Hot Electric Utility Stocks For 2014

LONDON -- If you walked up to a man on the street and asked him the following question, what do you suspect his answer would be?

"Who are Halfords, and what do they do?"

I'd wager a Mars bar -- or maybe even a full-size Toblerone -- that his answer would be: "A shop that sells car parts," or a derivative thereof. And for the�most part, he'd be absolutely correct.

I have been a�Halfords� (LSE: HFD  ) shareholder for just over a year now, and it's certainly been an interesting time for the group. In July last year, then-CEO David Wild was axed, which actually led to a rise in share price for a time. Shortly after, they appointed Matt Davies as new CEO. Davies was brought in with a view to revamp the Halfords brand, starting in particular with its subpar customer service efforts (something he had great success doing at his previous company, Pets at Home). Shortly after, the marketing chief and the advertising agency were both let go, signalling the start of a complete brand rethink.

Best European Companies To Invest In Right Now: Zix Corporation(ZIXI)

Zix Corporation provides Internet-based applications in software as a service model that enables the use of secure email for sensitive information exchange primarily in the healthcare, financial services, insurance, and government sectors in the United States. It offers email encryption service, a secure messaging service, which allows an enterprise to use policy-driven rules to determine which emails should be sent securely to comply with regulations or policies. The company also provides a solution that analyzes and encrypts email communications. Its services offer users the ability to deliver encrypted email to any email user at any email address by using the ZixCorp Best Method of Delivery protocol that automatically determines the direct and appropriate means of delivery, based on the sender?s and recipient?s communications environment and preferences. Zix Corporation sells its services through a direct sales force, and a network of resellers and other distribution partners. The company was formerly known as ZixIt Corporation and changed its name to Zix Corporation in 2002. Zix Corporation was founded in 1983 and is headquartered in Dallas, Texas.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Monica Gerson]

  Zix (NASDAQ: ZIXI) shares reached a new 52-week high of $4.82. ZixCorp's trailing-twelve-month profit margin is 18.08%.

  Official Payments Holdings (NASDAQ: OPAY) shares surged 0.23% to touch a new 52-week high of $8.65. Official Payments shares have jumped 87.61% over the past 52 weeks, while the S&P 500 index has gained 16.68% in the same period.

• [By Seth Jayson]

  Zix (Nasdaq: ZIXI  ) is expected to report Q1 earnings on April 23. Here's what Wall Street wants to see:

  The 10-second takeaway
  Comparing the upcoming quarter to the prior-year quarter, average analyst estimates predict Zix's revenues will expand 15.0% and EPS will wither 0.0%.

• [By Lisa Levin]

  Zix (NASDAQ: ZIXI) shares tumbled 10.82% to touch a new 52-week low of $3.46 after the company reported Q1 earnings of $0.03 per share on revenue of $12.20 million.

Hot Electric Utility Stocks For 2014: Mondelez International Inc (MDLZ)

Mondelez International, Inc. (Mondelez International), formerly Kraft Foods Inc., incorporated on December 7, 2000, is a maker of chocolate, biscuits, gum, candy, coffee and powdered beverages. The Company consists of the global snacking and food brands. Mondelez International's portfolio includes several brands, such as Cadbury and Milka chocolate, Jacobs coffee, LU, Nabisco and Oreo biscuits, Tang powdered beverages and Trident gums. The Company�� products include chocolates, cookies, gums, beverages and crackers. Alpen Gold is a chocolate brand in Russia. Alpen Gold is available in chocolate bars, boxed chocolates and creamy, mouth-watering pralines. Its markets include Poland, Russia and Ukraine. Bubbaloo is a gum brand sold in more than 25 countries and three different continents, including India, Mexico, Portugal and Spain. Belvita are breakfast biscuits made with wholegrain, cereals and fiber. It is sold in Belgium, France, Netherlands, United Kingdom and the United States.

The Cadbury Creme Egg brand is available annually from New Year�� Day to Easter Day. It is sold in Australia, Canada, New Zealand the United Kingdom and the United States. Carte Noire is the coffee brand in France. It is sold in France, Ireland, Russia, Ukraine and the United Kingdom. Chips Ahoy! cookies are chocolate chip cookies packed with chocolate chips. It is sold in Brazil, Canada, China, Ecuador, Mexico, Philippines, Portugal, Puerto Rico, Spain, the United States and Venezuela. Club Social is a cracker in Brazil and Latin America. The newest addition to the Club Social family is Club Social chips in Argentina, available in original, parmesano, and cream and onion flavors. Cote d'Or is a chocolate brand sold in Belgium, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Middle East, Netherlands, the United Kingdom and the United States.

Cadbury Dairy Milk is a milk chocolate bar sold in 33 countries, including Australia, Canada, India, Ireland, New Zealand and the United Kingdom, and available in more than! 23 varieties, like fruit and nut, WholeNut, Snack, Caramello and Breakaway. Dentyne is a gum to aid in oral hygiene sold in Canada and the United States.

Cadbury Flake is chocolate bars sold in Australia, Egypt, Ireland, New Zealand and the United Kingdom. Gevalia brand offers more than 50 varieties of coffee and 20 choices of tea, and sold in the United States, Denmark, Finland, Sweden and the United States. Grand Mere coffee brand is sold at France. Green & Black�� is a chocolate brand and also includes gift chocolates, ice cream, biscuits and hot beverages. Halls is sold as a cold relief product. Halls is used as a refreshing candy. Halls products are available in more than 26 flavors.

Hollywood gum is a chewing gum in France. Jacobs coffee is sold throughout Europe and the Middle East, and in Austria, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania and Ukraine. Jacobs is available in roast and ground, whole beans, soluble crystals, coffee pods and flavored mixes. Kenco coffee is a coffee brand sold in Ireland and the United Kingdom. Lacta is a chocolate in Brazil. It also includes Bis chocolate wafers, Sonho de Valsa pralines and Lacta white chocolate.

LU biscuits are available in 100 countries. Other international brands under the LU name include Petit Dejuener, Mikado, Pepito (Mini Stars), Cracotte, Ourson and Tuc. Milka is a European chocolate. Marabou is a chocolate brand in Sweden. Nabisco�� brands include cookies and crackers. Nabisco 100 Calorie Packs includes 12 varieties, such as Chips Ahoy! Thin Crisps, Oreo Thin Crisps, Lorna Doone Shortbread Cookie Crisps, Ritz Snack Mix, Planters Peanut Butter Cookie Crisps, Kraft Cheese Nips Thin Crisps, Wheat Thins Multigrain Chips, Ritz Chips, Honey Maid Cinnamon Thin Crisps, Mini Teddy Grahams Cinnamon Cubs, Alpha-Bits Mini Cookies and Barnum�� Animals Choco Crackers.

Nutter Butter are sandwich cookies sold in the United States. Nilla wafers include original, reduced-fat and mini wafers. Newtons! are whol! esome snack made with real fruit. It also offers Newtons Fruit Thins and Fruit Crisps. The Natural Confectionery Company is a candy product. Onko offers coffee mixes in cappuccino flavors.

Oreo is a milk favorite cookie. Oreo is available in many flavors and varieties, such as chocolate covered, wafers, pie crusts and soft snack cakes. Premium saltine crackers come in six varieties, including unsalted tops, original, fat-free, low-sodium, soup and oyster and multi-grain. Prince biscuits are available in more than eight countries, including Algeria, Austria, Belgium, China, France, Germany, Netherlands and Spain. Prince biscuits come in creme-filled sandwiches, rolls and chocolate-covered varieties.

Stimorol is a chewing gum brand in Northern Europe, as well as 40 other markets from Greenland to Fiji. Simmenthal is a canned meat in jelly. Simmenthal�� products include beef in jelly with chili and chicken in jelly with curry. Tang is available in more than 30 countries and is a powdered beverage. Tassimo is a hot beverage system, which helps in making coffee, tea, hot chocolate, cappuccino, espresso and lattes. Toblerone is a Swiss chocolate bar made with honey and almond nougat. Trakinas is a creme-filled sandwich cookie.

Trident is a chewing gum brand in the world. Triscuit varieties include original, reduced fat, cheddar, cracked pepper and olive oil, fire roasted tomato and olive oil, garden herb, deli-style rye, roasted garlic, thin crisps, and rosemary and olive oil. Wheat Thins are wheat crackers in a variety of flavors, including sundried tomato and basil, multigrain and parmesan basil.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Dan Caplinger]

  2012: Mondelez International
  Kraft has been associated with two different name-change controversies. Last year, the company broke into two parts, with its North American grocery division keeping the legacy Kraft name while its global snack-food business changed its name to Mondelez International (NASDAQ: MDLZ  ) . In explaining the change, the company said that Mondelez "is a newly coined word that evokes the idea of a world of 'delicious products.'"

• [By Anders Bylund]

  Like Kraft (NASDAQ: KRFT  ) before it, a broken-up HP would almost certainly have to be replaced on the Dow. Neither Kraft nor its snack-food spinoff Mondelez (NASDAQ: MDLZ  ) has the monolithic heft that kept the old Kraft on the Dow, nor the sustained growth that might have qualified one section to qualify on its own. Both stocks are doing fine after the split -- Kraft is up a market-beating 14.7%, while Mondelez has risen a modest 3.5% -- but neither one makes a serious case for individual Dow membership.

Hot Electric Utility Stocks For 2014: William Hill PLC (WMH)

William Hill PLC is a United Kingdom-based gambling company. The Company�� business is to provide its customers with a range of sports betting and gaming opportunities. It is a bookmaker providing fixed odds sports betting. It also offers gaming opportunities. The Company�� segments include Retail distribution channel, which includes activity undertaken in LBOs, including gaming machines; Online segment, which includes activity undertaken online, including an online sportsbook, online casino, online poker sites and other gaming products; Telephone segment, which includes its telephone betting services; US segment, comprises all activity undertaken in the United States; Other activities include on-course betting and greyhound stadia operations. In April 2013, it acquired the remaining 29% stake in William Hill Online from its joint venture partner Playtech Ltd. Effective September 2, 2013, William Hill PLC acquired Miapuesta.es, a provider of gaming and sports betting services. Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Inyoung Hwang]

  Prudential Plc (PRU), which generated 32 percent of its operating income from Asia last year, climbed to its highest price since at least 1988. William Hill (WMH) Plc lost 3.2 percent after JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered its rating on the bookmaker. Anglo American Plc (AAL) declined 1.4 percent after saying that production at its Kumba (KIO) Iron Ore Ltd. unit fell.

• [By Inyoung Hwang]

  Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc sank 3.3 percent after reporting results and naming the head of its U.K. consumer unit as chief executive officer. William Hill Plc (WMH) dropped the most in four years after the bookmaker posted earnings that missed analysts��projections. International Consolidated Airlines Group SA (IAG) rose to a five-year high as the parent of British Airways reported an operating profit in the second quarter.

Hot Electric Utility Stocks For 2014: NRG Yield Inc (NYLD)

NRG Yield, Inc., incorporated on December 20, 2012, serves as the primary vehicle, through which NRG Energy, Inc. will own, operate and acquire contracted renewable and conventional generation and thermal infrastructure assets. The Company owns a diversified portfolio of contracted renewable and conventional generation and thermal infrastructure assets in the United States. The Company�� contracted generation portfolio includes three natural gas or dual-fired facilities, eight utility-scale solar and wind generation facilities and two portfolios of distributed solar facilities that collectively represent 1,324 net megawatt. The Company also own thermal infrastructure assets with an aggregate steam and chilled water capacity of 1,098 net megawatt and electric generation capacity of 123 net megawatt. In December 2013, it acquired the assets of privately held Energy Systems Company.

The Company�� thermal infrastructure assets provide steam, hot water and/or chilled water, and in some instances electricity, to commercial businesses, universities, hospitals and governmental units in ten locations, principally through long-term contracts or pursuant to rates regulated by state utility commissions. The Company�� conventional operations consist of 910 net megawatt of natural gas and dual-fired generation assets, Marsh Landing and GenConn, located in the West and Northeast regions of the United States, respectively. The Company�� seven utility-scale solar generation assets generate electricity through the use of photovoltaic panels, with each facility equal to or exceeding 20 megawatt and collectively totaling 303 net megawatt of capacity. These facilities are located in Arizona, California and New Mexico, all states with attractive solar resources. The Company�� distributed solar generation facilities, which it generally define as facilities of less than 20 megawatt in operating capacity, each generate electricity through the use of photovoltaic panels.

The Company�� wind! operations are consists of the 101 megawatt South Trent wind farm located near Sweetwater, Texas. It consists of 44 Siemens 2.3 megawatt wind turbines capable, at rated capacity, of powering approximately 80,000 homes. The Company�� thermal operations are consists of district energy systems and combined heat and power plants (Energy Centers) that utilize an energy-efficient, environmentally sound method of heating and cooling buildings. These Energy Centers produce steam, hot water and/or chilled water and in some instances, electricity at a central plant.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Joshua Bondy]

  The Ivanpah project
  Recently the Ivanpah 392 megawatt (MW) CSP plant was competed in the Californian desert.�NRG Yield (NYSE: NYLD  ) and its parent company�NRG Energy (NYSE: NRG  ) �worked to bring the plant to fruition. The facility will help California reach its goal of 33% renewable energy production by 2020. Southern California Edison and Pacific Gas & Electric have already signed long-term agreements to buy power from the facility.�

• [By John Udovich]

  On Thursday, NRG Yield Inc (NYSE: NYLD), a wholly owned subsidiary of NRG Energy Inc (NYSE: NRG),�debuted in an IPO priced at $22 a share and closed the day at $27.25 a share. The offering of 19.575 million shares raised more than $430 million plus the IPO underwriters�have an option to buy 2.9 million more shares if demand is strong enough.

• [By Lauren Pollock]

  NRG Yield Inc.(NYLD) agreed to purchase privately held Energy Systems Co. for $120 million in cash, which the company hopes will help it increase its dividend payments as well as its geographic diversity. Energy Systems is an Omaha, Neb.-based supplier of district energy.

• [By Marc Bastow]

  Thermal energy asset provider NRG Yield (NYLD) raised its quarterly dividend 10% to 33 cents per share, payable on Mar. 17 to shareholders of record as of Mar. 3.
  NYLD Dividend Yield: 3.32%

Hot Electric Utility Stocks For 2014: HomeTrust Bancshares Inc (HTBI)

HomeTrust Bancshares, Inc. is a bank holding company. The Company operates through HomeTrust Bank (the Bank). The Bank is a federally chartered mutual savings bank with 20 retail offices located in North Carolina. The business of the Bank is conducted through its seven operating divisions: HomeTrust Bank, Cherryville Federal Bank, Home Savings Bank of Eden, Industrial Federal Bank of Lexington, Shelby Savings Bank, Tryon Federal Bank and Rutherford County Bank. Its wholly owned subsidiary, Western North Carolina Service Corporation (WNCSC), owns office buildings in Asheville and Hendersonville, North Carolina that are leased to the Bank and several other tenants. Effective July 31, 2013, it announced the completion of its acquisition of BankGreenville Financial Corporation, the holding company for BankGreenville.

Lending activities

The Bank�� loan portfolio is organized into two segments (retail consumer loans and commercial loans) and into four classes within each segment. Its loan portfolio also includes one to four family loans, commercial real estate loans, home equity lines of credit, commercial loans and consumer loans. The Bank underwrites its retail consumer loans using automated credit scoring and analysis tools. These credit scoring tools take into account factors, such as payment history, credit utilization, length of credit history, types of credit in use and recent credit inquiries. One to four family and construction and land/lot loans are to individuals and are typically secured by one-to-four family residential property, undeveloped land, and partially developed land in anticipation of pending construction of a personal residence. Consumer loans include loans secured by deposit accounts or personal property, such as automobiles, boats, and motorcycles, as well as unsecured consumer debt.

The Bank�� commercial loans are centrally underwritten based primarily on the customer�� ability to generate the required cash flow to service the debt in a! ccordance with the contractual terms and conditions of the loan agreement. Real estate owned consists of real estate acquired as a result of customers��loan defaults.

Investment activities

The Company�� investment securities consist of United States Government Agencies, Residential Mortgage-backed Securities of United States Government and Agencies. It also includes Government-Sponsored Enterprises. Securities available for sale were $26.7 million, as of March 31, 2012.

Sources of funds

The Company offers a variety of deposit accounts for individuals, businesses and nonprofit organizations. Deposits are its primary source of funds for lending and investing activities.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Tim Melvin]

  Home Trust Bancshares (HTBI) is another example of a cheap, well-financed community bank that has the potential for strong performance over the next couple of years. While the bank�� nonperforming assets are a little above average at 3.87% of total assets, HTBI has plenty of excess capital. The equity-to-assets ratio is more than 20 as of the end of the third quarter, and HTBI has been using its capital to buy back HTBI shares below book value.