Top 5 Electric Utility Stocks To Own Right Now

The economy is showing signs of fumbling the recovery.

Even though some Fed members have suggested easing back on central bank stimulus, the coast isn't exactly clear. Despite the spike in home sales and this week's better-than-expected report on new claims for jobless benefits, we still saw a report showing that manufacturing has slowed for the second month in a row.

The news isn't just iffy on the macro level. There are also more than a few companies that aren't pulling their own weight in this supposed economic recovery.

There are still plenty of names posting lower earnings than they did a year ago. Let's go over a few of the companies that are expected to go the wrong way on the bottom line next week.

Company

Latest Quarter EPS (estimated)

Year-Ago Quarter EPS

Seadrill (NYSE: SDRL  )

Top 5 Electric Utility Stocks To Own Right Now: SunCoke Energy Partners LP (SXCP)

SunCoke Energy Partners, L.P., incorporated on July 30, 2012, manufactures coke, which is used in the blast furnace production of steel. The Company's sponsor owns the remaining 35% interest in each of Haverhill and Middletown. The Company's sponsor, through its subsidiary, owns a 55.9% partnership interest in the Company owns and controls its general partner which holds a 2% general partner interest in the Company. The Company's cokemaking ovens utilize efficient, modern heat recovery technology designed to combust the coal's volatile components liberated during the cokemaking process and use the resulting heat to create steam or electricity for sale. The Company operates in cokemaking facilities located in Ohio. In September 2013, SunCoke Energy Partners, L.P completed its acquisition of Lakeshore Coal Handling Corporation. In October 2013, the Company acquired Kanawha River Terminals LLC (KRT).

The Company licenses this advanced heat recovery cokemaking process from its sponsor. The Company's sponsor designed, developed and built, and owns and operates five cokemaking facilities in the United States, including Haverhill and Middletown with an aggregate coke production capacity of approximately 4.2 million tons per year and designed and operates one cokemaking facility in Vitoria, Brazil with a coke production capacity of approximately 1.7 million tons per year. Approximately 90% or 17.5 million tons, was for blast furnace steelmaking operations and the remaining 10% was for foundry and other non-steelmaking operations. The Company's cokemaking capacity represents stated capacity for the production of blast furnace coke. The Middletown capacity on a run of oven basis is approximately 578,000 tons per year.

The first phase of the Company's Haverhill facility or Haverhill 1, includes steam generation facilities which use hot flue gas from the cokemaking process to produce steam. The steam is sold to a third-party pursuant to a steam supply and purchase agreement. The Company! 's Middletown facility and the second phase of the Company's Haverhill facility, or Haverhill 2, include cogeneration plants that use the hot flue gas created by the cokemaking process to generate electricity. The electricity is either sold into the regional power market or to AK Steel pursuant to energy sales agreements. The Company has Approximately 400 acres in Franklin Furnace (Scioto County), Ohio, on which the Haverhill cokemaking facility is located and 250 acres in Middletown (Butler County), Ohio near AK Steel�� Middletown Works facility, on which the Middletown cokemaking facility is located.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Aimee Duffy]

  But this too is starting to shift. If you look at the most-recent IPOs on the New York Stock Exchange, you'll find many corners of the energy industry represented:

  Tallgrass Energy Partners�-- Natural gas midstream, debuted May 14 KNOT Offshore Partners (NYSE: KNOP  ) -- Shuttle tankers, debuted April 10 SunCoke Energy Partners (NYSE: SXCP  ) -- Coal/coke making, debuted Jan. 18 CVR Refining (NYSE: CVRR  ) -- Mid-continent refining, debuted Jan. 17

  There have also been a few MLP-related funds to hit the market this year, including Global X Junior MLP ETF�and Neuberger Berman MLP Income Fund.

Top 5 Electric Utility Stocks To Own Right Now: New Residential Investment Corp (NRZ)

New Residential Investment Corp., incorporated on September 26, 2013, is a real estate investment trust. The Company focuses on investing in, and actively managing, investments related to residential real estate. On May 15, 2013, Newcastle Investment Corp. announced that the spin-off of New Residential Investment Corp.

The Company is managed by an affiliate of Fortress Investment Group LLC, a global investment management. The Company primarily target investments in excess mortgage servicing rights, residential mortgage backed securities, residential mortgage loans and other related investments.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Lauren Pollock]

  New Residential Investment Corp.(NRZ) and other investors agreed to buy about $3.2 billion of servicing advances from Nationstar Mortgage Holdings Inc.(NSM), part of Nationstar’s plan to reconfigure its acquisition structure. The advances relate to nonagency residential mortgage loans with an unpaid principal balance of about $58 billion. Nationstar shares rose 4.1% to $42.50 in light premarket trading.

Best Value Stocks To Own Right Now: Norwood Financial Corp.(NWFL)

Norwood Financial Corp. operates as the holding company for the Wayne Bank, which provides various commercial banking products and services to individuals, businesses, nonprofit organizations, and municipalities in Pennsylvania. The company?s various deposit products include interest-bearing and noninterest bearing transaction accounts, statement savings and money market accounts, and certificate of deposits. Its loan products comprise mortgage loans to finance principal residences, as well as second home dwellings; commercial loans, including lines of credit, revolving credit, term loans, mortgages, secured lending, and letter of credit facilities; construction loans for commercial construction and single-family residences; and indirect dealer financing of new and used automobiles, boats, and recreational vehicles. The company also offers various other services, such as cash management, direct deposit, remote deposit capture, automated clearing house activity, credit ser vices, trust, investment products, real estate settlement services, and Internet banking. It operates five offices in Wayne County, three offices in Pike County, and three offices in Monroe County, and also serves Lackawanna and Susquehanna counties. The company operates eleven automated teller machines in its branch locations. Norwood Financial Corp. was founded in 1870 and is headquartered in Honesdale, Pennsylvania.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Marc Bastow]

  Bank holding company Norwood Financial (NWFL) raised its quarterly dividend 7.1% to 30 cents per share, payable on Feb. 3 to shareholders of record as of Jan. 15.
  NWFL Dividend Yield: 4.39%

Top 5 Electric Utility Stocks To Own Right Now: MGP Ingredients Inc.(MGPI)

MGP Ingredients, Inc. produces ingredients and distillery products in the United States. It processes wheat flour and corn into various products through an integrated production process. The company operates in three business segments: Ingredient Solutions, Distillery Products, and Other. The Ingredient Solutions segment products consist of specialty proteins, specialty starches, vital wheat gluten, commodity wheat starch, and mill by-products. The Distillery Products segment offers food grade alcohol; fuel grade alcohol, commonly known as ethanol; and distiller?s feed and carbon dioxide, which are co-products of the company?s distillery operations. The Other segment products comprise resins, and plant-based polymers and composites. MGP Ingredients, Inc. sells its products directly or through distributors to the manufacturers and processors of finished goods. The company was founded in 1941 and is headquartered in Atchison, Kansas.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By John Udovich]

  Small cap ingredients stock Balchem Corporation (NASDAQ: BCPC) jumped 22.76% yesterday on news about an acquisition, meaning its worth taking a closer look at the stock along with potential peers like small cap MGP Ingredients Inc (NASDAQ: MGPI) and the PowerShares Dynamic Food & Beverage ETF (NYSEARCA: PBJ).

Top 5 Electric Utility Stocks To Own Right Now: BP p.l.c.(BP)

BP p.l.c. provides fuel for transportation, energy for heat and light, retail services, and petrochemicals products. Its Exploration and Production segment engages in the oil and natural gas exploration, field development, and production; midstream transportation, and storage and processing; and marketing and trading of natural gas, including liquefied natural gas (LNG), and power and natural gas liquids (NGL). This segment has exploration and production activities in Angola, Azerbaijan, Canada, Egypt, Norway, Russia, Trinidad and Tobago, the United Kingdom, and the United States, as well as in Asia, Australasia, South America, North Africa, and the Middle East. This segment also owns and manages crude oil and natural gas pipelines; processing facilities and export terminals; and LNG processing and transportation, as well as NGL extraction facilities. BP p.l.c. has interests in the Trans-Alaska pipeline system, the Forties pipeline system, the Central Area transmission sys tem pipeline, the South Caucasus Pipeline, and Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline, as well as in LNG plants located in Trinidad, Indonesia, and Australia. The company?s Refining and Marketing segment involves in the supply and trading, refining, manufacturing, marketing, and transportation of crude oil, petroleum, and petrochemicals products and related services to wholesale and retail customers primarily under the BP, Castrol, ARCO, and Aral brands. Its Other Businesses and Corporate segment produces and markets rolled aluminum products, as well as generates energy through wind, solar, biofuels, hydrogen, and carbon capture and storage sources; and engages in shipping activities. The company was founded in 1889 and is headquartered in London, the United Kingdom.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Matt DiLallo]

  Contango can also affect a company like LINN Energy (NASDAQ: LINE  ) which seeks to hedge all of its production for the long term. A good example of this can be seen last year when LINN Energy�bought the Jonah Field from BP (NYSE: BP  ) . Upon closing the deal, LINN hedged 100% of the expected oil and natural gas production through 2017. If the market were in contango at the time it could have had an impact on the future profits LINN expects to produce from that asset. It would mean that production sold just after closing would have netted a higher sale price than oil and gas that won't be produced until 2017. That's one reason why LINN had been using puts to hedge its production; it wanted to keep some of that upside.

• [By Eric Volkman]

  A deal conferring a set of BP's (NYSE: BP  ) American assets to Tesoro (NYSE: TSO  ) has been finalized. The latter is the owner of the petroleum giant's now-former refinery in Carson, near Los Angeles, and a network of more than 800 retail stations. It also gains control of the related logistical and marketing assets in the region. All told, the value of the deal is roughly $2.4 billion.�