Top 5 High Dividend Stocks To Own For 2014

The Intelligent REIT Investor's Brad Thomas discusses his outlook for real estate and the new class of data REITs.

SPEAKER:  Hi, I'm talking with Brad Thomas today about REITs.  Thank you for joining me, Brad. 

BRAD THOMAS:  Oh, glad to be here, thanks so much. 

SPEAKER:  You're welcome.  You know, we talked a couple of months ago and you were saying to me that there were a couple of things that investors really need to think about when they're investing in REITs, and one was what is the dividend yield, obviously, and second is the safety of that dividend.  So can you expand a little bit on that? 

BRAD THOMAS:  Sure.  Well, you know, REITs today are very attractive for investors because investors are looking for dividends and dividend safety.  You must remember that REITs are unlike any other public company in that they pay out dividends, forced dividends, and what I mean by that is by law, which is a law created in 1960 in the Eisenhower administration, so this is a law that was created over five decades ago, just point that out, that REITs are required to pay out 90% of their taxable income in the form of dividends, so that's created a very sustainable model for investors today.  That's what's attracted investors to this real estate secured industry because of the sustainability of the dividend model.  So we're seeing a lot of high dividends today, again because companies are forced to pay out at least 90%.  In most cases they pay out almost 100% of their taxable income in the form of dividends. 

Hot High Tech Companies To Watch In Right Now: Fomento de Construcciones y Contratas SA (FCC)

Fomento de Construcciones y Contratas SA (FCC) is a Spain-based company, which is primarily engaged, together with its subsidiaries in the construction and environmental services sector. The Company�� activities include the collection, treatment and elimination of solid urban waste, street cleaning, sewer system maintenance, green areas and buildings maintenance, urban transport, treatment and elimination of industrial waste, full-service water supply management and cement manufacture. The Company is also active in the real estate development, as well as in the renewable energy industry. In addition, the Company is a parent of Grupo FCC, a group which comprises a number of controlled entities. Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Live Investor]

  What does the FCC have to say? The regulator�� reaction is nothing surprising. After Son met the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to convince them about the prospects of the proposed deal, Reuters reported that FCC chairman Tom Wheeler wasn�� quite impressed and had dubious thoughts on it.

Top 5 High Dividend Stocks To Own For 2014: Volvo AB (VOLVY)

AB Volvo is a supplier of commercial transport solutions providing products, such as trucks, buses, construction equipment, engines and drive systems for boats and industrial applications, as well as aircraft engine components. The Company also offers its customers financial solutions. The Company operates in six segments: Trucks, Buses, Construction Equipment, Volvo Penta, Volvo Aero and Financial Services. The business units include Volvo 3P, Volvo Powertrain, Volvo Parts, Volvo Logistics, Volvo Business Services, Volvo Information Technology (IT), Volvo Real Estate and Volvo Technology. During the year ended December 31, 2009, AB Volvo acquired all shares in Volvo Logistics AB from Fortos Ventures AB. In April 2014, the Company announced that it has completed the sale of commercial real estate. In June 2014, the Company acquired Terex's hauler business.

The Company�� truck operations consist of Volvo Trucks, Renault Trucks, UD Trucks, Mack Trucks and VE Commercial Vehicles (50%) in India. The product offer stretches from heavy-duty trucks for long-haulage and construction work to light-duty trucks for distribution. Volvo Trucks, Renault Trucks, UD Trucks, Mack Trucks and Eicher offer customers a range of products and services for transports.

The Buses has a product range consisting of city and intercity buses, coaches and chassis. Volvo Buses��product line includes complete buses and bus chassis for city, intercity and coach traffic. The Company has a total offering that, in addition to buses, includes a service network, spare parts handling, service and repair contracts, financial services and traffic information systems.

The Company�� construction equipment manufactures equipment for construction applications and related industries. Volvo Construction Equipment develops, manufactures and markets equipment for construction and related industries. Its products include a range of wheel loaders, hydraulic wheeled and crawler excavators, articulated haule! rs, road machinery and a range of compact equipment.

The Company�� Volvo Penta offers engines and drives systems for leisure and commercial boats and for industrial applications, such as gensets and materials handling. Volvo Penta manufactures engines and drive systems for marine applications, for both leisure and commercial craft, with an engine range of 10 to 1,200 horse power and has a global service network with approximately 5,000 dealers. Volvo Penta also supplies industrial engines ranging from 75 kilowatts to 600 kilowatts for irrigation pumps, generator units and other application areas.

The Company�� Volvo aero offers advanced components for aircraft engines and space applications with a focus on lightweight technology for reduced fuel consumption. Volvo Aero specializes in a number of highly advanced components for aircraft engines and space rockets.

The Company�� financial services segment conducts operations in customer and dealer financing. It offers financial services, such as customer and dealer financing and other Services, such as insurance contribute to create customer value. It provides financing solutions and other services in retaining customers and attracting new ones to the Company.

The Company competes with Daimler, Paccar, Navistar, MAN, Scania, Caterpillar, Komatsu, Cummins and Brunswick.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Jason Hall]

  However, there are a couple of bright spots out there. First, sales of Westport's 12 liter ISX12 G, being co-built with�Cummins� (NYSE: CMI  ) , are on track to meet targets for 2014 according to a number of industry experts. Sales of natural gas trucks in 2014 are expected to have grown 27% this year versus 2013. Also, part of the delay in bringing HPDI to market is Westport's shift to HPDI 2.0, and the adoption of HPDI 2.0 by development partners like�AB Volvo� (NASDAQOTH: VOLVY  ) . The injector components are expected to be manufactured in Westport's venture with�Delphi Automotive� (NYSE: DLPH  ) , and the costs will be less than earlier versions, helping natural gas engines be more cost-competitive with diesel.�

Top 5 High Dividend Stocks To Own For 2014: United States Brent Oil Fund LP (BNO)

United States Brent Oil Fund, LP (USBO) is a commodity pool. USBO is focused on issuing units that may be purchased and sold on the NYSE Arca, Inc. The investment objective of USBO is for the daily changes in percentage terms of its units��per unit net asset value (NAV) to reflect the daily changes in percentage terms of the spot price of Brent crude oil, as measured by the daily changes in the price of the futures contract for Brent crude oil traded on the ICE Futures Exchange (the ICE Futures).

The investment portfolio of USBO will consist primarily of investments in futures contracts for crude oil, heating oil, gasoline, natural gas and other petroleum-based fuels that are traded on the ICE Futures, New York Mercantile Exchange (the NYMEX) or other United States and foreign exchanges (collectively, Futures Contracts). USBO may also take positions in other crude oil-related investments, such as cash-settled options on Futures Contracts, forward contracts for oil, cleared swap contracts and non-exchange traded (over-the-counter) transactions that are based on the price of crude oil, other petroleum-based fuels, Futures Contracts and indices based on the foregoing (collectively, Other Crude Oil-Related Investments).

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Paul Ausick]

  The United States Brent Oil ETF (NYSEMKT: BNO) is up less than 0.1%, at $44.38 in a 52-week range of $36.88 to $45.05. The annual high was also set today.

Top 5 High Dividend Stocks To Own For 2014: RealBiz Media Group Inc (RBIZ)

RealBiz Media Group, Inc., incorporated on May 25, 1994, is a development-stage company. The Company is engaged in real estate media and technology. It is a provider of virtual tours to the United States real estate brokerage industry. On October 9, 2012, the Company and Next 1 Interactive, Inc. (Next 1) completed the transactions contemplated by that certain Share Exchange Agreement entered into on April 4, 2012 (the Exchange Agreement). Under the Exchange Agreement, the Company received all of the interest in Attache Travel International, Inc. and wholly owned subsidiary of Next 1 (Attache). Attache in turn owns approximately 80% of RealBiz Holdings Inc. which is the parent corporation of RealBiz 360, Inc. (RealBiz). RealBiz is a real estate media services company. RealBiz�� three areas of operations include Real Estate Video on Demand Channel, Website and Mobile Applications, and Traditional Real Estate Sales.

In Real Estate Video on Demand Channel the Company earns commissions and referral fees on home sales, pre-roll/post-roll advertising, lead-generation fees, banner ads and cross-market advertising promotions. The Company earns revenue from Web-based and mobile advertising. For the real estate video on demand area (VOD), the Company focuses to market the approximately 120,000 VOD television residential home listings, as well as incorporate millions Multiple Listing Service (MLS) home listings from the United States cities, with video on demand and interactive capabilities for users of its real estate Website. In Website and Mobile Applications the Company is developing a real estate Web portal to work in conjunction with its national Video on Demand (VOD) Television Platform. As of October 15, 2012, the Company�� real estate brokerage division had participated brokers in 19 states.

The Company competes with Zillow and Trulia.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Peter Graham]

  Small cap stocks New China Global (OTCMKTS: NCGI), RealBiz Media Group Inc (OTCMKTS: RBIZ) and SofTech, Inc (OTCMKTS: SOFT) sank 21.11%, 14.81% and 10.89%, respectively, last Friday. Moreover, two of these three small caps have been the subject of paid promotions or investor relations activities, but this week is the start of a new trading week and anything can happen. So will these three small cap stocks keep sinking? Here is a closer look to help you decide on an investing or trading strategy: