5 Best Rising Stocks To Own For 2014

Nuclear power is the best option for clean base-load power generation, according to Gold Stock Trades Editor Jeb Handwerger. As proof, he points to signs that even environmentalists are beginning to favor it. Meanwhile, uranium stocks are rising and large nuclear construction programs overseas should keep upward pressure on them. But as Handwerger explains in this interview with The Energy Report, the future of nuclear power generation may lie with small modular reactors, and the U.S. is leading their development.

The Energy Report: Jeb, natural gas prices have become soft again after reaching $4.25 per million Btu [$4.25/MMBtu] last spring. They're now back at $3.70/MMBtu. What gives you confidence that nuclear power will continue to have a competitive edge over gas for power generation?

Jeb Handwerger: Natural gas has backed off its highs a bit, but it's still much higher than its low of $2/MMBtu. Oil and natural gas have made strong upward moves since 2012. Oil is above $107 per barrel. Uranium is still cheap; it's at multiyear lows. An uptick in accumulation of the cheaper uranium from large utilities could be the catalyst for a major repricing higher. The price of uranium historically tracks oil, and right now it is an opportunity for utilities and investors to buy cleaner and cheaper uranium. At the end of the day, with nuclear specifically, a shift is occurring even among staunch environmentalists. Japan and Germany initially moved away from nuclear, but now they're coming back because they're realizing, as the environmentalists are realizing, that moving away from nuclear causes demand for fossil fuels-coal and natural gas and oil-to rise. Nuclear is the only thing that can stop that rising demand. It's the only major base-load power that's clean.

Top Defense Companies To Watch For 2015: Nuveen Virginia Premium Income Municipal Fund (NPV)

Nuveen Virginia Premium Income Municipal Fund is a closed-ended fixed income mutual fund launched by Nuveen Investments, Inc. The fund is co-managed by Nuveen Fund Advisors, Inc. and Nuveen Asset Management, LLC. It invests in the fixed income markets of Virginia. The fund invests primarily in municipal securities rated Baa/BBB or better. It invests in securities that provide income exempt from federal and Virginia income tax. The fund employs fundamental analysis with bottom-up stock picking approach to create its portfolio. It benchmarks the performance of its portfolio against the S&P National Municipal Bond Index and the S&P Virginia Municipal Bond Index. Nuveen Virginia Premium Income Municipal Fund was formed on January 12, 1993 and is domiciled in the United States.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Chuck Carnevale]

  Moreover, at this point I would like to add that the real meaning of forecasting future earnings is so we can determine what the size and amount of the future cash flows that a stock under consideration might be capable of generating for us. This is important, because assessing the net present value of our expected future income stream, is at the heart of determining fair value (intrinsic value). Calculating net present value (NPV) is functionally-related to today's wide utilization of discounted cash flow (DCF) analysis as a stock selection tool. I will elaborate more on this important metric in part B of this article.

5 Best Rising Stocks To Own For 2014: ChinaCache International Holdings Ltd.(CCIH)

ChinaCache International Holdings Ltd. provides Internet content and application delivery services to businesses, government agencies, and enterprises in China. It offers Web Page Content Services to website operators; file transfer services; rich media streaming services that enable live streaming of media files; guaranteed application services for websites that incorporate applications with features, such as on-line booking and ordering, real-time stock quotes, and on-line surveys; managed internet data services; ChinaCache cloud services; and content bridging services. The company also provides various value-added services, such as geo-content acceleration services, performance evaluation module, scalable services routing services, link anti-hijack services, NetStorage services, user behavior analysis services, and Website performance evaluation services. The company was founded in 1998 and is headquartered in Beijing, the People?s Republic of China.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Garrett Cook]

  Technology shares fell around 0.27 percent in Thursday’s trading. Top decliners in the sector included TechTarget (NASDAQ: TTGT), down 8.9 percent, and ChinaCache International Holdings (NASDAQ: CCIH), off 4.6 percent.

• [By Eric Volkman]

  ChinaCache International Holdings (NASDAQ: CCIH  ) wants to spend money on its own shares after all. The company announced that its board has authorized a resumption of its stalled $10 million American Depositary Shares buyback program. It has plenty left in the tank. When halted, ChinaCache had spent only $1.5 million on such purposes.

5 Best Rising Stocks To Own For 2014: iShares Short Treasury Bond ETF (SHV)

iShares Lehman Short Treasury Bond Fund (the Fund) seeks investment results that correspond generally to the price and yield performance of the short-term sector of the United States Treasury market as defined by the Lehman Brothers Short U.S. Treasury Index (the Index). The Index includes all publicly issued United States Treasury securities that have a remaining maturity of between 1 and 12 months, and have more than $250 million or more of outstanding face value. In addition, the securities must be denominated in United States dollars, and must be fixed-rate and non-convertible securities. Excluded from the Index are certain special issues, such as flower bonds, targeted investor notes, and state and local government series bonds (SLG5), and coupon issues that have been stripped from assets that are already included in the Index.

The Index is a market capitalization-weighted index. The Fund generally will invest at least 95% of its assets in the United States Government bonds. The Fund invests in a representative sample of the securities in the Index, which has a similar investment profile as the Index. The Fund�� investment advisor is Barclays Global Fund Advisor.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Donald van Deventer]

  Shorter-duration Treasury Exchange-Traded Funds: (SHY), (SHV), (IEI), (BIL), (TUZ), (FIVZ), (DTUL), (VGSH), (DTUS), (DFVS), (DFVL), (SST), (ISTB), (TBZ).

5 Best Rising Stocks To Own For 2014: James River Coal Company(JRCC)

James River Coal Company, through its subsidiaries, engages in mining, processing, and selling thermal and metallurgical coal in eastern Kentucky, southern West Virginia, and southern Indiana. It conducts its mining operations in Bell County, Bledsoe, Blue Diamond- Buckeye, Blue Diamond-Leatherwood, Hampden, McCoy Elkhorn, Laurel Mountain, and Triad mining complexes. As of December 31, 2011, the company had 8 mining complexes, including 25 underground mines, 12 surface mines, and 14 preparation plants, as well as controlled approximately 362.8 million tons of proven and probable coal reserves in Central Appalachia and Midwest regions. It sells its coal to utility, steel, and industrial markets. The company was founded in 1988 and is headquartered in Richmond, Virginia.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By John Udovich]

  Obama�� war on coal has claimed another victim as James River Coal Company (NASDAQ: JRCC) files for Chapter 11, but coal stocks Westmoreland Coal Company (NASDAQ: WLB), Alliance Resource Partners, L.P. (NASDAQ: ARLP) and Hallador Energy Co (NASDAQ: HNRG) have still managed to put in a decent performance for investors���despite the industry headwinds coming from the White House. Just consider this: By 2025, 300 of America�� coal plants will close due to EPA policies for a total of 44,000 megawatts of generating capacity in 33 states to be taken off line. Moreover, Democrats have been putting up roadblocks to stop coal exports���one potential industry bright spot as the US�has the largest coal repository in the world.