Top 5 Gas Utility Companies To Watch In Right Now

The hunt for yield has led many investors to the doorsteps of mortgage REITs and business development companies, both of which are legally required to hand over 90% of their profits to shareholders in order to enjoy special tax status. With few exceptions, such as American Capital (NASDAQ: ACAS  ) , these BDCs often pay out healthy dividends, providing double-digit yields similar to many mREITs.

But, the market madness that has ensued since the Federal Reserve's last meeting and Chair Ben Bernake's public comments has thrown cold water on the mREIT sector -- and given BDCs a bruising, too.

The current environment might make some investors wonder whether or not BDCs are still a good bet. Here are some things that these companies have been saying about how they plan to weather the current storm -- as well as future interest rate hikes.

Protection against higher interest rates
As lenders to companies on sometimes less-than-stable footing, BDCs certainly have some risk ingrained in their portfolios. But income-seeking investors have made the sector popular, and much like mREITs, the number of BDCs has exploded -- Reuters notes�that just nine years ago, there were only four, compared with the 30 that exist today. Unlike mREITs, though, leverage is usually much lower, and many sport a debt to equity ratio of 1:1.�

Top 10 Electric Utility Companies To Watch In Right Now: Constellium NV (CSTM)

Constellium N.V., formerly Constellium Holdco BV, is a Netherlands-based company, which is engaged in the manufacture of aluminum products and solutions. The Company is a supplier of such sectors as: aerospace, automotive and packaging. Constellium Holdco BV offers plates, sheet and coil, precision casting, cockpit carriers for vehicles, vehicle safety components, profiles, as well as tubes and bars, among others. Its main customers include: Airbus, Boeing, Embraer, Audi, BMW, Citroen, Renault, Mercedes Benz, Jaguar and others. The Company is active domestically and abroad, including North America, Europe and Asia. Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Laura Brodbeck]

  Thursday

  Earnings Expected From: Abercrombie & Fitch (NYSE: ANF), Dollar General (NYSE: DG), Genesco (NYSE: GCO), Constellium NV (NYSE: CSTM) Economic Releases Expected:  Japanese retail sales, Japanese industrial production, Japanese unemployment rate, British consumer confidence, U.S. GDP, eurozone consumer confidence, German unemployment rate, Spanish GDP

  Friday

Top 5 Gas Utility Companies To Watch In Right Now: Impac Mortgage Holdings Inc (IMH)

Impac Mortgage Holdings, Inc. (IMH), incorporated in August 1995, operations include the mortgage and real estate fee-based business activities conducted by its subsidiaries: Integrated Real Estate Service Corporation (IRES), IMH Assets Corp. (IMH Assets) and Impac Funding Corporation (IFC). The Company�� operations include the mortgage and real estate fee-based business activities conducted by IRES and the long-term mortgage portfolio (residual interests in securitizations reflected as net trust assets and liabilities in the consolidated balance sheets. The mortgage lending activities include the origination, funding, selling and servicing of loans. The Company is focusing on originating loans eligible for sale to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and government sponsored loans eligible for Ginnie Mae securities issuance.

Mortgage and real estate services

The Company created IRES to provide solutions to the mortgage and real estate markets. IRES performs services for investors, portfolio managers, servicers and individual borrowers, including mortgage lending services, portfolio monitoring and real estate services, surveillance and recovery services. The platform includes the mortgage lending operations, the portfolio loss mitigation and real estate services and formerly the title and escrow operations. The mortgage lending activities include the origination, funding, selling and servicing of loans. The Company is focusing on originating loans eligible for sale to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and government sponsored loans eligible for Ginnie Mae securities issuance.

Master Servicing

In the ordinary course of business, the Company sells mortgage loans to the secondary market. The Company retains servicing on certain loans sold and earns servicing fees generally between 0.25% and 0.44% per annum of the monthly outstanding principal balance of the loans serviced. The Company has hired a nationally recognized residential sub-servicer to sub-service! the servicing portfolio. Although the Company uses a sub-servicer to provide primary servicing and certain default servicing functions, the Company's default management team, experienced in loss mitigation and real estate recovery, monitors and surveys the performance of the mortgage servicing portfolio. Incurring the cost of both a sub-servicer and an internal default management team reduces net servicing income, but it is an important investment used to minimize delinquencies and minimize repurchase risk. As of December 31, 2011, the total unpaid principal balance of mortgage loans serviced was $605.4 million.

Long-Term Mortgage Portfolio

The long-term mortgage portfolio consists of the residual interest in securitizations represented on the consolidated balance sheet as the difference between trust assets and trust liabilities. The long-term mortgage portfolio includes adjustable rate and fixed rate Alt-A single-family residential mortgages and commercial (primarily multifamily residential loans) mortgages that were acquired and originated by the Company. Alt-A mortgages are primarily first lien mortgages made to borrowers whose credit is within typical Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac guidelines, but have loan characteristics that make them non-conforming under those guidelines. Commercial mortgages in the long-term mortgage portfolio are adjustable rate mortgages with initial fixed interest rate periods of two-, three-, five-, seven- and 10-years that subsequently convert to adjustable rate mortgages (hybrid ARMs).

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Roberto Pedone]

  Another stock that insiders are active in here is Impac Mortgage (IMH), which offers residential mortgage services in the U.S. Insiders are buying this stock into big time weakness, since shares are off by 27.4% so far in 2013.

  Impac Mortgage has a market cap of $89 million and an enterprise value of $6.05 billion. This stock trades at a premium valuation, with a forward price-to-earnings of 124.10. This is not a cash-rich company, since the total cash position on its balance sheet is $14.15 million and its total debt is a whopping $5.98 billion.

  A beneficial owner just bought 77,863 shares, or about $782,000 worth of stock, at $10 to $10.05 per share.

  From a technical perspective, IMH is currently trending below both its 50-day and 200-day moving averages, which is bearish. This stock has been trending sideways in a consolidation pattern for the last month, with shares moving between $9.80 on the downside and $10.90 on the upside. A high-volume move above the upper-end of its sideways trading chart pattern soon could trigger a big breakout trade for shares of IMH.

   

  If you're bullish on IMH, then look for long-biased trades as long as this stock is trending above some key near-term support at $9.80 and then once it breaks out above some near-term overhead resistance levels at $10.50 to $10.90 a share with high volume. Look for a sustained move or close above those levels with volume that hits near or above its three-month average volume of 29,759 shares. If that breakout triggers soon, then IMH will set up to re-test or possibly take out its next major overhead resistance levels at $11.88 to $11.95. Any high-volume move above those levels will then give IMH a chance to tag $14.

Top 5 Gas Utility Companies To Watch In Right Now: Ten Peaks Coffee Company Inc (TPK)

Ten Peaks Coffee Company Inc. (Ten Peaks) is a Canada-based company. It operates its business through its subsidiary, Swiss Water Decaffeinated Coffee Company Inc. (SWDCC), which is a green coffee decaffeinator located in Burnaby, British Columbia. It also owns and operates Seaforth Supply Chain Solutions Inc. (Seaforth), a green coffee handling and warehousing business located in Metro Vancouver. SWDCC is engaged in the coffee decaffeination business utilizing the branded Swiss Water Process of 100% chemical free green coffee decaffeination. SWDCC has two subsidiaries, which include Swiss Water Decaffeinated Coffee Co. USA, Inc, and Swiss Water Process Marketing Services Inc. On November 18, 2011, a subsidiary of Ten Peaks, Seaforth Supply Chain Solutions Inc., was incorporated. On January 1, 2011, in response to changes to the legislation governing the taxation of income trusts which made the income trust form of structure less advantageous, the Fund converted to a corporation. Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Inyoung Hwang]

  Travis Perkins Plc (TPK) lost 1.6 percent to 1,749 pence. The builders��merchant said its consumer division failed to grow on a comparable basis in the third quarter, slipping from an 8.6 percent increase in the two months ended June.

Top 5 Gas Utility Companies To Watch In Right Now: Banco Latinoamericano de Comercio Exterior S.A. (BLX)

Banco Latinoamericano de Comercio Exterior, S.A. provides trade financing to commercial banks, middle-market companies, and corporations primarily in Latin America and the Caribbean. The company operates in three segments: Commercial, Treasury, and Asset Management. The Commercial segment offers deposits and loans for foreign trade transactions. This segment also provides various products, services, and solutions relating to foreign trade, which include co-financing arrangements, underwriting of syndicated credit facilities, structured trade financing, asset-based financing in the form of factoring, vendor financing and leasing, and other fee-based services, such as electronic clearing services. The Treasury segment offers liquidity management and investment securities activities, including management of interest rate, liquidity, price, and currency risks. The Asset Management segment provides asset management services, including investment advisory services for funds and managed accounts. This division is involved in trading foreign exchange, interest rate swaps, and derivative products. The company was formerly known as Banco Latinoamericano de Exportaciones, S.A. and changed its name to Banco Latinoamericano de Comercio Exterior, S.A. in June 2009. Banco Latinoamericano de Comercio Exterior, S.A. was founded in 1977 and is headquartered in Panama City, the Republic of Panama.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Eric Volkman]

  Banco Latinoamericano de Comercio Exterior (NYSE: BLX  ) , better and more conveniently known as Bladex, is maintaining its dividend policy. The lender has declared a payout of $0.30 per share of its stock for its Q1, to be paid on May 7 to shareholders of record as of April 29. This amount matches the company's previous disbursement, which has been paid in both of the preceding two quarters. Before that, Bladex dispensed $0.25 per share.

• [By Rich Duprey]

  Panama-based supranational bank�Banco Latinoamericano de Comercio Exterior� (NYSE: BLX  ) announced yesterday its second-quarter dividend of $0.30 per share, the same rate it's paid for the past three quarters after raising the payout 20% from $0.25 per share.