Top Clean Energy Companies For 2014

Thanks largely to the antics of former CEO Aubrey McClendon, Chesapeake Energy (NYSE: CHK  ) has been one of the most maligned names in the energy sector. McClendon leveraged the company's future with debt, intertwined his personal finances with the company's, and engineered a land-buying program that received significant amounts of bad press topped off with negative portrayal of the industry in Matt Damon's movie, "Promised Land." The result has been a nearly 40% slide in Chesapeake Energy stock over the past two years.

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Natural gas on the rise
Despite the bad press, the overall position of the natural gas industry has never looked more promising. Companies ranging from Clean Energy Fuels (NASDAQ: CLNE  ) to Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE: BRK-A  ) are beginning to initiate programs that rely heavily on natural gas. In the case of Clean Energy, the company is undertaking a major push to create a corridor of liquefied natural gas, or LNG, filling stations across the country to allow trucks to carry freight on LNG power rather than diesel. This type of transition is likely to eventually trickle down to passenger vehicles, which currently are not fully viable as an LNG alternative. While Chesapeake Energy stock once benefited from the company's partial ownership of Clean Energy, that stake is likely to be sold to help meet debt obligations.

Top Clean Energy Companies For 2014: LSI Industries Inc.(LYTS)

LSI Industries Inc. provides corporate visual image solutions primarily in the United States, Canada, Australia, and Latin America. It operates in three segments: Lighting, Graphics, and Technology. The Lighting segment manufactures and markets outdoor and indoor lighting, canopy lighting, landscape lighting, light emitting diodes (LED) lighting, light poles, and photometric layouts products, as well as lighting analysis services. The Graphics segment manufactures and sells exterior and interior visual image elements for use in visual image programs. It offers signage and canopy graphics; pump dispenser graphics; building fascia graphics; decals; interior signage and marketing graphics; aisle markers; wall mural graphics; fleet graphics; prototype program graphics; and solid state LED video screens for the sports and advertising markets, as well as installation services for graphics products. The Technology segment designs, produces, and supports light engines and large fo rmat video screens using LED technology; and specialty LED lighting. Additionally, the company offers menu board systems. It serves commercial, industrial, and multi-site retail markets; petroleum/convenience stores; sports and advertising; and entertainment markets. The company sells its products through regional sales managers, independent sales representatives, and distributors. LSI Industries was founded in 1976 and is headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio.

Top Clean Energy Companies For 2014: Cardinal Financial Corporation(CFNL)

Cardinal Financial Corporation operates as the holding company for Cardinal Bank that provides banking products and services to commercial and retail customers in Virginia and greater Washington, D.C. metropolitan area. It primarily engages in accepting deposits and originating loans. The company?s deposit products include commercial and retail checking accounts, money market accounts, individual retirement accounts, regular interest-bearing savings accounts, and certificates of deposits. Its lending portfolio comprises commercial and industrial loans, commercial mortgage loans, residential mortgage loans, construction loans, home equity lines of credit, and consumer loans. The company also offers courier, telephone and Internet banking, and automatic teller machine services, as well as traveler?s checks, coin counters, wire services, and safe deposit box services. In addition, Cardinal Financial Corporation, through its other subsidiaries, involves in the origination an d acquisition of residential mortgages for sale into the secondary market in the metropolitan Washington, D.C. region, as well as provides a construction-to-permanent loan program; offers retail securities brokerage and asset management services; and provides trust, estate, custody, investment management, and retirement planning services. It operates 26 banking offices. Cardinal Financial Corporation was founded in 1997 and is headquartered in McLean, Virginia.

Hot Blue Chip Stocks To Watch Right Now: ConocoPhillips(COP)

ConocoPhillips operates as an integrated energy company worldwide. The company?s Exploration and Production (E&P) segment explores for, produces, transports, and markets crude oil, bitumen, natural gas, liquefied natural gas, and natural gas liquids. Its Midstream segment gathers, processes, and markets natural gas; and fractionates and markets natural gas liquids in the United States and Trinidad. The company?s Refining and Marketing (R&M) segment purchases, refines, markets, and transports crude oil and petroleum products, such as gasolines, distillates, and aviation fuels. Its Chemicals segment manufactures and markets petrochemicals and plastics. This segment offers olefins and polyolefins, including ethylene, propylene, and other olefin products; aromatics products, such as benzene, styrene, paraxylene, and cyclohexane, as well as polystyrene and styrene-butadiene copolymers; and various specialty chemical products comprising organosulfur chemicals, solvents, catalyst s, drilling chemicals, mining chemicals, and engineering plastics and compounds. The company?s Emerging Businesses segment develops new technologies and businesses. It focuses on power generation; and technologies related to conventional and nonconventional hydrocarbon recovery, refining, alternative energy, biofuels, and the environment. This segment also offers E-Gas, a gasification technology producing high-value synthetic gas. ConocoPhillips was founded in 1917 and is based in Houston, Texas.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Fabian]

  ConocoPhilips(COP) is a close second. This is a Warren Buffett darling that will benefit from its spinoff of refining assets some time in 2012.

  Conoco also continues to pay a consistent and reliable 3.75%. Note that COP has underperformed the rest of the sector recently. Correlations are normally so close that such an underperformance by one stock can point the way to value.

Why It’s Getting Easier to Win New Clients

Maybe it’s the “taper tantrum,” wild markets, dysfunctional government or riots overseas—whatever the reason, advisors are confident clients need, and are looking for, help.

A new report from Russell Investments released Thursday found the “overwhelming majority” of advisors optimistic about client acquisition in 2013: 87% reported feeling optimistic about acquiring new clients and households.

This follows similar numbers for 2012: 86% of advisors acquired more clients than they lost in 2012, with nearly half indicating they brought on more than 10 clients or households.

The quarterly Financial Professional Outlook survey focused on client acquisition, the use of referrals to drive business growth, and the implications of an aging client base.

Top acquisition strategies for 2013 include receiving client referrals reactively (76%), referral prospecting through current clients (54%) and professional networking (43%).

Fully 32% of advisors say they believe clients are optimistic about the capital markets over the next three years—the highest proportion since the March 2011 FPO survey. Three-quarters (75%) of advisors reported that they, too, are optimistic about the markets.

“Many advisors are finding it easier to acquire new clients than it was just six months ago, as investors’ willingness to participate in the market is bolstered by strong recent performance,” Kevin Bishopp, director of practice management for Russell’s U.S. advisor-sold business, said in a statement. “Yet there is a finite universe of individual investors and a highly competitive environment for advisors. To differentiate themselves, advisors need to deliver a superior service and relationship experience, not just a product or portfolio.”

In addition to acquiring new clients, most advisors reported fairly high levels of client retention. The majority of respondents (55%) said they lost one to three clients in 2012, while only a quarter (26%) lost four or more clients. In identifying the primary reasons for losing clients, many advisors pointed to a cause beyond their control: a client’s death.

“It’s important for advisors to consider the composition of their books of business when establishing an acquisition strategy. If an advisor has many clients in the decumulation phase of retirement, when income distributions begin to exceed investment returns, it can be important to seek out younger clients in their peak accumulation years to help maintain a sustainable business,” Bishopp said. “One rule of thumb is that for every client over age 70, an advisor likely needs one or two clients in their fifties who are accumulating at an increasing rate. This can be an important consideration when thinking about the types of new clients to seek out.”

He also pointed to the “generational risk” clients in retirement can pose, or the danger that an advisor may not retain the assets transferred to an investor’s beneficiaries.

“When thinking about client acquisition, it’s also important that advisors consider establishing relationships with their clients’ children and heirs,” Bishopp concluded. “If they can demonstrate their value and engage these emerging prospects, they can put themselves in a strong position to continue to manage inherited assets and drive referrals amongst the next generation of investors.”

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Check out Lessons From Losing a Client by Mike Patton on AdvisorOne.