We asked 10 of our top analysts for one stock that looks especially compelling right now. Here are the companies they singled out.
Jim Gillies: Three things I want to see in a great retail stock: outstanding management, a repeatable business, and a timeless brand. Coach, Inc. (NYSE:COH) scores three for three. Long-term management, led by CEO Lew Frankfort has built a reputation for high quality and lifetime customer satisfaction, both of which lead to repeat purchases. For women’s handbags, that can cost hundreds of dollars; this positively screams brand strength.
Since its 2000 IPO, the stock has risen nearly twentyfold on the back of business execution that has delivered increasing profitability, strong returns on capital, cash generation, and successful business growth. The store base has grown nearly 10% annually. The dividend, introduced in 2009, has quadrupled since its debut (and will probably rise again in 2013). Strategic share repurchases have reduced the share count by more than 20% over the past half-decade. And Coach, Inc. (NYSE:COH) has done all this leverage-free, and boasts $936 million cash on the balance sheet.
Taylor Muckerman: Adding valuable assets through acquisitions has become a competitive advantage for Kinder Morgan Energy Partners LP (NYSE:KMP) over the last couple of years. This strength has led to its midstream family compiling the largest pipeline system in North America. Why is this important? Because there remains a supreme shortage in the distribution network for the crude oil and natural gas that is currently pumping out of our ground at record levels.
That’s why I am focusing on Kinder Morgan Energy Partners LP (NYSE:KMP), the Master Limited Partnership that resides under the KMI roof. Just like its parent, it recognizes that growing its asset base will be key in the coming years. Realizing this, it decided to acquire strategically located Copano Energy, L.L.C. (NASDAQ:CPNO), a deal scheduled to close during the third quarter of this year and be immediately accretive.
Operating in multiple key areas of production — most notably the Eagle Ford, Woodford, and Barnett shales — Copano’s natural gas gathering and processing assets position KMP to capitalize, once natural gas prices begin to rise, leading to an uptick in production. Until that time comes — an inevitability in my opinion — the company’s steadily growing distributions should satisfy investors’ appetites for immediate income.
Anders Bylund: Rackspace Hosting, Inc. (NYSE:RAX) is an easy choice for new money in March.
I bought shares myself near the end of February. The cloud computing veteran is chock-full of future prospects, but the stock has been saddled recently with high prices. Irrational selling on the heels of a perfectly fine earnings report added serious value to Rackspace’s 19% annual earnings growth and rock-solid balance sheet.
The OpenStack cloud computing platform has emerged as a serious selling point for Rackspace’s services. Moreover, it positions the company as a major provider of software solutions and support services for other players in the online services sector.
Fellow Fool John Del Vecchio worries that Rackspace’s big capital expenses would destroy any serious investing thesis, but I must respectfully disagree. The company is investing heavily into its infrastructure in order to support sustained order growth for the next decade-plus. It’s exactly the right thing to do, and the payoff will start to materialize later this year.
And right now, you can buy into this exciting growth stock at a 20% short-term discount. What’s not to love about that?
Rich Smith: United Technologies Corporation (NYSE:UTX) caught a lot of flak earlier this month, first, over reports that an engine blade produced for the Lockheed Martin Corporation (NYSE:LMT) F-35 Joint Strike Fighter had developed a crack, and later, over the company’s admission that one of its units (Carmel Forge, located in Israel), has been caught falsifying test results on the integrity of engine parts. Yet, UTC’s share price keeps going up. Why?
Because headline risk notwithstanding, the stock’s a bargain — and a good stock to buy in March. The stock costs only 16.2 times earnings, and is even cheaper valued on free cash flow. UTC is pegged for 13.6% long-term growth, and pays a 2.4% dividend. It’s just notched some significant sales in its Sikorsky segment, bolstering the case for sales growth, and is busily shedding underperforming divisions to focus on its most profitable businesses.
Fairly priced today, and improving profitability rapidly, United Technologies Corporation (NYSE:UTX) is one great stock to buy in March.
Jason Moser: While there are a number of alternative fuel options for transportation today, natural gas accounts for more than half of all alternative fuels consumed by alternative-fueled vehicles in fleets. And Clean Energy Fuels Corp (NASDAQ:CLNE) is tapping into this market opportunity in a big way.
Given the glut of natural gas resources at home (it’s estimated that we have more than 90 years’ worth in the U.S. alone), Clean Energy Fuels has set its sights specifically on the trucking industry, with the construction of America’s Natural Gas Highway (ANGH) as well as fleet vehicles across the country. ANGH is a network of more than 150 natural gas fueling stations that will accommodate the trucking industry from coast to coast. To put this into perspective, there are an estimated 3.2 million Class 8 trucks on the road today in the U.S., which consume approximately 20,000 gallons of fuel each year. And fleet vehicles from core markets like refuse, transit, and airports are converting to natural gas, as well. For example, Clean Energy Fuels now has 37 airport stations across the country with aggressive fleet expansion throughout, including a recently completed station at Hertz’s LAX property.
