Top 5 Canadian Stocks To Own For 2014

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Maybe they should change the name to the International Basketball Association.

The National Basketball Association, which tips off its regular season on Thursday night, says a record 92 players from 39 countries and territories will take the court for the 2013-2014 campaign.

The NBA's popularity has grown across the globe as international markets account for 10% of overall league revenue.

Followers of the game invented by Canadian American James Naismith are aware over the past two decades of the surge of international players in the league. Among the most recognized international names are Dirk Nowitzki (Germany), Tony Parker (France), Pau Gasol (Spain) and Tim Duncan (U.S. Virgin Islands). Basketball has been the United States' most successful sports transplant since Michael Jordan, Larry Bird and Magic Johnson teamed with a roster of other superstars to form the 1992 Dream Team. "The summer of 1992 was unlike any in the history of Olympic basketball, becoming the biggest and brashest story of the Games, drawing a level of worldwide interest that ultimately contributed more to the growth of the global game than any other singular factor," reporter Chris Sheridan wrote for ESPN in 2010. The NBA has publicized its ambition to build its international market reach, specifically in China, where Commissioner David Stern has said it expects league revenue to increase at least 10% annually. Stern told Bloomberg in 2012 that he expected television and digital rights to games for last season to drive league revenue to $150 million in China. The season starts Tuesday at 7 p.m. EDT in Indianapolis between the Orlando Magic and Indiana Pacers. -- Written by Joe Deaux in New York. >Contact by Email. Follow @JoeDeaux

Top 5 Solar Stocks To Invest In Right Now: Vanguard Natural Resources LLC(VNR)

Vanguard Natural Resources, LLC, through its subsidiaries, engages in the acquisition and development of oil and natural gas properties in the United States. Its properties are located in the southern portion of the Appalachian Basin, primarily in southeast Kentucky and northeast Tennessee; the Permian Basin, primarily in west Texas and southeastern New Mexico; and south Texas. As of December 31, 2010, the company had estimated proved reserves of 69.3 million barrels of oil equivalent, as well as working interests in 2,270 net productive wells. Vanguard Natural Resources, LLC was founded in 2006 and is based in Houston, Texas.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Cameron Swinehart]

  Going forward I will be looking to add investments on my watchlist and trim other positions. It will be interesting to see how an overweight commodity portfolio will perform relative to the rest of the market.

   Cost Basis# SharesCurrent Price% of PortfolioCurrent ValueReturnMetal/Miners      Sprott Physical Gold Trust (PHYS)$12.4985$11.043.75%$938.40-13.13%Sprott Physical Silver Trust (PSLV)$7.95125$8.744.37%$1,092.509.04%FreePort-McMoran (FCX)$31.6731$33.874.20%$1,049.976.50%Ishares MSCI Global Gold Miners ETF (RING)$13.0695$10.644.04%$1,010.80-22.74%Energy      Statoil ASA(STO)$21.7940$22.683.63%$907.203.92%Vanguard Natural Resources LLC (VNR)$27.5636$27.874.01%$1,003.321.11%ConocoPhillips (COP)$63.6822.43$71.006.37%$1,592.5310.31%Agriculture      CVR Partner LP (UAN)$26.3630.9$18.932.34%$584.94-39.25%Adecoagro$6.78125$7.443.72%$930.008.87%Archer-Daniels Midland (ADM)$34.8030$37.244.47%$1,117.206.55%Mixed Commodity      Powershares DB Commodity Index (DBC)$26.3540$25.954.15%$1,038.00-1.54%Sprott Resource Corp$3.34400$2.714.34%$1,084.00-23.25%    Total % of portfolio49.40%               Cost Basis12,666.00      Current Value12,348.86      Return-2.50%  Source: Investing For The Future Surge In Commodity Prices

  Disclosure: I am long ADM, FCX, UAN, AGRO, RING, VNR, SCPZF.PK, COP, DBC, PHYS, PSLV. 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 Matt DiLallo]

  Last year Vanguard Natural Resources (NASDAQ: VNR  ) changed its distribution policy and in so doing changed the game for oil and gas producing MLPs. The new monthly distribution policy enabled the company's income-seeking investors to better match their monthly cash outflows with monthly inflows from Vanguard. It was such a unique strategy that the company even trademarked the tag line that the company is "The Monthly Distribution MLP."

• [By Matt DiLallo]

  Among its peers in the MLP and LLC space, LINN by far hedges the most production. BreitBurn Energy Partners (NASDAQ: BBEP  ) , for example, has hedged roughly 75% of its production through 2015, whereas LINN is 100% hedged through 2016. BreitBurn almost exclusively uses swaps as its hedge of choice. It's a similar story at Vanguard Natural Resources (NASDAQ: VNR  ) , which also uses swaps to almost exclusively hedge natural gas while using three-way collars to hedge about a third of its oil production. While LINN could get more creative, one thing I'd be surprised to hear is that it's going to join these two peers and leave some of its production unhedged.

• [By Matt DiLallo]

  Oil and gas producer, Vanguard Natural Resources (NASDAQ: VNR  ) is out with its first-quarter earnings. The company, known for its monthly distribution to investors, is one of a growing number of oil and gas production companies structured as an MLP/LLC. This makes the high yielder a favorite of income-starved investors. Let's take a quick look to ensure that income won't be drying up anytime soon.

Top 5 Canadian Stocks To Own For 2014: Credit Suisse Group(CS)

Credit Suisse Group AG, together with its subsidiaries, operates as a financial services company. The company operates in three segments: Private Banking, Investment Banking, and Asset Management. The Private Banking segment offers advisory services and a range of wealth management solutions, including pension planning, life insurance products, tax planning, and wealth and inheritance advice for the high-net-worth and ultra-high-net-worth individuals. This segment also supplies banking products and services to affluent, high-net-worth and ultra-high-net-worth clients, and corporates and institutions. The Investment Banking segment provides investment banking and securities products and services to corporations, governments, pension funds, and institutions. Its products and services include debt and equity underwriting, sales and trading, mergers and acquisitions advice, divestitures, corporate sales, restructuring, and investment research. The Asset Management segment offe rs integrated investment solutions and services to institutions, governments, foundations and endowments, corporations, and individuals. It provides access to a range of investment classes across alternative investment, asset allocation, and traditional investment strategies. The company operates in Switzerland, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, the Americas, and the Asia Pacific. Credit Suisse Group AG was founded in 1856 and is headquartered in Zurich, Switzerland.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Reuters]

  Kris Connor/Getty ImagesU.S. Attorney General Eric Holder. The U.S. Justice Department is preparing to file civil fraud charges against Citigroup and Bank of America's Merrill Lynch unit over their sale of flawed mortgage securities ahead of the financial crisis, according to people familiar with the probes. Civil investigators have compiled evidence that allegedly shows that investors lost tens of billions of dollars after purchasing securities Citigroup (C) had marketed as safe even though the bank had reason to believe otherwise, one person said. An investigation into the mortgage securities marketed by Merrill Lynch, which Bank of America (BAC) agreed to acquire at the height of the crisis in 2008, is also close to completion, two other people said. Probes against Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) and Credit Suisse (CS) are also underway and progressing, according to another two people familiar with those cases. Representatives for all four banks declined to comment. The U.S. banking industry, which faces a range of mortgage-related lawsuits, has contended that many of the alleged investor losses can be attributed to the financial crisis, and that they shouldn't be held liable for marketing a variety of mortgage securities that ultimately soured. The Justice Department hasn't determined the exact timing of upcoming lawsuits, the sources said, although U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder told Reuters earlier this month that the department planned to bring more mortgage-related cases in early 2014, while declining to name which companies were targeted. The probes could also lead to settlements instead of lawsuits. The cases stem from a government task force the Obama administration created in early 2012 to probe the sale of shoddy home loans repackaged for investors. Last month, JPMorgan Chase (JPM) entered a $13 billion settlement with the Justice Department and other agencies, to resolve charges that the bank overstated the quality of mortgages it was

Top 5 Canadian Stocks To Own For 2014: Plains All American Pipeline L.P.(PAA)

Plains All American Pipeline, L.P., through its subsidiaries, engages in the transportation, storage, terminalling, and marketing of crude oil, refined products, and liquid petroleum gas (LPG) products in the United States and Canada. The company operates in three segments: Transportation, Facilities, and Supply and Logistics. The Transportation segment transports crude oil and refined products on pipelines, gathering systems, trucks, and barges. As of December 31, 2011, this segment owned and leased 16,000 miles of active crude oil and refined products pipelines and gathering systems; 23 million barrels of above-ground tank capacity used primarily to facilitate pipeline throughput; 67 trucks and 382 trailers; and 82 transport and storage barges, and 44 transport tugs. The Facilities segment provides storage, terminalling, and throughput services for crude oil, refined products, and LPG and natural gas, as well as offers LPG fractionation and isomerization, and natural gas processing services. The Supply and Logistics segment purchases crude oil at the wellhead, and pipeline and terminal facilities; waterborne cargoes at their load port and various other locations in transit; and LPG from producers, refiners, and other marketers. This segment also resells or exchanges crude oil and LPG; and transports oil and LPG on trucks, barges, railcars, pipelines, and ocean-going vessels to various delivery points. It has 622 trucks and 731 trailers, and 2,453 railcars. The company also owns and operates natural gas storage facilities. Plains All American Pipeline, L.P. was founded in 1998 and is headquartered in Houston, Texas.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By David Dittman]

  Answer: I think Kinder Morgan Energy Partners is a compelling long-term value at these levels, and management has reiterated 2014 distribution growth targets.
  
  Enterprise Products Partners is the gold standard for US MLPs as far as consistent distribution growth is concerned. And Plains All American Pipeline Partners LP (NYSE: PAA) has a great collection of assets and a great management team.
  
  I like Northeast Utilities for transmission-investment-driven dividend growth. Brookfield Renewable Energy Partners is great for wind and hydro asset and dividend growth. ARC Resources Ltd (TSX: ARX, OTC: AETUF) has posted really incredible production-per-share growth recently.

• [By Dividend]

  Plains All American Pipeline (PAA) has a market capitalization of $17.83 billion. The company employs 4,700 people, generates revenue of $37.797 billion and has a net income of $1.127 billion. Plains All American Pipeline�� earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) amounts to $1.928 billion. The EBITDA margin is 5.10 percent (the operating margin is 3.77 percent and the net profit margin 2.98 percent).

• [By Aimee Duffy]

  Distributions are incredibly important to master limited partnerships -- they are the reason many investors buy in, and ultimately what drive the market performance for this asset class. As news of distribution increases trickle in for the third quarter, Fool.com contributor Aimee Duffy takes a look at the payouts from Genesis Energy (NYSE: GEL  ) , Plains All American Pipeline (NYSE: PAA  ) , and Memorial Production Partners (NASDAQ: MEMP  ) , as all three MLPs are leading the way with the biggest distribution increases.

Top 5 Canadian Stocks To Own For 2014: American Axle & Manufacturing Holdings Inc. (AXL)

American Axle & Manufacturing Holdings, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, engages in the manufacture, engineering, design, and validation of driveline and drivetrain systems, and related components and chassis modules for automotive industry in the United States. The company?s driveline and drivetrain systems comprise components that transfer power from the transmission and deliver it to the drive wheels. These products include axles, chassis modules, driveshafts, power transfer units, transfer cases, chassis and steering components, driving heads, crankshafts, transmission parts, and metal-formed products. It offers products for light trucks, sport utility vehicles, passenger cars, crossover vehicles, and commercial vehicles. The company was founded in 1994 and is headquartered in Detroit, Michigan.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Seth Jayson]

  American Axle & Manufacturing Holdings (NYSE: AXL  ) is expected to report Q1 earnings on May 3. Here's what Wall Street wants to see:

• [By Sue Chang]

  American Axle & Manufacturing Holdings Inc. (AXL) �is projected to report earnings of 56 cents a share in the third quarter.