Top 10 Dividend Companies To Buy For 2014

Petrofac (LSE: PFC  )
Petrofac is an energy services firm with a first-class growth record. Since 2007, sales, earnings per share, and dividends at the company have grown year in, year out. In the last five years, earnings at the company have grown by an average of 26.1% per annum. In that time, dividends have increased by an average of 31.3% a year.

This growth has been recognized in the company's share price. Today, Petrofac trades at 1,383 pence versus 654 pence five years ago. And Petrofac's success is expected to continue. For 2013, analysts are forecasting EPS of $1.95, rising to $2.27 in 2014. The consensus prediction is for dividends to rise 5.5% this year to $0.68 before leaping 16.2% to reach $0.79 per share in 2014.

BHP Billiton (LSE: BLT  ) (NYSE: BBY  )
The last three months have been awful for investors in the large London-listed miners. BHP Billiton shares are down 12% in that time. With more diverse operations than its peers, BHP is regarded as the safer bet. However, falling metals prices on international exchanges have not prevented the shares from falling toward value status.

Top 5 Cheapest Stocks To Buy For 2015: United Parcel Service Inc.(UPS)

United Parcel Service, Inc., a package delivery company, provides transportation, logistics, and financial services in the United States and internationally. It operates in three segments: U.S. Domestic Package, International Package, and Supply Chain & Freight. The U.S. Domestic Package segment engages in the time-definite delivery of letters, documents, and packages in the United States. The International Package segment offers air and ground delivery of small packages and letters to approximately 220 countries and territories, including shipments outside the United States, as well as shipments with either origin or distribution outside the United States; export services; and domestic services move shipments within a country?s borders. The Supply Chain & Freight segment provides forwarding and logistics services, such as supply chain design and management, freight distribution, customs brokerage, mail, and consulting services in approximately 195 countries and territorie s; and less-than-truckload and truckload services to customers in North America. In addition, the company offers various technology solutions for automated shipping, visibility, and billing; information technology systems and distribution facilities to various industries comprising healthcare, technology, and consumer/retail; and a portfolio of financial services that provides customers with short-term working capital, government guaranteed lending, global trade financing, credit cards, and export financing. It operates a fleet of approximately 99,800 package cars, vans, tractors, and motorcycles; an air fleet of 527 aircraft; and 33,800 containers used to transport cargo in its aircraft. The company was founded in 1907 and is headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Paul Ausick]

  United Parcel Service Inc. (NYSE: UPS) said fourth quarter revenue per package declined by 1.3%. The company also said revenues in its supply chain and freight segment fell 5.8% to $2.3 billion due primarily to reduced tonnage and lower revenue per kilogram in the company�� international air freight group.

• [By Tracey Ryniec , Zacks Investment Research]

  On Dec 26, Amazon announced that a million new customers had signed up for Amazon Prime, the annual membership program that offers unlimited 2-day shipping on millions of items, in the third week of December alone. It is widely believed that all the new Prime members contributed to the surge in last minute package deliveries that caused a back up at UPS (UPS) just before Christmas day.

• [By John Maxfield]

  And finally, shares of UPS (NYSE: UPS  ) are headed higher on the heels of its better-than-expected first-quarter performance. The shipping giant notched a 9% improvement in its operating profit on a year-over-year basis, attributing the gain to increased volume from e-commerce sales -- click here for the earnings release (link opens PDF). Unlike 3M, moreover, UPS reaffirmed its guidance for the remainder of the year. According to its chief financial officer, "Although macro uncertainty remains, we are reaffirming our 2013 guidance for full year adjusted diluted earnings per share to be within a range of $4.80 to $5.06."

• [By Rich Smith]

  When you absolutely, positively have to lose money overnight
  But not as much money as investors in FedEx will lose. This morning, FedEx rival UPS (NYSE: UPS  ) preannounced earnings that fell short of analyst estimates, sending its stock down nearly 6%. FedEx shares are falling in sympathy -- down about 2.4%. That almost makes you feel sorry for the analysts at Wunderlich, who chose this unfortunate moment in time to recommend buying FedEx, just as the bad news about its peer broke loose.

Top 10 Dividend Companies To Buy For 2014: Spectra Energy Corp(SE)

Spectra Energy Corp, through its subsidiaries, engages in the ownership and operation of a portfolio of complementary natural gas-related energy assets in the United States and Canada. The company operates in four segments: U.S. Transmission, Distribution, Western Canada Transmission and Processing, and Field Services. The U.S. Transmission segment engages in the transportation and storage of natural gas for customers in various regions of the northeastern and southeastern United States and the Maritime Provinces in Canada. Its natural gas pipeline systems consist of approximately 19,000 miles of transmission pipelines; and storage capacity comprises 305 billion cubic feet in the United States and Canada. The Distribution segment engages in the natural gas storage, transmission, and distribution in Western Canada and the United States. This segment has approximately 37,600 miles of distribution main and service pipelines serving approximately 1.3 million residential, comme rcial, and industrial customers. The Western Canada Transmission and Processing segment provides natural gas transportation, and gas gathering and processing services; and provides services to natural gas producers to remove impurities from the raw gas stream including water, carbon dioxide, hydrogen sulfide, and other substances. This segment serves local distribution companies, end-use industrial and commercial customers, marketers, and exploration and production companies. The Field Services segment gathers and processes natural gas, as well as fractionates, markets, and trades natural gas liquids. It engages in gathering raw natural gas through gathering systems located in nine natural gas producing regions consisting of the Mid-Continent, Rocky Mountain, east Texas-north Louisiana, Barnett Shale, Gulf Coast, South Texas, Central Texas, Antrim Shale, and Permian Basin. The company is headquartered in Houston, Texas.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Justin Loiseau]

  Florida gets its gas fill
  NextEra Energy (NYSE: NEE  ) announced this week that it is investing around $3 billion with Spectra Energy (NYSE: SE  ) to bring Florida its third major natural gas pipeline. According to NextEra, Florida's current pipelines are near capacity, making its new project crucial to Florida -- and profitable for NextEra.

• [By Rich Duprey]

  The MLP was formed by Spectra Energy� (NYSE: SE  ) , and owns interests in natural gas transportation and storage assets in�theU.S., including more than 3,500 miles of transmission and gathering pipelines and approximately 57 billion cubic feet of natural gas storage.

• [By Robert Rapier]

  As for Tortoise Pipeline and Energy, it芒���s a two-year-old fund offered by a respected MLP asset manager, with the bulk of its portfolio in midstream energy infrastructure, mostly such corporate MLP sponsors as Spectra Energy (NYSE: SE) and Williams (NYSE: WMB). Traditional MLPs make up the 25 percent maximum of the portfolio permitted by law, and oil and gas producing corporations account for another 15 percent.

• [By Aaron Levitt]

  On the flipside, competing energy stocks — Dominion (D) and Spectra (SE) — have a breath of assets that continue rack up earnings and pay dividends. Investors are being paid to wait while their LNG facilities take shape.

Top 10 Dividend Companies To Buy For 2014: Star Gas Partners L.P.(SGU)

Star Gas Partners, L.P., through its subsidiaries, operates as a home heating oil distributor and services provider in the United States. It provides its services to residential and commercial customers to heat their homes and buildings. As of March 31, 2011, the company served approximately 408,000 full-service residential and commercial home heating oil, and propane customers. It also sold home heating oil, gasoline, and diesel fuel to approximately 40,000 customers. In addition, Star Gas Partners installed, maintained, and repaired heating and air conditioning equipment, as well as provided ancillary home services, including home security and plumbing to approximately 11,000 customers. Kestrel Heat, LLC operates as the general partner of the company. Star Gas Partners, L.P. was founded in 1995 and is headquartered in Stamford, Connecticut.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Louis Navellier]

  Star Gas Parnters (SGU) is in the home heating oil and propane business in the Northeast and mid-Atlantic regions of the U.S. The company has used smart acquisitions of smaller competitors to become the nation’s largest retail distributor of home heating oil — Star Gas sells heating oil to about 450,000 residential and commercial customers in its region.

• [By Marc Bastow]

  Home heating oil distributor and services company Star Gas Partners (SGU) raised its quarterly dividend 6% to 8.75 cents per share payable May 9 to shareholders of record May 1.
  SGU Dividend Yield: 5.43%

• [By Rich Smith]

  Stamford, Conn.-based Star Gas Partners (NYSE: SGU  ) is about to get a new CEO.

  The company (which, despite the name, actually spends more time delivering oil than gas for home heating), announced Tuesday that Chief Executive Officer Dan Donovan intends to retire on Sept. 30. When that happens, Chief Operating Officer Steve Goldman will move up to take the CEO's chair.

Top 10 Dividend Companies To Buy For 2014: Ventas Inc. (VTR)

Ventas, Inc. is a publicly owned real estate investment trust. The firm engages in investment, management, financing, and leasing of properties in the healthcare industry. It invests in the real estate markets of the United States and Canada. The firm primarily invests in healthcare-related facilities including hospitals, skilled nursing facilities, senior housing facilities, medical office buildings, and other healthcare related facilities. Ventas, Inc. was founded in 1983 and is based in Chicago, Illinois with additional offices in Louisville, Kentucky and Dallas, Texas.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Teresa Rivas]

  As for companies with the most upside, Marathon Petroleum (MPC) tops the list, with 63.6%, followed by Autodesk (ADSK), Ventas (VTR), salesforce.com (CRM) and American Tower (AMT). Outside the top five, the list also includes big names like Schlumberger (SLB), Halliburton (HAL), Expedia (EXPE) and General Motors (GM).

Top 10 Dividend Companies To Buy For 2014: Himax Technologies Inc.(HIMX)

Himax Technologies, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, designs, develops, and markets semiconductors for flat panel displays. Its products include display drivers and timing controllers for various thin film transistor liquid crystal displays (TFT-LCD) panels, which are used in desktop monitors, notebook computers, televisions, and mobile handsets, as well as consumer electronics products comprising netbook computers, digital cameras, mobile gaming devices, portable DVD players, digital photo frame, and car navigation displays; and TFT-LCD television and monitor semiconductor solutions. The company also provides liquid crystal on silicon (LCOS) products for palm-size mobile projectors; power management integrated circuits, which include drivers, amplifiers, DC to DC converters and other semiconductors; complementary metal oxide semiconductor image sensors for camera-equipped mobile devices, such as mobile phones and notebook computers with a focus on lowlight image and video quality; and wafer level optics products. It serves TFT-LCD panel manufacturers, mobile device module manufacturers, and television makers. Himax Technologies, Inc. was founded in 2001 and is headquartered in Tainan, Taiwan.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Ant贸nio Costa]
  Himax Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ: HIMX) continues to hold its ground. Breakout watch over 11.50 ( click to enlarge )

• [By Paul Ausick]

  Big Earnings Movers: SolarCity Corp. (NASDAQ: SCTY) is down 16.7% at $49.71 after providing weak guidance with earnings last night. Qualcomm Inc. (NASDAQ: QCOM) is down 3.7% at $67.15 after a mixed earnings report last night. Whole Foods Market Inc. (NASDAQ: WFM) is down 11.2% at $57.27 as the store tries to shed its luxury image. Himax Technologies Inc. (NASDAQ: HIMX) is down 10.2% at $8.50 on weak guidance.

• [By rusticnomad]

  We shall now consider another company that's not well-known. We are talking about Himax Technologies (HIMX). Its display-drivers have been used by consumer electronics giants such as Apple, Dell, Samsung, etc. and many more. Its product categories range from monitors to mobile computing devices.

• [By Alex Planes]

  Investors love stocks that consistently beat the Street without getting ahead of their fundamentals and risking a meltdown. The best stocks offer sustainable market-beating gains, with robust and improving financial metrics that support strong price growth. Does Himax Technologies (NASDAQ: HIMX  ) fit the bill? Let's take a look at what its recent results tell us about its potential for future gains.

Top 10 Dividend Companies To Buy For 2014: Progress Energy Inc.(PGN)

Progress Energy, Inc., a utility holding company, engages in the generation, transmission, distribution, and sale of electricity in North Carolina, South Carolina, and Florida. It uses coal, oil, hydroelectric, natural gas, and nuclear power to generate electricity. The company also engages in various alternative energy projects to generate electricity from swine waste and other plant or animal sources, biomass, solar, hydrogen, and landfill-gas technologies. Progress Energy serves various industries, including chemicals, textiles, paper, food, metals, wood products, rubber and plastics, and stone products, as well as phosphate rock mining and processing, electronics design and manufacturing, and citrus and other food processing. It has approximately 22,000 megawatts of regulated electric generation capacity and serves approximately 3.1 million retail electric customers, as well as other load-serving entities. The company was formerly known as CP&L Energy, Inc. Progress En ergy, Inc. was founded in 1925 and is headquartered in Raleigh, North Carolina.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Holly LaFon] ess Energy shares climbed over 2011 as the company announced in January it would merge with Duke Energy. Together, they will form the nation�� largest utility with a combined enterprise value of $65 billion and $37 billion in market cap. The new company will have 57 gigawatts of domestic generating capacity through a mix of coal, nuclear, natural gas, oil and renewable resources. Progress energy shareholders will receive an approximately 3 percent dividend increase.

  Incidentally, development of a comprehensive energy policy was one of what Grantham called ��he most important and most dangerous issues��facing the world.

  Progress is at the forefront of the push for nuclear energy in the U.S., which has been deemed the ��uclear renaissance.��Thirty-five percent of the electricity used by Progress Energy customers comes from one of their four nuclear sites, two in North Carolina, and one each in South Carolina and Florida. It plans to build another reactor in Levy County, Florida.

  Revenue at Progress Energy has declined at a 2.6% annual rate over the past five years, and it achieved cash flow of $95 million in 2010, after three years of losses. Earnings have remained positive, reaching a record for the decade of $856 million in 2010.

  RSC Holdings (RRR)

  RSC is a machinery rental service for construction, industrial, petrochemical, governmental and manufacturing businesses in the U.S. and Canada. RSC tends to benefit in economic downturns, as more businesses turn to renting rather than buying equipment to cut costs. Rented equipment rose 20.7% percent (the sixth consecutive quarter of double-digit growth) and rental revenue increased 27% in the fourth quarter of 2011, compared to last year.

  United Rentals (URI), one of RSC�� largest competitors, had a rental revenue increase of 18.5% in the fourth quarter compared to last year, which included a 6.7% increase in rental rates.

  The company�� fleet utilization also

Top 10 Dividend Companies To Buy For 2014: Illinois Tool Works Inc.(ITW)

Illinois Tool Works Inc. manufactures a range of industrial products and equipment worldwide. The company?s Transportation segment offers metal and plastic components, fasteners, and assemblies; fluids and polymers; fillers and putties; polyester coatings, and patch and repair products; and truck remanufacturing and related parts and service. Its Industrial Packaging segment offers steel and plastic strapping and related tools and equipment; plastic stretch film and related equipment; paper and plastic products that protect goods in transit; and metal jacketing products. The company?s Food Equipment segment provides warewashing, cooking, refrigeration, and food processing equipment; and kitchen exhaust, ventilation, and pollution control systems. Its Power Systems & Electronics segment provides arc welding equipment; metal arc welding consumables; metal solder materials for PC board fabrication; equipment and services for microelectronics assembly; electronic components an d component packaging; and airport ground support equipment. The company?s Construction Products segment offers anchors, fasteners, and related fastening tools for wood, metal, and concrete applications; metal plate truss components, and related equipment and software; and packaged hardware and other products for retail. Its Polymers & Fluids segment provides adhesives, chemical fluids, epoxy and resin-based coating products, hand wipes and cleaners, and pressure-sensitive adhesives and components. The company?s Decorative Surfaces segment offers laminate for furniture, office and retail space, and countertops; and laminate flooring and worktops. In addition, the company offers plastic reclosable packages and bags, and consumables; plastic and metal fasteners, and components; foil and film products; product coding and marking, paint spray, and static and contamination control equipment; and swabs and mats. The company was founded in 1912 and is based in Glenview, Illinois. Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Chuck Carnevale]

  However, I do believe that these lists represent an efficient group of prescreened opportunities that are worthy of further consideration. There are other dividend candidates such as Johnson Controls (JCI) and Illinois Tool Works (ITW) that were covered in the previous article Part 1, that do not meet the standard of consecutive dividend increases. Accordingly, I do not consider this a comprehensive or complete list of all possible dividend growth opportunities, but I do consider them a great place to start looking.