Hot Building Product Companies To Watch For 2014

LONDON -- After a busy month or so for company reports, we're heading into a quiet patch over the next few weeks as the end-of-March reporting season draws to a close. There won't be a lot to keep us alert next week, but we will have a small handful of important updates.

Here we take a quick look at two FTSE 100 companies and one from the FTSE 250 that are bringing us news in the coming week.

Wolseley (LSE: WOS  )
We're expecting a third-quarter update from Wolseley on Tuesday, and if things are still going as they were at the halfway stage, announced in March, investors will probably be pleased -- though with the share price up nearly 50% over the past 12 months to 3,353 pence, they're probably already quite happy.

Like-for-like revenue at the plumbing, heating, and building products supplier was up 2.2% for the six months to Jan. 31, and with margins improving, the firm managed to convert that to a 7.6% rise in trading profit and a 3.9% rise in headline earnings per share. The interim dividend was lifted by 10% to 22 pence per share. Net debt was up to 拢871 million from 拢470 million at the same stage the previous year, but against revenue of 拢6.3 billion, that's not a massive sum.

Top 10 Valued Companies To Watch For 2015: Strategic Hotels and Resorts Inc (BEE)

Strategic Hotels & Resorts, Inc. (SHR), incorporated on January 27, 2004, operates as a self-administered and self-managed real estate investment trust (REIT). As of December 31, 2012, the Company�� portfolio included 18 full-service hotel interests located in urban and resort markets in the United States; Punta Mita, Nayarit, Mexico; Hamburg, Germany, and London, England. SHR conducts its operations through its direct and indirect subsidiaries, including its operating partnership, Strategic Hotel Funding, L.L.C. (SH Funding), which holds all of the Company�� assets. SHR is the sole managing member of SH Funding and held approximately 99% of its membership units as of February 27, 2013. SHR manages all business aspects of SH Funding, including the sale and purchase of hotels, the investment in these hotels and the financing of SH Funding and its assets. In September 2012, it acquired the JW Marriott Essex House Hotel in New York City. In October 2013, the Company announced that it has sold the Lakeshore Athletic Club property adjacent to the Fairmont Chicago hotel.

As of December 31, 2012, SH Funding owned interests in or leased 18 hotels, which included Fairmont Chicago, Fairmont Scottsdale Princess, Four Seasons Jackson Hole, Four Seasons Punta Mita Resort, Four Seasons Silicon Valley, Four Seasons Washington, D.C., Hotel del Coronado, Hyatt Regency La Jolla, InterContinental Chicago, InterContinental Miami, JW Marriott Essex House Hotel, Loews Santa Monica Beach Hotel, Marriott Hamburg, Marriott Lincolnshire Resort, Marriott London Grosvenor Square, Ritz-Carlton Half Moon Bay, Ritz-Carlton Laguna Niguel and Westin St. Francis.

The Hotel del Coronado is operated by a specialty management company, KSL Resorts. As of February 27, 2013, the Company wholly owned or leased 14 hotels, had a 53.5% and 51.0% interest in an affiliate that owned a hotel where it asset managed such hotel, and had 50.0% and 36.4% interests in, and acted as asset manager for, two affiliates that eac! h owned one hotel, and owned land held for development, including 20.5 acres of oceanfront land adjacent to its Four Seasons Punta Mita Resort, Nayarit, Mexico and 60 acres of oceanfront land near the Four Seasons Punta Mita Resort; a 20,000 square-foot parcel of land on the ocean in Santa Monica, California adjacent to its Loews Santa Monica Beach Hotel entitled for development and residential units; a 50% interest in an affiliate that owned 10 acres of land adjacent to the Fairmont Scottsdale Princess hotel, and a 31% interest in an affiliate with two parties that was developing the fractional ownership program known as the Four Seasons Residence Club Punta Mita.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By James E. Brumley]

  In a perfect world, an investor could simply look at a company's history and its plausible earnings forecasts, and jump in (or out) knowing the stock's current price basically made sense with respect to past and future performance. We don't live or trade in a perfect world though. In the world we're actually in right now, most stocks, sectors, and industries have run up far beyond a justifiable value... perhaps except for hotel and lodging REIT stocks Host Hotels and Resorts Inc. (NYSE:HST), Strategic Hotels and Resorts Inc. (NYSE:BEE), and Pebblebrook Hotel Trust (NYSE:PEB).

Hot Building Product Companies To Watch For 2014: City National Corporation (CYN)

City National Corporation operates as the bank holding company for City National Bank that provides various banking, investing, and trust services to small to mid-sized businesses, entrepreneurs, professionals, and affluent individuals. Its deposit products include demand and interest checking deposits, savings deposits, and money market accounts. The company�s loan portfolio comprises commercial loans, including lease financing; residential mortgage loans; commercial real estate mortgages; real estate construction loans; equity lines of credit; and installment loans. It also offers cash management, international banking, equipment financing, and other products and services. In addition, the company provides investment management, advisory, and brokerage services, including portfolio management, securities trading, and asset management; personal and business trust and investment services comprising employee benefit trust services, and 401(k) and defined benefit plans; and estate and financial planning, and custodial services. Further, it offers various asset classes and investment styles, including fixed-income instruments, mutual funds, domestic and international equities, and alternative investments, such as hedge funds. City National Corporation provides its services through 79 offices, including 16 full-service regional centers in Southern California; the San Francisco Bay area; Nevada; New York City; Nashville, Tennessee; and Atlanta, Georgia. The company was founded in 1953 and is headquartered in Los Angeles, California.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By John Maxfield]

  Given that you clicked on this article, it seems safe to assume you either own stock in City National Corp. (NYSE: CYN  ) or are considering buying shares in the near future. If so, then you've come to the right place. The table below reveals the nine most critical numbers that investors need to know about City National stock before deciding whether to buy, sell, or hold it.

Hot Building Product Companies To Watch For 2014: Powershares Etf Fund Trusts Ii (PGX)

The PowerShares Preferred Portfolio (Fund) is based on The BofA Merrill Lynch Core Fixed Rate Preferred Securities Index (Index). The Fund normally invest at least 90% of its total assets in securities that comprise the Index. The Index is designed to replicate the total return of a diversified group of investment-grade preferred securities. The Index is rebalanced on a monthly basis. The Fund seeks investment results that correspond generally to the price and yield (before fees and expenses) of a securities index. The Fund invests in sectors, such as basic materials, financial, utilities and unclassified. Invesco PowerShares Capital Management LLC. is the investment adviser. Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Lawrence Meyers]

  Public Storage has 10 different series of preferred stock, but I like the Series T because it trades at $21.83, which is more than 12% below par. I don�� see any reason for this discount, and it also boosts the 5.75% dividend (at par) to 6.58% at the current price.

  Preferred Stocks to Buy: PowerShares Preferred Portfolio (PGX)
  

  Dividend Yield: 6.6%

Hot Building Product Companies To Watch For 2014: Central Europe Russia and Turkey Fund Inc (CEE)

Central Europe and Russia Fund, Inc. (the Fund) is a non-diversified, closed-end management investment company. The Fund seeks long-term capital appreciation primarily through investment in equity and equity-linked securities of issuers domiciled in Central Europe and Russia. The Fund's portfolio includes investments in Russian, Polish, Hungarian, Czech Republic, Turkish, Austrian, Dutch, Cyprus, Bermuda and Virgin Islands common stocks.

The Fund invests in various industries, including commercial banks, diversified telecommunication services, food products, metals and mining, personal products, wireless telecommunication services, building products, construction and engineering, diversified telecommunication services, media, pharmaceuticals, automobiles, and oil, gas and consumable fuels. The Fund is managed and advised by subsidiaries of the Deutsche Bank Group. The Fund's investment advisor is Deutsche Asset Management International GmbH. The Fund's manager is Deutsche Investment Management Americas Inc.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Jake L'Ecuyer]

  Among the financial stocks, Ashford Hospitality Trust (NYSE: AHT) was down more than 5.7 percent, while The Central Europe, Russia and Turkey Fund (NYSE: CEE) tumbled around 5 percent.

• [By STANSBERRYRESEARCH]

  
  With emerging market speculation heating up again, TRF is trading for a 24% premium right now. If that premium climbs any higher, we predict another obliteration. – Brian Hunt, DailyWealth, December 21, 2006

  
  We published that note in December 2006. By March 2009, it had lost more than 90% of its value.   Perhaps more importantly to any long-term, buy-and-hold investor, the decline we foresaw in the fund would have wiped out more than 100% of the accumulated capital gains, assuming you invested as much as 15 years earlier.   Now... I'd like you to look at the chart one more time. Look at what happened to the fund in the first half of 2009. It went nearly straight up.   On April 17, 2009, we told subscribers to buy Russian stocks. Instead of using TRF, Steve Sjuggerud recommended a nearly identical Scudder Fund, the Central Europe and Russia Fund (NYSE: CEE). Both went up 150% from their March lows.   So if you followed the buy-and-hold strategy in Russian stocks over the last 15 years, you would have made a very small amount of money – or lost money, depending on when you sold your shares. On the other hand, if you applied a few of our secrets, you could have easily traded this fund for more than 100% gains in only a few weeks. And if you watch this fund, you'll be able to make trades like this three or four times each decade. If you watch other similar funds, you'll be able to make trades like this once or twice a year.   And let me tell you one more thing about this situation. In January 2007, when TRF was widely overvalued and when most individual investors were clamoring to buy shares – despite the premium valuation – we checked to see if we could sell the fund short. We knew it was going to collapse and wanted to profit directly as it fell. But we couldn't. Why not? Because other professionals had already borrowed all of the available shares to sh

Hot Building Product Companies To Watch For 2014: Peabody Energy Corporation(BTU)

Peabody Energy Corporation engages in the mining of coal. It mines, prepares, and sells thermal coal to electric utilities and metallurgical coal to industrial customers. The company owns interests in 30 coal mining operations located in the United States and Australia, as well as owns joint venture interest in a Venezuela mine. It is also involved in marketing, brokering, and trading coal. In addition, the company develops a mine-mouth coal-fueled generating plant; and Btu Conversion projects that are designed to convert coal to natural gas or transportation fuels; and clean coal technologies. As of December 31, 2011, it had 9 billion tons of proven and probable coal reserves. The company was founded in 1883 and is headquartered in St. Louis, Missouri.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By David Smith]

  Don't completely turn your back on coal
  One thing is demonstrable: The coal companies have taken it on the proverbial chin from a share price perspective during the past few years. Whether solely from an EPA regulatory overload, or with the added effects of an increased availability of cleaner-burning natural gas, even the biggest of the coal companies, Peabody Energy (NYSE: BTU  ) , has seen its share price plummet by about two-thirds in just the past two years.

• [By Ben Levisohn]

  Alpha Natural Resources (ANR) has dropped 23% in 2013, while Arch Coal (ACI) has fallen 39% and Peabody Energy (BTU) is off 28%. Only Consol Energy (CNX) among the larger miners is up this year, having gained a stock-market lagging 15% after saying it would look for ways to reduce its exposure to the business.

• [By Robert Rapier]

  For years the coal industry has suggested that carbon capture and storage technologies would come along to save the day. But this year the Norwegian government abandoned support for a project that was supposed to demonstrate carbon capture and storage on commercial scale. Thus, coal in the US appears to be on the way out.

  US coal producers have been battered as a result. Leading suppliers Peabody Energy (NYSE: BTU) and Arch Coal (NYSE: ACI) saw their share prices decline by another 30 percent and 40 percent, respectively, in 2013. This was on top of steep declines in 2011 and 2012, so that the total market capitalization of BTU and ACI has declined by 71 percent and 87 percent over the last three years.
  

  No country in the world has decreased coal consumption as much in recent years as has the US. This explains the declining fortunes of coal companies with significant operations in the US. But no country has increased coal consumption as much as China. In fact, were it not for China, global consumption of coal would have decreased over the past five years. Instead, the world continues to set new records for coal consumption.