Top 10 Construction Stocks To Watch For 2014

Petrobras SA (NYSE: PBR  ) �currently produces above 300,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day, 43% in the Santos basin and 57% in the Campos basin. Petrobras achieved this level of production with only 17 wells in pre-salt basins located in offshore Brazil. Furthermore, about 96% of its total production is achieved in Brazil, and the company currently has 69 floating rigs for well construction and maintenance in the country.

Petrobras holds world-class assets with tremendous potential that will boost its operating income in the coming years. From January 2012 to February 2013, a hefty 53 discoveries were made of which 25 were offshore, including 15 in pre-salt basins. According to the producer, production of more than one million barrels per day should be reached by 2017, and over 2.1 Mmbbls/d could be reached by 2020 for its pre-salt assets.

Petrobras' prolific assets in the Santos Basin
Notably, Petrobras owns several wells in the Santos pre-salt basins. However, some are attracting more attention recently, such as the Sapinhoa asset which started producing in January 2013, expected to ultimately reach capacity of 120,000 Bbls/d. Moreover, its Lula asset had first oil in May 2013 and is expected to reach capacity of 120,000 Bbls/d as well. In late October, Petrobras was awarded the Libra field concession, an offshore asset that will be developed and operated for the next 35 years, with a consortium composed of four other partners. The Libra field, according to Brazil's National Petroleum Agency (ANP), could hold between 8 billion barrels and 12 billion barrels of recoverable reserves.

10 Best Quality Stocks To Watch For 2015: KBR Inc. (KBR)

KBR, Inc. operates as an engineering, construction, and services company supporting the energy, hydrocarbon, government services, minerals, civil infrastructure, power, and industrial sectors worldwide. Its Downstream business unit provides front end engineering design; detailed engineering; engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC); EPC management; and program management services to petrochemical, refining, coal gasification, and syngas markets. The company?s Government and Infrastructure business unit provides program and project management, contingency logistics, operations and maintenance, construction management, engineering, and other services to military and civilian branches of governments and private clients. Its Services business unit delivers engineering, construction, construction management, fabrication, maintenance, and turnaround services. It also offers maintenance, construction, and drilling support services for offshore oil and gas producing facili ties using semisubmersible vessels. This segment serves oil, gas, petrochemicals, and hydrocarbon processing industries, as well as power, alternate energy, pulp and paper, industrial and manufacturing, and pharmaceutical industries. The company?s Technology business unit offers various process technologies, including value-added technologies in the coal monetization, petrochemical, refining, and syngas markets. Its Upstream business unit constructs liquefied natural gas, gas-to-liquids, onshore oil and gas production facilities, offshore oil and gas production facilities, and onshore and offshore pipelines. The company?s Ventures business unit invests in and manages projects, where the company provides engineering, construction, construction management or operations, and maintenance services. KBR, Inc. was founded in 1901 and is based in Houston, Texas.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Ben Levisohn]

  Shares of Harsco have gained 4.7% to $26.43 today at 1:16 p.m., outpacing other construction & engineering companies. Dycom (DY) has advanced 0.5% to $30, KBR Inc. (KBR) has ticked up 0.1% to $33.03, Worthington Industries�(WOR) has risen 2.8% to $38.85�and Tutor Perini (TPC) has rallied 3.6% to $22.46.

• [By Garrett Cook]

  KBR (NYSE: KBR) shares tumbled 9.73 percent to $23.76 after the company reported a Q1 loss of $0.29 per share on revenue of $1.63 billion. The company said it would undergo a strategic review of its businesses.

• [By Louis Navellier]

  If we look at the sector using Portfolio Grader, we see that many of the big names in the group like Flour (FLR), Granite Construction (GVA) and KBR incorporated (KBR) are rated ��ell.��The anticipated spending for both government and private industry simply hasn�� materialized, and the companies are not seeing revenue or profit growth.

• [By Lisa Levin]

  KBR (NYSE: KBR) shares fell 1.16% to touch a new 52-week low of $23.95 after UBS downgraded the stock from Buy to Neutral.

  AEP Industries (NASDAQ: AEPI) shares touched a new 52-week low of $34.20. AEP shares have dropped 56.11% over the past 52 weeks, while the S&P 500 index has gained 15.91% in the same period.

Top 10 Construction Stocks To Watch For 2014: Chicago Bridge & Iron Company NV (CBI)

Chicago Bridge & Iron Company N.V. (CB&I) is one of the integrated engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) services providers and process technology licensors, delivering solutions to customers primarily in the energy, petrochemical and natural resource industries. CB&I consist of three business sectors: Steel Plate Structures, Project Engineering and Construction, and Lummus Technology. Through these business sectors, the Company offers services both independently and on an integrated basis.

As of December 31, 2012, the Company had more than 900 projects in process in more than 70 countries. On February 13, 2013, it acquired The Shaw Group Inc. (Shaw).

Steel Plate Structures

Steel Plate Structures provides engineering, procurement, fabrication and construction services, including mechanical erection services, for the hydrocarbon, water and nuclear industries. Projects include above ground storage tanks, elevated storage tanks, Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) tanks, pressure vessels, and other specialty structures, such as nuclear containment vessels. Customers include international energy companies, such as Chevron, ConocoPhillips, ExxonMobil and Shell; national energy companies, such as ADNOC (Abu Dhabi), CNOOC (China) and Saudi Aramco (Saudi Arabia); and regional energy companies, such as Kinder Morgan (United States) and Suncor (Canada).

Project Engineering and Construction

Project Engineering and Construction provides engineering, procurement, fabrication and construction services for upstream and downstream energy infrastructure facilities. Projects include LNG liquefaction and regasification terminals, gas processing plants, refinery units, petrochemical complexes and a wide range of other energy-related projects. Customers include international energy companies, such as British Petroleum, Chevron, ConocoPhillips, ExxonMobil and Shell; national energy companies, such as Ecopetrol (Colombia) and ORPIC (Oman); and regio! nal energy companies, such as Dominion (United States), Gazprom (Russia), Nexen (United Kingdom), and Woodside (Australia).

Lummus Technology

Lummus Technology provides licenses, services, catalysts and equipment for the hydrocarbon refining, petrochemical, and gas processing industries. Customers include international energy companies, such as Chevron and Shell; national energy companies, such as Pemex (Mexico), Petrochina (China), Rosneft (Russia) and Sabic (Saudi Arabia); and regional refiners and chemical and gas processing companies, such as China Coal (China), IRPC (Thailand), Kazakhstan Petrochemical (Kazakhstan), and Williams Energy Services (United States).

Power provides a range of services, including design, EPC, technology and consulting services, primarily to the fossil and nuclear power generation industries. Plant Services provides electric power refueling outage maintenance, turnaround maintenance, routine maintenance, offshore maintenance, modifications, capital construction, off-site modularization, fabrication, reliability engineering, plant engineering, plant support and specialty services. Additionally, it provides services to restore, rebuild, repair, renovate and modify industrial and electric power generation facilities, and offers predictive and preventive maintenance services. Environmental & Infrastructure (E&I) provides full-scale environmental and infrastructure services for government and private-sector clients. These services include program and project management, design-build, engineering and construction, sustainability and energy efficiency, remediation and restoration, science and technology, facilities management and emergency response and disaster recovery. Fabrication and Manufacturing is a worldwide supplier of fabricated piping systems primarily to the electric power, petrochemical and refinery industries, supporting both external clients and other Shaw business sectors.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By MONEYMORNING.COM]

  LNG Stocks to Buy: Chicago Bridge & Iron Co. (NYSE: CBI) designs, builds, repairs, and modifies petroleum terminals, refinery pressure vessels, cryogenic storage facilities, and elevated water storage tanks. In regard to LNG, CBI has already designed and constructed LNG facilities worldwide and has generated tens of billions of dollars doing so.

• [By Rich Duprey]

  Engineering and design firm for the energy industry�Chicago Bridge & Iron� (NYSE: CBI  ) �announced yesterday�its second-quarter dividend of $0.05 per share, the same rate it has paid since the first quarter of 2011 when it reinstated its dividend following a three-year hiatus.

Top 10 Construction Stocks To Watch For 2014: Fluor Corporation(FLR)

Fluor Corporation, through its subsidiaries, provides engineering, procurement, construction, maintenance, and project management services worldwide. Its Oil & Gas segment offers design, engineering, procurement, construction, and project management services to upstream oil and gas production, downstream refining, chemicals, and petrochemicals industries. This segment also provides consulting services comprising feasibility studies, process assessment, and project finance structuring and studies. The company?s Industrial & Infrastructure segment offers design, engineering, procurement, and construction services to the transportation, wind power, mining and metals, life sciences, manufacturing, commercial and institutional, telecommunications, microelectronics, and healthcare sectors. Its Government segment provides engineering, construction, logistics support, contingency response, management, and operations services to the United States government focusing on the Departme nt of Energy, the Department of Homeland Security, and the Department of Defense. The company?s Global Services segment offers operations and maintenance, small capital project engineering and execution, site equipment and tool services, industrial fleet services, plant turnaround services, temporary staffing services, and supply chain solutions. Its Power segment provides engineering, procurement, construction, program management, start-up and commissioning, and operations and maintenance services to the gas fueled, solid fueled, plant betterment, renewables, nuclear, and power services markets. The company also offers unionized management and construction services in the United States and Canada. Fluor Corporation was founded in 1912 and is headquartered in Irving, Texas.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Ben Levisohn]

  URS Corp, which competes with the likes of Fluor (FLR), Jacobs Engineering (JEC) and Tetra Tech (TTEK), said it would earn between $3.20 and $3.30 a share in 2013–the previous range had been between $4.10 and $4.25 a share–and also offered guidance for 2014 that was well below analyst forecasts. On the plus side, URS said it would buy its shares back at a faster pace than previously announced.

• [By Ben Levisohn]

  Deutsche Bank’s Vishal Shah and team consider the impact on Chicago Bridge & Iron, as well as Fluor (FLR), who had a competing bid:

  While the award of Cameron LNG is clearly a positive for [Chicago Bridge & Iron], we believe this project could provide upside of $1.6B to our current new award estimate of $13.6B for 2014. Additionally, this project win further supports�[Chicago Bridge & Iron] as a leader in [liquefied natural gas] projects. The company is currently in the running for Golden Pass LNG ($10B), Anadarko Mozambique LNG ($15B, competing against FLR) and Russia Far East LNG ($15B), all of which will likely be awarded in 2015. As for [Fluor], our probability-weighted new award estimate for Cameron was $1.4B, which suggests that 2014 new awards could be $24.6B, vs. our current estimate of $26.0B.

Top 10 Construction Stocks To Watch For 2014: EMCOR Group Inc. (EME)

EMCOR Group, Inc. provides electrical and mechanical construction, and facilities services primarily to commercial, industrial, utility, and institutional customers in the United States, the United Kingdom, and internationally. The company offers various electrical and mechanical systems, including electric power transmission and distribution systems, such as power cables, conduits, distribution panels, transformers, generators, uninterruptible power supply systems, and related switch gear and controls; premises electrical and lighting systems, including fixtures and controls; low-voltage systems comprising fire alarms, and security and process control systems; voice and data communications systems, including fiber-optic and low-voltage cabling systems; and roadway and transit lighting and fiber-optic lines. It also provides heating, ventilation, air conditioning, refrigeration, and clean-room process ventilation systems; fire protection systems; plumbing, processing, and piping systems; controls and filtration systems; water and wastewater treatment systems; central plant heating and cooling systems; cranes and rigging; millwrighting; and steel fabrication, erection, and welding systems. In addition, the company offers facilities services comprising industrial maintenance and services; outage services to utilities and industrial plants; commercial and government site-based operations and maintenance; military base operations support; mobile mechanical maintenance and services; floor care and janitorial; landscaping, lot sweeping, and snow removal; facilities and vendor management; call center; building systems installation and support; and technical consulting and diagnostic services. Further, it provides small modification and retrofit projects; retrofit projects; and program development, management, and maintenance services for energy systems. EMCOR Group, Inc. was founded in 1966 and is headquartered in Norwalk, Connecticut.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Eric Volkman]

  EMCOR Group (NYSE: EME  ) is growing the old-fashioned way -- with the purchase of outside assets. The company announced�that it will acquire the privately held RepconStrickland, a Texas-based firm it describes as "a leading provider of recurring turnaround and specialty services to the North American refinery and petrochemical markets."

• [By Seth Jayson]

  When judging a company's prospects, how quickly it turns cash outflows into cash inflows can be just as important as how much profit it's booking in the accounting fantasy world we call "earnings." This is one of the first metrics I check when I'm hunting for the market's best stocks. Today, we'll see how it applies to EMCOR Group (NYSE: EME  ) .

Top 10 Construction Stocks To Watch For 2014: Boral Ltd (BLD)

Boral Limited (Boral), is engaged in the manufacture and supply of building and construction materials in Australia, the United States and Asia. The Company�� operating segments include Construction Materials & Cement, Building Products, Boral Gypsum, and Boral USA. The Construction Materials & Cement is engaged in quarries, concrete, asphalt, transport, landfill, property, cement and concrete placing. The Building Products segment is engaged in Australian bricks, roof tiles, masonry, timber products and windows. The Boral Gypsum involves Australian and Asian plasterboard. The Boral USA is engaged in Bricks, cultured stone, roof tiles, fly ash, concrete and quarries. Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Eric Lam]

  Ballard Power (BLD), which designs and manufactures hydrogen fuel cells, slumped 15 percent to C$1.42, the biggest decline since March. The company yesterday said it will sell about 9 million units at $1.40 a unit for proceeds of about $12.6 million. The cash generated will be used to fund working capital, support growth and general corporate purposes, the company said.

Top 10 Construction Stocks To Watch For 2014: Alexandria Real Estate Equities Inc. (ARE)

Alexandria Real Estate Equities, Inc., a real estate investment trust (REIT), engages in the ownership, operation, management, development, acquisition, and redevelopment of properties for the life sciences industry. Its properties consist of buildings containing scientific research and development laboratories, and other improvements. The company offers its properties for lease primarily to universities and independent not-for-profit institutions; and pharmaceutical, biotechnology, medical device, life science product, service, biodefense, and translational research entities, as well as governmental agencies. As of December 31, 2006, it had 159 properties, including 156 properties located in 9 states in the United States and 3 properties located in Canada. As a REIT, the company is not subject to federal income tax to the extent that it distributes 100% of its taxable income to its stockholders. The company was founded in 1993 and is based in Pasadena, California.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By GuruFocus]

  George Soros (Trades, Portfolio) just reported his first quarter portfolio. He buys Citrix Systems Inc, Baker Hughes Inc, Comcast Corp, Spansion Inc, etc during the 3-months ended 03/31/2014, according to the most recent filings of his investment company, Soros Fund Management LLC. As of 03/31/2014, Soros Fund Management LLC owns 305 stocks with a total value of $10.1 billion. These are the details of the buys and sells.New Purchases: BHI, CODE, CTRP, CLI, AVB, COMM, CNQ, AGO, AUY, ATML, ASH, BXMT, CSTM, AEM, CMA, ARE, CHKP, AUQ, BEAV, CX, ADSK, AALCP, BLK, AIG, BIIB, ADEP, AMRI, ARWR, ATHX, BALT, BCRX, BEAT, CFX, CLFD, CUR, CODE,Added Positions: CTXS, CMCSA, CNP, ALTR, BRCD, CBS, CRM, CHTR, CCJ, CIEN, BIDU, ALLE, ABT, CDNS, ACT,Reduced Positions: AAPL, CCI, AMT, ABBV, AAL, BITA, AL, ANGI, ARIA, CBST, BA, BIRT, EXAR,Sold Out: C, BAC, CRI, AMZN, AGN, CF, BRCM, COTY, BMY, AMCX, CAR, A, ADBE, AFL,For the details of George Soros (Trades, Portfolio)'s stock buys and sells, go to http://www.gurufocus.com/StockBuy.php?GuruName=George+SorosThis is the sector weightings of his portfolio:Technology18.9%Energy14%Healthcare8.3%Consumer Defensive8.2%Communication Services8.1%Consumer Cyclical5.4%Industrials5.1%Basic Materials4.9%Financial Services2.5%Real Estate1.9%Utilities0.5%These are the top 5 holdings of George Soros (Trades, Portfolio)1. Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd (TEVA) - 10,310,041 shares, 5.4% of the total portfolio. Shares added by 10.67%2. Herbalife Ltd (HLF) - 4,901,337 shares, 2.8% of the total portfolio. Shares added by 52.9%3. EQT Corp (EQT) - 2,573,814 shares, 2.5% of the total portfolio. Shares added by 3.27%4. Adecoagro SA (AGRO) - 25,915,076 shares, 2.1% of the total portfolio.5. Halliburton Co (HAL) - 3,596,353 shares, 2.1% of the total portfolio. Shares reduced by 20.73%New Purchase: Baker Hughes Inc (BHI)George Soros (Trades, Portfolio) initiated holdings in Baker Hughes Inc. His purchase prices were between $51.82 and $65.27, with an estimated

Top 10 Construction Stocks To Watch For 2014: Societe Libanaise des Ciments Blancs SAL (CBN)

Societe Libanaise des Ciments Blancs SAL is a Lebanon-based joint stock company that operates in the construction materials industry sector. The Company is engaged in the production and sale of white cement. The Company is a 65.99% owned by Holcim (Liban) SAL. Advisors' Opinion:

• [By CanadianValue]

  Nigeria�� reformed banking system has provided many foreigners with an attractive means to invest in the fast-growing domestic economy. The banking industry is important, not only because of the rise of microfinance, but because of the move by banks into consumer banking. Until recently, banks were mainly financing large businesses or the government through bond purchases. Following a banking crisis in 2008, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) conducted an audit of the commercial banking sector. All banks that failed the audit had their CEOs replaced. The state-owned Asset Management Corporation (AMCON) was created to purchase non-performing loans and recapitalize the unhealthy banks. A recent review of the country�� banks by the IMF showed a dramatic increase in profits for the industry in 2012, while the capital adequacy ratio was above the minimum requirement of 10% and non-performing loans were below the mandated threshold of 5%5.