5 Best Forestry Stocks To Own For 2015

Pre-market ��Monday 11-25-2013

"The most important single central fact about a free market is that no exchange takes place unless both parties benefit."

~ Milton Friedman ~

Dr. John L. Faessel

ON THE MARKET

Commentary and Insights

Quotes of the day

��ccess to power must be confined to men who are not in love with it.��

~ Plato ~

The Republic

***

The Neville Chamberlain "Peace for Our Time" Award goes to ��

Who else?

~ John F. Kerry ~

USA Secretary of State

"Peace for Our Time"

Munich Agreement

Chamberlain, convinced that Hitler's territorial demands were not unreasonable (and that Hitler was a "gentleman") Hitler's invaded Poland a year later. The WW2 death count was over 63 million.

5 Best Forestry Stocks To Own For 2015: Central Goldtrust (GTU)

Central GoldTrust (GoldTrust) is a passive, self-governing, single purpose, closed-end trust. GoldTrust is a gold holding trust created to buy and hold substantially all of its assets in long-term holdings of gold bullion. The primary objective of GoldTrust is to provide a exchange-tradeable alternative for investors interested in holding an investment in gold bullion. All gold bullion owned by GoldTrust must be stored in Canada in the treasury vault facilities of a tier 1 Canadian chartered bank on an allocated and segregated basis.

GoldTrust holds long-term holdings of pure, unencumbered gold bullion, in 400 troy ounce international bar sizes, and does not speculate with regard to short-term changes in gold prices. At least 95% of the total net assets of GoldTrust should be held in gold with at least 90% in physical bullion and up to 5% in gold certificate form. The property of GoldTrust, as at December 31, 2011, was consisted of 698,496 fine ounces of gold bullion and 6,156 fine ounces of gold in certificate form for a total of 704,652 fine ounces. GoldTrust is almost entirely invested in pure refined gold bullion in international bar form. As at December 31, 2011, GoldTrust�� assets were made up of 98.1% gold.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Eric Parnell]

  It also remains worthwhile to hedge stock allocations to protect against any major downside event along the way. This includes positions with low correlations such as the PIMCO Total Return ETF (BOND) or the PIMCO Global Advantage Inflation Linked Bond ETF (ILB). This also includes allocations that are likely to rally sharply in the event of a stock pullback but can also continue to rise along with the market such as long-term Treasuries (TLT) or Build America Bonds (BAB). And despite the recent thrashing they have endured, the precious metals complex including gold (GLD), silver (SLV), platinum (PPLT) and palladium (PALL) continue to provide attractive long-term portfolio diversification benefits. I remain long all of these metals via the Central GoldTrust (GTU), the Central Fund of America (CEF), the Sprott Physical Silver Trust (PSLV) and the Sprott Physical Platinum and Palladium Trust (SPPP).

5 Best Forestry Stocks To Own For 2015: Discover Financial Services(DFS)

Discover Financial Services, a bank holding company, offers direct banking and payment services in the United States. It operates in two segments, Direct Banking and Payment Services. The Direct Banking segment offers Discover card-branded credit cards to individuals and small businesses that are accepted on the Discover Network. This segment also provides other consumer banking products and services, including personal loans, student loans, and prepaid cards, as well as other consumer lending and deposit products, such as certificates of deposit, money market accounts, online savings accounts, and individual retirement account. The Payment Services segment operates the PULSE network, an automated teller machine, debit, and electronic funds transfer network; the Diners Club International network, a global payments network; and third-party issuing business, which includes credit, debit, and prepaid cards issued on the Discover Network by third parties. The company was found ed in 1986 and is based in Riverwoods, Illinois.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Lee Jackson]

  Discover Financial Services (NYSE: DFS) operates in two segments. The Direct Banking segment offers Discover card-branded credit cards to individuals and small businesses on the Discover Network. The Payment Services segment operates PULSE, an automated teller machine, debit and electronic funds transfer network; and Diners Club, a global payments network, as well as a network partners business, which includes credit, debit and prepaid cards issued on the Discover Network by third parties. Investors are paid a 1.5% dividend. Oppenheimer pushes its price target from $58 to $60. The consensus target is at $59. Discover closed Monday at $55.07.

• [By DAILYFINANCE]

  Gary Malerba/AP Neiman Marcus says 1.1 million debit and credit cards used at its stores may have been compromised in a security breach last year. The high-end retailer said Visa (V), MasterCard (MA) and Discover (DFS) have found 2,400 Neiman Marcus and Last Call customer cards that were used fraudulently. Last Call is Neiman Marcus' clearance chain. Neiman Marcus says it is notifying all customers who shopped in its stores in 2013 and offering them a free year of credit monitoring and identity-theft protection. Malicious software installed in Neiman Marcus' system attempted to take customer card information from July 16 to Oct. 30, the company said. The malicious software has been disabled. Neiman Marcus Group Ltd. reiterated in a post on its website Wednesday night that social security numbers and birth dates weren't stolen and customers who shopped online weren't affected. Customers that use its private Neiman Marcus credit cards were also not affected. The Dallas-based company said the investigation is ongoing. The company learned that malicious software was installed to its system on Jan. 1, after a forensics company discovered it. It informed federal law enforcement agencies and began working with the U.S. Secret Service and payment processors. Target (TGT) also suffered a security breach, during the holiday shopping season. Hackers stole about 40 million debit and credit card numbers. Personal information, including names, email addresses, phone numbers and home addresses of as many as 70 million customers was also stolen. Neiman Marcus said it has no knowledge of a connection between the two security breaches. A report published earlier this month by iSight Partners, a global cyber intelligence firm that works with the U.S. Secret Service and the Department of Homeland Security, said the security breach that hit Target appears to have been part of a broader and highly sophisticated scam that potentially affected a large number of retailers.

• [By Dan Caplinger]

  With these cards, be sure to read the fine print. Most of the time, you have to slide your card at the pump in order to qualify; going inside to pay can disqualify you from getting the reward. Also, some cards, such as JPMorgan's Chase Freedom card and Discover Financial's (NYSE: DFS  ) Discover Card, only give special gas discounts during certain times of the year, with rotating categories in other areas for the remainder of the year. Finally, check to see whether your reward comes in the form of cash or points, as points can be harder to convert to cash on some rewards programs.

5 Best Trucking Stocks To Own Right Now: Pepsico Inc.(PEP)

PepsiCo, Inc. engages in the manufacture, marketing, and sale of foods, snacks, and carbonated and non-carbonated beverages worldwide. The company operates in four divisions: PepsiCo Americas Foods (PAF); PepsiCo Americas Beverages (PAB); PepsiCo Europe; and PepsiCo Asia, Middle East, and Africa (AMEA). The PAF division offers Lay?s and Ruffles potato chips, Doritos and Tostitos tortilla chips and dips, Cheetos cheese flavored snacks, Fritos corn chips, Quaker Chewy granola bars, and SunChips multigrain snacks in North America; Quaker oatmeal, Aunt Jemima mixes and syrups, Cap?n Crunch cereal, Quaker grits, and Life cereal, as well as Rice-A-Roni, Pasta Roni, and Near East side dishes in North America; and various snack foods under Doritos, Marias Gamesa, Cheetos, Ruffles, Emperador, Saladitas, Sabritas, and Lay?s brands in Latin America. The PAB division provides carbonated soft drinks, beverage concentrates, fountain syrups, and finished goods under Pepsi, Mountain Dew, Gatorade, 7UP, Tropicana Pure Premium, Electropura, Sierra Mist, Epura, and Mirinda brands; ready-to-drink tea, coffee, and water products through joint ventures with Unilever and Starbucks; and sells concentrate to authorized bottlers, and branded finished goods directly to independent distributors and retailers. This division also manufactures third-party brands, such as Dr Pepper, Crush, Rock Star, and Muscle Milk. The PepsiCo Europe division offers Frito Lay Snacks, Pepsi-Cola beverages, Gatorade sports drinks, Tropicana juices, and Quaker foods in Europe. The AMEA division provides snack food under the Lay?s, Kurkure, Chipsy, Doritos, Smith?s, Cheetos, Red Rock Deli, and Ruffles brands; Quaker-brand cereals and snacks; and beverage concentrates, fountain syrups, and finished goods under the Pepsi, Mirinda, 7UP, and Mountain Dew brands. PepsiCo, Inc. was founded in 1898 and is headquartered in Purchase, New York.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Jarrod W. Jacinth]

  PepsiCo (PEP) vs. Coca-Cola (KO) is usually all we hear about when it comes to PepsiCo. However, PepsiCo owns and operates a large variety of snack food brands in addition to its beverage brands. So rather than comparing it to other beverage companies, how about we compare it to another snack food company?

• [By Nicole Seghetti]

  PepsiCo (NYSE: PEP  ) reported first-quarter earnings last month. Here's what you need to know about the results, and why it led to a pop in PepsiCo's stock price.

5 Best Forestry Stocks To Own For 2015: Semgroup Corporation(SEMG)

SemGroup Corporation provides gathering, transportation, storage, distribution, blending, marketing, and other midstream services primarily to independent producers, refiners of petroleum products, and other market participants in the Midwest and Rocky Mountain regions of the United States, Canada, and the West Coast of the United Kingdom. It also purchases, stores, and sells natural gas liquids in the United States; provides natural gas gathering and processing services in Canada and the United States; offers refined products and crude oil storage services in the United Kingdom; and purchases, produces, stores, and distributes liquid asphalt cement products in Mexico. The company owns, contracts, and leases various pipelines, gathering systems, storage facilities, terminals, processing plants, blending facilities, and other distribution assets. It operates approximately 1,400 miles of natural gas transportation, gathering, and distribution pipelines in Kansas, Oklahoma, T exas and Alberta, Canada. The company was founded in 2000 and is headquartered in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Holly LaFon]

  In early August SemGroup (SEMG), an owner and operator of oil and gas midstream assets, including pipelines and storage and blending facilities, closed on an opportunistic purchase of assets from Chesapeake Energy. The assets nicely complement SemGroup's existing core assets that stretch from Colorado to Oklahoma. While SemGroup will have to spend money to complete the assets��oney that financially distressed Chesapeake likely could not justify��e view the expenditures favorably given their high return characteristics.From Third Avenue Management's fourth quarter 2013 commentary.

• [By Robert Rapier]

  Rose Rock Midstream (NYSE: RRMS) isn’t a name we have discussed much here. RRMS is an MLP that owns oil-gathering, storage and transportation assets in Colorado, Kansas, Montana, North Dakota, Oklahoma and Texas. The MLP was formed by midstream energy giant SemGroup (NYSE: SEMG), which acts as the general partner. RRMS had its IPO in December 2011 with an initial EV of $1.2 billion and a minimum yield of 4.7 percent.

5 Best Forestry Stocks To Own For 2015: Allison Transmission Holdings Inc (ALSN)

Allison Transmission Holdings, Inc. (Allison), incorporated on June 22, 2007, designs and manufactures commercial and military fully-automatic transmissions. The Company is a manufacturer of fully-automatic transmissions for medium- and heavy-duty commercial vehicles, medium- and heavy-tactical the United States military vehicles and hybrid-propulsion systems for transit buses. Allison transmissions are used in a range of applications, including on-highway trucks (distribution, refuse, construction, fire and emergency), buses (primarily school and transit), motorhomes, off-highway vehicles and equipment (energy and mining) and military vehicles (wheeled and tracked). In January 2014, the Company opened a facility in the Netherlands to serve customers across Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

Allison transmissions are sold under the Allison Transmission brand name and remanufactured transmissions are sold under the ReTran brand name. The Company has 12 transmission product lines with over 100 different product models. Allison transmissions are included in more than 2,500 vehicle configurations, which are compatible with more than 500 combinations of engine brands, models and ratings globally. In addition to the Company's product offerings, the Company has products under development, including the TC10, a Class 8 metro truck fully-automatic transmission, and the H 3000 and the H 4000 hybrid-propulsion systems designed for use in medium- and heavy-duty commercial trucks and buses.

North America

The Company is a manufacturer of fully-automatic transmissions for the on-highway medium- and heavy-duty commercial vehicle markets in North America. The Company's core North American on-highway market includes Class 4-5, Class 6-7 and Class 8 straight trucks, conventional transit, shuttle and coach buses, school buses and motorhomes. Class 8 trucks are subdivided into two markets: straight and tractor. The Company sells its transmissions in the North American on-highway mar! ket to original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), including Blue Bird, Daimler, Hino, Navistar, PACCAR, Spartan Motors and Volvo. These OEMs, in turn, install the Company's transmissions in vehicles in which its transmission is either the exclusive transmission available or is specifically requested by end users who are choosing between a manual transmission, an AMT or a fully-automatic transmission. The Company's vehicle class in North America include Class 4-5 Trucks, Class 6-7 Trucks, Class 8 Straight Trucks, Buses and

Motorhomes

Class 4-5 trucks are used in urban applications, including distribution, commercial lease and rental, as well as ambulance. The Company is the transmission supplier to the Navistar Class 4-5 TerraStar truck. Class 6-7 trucks are used in urban applications, including larger distribution, commercial lease and rental, ambulance, rescue and fire trucks. The Company's transmissions are used in Class 6-7 buses. The Company supplies its transmissions for all of the school buses produced in North America. The bus market also encompasses non-hybrid transit and conventional coach and shuttle buses. The Company sells its transmissions for use in larger motorhomes ( types A). The Company typically sells to the chassis manufacturers, such as Navistar and Daimler, that supply body manufacturers, such as Thor Industries, Winnebago Industries and Fleetwood RV. As of December 31, 2012, the Company has delivered over 5,000 H 40/50 EP hybrid-propulsion transit bus systems globally to 246 cities in 14 countries. The Company's customers in this North American end market are typically city, state and federal governmental entities. The Company has provided products used in vehicles and equipment, which serve energy, mining and construction applications. Its customers include Halliburton Company, Baker Hughes, Weatherford International, National Oilwell Varco, and Key Energy Services. The Company also provides heavy-duty transmissions used in mining trucks, specialty and co! nstructio! n vehicles. Mining applications include trucks used to haul various commodities and other products, including rigid dump trucks, underground trucks and long-haul tractor trailer trucks with load capacities between 40 to 110 tons. Specialty vehicles using the Company's heavy-duty transmissions include airport rescue and firefighting vehicles and heavy-equipment transporters.

Outside North America

The Company is a manufacturer of fully-automatic transmissions for the commercial vehicle markets outside of North America. Within Europe, the Company serves Western European developed markets, as well as Russian and Eastern European emerging markets. The Company's on-highway customers in these markets are Daimler, Iveco, Scania, and Volvo. Fully-automatic transmission technology has approximately a 6% market share in European truck applications. The Company supplies transmissions to European OEMs. The Company is the exclusive transmission in refuse chassis with Daimler, Dennis Eagle and Renault SA. The Company also supply mining OEMs, such as Atlas Copco UK, Perlini Equipment, Sandvik AB and Terex. As of December 31, 2012, in China, the Company is the provider of fully-automatic commercial vehicle transmissions with a substantial installed base of over 45,000 Allison transmissions, including 30,000 units in transit buses, operated by 90 different bus fleets in 55 cities. The Company's off-highway transmissions are also used in China for energy, mining and construction, by OEM customers including 4th Petroleum and Yantai Jereh Oilfield Services Group Co. in energy applications and Qinhuangdao Tolian Speciality Transporter Co., Sany Group Co. and North Hauler in mining and construction applications. Australia and South Korea have OEMs with domestic production capabilities for which the Company is a supplier, including Iveco, Hyundai Motor Company and Daewoo International Corporation.

Military

The Company sells all of the transmissions for medium- and heavy-tac! tical whe! eled vehicle platforms, including the Family of Medium Tactical Vehicles, Armored Security Vehicles, Heavy Expanded Mobility Tactical Trucks, Heavy Equipment Transporters, Palletized Loading Systems, M915 Series Trucks, Medium Tactical Vehicle Replacements and the Logistic Vehicle System Replacement. In addition, the Company supplied transmissions for Mine-Resistant Ambush Protected (MRAP) Vehicles and the MRAP All Terrain Vehicle and for all three potential manufacturers of the Joint Light Tactical Vehicles. Transmissions for the Company's wheeled vehicle platforms are sold to OEMs, including BAE, Daimler, General Dynamics Land Systems, Oshkosh, Navistar and Textron Marine & Land Systems.

The Company is the supplier on two of the three key tracked vehicle platforms, the Abrams tank and the M113 family of vehicles, which are sold directly to the United States military. Additionally, the Company sells parts kits to licensees for the production of transmissions for tracked vehicles manufactured outside North America. The Company has been selected as the transmission supplier for the prime contractors bidding for the United States Army ground combat vehicle.

Service Parts, Support, Equipment and Other (Aftermarket)

Aftermarket provides the Company with a source of revenues as the installed base of vehicles and equipment utilizing the Company's transmissions. The Company has assembled a global network of approximately 1,400 distributor and dealer locations to sells, service and support its transmissions. As part of the Company's brand strategy, its independent distributors and dealers are required to sell genuine Allison-branded parts. The Company offers remanufactured transmissions under its ReTran brand. The Company also provides support equipment to its OEMs to assist in installing new Allison transmissions into vehicles.

The Company competes with Ford Motor Company, Eaton Corp., Voith GmbH, ZF Friedrichshafen AG, BAE, Caterpillar Inc., Twin Disc, Inco! rporated,! Komatsu, Ltd., Aisin Seiki Co., Ltd., JATCO Ltd, Mitsubishi Fuso Truck and Bus Corporation, Hino, Isuzu and Nissan Diesel, Danyang Winstar Auto Parts Co., Ltd., Tata, Ashok Leyland, JCBL Ltd., Asia Motor Works Limited, BEML, Renk AG and L-3 Communications Corporation.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Rich Duprey]

  Approving an increase in the quarterly cash dividend paid to shareholders, transmission manufacturer Allison Transmissions (NYSE: ALSN  ) �announced today that its board of directors doubled the payout from�$0.06�per share to�$0.12�per share while also providing preliminary estimates for its first quarter, which ended March 31.

• [By Ben Levisohn]

  2Q14 Machinery results are likely to reflect what we view as a still mixed but improving macroeconomic environment that we think could support pockets of strength in Machinery end markets. In particular, we think both North American truck and North American energy markets continue to improve while global construction markets look supportive of continued solid/better-than-expected results (mostly from improved margin) in Caterpillar’s Construction segment. Solid truck, energy and construction markets seem supportive of earnings for Caterpillar as well as truck suppliers Cummins (CMI) and Allison Transmission Holdings (ALSN)…