Top Building Product Stocks To Own For 2014

Ford's Fiesta is a best-seller in Europe. Photo credit: Ford Motor Co.

Ford's (NYSE: F  ) Fiesta subcompact is a little car with many virtues. Unlike small Fords of decades past, this Fiesta is solidly built and handles like a premium car.

What's more, it gets good mileage, and it has a plush interior that goes way beyond most folks' ideas of what an "econobox" is like.

In the U.S., where gas is still cheaper than in many parts of the world, the Fiesta doesn't get all that much love. Sales of the little Ford haven't been bad, but they have long trailed those of its Focus sibling, which is a bigger car for not a lot more money.

But in Europe, where gas is expensive and times are tough, the Fiesta has been getting a lot of love lately.

Top Building Product Stocks To Own For 2014: ATP Oil & Gas Corporation(ATPG)

ATP Oil & Gas Corporation engages in the acquisition, development, and production of oil and natural gas properties primarily in the Gulf of Mexico and the United Kingdom sector of the North Sea. The company also has interests in three deepwater licenses in the Mediterranean Sea off the coast of Israel. As of December 31, 2011, it had estimated net proved reserves of 118.9 million barrels of crude oil equivalent (MMBoe), of which approximately 75.9 MMBoe were in the Gulf of Mexico and 42.9 MMBoe were in the North Sea. The company?s reserves comprised approximately 78.6 million barrels of crude oil or other liquid hydrocarbons and 241.5 billion cubic feet of natural gas. It also owned leasehold and other interests in 38 offshore blocks and 49 wells comprising 23 subsea wells in the Gulf of Mexico, as well as had interests in 13 blocks and 2 company-operated subsea wells in the North Sea. ATP Oil & Gas Corporation was founded in 1991 and is headquartered in Houston, Texas.< /p> Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Putnam]

  ATP Oil and Gas Corp. (ATPG) is trading at $9.17. ATPG is an independent oil and gas company, based in Texas. These shares have traded in a range between $5.71 to $21.40 in the last 52 weeks. The 50-day movi ng average is $10.51 and the 200-day moving is $15.40. Earnings estimates for ATPG are expected to go from a loss in 2011 to a profit of $1.49 per share in 2012. The higher revenues and profits for 2012 are due to higher production coming from oil wells in the Gulf of Mexico. Rodman & Renshaw has set a $22 price target for ATPG shares.

Top Building Product Stocks To Own For 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 Mark]

  Kinross Gold (KGC) has been upgraded by TheStreet Ratings from hold to buy. The company's strengths can be seen in multiple areas, such as its impressive record of earnings per share growth, compelling growth in net income, robust revenue growth, largely solid financial position with reasonable debt levels by most measures and good cash flow from operations. We feel these strengths outweigh the fact that the company has had somewhat disappointing return on equity.

  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 has a P/E ratio of 18.5, above the average metals & mining industry P/E ratio of 18.1 and above the S&P 500 P/E ratio of 17.7. Kinross has a market cap of $20 billion and is part of the basic materials sector and metals & mining industry. Shares are down 6.6% year to date as of the close of trading on Wednesday.

• [By Luke Burgess]

  Canadian-based Kinross Gold is one of the world’s top five gold producers. With operations that span four continents, the company produced 2.61 million ounces of gold last year, a 12% increase over the company’s output in 2010.

  The boost in production helped fuel Kinross’ cash flow amid rising gold prices – firing revenue up 31% to nearly $4 billion last year.

  For 2012, Kinross says that it expects to produce approximately 2.6 to 2.8 million gold equivalent ounces from its current operations.

  Rising production costs have, however, cut into Kinross’ revenue over the past several quarters. Full-year production costs in 2011 averaged $596 per gold equivalent ounce, versus $506 per gold equivalent ounce for full-year 2010.

  Kinross says production costs are expected to rise again in 2012 in the range of $670 to $715 per gold equivalent ounce. So the rise in production costs may offset rising revenue from increased production if the market sees weaker gold prices.

  Kinross’ gold stock currently pays a semi-annually dividend. The company recently declared a dividend of US$0.08 per common share, payable on March 31, 2012 to shareholders of record at the close of business on March 23, 2012.

Top 10 Gold Stocks To Invest In Right Now: New Guinea Gold Corporation(NGG.V)

New Guinea Gold Corporation engages in the acquisition, exploration, development, and operation of mineral properties in Papua New Guinea. It explores for gold, copper, and tellurium ores. The company primarily holds interest in the Sinivit gold project located in East New Britain Province. New Guinea Gold Corporation is based in Vancouver, Canada.

Top Building Product Stocks To Own For 2014: Visa Inc.(V)

Visa Inc., a payments technology company, engages in the operation of retail electronic payments network worldwide. It facilitates commerce through the transfer of value and information among financial institutions, merchants, consumers, businesses, and government entities. The company owns and operates VisaNet, a global processing platform that provides transaction processing services. It also offers a range of payments platforms, which enable credit, charge, deferred debit, debit, and prepaid payments, as well as cash access for consumers, businesses, and government entities. The company provides its payment platforms under the Visa, Visa Electron, PLUS, and Interlink brand names. In addition, it offers value-added services, including risk management, issuer processing, loyalty, dispute management, value-added information, and CyberSource-branded services. The company is headquartered in San Francisco, California.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Jeff Reeves]

  Despite a very rough 2011 so far, payment processor Visa (NYSE:V) is right there beside Apple with gains of nearly 30% since the first of the year. Visa stock continues to set 52-week highs and is within striking distance of new all-time highs above $97.

  Visa doesn’t have quite the track record of many blue chips, having only gone public in 2008. However, there are some big reasons to expect that the recent growth is not just a flash in the pan.

  For starters, the demographic trends are hard to ignore. The percentage of cashless transactions continues to rise. Despite rapid growth from fees for payment processing, 40% of all transactions in the U.S. still are done with cash or paper checks. That’s to say nothing of rapid growth of debit and credit card business in emerging markets. Visa’s logo is everywhere and will only be accepted in more places as the months go by.

  And don’t forget, Visa is not a financial stock. Service fees account for more than one-third of revenue — meaning the stock is little more than a toll-taker on the road between a merchant and a customer’s checking account. It is not exposed to bad debt the way financial stocks like Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) and others are.

  Visa has seen year-over-year earnings growth every single quarter since going public, and it should keep up that growth. Additionally, revenue was up 17% from fiscal 2009 to fiscal 2010 and is forecast to jump another 12% in fiscal 2011.

  There is big growth to be had at Visa. It might not be Apple, but its strong growth potential and dominant brand make it a go-to stock for large-cap investors.

• [By Charles Sizemore]

  One of the “big picture” economic themes that I expect to play out over 2011 and beyond is the secular shift to a global cashless society.?Though the process is well on its way in the U.S. and Europe, roughly 40% of all transactions are still made with cash and paper checks according to Barron’s.

  This means that even in “boring” developed markets, there is ample room for growth in electronic payments. And there is no better company to benefit from this trend than credit card giant Visa (NYSE: V).

• [By Rebecca Lipman]

   Operates retail electronic payments network worldwide. Market cap of $82.48B. EPS growth (5-year CAGR) at 15%. According to Morgan Stanley: "Global penetration of electronic payments remains low with 85% of the world's transactions still cash-based, leaving ample runway to support healthy growth prospects through (at least) 2015."

Top Building Product Stocks To Own For 2014: Guthrie Gts Ltd (G33.SI)

Guthrie GTS Limited, an investment holding company, engages in property, engineering, and leisure businesses in Singapore, Indonesia, and internationally. The company operates through three segments: Property, Engineering, and Leisure. The Property segment engages in the investment, development, and management of retail, commercial, and residential properties; and project management, as well as retail planning, consultancy, marketing, leasing, and mall management. The Engineering segment is involved in undertaking engineering contracts, and trading related products; and the provision of professional services to the transport, telecommunications, air-conditioning, electrical, and fire protection, as well as building and facility management sectors. The Leisure segment invests in, and operates hotels and a golf resort, which comprise the Mercure Vientiane hotel in Laos, the Pullman Jakarta Indonesia hotel in Jakarta, the Novotel Bali Benoa hotel in Bali, and the Indah Puri G olf Resort in Batam. It also offers warehousing facilities; and marketing services to golf clubs and hotels. The company was formerly known as Mulpha (Singapore) Ltd. and changed its name to Guthrie GTS Limited in 1988. Guthrie GTS Limited was founded in 1821 and is headquartered in Singapore.