Best Trucking Companies To Own In Right Now

Watch out, grocery chain investors: The $250 billion freight train that is Wal-Mart (NYSE: WMT  ) is looking to push you off the rails.

On Monday Wal-Mart announced changes across its sourcing, training, and operations "that will ensure the quality and freshness of the fruits and vegetables that it offers customers."

The plan
So how, exactly, does this corporate behemoth intend to achieve its goal?�

First, the initiative includes plans to purchase produce directly from growers with the guidance of new produce experts hired by the company. As a result, Wal-Mart will be able to take greater advantage of its own industry-leading network of distribution centers and trucking systems to bring fruits and vegetables to store shelves even faster than its current system allows.

Next, Wal-Mart will be performing "independent weekly checks in its more than 3,400 Supercenters, Neighborhood Markets and Express Stores that sell produce," the reports for which will be sent to "every level of store management" to help benchmark itself and competitors on a week-over-week basis.

Top 10 Small Cap Stocks To Own Right Now: State Auto Financial Corporation(STFC)

State Auto Financial Corporation, through its subsidiaries, writes personal and business lines of insurance to individuals and small-to-medium sized businesses. The company operates through four segments: Personal insurance, Business insurance, Specialty insurance, and Investment operations. The Personal insurance segment provides personal automobile and homeowners insurance products to the personal insurance market. The Business insurance segment offers commercial automobile, commercial multi-peril, fire and allied lines, and general liability insurance covering small-to-medium sized commercial exposures in the business insurance market. The Specialty insurance segment provides commercial coverages requiring specialized product underwriting, workers? compensation, claims handling, or risk management services. The Investment operations segment offers investment portfolio management services. State Auto Financial Corporation markets its insurance products primarily through independent insurance agencies, which include retail agencies and wholesale brokers in 50 states and the District of Columbia. The company was founded in 1950 and is headquartered in Columbus, Ohio. State Auto Financial Corporation is a subsidiary of State Automobile Mutual Insurance Company.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By CRWE]

  State Auto Financial Corporation (Nasdaq:STFC), a super regional property and casualty insurance holding company, will discuss its third quarter 2012 results in a conference call on Tuesday, Nov. 6, 2012, at 10 a.m. ET.

Best Trucking Companies To Own In Right Now: Revett Mining Company Inc (RVM)

Revett Mining Co Inc, formerly Revett Minerals Inc., is a silver-copper producer. The Company owns and operates the producing Troy Mine and the development-stage Rock Creek project; both properties are located in northwestern Montana. Troy is an underground copper and silver mine. Rock Creek is a development-stage underground copper and silver project. Revett Silver owns all of Troy and Rock Creek through two wholly owned Montana subsidiaries, Troy Mine Inc. and RC Resources Inc., respectively. Rock Creek is located in Sanders County, Montana, approximately 5 miles northeast of the town of Noxon. The Troy Mine is located in Lincoln County, Montana. During the year ended December 31, 2011, RC Resources Inc. acquired eight claims (the JE claims) and staked an additional 200 claims (the Lost Girl claims) northwest of Rock Creek increasing the property position at Rock Creek by approximately 4,000 acres. Advisors' Opinion:

• [By James E. Brumley]

  If you've never heard of Revett Minerals Inc. (NYSEMKT:RVM) before right now, don't worry about it - you're not alone. The $25 million silver and copper miner doesn't have enough size to merit much media attention, and to make things more difficult, silver and miner has spent the better part of 2013 being out of favor. Yet, things are slowing changing for RVM and its shareholders.... for the better. Though a little more work needs to be done, this stock's knocking on the door of a monster breakout.

Best Trucking Companies To Own In Right Now: Abbott Laboratories(ABT)

Abbott Laboratories engages in the discovery, development, manufacture, and sale of health care products worldwide. The company offers adult and pediatric pharmaceuticals for rheumatoid and psoriatic arthritis, ankylosing spondylitis, psoriasis, and Crohn's disease; dyslipidemia; HIV infection; prostate cancer, endometriosis and central precocious puberty, and anemia caused by uterine fibroids; respiratory syncytial virus; adult males who have low or no testosterone; secondary hyperparathyroidism; hypothyroidism; and pancreatic exocrine insufficiency, as well as anesthesia products. It also provides diagnostic products, such as immunoassay systems; chemistry systems; assays used for screening and/or diagnosis for drugs of abuse, cancer, therapeutic drug monitoring, fertility, physiological, and infectious diseases; instruments that automate the extraction, purification, and preparation of DNA and RNA from patient samples, and detect and measure infections agents; genomic-b ased tests; hematology systems and reagents; and point-of-care diagnostic systems and tests for blood analysis. In addition, the company offers a line of pediatric and adult nutritional products. Further, it provides coronary, endovascular, vessel closure, and structural heart devices, such as drug-eluting stent systems, coronary metallic stents, balloon dilatation products, coronary guidewires, vessel closure devices, carotid stent systems, percutaneous valve repair systems, and drug eluting bioresorbable vascular products. Additionally, the company provides blood glucose monitoring meters, test strips, data management software, and accessories for people with diabetes; and medical devices for the eye, including cataract surgery, lasik surgery, contact lens, and dry eye products, as well as branded generic pharmaceutical products. Abbott primarily serves retailers, wholesalers, hospitals, and health care facilities. Abbott was founded in 1888 and is headquartered in Abbott Park, Illinois.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Timothy Lutts]

  Abbott Laboratories (ABT) is just what the doctor ordered; the 125 year-old company has a solid business with a good reputation and good long-term growth prospects.

• [By Max Macaluso, Ph.D.]

  Shares of Abbott Laboratories (NYSE: ABT  ) may be up 10.7% since the start of 2013, but this stock has lagged behind the S&P 500 index and many of its health care peers, including Boston Scientific (NYSE: BSX  ) and�Johnson & Johnson. Abbott's next big catalyst will be its second-quarter results, which are set to be revealed tomorrow morning, but will earnings wow investors, or will they miss estimates and disappoint?

• [By Maxx Chatsko]

  After spinning off its pharmaceutical business -- and most of its dividend, essentially -- you may think Abbott Laboratories (NYSE: ABT  ) is relegated to a boring medical-device company. Heart stents just aren't as sexy as the megablockbuster drugs now being wielded by AbbVie� (NYSE: ABBV  ) . The spinoff also took a promising�pipeline and most of the former company's dividend, which may make investors think twice about owning a slow-growing, mediocre-paying company such as Abbott.�

Best Trucking Companies To Own In Right Now: Experian PLC (EXPGY)

Experian plc, incorporated on June 30, 2006, is a provider of global information services. The Company provides data and analytical tools to organizations in North America, Latin America, the United Kingdom and Ireland, Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA) and Asia Pacific. Clients use these to manage credit risk, prevent fraud, target marketing offers and automate decision-making. Activities in the regions in which Experian operates are grouped into four global business lines: Credit Services, Decision Analytics, Marketing Services and Interactive. Experian provides data and analytical tools to organizations in North America, Latin America, United Kingdom and Ireland, EMEA and Asia Pacific. In November 2013, the Company acquired Passport Health Communications, Inc.

Credit Services

Experian helps organizations to manage credit risk, prevent fraud, target marketing offers and automate decision making. The Company also provides credit monitoring and identity protection services to millions of consumers via the Internet. At the core of Credit Services are the databases that Experian builds and manages, that hold the credit application and repayment histories of consumers and businesses. Globally, Experian holds credit payment data on consumers and million businesses. In total, Experian operates approximately 20 consumer credit bureaux and approximately15 business credit bureau worldwide. Experian�� automotive business supplies vehicle history reports in the United States, the United Kingdom, Ireland and Italy. Reports typically include data on title, registration, history and accidents, manufacturer recall and repair records. The information is sold to automotive dealers, auction houses, automotive companies and direct-to-consumer. Clients principally include organizations that are extending or offering credit, such as financial services, telecommunications, utilities, insurance companies, hospitals and automotive dealers.

The Company competes with Dun & Bra! dstreet.

Decision Analytics

Solutions developed by Experian include application processing, customer management, fraud solutions and collections software and systems. Decision Analytics products are also used in the detection and prevention of fraud. Clients include financial services, telecommunications, utilities, retailers, insurance, automotive and the public sector.

It competes with Fair Isaac and SAS.

Marketing Services

Marketing Services provides data and segmentation tools to the organizations. Experian provides Marketing Services in some 30 countries. Marketing Services maintains databases of marketing information on consumers. Consumer profiles include data from many sources, including market surveys, postal addresses, electoral registers, Internet service providers and magazine subscription data. Globally, Experian holds demographic data on more than 700 million individuals in approximate 270 million households and online behavior data on Internet users across Websites. Experian has a Marketing Services presence worldwide, including Australia, Brazil, China, France, Germany, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States. Clients include financial services, retail, media, automotive and the public sector.

The Company competes with Acxiom, Epsilon, WPP, Omnicom, ExactTarget, Responsys, Neolane and eDialog.

Interactive

The Company�� Consumer Direct business provides credit monitoring and other information services directly to millions of consumers via the Internet. It enables consumers to monitor the accuracy of their credit report, to check their credit score and to protect against identity theft. Experian provides consumers with online access to their credit history. In the United States, CreditReport.com and freecreditscore.com, and in the United Kingdom, CreditExpert.co.uk, allow consumers to see the same information available to lenders. Experian�� identity protection services in ! the Unite! d States and the United Kingdom, ProtectMyID.com and ProtectMyID.co.uk, provide identity theft detection, protection and fraud resolution to consumers. In the United States, Safetyweb.com helps parents monitor their children�� online activity and its DataPatrol product provides realtime Web and social network monitoring to help prevent identity fraud before it happens.

The Company competes with Equifax, CallCredit, TransUnion and Fair Isaac.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By WWW.DAILYFINANCE.COM]

  Karen Roach/Shutterstock When singles are looking for love, they typically don't start by checking out a potential mate's credit score. But maybe they should. A recent survey of 1,010 married people by Experian (EXPGY) Consumer Services division found that 95 percent of those polled rate financial responsibility as an important attribute in a spouse. Compare that to physical attractiveness -- often the first criterion we use to judge potential mates -- which was deemed an important trait for compatibility by just 86 percent. (Personal compatibility led the list at 98 percent.) Financial communication can be an important barometer of how successful a relationship will be, although women place more of a premium on it than men. Among those surveyed, 73 percent of women and 60 percent of men said that being open about personal finances and credit makes a person more attractive as a spouse. On the flip side, 59 percent of women and 44 percent of men say that a partner who avoids talking about those things is less attractive as a spouse. What's Your Number? "Financial debt and a person's credit score are so important to disclose before you tie the proverbial knot," says Les Parrott, co-author with his wife, Leslie, of "Making Happy" and "The Good Fight." "We can tell you about lots of disastrous money surprises when a person isn't up front about this." It's important to discuss all aspects of your individual and shared financial situations regularly with your significant other, but because your credit score will impact your ability to make major purchases like a home or a car, it's especially important to determine whether a low credit score tied to one or both of you may affect your long-term goals, says Suzanna de Baca, vice president of wealth strategies at Ameriprise Financial (AMP). "An important step toward having a successful relationship is being willing to share your feelings about money with your partner. This includes being honest about past and p

Best Trucking Companies To Own In Right Now: iShares Russell Mid-Cap ETF (IWR)

iShares Russell Midcap Index Fund (the Fund) seeks investment results that correspond generally to the price and yield performance of the mid-capitalization sector of the United States equity market as represented by the Russell Midcap Index (the Index). The Index is a capitalization-weighted index consisting of the 800 smallest companies in the Russell 1000 Index. The Index is a subset of the Russell 1000 Index, and serves as the underlying index for the Russell Midcap Growth and Value Index series.

The Fund uses a representative sampling strategy in seeking to track the Index. iShares Russell Midcap Index Fund's investment advisor is Barclays Global Fund Advisors.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By John Udovich]

  One of the most famous scenes in the cult classic, the Graduate, was when Mr. McGuire�took Dustin Hoffman�� character aside and said�"Ben, I want to say one word to you, just one word: Plastics"; but what about the Berry Plastics Group Inc (NYSE: BERY) and its performance verses that of the�iShares S&P 500 Index ETF (NYSEARCA: IVV), iShares Russell Midcap Index Fund ETF (NYSEARCA: IWR) and iShares S&P SmallCap 600 Index ETF (NYSEARCA: IJR)? I should mention that plastics and the Berry Plastics Group was not the place to be yesterday as the stock took a tumble on reduced guidance.