5 Best Forestry Stocks To Buy Right Now

Alon USA Energy (NYSE: ALJ  ) reported earnings on May 8. Here are the numbers you need to know.

The 10-second takeaway
For the quarter ended March 31 (Q1), Alon USA Energy beat expectations on revenues and crushed expectations on earnings per share.

Compared to the prior-year quarter, revenue shrank. GAAP earnings per share expanded.

Margins grew across the board.

Revenue details
Alon USA Energy logged revenue of $1.65 billion. The five analysts polled by S&P Capital IQ predicted revenue of $1.53 billion on the same basis. GAAP reported sales were 7.0% lower than the prior-year quarter's $1.78 billion.

Source: S&P Capital IQ. Quarterly periods. Dollar amounts in millions. Non-GAAP figures may vary to maintain comparability with estimates.

5 Best Forestry Stocks To Buy Right Now: Expedia Inc.(EXPE)

Expedia, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, operates as an online travel company in the United States and internationally. It provides travel products and services to leisure and corporate travelers, offline retail travel agents, and travel service providers through a portfolio of brands, including Expedia.com, hotels.com, Hotwire.com, Expedia Affiliate Network, Classic Vacations, Expedia Local Expert, Expedia CruiseShipCenters, Egencia, eLong, Inc., and Venere Net SpA. The company?s travel offerings consist of airline tickets, hotel rooms, car rentals, destination services, cruises, and package travel provided by various commercial airlines, lodging properties, car rental companies, destination service providers, cruise lines, and other travel product and service companies on a stand-alone and package basis. It also facilitates the booking of hotel rooms, airline seats, car rentals, and destination services from its travel suppliers; and acts as an agent in the transa ction, passing reservations booked by its travelers to the relevant travel provider. The company was founded in 1996 and is headquartered in Bellevue, Washington.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By James K. Glassman]

   Like rival Priceline.com, online travel company Expedia is focusing on international growth. Along with its namesake site, the company runs Hotels.com and Hotwire.com, as well as the European online hotel booking site Venere.com. Expedia also has a majority stake in eLong.com, a Chinese online travel agency. Expedia also recently acquired Nordic travel company Via Travel. 
  
  Expedia had cash flow of $1.0 billion in 2011, with depreciation of $155 million and capital expenditures of $208 million. The company recently announced that it is boosting its quarterly dividend by 4 cents, to 13 cents a share; at $52.91, the stock yields 1.0%.

5 Best Forestry Stocks To Buy Right Now: The Hanover Insurance Group Inc.(THG)

The Hanover Insurance Group, Inc., through its subsidiaries, underwrites commercial and personal property, and casualty insurance coverage in the United States. It operates in three segments: Commercial Lines, Personal Lines, and Other Property and Casualty. The Commercial Lines segment provides coverage for commercial multiple peril; commercial automobile; workers? compensation; and other commercial coverages, including specialty program business, inland marine, and bonds, as well as umbrella, general liability, fire, specialty property, and professional and management liability. The Personal Lines segment offers coverage for personal automobile, homeowners, and other personal lines, such as inland marine, umbrella, fire, personal watercraft, and earthquake. The Other Property and Casualty segment provides investment advisory services; and manages assets for unaffiliated institutions, such as insurance companies, retirement plans, and foundations. The company sells its p roducts and services through a network of independent agents. The Hanover Insurance Group, Inc. was founded in 1844 and is headquartered in Worcester, Massachusetts.

Hot Companies For 2014: Shear Wind Inc. (SWX.V)

Shear Wind Inc., a development stage company, engages in the exploration and development of renewable energy in Canada. It is developing various wind projects with a total generation capacity of approximately 1,200 mega watts located in Alberta, Saskatchewan, Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick. The company was formerly known as EW Power Services Ltd. and changed its name to Shear Wind Inc. in October 2005. Shear Wind Inc. was incorporated in 2004 and is headquartered in Bedford, Canada. As of November 22, 2012, Shear Wind, Inc. operates as a subsidiary of Sprott Power Corp.

5 Best Forestry Stocks To Buy Right Now: Stakis(SKS.L)

Shanks Group plc operates as a waste and resource management company that provides waste management solutions in the Netherlands, Belgium, the United Kingdom, and Canada. The company involves in the collection, transfer, recycling, and treatment of non-hazardous solid waste; industrial cleaning, transportation, treatment, and disposal of contaminated soils, as well as remediation of contaminated land; and anaerobic digestion and tunnel composting of source segregated organic waste streams. It also engages in the landfill disposal activities, including contaminated soils; generation of power from landfill gas; and municipal waste treatment contracts and mineral extraction businesses. The company was founded in 1880 and is headquartered in Milton Keynes, the United Kingdom.

5 Best Forestry Stocks To Buy Right Now: Heritage Oaks Bancorp(HEOP)

Heritage Oaks Bancorp operates as the holding company for Heritage Oaks Bank that provides commercial banking services to retail customers, and small to medium-sized businesses in California. The company offers various deposit products, including interest bearing and non-interest bearing demand deposits, checking accounts, savings accounts, money market accounts, certificates of deposit, NOW accounts, and time deposits. Its loan products comprise commercial and industrial, small business administration, agricultural, credit card, and consumer loans; real estate secured loans for multi-family residential, residential 1 to 4 family, and farmland properties, as well as home equity line of credit and commercial real estate loans; and construction loans for single family residential, tract, multi-family, hospitality, and commercial properties. In addition, the company offers residential mortgage banking, installment note collection, bank-by-mail, night depository, safe deposit boxes, online banking, and other customary banking services, as well as issues cashier?s checks and money orders, and sells travelers checks. It operates 15 branches in San Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara counties. The company was founded in 1983 and is headquartered in Paso Robles, California.