Best Dow Dividend Companies To Invest In Right Now

Modern Family is apparently a dud in syndication, and no one is laughing harder than Netflix (NASDAQ: NFLX  ) .

It seems that consumer appetite for the show's reruns isn't as strong as Comcast's (NASDAQ: CMCSA  ) USA Network -- the eventual winner of the comedy's syndication rights -- was expecting. It's been airing the show as many as five nights a week since the fall season began, and the early Nielsen ratings aren't encouraging. USA's audience is 40% lower than it was a year earlier when it was running NCIS and Law & Order: SVU reruns during the same slot.

Ouch!�

Digital distribution was front and center in the bidding war for the popular comedy's syndication rights two years ago. Time Warner's (NYSE: TWX  ) Turner Broadcasting vocally dropped out of contention, arguing that the show was too exposed in cyberspace. Hulu and�Disney's (NYSE: DIS  ) ABC.com -- but not Netflix -- were streaming earlier episodes. News Corp. (NASDAQ: NWSA  ) COO Chase Carey backed Time Warner's move to pass on the sitcom that had become huge for Disney's ABC.

Best Trucking Companies To Buy For 2015: MGE Energy Inc (MGEE)

MGE Energy, Inc. (MGE Energy), incorporated on December 31, 2001, is a holding company and conducts all of its business operations through its subsidiaries. Madison Gas and Electric Company (MGE) is a wholly owned subsidiary of MGE Energy. The Company operates in five segments: Regulated electric utility operations, which is engaged in generating, purchasing, and distributing electricity through MGE; Regulated gas utility operations, which is engaged in purchasing and distributing natural gas through MGE; Nonregulated energy operations, which is engaged in constructing, owning, and leasing electric generating capacity that assists MGE through MGE Energy's wholly owned subsidiaries MGE Power Elm Road and MGE Power West Campus; Transmission investments, which is representing its investment in American Transmission Company LLC, and All other, which is investing in companies and property that relate to the regulated operations and financing the regulated operations, through its wholly owned subsidiaries MAGAEL and CWDC, and Corporate functions.

Electric Utility Operations

MGE distributes electricity in a service area covering a 316 square-mile area of Dane County, Wisconsin. The service area includes the city of Madison, Wisconsin. It owns or leases ownership interests in electric generation facilities located in Wisconsin and Iowa. As of December 31, 2012, MGE supplied electric service to approximately 140,000 customers, with approximately 90% located in the cities of Fitchburg, Madison, Middleton, and Monona and 10% in adjacent areas. Electric operations accounted for approximately 73.7% as of December 31, 2012. MGE is registered with two Regional Entities, The Midwest Reliability Organization and Reliability First Corporation. MGE and two other utilities jointly own Columbia, a coal-fired generating facility.

MGE owns gas fired combustion turbines. These turbines are primarily located in Madison and Marinette, Wisconsin, and have a total of 155 megawatts of net su! mmer rated capacity. MGE also owns the Blount Generating Facility located in Madison, Wisconsin, which is fueled by gas and other alternative renewable sources. MGE owns 30 megawatts, consisting of 18 turbines, in a wind-powered electric generating facility in Worth County, Iowa. MGE also owns 11 megawatts, consisting of 17 turbines, in a wind-powered electric generating facility in Kewaunee County, Wisconsin.

Gas Utility Operations

MGE transports and distributes natural gas in a service area covering 1,631 square miles in seven south-central Wisconsin counties. The service area includes the city of Madison, Wisconsin and surrounding areas. As of December 31, 2012, MGE supplied natural gas service to approximately 145,000 customers in the cities of Elroy, Fitchburg, Lodi, Madison, Middleton, Monona, Prairie du Chien, Verona, and Viroqua; 24 villages, and all or parts of 45 townships.

Nonregulated Energy Operations

MGE Energy, through its subsidiaries, has developed generation sources that assist MGE in meeting the electricity needs of its customers. MGE Power Elm Road and two other owners own undivided interests in the coal-fired Elm Road Units in Oak Creek, Wisconsin. Unit I and Unit II have the capacity to produce 615 megawatts of electricity. Wisconsin Energy Corporation owns approximately 83% of the Elm Road Units and is the operator for those units. MGE Power Elm Road owns an 8.33% ownership interest in both units.

MGE Power West Campus and the University of Wisconsin at Madison (UW) jointly own undivided interests in a natural gas-fired cogeneration facility on the UW campus. The facility has the capacity to produce 20,000 tons of chilled water, 500,000 pounds per hour of steam, and approximately 150 megawatts of electricity. The UW owns 45% of the facility, which represents its interest in the chilled-water and steam assets. MGE leases the electric generating assets owned by MGE Power West Campus and is responsible for operating the! entire f! acility.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Seth Jayson]

  Calling all cash flows
  When you are trying to buy the market's best stocks, it's worth checking up on your companies' free cash flow once a quarter or so, to see whether it bears any relationship to the net income in the headlines. That's what we do with this series. Today, we're checking in on MGE Energy (Nasdaq: MGEE  ) , whose recent revenue and earnings are plotted below.

• [By Dividends4Life]

  Starting in 2013 the federal tax rates on qualified dividends are 0%, 15% and 20%. The 20% rate is for taxpayers in the 39.6% tax bracket. For those in the 10% and 15% brackets, there is no tax on qualified dividends. In contrast, ordinary income is taxed at rates up to up to 39.6%. Below are several stocks that have consistently paid dividends through depressions, recessions, world wars, and other political and economic upheavals:WGL Holdings Inc. (WGL) provides natural gas service in the Washington, DC, metropolitan area and surrounding regions, including Maryland and Virginia. Yield: 4.1% | Paid Dividends Since: 1852Exxon Mobil Corp. (XOM), formed through the merger of Exxon and Mobil in late 1999, is the world's largest publicly owned integrated oil company. Yield: 2.7% | Paid Dividends Since: 1882Consolidated Edison, Inc. (ED) is an electric and gas utility holding company serves parts of New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania. Yield: 4.4% | Paid Dividends Since: 1885The Procter & Gamble Company (PG) is a leading consumer products company that markets household and personal care products in more than 180 countries. Yield: 3.2% | Paid Dividends Since: 1891The Coca-Cola Company (KO) is the world's largest soft drink company, KO also has a sizable fruit juice business. Yield: 2.9% | Paid Dividends Since: 1893General Mills, Inc. (GIS) is a major producer of packaged consumer food products, include cereal, yogurt and Betty Crocker desserts/baking mixes. Yield: 3.0% | Paid Dividends Since: 1898Avista Corp. (AVA) generates, transmits and distributes energy as well as engages in energy-related businesses in the United States and Canada. Yield: 3.0% | Paid Dividends Since: 1899MGE Energy Inc. (MGEE) is a public utility holding company that supplies electric service to apx. 140,000 customers; and natural gas service to apx. 145,000 customers in Wisconsin (as of December 2012). Yield: 2.8% | Paid Dividends Since: 1909Xcel Energy Inc. (XEL) offers energy-related prod

Best Dow Dividend Companies To Invest In Right Now: Qantas Airways Ltd (QUBSF)

Qantas Airways Limited is engaged in the operation of international and domestic air transportation services, the provision of freight services and the operation of a Frequent Flyer loyalty program. The Company�� main business is the transportation of customers using two complementary airline brands: Qantas and Jetstar. It also operates subsidiary businesses, including other airlines, and businesses in specialist markets, such as Q Catering. The Company operates in four segments: Qantas Domestic, Qantas International, Qantas Loyalty and Qantas Freight. Qantas Domestic includes Australian domestic passenger flying business of Qantas Brands. Qantas International includes the International passenger flying business of Qantas Brands. Qantas Loyalty Operates the Qantas customer loyalty program. In April 2014, Qantas Airways Ltd announced that Westpac Banking Corporation and its associated companies ceased to be a substantial share holder of the Company. Advisors' Opinion:

• [By MARKETWATCH]

  LOS ANGELES (MarketWatch) -- Stocks in Australia fell early Thursday, pressured by a drop in the country's currency to a three-month low below 90 U.S. cents, and by losses on Wall Street overnight on concerns about tapering of monetary stimulus. The S&P/ASX 200 (AU:XJO) fell 28 points, or 0.5%, to 5,246, led by losses in the heavily weighted financial sector. There, shares of Westpac Banking Corp. (AU:WBC) (WEBNF) lost 1.2%, National Australia Bank Ltd. (AU:NAB) (NAUBF) declined 1%, and Australia & New Zealand Banking Group (AU:ANZ) (ANEWF) shed 0.7%. Shares of Qantas Airways Ltd. (AU:QAN) (QUBSF) sank 14% after the company warned it expects to post an underlying loss before tax of $250 million to $300 million for the six months ending Dec. 31. The carrier said trading conditions saw a marked deterioration, particularly in November with both passenger loads and yields "below the already negative trends for the year to date."

Best Dow Dividend Companies To Invest In Right Now: Thermon Group Holdings Inc.(THR)

Thermon Group Holdings, Inc. offers heat tracing solutions for process industries worldwide. The company?s solutions provide an external heat source to pipes, vessels, and instruments for the purposes of freeze protection, temperature and flow maintenance, environmental monitoring, and surface snow and ice melting. Its products comprise a range of electric heat tracing cables, steam tracing components, and tubing bundles. The company also offers instrument and control products, including self-regulating and power limiting heating cables; mineral insulated cables; heat traced tube bundles for environmental gas sampling systems; heat transfer compounds and steam tracers for steam tracing solutions; control and monitoring systems for electric tracing of pipes, tanks, hoppers, and instrument sampling systems; and hopper heating modules. In addition, it provides various turnkey solutions for heat tracing, such as design, front-end optimization, product supply, engineering deli verables, system integration, installation, commissioning, and maintenance services. The company offers its solutions to the energy, chemical processing, power generation, and industrial and commercial infrastructure, as well as engineering, procurement, and construction companies. It serves customers through a network of sales and service professionals, and distributors in approximately 30 countries. The company is headquartered in San Marcos, Texas.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Seth Jayson]

  Calling all cash flows
  When you are trying to buy the market's best stocks, it's worth checking up on your companies' free cash flow once a quarter or so, to see whether it bears any relationship to the net income in the headlines. That's what we do with this series. Today, we're checking in on Thermon Group Holdings (NYSE: THR  ) , whose recent revenue and earnings are plotted below.

• [By CRWE]

  Thermon Group Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:THR), will issue a press release reporting its fourth quarter and full fiscal 2012 consolidated financial results before the market opens on Friday, June 1 2012.

Best Dow Dividend Companies To Invest In Right Now: Intercept Pharmaceuticals Inc (ICPT)

Intercept Pharmaceuticals, Inc., incorporated on September 4, 2002, is a biopharmaceutical company focused on the development and commercialization of therapeutics to treat chronic liver diseases utilizing its bile acid chemistry.The Company�� product candidates treat orphan and more prevalent liver diseases for which there are limited therapeutic solutions. The Company�� product candidate, obeticholic acid, or OCA, is a bile acid analog, a chemical substance that has a structure based on a naturally occurring human bile acid. It is developing OCA initially for primary biliary cirrhosis, or PBC, as a second line treatment for patients who have an inadequate response to or who are unable to tolerate standard of care therapy and therefore need additional treatment. The Company is conducting a Phase 3 clinical trial of OCA in PBC, which it calls the POISE trial, that serves as the basis for seeking regulatory approval in the United States and Europe. As of December 19, 2012, the Company completed enrollment of the POISE trial with 217 patients.

The Company�� clinical focus is on the development of OCA, orally administered, first-in-class FXR agonist that has broad liver-protective properties and may a variety of chronic insults to the liver that cause fibrosis, which can eventually lead to cirrhosis, liver transplant and death. The Company owns worldwide rights to OCA outside of Japan and China, where it has licensed the compound to Dainippon Sumitomo Pharma, or DSP, and granted it an option to license OCA in certain other Asian countries.The Company is sponsoring an independent study involving more than ten leading PBC centers in North America and Europe, or collectively the Global PBC Study Group, that are pooling their long-term patient data to evaluate the relationship between biochemical and clinical endpoints.

The Company competes with Eli Lilly, Exelixis, Inc., Phenex Pharmaceuticals AG, , Johnson & Johnson, NovImmune SA, Dr. Falk Pharma GmbH, Galmed Medical Researc! h Ltd., Immuron Ltd., Mochida Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd., NasVax Ltd. , Raptor Pharmaceutical Corp. Astellas Pharma US, Inc., AstraZeneca, Salix Pharmaceuticals, Inc. and Tioga Pharmaceuticals, Inc.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Jake L'Ecuyer]

  Equities Trading UP
  Shares of Intercept Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: ICPT) got a boost, shooting up 282.85 percent to $276.21 after the company reported that the FLINT trial of obeticholic acid has been stopped early and the NASH primary endpoint has been met.

• [By Ben Levisohn]

  When a biotech stock has already gained 556% this year, like Intercept Pharmaceuticals (ICPT) has, there’s really only one thing for an analyst to do–raise their price target. And that’s exactly what Citigroup did today with Intercept Pharmaceuticals, the best performing biotech company in the Russell 2000.

  Intercept Pharmaceutical has surged 576% this year after gaining today, besting InterMune’s (ITMN) 119% spike and Sangamo BioSciences’ (SGMO) 63% advance.

  Citigroup’s Jonathan Eckard and team explain why they’re even more excited about Buy-rated Intercept Pharmaceuticals:

  We are raising�[Intercept Pharmaceuticals' target price] to $700 (+$100) based on higher regulatory confidence following a thorough assessment of FDA history with blood lipid changes in other settings involving liver damage/repair. We believe the FDA�� understanding of these lipid changes is under-recognized by the Street and the agency�� past ��ack of��response to them highlights this. Therefore, we expect the lipid changes in the FLINT trial are likely to receive less regulatory scrutiny than current Street expectations and this is not reflected in [Intercept Pharmaceuticals'] current valuation. We also believe certain FLINT data could be publicly available by the end of July and before the anticipated AASLD showing.

  What does all that mean for Intercept Pharmaceuticals? Here’s the one-sentence version: “Our increase is driven primarily by higher probability of approval and more rapid penetration into the most severe NASH population.”

  Shares of Intercept Pharmaceuticals have gained 2.9% to $461.11, while InterMune has dropped 2.9% to $32.29 and Sangamo BioSciences has dipped 0.5% to $22.67.

• [By Eddie Staley]

  Equities Trading UP
  Shares of Intercept Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: ICPT) got a boost, shooting up 54.79 percent to $427.02. Citigroup lifted the price target on the stock from $60.00 to $400.00, while Bank of America raised the price target from $81.00 to $872.00.

• [By Keith Speights]

  No dilution worries here
  Often when a biotech announces a new share offering, its stock will fall because of investor concerns about dilution. There were no worries for Intercept Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: ICPT  ) with its recently announced offering, though. Shares jumped 20% for the week.

Best Dow Dividend Companies To Invest In Right Now: Duckwall-Alco Stores Inc.(DUCK)

Duckwall-ALCO Stores, Inc. operates as a regional broad line retailer in the central United States. The company operates ALCO stores that offer a line of merchandise consisting of approximately 35,000 items, including automotive, commodities, crafts, domestics, electronics, furniture, hardware, health and beauty aids, housewares, jewelry, pre-recorded music and video, sporting goods, seasonal items, stationery, and toys, as well as ladies?, men?s, and children?s apparel and shoes. As of March 1, 2012, it operated 216 ALCO stores in 23 states. The company was founded in 1901 and is based in Abilene, Kansas.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Geoff Gannon]

  Stocks trading at or below book value ��not counting goodwill ��are the easiest to understand. Whether we are talking about DreamWorks or Avalon Holdings or Duckwall ALCO (DUCK) or J.W. Mays (MAYS), if a stock is trading around book value your next step is to figure out how book value is calculated.

Best Dow Dividend Companies To Invest In Right Now: Principal Financial Group Inc(PFG)

Principal Financial Group, Inc. provides retirement savings, investment, and insurance products and services worldwide. The company?s Retirement and Investor Services segment provides retirement savings and related investment products and services, including a portfolio of asset accumulation products and services primarily to small and medium-sized businesses and individuals in the United States. This segment offers products and services to businesses for defined contribution pension plans, including 401(k) and 403(b) plans, defined benefit pension plans, nonqualified executive benefit plans, and employee stock ownership plan consulting services; and annuities, mutual funds, and bank products and services to the employees of its business customers and other individuals. Principal Financial Group?s Principal Global Investors segment offers a range of equity, fixed income, and real estate investments, as well as specialized overlay and advisory services to institutional inve stors. The company?s Principal International segment offers retirement products and services, annuities, mutual funds, institutional asset management, and life insurance accumulation products in Brazil, Chile, China, Hong Kong SAR, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Mexico, Singapore, and Thailand. Principal Financial Group?s U.S. Insurance Solutions segment offers individual life insurance, as well as specialty benefits in the United States. Its individual life insurance products include universal and variable universal life insurance and traditional life insurance; and specialty benefit products comprise group dental and vision insurance, individual and group disability insurance, and group life insurance, as well as fee-for-service claims administration and wellness services. The company was founded in 1879 and is based in Des Moines, Iowa.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Patricio Kehoe] ts newest deal with private benefits company Liazon Corp., through which the firm will offer employer-sponsored group benefit plans to small and medium businesses. While the company already sells ancillary benefit plans, this deal will now also include dental, life insurance, disability insurance and critical illness coverage in an attempt to stay on top of the insurance industry. As an industry leader, Principal has over $466 billion in assets under management and 19 million customers, fragmented among small and medium-size businesses. Furthermore, its solid fourth quarter results have encouraged investment gurus like Paul Tudor Jones (Trades, Portfolio) and Steven Cohen (Trades, Portfolio) to recently acquire large amounts of the company�� shares. So, let�� see what this insurer has in store for the future.

  Broadening Horizons

  Although Principal�� core business is in life insurance, the company has been pursuing a more diverse growth strategy lately, and is now focused on expanding its position in the retirement service and asset management segment. With almost 30,700 pension plans covering over 3.4 million customers, this business��growth rate has not only boosted overall profitability, marked by a 31% annual increase in operating earnings for fiscal 2013, but also helped offset the headwinds of low interest rates and volatility in the emerging markets. In fact, the fourth quarter showed a 65% boost in premium and fee income for the segmenta , consequence of the rollout of total retirement suite products.

  Moreover, Principal�� emphasis on retirement products and its use of capital salesforce for distribution has added on to the natural switching cost advantage in the insurance industry. Since plan sponsors provided with pension assets rarely switch providers, the company will likely benefit in the long term from its persistency, as seen in the quarterly 9% bump in recurring deposits.

  On another note, Principal�� fee-based b