Best Freight Companies To Buy Right Now

CSX (CSX) has been on a roll this year. The company has outperformed the market, and it looks like the company will continue doing well in the future. In fact, the strategic network investments and improving service reliability of CSX have led to solid intermodal growth that support highway to rail conversions.

Better times ahead

The domestic coal volume is expected to grow at a double-digit rate during the third quarter, with utilities continuing to rebuild inventories. CSX is recruiting front-line personnel and making selective investments in infrastructure and freight cars to grow its business efficiently and to create competitive advantages for its customers.

CSX remains confident in its ability to sustain double-digit earnings growth and margin expansion for its shareholders during 2015 and beyond. CSX also plans to further increase its capital investment by approximately $100 million to $2.4 billion to support sustainable growth for this year which in turn also enhances key infrastructure and adds freight cars to help drive long-term growth.

Top Consumer Stocks To Invest In Right Now: Hub Group Inc (HUBG)

Hub Group, Inc., incorporated on March 8, 1995, is an asset-light freight transportation management companies. The Company offers intermodal, truck brokerage and logistics services. The Company operates distinct business segments: Mode, which includes the acquired Mode business acquired by the Company on April 1, 2011, and Hub, which is all business other than Mode. Both segments offer intermodal, truck brokerage and logistics services. Hub operates through a network of operating centers throughout the United States, Canada and Mexico. Hub services a diversified customer base in a broad range of industries, including consumer products, retail and durable goods. Mode markets and operates its freight transportation services primarily through its network of independent business owners (IBOs) who enter into contracts with Mode. Mode's company managed operation includes a business arranging for the transportation of raw materials and finished products for a food producer and, to a lesser extent, other highway brokerage, intermodal and logistics operations.

Intermodal

As an intermodal marketing company (IMC), the Company arranges for the movement of its customers freight in containers and trailers, typically over long distances of 750 miles or more. The Company contracts with railroads to provide transportation for the long-haul portions of the shipment and with local trucking companies, known as drayage companies, for pickup and delivery. As part of the Company's intermodal services, the Company negotiates rail and drayage rates, electronically tracks shipments in transit, consolidate billing and handle claims for freight loss or damage on behalf of its customers.

The Company uses its network to access containers and trailers owned by leasing companies, railroads and steamship lines. The Company is able to track trailers and containers entering a service area and reuses that equipment to fulfill the customers' outbound shipping requirements. As of December 31, 2012, ! Hub had access to approximately 9,111 rail-owned containers for the Company's dedicated use on the Union Pacific (UP) and the Norfolk Southern (NS) rails. In addition to these rail-owned containers, as of December 31, 2012, the Company had a total of 14,756 53-inch private containers for use on the UP and NS. The Company financed 6,167 of these containers with operating leases and the Company owns 8,589 containers.

As of December 31, 2012, approximately 66% of the Company's drayage needs were met by its subsidiary, Comtrak Logistics, Inc. (Comtrak), which assists its customers. Comtrak has terminals in Atlanta, Birmingham, Charleston, Charlotte, Chattanooga, Chicago, Cleveland, Columbus (OH), Dallas, Harrisburg, Huntsville, Indianapolis, Jacksonville, Kansas City, Milwaukee, Memphis, Nashville, Newark, Los Angeles, Perry (FL), Philadelphia, Savannah, Seattle, St. Louis, Stockton, and Titusville (FL). As of December 31, 2012, Comtrak owned 260 tractors, leased or owned 448 trailers, employed 296 drivers and contracted with 2,178 owner-operators.

Truck Brokerage (Highway Services)

The Company is a truck broker in the United States. As part of the truck brokerage services, the Company negotiates rates , track shipments in transit and handle claims for freights loss and damage on behalf of its customers.

Logistics and Other Services

Hub's logistics business operates under the name of Unyson Logistics. Unyson Logistics consists of a network of logistics professionals dedicated to developing, implementing and operating customized logistics solutions. Unyson offers a range of transportation management services and technology solutions, including shipment optimization, load consolidation, mode selection, carrier management, load planning and execution and Web-based shipment visibility. Unyson Logistics operates throughout North America, providing operations through its main operating location in St. Louis with additional support locations in Bosto! n, Chicag! o, Cleveland and Minneapolis. Certain Mode agents provide logistics services. The Company's multi-modal transportation capabilities through both the Hub and Mode segments include small parcel, heavyweight, expedited, less-than-truckload, truckload, intermodal and railcar.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Vera Yuan]

  ��reight transportation management company Hub Group, Inc. (HUBG) rose as investors began to focus on margin improvement opportunities due to indications of improving intermodal pricing as well as company-specific cost improvement initiatives.

• [By Lisa Levin]

  Hub Group (NASDAQ: HUBG) surged 3.13% to $44.20. The volume of Hub Group shares traded was 388% higher than normal. Hub Group reported its Q1 earnings of $0.33 per share on revenue of $848.40 million. Longbow Research upgraded Hub Group from Neutral to Buy.

Best Freight Companies To Buy Right Now: Knight Transportation Inc (KNX)

Knight Transportation, Inc. (Knight), incorporated on August 31, 1989, is a provider of multiple truckload transportation services, which generally involve the movement of full trailer or container loads of freight from origin to destination for a single customer. The Company is a provider of multiple truckload transportation services with a nationwide network of service centers through which it operates one of the tractor fleets. In addition to its own fleet, the Company also partners with third-party equipment providers to provide truckload capacity and a broad range of solutions to truckload shippers. The Company has five operating segments comprised of three asset-based operating segments: dry van truckload, temperature-controlled truckload and port services and two non-asset-based operating segments brokerage and intermodal services. Through its asset-based and non-asset-based capabilities the Company is able to transport, or can arrange for the transportation of, general commodities for customers throughout the United States and parts of Canada and Mexico.

The Company's asset-based businesses generally include dry van truckload, refrigerated truckload, dedicated truckload, and drayage services. Its non-asset-based services generally include rail intermodal and truckload brokerage services. However, within its asset-based services, the use of independent contractors to provide tractors lowers the capital investment in its dry van and refrigerated operations. In addition, drayage operations generally involve less expensive tractors with longer lives and do not require a investment in trailering equipment. As of December 31, 2012, it operated 3,627 company-owned tractors with an average age of 1.9 years. It also had under contract 507 tractors owned and operated by independent contractors. Its trailer fleet consisted of 9,564 53-foot long trailers with an average age of 5.5 years and includes 1,092 temperature-controlled trailers.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Victor Nguyen]

  A report released Thursday morning, Citigroup analyst Christian Wetherbee upgrades Knight Transportation (NYSE: KNX) to BUY from NEUTRAL, increasing price target from $17 to $22.

• [By Sean Williams]

  Swift Transportation (NYSE: SWFT  ) , for example, delivered a 4% increase in revenue this past quarter in spite of having fewer trucks in service. The company was able to realize better utilization of its existing fleet and actually saw fuel prices fall from the previous year. The results were even more robust for Knight Transportation (NYSE: KNX  ) , whose shareholders saw revenue rise by 7% as the company grew from the year-ago quarter for the 14th straight time and delivered growth from each of its business segments.

Best Freight Companies To Buy Right Now: Con-way Inc (CNW)

Con-way Inc. (Con-way), incorporated in 1958, provides transportation, logistics and supply-chain management services for a wide range of manufacturing, industrial and retail customers. Con-way�� business units operate in regional and transcontinental less-than-truckload and full-truckload freight transportation, contract logistics and supply-chain management, multimodal freight brokerage, and trailer manufacturing. Con-way is divided into four segments: Freight, Logistics, Truckload, and Other. At December 31, 2011, Con-way Freight operated 286 freight service centers, of which 144 were owned and 142 were leased. At December 31, 2011, Con-way Freight owned and operated approximately 9,200 tractors and 26,400 trailers, including tractors held under capital lease agreements.

Freight

The Freight segment consists of the operating results of the Con-way Freight business unit. Con-way Freight is a less-than-truckload (LTL) motor carrier that utilizes a network of freight service centers to provide day-definite regional, inter-regional and transcontinental less-than-truckload freight services throughout North America. LTL carriers transport shipments from multiple shippers utilizing a network of freight service centers combined with a fleet of line-haul and pickup-and-delivery tractors and trailers. Freight is picked up from customers and consolidated for shipment at the originating service center. Freight is consolidated for transportation to the destination service centers or freight assembly centers. At Freight assembly centers, freight from various service centers can be reconsolidated for transportation to other freight assembly centers or destination service centers. From the destination service center, the freight is delivered to the customer. Typically, LTL shipments weigh between 100 and 15,000 pounds. In 2011, Con-way Freight�� average weight per shipment was 1,305 pounds.

Logistics

The Logistics segment consists of the operating results o! f the Menlo Worldwide Logistics business unit. Menlo Worldwide Logistics develops contract-logistics solutions, which can include managing complex distribution networks, and providing supply-chain engineering and consulting, and multimodal freight brokerage services. Menlo Worldwide Logistics��supply-chain management offerings are primarily related to transportation-management and contract-warehousing services. Transportation management refers to the management of asset-based carriers and third-party transportation providers for customers��inbound and outbound supply-chain needs through the use of logistics management systems to consolidate, book and track shipments. Contract warehousing refers to the optimization and operation of warehouses for customers using technology and warehouse-management systems to reduce inventory carrying costs and supply-chain cycle times. For several customers, contract-warehousing operations include light assembly or kitting operations.

Menlo Worldwide Logistics provides its services using a customer- or project-based approach when the supply-chain solution requires customer-specific transportation management, single-client warehouses, and/or single-customer technological solutions. However, Menlo Worldwide Logistics also utilizes a shared-resource, process-based approach that leverages a centralized transportation-management group, multi-client warehouses and technology to provide scalable solutions to multiple customers. Additionally, Menlo Worldwide Logistics segments its business based on customer type. At December 31, 2011, Menlo Worldwide Logistics operated 76 warehouses in North America, of which 55 were leased by Menlo Worldwide Logistics and 21 were leased or owned by clients of Menlo Worldwide Logistics. Outside of North America, Menlo Worldwide Logistics operated an additional 63 warehouses, of which 48 were leased by Menlo Worldwide Logistics and 15 were leased or owned by clients. Menlo Worldwide Logistics owns and operates a small fleet of tr! actors an! d trailers to support its operations, but primarily utilizes third-party transportation providers for the movement of customer shipments.

Truckload

The Truckload segment consists of the operating results of the Con-way Truckload business unit. Con-way Truckload is a full-truckload motor carrier that utilizes a fleet of tractors and trailers to provide short- and long-haul, asset-based transportation services throughout North America. Con-way Truckload provides dry-van transportation services to manufacturing, industrial and retail customers while using single drivers as well as two-person driver teams over long-haul routes, with each trailer containing only one customer�� goods. This origin-to-destination freight movement limits intermediate handling and is not dependent on the same network of locations utilized by LTL carriers. On average, Con-way Truckload transports shipments more than 800 miles from origin to destination. Under its regional service offering, Con-way Truckload transports truckload shipments of less than 600 miles, including local-area service for truckload shipments of less than 100 miles.

Con-way Truckload offers through-trailer service into and out of Mexico through all major gateways in Texas, Arizona and California. For a shipment with an origin or destination in Mexico, Con-way Truckload provides transportation for the domestic portion of the freight move, and a Mexican carrier provides the pick-up, linehaul and delivery services within Mexico. At December 31, 2011, Con-way Truckload operated five owned terminals with bulk fuel, tractor and trailer parking, and in some cases, equipment maintenance and washing facilities. In addition, Con-way Truckload also utilizes various drop yards for temporary trailer storage throughout the United States. At December 31, 2011, Con-way Truckload owned and operated approximately 2,700 tractors and 8,000 trailers, including tractors held under capital lease agreements.

Other

! The Other! reporting segment consists of the operating results of Road Systems, a trailer manufacturer, and certain corporate activities for which the related income or expense has not been allocated to other reporting segments, including results related to corporate re-insurance activities and corporate properties. Road Systems primarily manufactures and refurbishes trailers for Con-way Freight and Con-way Truckload.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By John Kell]

  Con-way Inc.(CNW) issued a weaker-than-expected profit outlook for the fourth quarter after the trucking company encountered challenges at its Con-way Freight and Menlo Worldwide Logistics operations. The company’s shares declined 6.1% to $38.89 premarket.

• [By Rich Smith]

  Consider: According to YRC, the $150.9 million it currently pays in annual interest exceeds the $92.6 million in interest obligations paid by "all [of its] competitors combined." Con-Way (NYSE: CNW  ) , for example, sports a debt load about half of YRC's, yet pays only about one-third �as much in interest on that debt. Old Dominion Freight (NASDAQ: ODFL  ) has 12% the debt �of YRC, but only 7% of the interest expense.

Best Freight Companies To Buy Right Now: Marten Transport Ltd (MRTN)

Marten Transport, Ltd. is a temperature-sensitive truckload carrier. The Company specializes in transporting and distributing food and other consumer packaged goods that require a temperature-controlled or insulated environment. It operates throughout the United States and in parts of Canada and Mexico. The Company operates in two segments: Truckload and Logistics. During the year ended December 31, 2011, approximately 81% of its truckload revenue resulted from hauling temperature-sensitive products and 19% from hauling dry freight. Its long-haul traffic lanes are between the Midwest and the West Coast, Southwest, Southeast, and the East Coast, as well as from California to the Pacific Northwest. It provides regional truckload carrier services in the Southeast, West Coast, Midwest, South Central and Northeast regions.

The Company derives truckload revenue from fuel surcharges, loading and unloading activities, equipment detention and other ancillary services. Its operating revenue also includes revenue reported within its Logistics segment, which consists of revenue from its internal brokerage and intermodal operations, and through its 45% interest in MW Logistics, LLC (MWL), a third-party provider of logistics services to the transportation industry. Brokerage services involve arranging for another company to transport freight for the Company�� customers, while it retains the billing, collection and customer management responsibilities. Intermodal services involve the transport of its trailers on railroad flatcars for a portion of a trip, with the balance of the trip using its tractors or, to a lesser extent, contracted carriers. It focuses on large food and consumer-packaged goods companies whose products require temperature-sensitive services and who ship multiple truckloads per week. As of December 31, 2011, its customers were General Mills and Kraft.

As of December 31, 2011, the Company operated a fleet of 2,281 tractors, including 2,233 company owned tractors and 48 t! ractors supplied by independent contractors. The average age of its company owned tractor fleet at December 31, 2011 was approximately 2.6 years. As of December 31, 2011, it operated a fleet of 4,124 trailers. Most of its trailers are equipped with Thermo-King refrigeration units, air ride suspensions and anti-lock brakes. The average age of its trailer fleet as of December 31, 2011 was approximately 2.4 years.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Monica Gerson]

  Marten Transport (NASDAQ: MRTN) is estimated to post its Q3 earnings at $0.23 per share on revenue of $168.28 million.

  CSX (NYSE: CSX) is expected to post its Q3 earnings at $0.43 per share on revenue of $2.95 billion.

• [By Seth Jayson]

  Marten Transport (Nasdaq: MRTN  ) reported earnings on July 16. Here are the numbers you need to know.

  The 10-second takeaway
  For the quarter ended June 30 (Q2), Marten Transport missed estimates on revenues and missed estimates on earnings per share.

Best Freight Companies To Buy Right Now: Agility Public Warehousing Co KSC (AGLTY)

Agility Public Warehousing Company KSC is a Kuwait-based company engaged, along with its subsidiaries, in the provision of global integrated logistics solutions. The Company is organized into two business segments: the Logistic and Related services segment provides logistics offering to its clients, including freight forwarding, transportation, contract logistics, project logistics and fairs and events logistics, and the Infrastructure segment provides other services, which include industrial real estate airport and airplane ground handling and cleaning services, customs consulting, private equity and waste recycling. The Company operates under the brand name of Agility. The Company�� subsidiaries include Global Express Transport Co. WLL, PWC Transport Company WLL, Agility DGS Logistics Services KSCC and Gulf Catering Company for General, among others. Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Fiona MacDonald]

  The Kuwait SE Price Index rose for a sixth day, climbing 0.5 percent to 6,851.17 at the close. Kuwait Real Estate Co. (KRE) climbed to the highest level in a month. Agility (AGLTY) advanced 1.7 percent after winning a $190 million UN contract in Sudan�� Darfur region. The Bloomberg GCC 200 Index, which tracks the biggest 200 companies in the Gulf Cooperation Council, fell 0.1 percent.

Best Freight Companies To Buy Right Now: Universal Truckload Services Inc (UACL)

Universal Truckload Services, Inc., incorporated on December 11, 2001, is engaged in providing transportation services to shippers throughout the United States and in the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Quebec. The Company�� over-the-road trucking services include both flatbed and dry van operations and it provides rail-truck and steamship-truck intermodal support services. It also offers truck brokerage services, as well as full service international freight forwarding and customs house brokerage services. The Company provides truckload transportation and related services for a range of general commodities over irregular routes using dry and specialty vans and un-sided trailers, including flatbed, drop deck, and specialty. In December 2013, the Company announced that it has completed acquisition of Westport Axle Corporation.

The Company primarily operates through a contractor network of agents and owner-operators who provide the Company with approximately 3,100 tractors and approximately 3,000 trailers. At December 31, 2011, the Company had approximately 565 agents. The Company conducts its operations through its wholly owned operating subsidiaries under the brand names, such as Universal Am-Can, Ltd., Mason & Dixon Lines, Inc., Louisiana Transportation Inc., Mason Dixon Intermodal, Inc., Economy Transport, Inc., Great American Lines, Inc., Universal Logistics Solutions, Inc., Universal Logistics Solutions International, Inc. and Cavalry Transportation, LLC.

The Company provides services in three categories, such as truckload services, brokerage services and intermodal support services. The Company transports a range of general commodities, including machinery, building materials, paper, food, consumer goods, automotive parts, furniture, steel and other metals. During the year ended December 31, 2011, its truckload operations represented 60.5%, of its operating revenues.

The Company provides primarily broker freight to third-party transportation providers th! rough its agent network at times when the Company generates more freight business than it can service with its available owner-operators. The Company offers full service international freight forwarding and customs house brokerage services, as well as third-party logistic services. During 2011, its brokerage services represented 24.8%, of its operating revenues. Its intermodal support services are primarily short-to-medium distance delivery of rail and steamship containers between the railhead or port and the customer and drayage services. During 2011, its intermodal support services represented 14.7% of its operating revenues.

The Company�� agents provide the primary interaction with its shippers. They generate freight shipments and also provide terminal and dispatch services for the owner-operators and are an essential source for recruitment of new owner-operators. The agents use a company-provided software program to list available freight procured by the agent, dispatch owner-operators to haul the freight and provide all administrative information necessary for it to establish the credit arrangements for each shipper. The owner-operators are individuals who own, operate and maintain one or more tractors that they either provide drivers, or drive themselves. The Company�� owner-operators provide it with approximately 3,100 tractors. Owner-operators also may own trailers that they provide the Company in addition to their tractor and driving services. As of December 31, 2011, its owner-operators provided approximately 3,000 trailers, which represent over 50% of the trailers the Company use in its business.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Seth Jayson]

  Calling all cash flows
  When you are trying to buy the market's best stocks, it's worth checking up on your companies' free cash flow once a quarter or so, to see whether it bears any relationship to the net income in the headlines. That's what we do with this series. Today, we're checking in on Universal Truckload Services (Nasdaq: UACL  ) , whose recent revenue and earnings are plotted below.

Best Freight Companies To Buy Right Now: Canadian National Railway Co (CNR.TO)

Canadian National Railway Company (CN), incorporated on August 24, 1995, is engaged in the rail and related transportation business. CN�� network of approximately 20,100 route miles spans Canada and mid-America, connecting three coasts: the Atlantic, the Pacific and the Gulf of Mexico, serving the ports of Vancouver, Prince Rupert (British Columbia), Montreal, Halifax, New Orleans, and Mobile (Alabama) and metropolitan areas of Toronto, Buffalo, Chicago, Detroit, Duluth (Minnesota)/Superior (Wisconsin), Green Bay (Wisconsin), Minneapolis/St. Paul, Memphis and Jackson (Mississippi), with connections to all points in North America. CN�� network, and its co-production agreements, routing protocols, marketing alliances and interline agreements, provide CN customers access to all three North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) nations. In March 2012, the Company acquired a locomotive program.

Petroleum and chemicals

The petroleum and chemicals commodity group consists of a range of commodities, including chemicals, sulfur, plastics, petroleum products and liquefied petroleum gas products. The Company�� petroleum and chemicals shipments originate in the Louisiana petrochemical corridor between New Orleans and Baton Rouge; in northern Alberta, and in eastern Canadian regional plants.

Metals and minerals

The metals and minerals commodity group consists primarily of non-ferrous base metals and ores, concentrates, iron ore, steel, construction materials, machinery and dimensional loads. The Company provides rail access to aluminum, mining, steel and iron ore producing regions.

Forest products

The forest products commodity group includes range of lumber, panels, paper, wood pulp and other fibers such as logs, recycled paper, wood chips, and wood pellets. The Company has rail access to the western and eastern Canadian fiber-producing regions. In United States, the Company is located to serve both the Midwest and southern United! States corridors with interline connections to other Class I railroads.

Coal

The coal commodity group consists of thermal grades of bituminous coal, metallurgical coal and petroleum coke. Canadian thermal and metallurgical coal is exported through terminals on the west coast of Canada to offshore markets. In United States, thermal coal is transported from mines served in southern Illinois, or from western United States mines through interchange with other railroads, to utilities in the Midwest and southeast United States, as well as offshore markets through terminals in the Gulf and the Port of Prince Rupert.

Grain and fertilizers

The grain and fertilizers commodity group depends primarily on crops grown and fertilizers processed in western Canada and the United States Midwest. The grain segment consists of three primary segments: food grains (mainly wheat, oats and malting barley), feed grains and feed grain products (including feed barley, feed wheat, peas, corn, ethanol and dried distillers grains), and oilseeds and oilseed nproducts (primarily canola seed, oil and meal, and soybeans).

Intermodal

The intermodal commodity group is consists of two segments: domestic and international. The domestic segment transports consumer products and manufactured goods, operating through both retail and wholesale channels, within domestic Canada, domestic United States., Mexico and transborder, while the international segment handles import and export container traffic, directly serving the ports of Vancouver, Prince Rupert, Montreal, Halifax and New Orleans.

Automotive

The automotive commodity group moves both finished vehicles and parts throughout North America, providing rail access to certain vehicle assembly plants in Canada, and Michigan and Mississippi in the United States. The Company also serves vehicle distribution facilities in Canada and the United States, as well as parts production facilities in Mi! chigan an! d Ontario. The Company serves shippers of import vehicles via the ports of Halifax and Vancouver, and through interchange with other railroads.

The Company competes with Canadian Pacific Railway Company.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Roadmap2Retire]

  I am also considering various stocks that are not currently in my portfolio, but the current high valuations do not provide many options.

  Canadian National Railway (CNR.TO) engages in transportation of goods including petroleum and chemicals, grain and fertilizers, coal, metals and minerals, forest products, intermodal, and automotive products. The company operates 20,100 route miles of track that spans Canada adn mid-America connecting the three coasts of Atlantic, Pacific and Gulf of Mexico. CNR is a dividend contender that has been raising its dividends for 17 consecutive years and has a 5-yr DGR of 13.9% and a 10-yr DGR of 17.4%. Norfolk Southern (NSC) engages in rail transportation of raw materials, intermediate and finished goods operating approximately 20,000 router miles across the southern and eastern US. NSC and other railroads stand to benefit from the oil boom in continental US, and before permanent pipelines are put in place, railroads are the only option available to transport the huge supplies. NSC is a dividend contender raising its dividends for 12 consecutive years and has a 5-yr DGR of 10.8% and 10-yr DGR of 21.1%. Procter & Gamble (PG) and Unilever plc (UL) are giants in the consumer packaged goods field. PG has five segments - beauty, grooming, healthcare, fabric care and home care. UL has four segments - personal care, foods, refreshment and home care. PG has been raising dividends for 57 years; has a 5-yr DGR of 10.2% and a 10-yr DGR of 10.8%. UL has been raising dividends for 25 years; has a 5-yr 7.07%. Aerospace & Defense Sector: With the global turmoils continuing and the rise of new conflicts across Eastern Europe and Middle East, I am considering adding some exposure to the Aerospace & Defense Sector. I recently posted an article regarding the current valuation of the stocks in the sector here. Index Funds - China ETF, Emerging Markets - I am considering adding a new index fund to my portfolio to track the Chinese marke