Top Penny Companies To Own In Right Now

Earnings season has hit the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJINDICES: ^DJI  ) with a pair of misses today, as both AT&T (NYSE: T  ) and Caterpillar (NYSE: CAT  ) couldn't live up to Wall Street's expectations. The blue-chip index has fallen about 49 points as of 2:20 p.m. EDT, with the two earnings losers leading a large cadre of stocks lower. Let's catch up on all the stories and movers you need to know from around the Dow.

AT&T and Caterpillar take their lumps
AT&T led things off today with better-than-expected revenue improvement for the second quarter, but the company's earnings missed Wall Street's projections by a penny, and the negativity surrounding that miss has pulled the stock down by 1.7% so far. While AT&T showed some problems as smartphone discounts cut into the company's margins and landline revenue unsurprisingly declined, today's drop is more of an example of earnings-season hype than it is an indictment of AT&T's business.

Top 5 Trucking Companies To Own In Right Now: Cleco Corporation (CNL)

Cleco Corporation, through its subsidiaries, engages in the generation, transmission, distribution, and sale of electricity in Louisiana. As of December 31, 2009, it had ownership interest in 3 steam electric generating stations and 1 gas turbine with a combined name plate capacity of 1,359 megawatts, and a combined electric net generating capacity of 1,318 megawatts. The company served approximately 277,000 customers in 107 communities in the central and southeastern Louisiana. It also owns and operates a natural gas-fired merchant power plant, as well as has a 50% interest in another natural gas-fired merchant power plant located in Louisiana. Cleco Corporation was founded in 1934 and is based in Pineville, Louisiana.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Marc Bastow]

  Pineville, Louisiana-based utility holding company CLECO (CNL) raised its quarterly dividend 10.3% to 40 cents per share payable on May 15. No record or ex-dividend date for the payment was released.
  CNL Dividend Yield: 3.13%

• [By Garrett Cook]

  Utilities sector was the top gainer in the US market on Thursday. Top gainers in the sector included Cleco (NYSE: CNL), Korea Electric Power (NYSE: KEP), and Regency Energy Partners LP (NYSE: RGP).

• [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 Cleco (NYSE: CNL  ) , whose recent revenue and earnings are plotted below.

Top Penny Companies To Own In Right Now: Chiquita Brands International Inc. (CQB)

Chiquita Brands International, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, engages in the distribution and marketing of bananas and fresh produce under the Chiquita and other brand names worldwide. The company operates in three segments: Bananas, Salads and Healthy Snacks, and Other Produce. The Banana segment sources, transports, markets, and distributes bananas to retailers and wholesalers, and chain stores. It also engages in the cultivation and production of bananas. The Salads and Healthy Snacks segment offers value-added salads under the Fresh Express and other labels; and fresh vegetable and fruit ingredients used in foodservice, healthy snacks, and processed fruit ingredient products. This segment also provides fresh-cut products, such as lettuce, tomatoes, spinach, cabbage, and onions to foodservice distributors who resell these products to foodservice operators. It distributes Fresh Express branded products to food retailers, foodservice distributors, and quick-service restaurants; and fresh produce foodservice offerings primarily to third-party distributors for resale principally to quick-service restaurants in the United States. The Other Produce segment engages in sourcing, marketing, and distributing fresh fruits and vegetables other than bananas in Europe and North America. It offers grapes, pineapples, melons, kiwis, tomatoes, and avocados. The company was founded in 1899 and is headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Rich Duprey]

  After all, like Chiquita Brands (NYSE: CQB  ) , Dole's been undergoing a significant corporate restructuring, and last month it�sold its packaged-foods and Asia fresh business for $1.7 billion, making it a more focused international fresh fruit business, but one subject to all the vagaries that entails. In comparison, Chiquita's reorganization has it looking to become a high-volume, low-cost producer of bananas and chopped salads.

• [By Jack Kramer and Nick Martell]

  3. Chiquita earnings get frozen
  Just in time for our favorite part of the year, smoothie season, your favorite childhood banana distributor,�Chiquita Brands (NYSE: CQB  ) , reported first-quarter earnings on�Friday�that investors (figuratively) threw bananas at. Revenue for the first three months of 2014 fell 2% from the same period the previous year, to $762 million.

• [By Sara Murphy]

  Furthermore, the court's finding does not undermine the use of the ATS in cases of human rights abuses. It just requires a stronger connection to the United States. That means that other ATS cases currently working their way through the legal system, such as Earth Rights International's case against Chiquita (NYSE: CQB  ) for allegedly funding and arming Colombian terrorists, are still on track. That also means that the link from human rights violations to corporate liability remains.

• [By Michael Lewis]

  In the ever-difficult, commoditized business of produce, Chiquita Brands International (NYSE: CQB  ) has been a constant player, if troubled in recent years. Margin pressure and a shift in industry trends left the company with weak financials and angry shareholders, but in the past 12 months much of that has turned around. In the midst of a restructuring and armed with a (relatively) new CEO, this company is pushing its 52-week highs but may be headed higher. Does the banana brand belong in your portfolio?

Top Penny Companies To Own In Right Now: China Digital TV Holding Co. Ltd.(STV)

China Digital TV Holding Co., Ltd., through its subsidiaries, provides conditional access (CA) systems to digital television markets in the People?s Republic of China. Its CA systems consist of smart cards and head-end software for television network operators, as well as terminal-end software for set-top box manufacturers, which enable digital television network operators to control the distribution of content and value-added services to their subscribers and block unauthorized access to their networks The company licenses its set-top box design to set-top box manufacturers and sells advanced digital television application software, such as electronic program guides and subscriber management systems to digital television network operators. It also provides system integration services for television network operators. China Digital TV Holding Co., Ltd. sells its CA systems and digital television application software to television network operators, including cable, satell ite, and terrestrial television network operators and enterprises that maintain private cable television networks within their facilities. As of December 31, 2009, it had installed CA systems at 244 digital television network operators in 27 provinces, autonomous regions, and centrally administered municipalities in the People's Republic of China. The company was founded in 2004 and is headquartered in Beijing, the People?s Republic of China.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Garrett Cook]

  In trading on Friday, technology shares were relative leaders, up on the day by about 0.63 percent. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included OpenTable (NASDAQ: OPEN), up 47 percent, and China Digital TV Holding Co (NYSE: STV), up 9 percent.

Top Penny Companies To Own In Right Now: Telestone Technologies Corp.(TSTC)

Telestone Technologies Corporation offers wireless local-access network technologies and solutions primarily in the People?s Republic of China. Its access-network solutions include the research and development, and application of access network technology. The company designs and sells electronic equipments, such as wireless fiber-optic distribution system products, RFPA products, passive components, repeaters, radio frequency peripherals, and base station antennas used to provide access network solutions for 2G, 3G, broadband access, and CATV networks. It also offers project design, project management, installation, maintenance, and other after-sales services. In addition, Telestone provides various solutions to the telecommunications industry, which cover indoor and outdoor environments comprising hotels, residential estates, office buildings, airports, exhibition centers, underground stations, and highways and tunnels. Further, the company engages in the design, develop ment, production and installation, and trading of wireless telecommunication coverage system equipment. It also markets its products to 29 countries, including Argentina, Bangladesh, Brazil, Canada, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Hong Kong, Iceland, India, Indonesia, Ireland, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, Mexico, Mongolia, New Zealand, the Philippines, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, South Africa, South Korea, Thailand, Turkey, the United States, the United Arab Emirates, Ukraine, and Vietnam. The company was founded in 1987 and is headquartered in Beijing, China.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By insider]

  The valuation box will also clearly indicate it if a company is traded at below its net current asset value (NCAV). Please see the valuation box for Telestone (TSTC) below.