Italy-based company primarily engaged in the production of getters and metal dispensers. The Company structures its business into three main units: Industrial Applications, which includes getters and metal dispensers used in light sources and electron vacuum devices, getters for microelectronic and micromechanical systems, pumps for vacuum systems, getters for solar collectors, products for thermal insulation, and gas purifier systems; Shape Memory Alloys, which includes shape memory alloy semi-finished products, components and devices for medical and industrial applications, and Information Displays, which includes getters and metal dispensers for liquid crystal displays, and barium getters for cathode ray tubes. Additionally, through the Business Development Unit, the Company produces dryers and getters for organic light-emitting diode (OLED), sealants for solar panels and energy storage getter devices. Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Jason Rivera]

  To help facilitate this destruction of value has been that Koss has bought back a lot of its shares as the company has been overvalued. The below quote is from its most recent annual report.
  In April of 1995, the Board of Directors approved a stock repurchase program authorizing the Company to purchase from time to time up to $2,000,000 of its common stock for its own account. Subsequently, the Board of Directors periodically has approved increases in the stock repurchase program. As of June 30, 2012, the most recently approved increase was for additional purchases of $2,000,000, which occurred in October of 2006, for an aggregate maximum of $45,500,000, of which $43,360,247 had been expended through June 30, 2012 . No purchases were made during the year ended June 30, 2012. The Company intends to effect all stock purchases either on the open market or through privately negotiated transactions and intends to finance all stock purchases through its own cash flow or by borrowing for such purchases.As you can see from this page, most of KOSS' margins have dropped substantially since 2007. Especially of note is its operating margin, ROE and ROIC. Book value per share, cash flow per share, revenue and working capital have all dropped substantially as well. Normally when I have evaluated companies' cost of goods sold rising is what has caused the above metrics to drop, but that has stayed relatively stable over the years at KOSS. The culprit in this case is selling, general and administrative (SG&A) related expenses expressed below as a percentage of its sales. The following numbers were taken from Morningstar:

• [By GURUFOCUS]

  For investors, Qualcomm understand the benefits of cloud services. It seems there are numerous questions unresolved. Over the last decade, pharmaceutical companies have been aggregating years of research and development data into medical databases, initiating overhauls of its R&D and selling, general and administrative (SG&A) segments for Pharma. A company willing to build their capabilities, and open to a new view of value will likely achieve better outcomes. Delivering support, personalization, scalability, speed and flexibility are attractive areas for growth.

Hot US Stocks To Own For 2015: ProShares UltraShort Russell2000 (TWM)

ProShares UltraShort Russell2000 (the Fund) seeks daily investment results that correspond to twice (200%) the inverse (opposite) of the daily performance of the Russell 2000 Index (the Index). The Fund intends to invest at least 80% of its net assets, including any borrowings for investment purposes, to investments that, in combination, have economic characteristics that are inverse to those of the Index. The Fund also intends to invest assets not invested in financial instruments, in debt instruments and/or money market instruments. The Fund intends to concentrate its investments in a particular industry or group of industries to approximately the same extent as the Index is so concentrated. ProShare Advisors LLC serves as the investment advisor to the Fund. Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Richard Rhodes]

  We remain short, via a position, the Russell 200 2X Short (TWM) as well as short positions in Tesla (TSLA) and Chipolte (CMG).

  Subscribe to The Rhodes Report here��/p>

Hot US Stocks To Own For 2015: Safeway Inc.(SWY)

Safeway Inc., together with its subsidiaries, operates as a food and drug retailer in North America. The company operates stores that provide an array of grocery items, food, and general merchandise, as well as features specialty departments, such as bakery, delicatessen, floral, and pharmacy, as well as coffee shops and fuel centers. It also offers SELECT line of products that include baked goods, sparkling ciders and lemonades, salsas, whole bean coffees, frozen pizzas and entrees, and fresh and dry pastas and sauces, as well as an array of ice creams, hors d'oeuvres, and desserts; O ORGANICS line, which comprises milk, chicken, salads, juices, and entrees; Lucerne line of dairy products; Eating Right line of better-for-you products; Bright Green line of home care products; Total Pet Care line of pet foods and pet care products; and Value Red line of value-priced paper goods. As of December 31, 2009, Safeway operated approximately 1,725 stores in California, Oregon, Wash ington, Alaska, Colorado, Arizona, Texas, the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Mid-Atlantic region, as well as British Columbia, Alberta and Manitoba/Saskatchewan. In addition, the company owns and operates GroceryWorks.com Operating Company, LLC, an online grocery channel, doing business under the names Safeway.com, Vons.com, and Genuardis.com; and Blackhawk Network Holdings, Inc., which provides third-party gift cards, prepaid cards, telecom cards, and sports and entertainment cards to North American retailers for sale to retail customers. Additionally, it engages in gift card businesses in the United Kingdom, France, Mexico, and Australia. Further, the company, through a 49% ownership interest in Casa Ley, S.A. de C.V. operates 156 food and general merchandise stores in Western Mexico. The company was formerly known as Safeway Stores, Incorporated and changed its name to Safeway Inc. in February 1990. Safeway was founded in 1915 and is based in Pleasanton, California. Advisors' Opinion:

• [By John Divine]

  Safeway (NYSE: SWY  ) was no safe haven for its stockholders today, slipping 13.9% on results that reveal several things. The first and most obvious is that Safeway's numbers aren't blowing anyone away; comparable store sales were barely up, while margins took a hit. The second -- and arguably more disturbing -- thing we can glean from results is the fact that the grocer took a massive tax break in a relatively weak quarter, raising eyebrows about how desperately the company panders to financial appearance vs. well, you know, reality.�

• [By Robert Hanley]

  Regional grocer Safeway's (NYSE: SWY  ) stock price has been on fire lately, up almost 100% over the past year, as investors expect a more valuable company to emerge from its restructuring activities.�Management has been busy offloading non-core assets, including the pending sale of its Canadian operations and a public offering of its Blackhawk prepaid card subsidiary.�

Hot US Stocks To Own For 2015: Fidia SpA (FDA)

Fidia SpA is an Italy-based company primarily engaged in the production of numerical controls and machine tools. The Company�� activities are divided into three main business lines. In the High-speed Milling Systems, it is involved in the production and sale of milling heads kits and cutting-edge equipment. Through the Numerical Controls, Dives and Software sector, it is active in the manufacture of numerical controls for milling systems, as well as in the development and distribution of computer-aided design (CAD) and computer-aided manufacturing (CAM) software. The After-sales Service sector includes the provision of technical services, sale of spare parts and scheduled maintenance contracts. The Company operates in Germany, France, Brazil, China, Poland and India, among others. Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Rahul Chattaraj]

  Every year more and more people are becoming health conscious and healthcare is one such industry which I feel can never be in slump. It�� is just brilliant of Apple to embed a hardware in a smartphone which will be able to cash on this opportunity. The iPhone 5S already has the hardware components to support the Healthbook app and once the iOS 8 is released for the next iPhone model and upgrades are available for the iPhone 5S, Apple will be poised to see huge surge in the demand for its devices. Certain incidents such as the top Apple executives meeting the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and former Mashimo Corp. Chief Medical Officer Michael O'Reilly joining Apple are clearly hinting that the company�� mobile health dreams will very soon turn into reality.

• [By Steven Silver]

  Its Apremilast is currently under Food and Drug Administration (FDA) review for the anti-inflammatory condition, psoriatic arthritis, and has also shown promise in such indications as psoriasis and ankylosing spondylitis.

• [By Patricio Kehoe]

  Despite recent anti-tobacco laws passed by the European Union and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in the U.S, the company�� pricing power has helped maintain its margins. In 2012, for example, Phillip Morris hiked prices on its products in Russia, Germany, Belgium, Canada, France, Greece and Spain, among others. Although the necessary measure caused substantial volume declines in these countries, consumers rapidly became accustomed to the increased prices, and returned to their habitual product consumption. Given the success of this strategy, the firm is likely to rely on it in Japan for 2014, where taxes are expected to increase yet again by 8%, after the 40% spike in October 2010.

Hot US Stocks To Own For 2015: LKA Gold Inc (LKAI)

LKA Gold Inc, formerly LKA International, Inc., incorporated on March 16, 1988, owns certain property interests, including mining claims, water rights, buildings, fixtures, improvements, equipment, and permits situated near Lake City, Colorado. The Company�� the Lake City, Colorado Properties include the Ute-Ule silver mine and milling facility and the Golden Wonder gold mine (respectively, the Ute-Ule Property and the Golden Wonder Property or, collectively, the Properties). The Company owns a 100% interest in the Ute-Ule and Golden Wonder Properties. The Properties consist of certain mining claims and a milling facility located in Hinsdale County, Colorado. As of December 31, 2011, LKA was engaged in exploration and limited production at the Golden Wonder mine.

The Ute-Ule Property consists of 23 patented mining claims located approximately four miles west of Lake City, Colorado. A 100 ton-per-day flotation mill, including various equipment and support facilities, exists on the Ute-Ule Property. The Golden Wonder, near Lake City, Colorado, is located in the historic Colorado Mineral Belt.The Golden Wonder Property consists of three patented and 25 unpatented mining claims located approximately 2- 1/2 miles south of Lake City, Colorado.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Peter Graham]

  Small cap mining stocks US Tungsten Corp (OTCMKTS: USTU) and LKA Gold Inc (OTCMKTS: LKAI) along with biotech Entest BioMedical Inc (OTCMKTS: ENTB) have been getting some attention lately in various investment newsletters with at least one of these stocks being the subject of paid promotions while another could soon be the subject of an investor relations campaign. But will any of these small cap stocks be winners for investors or traders? Here is a quick reality check: