Best Income Companies To Buy For 2014

Dividend stocks are everywhere, but many just downright stink. In some cases, the business model is in serious jeopardy, or the dividend itself isn't sustainable. In others, the dividend is so low, it's not even worth the paper your dividend check is printed on. A�solid dividend�strikes the right balance of growth, value, and sustainability.

Today, and one day each week for the rest of the year, we're going to look at one dividend-paying company that you can put in your portfolio for the long term without too much concern. This isn't to say that these stocks don't share the same macro risks that other companies have, but they are a step above your common grade of dividend stock. Check out�last week's selection.

This week, we'll hop on over to the oil and natural gas drilling equipment and service sector and examine why Halliburton (NYSE: HAL  ) makes for an attractive future income play.

An ongoing case of finger-pointing
The demand for oil and natural gas is only rising, yet the methods by which companies are extracting oil and gas are under as much scrutiny as ever. Much of this, especially in the U.S., can be tied back to the BP (NYSE: BP  ) Macondo well oil spill in 2010. The first phase of an ongoing trial to determine fault and who is truly responsible for spilling some 200 million barrels of crude into the Gulf of Mexico wrapped up this week. Halliburton is one of the companies implicated in the trial, since both it and Transocean (NYSE: RIG  ) were contracted out to provide servicing and equipment on the well. Transocean provided the workers and rig itself, while Halliburton provided the cement seal around the well. The outcome of this case could certainly put an unwelcome dent in the balance sheets of any of these three companies if they're found guilty of any wrongdoing.

Best Performing Companies To Buy For 2015: FedEx Corporation(FDX)

FedEx Corporation provides transportation, e-commerce, and business services in the United States and internationally. It operates in four segments: FedEx Express, FedEx Ground, FedEx Freight, and FedEx Services. The FedEx Express segment offers various shipping services for the delivery of packages and freight. This segment also provides international trade services specializing in customs brokerage, and ocean and air freight forwarding services; customs clearance services, as well as global trade data, an information tool that allows customers to track and manage imports; and international trade advisory services, including assistance with the customs-trade partnership against terrorism program, as well as publishes customs duty and tax information in various customs areas. In addition, it offers supply chain solutions, including critical inventory logistics, transportation management, fulfillment, and fleet services. The FedEx Ground segment provides business and reside ntial ground package delivery services. It primarily serves customers in the small-package market in North America. The FedEx Freight segment offers less-than-truckload freight services, as well as freight-shipping services. As of May 31, 2010, this segment operated approximately 60,000 vehicles and trailers from a network of 492 service centers. The FedEx Services segment provides sales, marketing, information technology support, and customer service support services; and access to copying and digital printing through retail and Web-based platforms, signs and graphics, professional finishing, computer rentals, and a range of ground shipping and time-definite express shipping services. The company was founded in 1971 and is headquartered in Memphis, Tennessee.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Monica Gerson]

  Wall Street expects FedEx (NYSE: FDX) to report its Q4 earnings at $2.36 per share on revenue of $11.66 billion. FedEx shares fell 0.08% to $140.20 in after-hours trading.

• [By DAILYFINANCE]

  David Goldman/AP The post office expects to deliver nearly 15 billion pieces of mail and 420 million packages during the holiday season. The U.S. Postal Service said Wednesday that it expects letters to decline slightly while package deliveries between Thanksgiving and Dec. 31 will rise 12 percent over last year. The calendar could make letter carriers' jobs tougher. Thanksgiving Day, the traditional kickoff to the peak season, is six days later this year, on Nov. 28. "It'll be an interesting year this year. You'll have that volume crowded into four weeks instead of five," Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe said in an interview. "We'll be able to handle it." The post office is adding 8,000 to 10,000 seasonal workers, Donahoe said. The busiest mailing day is expected to be Monday, Dec. 16, and the busiest day for packages to be Thursday, Dec. 19. Package deliveries are rising as more consumers shop online. United Parcel Service Co. (UPS) expects daily volume during the holidays to increase 8 percent, and FedEx Corp. (FDX) predicts a 13 percent rise during the busiest week in early December. The Postal Service is looking to increase sales online, which enable customers print shipping labels and buy postage at home. It's also selling a special holiday stamp featuring gingerbread houses, but there might be fewer people using it. "Greeting cards are fairly stable," Donahoe said. "You might lose a [percentage] point or two [compared with last year], but it's not a real big change." We're not saying you should give up shopping on Black Friday altogether. Just do it online instead. At one point it may have been true that Black Friday was for in-store deals, while Cyber Monday was for the e-commerce set. But these days, retailers are taking pains to offer a seamless experience between their online and bricks-and-mortar channels, and that means many of the marquee Black Friday deals can be had from the comfort of your couch. "[Retailers] continue to get

• [By Jon C. Ogg]

  Stamps.com also made the reminder that United Parcel Service (NYSE: UPS) and FedEx Corp. (NYSE: FDX) are raising ground shipping rates by an average of 4.9% for 2014. A look at the UPS site shows that its price hikes became effective December 30, 2013. After its Christmas rush earnings disclosure took away some of the gusto of the bulls, the 4.9% average hike for UPS shown on its UPS Ground and UPS Air and international services may matter. The actual effective dates were listed as January 23, 2014 on the 2014 rate page. Analysts are calling for a 5% revenue gain in 2014 for UPS, versus what is now only a 2.9% revenue hike in 2013.

Best Income Companies To Buy For 2014: United Dominion Realty Trust Inc. (UDR)

UDR, Inc. is an independent real estate investment trust. The firm invests in the real estate markets of the United States. It owns, operates, acquires, renovates, develops, redevelops, and manages multifamily apartment communities. The firm was previously known as United Dominion Realty Trust, Inc. UDR, Inc. was founded in 1972 and is headquartered in Denver, Colorado with additional offices in Dallas, Texas; Houston, Texas; Newport Beach, California; Orlando, Florida; Phoenix, Arizona; Santa Clara, California; Tampa, Florida; and Washington DC, Virginia.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Reuben Brewer]

  Change doesn't always work out so well
  The thing is, income investors don't always make out so well when big changes are taking place. For example, UDR (NYSE: UDR  ) once bought fixer-uppers and upgraded them as a means to increase rents. That model worked well for the company for many years.

• [By The Part-time Investor]

  The following stocks met the criteria in January of 2008 and were put into the initial portfolio:

  Abbot Labs (ABT)Advanced data processing (ADP)Associated Banc-Corp (ASBC)Bank of America (BAC)BB&T Corp. (BBT)Bemis Company (BMS)Anheuser Busch (BUD)The Chubb Corporation (CB)Clorox (CLX)Comerica Inc. (CMA)Diebold Inc. (DBD)Emerson Electronics (EMR)First Dollar Corp. (FDO)First Third BanCorp. (FITB)Gannett Co, Inc. (GCI)General Electric (GE)Hershey (HSY)Illinois Tools Works (ITW)Johnson and Johnson (JNJ)Leggett and Platt (LEG)Eli Lilly (LLY)La-Z-Boy (LZB)McDonald's (MCD)Marsh and Ilsley (MI)M&T Bancorp (MTB)PepsiCo (PEP)Pfizer (PFE)Procter & Gamble (PG)Pentair Ltd. (PNR)Regions Financial Corp. (RF)Rohm and Haas (ROH)RPM International (RPM)Sherwin Williams (SHW)Sysco Corp. (SYY)UDR Inc. (UDR)

  Historical quotes were taken from Yahoo Finance. $10,000 was put into each position, to the nearest whole share, so a total of $349,262.89 was invested. From 1/15/08 through 5/16/13 all dividends were reinvested back into the stock that paid them. If a dividend cut was announced, that stock was sold on the ex-div date of the new, lower dividend.

• [By Sean Williams]

  Everything's peachy for residential REITs!
  However, what terrible news exists for homebuilders could turn into fantastic news for the residential-REIT sector. You see, if lending rates begin to rise because the Fed is paring back its bond purchases, then it will remove the consumer incentive to purchase a home and will drive people back into renting -- which is great news for the big three residential REITS: Equity Residential, AvalonBay Communities (NYSE: AVB  ) , and UDR (NYSE: UDR  ) .

Best Income Companies To Buy For 2014: Acasti Pharma Inc (ACST)

Acasti Pharma Inc. (Acasti) is engaged in developing a product portfolio of long-chain omega-3 phospholipids. Acasti is a majority owned subsidiary of Neptune Technologies and Bioressources Inc. (Neptune). The Company has one operating segment: the development and commercialization of pharmaceutical applications of its licensed rights for cardiovascular diseases. The Company�� product portfolio includes concentrated phospholipids which functionalize eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA). Acasti is the producer of anti-dyslipidemic prescription drugs (CaPre), medical foods (Onemia) and over-the-counter (OTC) products (Vectos). During the fiscal year ended February 28, 2011 (fiscal 2011), the Company has completed the development and launched medical food, Onemia. Advisors' Opinion:

• [By James E. Brumley]

  What do Acasti Pharma Inc. (NASDAQ:ACST), Kandi Technologies Group Inc. (NASDAQ:KNDI), and Amarantus Bioscience Holdings, Inc. (OTCBB:AMBS) have in common? Not a lot, if you're simply looking at their business lines. Kandi Technologies Group makes electric cars, and even though Amarantus Bioscience Holdings and Acasti Pharma are both in the pharmaceutical arena, they're not too much alike. There is one common element among AMBS, ACST, and KNDI right now, however... they're three of the market's most bullish setups. Anyone looking for a new trading idea here should start with one of these three.

Best Income Companies To Buy For 2014: PTC Therapeutics Inc (PTCT)

PTC Therapeutics, Inc., incorporated on March 31, 1998 , is a biopharmaceutical company focused on the discovery and development of orally administered, small-molecule drugs that target post-transcriptional control processes. The Company�� lead product candidate includes ataluren, which is used for the treatment of patients with genetic disorders that arise from a type of genetic mutation known as a nonsense mutation. Ataluren is in late stage clinical development for the treatment of Duchenne muscular dystrophy caused by nonsense mutations (nmDMD) and cystic fibrosis caused by nonsense mutations (nmCF).

Ataluren is orally administered small-molecule compound that targets nonsense mutations. The Company is engaged in the development of ataluren for the treatment of genetic disorders in, which a nonsense mutation is the cause of the disease. Genetic tests are available for many genetic disorders, including Duchenne muscular dystrophy and cystic fibrosis, to determine if the underlying cause is a nonsense mutation. The EMA has designated ataluren as an orphan medicinal product for the treatment of nmDMD and nmCF. During the year ended December 31, 2012, the Phase III clinical trial completed. The Company�� Ataluren clinical trials in patients with nonsense mutation genetic disorders include Ataluren for nmDMD: Phase 2b clinical trial complete; Confirmatory Phase III clinical trial initiated, and Ataluren for nmCF: Phase III trial completed.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By WWW.DAILYFINANCE.COM]
  Records fell on Wall Street Friday as another solid report on housing lifted the market for the second day in a row. There's a three-day weekend coming up -- something that often prompts investor caution -- but the gains were broad-based even though volume was fairly light. The VIX, which measures volatility, fell to its lowest level this year. The Dow Jones industrial average (^DJI) gained 63 points, the Nasdaq composite (^IXIC) rose 31, and the Standard & Poor's 500 index (^GPSC) added 8, topping the record high set last week. The Dow Transportation average also raced to an all-time high, lifted by airline stocks. United (UAL) soared more than 4 percent; Delta (DAL) gained more than 1 percent and Southwest (LUV) gained 2 percent. Southwest is at an all-time high, up 79 percent from a year ago. New home sales bounced back with a better than expected 6.4 percent increase last month. Lennar (LEN) and D.R. Horton (DHI) both rose 4 percent. Pulte (PHM), Beazer (BZH) and Hovnanian (HOV) also solid posted gains. Earnings continue to drive retail stocks. Gap (GPS) edged higher even though net fell. Foot Locker (FL) gained 1½ percent after topping expectations. GameStop (GME) rose 4 percent. Its net rose, helped by the rollout last year of new Xbox and PlayStation consoles. Zumiez (ZUMZ) rose 5½ percent on an earnings beat. But Aeropostale (ARO) tumbled 24 percent. Its loss widened and sales declined. The retailer continues to struggle with teen fashion trends. Also on the earnings front, TiVo (TIVO) rose 2 percent as it swung to a profit from a year ago loss. It also reported an increase in the number of subscribers. Hewlett-Packard (HPQ) rose 6 percent on news the company plans to eliminate up to 16,000 additional workers in an effort to cut costs. And several stocks extended big moves from yesterday. Best Buy (BBY) rose more than 3 percent for the second straight day after earnings beat expectations. Isis Pharmaceuticals (ISIS) jumped
• [By John Kell]

  PTC Therapeutics Inc.(PTCT) said the European Medicines Agency’s Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use issued a negative opinion on the biopharmaceutical company’s marketing authorization application for its muscular dystrophy treatment. Shares slumped 21% to $20.60 in premarket trading.