Top Transportation Stocks To Invest In 2014

The big news in the master limited partnership (MLP) world last week was the announcement by Boardwalk Pipeline Partners LP (NYSE: BWP) that it was cutting its quarterly distribution by 80%. The company�� market value was cut in half, and the price of Boardwalk�� common units fell from above $24 to below $13. For the rest of the week, investors have been trying to figure out which midstream company will be next or, alternatively, which companies offer the best chance of prospering.

Initial speculation about a coming disaster swirled around El Paso Pipeline Partners LP (NYSE: EPB). The company, now controlled by Kinder Morgan Inc. (NYSE: KMI), got a $3 million investment from CEO Richard Kinder and that ended the speculation about El Paso being the next to go.

Every MLP�� most important product is cash that it can pay to limited partners in quarterly distributions that get bigger every year. To get that cash, midstream MLPs rely on operating revenues, new debt, and new equity. Boardwalk had lost some transportation contracts and almost certainly could not raise enough cash to pay its lofty distribution without issuing new debt or new equity. The company couldn�� find any takers either for more debt or more equity and was forced to cut distributions which is the cardinal sin for MLPs.

Hot Undervalued Companies To Invest In 2015: Boardwalk Pipeline Partners LP (BWP)

Boardwalk Pipeline Partners, LP is a limited partnership company. The Company owns and operates three interstate natural gas pipeline systems including integrated storage facilities. Its business is conducted by its primary subsidiary, Boardwalk Pipelines, LP (Boardwalk Pipelines) and its subsidiaries, Gulf Crossing Pipeline Company LLC (Gulf Crossing), Gulf South Pipeline Company, LP (Gulf South) and Texas Gas Transmission, LLC (Texas Gas) (together, the operating subsidiaries), which consist of integrated natural gas pipeline and storage systems. During the year ended December 31, 2011, it formed Boardwalk Midstream, LP (Midstream), and its operating subsidiary, Boardwalk Field Services, LLC (Field Services), which is engaged in the natural gas gathering and processing business. In December 2011, Boardwalk HP Storage Company, LLC (HP Storage), a joint venture between Boardwalk Pipelines and Boardwalk Pipelines Holding Corp. (BPHC) acquired Petal Gas Storage, L.L.C. (Petal), Hattiesburg Gas Storage Company (Hattiesburg). In December 2011, it acquired a 20% equity interest in HP Storage.

The Company�� pipeline systems originate in the Gulf Coast region, Oklahoma and Arkansas and extend north and east to the midwestern states of Tennessee, Kentucky, Illinois, Indiana and Ohio. It serves a mix of customers, including producers, local distribution companies (LDCs), marketers, electric power generators, direct industrial users and interstate and intrastate pipelines. The Company provides a portion of its pipeline transportation and storage services, through firm contracts, under which the Company�� customers pay monthly capacity reservation charges. Other charges are based on actual utilization of the capacity under firm contracts and contracts for interruptible services. During 2011, approximately 82% of its revenues were derived from capacity reservation charges under firm contracts; approximately 14% of its revenues were derived from charges-based on actual utilization under firm contr! acts, and approximately 4% of its revenues were derived from interruptible transportation, interruptible storage, parking and lending (PAL) and other services. Its expansion projects include South Texas Eagle Ford Expansionand Marcellus Gathering System and HP Storage.

Pipeline and Storage Systems

The Company�� operating subsidiaries own and operate approximately 14,200 miles of pipelines, directly serving customers in twelve states and indirectly serving customers throughout the northeastern and southeastern United States through numerous interconnections with unaffiliated pipelines. In 2011, its pipeline systems transported approximately 2.7 trillion cubic feet of gas. Average daily throughput on its pipeline systems during 2011 was approximately 7.3 billion cubic feet. Its natural gas storage facilities are comprised of eleven underground storage fields located in four states with aggregate working gas capacity of approximately 167.0 billion cubic feet. the Company operates the assets of HP Storage on behalf of the joint venture.

The principal sources of supply for our pipeline systems are regional supply hubs and market centers located in the Gulf Coast region, including offshore Louisiana, the Perryville, Louisiana area, the Henry Hub in Louisiana and the Carthage, Texas area. Its pipelines in the Carthage, Texas area provide access to natural gas supplies from the Bossier Sands, Barnett Shale, Haynesville Shale and other gas producing regions in eastern Texas and northern Louisiana. The Henry Hub serves as the designated delivery point for natural gas futures contracts traded on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Its pipeline systems also have access to unconventional mid-continent supplies, such as the Woodford Shale in southeastern Oklahoma and the Fayetteville Shale in Arkansas. The Company also accesses the Eagle Ford Shale in southern Texas; wellhead supplies in northern and southern Louisiana and Mississippi; and Canadian natural gas through an unaffil! iated pip! eline interconnect at Whitesville, Kentucky.

Gulf Crossing

The Company�� Gulf Crossing pipeline system originates near Sherman, Texas, and proceeds to the Perryville, Louisiana area. The market areas are in the Midwest, Northeast, Southeast and Florida through interconnections with Gulf South, Texas Gas and unaffiliated pipelines.

Gulf South

The Company�� Gulf South pipeline system is located along the Gulf Coast in the states of Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida. The on-system markets directly served by the Gulf South system are generally located in eastern Texas, Louisiana, southern Mississippi, southern Alabama, and the Florida Panhandle. These markets include LDCs and municipalities located across the system, including New Orleans, Louisiana; Jackson, Mississippi; Mobile, Alabama; and Pensacola, Florida, and other end-users located across the system, including the Baton Rouge to New Orleans industrial corridor and Lake Charles, Louisiana. Gulf South also has indirect access to off-system markets through numerous interconnections with unaffiliated interstate and intrastate pipelines and storage facilities. These pipeline interconnections provide access to markets throughout the northeastern and southeastern United States.

Gulf South has two natural gas storage facilities. The gas storage facility located in Bistineau, Louisiana, has approximately 78 billion cubic feet of working gas storage capacity from which Gulf South offers firm and interruptible storage service, including no-notice service. Gulf South�� Jackson, Mississippi, gas storage facility has approximately five billion cubic feet of working gas storage capacity, which is used for operational purposes and is not offered for sale to the market.

Texas Gas

The Company�� Texas Gas pipeline system originates in Louisiana, East Texas and Arkansas and runs north and east through Louisiana, Arkansas, Mississippi, Tennessee, K! entucky, ! Indiana, and into Ohio, with smaller diameter lines extending into Illinois. Texas Gas directly serves LDCs, municipalities and power generators in its market area, which encompasses eight states in the South and Midwest and includes the Memphis, Tennessee; Louisville, Kentucky; Cincinnati and Dayton, Ohio, and Evansville and Indianapolis, Indiana metropolitan areas. Texas Gas also has indirect market access to the Northeast through interconnections with unaffiliated pipelines. Texas Gas owns nine natural gas storage fields, of which it owns the majority of the working and base gas. Texas Gas uses this gas to meet the operational requirements of its transportation and storage customers and the requirements of its no-notice service customers.

Field Services

In 2011, the Company formed its Field Services subsidiary and transferred to it approximately 100 miles of gathering and transmission pipeline. In 2012, the Company transferred to Field Services an additional 240 miles of pipeline and two compressor stations. Field Services is developing gathering and processing capabilities in south Texas and Pennsylvania.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Robert Rapier]

  There are at least three areas of opportunity for MLP investors resulting from this surge in US gas production. The first, and safest avenue of profit is in partnerships that are building out natural gas infrastructure to connect major gas-producing areas like the Marcellus Shale to major population centers, or to terminals that are being built to export liquefied natural gas (LNG). The list of partnerships involved in transporting natural gas is long, but includes such names as�Energy Transfer Equity�(NYSE: ETE),�Enterprise Products Partners�(NYSE: EPD),�Kinder Morgan Energy Partners�(NYSE: KMP), and�Boardwalk Pipeline Partners�(NYSE: BWP). These partnerships tend to yield in the 3-6% range, and for the most part have relatively stable distributions (BWP being a notable recent exception with a drastic distribution cut earlier this year.)

• [By Sean Williams]

  Do investors have a reason to worry?

  Of the three stocks listed above Loews is likely the shakiest in terms of current fundamentals, but its long-term outlook continues to remain intact. Loews has sizable investment stakes in a handful of other companies, one of which is Boardwalk Pipeline Partners (NYSE: BWP  ) . Boardwalk's dividend had been one of the many factors fueling Loews' profitability. But in February, Boardwalk and majority holder Loews chose to slash its dividend by around 80% due to a weaker outlook in the natural gas market. This shaved a sizable chunk off Loews' profit forecast. Thankfully, its hotel operations and insurance business have been performing well, delivering more than enough cash flow to keep investors calm. In the near term it's possible Loews could struggle a bit, but over the long run its diversity should chase away most pessimists.

  Google
  Why are short-sellers avoiding Google?

Top Transportation Stocks To Invest In 2014: Navios Maritime Partners LP (NMM)

Navios Maritime Partners L.P. (Navios Partners) is an international owner and operator of dry cargo vessels formed by Navios Holdings. Navios GP L.L.C. (the General Partner), a wholly owned subsidiary of Navios Maritime Holdings Inc. (Navios Holdings) acts as the general partner of Navios Partners and received a 2% general partner interest in Navios Partners. Navios Partners is engaged in the seaborne transportation services of a range of drybulk commodities, including iron ore, coal, grain and fertilizer, chartering its vessels under medium to long-term charters. On May 19, 2011, Navios Partners acquired from Navios Holdings the Navios Orbiter, a 76,602 deadweight Panamax vessel. On May 19, 2011, Navios Partners acquired from Navios Holdings the Navios Luz. In June 2012, the Company purchased the Navios Buena Ventura, a 2010 South-Korean-built Capesize vessel of 179,259 dwt from Navios Maritime Holdings Inc.

The Company is an international owner and operator of drybulk carriers formed by Navios Maritime Holdings Inc., a vertically integrated seaborne shipping company. Its vessels are chartered-out under medium to long-term time charters with an average remaining term of approximately four years to a group of counterparties, consisting of Cosco Bulk Carrier Co. Ltd., Mitsui O.S.K. Lines Ltd., Samsun Logix, STX Panocean, Sanko Steamship Co. Ltd., Daiichi Chuo Kisen Kaisha, Augustea Imprese Maritime, Rio Tinto, Constellation Energy Group and Mansel.

As of December 31, 2011, the Company�� fleet consisted of 11 Panamax vessels, six Capesize vessels and one Ultra-Handymax vessel. Its fleet of dry cargo vessels has an average age of approximately 5.6 years. Panamax vessels are flexible vessels capable of carrying a range of drybulk commodities, including iron ore, coal, grain and fertilizer. All of its vessels operate under medium to long-term time charters of three or more years at inception with counterparties. It also operates vessels in the spot market until the vessels have! been fixed under appropriate medium to long-term charters.

The Company competes with China Ocean Shipping, China Shipping Group, Mitsui O.S.K. Lines, Kawasaki Kisen, Nippon Yusen Kaisha, Cargill, Pacific Basin Shipping, Bocimar, Zodiac Maritime, Louis Dreyfus/Cetragpa, Cobelfret and Torvald Klaveness.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Robert Rapier]

  Some of our portfolio picks that are suitable for IRA accounts include Kinder Morgan (KMI), Williams (WMB), Targa Resources (TRGP) and Navios Maritime Partners (NMM).

Top Transportation Stocks To Invest In 2014: CAI International Inc (CAP)

CAI International, Inc., incorporated on January 30, 2007, is a equipment leasing and management company, operating primarily in the international intermodal marine cargo container leasing business. The Company also owns a fleet of railcars, which it leases in North America. The Company operates in two segments: equipment leasing and equipment management. The equipment leasing segment specializes primarily in the ownership and leasing of intermodal containers, while the equipment management segment manages equipment for third-party investors. The Company leases its equipment principally to international container shipping lines located throughout the world. The Company sells equipment primarily to third-party investor groups and provides management services to those investors in return for a management fee.

The equipment leasing segment derives its revenue primarily from the ownership and leasing of containers to container shipping lines and freight forwarders. The equipment management segment derives its revenue from management fees earned from portfolios of equipment and associated leases which are managed on behalf of third-party investors. As of March 31, 2013, our fleet consisted of 1,091,117 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) of containers and 1,453 railcars.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Joseph Hogue]

  Because of management's missteps, the company is one of the most hated in the space. Investors have borrowed and sold short 2.3 million shares, amounting to almost 11% of the shares available for trading. That compares with short interest of just 3.9% in closest peer CAI International (NYSE: CAP).

• [By CRWE]

  CAI International, Inc. (NYSE:CAP), a leading lessor of intermodal container, reported that its Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, Timothy Page, is scheduled to present at the Dahlman Rose Global Transportation Conference in New York on Thursday, September 6, 2012 at 12:20 p.m. ET.

Top Transportation Stocks To Invest In 2014: GasLog Ltd (GLOG)

GasLog Ltd. (GasLog), incorporated on July 16, 2003, is an owner, operator and manager of liquefied natural gas (LNG) carriers. The Company is a holding company. Its subsidiaries conduct all of its operations and own all of its operating assets, including its ships. The Company operates in two segments: vessel ownership and vessel management. In the vessel ownership segment, the services provided primarily consist of chartering out company-owned LNG carriers, and in the vessel management segment the services provided consist of LNG carrier technical management services, as well as LNG carrier construction supervision services and other vessel management services provided to the Company�� vessel ownership segment and to external third parties.

In February 2011, GasLog Carriers Ltd. established two vessel-owning companies, GAS-five Ltd. and GAS-six Ltd. In March 2011, GasLog Carriers Ltd. established two vessel-owning companies, GAS-seven Ltd. and GAS-eight Ltd. In June 2011, GasLog Carriers Ltd. established two additional vessel-owning companies, GAS-nine Ltd. and GAS-ten Ltd. In June 2011, Ceres Shipping Ltd. (Ceres Shipping) transferred its interest in GasLog Ltd. to Blenheim Holdings Ltd. (Blenheim Holdings). In June 2011, an entity jointly owned by the Livanos and Radziwill families (Joint Venture Partner) sold its 49% interest in GAS-three Ltd., GAS-four Ltd., GAS-five Ltd. and GAS-six Ltd. to Ceres Shipping. Ceres Shipping contributed the 49% interest in GAS-three Ltd., GAS-four Ltd., GAS-five Ltd. and GAS-six Ltd. to Blenheim Holdings, who in turn contributed the 49% interest in these four vessel-owning companies to GasLog Ltd., which contributed the same to GasLog Carriers Ltd. As of December 31, 2011, the Company owned 100% interest in GAS-three Ltd., GAS-four Ltd., GAS-five Ltd. and GAS-six Ltd. On July 11, 2011 and September 5, 2011, the Company transferred its interest of two dormant subsidiaries, GasLog Holdings Limited and GasLog Services Limited, respectively, to Ceres Shi! pping.

As of December 31, 2011, the Company�� owned fleet consisted of 10 wholly owned LNG carriers. As of December 31, 2011, the Company managed and operated 14 LNG carriers, which included its owned ships, as well as 11 ships owned or leased by BG Group plc (BG Group), a participant in the worldwide energy and natural gas markets, and one additional LNG carrier in which it had a 25% interest. As of December 31, 2011, the Company owned a 25% interest in Egypt LNG Shipping Ltd. (Egypt LNG), whose principal asset is the LNG carrier Methane Nile Eagle. The Company�� owned fleet includes the GasLog Savannah, the GasLog Singapore, four LNG carriers on order at Samsung Heavy Industries Co., Ltd. (Samsung Heavy Industries) in South Korea, two LNG carriers on order at Samsung Heavy Industries in South Korea, and two LNG carriers on order at Samsung Heavy Industries in South Korea.

The Company�� wholly owned subsidiary, GasLog LNG Services Ltd., (GasLog LNG Services) handles the technical management of its fleet. Through GasLog LNG Services, it provides technical ship management services for 12 LNG carriers owned by third parties in addition to management of the two LNG carriers operating in its owned fleet. The Company provides the services of its owned ships under time charters. The Company�� subsidiaries include GasLog Investments Ltd., GasLog Monaco S.A.M., Ceres LNG Employee Incentive Scheme Ltd., GasLog Carriers Ltd., GAS-one Ltd., GAS-two Ltd., GAS-three Ltd., GAS-four Ltd., GasLog Shipping Company Ltd., GasLog Shipping Limited and Egypt LNG Shipping Ltd.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Robert Rapier]

  GasLog (NYSE: GLOG) owns 15 LNG carriers, with eight ships on the water and seven more to be delivered by 2016. The company is one that we have liked and recommended, and it performed well in 2013, up 33 percent for the year. It has long been thought that the company might drop down assets into an MLP, but last week’s news that this will indeed be the case helped propel the stock up nearly 20 percent for the week.

• [By Stephen Quickel]

  Gaslog Limited (GLOG)

  This Monaco-based company owns and operates a sizeable fleet of ocean-going liquefied natural gas (LNG) carriers, which it charters out and manages for others. Earnings are expected to grow 32% a year. Thirteen of 14 analysts rate it a Strong Buy or Buy.

• [By Robert Rapier]

  GasLog�(NYSE: GLOG) owns, operates, and manages a fleet of LNG carriers. Two ships were delivered in 2010, five in 2013 and eight LNG carriers are on order. In January the company announced the intention to spin off assets into an MLP that would own certain of GLOG�� LNG carriers with multi-year charters.

Top Transportation Stocks To Invest In 2014: QEP Midstream Partners LP (QEPM)

QEP Midstream Partners, LP (QEP), incorporated on April 19, 2013, is a limited partnership formed by QEP Resources, Inc. to owns, operates, acquires and develops midstream energy assets. The Company�� primary assets consist of ownership interests in four gathering systems and two Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC)-regulated pipelines, through which it provides natural gas and crude oil gathering and transportation services. The Company�� assets are located in, or are within close proximity to, the Green River Basin located in Wyoming and Colorado, the Uinta Basin located in eastern Utah, and the portion of the Williston Basin located in North Dakota. As of December 31, 2012, the Company�� gathering systems had 1,475 miles of pipeline and an average gross throughput of 1.8 million british thermal units per hour of natural gas and 18,224 barrels of crude oil.

Green River System

The Company�� Green River System, located in western Wyoming, consists of three complimentary systems owned by Green River Gathering, Rendezvous Gas and Rendezvous Pipeline and gathers natural gas production from the Pinedale, Jonah and Moxa Arch fields. In addition to gathering natural gas, the system also gathers and stabilizes crude oil production from the Pinedale Field, transports the stabilized crude oil to an interstate pipeline interconnect, and gathers and handles produced and flowback water associated with well completion activities in the Pinedale Field. The Green River Gathering assets are comprised of 405 miles of natural gas gathering pipelines, 61 miles of crude oil gathering pipelines, 81 miles of water gathering pipelines and a 60-mile, FERC-regulated crude oil pipeline located in the Green River Basin. The Rendezvous Gas assets consist of three parallel, 103-mile high-pressure natural gas pipelines, with 1,032 million cubic feet per day of throughput capacity and 7,800 basic hydrogen peroxide of gas compression. Rendezvous Pipeline�� sole asset is a 21-mile, FERC-regu! lated natural gas transmission pipeline that provides gas transportation services from QEP�� Blacks Fork processing complex in southwest Wyoming to an interconnect with the Kern River Pipeline.

Vermillion Gathering System

The Vermillion Gathering System consists of gas gathering and compression assets located in southern Wyoming, northwest Colorado and northeast Utah, which, when combined, include 454 miles of low-pressure, gas gathering pipelines and 23,197 basic hydrogen peroxide of gas compression. The Vermillion Gathering System is primarily supported by life-of-reserves and long-term, fee-based gas gathering agreements with minimum volume commitments, which are designed to ensure that it will generate a certain amount of revenue over the life of the gathering agreement by collecting either gathering fees for actual throughput or payments to cover any shortfall. The primary customers on our Vermillion Gathering System include Questar, Samson Resources Corporation (Samson Resources), QEP and Chevron USA, Inc. (Chevron).

Three Rivers Gathering System

Three Rivers Gathering is a joint venture between QEP and Ute Energy Midstream Holdings, LLC (Ute Energy) that was formed to transport natural gas gathered by Uintah Basin Field Services, L.L.C., an indirectly owned subsidiary of QEP (Uintah Basin Field Services), and other third-party volumes to gas processing facilities owned by QEP and third parties. The Three Rivers Gathering System consists of gas gathering assets located in the Uinta Basin in northeast Utah, including approximately 50 miles of gathering pipeline and 4,735 basic hydrogen peroxide of gas compression.

Williston Gathering System

The Williston Gathering System is a crude oil and natural gas gathering system located in the Williston Basin in McLean County, North Dakota. The Williston Gathering System includes 17 miles of gas gathering pipelines, 17 miles of oil gathering pipelines 239 basic hydrogen peroxide o! f gas com! pression, and a crude oil and natural gas handling facility, located primarily on the Fort Berthold Indian Reservation.

The Company competes with Enterprise Products Partners, L.P., Western Gas and The Williams Companies, Inc.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Lauren Pollock]

  QEP Resources Inc.(QEP) plans to separate its midstream business, QEP Field Services Co., into a separate entity, including its interest in QEP Midstream Partners LP(QEPM).

Top Transportation Stocks To Invest In 2014: FedEx Corporation(FDX)

FedEx Corporation provides transportation, e-commerce, and business services in the United States and internationally. It operates in four segments: FedEx Express, FedEx Ground, FedEx Freight, and FedEx Services. The FedEx Express segment offers various shipping services for the delivery of packages and freight. This segment also provides international trade services specializing in customs brokerage, and ocean and air freight forwarding services; customs clearance services, as well as global trade data, an information tool that allows customers to track and manage imports; and international trade advisory services, including assistance with the customs-trade partnership against terrorism program, as well as publishes customs duty and tax information in various customs areas. In addition, it offers supply chain solutions, including critical inventory logistics, transportation management, fulfillment, and fleet services. The FedEx Ground segment provides business and reside ntial ground package delivery services. It primarily serves customers in the small-package market in North America. The FedEx Freight segment offers less-than-truckload freight services, as well as freight-shipping services. As of May 31, 2010, this segment operated approximately 60,000 vehicles and trailers from a network of 492 service centers. The FedEx Services segment provides sales, marketing, information technology support, and customer service support services; and access to copying and digital printing through retail and Web-based platforms, signs and graphics, professional finishing, computer rentals, and a range of ground shipping and time-definite express shipping services. The company was founded in 1971 and is headquartered in Memphis, Tennessee.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Anna Prior]

  FedEx Corp.(FDX) on Monday disclosed that French authorities are looking into potential anticompetitive actions at French shipper TATEX, which FedEx bought in 2012, and that the Justice Department was pursuing as a criminal case alleged regulatory violations stemming from the removal and disposal of roof materials from a hangar in Puerto Rico. A loss from the French matter, FedEx said, “is reasonably possible that it could be material.”