Top 5 Trucking Companies To Own For 2015

An array of energy's sub-industries are making a fortune from America's natural gas boom.

Rigs, pipelines, rail, wastewater treatment, trucking, seismic imaging, well-site security... And a lot more opportunity is on the way, like the deal Kent just uncovered.

But perhaps the most unlikely beneficiary of the shale revolution is the coal industry.

After all, "King Coal" has been dethroned in recent years by the swelling supply - and bargain prices - of clean-burning natural gas. Indeed, thermal coal at the Australian port of Newcastle, the Asian benchmark price, is currently near lows not seen since November 2009.

Australian producers have especially been struggling. They've been cutting costs and paring back production because U.S. and large project financiers like the World Bank are pulling away from coal projects.

And overall, ever-increasing environmental regulation is discouraging coal-powered electricity.

But the dynamic is suddenly changing.

Hot Freight Companies To Watch In Right Now: Penn Virginia Resource Partners LP(PVR)

Penn Virginia Resource Partners, L.P. engages in the management of coal and natural resource properties; and gathering and processing of natural gas in the United States. It operates in two segments, Coal and Natural Resource Management, and Natural Gas Midstream. The Coal and Natural Resource Management segment primarily involves in the management and leasing of coal properties. It also engages in land management activities; and provides coal preparation and loading services. The segment owns approximately 900 million tons of proven coal reserves in northern and central Appalachia, and the Illinois and San Juan Basins. The Natural Gas Midstream segment offers gas processing, gathering, and other related natural gas services. This segment owns and operates natural gas midstream assets located in Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, and Texas. It owned and operated approximately 4,200 miles of natural gas gathering pipelines and 7 natural gas processing facilities with approximately 420 million cubic feet per day of capacity. This segment also owns a natural gas marketing business, which aggregates third-party volumes and sells those volumes into intrastate pipeline systems and at market hubs accessed by various interstate pipelines. The company was founded in 1882 and is based in Radnor, Pennsylvania.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Aimee Duffy]

  After a name change last summer, PVR Partners (NYSE: PVR  ) , formerly Penn Virginia Resources Partners, set out on a path to switch its business model from coal-oriented loser, to natural-gas-and-coal-diversified winner. This master limited partnership has a lot going for it, so today we're going to take a closer look.

• [By Matt DiLallo]

  PVR Partners (NYSE: PVR  )
  The natural resource sector is one of the best places to find dividend-paying stocks these days. One company that's caught my eye is master limited partnership PVR Partners and its 8% distribution. PVR Partners is a bit unique in that it not only owns traditional MLP-type midstream assets like pipelines and processing plants, but it also owns and manages coal and other natural resource properties, which you can see in the map below. The company doesn't actually mine the coal; instead, it leases its reserves to others and collects a royalty. Add that model to its midstream business and the result is a company that generates great cash flow to fund its distribution. That's why this businesses is one that you should get on your watchlist.

Top 5 Trucking Companies To Own For 2015: ANA Holdings Inc (ALNPF)

ANA HOLDINGS INC., formerly All Nippon Airways Co., Ltd., is a Japan-based airline holding company. Its Air Transportation segment is engaged in the air transportation business, the provision of various services at airports, the provision of reservation services via telephone, the freight express business, and the maintenance of aircrafts in domestic and overseas markets. The Traveling segment plans and sells tour packages under the brand names ANA Hello Tour and ANA Sky Holiday, it also offers services to travelers at arrival areas and sells travel products and air tickets. The Others segment involves in the information communication, trading and merchandise business, building management, logistics and airplane fixture repair business, and hotel operation. On March 4 and March 5, 2013, it fully acquired all shares of one and two consolidated subsidiaries through stock swap, respectively, made them become wholly-owned subsidiaries. Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Daniel Inman]

  In Tokyo, ANA Holdings (JP:9202) � (ALNPF) �declined 4.7% after the airline lowered its 2013 fiscal-year net profit forecast by 65% on higher fuel costs and slow service expansion because of delays in Boeing (BA) �787 Dreamliner deliveries.

Top 5 Trucking Companies To Own For 2015: Vanguard Short-Term Bond ETF (BSV)

Vanguard Short-Term Bond ETF (the Fund) seeks to track the performance of a market-weighted bond index with a short-term, dollar-weighted average maturity. The Fund employs a passive management or indexing strategy designed to track the performance of the Barclays Capital U.S. 1-5 Year Government/Credit Bond Index (the Index). The Index includes all medium and larger issues of the United States Government, investment-grade corporate, and investment-grade international dollar-denominated bonds that have maturities of between 1 and 5 years and are publicly issued. The Fund invests by sampling the Index, meaning that it holds a range of securities that, in the aggregate, approximates the full Index in terms of key risk factors and other characteristics. All of the Fund�� investments will be selected through the sampling process, and at least 80% of its assets will be invested in bonds held in the Index. The Fund�� investment advisor is The Vanguard Group, Inc. Advisors' Opinion:

• [By GURUFOCUS]

  In addition to individual stocks several funds pay a monthly dividend. Below is a sampling of these:
  Monthly Bond Funds- iShares Barclays 1-3 Year Credit Bond (CSJ) | Yield: 1.29%
  - Vanguard Short-Term Bond ETF (BSV) | Yield: 1.25%
  - Vanguard Intermediate-Term Bond ETF (BIV) | Yield: 2.96%
  - Vanguard Long-Term Bond ETF (BLV) | Yield: 4.42%

Top 5 Trucking Companies To Own For 2015: KAR Auction Services Inc (KAR)

KAR Auction Services, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, provides vehicle auction services in North America. It operates in three segments: ADESA Auctions, IAA, and AFC. The ADESA Auctions segment offers whole car auctions and related services to the vehicle remarketing industry through online auctions and auction facilities. This segment also provides value-added services, such as auction related, transportation, reconditioning, inspection, title and repossession administration and remarketing, and analytical services. The ADESA Auctions segment sells its products and services through commercial fleet operators, financial institutions, rental car companies, new and used vehicle dealers, and vehicle manufacturers and their captive finance companies to franchise and independent used vehicle dealers. The IAA segment offers salvage vehicle auctions and related services that facilitate the remarketing of damaged or low value vehicles designated as total losses by insurance companies and charity donation vehicles, as well as recovered stolen vehicles. This segment also provides inbound transportation, titling, salvage recovery, and claims settlement administrative services. The AFC segment offers floorplan financing, a short-term inventory-secured financing, to independent used vehicle dealers. As of December 31, 2012, the company had a network of 67 whole car auction and 163 salvage auction locations, as well as serviced auctions through 104 locations. The company was formerly known as KAR Holdings, Inc. and changed its name to KAR Auction Services, Inc. in November 2009. KAR Auction Services, Inc. was founded in 2006 and is headquartered in Carmel, Indiana.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Marc Bastow]

  Vehicle auction services company KAR (KAR) raised its quarterly dividend 31% to 25 cents per share, payable on Jan. 3 to shareholders of record as of Dec. 20.
  KAR Dividend Yield: 3.53%
  

• [By Geoff Gannon] ore explicit in detailing the competitive position of Copart and Insurance Auto Auctions. It even gave market share data.

  This is common. Often one company will choose not to give names or put percentages on certain competitive facts. The other company will do so. And even when that is not the case, the two companies will often make statements that ��when taking together ��can give you rough indications of certain realities that neither company entirely intended to provide.

  The same is true for certain suppliers and customers. Although this is complicated by size. Very large customers of small companies are not good sources of information. But smaller companies often provide better insights into the larger suppliers, customers, etc., they deal with. That's because ��due to their small size ��more information is material and is explained in detail.

  I have found situations where one company simply says who the customer is that they are supplying. While the other company explains what product that supply goes into, the purchase amount, whether it is an exclusive arrangement, etc.

  So it is always important to ��at a minimum ��read the 10-Ks, 14As, and (where available) S-1s of every public company in the industry. This will give you a lot of insight into the competitive situation. Sometimes it is helpful to also look at customers and suppliers. However, this is not true of very large customers and suppliers because they will not discuss the specific area you are interested in.

  For example, Honeywell is a large customer of George Risk. It would do me no good to study Honeywell to learn about George Risk. Honeywell is a huge company. What they buy from George Risk is irrelevant to their shareholders. So they do not discuss it.

  An exception to this is where the product sold is going into a huge "generational" type project. Examples include defense, aerospace, video game consoles, operating systems, etc. This can be very hel