Best Canadian Companies To Invest In 2014

A 90-car train operated by a subsidiary of Genesee & Wyoming Inc. (NYSE: GWR) delivering crude oil from North Dakota to Florida continues to burn Saturday after 20 cars and 2 engines derailed in Alabama early Friday morning. No injuries have been reported and authorities plan to let the conflagration burn itself out.

This is the latest in a string of derailments involving trains moving crude oil from North Dakota to market. A Canadian National Railway Co. (NYSE: CNI) derailed and 4 cars carrying crude oil and 9 cars carrying liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) caught fire about 50 miles west of Edmonton, Alberta, in early October. There were no injuries in that incident either, although all 100 people living a nearby town were evacuated.

In early July a 72-car train derailed and exploded in the town of Lac-Megantic, Quebec, killing 47 people and levelling the town�� central business district.

Moving crude oil and other petroleum products by rail has boomed in the last few years due to a lack of pipelines in the Bakken shale play in North Dakota and Montana. Crude production in the Bakken rose to nearly 1 million barrels a day this year, less than a third of which is transported by pipeline.

Top 5 Electric Utility Companies For 2015: National Retail Properties (NNN)

National Retail Properties, Inc. is a publicly owned equity real estate investment trust. The firm acquires, owns, manages, and develops retail properties in the United States. It provides complete turn-key and built-to-suit development services including market analysis, site selection and acquisition, entitlements, permitting, and construction management. The firm also focuses on purchasing and financing net-leased retail properties. It was formerly known as Commercial Net Lease Realty, Inc. National Retail Properties was founded in August 1984 and is based in Orlando, Florida.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Brad Thomas]

  Other REITs mentioned: (O), (NNN), (STAG), (DCT), (EGP), (PDM), (DRE), (LRY)

  Source: Chambers Street: More Liquidity Magic On The Way In REIT-Dom

  Disclosure: I have no positions in any stocks mentioned, and no plans to initiate any positions within the next 72 hours. I wrote this article myself, and it expresses my own opinions. I am not receiving compensation for it (other than from Seeking Alpha). I have no business relationship with any company whose stock is mentioned in this article. (More...)

• [By Dan Burrows]

  Here are the three dependable dividend stocks that are up at least 10% year-to-date, as of Feb. 11:

  Dependable Dividend Stocks: National Retail Properties (NNN)

  Dividend Yield: 4.9%
  YTD Gain: 10%

• [By Brad Thomas]

  Finally, here's the report card. Agree has racked up a year-over-year total return of 43.19%. That's not bad, especially when you consider the noise generated by the big boys: Realty Income (O) 32.66%; National Retail Properties (NNN) 47.44%; W.P. Carey (WPC) 57.84%; Spirit Realty (SRC) 35.44%; and American Realty Capital Properties 52.18%.

• [By Charles Sizemore]

  ARCP has a shorter trading history than some of its peers, such as Realty Income (O) and National Retail Properties (NNN), which largely explains why its yield is higher. As a relatively new REIT, ARCP stock is largely unfollowed by investors. But once its merger with Cole Properties (COLE) is completed, ARCP will be the largest trip-net REIT by market cap and total square footage, and it will no longer be flying under Wall Street�� radar.

Best Canadian Companies To Invest In 2014: Yamana Gold Inc.(AUY)

Yamana Gold Inc. engages in gold and other precious metals mining, and related activities, including exploration, extraction, processing, and reclamation. It also explores for copper, molybdenum, zinc, and silver metals. The company's portfolio includes 7 operating gold mines namely Chapada; El Pen Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Pato Kehoe] to remain profitable throughout 2013, and is keen on repeat success in 2014.

  What Yamana Did Right

  One of the main reasons Yamana has achieved rather good results throughout the past year, is their focus on low-cost mining. In particular, the firm established lower price assumptions and thus avoided asset write-downs. A quick comparison to industry rivals Barrick Gold Corporation (ABX) and Newmont Mining Corporation (NEM) is noteworthy. While Yamana valued its reserves and resources with a price of $950 per ounce of gold, Barrick expected prices in the $1,300 per ounce range. Newmont also overestimated the value of its assets, bringing its valuation down from $1,500 per ounce to $1,400 per ounce as of its second quarter. In the end, Barrick and Newmont each took $8.7 billion and $1.77 billion, respectively, in asset write-downs.

  Low-Cost Profile, Expansion and Diversification

  Yamana�� conservative valuation policy certainly contributed to the higher profitability the firm achieved in 2013, as did the below-average production costs the firm achieved. Looking forward, this means the company is in a comfortable position to continue developing existing projects. Unlike Barrick�� Pascua-Lama project, which was put on hold this year, Yamana has several promising new mines underway. The pipeline is full of attractive projects, including a few advanced-stage operations such as Pilar, C1 Santa Luz and Ernesto mines. Naturally, these are rather modest operations in terms of scale, particularly compared to Barrick�� Pascua-Lama mine, yet this also facilitates completion.

  A touch of diversification also helped Yamana along the way during the harsh year for gold miners. The firm�� portfolio includes silver and copper mines in Central and South America, which have delivered steady streams of cash for the company. In addition, Yamana�� cost profile is rather attractive, due to the high metal grades of its mines.

  Donald Smith Trusts The

• [By Ben Levisohn]

  Earnings from Yamana Gold (AUY) and Barrick Gold (ABX), as well as the death of the merger between Barrick and Newmont Mining (NEM), are weighing on gold miners this morning.

  Associated Press

  Barrick Gold reported a profit of 20 cents a share, beating forecasts for 19 cents a share, on sales of $2.63 billion. Analysts had expected $2.6 billion. Barrick also lowered its copper guidance. No mention was made of a merger with Newmont Mining in Barrick’s press release.

  Yamana Gold, meanwhile, reported a profit of 2 cents a share, missing forecasts for 4 cents. It said it will focus on its Canadian and Argentine operations.

  Morgan Stanley’s Brad Humphrey and team assess Yamana’s miss:

  [Yamana's] 1Q14 results missed consensus but were in line with our estimates. Gold and copper output came in below our forecasts, offset by lower than expected expenses. Due to seasonality, [Yamana] typically reports a weaker 1H. Given April results provided, output is trending up in Q2.�[Yamana] Shares could be weak initially on back of consensus miss but going fwd, output is expected to trend up QoQ and if successful acquiring 50% of Osisko, political risk profile improves, with the addition of this material, long life, low cost asset.

  Cowen’s Adam Graf and Misha Levental

  [Barrick] 1Q14 adjusted earnings of $0.20/share, slightly ahead of consensus, down from $0.92/share y/y. The decrease primarily reflects the impact of lower metal prices and lower gold sales volumes. Additionally, lower earnings reflect the impact of asset sales that occurred since the second half of 2013, including the sale of the Kanowna and Plutonic mines in Australia and its 33% stake in the Marigold mine in Nevada in 2014.

  Full-year guidance remains on track for gold at 6.0-6.5MM oz Au at AISC of $920- $980/oz. Copper production has lowered, however, to 410-440MM lbs Cu (from 470-500MM), at original cost guidance of $1.90-$2.10/lb Cu. C

• [By Matt DiLallo]

  What's the outlook for gold?
  We already know last quarter was the worst quarter for gold since the start of modern gold trading. The 23% free fall in the price of gold hit gold mining stocks hard: for example, Yamana Gold� (NYSE: AUY  ) plunged 38%. Because of that, analysts have already been reducing expectations of gold miners by ratcheting down earnings estimates. Analysts have already slashed 28% off Yamana's consensus bottom line, which might not be enough because the company had missed estimates in four of the past five quarters. This is where Freeport's more diversified portfolio should really shine. This quarter alone, that diversification has helped to insulate it from the free fall in gold mining stocks -- Freeport's stock was down just over 16%.�

• [By Jim Jubak]

  On this scorecard, I think Yamana Gold (AUY) is a good example of what you should be looking for in the sector, even if it may still be a little early in the transition to buy anything. (If you disagree with me on timing, I'd start with a stock such as Yamana. Yamana is a member of my long-term Jubak Picks 50 portfolio. And I do think Yamana is a good trading vehicle for this market in gold.)

Best Canadian Companies To Invest In 2014: 3M Company(MMM)

3M Company, together with subsidiaries, operates as a diversified technology company worldwide. The company?s Industrial and Transportation segment offers tapes, coated and non-woven abrasives, adhesives, specialty materials, filtration products, energy control products, closure systems for personal hygiene products, acoustic systems products, and components and products that are used in the manufacture, repair, and maintenance of automotive, marine, aircraft, and specialty vehicles. Its Health Care segment provides medical and surgical supplies, skin health and infection prevention products, inhalation and transdermal drug delivery systems, dental and orthodontic products, health information systems, and food safety products. The company?s Display and Graphics offers optical film solutions for LCD electronic displays; computer screen filters; reflective sheeting for transportation safety; commercial graphics sheeting and systems; and mobile interactive solutions, includin g mobile display technology, visual systems products, and computer privacy filters. The company?s Consumer and Office segment provides office supply products, stationery products, construction and home improvement products, home care products, protective material products, certain consumer retail personal safety products, and consumer health care products. Its Safety, Security and Protection Services segment offers personal protection products, safety and security products, cleaning and protection products for commercial establishments, track and trace solutions, and roofing granules for asphalt shingles. The company?s Electro and Communications segment provides packaging and interconnection devices; fluids that are used in the manufacture of computer chips, and for cooling electronics and lubricating computer hard disk drives; high-temperature and display tapes; insulating materials, including tapes and resins; and related items. The company was founded in 1902 and is based in St. Paul, Minnesota.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Marc Bastow]

  Companies ramped up for the holiday this week with a slew of dividend increases, as we headed into what is a traditionally a slow period between Christmas and New Year’s. Blue-Chip stocks in particular started handing out dividend sweets early, with aerospace and defense giant Boeing (BA) upping its dividend 50%, while manufacturing conglomerate 3M (MMM) raised its payout by 35%.

• [By Sean Williams]

  Increasing health consciousness
  While I'd never like to see anyone get sick, the novel coronavirus is also going to heighten health awareness. In 2003, China managed to beat back the outbreak by quarantining its citizens and through the use of surgical masks. While antibacterial usage is fine and dandy, it wouldn't surprise me if there were a drastic reduction in disease transmission from the use of surgical masks or respirators. That's where 3M (NYSE: MMM  ) comes in.

• [By Travis Hoium]

  3M (NYSE: MMM  ) is a steady company, but with the stock trading at 17 times earnings it's important to look at reasons to sell. Fool.com contributor Travis Hoium highlights why low organic growth, currency risk, and 3M's transition back to an R&D company are reasons to sell the stock in the video below.�

Best Canadian Companies To Invest In 2014: Ingram Micro Inc. (IM)

Ingram Micro Inc. distributes information technology (IT) products; and provides supply chain solutions, mobile device lifecycle services, and logistics solutions worldwide. The company�s IT peripherals include printers, scanners, displays, projectors, monitors, panels, mass storage, and tape; large format LCD and plasma displays, enclosures, mounts, media players, content software, and content creation and hosting; mobile phones, digital cameras and video disc players, game consoles, televisions, audio, media management, and home control products; barcode/card printers, AIDC scanners and software, and wireless infrastructure products; IP video surveillance, security and fire alarm systems, and access control smart cards; processors, motherboards, hard drives, and memory products; and ink and toner supplies, paper, carrying cases, and anti-glare screens. It also provides various systems, including rack, tower, and blade servers; desktops; portable personal computers and t ablets; and software products, such as business application, operating system, entertainment, security, storage, and virtualization software products, as well as middleware and developer software tools. The company�s networking products comprise switches, hubs, routers, wireless local area networks, wireless wide area networks, network interface cards, cellular data cards, network-attached storage, and storage area networks; voice over Internet protocol, communications, modems, phone systems, and video/audio conferencing; and firewalls, virtual private networks, intrusion detection, and authentication devices and appliances. In addition, it provides integration, technical support, training, financial and credit, marketing, predictive analytics, eCommerce, reseller community hosting, managed, cloud, managed print, and professional services. The company sells its products to resellers through sales representatives. Ingram Micro Inc. was founded in 1979 and is headquartered in Santa Ana, California.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Jon C. Ogg]

  The first list of 24/7 Wall St. stocks under book value for the month of August are Apache Corp. (NYSE: APA), Fresh Del Monte Produce Inc. (NYSE: FDP), Genworth Financial Inc. (NYSE: GNW), Ingram Micro Inc. (NYSE: IM) and JetBlue Airways Corp. (NASDAQ: JBLU). We generally have�focused on net asset values and tangible book values, as well as forward price-to-earnings multiples, share price performance, analyst expectations via the Thomson Reuters consensus price target and more.

• [By Keith Speights]

  My take is that Qualcomm has rapidly established itself as the de facto standard for connecting with medical devices. The company isn't doing it alone, though. It teamed with Ingram Micro (NYSE: IM  ) , the world's largest technology distributor, to support the implementation, logistics, and financial services related to the 2net hub and platform. This partnership should help propagate Qualcomm's technology more effectively than the company could have done on its own.

• [By Geoff Gannon]

  A huge net-net like Ingram Micro (IM) with nine out of ten years of profits in the last decade is pretty unusual. And Ingram operates on a razor-thin margin. It usually makes about one cent in profit for every dollar of sales.

Best Canadian Companies To Invest In 2014: MicroFinancial Incorporated(MFI)

Microfinancial Incorporated, through its subsidiaries, operates as a specialized commercial finance company that provides microticket equipment leasing and rental, and other financing services in the United States. The company provides financing alternatives, and leases and rents commercial equipment to start-up and established businesses for use in their daily operations. It leases water filtration systems, food service equipment, security equipment, point-of-sale cash registers, salon equipment, health care and fitness equipment, and automotive equipment. The company primarily sources its originations through a network of independent equipment vendors, sales organizations, and other dealer-based origination networks. Microfinancial Incorporated was founded in 1987 and is headquartered in Woburn, Massachusetts.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Magic Diligence]

  One stock that has been in the official Magic Formula (MFI) screen for the past month or so has piqued my interest: Kraft (KRFT).

  The MFI screens, particularly the $50 million screen, are usually reserved for deep value stocks. Usually you find stocks in here suffering serious adverse business developments (LQDT, NSR, etc.), operate in out-of-favor industries (APOL, STRA, etc.), have volatile and difficult-to-predict future prospects (PDLI comes to mind), or are just simply cheap quantitatively (CSCO, COH, et.al.).

• [By Gerrit De Vynck]

  Maple Leaf Foods Inc. (MFI), the Canadian producer of foods from hamburgers to frozen pasta, has drawn bids for its bread unit from Grupo Bimbo SAB, Flowers Foods Inc. (FLO) and several private-equity firms, three people with knowledge of the matter said.

Best Canadian Companies To Invest In 2014: Kinross Gold Corporation(KGC)

Kinross Gold Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, engages in mining and processing gold ores. It also involves in the exploration and acquisition of gold bearing properties. The company?s gold production and exploration activities are carried out principally in the Americas, Africa, and the Russian Federation. As of December 31, 2010, its proven and probable mineral reserves were 62.4 million ounces of gold, 90.9 million ounces of silver, and 1.4 billion pounds of copper. The company was founded in 1972 and is based in Toronto, Canada.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Rich Duprey]

  In the end, Kinross Gold (NYSE: KGC  ) had little choice but to walk away from its massive�Fruta del Norte gold mining project in Ecuador. Like other nations with significant natural resources in its boundaries, the government of Ecuador has greedily decided it wants a bigger-than-usual slice of the riches and in the process is yet another South American country putting up a "Closed for Business" sign.

• [By Jim Jubak]

  As sure as April showers bring May flowers, January brings reserve updates from gold mining companies that foreshadow the annual earnings reports that these companies will issue in February. Yamana Gold (AUY) and Randgold Resources (GOLD) initiate the February earnings parade from gold mining companies, with reports on February 2 and 3, respectively. Kinross Gold (KGC) follows on February 12 with Goldcorp (GG) and Barrick Gold (ABX) reporting on February 13. Newmont Mining (NEM) issues its numbers on February 20.

• [By Patricio Kehoe]

  Making smart investments in the gold industry is not an easy task. Firms suffer from different problems, such as high cash costs which leave them exposed to declining gold prices, and difficulties while executing expansion projects. Agnico Eagle Mines (AEM) and Kinross Gold (KGC) are two such gold miners, which not only face different challenges, but very different outlooks.

• [By Doug Ehrman]

  At pivot points, gold prices can be highly volatile, but this is often where the greatest opportunities exist. The shift to physical gold is an important one because, while the "gold market" is fairly large, there are limited quantities of bullion. This is one of the reasons that miners like Barrick Gold (NYSE: ABX  ) and Kinross Gold (NYSE: KGC  ) have also rebounded somewhat. Since the slide, Barrick is up over 9% and Kinross is up over 13%. In that same period, the GLD is up less than 6%.

Best Canadian Companies To Invest In 2014: Royal Bank Of Canada(RY)

Royal Bank of Canada provides personal and commercial banking, wealth management services, insurance, corporate and investment banking, and transaction processing services under the RBC name worldwide. Its Canadian Banking segment offers personal financial services, business financial services, and cards and payment solutions. The company?s Wealth Management segment provides wealth and asset management, and estate and trust services to affluent and high net worth clients through distributors, as well as directly to institutional and individual clients in Canada, the United States, Europe, Asia, and Latin America. Its Insurance segment provides various life and health insurance, including universal life, accidental death and critical illness protection, disability, long-term care insurance, and group benefits; and property and casualty insurance comprising home, auto, and travel insurance, as well as wealth accumulation solutions; and reinsurance products through retail ins urance branches, call centers, independent insurance advisors and travel agencies, financial institutions, and career sales force. The company?s International Banking segment offers various financial products and services to individuals, business clients, and public institutions in the U.S. and Caribbean. This segment also provides global custody, fund and pension administration, securities lending, shareholder services, analytics, and other related services to institutional investors. Royal Bank of Canada?s Capital Markets segment engages in the trading and distribution of fixed income, foreign exchange, equities, commodities, and derivative products for institutional, public sector, and corporate clients; and involves in investment banking, debt and equity origination, advisory services, corporate lending, private equity, and client securitization businesses. The company was founded in 1864 and is headquartered in Toronto, Canada.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Eric Volkman]

  The joint book-running managers of the issue are Raymond James Financial (NYSE: RJF  ) unit Raymond James & Associates, Royal Bank of Canada's (NYSE: RY  ) RBC Capital Markets, and the Securities divisions of Credit Suisse and Deutsche Bank (NYSE: DB  ) . The sale is expected to close on May 28.

• [By GuruFocus]

  This screen generates 37 stocks in the U.S. market as of today. The largest companies among the list are BHP Billiton (BHP) (BBL), Intel (INTC), China Petroleum & Chemical (SNP) and Royal Bank of Canada (RY).

• [By Charles Santerre]

  I do feel sorry for analysts. It's a difficult profession to predict the future. After reading RBC's (RY) opinion on Nokia's (NOK) current quarter, I was not pleased. As a Nokia shareholder, I was interested in poking some holes into the piece written by Mark Sue. Since the analysis is only available to RBC investment account holders, I cannot provide a link that would enable you to read the whole document, but I will quote from some passages.