Top Integrated Utility Companies To Watch For 2014

Vail Resorts (NYSE: MTN  ) will release its quarterly report on Monday, and already, investors are celebrating an early cold snap in the American West by sending the resort company's stock toward yearly highs. To an even greater extent than winter-equipment makers Polaris Industries (NYSE: PII  ) and Arctic Cat (NASDAQ: ACAT  ) , Vail Resorts relies on a solid snow season in order to get visitors to come to its ski properties and stay at its resorts.

Obviously, Vail Resorts has a strong seasonal component to its earnings, and so expecting much from the company's October quarter is a huge mistake. Unlike Polaris and Arctic Cat, which have taken strides toward diversifying their winter business into an all-season affair with different types of equipment, Vail Resorts still largely relies on winter sports for the bulk of its success. Yet even with its seasonal losses during the late summer and early fall, Vail Resorts hopes to set the stage for better performance in its high season. Let's take an early look at what's been happening with Vail Resorts over the past quarter and what we're likely to see in its report.

Top 10 Industrial Disributor Stocks To Own Right Now: ASML Holding N.V. (ASML)

ASML Holding N.V., through its subsidiaries, engages in designing, manufacturing, marketing, and servicing semiconductor processing equipment used in the fabrication of integrated circuits. The company offers a portfolio of lithography systems for manufacturing semiconductors, integrated circuits, or chips. It primarily provides PAS 5500 product family that comprises wafer steppers, and step and scan systems suitable for the i-line, krypton fluoride, and argon fluoride processing of wafers; TWINSCAN for manufacturing environments for which design resolutions down to 38 nanometers are required; TWINSCAN NXT system to support extreme ultraviolet lithography (EUV) imaging in various system critical areas; and NXE (EUV) system that utilizes reflective mirrors with a numerical aperture of 0.25. The company operates principally in Japan, Korea, Singapore, Taiwan, rest of Asia, Europe, and the United States. The company was formerly known as ASM Lithography Holding N.V. and chang ed its name to ASML Holding N.V. in 2001. ASML Holding N.V. was founded in 1984 and is headquartered in Veldhoven, the Netherlands.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Ben Axler]

  We also note there has been a healthy pace of M&A consolidation in the semiconductor capital equipment industry in the past few years. For example, ASML Holdings (ASML) recently acquired Cymer and Tokyo Electron Ltd. (TYO: 8038) acquired FSI International. Lastly, we noted previously that Applied Materials (AMAT) acquired Varian Semiconductor in 2011, a close competitor to Axcelis. Our analysis suggests that the minimum valuation for a company in the industry is 1.2x, 11.0x and 2.2x revenues, EPS, and tangible book value, respectively. Furthermore, the average premium paid to the stock price has been a minimum of 35%.

• [By Monica Gerson]

  ASML Holding NV (NASDAQ: ASML) is estimated to report its Q3 earnings at $0.73 per share on revenue of $1.76 billion.

  Noble (NYSE: NE) is expected to post its Q3 earnings at $0.70 per share on revenue of $1.07 billion.

• [By Corinne Gretler]

  ASML Holding NV (ASML) climbed 2.5 percent to 52.55 euros. Europe�� largest semiconductor-equipment supplier posted first- quarter sales of 892 million euros, topping the 874 million-euro analyst estimate. The company also announced a share buyback program of as much as 1 billion euros and said Chief Executive Officer Eric Meurice will step down as of July.

• [By Jim Jubak]

  But truly positive reports, like the 11 cents a share earnings surprise at ASML Holding (ASML), with revenue growth of 81% year over year that put revenue $22 million above Wall Street estimates, have been light on the ground, so far, this quarter.

Top Integrated Utility Companies To Watch For 2014: Dupont Fabros Technology Inc. (DFT)

DuPont Fabros Technology, Inc., a real estate investment trust (REIT), engages in the ownership, acquisition, development, operation, management, and lease of large-scale data center facilities in the United States. The company leases its data centers to the American and international technology companies to house, power, and cool the computer servers that support their critical business processes. It also provides certain technical services to tenants, including layout design and installation of electrical power circuits, data cabling, server cabinets and racks, computer room airflow analyses, and monitoring. As of December 31, 2011, the company owned and operated seven data centers located in Northern Virginia; one data center in suburban Chicago, Illinois; one data center in Piscataway, New Jersey; one data center in Santa Clara, California. DuPont Fabros Technology, Inc. has elected to be taxed as a REIT. As a REIT, it would not be subject to federal corporate income t axes if it distributes at least 90% of its taxable income to its stockholders. The company was founded in 2007 and is headquartered in Washington, District of Columbia.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Rich Duprey]

  As noted last month, DuPont Fabros Technology�� (NYSE: DFT  ) �increased its�second-quarter dividend�25%, which will be paid on July 15 to shareholders of record on July 5. In addition to announcing this regular $0.25-per-share payout for its common stock, the data center operator also announced yesterday it would be paying dividends on two series of preferred stock, both of which will also be payable on July 15 to shareholders of record on July 5.

• [By Rich Duprey]

  Investors might find it fabulous that DuPont Fabros Technology� (NYSE: DFT  ) �has increased its second-quarter dividend, the third time in two years the payout has been increased.

• [By alicet236]

  Dupont Fabros Technology Inc. (DFT): President and CEO Hossein Fateh Sold 146,687 Shares

  President and CEO of Dupont Fabros Technology Inc. (DFT) Hossein Fateh sold 146,687 shares on 01/10/2014 at an average price of $24.62. DuPont Fabros Technology Inc. was incorporated in March 2007 under the laws of the State of Maryland. Dupont Fabros Technology Inc. has a market cap of $1.61 billion; its shares were traded at around $24.92 with a P/E ratio of 100.90 and P/S ratio of 4.47. The dividend yield of Dupont Fabros Technology Inc stocks is 3.82%. Dupont Fabros Technology Inc. had an annual average earnings growth of 14.50% over the past five years.

• [By Ong Kang Wei]

  For example, Digital Realty (DLR) is the undoubted leader in the data storage industry, with a market cap of $8.3B. Its other three competitors, DuPont Fabros (DFT), CoreSite Realty (COR) and CyrusOne (CONE), have market caps of $1.5B, $930M and $430M respectively. In addition, with the level of complexity involving Digital's business making it immensely difficult for companies to operate data centre facilities, the company is in a good position for future growth. The company also has a wide network of 595 tenants (significantly more than other competitors), including CenturyLink (CTL), AT&T and Morgan Stanley (MS). This further secures its long term business prospects and also its dominance over its competitors.

Top Integrated Utility Companies To Watch For 2014: iShares Residential Real Estate Capped ETF (REZ)

iShares FTSE NAREIT Residential Index Fund (the Fund) seeks investment results that correspond generally to the price and yield performance of the FTSE NAREIT Residential Index (the Index). The Index measures the performance of the residential real estate sector of the United States equity market.

The Fund will concentrate its investments in a particular industry or group of industries to approximately the same extent as the Index is so concentrated. A significant number of the real estate investment trusts (REITs) included in the Index may make direct investments in real estate. These REITs are referred to as equity REITs. Equity REITs invest primarily in real property and earn rental income from leasing those properties. The Fund invests in equity REITs that primarily have exposure to residential real estate. The Fund�� investment advisor is Barclays Global Fund Advisors.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Susan J. Aluise]

  Riding the growth in multifamily homes, NYMT is up 13% this year. Because mREITs use leverage to invest in mortgage debt, they tend to be riskier than property-based REITs –�they’re more vulnerable to interest rate fluctuations. A rising rate environment is anathema to mREITs, and NYMT is no exception …�but I think the growth in the multifamily sector plus the hefty dividend will provide solid rewards for investors willing to stomach a little more risk.

  REIT ETF:�FTSE NAREIT Residential Index Fund�(REZ)

  If you��e looking for exposure to the multifamily rental housing boom, but want to diversify beyond either single housing stocks or REITs, an ETF like FTSE NAREIT Residential Index Fund�(REZ)�might be just what you��e looking for.

Top Integrated Utility Companies To Watch For 2014: Sky Deutschland AG (SKYD)

Sky Deutschland AG is a Germany-based holding company, which operates a subscription television network in Germany and Austria. The Company manages television brands, including Sky Welt and Sky Welt Extra, as well as offers packages Film, Sport, Fussball Bundesliga (Germany football league), and HD (High Definition television), as well as pay-per-view service Sky Select and Sky Go. Furthermore, the Company offers Sky Hotel & Bars service, which provides the Company's services in public houses and bars. The Company offers approximately 70 television channels of various genres. Sky Select package enables watching selected movies at the specific time. Sky Go offers content on mobile devices, Internet and simultaneously on different television sets. The Company is also engaged in the purchase, sale and distribution of rights to film, series and television productions, the acquisition, sale and distribution of broadcasting rights for public events, among others. Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Inyoung Hwang]

  Sky Deutschland AG (SKYD) surged 5 percent to 7.55 euros, the highest price since September 2008. The pay-television said third-quarter ebitda climbed 19 percent to 29.2 million euros. Revenue jumped 19 percent from a year earlier to 392.7 million, topping analysts��estimates.