5 Best Trucking Stocks To Watch For 2014

Despite what can best be described as a�soft economy, small cap trucking stocks YRC Worldwide, Inc (NASDAQ: YRCW), Arkansas Best Corporation (NASDAQ: ABFS), Frozen Food Express Industries, Inc (NASDAQ: FFEX), Saia Inc (NASDAQ: SAIA) and USA Truck, Inc (NASDAQ: USAK) have been trucking some pretty impressive returns since the start of the year. In fact, these small cap trucking stocks are up anywhere from 72% to 150% or so since the start of the year despite the slow economy. Certainly trucking stocks provide a good indicator of how the economy is doing, but might investors be�jumping the gun by pushing up these trucking stocks?

Here is what you need to know about all five:

YRC Worldwide, Inc. One of the largest transportation service providers in the world, YRC Worldwide is the holding company for a portfolio of brands that include YRC Freight, YRC Reimer, New Penn, Holland and Reddaway. Investors should be aware that YRC Worldwide narrowly averted bankruptcy in its fiscal 2009 financial year when it successfully persuading bondholders to exchange their $470 million in bond notes for roughly 94% of the company�� shares while in�September 2011,�the company completed a financial restructuring which essentially wiped out shareholder equity. Last week, YRC Worldwide sank after it reported earnings and missed Wall Street expectations when it reported $1.24 billion in revenue verses the�$1.26 billion Wall Street was expecting. YRC Worldwide reported a net loss that narrowed to $15.1 million, or $1.72 per share, from $22.6 million or $3.21 per share for the same period last year, but that loss was far higher than Wall Street�� expectations. The company also said�it has�retained Credit Suisse to help refinance debt or recapitalize the company���something that is probably not a good sign. On Thursday, small cap YRC Worldwide fell 7.36% to $16.74 (YRCW has a 52 week trading range of $5.20 to $36.99 a share) for a market cap of $195.43 million plus the stock is up 149.8% since the start of the year, up 221.9% over the past year and down 99.7% over the past five years.

Hot Media Companies For 2015: ProLogis(PLD)

Prologis Inc. is an independent equity real estate investment trust. It invests in the real estate markets across the globe. The firm engages in the ownership, development, management, and leasing of industrial distribution and retail properties. It was previously known as Security Capital Investment Trust. Prologis Inc. was formed in 1991 and is based in San Francisco, California with an additional office in Denver, Colorado.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Rich Duprey]

  Industrial real estate developer Prologis� (NYSE: PLD  ) �has declared regular and preferred dividends for the second quarter of 2013. The company plans to distribute $0.28 per share of its common stock on June 28 to shareholders of record as of June 11. For its�8.54% Series Q cumulative redeemable preferred stock, Prologis will distribute $1.0675 per share, which will be paid on July 1 to shareholders of record at the close of business on June 18.

• [By Oliver Pursche]

  As the real-estate crisis unfolded in 2008, Mr. Moghadam acted boldly and intelligently, taking advantage of opportunities around the world and eventually merging AMB with ProLogis (PLD) �in 2011 to create the current, a company who�� stock, since the bottom of the crisis in 2009, has outperformed the S&P 500.

• [By Eric Volkman]

  Prologis (NYSE: PLD  ) has announced that it will sell 31 million new pieces of itself. That's the number of common shares it will float in an upcoming, underwritten public stock offering. The price of the shares will be $41.60 apiece, and the company's underwriters have been granted a 30-day purchase option for up to an additional 4.65 million shares to cover overallotments, if any.

• [By Ben Levisohn]

  But the S&P 500′s biggest losers show the kind of carnage long predicted by those fearful of higher yields. How’s this for evidence: Real-estate investment trusts,�whose yields look more paltry with every tick higher in the 10-year Treasury, made up half of the top-10 losers. Prologis (PLD) fell 8.4% to $35.08, the Macerich Co. (MAC) dropped 8.2% to $56.72 and Health Care REIT (HCN) was off 8.1% at $58.57.

5 Best Trucking Stocks To Watch For 2014: Fifth Third Bancorp(FITB)

Fifth Third Bancorp operates as a diversified financial services holding company in the United States. The company?s Commercial Banking segment offers credit intermediation, cash management, and financial services; lending and depository products; and foreign exchange and international trade finance, derivatives and capital markets services, asset-based lending, real estate finance, public finance, commercial leasing, and syndicated finance for business, government, and professional customers. Its Branch Banking segment provides deposit and loan, and lease products to individuals and small businesses. This segment?s products include checking and savings accounts, home equity loans and lines of credit, credit cards, loans for automobile and personal financing needs, and cash management services. The company?s Consumer Lending segment engages in the mortgage and home equity lending activities, such as origination, retention, and servicing of mortgage and home equity loans ; and other indirect lending activities, which include loans to consumers through mortgage brokers and automobile dealers. Its Investment Advisors segment offers investment alternatives for individuals, companies, and not-for-profit organizations. It offers retail brokerage services to individual clients, and broker dealer services to the institutional marketplace. This segment also provides asset management services; holistic strategies to affluent clients in wealth planning, investing, insurance, and wealth protection; and advisory services for institutional clients, as well as advises the company?s proprietary family of mutual funds. As of December 31, 2011, the company operated 1,316 full-service banking centers, including 104 Bank Mart locations; and 2,425 automated teller machines in 12 states in the midwestern and southeastern regions of the United States. The company was founded in 1862 and is headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Laura Brodbeck]

  Thursday

  Earnings Expected From: United Health Group Incorporated (NYSE: UNH), Mattel, Inc. (NASDAQ: MAT), General Electric Company (NYSE: GE), Fifth Third Bancorp (NASDAQ: FITB), Philip Morris Inc (NYSE: PM), Pepsico, Inc. (NYSE: PEP), Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE: GS), Chipotle Mexican Grill, Inc. (NYSE: CMG), American Express Company (NYSE: AXP) Economic Releases Expected: �German PPI, Canadian CPI, Chinese house price data

  Friday

5 Best Trucking Stocks To Watch For 2014: Noble Energy Inc. (NBL)

Noble Energy, Inc., through its subsidiaries, engages in the acquisition, exploration, development, production, and marketing of crude oil, natural gas, and natural gas liquids in the United States, West Africa, Eastern Mediterranean, the North Sea, and internationally. Its principal projects include the Central DJ Basin properties in the onshore US; Galapagos and Gunflint projects in the deepwater Gulf of Mexico; Tamar project in the offshore Israel; Aseng, Alen, and Diega/Carmen projects in the offshore Equatorial Guinea; and West Africa gas projects located in the offshore Equatorial Guinea and Cameroon. The company was founded in 1932 and is based in Houston, Texas.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Ben Levisohn]

  Shares of Anadarko have underperformed peers like EOG Resources�(EOG),Noble Energy�(NBL),�Apache�(APA) and Occidental Petroleum�(OXY) during the past six months as the litigation risk held back the stock, and it looks like it’s going to take a while before its settled once and for all.

5 Best Trucking Stocks To Watch For 2014: Dynamic Materials Corporation(BOOM)

Dynamic Materials Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, provides explosion-welded clad metal plates, oil field perforating equipment and explosives, and welding services worldwide. It operates in three segments: Explosive Metalworking, Oilfield Products, and AMK Welding. The Explosive Metalworking segment primarily manufactures explosion-welded clad metal plates that are used in the construction of heavy and corrosion resistant pressure vessels, and heat exchangers for oil and gas, alternative energy, chemical and petrochemical, hydrometallurgy, aluminum production, shipbuilding, power generation, and industrial refrigeration industries. This segment sells its products through senior management, direct sales personnel, program managers, and independent sales representatives. The Oilfield Products segment engages in the manufacture, marketing, and sale of perforating explosives and associated hardware, as well as seismic explosives for the oil and gas industry. Its p roducts include shaped charges, detonators, detonating cords, bidirectional boosters, and perforating guns for the perforation of oil and gas wells. This segment offers its products through direct selling, licensed distributors, independent sales representatives, and international distribution centers. The AMK Welding segment provides welding, heat treatment, and inspection services primarily to power turbine manufacturers, and commercial and military aircraft engine manufacturers. The company was formerly known as Explosive Fabricators, Inc. and changed its name to Dynamic Materials Corporation in 1994. Dynamic Materials Corporation was founded in 1965 and is headquartered in Boulder, Colorado.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Chris Hill]

  In this installment of Motley Fool Money, our analysts talk about why they're watching Dynamic Materials (NASDAQ: BOOM  ) , Gentex (NASDAQ: GNTX  ) , and Western Union (NYSE: WU  ) .