China firm takes stake in Brooklyn real estate project

An architect's drawing of the towers that are planned as part of the Atlantic Yards project in Brooklyn.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) A Chinese firm is taking a majority stake in a major Brooklyn real estate development, one of the largest moves into U.S. commercial real estate by investors from that country.

Under the deal, Shanghai-based Greenland Group will be 70% owners of a joint venture that will develop Atlantic Yards, a 22-acre residential and commercial real estate project in downtown Brooklyn.

The overall project, located at a commuter rail hub, includes the Barclays Center, a basketball and hockey arena that opened last year. It is home to the NBA's Brooklyn Nets and will be home to the NHL's New York Islanders starting in 2015. But plans to add residential and office towers at the site have lagged behind the arena's development.

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The joint venture will not include either the Barclays Center or the first residential tower that is planned for the site. The joint venture plans to build an additional 6,400 apartments, of which 2,250 will be set aside as affordable housing Forest City Ratner Companies, which built Barclays Center and is planning the first tower, will be the Greenland's partner in the project. The deal still needs regulatory approvals.

This is the second, and largest, U.S. commercial real estate deal for the Chinese firm. In July, it purchased a 275,450-square-foot site in downtown Los Angeles where it plans to build a hotel and apartments.

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In a statement, Greenland Group says it is one of the largest real estate developers in China, with projects in more than 70 cities in 25 provinces in China, with revenues of $36.6 billion and a total profit of approximately $2 billion in 2012. Fortune ranks it 359th on its Global 500 list of the world's largest companies, up from a ranking of 483 a year earlier.

The Main Flaw With Obamacare

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In the tradition of sweeping federal statutes, the U.S. healthcare law passed in March, 2010, received a grandiose official name: The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. Known popularly as Obamacare, it may be the most misunderstood law to be enacted in recent years. Given how rocky its first few weeks of existence have been, let's assess how viable Obamacare may be in the long run, and what could replace it should it fail. In the interest of full disclosure, I am one of the 4.2 million individuals who had his insurance cancelled as a result of Obamacare, insurance I felt was perfectly acceptable. I will now have to pay more for coverage I don't want.

The Main Points
The act itself runs 389,365 words long, or 823 PDF pages, so encapsulating its salient points and thwarting any misconceptions requires a summary of a summary of a summary. Here's a short version of what the law entails:

An individual mandate to purchase health insurance - You don't have a plan via your employer? Even if you visit your physician annually as recommended, and pay out-of-pocket, that's now unacceptable. Fail to purchase health care insurance, and you'll pay a fine. An employer mandate to purchase insurance - If you have 50 full-time employees, you have to purchase insurance for them and if you work for said company, it must offer you health insurance. One way around this is to cap workers' hours under the full-time threshold of 30 a week. Uniform pricing on the part of health insurers - Are you a male triathlete who subsists on nothing but steamed broccoli and skinless chicken breasts? Or an obese, sedentary female with a fifth-of-bourbon-a-day habit? Congratulations, if you're the same age, you'll be paying similar premiums. Minimum policy standards, regardless of what fits you - If you're a celibate Buddhist monk, your plan must cover HIV screening and counseling. A woman in a healthy marriage to a respectful man? Your plan has to cover domestic violence screening, because you never know when he might turn on you. Taxpayer money for those who buy Obamacare-approved policies - If you make up to quadruple the official federal poverty level – $45,960 for a single person in the lower 48, slightly more in Alaska and Hawaii – you pay less than face value for your mandated policy. The federal government will credit you and send the rebates directly to your insurer. Insurers in the pre-Obamacare world chased profit, just as any other business would. That meant doing some actuarial work, figuring out how much it would cost to insure particular demographic groups of customers, and pricing accordingly. A diabetic is going to need insulin, and his non-diabetic neighbor with similar vital statistics won't. Such assessments account for some of the discrepancies in costs between the two policyholders' plans.

The most visible manifestation of Obamacare is the health insurance "exchanges," one for every state. They're essentially a health insurance versions of Expedia or Priceline, or they would be if they were functional enough to enroll people into plans. South Dakota's exchange is averaging 1.9 signups per day, a rate that will cover everyone in the state by the year 3233, assuming no one is born in, nor moves to, South Dakota in the next 1,220 years.

The Main Flaw
The individual mandate is the keystone of Obamacare, a metaphor that fits on multiple levels. Remove the individual mandate, and the remainder becomes structurally unsound. Why? Because of the situation that Obamacare was enacted to counter: millions of people not having health insurance. The usual estimate given is 47 million, which is often cited without asking a more fundamental question: How many of those people don't have health insurance because they'd rather spend money on something else?

To a healthy 25-year-old with decades ahead of her and relatively low premiums available for purchase, forgoing insurance means having more money to spend elsewhere: rent, gas, even shoes. This near-uniform pricing among age groups means necessarily overcharging the young and virile folk while undercharging the older and hospital-prone. As the former outnumber the latter, the former's participation is crucial to making Obamacare work.

The idea of insurance is to pool risk, but under Obamacare you can't do much to lower your health risks and also reduce your premium (other than quit smoking). Risk here is being pooled without regard for conditions or predispositions. Buy an old cabin in the middle of a National Forest, miles away from the nearest fire station, and your fire insurance premium will be greater than that for the new house with the smoke alarms and sprinkler systems that sits adjacent to a firehouse. And that's assuming you could even get insured in the first place. If fire insurance were written according to the rules of Obamacare, you wouldn't pay extra for the "pre-existing condition" of your house being constructed in a place where fires are inherently hard to extinguish.

Obamacare opponents understand both the importance and fragility of the individual mandate. Postponing it for a year or otherwise weakening it would seem fair to the tens of millions of Americans who a) never wanted insurance in the first place; b) recently had their policies cancelled or their prices increase through no fault of their own; and/or c) can't get on Healthcare.gov to buy a policy. But getting rid of the individual mandate would make it impossible to sustain the subsidized policies being sold to those with pre-existing conditions (and cited as a positive aspect of the legislation.)

Political Opposition
Political pressure to weaken the mandate is growing, as even some of Obamacare's most ardent supporters are looking for ways to modify the law. Senators Mary Landrieu of Louisiana and Dianne Feinstein of California co-sponsored the "Keep Your Health Plan" bill. The bill, which was passed on Sept. 14, allows health insurers to sell individual coverage throughout 2014, even if it doesn't meet the Obamacare standards. Had the mandate been deferred, the inevitable reduction in insurance company receipts would likely spell the collapse of the whole system.

There's also the slim possibility that the federal government could completely disengage itself from the private health insurance market, allowing Anthem Blue Cross/Blue Shield, Wellpoint and their competitors to provide salable policies that people want to buy. The new Obamacare-compatible plans must cover conditions that buyers don't necessarily want/need to be covered for. By including that extraneous coverage, the policies often become too expensive to buy, and thus impossible for insurers to profit on.

One thing's certain, however: the current trajectory of federally mandated health insurance is unsustainable for much longer. Even if the websites were working perfectly, there's still the matter of millions of people having already lost their coverage via cancellation notices, which were sent out as a direct result of health insurance now being federally mandated.

So what practical alternatives remain? Repeal of Obamacare requires a veto-proof majority in both houses of Congress, unlikely given that the Senate is controlled by Democrats. Besides, there remains the problem of asymmetric risk. Obamacare sells artificially expensive policies to low-risk insureds while selling artificially cheap policies to high-risk insureds, which can work in the short term. But allowing the former to opt out would make a new system inevitable, given that there'd be insufficient money coming in to cover those difficult to insure. T! he healthy and resilient by definition outnumber the sick, i.e. those who consume the most health-care resources per capita. Selling high-risk policies at below market price requires subsidization of some sort. If not from the low-risk insureds, then possibly from taxpayers at large.

The Bottom Line
Despite noble goals and intentions, healthcare reform is now poised to get worse before it gets better. Insurers continue to send out cancellation notices several dozen times faster than people are signing up for Obamacare-compliant policies. Given that federal law by definition affects all citizens, the only course of action for someone looking to save on healthcare expenses in the limbo of Obamacare's aftermath is to shop around or, failing that, pay the fine for non-coverage. Oh, and don't smoke: tobacco users are the only remaining group whom it's still legal for insurers to punish with discriminatory pricing.

How to Make Videos That Turn Prospects to Clients

If you’re like most advisors, you’ve probably given some thought to using video for marketing purposes — after all, they’re ubiquitous on the Web — but you likely have not taken any concrete action.

That assessment is “empirical,” according to advisor technology guru Bill Winterberg, who put it this way in an interview with ThinkAdvisor:

“There are over 300,000 advisors in the U.S. and between 60,000 to 80,000 RIAs, yet I would say there are less than 100 advisors actively posting video content online.”

So advisors need not feel alone in their predicament but, according to Winterberg, neither should they neglect to keep up with changing business standards.

“Over the next five years, prospects are going to have expectations that they can watch something on advisors’ websites, whether that is an explainer video or a video biography that helps me figure out who you are and how you can help me,” he says. “Advisors who don’t step out and create these videos are going to miss the opportunity to convert these prospects to clients.”

Winterberg, who was a financial planner before forming FPPad in 2008 to educate advisors on technology — everything from customer relationship management (CRM) to going paperless — distinguishes between the video basics that every advisor must produce to the more advanced productions of the elite advisors who dominate video marketing.

The first “must-have” is what Winterberg calls an “explainer” video.

“That’s the 60- to 90-second video that clearly explains how the advisor and how the advisory firm helps people with specific needs,” he says.

He cites the file storage site Dropbox as a model advisors should emulate:

“Go to the Dropbox website and see the 60-second explainer video about managing your files and synchronizing your devices. The first 30 seconds explains these problems and the last 30 seconds shows how Dropbox solves these problems and ends with a great call to action: ‘Sign up for a free trial today.’”

Advisors too should conclude their videos with a call to action, he adds. “Ask the viewer to send an email, to schedule an appointment, to reach out to the advisor.” That puts the ball in the prospect’s court, he says.

The advisor tech consultant, whose free video broadcasts appear weekly on FPPad, says an advisor’s second “must-have” is a video biography.

“As a prospect, I want to know why this person is an advisor and why they wake up every day to be involved in this business,” Winterberg says, adding that a printed biography doesn’t cut it because it doesn’t convey “the human element” like video.

“It’s the mannerisms, the passion and it’s the way they say things — their expression — that does not come through in a written biography.”

Beyond these essentials that every advisor must have, there are a variety of ways advisors can express themselves in video both in terms of content and in terms of format.

As for content, Winterberg says it should “absolutely” vary among advisors since the video’s purpose is to demonstrate the advisor can solve the issues of his or her unique client base.

“One advisor should know all about taxes for physicians; another should know all the ins and outs of running a small manufacturing business. You should be very clear about understanding your niche and creating video content that addresses issues in that niche,” he says.

As to format, “there’s no right away of doing it; but there are a lot of wrong ways to do it,” he says.

“Not every advisor is comfortable in front of the camera. There should be creative ways to get the advisor involved in the video content without forcing the advisor to do something he’s not comfortable doing. When someone is in front of a camera and is not comfortable, that’s the first thing the audience sees.”

Winterberg cites Andy Millard, an advisor in Tyron, N.C., whose low-stress-investing series he regards as an effective way to leverage the advisor’s comfort in front of a camera. It helps that Millard has some acting experience.

“Andy Millard [comes across as] a human being. When you watch his videos, you feel comforted and you’re educated at same time. It’s a winning combination,” he says.

The tech guru is also a fan of Carbondale, Ill.-based CFP Jeff Rose, whose videos Winterberg describes as “cutting edge” and have an “unapologetic,” in-your-face style, challenging viewers who, for example, aren’t saving enough.

He cites Alan Moore of Milwaukee-based Serenity Financial Consulting as a third good example.

For those lacking the polish of a Millard, Winterberg suggests advisors get professional help:

“Bring in an acting coach—a producer who’s going to make the advisor comfortable. The coach should get the advisor to talk about those things that they are passionate about.

“We can all talk about what we’re passionate about; that can come out as a ‘wow’ experience on video. A good coach or producer can bring out the best in a person nervous in front of the camera,” Winterberg says.

While explainer videos should last a minute, Winterberg says that bios should be about three minutes, and additional videos should not exceed five minutes.

Advisor attire can vary. While family-office types should dress up, most advisors should avoid excessive formality.

“The goal is you want to be a human being: an open collar, maybe an open jacket, a nice blouse if you’re a female advisor” but not dressed to the nines, he advises.

Advisors ready to take the plunge into video will need to determine how they produce them. Winterberg says there are three approaches:

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“First, is self-production and that is doing things like Vine videos, using your iPhone, Instagram. You can do that; it’s real; it’s not high gloss. The disadvantages are the video quality may be poor, the audio quality may be poor; it may not communicate the right message to your audience. It’s a double-edged sword,” he says: it’s cheap but risky.

The second approach, he says, is to buy “prosumer gear: a digital SLR camera; a nice lens; a dedicated microphone; a backdrop or green screen. That increases production quality—you can use cutaways; that keeps the audience engage,” he says, estimating the tab for equipment and editing software at about $2,500.

The third approach is to hire a pro. “Fully outsourcing will cost more but you leverage the talent and experience of the pro.”

Advisors who go that route are responsible for creating the script and making sure it passes compliance, but then they just show up in the studio.

“The pro films it, edits it, puts in images, uploads the video online and delivers the final product,” he says. Winterberg says such services start at about $1,000 to $2,000 a day to shoot several videos.

Lowe's Disappoints Despite Home Improvement Growth

Lowe's Cos Lowe's Cos delivered disappointing earnings results this morning, just one day after larger competitor Home Depot Home Depot beat the Street.

The home improvement retailer reported third quarter net earnings of $499 million, up 26% from the same period last year but below the consensus estimate of $503.5 million. Earnings per share were 47 cents, just below the Street's 48 cent estimate.

Sales were up 7.3% to $13 billion, above the Street's $12.7 billion estimate, however shares opened down 3.7% at $48.59.

Citi analyst Kate McShane noted surprise that the stronger than expected sales results did not translate to an earnings per share beat. The miss, she says, was driven by weaker than expected gross margins, which were 34.58% versus the 34.64% analyst expectations.

Citi maintains a neutral rating in part due to weak same store sales when compared to Home Depot. Lowe's same store sales were up 6.2%. Yesterday Home Depot reported 7.4% same store sales growth.

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CEO Robert Niblock noted that results were bolstered by a recovering home improvement market, mirroring comments about housing market strength in Home Depot's earnings report. Looking ahead Niblock added, "The home improvement industry is poised for persisting growth in the fourth quarter and further acceleration in 2014."

According to the National Association of Realtors existing-home sales were up 6% n October from the same period last year to 5.12 million. Sales however were down 3.2% from September to October.

The company updated its full year guidance. It now forecasts 6% sales growth up from a previous 5% growth outlook. Lowe's also expects same store sales to grow 5%, up from a 4.5% prior outlook. It now forecasts $2.15 in earnings per share, up from $2.10 but below the Street's $2.20 estimate.

–
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Top Oil Companies To Own For 2014

An hour and a half into the final day of trading, shares in Bank of America (NYSE: BAC  ) are up 4.3% since last Friday's close: surprising considering the general market turmoil we've been seeing, but perhaps also unsurprising considering the dearth of bad news lately for the country's second-largest bank.

Riding a tasty wave
When the Federal Reserve announced a plan on June 19 to possibly begin tapering quantitative easing later this year, the markets freaked out -- the bond markets in particular, but the equity markets, too. The bond markets are still in turmoil, but the equity markets turned themselves around -- or at least stabilized -- in relatively short order.

And with Wednesday's release of the minutes from that June 19 Federal Open Market Committee meeting, in which investors read an assurance from the Fed that it wouldn't be too hasty with tapering, the markets really boomed. Right now, U.S. stocks are set for their third straight week of net gain. B of A is riding this market wave, and is so far up 0.8% on the day.

Top Oil Companies To Own For 2014: El Paso Corporation(EP)

El Paso Corporation operates in the natural gas transmission, and exploration and production sectors of the energy industry primarily in the United States. It offers natural gas transmission services to a range of customers, including natural gas producers, marketers, and end-users, as well as other natural gas transmission, distribution, and electric generation companies through its interests in approximately 43,100 miles of interstate pipeline system. The company also operates approximately 240 billion cubic feet of storage capacity, and an LNG receiving terminal in Elba Island, Georgia. In addition, El Paso Corporation focuses on the exploration, acquisition, development, and production of natural gas, oil, and natural gas liquids in the United States, Brazil, and Egypt, as well as engages in midstream business. The company primarily sells its domestic natural gas and oil to third parties. As of December 31, 2010, it had proved natural gas and oil reserves of approximat ely 3.4 trillion cubic feet of natural gas equivalents. The company was founded in 1928 and is based in Houston, Texas.

Top Oil Companies To Own For 2014: Petrotech Oil & Gas Inc (PTOG)

PetroTech Oil and Gas, Inc., formerly Unity Management Group, Inc., incorporated on April 10, 1998, operates and develops Enhanced Oil Recovery (EOR) opportunities within qualifying oil reservoirs in the United States using its Enhanced Oil Recovery method and technique. The company is also a construction and heavy equipment company. The Company is focussing on developing and acquisitions of technology in secondary oil recovery, oil and gas reporting software, trading software and Nitrogen and CO2 injection equipment. Enhanced oil recovery is also called improved oil recovery or tertiary recovery. The Company�� services include Work over and Installation Services, Heavy Equipment Services, Nitrogen, CO2 and Gas Mixture Treatments, Exhaust Gas Unit, Gas Assisted Gravity Drainage and Reservoir Development. During the year ended December 31, 2012, the Company acquired On Track Technology, Inc. On June 30, 2012, the Company acquired Metropolitan Computing Corp.

Work over and Installation Services

Drilling Vertical or Horizontal Well Supervision, Traditional Work over, Oilfield Work Over Rigs and Roustabout Services to be on location while recompletion, plugging or equipping of wells for in house leases and third party jobs as well. Where applicable Petrotech will utilize flexible Poly Urethane tubing for testing of wells and permanent installs for some shallow depths. The flexible tubing has a Paraffin�� and Asphalt Ines don�� stick to flexible tubing (as it does to steel tubing); and flexible tubing has an estimated 10 times longer life dependent upon the corrosiveness of production and by products, such as the water produced with hydrocarbons.

Heavy Equipment Services

Heavy Equipment Services includes heavy equipment, oilfield roustabout, crane work, water hauling, setting pumping units, separators, tanks, digging pitts and locations roads and heavy equipment services also includes highways for in house leases, third party oil companies and loca! l and government agencies.

Nitrogen, CO2 and Gas Mixture Treatments

The Company focuses in treating with Nitrogen, CO2 or a combination of the two; through two applications where applicable-Huff and Puff and Steady flooding. In cases, HoCyclic gas injection processes has been primarily restricted to the use of pure CO2 or CO2 that has been slightly contaminated.

Exhaust Gas Unit

The CO2/N2 gas mixture focuses to generated from a patented one-of-a-kind portable exhaust unit capable of producing 2.5 millions of cubic feet equivalent at 2000 psi. The exhaust unit manufacturing facility is capable of building over 100 million of daily of deliverability or 180,000 horse power of equipment per year.

Gas Assisted Gravity Drainage

Natural segregation of its gas mixture at miscibility pressure is a component in recreating a gas cap. Doubling of the primary oil recovery from a reservoir is expected with this EOR method and gas mixture. SPE paper #89357 documents GAGD recoveries averaging 63% of the OOIP.

Reservoir Development

Petrotech Oil and Gas Inc. focuses to use the technology in third dimension geophysics available, drilling and compositional reservoir modeling to devise the reservoir�� development plan. In some reservoirs has two horizontal wellbores; one each for the injection of gas and production of oil.

Top Low Price Stocks To Buy For 2014: 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 Sean Williams]

  This week, we'll turn our attention back to the energy sector and focus on a company that's set to benefit in a big way from the upcoming energy boom, Boardwalk Pipeline Partners (NYSE: BWP  ) .

• [By Ben Levisohn]

  The overwhelming majority of Loews can be valued as the sum of its three largest subsidiary businesses that also have publicly trading stock: CNA Financial (CNA), Diamond Offshore (DO) and Boardwalk Pipeline�(BWP). The sum of these stakes is equivalent to 97.7% of the market capitalization of Loews. For almost ��ree,��imknvestors also get ownership of Boardwalk�� B shares and general partnership, a small national hotel chain, natural gas and oil E&P HighMount and the $4B in fungible assets on Loews�� corporate balance sheet…

Top Oil Companies To Own For 2014: ATP Oil And Gas Corp (ATPO.MU)

ATP Oil & Gas Corporation, incorporated in 1991, is engaged in the acquisition, development and production of oil and natural gas properties. As of December 31, 2011, the Company had estimated net proved reserves of 118.9 Million barrels of crude oil equivalent (MMBoe), of which approximately 75.9 MMboe (64%) were in the Gulf of Mexico and 42.9 MMBoe (36%) were in the North Sea. The reserves consisted of 78.6 Million barrels (MMBbls) of oil (66%) and 241.5 billion cubic feet (Bcf) of natural gas (34%). Its proved reserves in the deepwater area of the Gulf of Mexico account for 62% of the Company�� total proved reserves and its proved reserves on the Gulf of Mexico Outer Continental Shelf account for 2% of its total proved reserves. During the year ended December 31, 2011, the Company acquired three licenses in the Mediterranean Sea covering potential natural gas resources in the deepwater off the coast of Israel (East Mediterranean). On August 17, 2012, ATP Oil And Ga s Corp filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.

The Company�� natural gas reserves are split between the Gulf of Mexico (57%) and the North Sea (43%). Of its total proved reserves, 8.3 MMBoe (7%) were producing, 19.0 MMBoe (16%) were developed and not producing and 91.6 MMBoe (77%) were undeveloped. The Company�� average working interest in its properties at December 31, 2011, was approximately 81%. The Company operates 92% of its platforms. At December 31, 2011, in the Gulf of Mexico, it owned leasehold and other interests in 38 offshore blocks and 49 wells, including 23 subsea wells. The Company operates 43 (88%) of these wells, including 100% of the subsea wells. In the North Sea, it also had interests in 13 blocks and two Company-operated subsea wells. As of March 15, 2011, the Company owned an interest in 13 platforms, including two floating production facilities in the Gulf of Mexico, the ATP Titan at its Telemark Hub and the ATP Innovator at its G omez Hub. It operates the ATP Innovator and the ATP Titan.!

Top Oil Companies To Own For 2014: Marathon Oil Corporation(MRO)

Marathon Oil Corporation, through its subsidiaries, operates as an international energy company with operations in the United States, Canada, Africa, the Middle East, and Europe. It operates through three segments: Exploration and Production, Oil Sands Mining, and Integrated Gas. The Exploration and Production segment explores for, produces, and markets liquid hydrocarbons and natural gas. The Oil Sands Mining segment mines, extracts, and transports bitumen from oil sands deposits in Alberta, Canada; and upgrades the bitumen to produce and market synthetic crude oil and vacuum gas oil. The Integrated Gas segment markets and transports products manufactured from natural gas, such as liquified natural gas and methanol. The company was formerly known as USX Corporation and changed its name to Marathon Oil Corporation in July 2001. Marathon Oil Corporation was founded in 1887 and is based in Houston, Texas.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By David Smith]

  Discarding downstream
  As you know, a year ago Conoco spun off its refining, chemical, and pipeline assets to form Phillips 66 (NYSE: PSX  ) . The new company has treated its shareholders well, chalking up gains of more than 80% during the past year, and 17% year to date. Of course, ConocoPhillips isn't the only formerly integrated company to have shed its downstream operations. Nearly a year earlier, Marathon Oil (NYSE: MRO  ) formed Marathon Petroleum (NYSE: MPC  ) through a similar spinoff. That step resulted in another new company that's up more than 95% during the past year and nearly 30% year to date.

• [By Rich Smith]

  Houston-based Marathon Oil (NYSE: MRO  ) is about to get a new CFO.

  On Tuesday, Marathon announced that after nearly 10 years at her post, Chief Financial Officer Janet F. Clark intends to step down on Sept. 3, and to retire from the company entirely on Oct. 1. Replacing her will be new hire John R. Sult, a former executive at El Paso Corp., and currently a director of Dynegy.

• [By Sofia Horta e Costa]

  Hays Plc (HAS) climbed 2.2 percent after the recruitment company said quarterly fees increased in its European markets. WH Smith Plc (SMWH) jumped the most in six months after raising its final dividend and saying it plans to repurchase an additional 50 million pounds ($80 million) of shares. Melrose Industries Plc (MRO) added 1.8 percent after KKR & Co. said it will pay about $1 billion for two of its U.S. industrial-products companies.

• [By Matt DiLallo]

  As you can see, Apache trades at a pretty compelling discount to its large-cap E&P peers like Devon Energy (NYSE: DVN  ) and Occidental Petroleum (NYSE: OXY  ) , which trade at about 5.5 times estimated 2013 EBITDA. By trading at just four times EBITDA, Apache is in line with ConocoPhillips (NYSE: COP  ) , though it's still not nearly as cheap as Marathon Oil (NYSE: MRO  ) .

Top Oil Companies To Own For 2014: Alon USA Energy Inc. (ALJ)

Alon USA Energy, Inc. engages in refining and marketing petroleum products primarily in the South Central, Southwestern, and Western regions of the United States. The company operates in three segments: Refining and Marketing, Asphalt, and Retail. The Refining and Marketing segment refines crude oil into petroleum products, including gasoline, diesel fuel, jet fuel, petrochemicals, feed stocks, asphalts, and other petroleum products. It markets finished products and blend stocks through sales and exchanges with other oil companies, state and federal governmental entities, unbranded wholesale distributors, and various other third parties. This segment also markets motor fuels to distributors under the Alon brand; and licenses Alon brand name and provides payment card processing services, advertising programs, and loyalty and other marketing programs to licensed locations. The Asphalt segment is involved in the marketing of patented tire rubber modified asphalt products; and production of paving and roofing grades of asphalt comprising performance-graded asphalts, emulsions, and cutbacks. This segment sells paving asphalt to road and materials manufacturers and highway construction/maintenance contractors; polymer modified or emulsion asphalt to highway maintenance contractors; and roofing asphalt to roofing shingle manufacturers or other industrial users. The Retail segment operates retail convenience stores that offer various grades of gasoline, diesel fuel, food products, tobacco products, non-alcoholic and alcoholic beverages, and general merchandise primarily under the 7-Eleven and Alon brands. As of December 31, 2012, it had 298 retail convenience stores located in Central and West Texas, and New Mexico. The company was founded in 2000 and is headquartered in Dallas, Texas. Alon USA Energy, Inc. is a subsidiary of Alon Israel Oil Company, Ltd.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Dan Dzombak]

  Among companies with over a $1 billion market cap, today's oil and gas stocks leader was Alon USA Energy (NYSE: ALJ  ) , up 4.95% to $17.16. During the refiners' drop on Tuesday and Wednesday, Alon dropped 12.89%. Despite the comeback today, the stock is still down 8.6% from where it was before the plunge. Alon USA owns refineries in Louisiana and California, 11 asphalt terminals, as well as 300 7-11 retail locations. The company has been profiting heavily from the massive price difference between WTI and Brent crude. In November of 2012, the company IPO'd its Big Springs refinery as a master limited partnership, Alon USA Partners LP,�the proceeds of which Alon used to pay down debt.

• [By Rich Smith]

  The Department of Defense issued $1.3 billion worth of new contract awards Friday. However, a single, $950 million award for engineering services accounted for the bulk of the spending -- and that one went to a series of privately held companies. Publicly traded names fared less well. Among the few winners:

• [By Tom Dorsey]

  Over a several day period, I submitted questions and Mr. Eisman, President, Chief Executive Officer and Director of Alon USA Energy Inc. (ALJ) and the parent company of Alon USA Partners LP Inc. (ALDW) responded. He provided some key insights to some challenges the company faces, where the company is going, and the opportunities available in the future. This insight should provide investors with additional information to understand the value of the company and the opportunity as an investor in the company.

Top Oil Companies To Own For 2014: EQT Corporation(EQT)

EQT Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, operates as an integrated energy company in the United States. It operates in three segments: EQT Production, EQT Midstream, and Distribution. The EQT Production segment engages in the exploration, development, and production of natural gas, natural gas liquids, and crude oil in the Appalachian Basin. This segment?s properties are located primarily in Kentucky, West Virginia, Virginia, and Pennsylvania. As of December 31, 2010, it had 5.2 trillion cubic feet of proved reserves across 3.5 million acres. The EQT Midstream segment provides gathering, processing, transmission, and storage services for the independent third parties in the Appalachian Basin. It has approximately 10,900 miles of gathering lines and 770 miles of transmission lines. The Distribution segment distributes and sells natural gas to residential, commercial, and industrial customers in southwestern Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and eastern Kentucky. It also operates a gathering system in Pennsylvania; and purchases and delivers gas to customers. This segment serves approximately 276,500 customers consisting of 257,900 residential customers, and 18,600 commercial and industrial customers. The company was formerly known as Equitable Resources, Inc. and changed its name to EQT Corporation in February 2009. EQT Corporation was founded in 1925 and is headquartered in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Matt DiLallo]

  Meanwhile, other producers like EQT Corp (NYSE: EQT  ) have decided to all but abandon higher-cost shale plays and only focus on those that can deliver profits. Because of this, the company made the decision to quit drilling the Huron Shale because it simply couldn't earn a high enough rate of return to keep drilling.

Top Oil Companies To Own For 2014: MPLX LP (MPLX)

MPLX LP, incorporated on March 27, 2012, is a fee-based limited partnership formed by Marathon Petroleum Corporation to own, operate, develop and acquire crude oil, refined product and other hydrocarbon-based product pipelines and other midstream assets. The Company�� assets consist of a 51% indirect interest in a network of common carrier crude oil and product pipeline systems and associated storage assets in the Midwest and Gulf Coast regions of the United States.

The Company generates revenue by charging tariffs for transporting crude oil, refined products and other hydrocarbon-based products through its pipelines and at its barge dock and fees for storing crude oil and products at its storage facilities. The Company is also the operator of additional crude oil and product pipelines owned by Marathon Petroleum Corporation and its subsidiaries (MPC) and third parties, for which it is paid operating fees.

The Company�� assets consist of a 51% partner interest in Pipe Line Holdings, an entity which owns a 100.0% interest in Marathon Pipe Line LLC (MPL) and Ohio River Pipe Line LLC (ORPL), which in turn own: a network of pipeline systems, which includes approximately 962 miles of common carrier crude oil pipelines and approximately 1,819 miles of common carrier product pipelines extending across nine states. This network includes approximately 153 miles of common carrier crude oil and product pipelines, which it operates under long-term leases with third parties; a barge dock located on the Mississippi River near Wood River, Illinois, and crude oil and product tank farms located in Patoka, Wood River and Martinsville, Illinois and Lebanon, Indiana; and a 100.0% interest in a butane cavern located in Neal, West Virginia, which serves MPC�� Catlettsburg, Kentucky refinery.

Crude Oil Pipeline Systems

The Company�� crude oil pipeline systems and related assets are positioned to support crude oil supply options for MPC�� Midwest refineries, whic! h receive imported and domestic crude oil through a range of sources. Imported and domestic crude oil is transported to supply hubs in Wood River and Patoka, Illinois from a range of regions, including Cushing, Oklahoma on the Ozark pipeline system; Western Canada, Wyoming and North Dakota on the Keystone, Platte, Mustang and Enbridge pipeline systems, and the Gulf Coast on the Capline crude oil pipeline system.

The Company�� Patoka to Lima crude system is comprised of approximately 76 miles of 20-inch pipeline extending from Patoka, Illinois to Martinsville, Illinois, and approximately 226 miles of 22-inch pipeline extending from Martinsville to Lima, Ohio. This system also includes associated breakout tankage. Crude oil delivered on this system to MPC�� tank farm in Lima can then be shipped to MPC�� Canton, Ohio refinery through MPC�� Lima to Canton pipeline, to MPC�� Detroit refinery through MPC�� undivided joint interest portion of the Maumee pipeline, and its Samaria to Detroit pipeline, or to other third-party refineries owned by BP, Husky Energy, and PBF Energy in Lima and Toledo, Ohio.

The Company�� Catlettsburg and Robinson crude system is consisted of the pipelines: Patoka to Robinson and Patoka to Catlettsburg. Its Patoka to Robinson pipeline consists of approximately 78 miles of 20-inch pipeline, which delivers crude oil from Patoka, Illinois to MPC�� Robinson, Illinois refinery. Its Patoka to Catlettsburg pipeline consists of approximately 140 miles of 20-inch pipeline extending from Patoka, Illinois to Owensboro, Kentucky, and approximately 266 miles of 24-inch pipeline extending from Owensboro to MPC�� Catlettsburg, Kentucky refinery. Crude oil can enter this pipeline at Patoka, and into the Owensboro to Catlettsburg portion of the pipelines at Lebanon Junction, Kentucky, from the third-party Mid-Valley system.

The Company�� Detroit crude system is consisted of Samaria to Detroit and Romulus to Detroit. Its Samaria to Detroit pi! peline co! nsists of approximately 44 miles of 16-inch pipeline that delivers crude oil from Samaria, Michigan to MPC�� Detroit, Michigan refinery. This pipeline includes a tank farm and crude oil truck offloading facility located at Samaria.

The Company�� Romulus to Detroit pipeline consists of approximately 17 miles of 16-inch pipeline extending from Romulus, Michigan to MPC�� Detroit, Michigan refinery. Its Wood River to Patoka crude system is consisted of two pipelines: Wood River to Patoka and Roxanna to Patoka. Its Wood River to Patoka pipeline consists of approximately 57 miles of 22-inch pipeline, which delivers crude oil received in Wood River, Illinois from the third-party Platte and Ozark pipeline systems to Patoka, Illinois.

The Company�� Roxanna to Patoka pipeline consists of approximately 58 miles of 12-inch pipeline, which transports crude oil received in Roxanna, Illinois from the Ozark pipeline system to its tank farm in Patoka, Illinois.

Product Pipeline Systems

The Company�� product pipeline systems are positioned to transport products from five of MPC�� refineries to MPC�� marketing operations, as well as those of third parties. These pipeline systems also supply feedstocks to MPC�� Midwest refineries. These product pipeline systems are integrated with MPC�� expansive network of refined product marketing terminals, which support MPC�� integrated midstream business.

The Company�� Gulf Coast product pipeline systems include Garyville products system and Texas City products system. The Company�� Garyville products system is consisted of approximately 70 miles of 20-inch pipeline, which delivers refined products from MPC�� Garyville, Louisiana refinery to either the Plantation Pipeline in Baton Rouge, Louisiana or the MPC Zachary breakout tank farm in Zachary, Louisiana, and approximately two miles of 36-inch pipeline that delivers refined products from the MPC tank farm to Colonial Pipeline in Zachary.

The Company�� Texas City products system is comprised of approximately 39 miles of 16-inch pipeline that delivers refined products from refineries owned by MPC, BP and Valero in Texas City, Texas to MPC�� Pasadena breakout tank farm and third-party terminals in Pasadena, Texas. The system also includes approximately three miles of 30- and 36-inch pipeline that delivers refined products from MPC�� Pasadena breakout tank farm to the third-party TEPPCO and Centennial pipeline systems.

The Company�� Midwest product pipeline systems include Ohio River Pipe Line (ORPL) products system, Robinson products system and Louisville Airport products system. The Company�� ORPL products system is consisted of Kenova to Columbus, Canton to East Sparta, East Sparta to Heath, East Sparta to Midland, Heath to Dayton, and Heath to Findlay.

The Company�� Kenova to Columbus pipeline consists of approximately 150 miles of 14-inch pipeline that delivers refined products from MPC�� Catlettsburg refinery to MPC�� Columbus, Ohio area terminals. Its Canton to East Sparta pipeline consists of two parallel pipelines, which connect MPC�� Canton, Ohio refinery with its East Sparta, Ohio breakout tankage and station. The first pipeline consists of approximately 8.5 miles of six-inch pipeline that delivers products (distillates) from Canton to East Sparta. The second pipeline consists of approximately 8.5 miles of six-inch bi-directional pipeline, which can deliver products (gasoline) from Canton to East Sparta or light petroleum-based feedstocks from East Sparta to Canton.

The Company�� East Sparta to Heath pipeline consists of approximately 81 miles of eight-inch pipeline that delivers products from its East Sparta, Ohio breakout tankage and station to MPC�� terminal in Heath, Ohio. The Company�� East Sparta to Midland pipeline consists of approximately 62 miles of eight-inch bi-directional pipeline, which can deliver products and light petroleum-based feedstocks betwe! en its br! eak-out tankage and station in East Sparta, Ohio and MPC�� terminal in Midland, Pennsylvania. MPC�� Midland terminal has a marketing load rack and is able to connect to other Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania-area terminals through a pipeline owned by Buckeye Pipe Line Company, L.P. and a river loading/unloading dock for products and petroleum feedstocks. This pipeline can also transport products to MPC�� terminals in Steubenville and Youngstown, Ohio through a connection at West Point, Ohio with a pipeline owned by MPC.

The Company�� Heath to Dayton pipeline consists of approximately 108 miles of six-inch pipeline, which delivers products from MPC�� terminals in Heath, Ohio and Columbus, Ohio to terminals owned by CITGO and Sunoco Logistics Partners, L.P. in Dayton, Ohio. This pipeline is bi-directional between Heath and Columbus for product deliveries. Its Heath to Findlay consists of approximately 100 miles of eight- and 10-inch pipeline, which delivers products from MPC�� terminal in Heath, Ohio to MPC�� pipeline break-out tankage and terminal in Findlay, Ohio. Robinson products system is consisted of Robinson to Lima, Robinson to Louisville, Robinson to Mt. Vernon, Wood River to Clermont, Dieterich to Martinsville and Wabash Pipeline System.

The Company�� Robinson to Lima pipeline consists of approximately 250 miles of 10-inch pipeline, which delivers products from MPC�� Robinson, Illinois refinery to MPC terminals in Indianapolis, Indiana, as well as to MPC terminals in Muncie, Indiana and Lima, Ohio. Its Robinson to Louisville pipeline consists of approximately 129 miles of 16-inch pipeline, which delivers products from MPC�� Robinson, Illinois refinery to two MPC and multiple third-party terminals in Louisville, Kentucky. In addition, these products can supply MPC and Valero terminals in Lexington, Kentucky through the Louisville to Lexington pipeline system owned by MPC and Valero.

The Company�� Robinson to Mt. Vernon pipeline consists of ap! proximate! ly 79 miles of 10-inch pipeline that delivers products from MPC�� Robinson, Illinois refinery to a MPC terminal located on the Ohio River in Mt. Vernon, Indiana. It leases this pipeline from a third party under a long-term lease. The Company�� Wood River to Clermont pipeline consists of approximately 153 miles of 10-inch pipeline extending from MPC�� terminal in Wood River, Illinois to Martinsville, Illinois, and approximately 156 miles of 10-inch pipeline extending from Martinsville, Illinois to Clermont, Indiana. This pipeline also includes approximately 9.5 miles of pipelines utilized for the local movement of products in and around Wood River, Illinois, and Clermont, Indiana.

The Company�� Dieterich to Martinsville pipeline consists of approximately 40 miles of 10-inch pipeline, which delivers products from the termination point of Centennial Pipeline to Martinsville, Illinois. From Martinsville, these products (including refinery feedstocks) can be distributed to MPC�� Robinson, Illinois refinery or to other destinations through our other pipeline systems. Its Wabash Pipeline System consists of three interconnected pipeline pipelines: approximately 130 miles of 12-inch pipeline extending from MPC�� terminal in Wood River, Illinois to Champaign, Illinois (the West leg); approximately 86 miles of 12-inch pipeline extending from MPC�� Robinson, Illinois refinery to Champaign (the East leg), and approximately 140 miles of 12- and 16-inch pipeline extending from the junction with the East and West legs in Champaign to MPC�� terminals in Griffith, Indiana and Hammond, Indiana. This pipeline system delivers products to MPC�� tanks at Martinsville, Champaign, Griffith and Hammond. This pipeline system also delivers products to tanks owned by Meier Oil Company at Ashkum, Illinois. The Wabash Pipeline System connects to other pipeline systems in the Chicago area through a portion of the system located beyond MPC�� Griffith terminal. The Company�� Louisville airport product! s system ! consists of approximately 14 miles of eight- and six-inch pipeline, which delivers jet fuel from MPC�� Louisville, Kentucky refined product terminals to customers at the Louisville International Airport.

Other Major Midstream Assets

The Company�� butane cavern is located in Neal, West Virginia, across the Big Sandy River from MPC�� Catlettsburg, Kentucky refinery. This storage cavern has approximately 1.0 million barrels of storage capacity and is connected to MPC�� Catlettsburg refinery. Rail access to the storage cavern is also available through connections with the refinery.

The Company�� barge dock is located on the Mississippi River in Wood River, Illinois and is used both for crude oil barge loading and products barge unloading. The barge dock is connected to its Wood River tank farm by approximately two miles of 14-inch pipeline, which transfers crude oil from the tank farm to the dock, and two 10-inch pipelines, which are each approximately two miles long and transfer products and feedstocks from the dock to the tank farm. This dock generates revenue through a FERC tariff, which is collected for the transfer and loading/unloading of crude oil and products. It also owns tank farms located in Patoka, Martinsville and Wood River, Illinois and Lebanon, Indiana, which it uses for storing both crude oil and products. These storage assets are integral to the operation of its pipeline systems in those areas.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Dan Caplinger]

  In Marathon's quarterly report, watch for how the refiner's relationship with spun-off midstream pipeline operator MPLX (NYSE: MPLX  ) is faring. With Marathon holding a majority stake in MPLX, its pipeline assets will play an increasingly important role in bringing midcontinent energy products to its refineries.

The Andersons, Inc. (ANDE): Secret Grain Leader Up 58% In 2013 And Still A Buy

It's been a tough year for agriculture stocks. With the prices of corn, beans and wheat pulling back after surging higher last summer on a record drought in the Midwest, agriculture stocks have trailed the overall market by a sharp margin.

That weakness shows up in Market Vectors Agribusiness ETF (MOO). As you can see in the chart below, MOO is still down 2% on the year in spite of a recent bounce while the S&P 500 has gained 20%.

While I believe that is merely short-term weakness in an otherwise bullish long-term trend in the food and agriculture industry, there is one company that has dodged any weakness what so ever.

The Anderson's, Inc. (ANDE) is an agriculture conglomerate, operating in 5 divisions that includes a rail shipping and nutrient business. But its Grain division is its biggest, accounting for more than 60% of revenue, where the company is a wholesaler of grain and grain storage services. The company's share price has been hot in 2013, posting a market and industry crushing return of 58%. Take a look below.

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But looking forward, the company and investors are in position for more gains.

The biggest trend that will fuel The Andersons is the growing global population that continues to pressure food and grain resources. A record drought in the Midwest last summer pushed grain prices to all-time highs. Surging demand out of emerging markets such as China and India are also tail winds. The global food scarcity story is well in play, and the Andersons is a great way to play it.

That bullish trend has analysts calling for impressive earnings growth of 28% in 2014 and 12% annual earnings growth in the next 5 years.

!

But it's not just all about sales and earnings growth. In spite of big gains in 2013, the Anderson's forward P/E of 16x is in line with the S&P 500 and only a slight premium to its 10-year average of 13. It's PEG ratio of 1.16x is only a slight premium to the benchmark of 1 for value.

The Takeaway

The Anderson's has had a great year, with shares up 58% on strong sales and earnings growth. But the outlook remains bullish, with analysts calling for annual earnings growth of 12% in the next 5 years. Shares currently trade at 16x forward earnings, directly in line with the S&P 500 in spite of a 58% gain on the year. That makes The Andersons a great way to cash in on the bullish trend in food and agriculture as a leading player in the international grain market.

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For All Our Good, Let Student Debtors Go Bankrupt

BOSTON (TheStreet) -- We've all heard the figures: Student loan debt in the United States now exceeds $1 trillion dollars, surpassing our nation's collective credit card debt.

Yet, unlike our credit card debt -- or any other debt, for that matter -- student loans for the most part cannot be discharged in bankruptcy. A report released in August by the Center for American Progress, though, calls for that to change. [Read: 5 Stocks Ready for Breakouts]

Specifically, the report calls for guidelines to define and differentiate "Qualified Student Loans" from other loans. A Qualified Student Loan is one that offers reasonable repayment conditions including low interest rates and "access to favorable forbearance, deferment and income-based repayment options," as well as requiring successful track records for career success and salary prospects among graduates from participating institutions. The center argues that loans that do not meet this criteria should be eligible for discharge in bankruptcy just as credit cards are.

Hot Penny Companies To Buy For 2014

Student loan debt hasn't always been exempted from bankruptcy. Restrictions began in the 1970s out of concern that recent graduates in fields with lucrative career paths would simply accrue as much debt as needed and then discharge it via bankruptcy immediately after getting their degrees. Congress implemented a reform in 1976 for five years' wait after completion of a degree before debtors could declare bankruptcy. In 1990, this was increased to seven years. The intent was to allow students to advance up a career ladder and develop good credit they would be reluctant to mar with a bankruptcy filing. The law was reformed again in 1998 to exempt federal student loans from bankruptcy. In 2005, this exemption was extended to private loans with the passage of the Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act. Since then, student loans can now be discharged only in very rare cases of "undue hardship" -- usually the most dire of circumstances, such as the development of a debilitating medical condition. [Read: 10 Best Cars On The Market] Times have changed. The economic collapse of 2008 ushered in the Great Recession and along with it, historic rates of unemployment. The economic recovery has been slow, with recent college graduates ages 20 to 24 suffering levels of unemployment 40% to 50% higher than those in their age group nearly 35 years ago. At the same time, the cost of college continues to balloon. Specifically, average college tuition and fees have increased by 440% in the past 25 years -- four times the rate of inflation. And yet a federal Pell Grant, which does not have to be repaid, now covers less than 34% of tuition for students from low- and modest-income families, as compared with nearly 70% in 1980. College students now graduate with an average of $26,000 of debt, and about 45% of American families owe some student loan debt.

"We need to reform the nearly four-decades-old policy of blocking borrowers from discharging student loans in bankruptcy, a policy that only makes sense for good loans for good programs," said David A. Bergeron, co-author of the CAP report and vice president for postsecondary education there, in a press release. "Today's student-debt levels were unheard of when Congress last took up this issue, and our nation's bankruptcy laws should reflect that change."

The report is not the only sign of changing perceptions about the issue. This past January, U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin introduced the "Fairness for Struggling Students Act," which would make private student loans dischargeable like other forms of private debt. The bill floundered in the Senate but did call more political and public attention to the issue.

CAP cites the Durbin bill as a step in the right the direction. Unlike the Durbin bill, though, the CAP report supports inclusion of federal loans for bankruptcy, since private loans account for only 15% of all student loan debt. [Read: Sorry Apple Investors, It's Not the Same Stock]

There are also concerns that without the option of bankruptcy for all student loans, the continued rise of college costs will require students to take on ever-higher amounts of debt and discourage them from pursuing more diverse career paths. In particular, a working paper by Princeton professor Jesse Rothstein argues that to pay off student debt, students will be more likely to forgo jobs in social service and nonprofit sectors in favor of higher-paying positions that do not necessarily play to their strengths or passions. There might be also be a lack of entrepreneurship, as those saddled with large amounts of debt will avoid the risk-taking necessary to get business ventures off the ground. Such claims are not without merit. Statistics reveal that young adults are putting off or altogether abandoning what was once seen as cornerstones of adulthood, such as buying cars or homes, starting families or even just living independently. Pew Research reported last year that three in 10, or 29%, of people ages 25 to 34 lived with their parents. According to demographer Cheryl Russell of New Strategist Publications, "debt, coupled with double-digit unemployment, has hobbled millions of young adults who would have bought homes, married, had children and feathered their nests with all the middle-class goodies that keep our economy humming." "Rising student debt has been eating into the housing and auto markets," wrote Brad Plumer in The Washington Post in April, while many argue that letting students overburdened by student loans go bankrupt would actually invigorate the overall economy. "This entire system must be overhauled," wrote Salon contributor David Dayen. "Otherwise, it will continue to damage our economy by indenturing talented students, our greatest renewable resource."