Top Trucking Companies To Buy Right Now

Job creation last month was shockingly weak, but analysts couldn't really explain why –- other than to blame the weather -- which left investors unsure how to react Friday. Many analysts say the numbers are likely to be revised higher next month, and in the end, market reaction was muted. The Dow Jones industrial average (^DJI) lost ground for a third straight day, declining nearly 8 points, but the Standard & Poor's 500 index (^GPSC) added 4, and the Nasdaq composite index (^IXIC) rose 18 points. Target (TGT) lost more than a point after saying the data breach that began on Black Friday was much worse than previously thought. The company now says as many as 70 million customers had personal information stolen. Target also lowered its fourth quarter outlook, partly because sales slumped after the data breach was first revealed. Sears (SHLD) tumbled by around 13.5 percent. It expects a big quarterly loss as sales fell during the holiday shopping season. Several smaller, specialty retailers also fell: Pacific Sunwear (PSUN) slid 16 percent, Five Below (FIVE) fell 7 percent, Shoe Carnival (SCVL) lost 5 percent, and Conn's (CONN) lost 2 percent. But Abercrombie & Fitch (ANF) jumped 12 percent. It raised its earnings forecast as sales were not as bad as expected. Elsewhere, Alcoa (AA) fell about 5.5 percent. It's not quite the economic bellwether it used to be, but the aluminum giant still matters, and its net came in a bit shy of expectations. YRC Worldwide (YRCW) tumbled 13 percent after workers rejected a contract offer. That has raised fears the trucking company could be forced into bankruptcy. On the upside, the weak jobs report could keep mortgage rates from rising, and that boosted housing stocks. KB Homes (KBH) rose 3 percent, William Lyons up 4 percent, and Lennar (LEN) was up 2 percent. And on Thursday we reported that shares of Intercept Pharmaceuticals nearly quadrupled in price on news of a positive clinical study for its liver drug. Well, it soared another 61 percent Friday. The stock has gone from about $70 a share on Wednesday to close the week at $444 a share. What to Watch Monday: The Treasury Department releases the federal budget for December at 2 p.m. Eastern time. -.

Top Tech Stocks To Own Right Now: Walker & Dunlop Inc (WD)

Walker & Dunlop, Inc. (Walker & Dunlop), incorporated on July 29, 2010, is a holding company and it conducts all of its operations through Walker & Dunlop, LLC, its operating company. Walker & Dunlop is a provider of commercial real estate financial services in the United States, with a primary focus on multifamily lending. The Company originates, sells and services a range of multifamily and other commercial real estate financing products. The Company�� clients are owners and developers of commercial real estate. It originates and sells loans through the programs of the Federal National Mortgage Association (Fannie Mae), the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation (Freddie Mac, and together with Fannie Mae, the government-sponsored enterprises (GSEs)), the Government National Mortgage Association (Ginnie Mae) and the Federal Housing Administration, a division of the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development (together with Ginnie Mae, HUD). In September 2012, it acquired CWCapital LLC.

The Company retains servicing rights and asset management responsibilities on nearly all loans that it originates for GSE and HUD programs. It is approved as a Fannie Mae Delegated Underwriting and Servicing (DUS) lender nationally, a Freddie Mac Program Plus lender in seven states, the District of Columbia and the metropolitan New York area, a HUD Multifamily Accelerated Processing (MAP) lender nationally, and a Ginnie Mae issuer. It also originates and services loans for a number of life insurance companies, commercial banks and other institutional investors. In addition, through its subsidiary entities, it provides institutional advisory, asset management and investment management services specializing in debt, structured debt and equity.

The Company�� clients are developers and owners of real estate across the United States. It focuses primarily on multifamily properties and offers a range of commercial real estate finance products to the customers, including first mortga! ge loans, second trust loans, supplemental financings, construction loans, mezzanine loans and equity investments. It originates and sells loans under the programs of GSEs and HUD. It structures its internal working groups around the various services it provides, which includes Multifamily Finance, FHA Finance, Healthcare Finance, Capital Markets and Investment Services.

Multifamily Finance

The Company are one of 25 approved lenders who participate in Fannie Mae's DUS program for multifamily, manufactured housing communities, student housing and certain healthcare properties. It also is contracted by Fannie Mae to service all loans that it originates under the Fannie Mae DUS program. It is one of 26 lenders approved as a Freddie Mac Program Plus lender under, which it originates and sells to Freddie Mac multifamily and healthcare loans that satisfy Freddie Mac's underwriting and other eligibility requirements. It also is contracted by Freddie Mac to service all loans that it originates under its program.

FHA Finance

As an approved HUD MAP lender and Ginnie Mae issuer, the Company provides construction and permanent loans to developers and owners of multifamily housing, senior housing and healthcare facilities. It submits its completed loan underwriting package to HUD and obtains HUD's approval to originate the loan. HUD insured loans are placed in single loan pools, which back Ginnie Mae securities. Ginnie Mae is a United States government corporation in The United States Department of Housing and Urban Development.

Healthcare Finance

Through the Column transaction, the Company provides healthcare real estate lending space, which includes skilled nursing facilities and hospitals. The process for originating healthcare real estate loans is similar to the process for originating multifamily loans with HUD or Fannie Mae. It is also contracted by HUD and Fannie Mae to service all loans it originates under their programs.

Capi! tal Markets

The Company serves as an intermediary in the placement of commercial real estate debt between institutional sources of capital, such as life insurance companies, investment banks, commercial banks, pension funds and other institutional investors, and owners of all types of commercial real estate. It often advises on capital structure, develops the financing package, facilitates negotiations between its client and institutional sources of capital, coordinate due diligence and assist in closing the transaction. In these instances, it does not underwrite or fund the loan and do not retain any interest in these loans.

Investment Services

The Company provides investment consulting and related services for two commercial real estate funds, W&D Balanced Real Estate Fund I LP and Walker & Dunlop Apartment Fund I, LLC. W&D Balanced Real Estate Fund I LP is a commercial real estate fund that has invested approximately $50 million in commercial real estate securities and loans, such as first mortgages, B-notes, mezzanine debt and equity securities, and has no further commitments to invest. Third-party pension funds hold limited partnership interests in this fund and are entitled to all regular distributions. Through the Company�� subsidiary, it holds a general partnership interest in this fund and is entitled to incentive distributions only if returns exceed certain pre-established thresholds. Walker & Dunlop Apartment Fund I, LLC is a commercial real estate fund that has invested $45 million in multifamily real estate properties and mezzanine loans, and has no further commitments to invest.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Luke Jacobi]

  Walker & Dunlop (NYSE: WD) dropped 19.17 percent to $12.86 after the company announced it would be raising another round of financing.

  Beacon Roofing Supply (NASDAQ: BECN) fell 7.11 percent to $34.25 after Robert W. Baird downgraded the stock from Outperform to Neutral.

Top Trucking Companies To Buy Right Now: Webster Financial Corp (WBS)

Webster Financial Corporation (Webster), incorporated on September 10, 1986, is a bank holding company and financial holding company. Webster�� principal asset as of December 31, 2012, was Webster Bank, National Association (Webster Bank). Webster, through Webster Bank and various subsidiaries, delivers financial services to individuals, families and businesses primarily throughout southern New England and into Westchester County, New York. Webster provides business and consumer banking, mortgage lending, financial planning, trust and investment services through 167 banking offices, 293 automated teller machines (ATMs), telephone banking, mobile banking and its Internet Website www.websterbank.com. Webster also offers equipment financing, commercial real estate lending and asset-based lending across the Northeast. Webster Bank offers health savings accounts on a nationwide basis, through its HSA Bank division and its Internet Website www.hsabank.com. Webster�� operations are managed along four business segments: Commercial Banking, Retail Banking, Consumer Finance and Other. Other includes Health Savings Accounts (HSA) and Private Banking (including Webster Financial Advisors (WFA)).

Commercial Banking

The Commercial Banking segment includes middle market, asset-based lending, commercial real estate, equipment finance, and Government and not-for-profit banking. Webster�� Commercial Banking group provides lending, deposit and cash management services to middle market companies in its franchise territory. Additionally, it serves as a primary referral source to Wealth Management and Retail Banking.

Retail Banking

Retail Banking serves consumers and small businesses primarily throughout southern New England and into Westchester County, New York, with a distribution network of 167 banking offices and 293 owned ATMs, and a full range of Internet and mobile banking services. Retail Banking includes Webster�� branch network, Consumer deposits, Busin! ess and Professional Banking (BPB), Webster Investment Services (WIS) and the Customer Care Center.

Consumer Finance

Consumer Finance offers lending solutions for consumers primarily in southern New England and Westchester County, New York. Products include: residential mortgages, home equity loans and lines of credit, unsecured personal loans as well as credit card options.

Other

Other includes HSA Bank (HSA) and Private Banking. HSA Bank is a bank custodian of health savings accounts. These accounts are provided for high deductible health plans offered by employers or directly to consumers. Private Banking provides local full relationship banking that serves high net worth clients, not-for-profit organizations and business clients for asset management, trust, loan and deposit products and financial planning services.

Subsidiaries of Webster Financial Corporation

Webster�� direct subsidiaries as of December 31, 2012 included Webster Bank, Fleming, Perry & Cox, Inc., and Webster Licensing, LLC. Webster also owns all of the outstanding common stock of Webster Statutory Trust, an unconsolidated financial vehicle that has issued or may in the future issue trust preferred securities. On July 18, 2012, the Company completed the redemption at par of all the outstanding principal amount of Webster Capital Trust IV fixed to floating-rate trust preferred securities. Webster Bank's direct subsidiaries include Webster Mortgage Investment Corporation, Webster Business Credit Corporation (WBCC) and Webster Capital Finance, Inc. (WCF). Webster Bank is the primary source of retail activity within the consolidated Company. Webster Bank is the primary source of retail activity within the consolidated group. Webster Bank provides banking services through 167 banking offices, 293 owned ATMs, telephone banking, mobile banking and its Internet websites. Residential mortgage origination activity is conducted through Webster Bank. Webster Mortgage! Investme! nt Corporation is a passive investment subsidiary whose primary function is to provide servicing on passive investments, such as residential real estate and commercial mortgage real estate loans transferred from Webster Bank. Various commercial lending products are provided through Webster Bank and its subsidiaries to clients within the region from Westchester County, NY to Boston, MA. WBCC provides asset-based lending services. WCF provides equipment financing for end users of equipment. Additionally, Webster Bank has various other subsidiaries that are not significant to the consolidated Company.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Marc Bastow]

  Bank holding and financial company Webster Bank (WBS) raised its quarterly dividend 33% to 20 cents per share payable June 16 to shareholders of record June 2.
  WBS Dividend Yield: 2.63%

• [By Rich Duprey]

  Business and consumer banking concern�Webster Financial� (NYSE: WBS  ) �announced yesterday that its board of directors has approved increasing its quarterly dividend by 50%, from�$0.10 per share to�$0.15 per share.�The new, higher payment�will be made on May 20 to stockholders of record as of May 6.

• [By Monica Gerson]

  Webster Financial (NYSE: WBS) is projected to report its Q3 earnings at $0.49 per share on revenue of $149.73 million.

  Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE: WFC) is estimated to report its Q3 earnings at $0.97 per share on revenue of $20.97 billion.

Top Trucking Companies To Buy Right Now: SPDR S&P Midcap 400 ETF (MDY)

MidCap SPDRS, Standard & Poor's Depository Receipts, represent ownership interests in the MidCap SPDR Trust, Series 1 (the Trust), which is a unit investment trust that seeks to match the total return of the Standard & Poor's Midcap 400 Composite Price Index (the S&P MidCap Index). To accomplish this, the Trust utilizes a full replication approach.

The Trust's holdings comprise 400 stocks in the S&P MidCap 400 Index, which is designed to capture the price performance of the middle capitalization segment of the United States publicly traded stock market. All 400 securities of the S&P MidCap 400 Index are owned by the Trust in their approximate market capitalization weight.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Dan Caplinger]

  Similarly, diversification within stocks didn't work well. The performance of iShares Russell 2000 (NYSEMKT: IWM  ) and SPDR S&P MidCap 400 (NYSEMKT: MDY  ) showed that there wasn't shelter available in small- and mid-cap stocks. International stocks often help protect against losses, but massive capital flight from emerging markets socked popular ETFs Vanguard Emerging Market (NYSEMKT: VWO  ) and iShares MSCI Emerging Markets (NYSEMKT: EEM  ) for single-day percentage losses that were nearly double the Dow's decline. Even developed markets suffered more than the U.S., as iShares MSCI EAFE (NYSEMKT: EFA  ) posted losses 50% greater than the U.S. market's.

Top Trucking Companies To Buy Right Now: Dolan Co (DM)

The Dolan Company, incorporated in March 2003, is a provider of necessary professional services and business information to legal, financial and real estate sectors in the United States. The Company operates through two operating divisions: its Professional Services Division and its Business Information Division. Its Professional Services Division consists of two segments: mortgage default processing services and litigation support services. Its Business Information Division produces legal publications, business journals, court and commercial media, other online information products and services, and operates Websites and produces events for targeted professional audiences in 21 geographic markets across the United States. Its information is delivered through a variety of methods, including approximately 60 print publications and 80 Websites. The Company also operates specialized information services covering legislative and regulatory activities and providing transcription, media monitoring and translation services. On July 25, 2011, it acquired substantially all of the assets of ACT Litigation Services, Inc. (ACT). In July 2013, the Company sold the assets of its NDeX South business to the law firm affiliates of that business.

Professional Services

The Company�� Professional Services Division consists of two operating segments: mortgage default processing services and litigation support services. Its mortgage default processing services segment consists of the operations of NDeX. Its litigation support services segment consists of the operations of DiscoverReady, its discovery management and document review services business, and Counsel Press, its appellate services business. The Company provides these support services to the legal profession. In addition, NDeX also provides its services directly to mortgage lenders and loan servicers on California foreclosure files. One of the litigation support services it provides is discovery management and document review services, ! including certain technology services related to processing and hosting the data. Discovery is the process by which parties use the legal system to obtain relevant information, primarily in litigation, regulatory, and governmental investigation matters. Some United States companies with in-house legal departments choose to perform or manage some portions of the discovery process in-house, rather than outsourcing them.

The Company provides appellate services to lawyers in connection with both state and federal appeals. It performs more state appellate work, as state appellate case volume generally is larger than federal case volume. There are typically about 300,000 state appeals filed each year, compared to approximately 58,000 federal appeals filed per year, according to information available to the Company from the Administrative Office of the United States Courts and the National Center for State Courts. NDeX also provides real estate title services to the Barrett Law Firm and provides loan modification and loss mitigation support on mortgage default files to its customers. During the year ended December 31, 2011, it received approximately 317,200 mortgage default case files for processing from its customers.

In 2011, its mortgage default processing services segment accounted for 46% of its total revenues and 63% of its Professional Services Division�� total revenues. The Company�� litigation support services professionals at Counsel Press provide clients with consulting services, including procedural and technical advice and support with respect to the United States state and federal appellate processes. During 2011, its litigation support services segment accounted for 27% of its total revenues and 37% of its Professional Services Division�� total revenues. In addition to its appellate services, Counsel Press provides additional tracking and professional services to its clients.

Business Information

The Company provides business informatio! n product! s to companies and professionals in the legal, financial, real estate and governmental affairs sectors primarily through print and online business journals and court and commercial newspapers, as well as other electronic media offerings. Its business journals generally rely on display and classified advertising as a significant source of revenue and provide content that is relevant to the business communities they target. Its court and commercial newspapers generally rely on public notices as their primary source of revenue and offer information to the legal communities they target. All of its business journals and court and commercial newspapers also generate circulation revenue to supplement their advertising and public notice revenue base. There were more than 230 local business journals and more than 350 court and commercial newspapers nationwide, which generated approximately $2 billion in revenues in 2011.

The Company sells packaged print and online advertising products to advertisers that desire to reach readers through different media. Dolan Media Newswires, its Internet-based, subscription newswire, is available at www.dolanmedianewswires.com for news professionals and represents the work of its journalists and contributors. It also operates online, subscription-based legislative information services that are used by lobbyists, associations, corporations, unions, government affairs professionals, state agencies and the media in Arizona, Minnesota and Oklahoma. Through DataStream, it offers customized access to legislative databases, which provide state and federal legislative and regulatory information. Through Federal News, the Company offers transcription services.

The Company provides commercial printing services and sells database information through royalty or licensing fee arrangements. During2011, its subscription-based and other revenues accounted for 8% of its total revenues and 28% of its Business Information Division�� total revenues. The Company prints se! ven of it! s business information publications at one of its three printing facilities located in Baltimore, Minneapolis and Oklahoma City.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Lisa Levin]

  The Dolan Company (NYSE: DM) shares fell 27.23% to reach a new 52-week low of $0.50 after the company received a continued listing standards notice from the NYSE and appointed Kevin Nystrom as Chief Restructuring Officer.

• [By Sally Jones]

  Dolan Co. (DM) ��Market Cap $81.8 Million

  Dolan Co. is down 42% over 12 months. The company has a market cap of $81.8 million; its trades at around $2.65 with a P/B ratio of 1.10.

Top Trucking Companies To Buy Right Now: Veolia Environnement(VE)

Veolia Environnement S.A., together with its subsidiaries, provides environmental management services to individuals, public authorities, and industrial and commercial services customers worldwide. It operates in four segments: Water, Environmental Services, Energy Services, and Transportation. The Water segment offers water and wastewater services, including the management and operation of large-scale and customized drinking water plants, wastewater decontamination and recycling plants, drinking water distribution networks, and wastewater collection networks; and provision of call centers and billing services. The Environmental Services segment provides waste management and logistical services, which include waste collection, waste processing, cleaning of public spaces, maintenance of production equipment, treatment of polluted soil, and management of waste discharge at industrial sites. The Energy Services segment offers a range of energy management services comprising o peration of heating and cooling networks, decentralized energy production, thermal and multi-technical services, industrial utilities, installation and maintenance of production equipment, integrated facilities management, and electrical services on public streets and roads; and provides heating systems maintenance services, plumbing and renewable energy services, and meter-reading services. The Transportation segment operates various bus networks, suburban trains, tramways, metros, and ferries, as well as offers customized transportation-on-demand services. This segment also provides intercity and regional passenger transportation, infrastructure management and airport services, and transportation management services. The company was formerly known as Vivendi Environnement and changed its name to Veolia Environnement S.A. in April 2003. Veolia Environnement S.A. was founded in 1853 and is headquartered in Paris, France.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Benjamin Shepherd]

  The first is to focus on infrastructure companies that lay the groundwork for easier water access, such as France-based Veolia Environment (NYSE: VE).