5 Best Electric Utility Stocks To Watch Right Now

What were you doing at 1:07PM this afternoon? If you were responsible for social media at the Associated Press, odds are you were preparing to have a mild heart attack.

At exactly that moment, the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJINDICES: ^DJI  ) went into free fall, plummeting by 150 points in less than three minutes before quickly recovering. The cause? The Associated Press' Twitter account had been hacked and then used to announce that the White House was under attack.

As the news agency quickly noted in a follow-up statement:

"The @AP twitter account has been hacked. The tweet about an attack at the White House is false. We will advise more as soon as possible."

And just when you thought earnings season was getting monotonous.

Speaking of earnings season, the actual news today is just that. Stocks are broadly higher today after a bevy of blue-chip companies reported better-than-expected first-quarter results.

Company

Hot Trucking Companies To Watch In Right Now: Dycom Industries Inc.(DY)

Dycom Industries, Inc. provides specialty contracting services in the United States and Canada. The company?s services include engineering services, which comprise the design of service area concept boxes, terminals, buried and aerial drops, transmission and central office equipment, administration of feeder and distribution cable pairs, and fiber cable routing and design for telephone companies; and make-ready studies, strand mapping, field walk-out, computer-aided radio frequency design and drafting, and fiber cable routing and design for cable television multiple system operators. The company also provides construction, maintenance, and installation of splice fiber, copper, and coaxial cables to telephone companies; installation and maintenance of customer premise equipment, including set top boxes and cable modems to cable television multiple system operators; and premise wiring services, which include installation, repair, and maintenance of telecommunications infrast ructure within improved structures to various corporations, and state and local governments. In addition, Dycom offers underground utility locating services, such as locating telephone, cable television, power, water, sewer, and gas lines to various utility companies. Further, it provides construction and maintenance services for electric utilities and others, which include installing and maintaining overhead and underground power distribution lines, as well as maintenance and installation of underground natural gas transmission and distribution systems. The company was founded in 1969 and is based in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Bryan Murphy]

  CES Synergies Inc. (OTCBB:CESX) isn't a name you hear too often when discussing what's ahead for big engineering and construction firms like Dycom Industries, Inc. (NYSE:DY) or Fluor Corporation (NYSE:FLR). But, maybe it should be. What's good for the goose is also good for the gander, so to speak, and some good news for FLR and DY posted recently bodes just as well - maybe even better - for owners of CESX.�

• [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 Dycom Industries (NYSE: DY  ) , whose recent revenue and earnings are plotted below.

• [By Ben Levisohn]

  Shares of Harsco have gained 4.7% to $26.43 today at 1:16 p.m., outpacing other construction & engineering companies. Dycom (DY) has advanced 0.5% to $30, KBR Inc. (KBR) has ticked up 0.1% to $33.03, Worthington Industries�(WOR) has risen 2.8% to $38.85�and Tutor Perini (TPC) has rallied 3.6% to $22.46.

5 Best Electric Utility Stocks To Watch Right Now: Texas Industries Inc (TXI)

Texas Industries, Inc., incorporated on April 19, 1951, is a supplier of construction materials in the southwestern United States. The Company operates in three segments: cement, aggregates and consumer products. Its cement segment produces gray portland cement and specialty cements. The Company�� cement production and distribution facilities are concentrated primarily in Texas and California. Its aggregates segment produces natural aggregates, including sand, gravel and crushed limestone. The Company�� consumer products segment produces ready-mix concrete. It is also a supplier of natural aggregates and ready-mix concrete in Texas and northern Louisiana and in Oklahoma and Arkansas. As of May 31, 2013, the Company had 123 manufacturing facilities in five states.

Cement Segment

The Company produces specialty cements, such as masonry and oil well cements. Its cement production facilities are located at Midlothian, Texas, south of Dallas/Fort Worth, Hunter, Texas, between Austin and San Antonio, and Oro Grande, California, near Los Angeles. It also operates a cement terminal and packaging facility at its Crestmore plant near Riverside, California, and the Company operates its gray portland cement grinding facility on an as needed basis. During the fiscal year ended May 31, 2013 (fiscal 2013), it produced approximately 4.3 million tons of finished cement. The Company shipped approximately 4.4 million tons during fiscal 2013, of which 3.8 million tons were shipped to outside trade customers.

Aggregates Segment

The Company�� operations are conducted from facilities primarily serving the Dallas/Fort Worth and Austin areas in Texas; the southern Oklahoma area, and the Alexandria and Monroe areas in Louisiana. The Company produced approximately 14.2 million tons of natural aggregates during fiscal 2013. It shipped approximately 14.8 million tons of natural aggregates during fiscal 2013, of which 11.3 million tons were shipped to outside trade customers! . The Company shipped approximately 1.0 million cubic yards of lightweight aggregates during fiscal 2013, of which approximately 0.9 million cubic yards were shipped to outside trade customers.

Consumer Products Segment

The Company�� ready-mix concrete operations are situated in three areas in Texas (the Dallas/Fort Worth/Denton area of north Texas, the Austin area of central Texas and from Beaumont to Texarkana in east Texas), in north and central Louisiana, and in southwestern Arkansas. It is also a 40% partner in a joint venture that has ready mix concrete operations in the northern part of central Texas area centered around Waco, Texas. It shipped approximately 2.8 million cubic yards of ready-mix concrete during fiscal 2013. The Company manufacture and supply a substantial amount of the cement and aggregates raw materials used by our ready-mix plants. The Company also marketed its Maximizer packaged concrete mixes in southern California.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Holly LaFon]

  Competitively advantaged holdings continued to demonstrate the value of moats at FedEx (FDX), Melco, and Texas Industries (TXI). These holdings were among our largest contributors to performance, and they exemplify activity prevalent across most of our holdings throughout the year.

5 Best Electric Utility Stocks To Watch Right Now: Orix Corp Ads (IX)

ORIX Corporation provides financial solutions to corporate and retail clients. Its Corporate Financial Services segment engages in lending, leasing, and commission business for the sale of financial products. The company�s Maintenance Leasing segment is involved in automobile leasing, rental, and car sharing; lease and rental of precision measuring and information technology related equipment; and technical support, sale of software packages, calibration, and asset management. Its Real Estate segment develops and leases office buildings, commercial properties, logistics centers, and residential condominiums; and develops and operates hotels, Japanese inns, aquariums, golf courses, training and nursing care facilities, baseball stadiums, and theaters, as well as provides asset management and real estate finance, REIT asset management, and real estate investment advisory services. The company�s Investment and Operation segment engages in loan servicing, principal investmen t, merger and acquisition advisory, venture capital, and securities brokerage activities. Its Investment and Operation segment is involved in the collection and disposal of waste from end-of-lease assets; and renewable energy source operations, such as megasolar projects and roof top power generation, as well as invests in non-performing loans and private equity; and collects and manages commercial mortgage-backed securities. The company�s Retail segment engages in life insurance, banking, and card loan businesses. Its Overseas Business segment is involved in leasing, lending, investment in bonds, investment banking, and ship- and aircraft-related operations in the United States, Asia, Oceania, and Europe. ORIX Corporation has a strategic alliance with GT Capital Holdings Inc. and First Metro Investment Corporation. The company was formerly known as Orient Leasing Co., Ltd. and changed its name to ORIX Corporation in 1989. ORIX Corporation was founded in 1964 and is headqua rtered in Tokyo, Japan.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Robert Abbott]

  For OTEX, this includes five distinct groups of services:

  Enterprise Content Management (ECM), which includes records management, archiving, and email services Business Process Management (BPM), including software for analyzing and optimizing business processes Customer Experience Management (CEM), includes software that integrates internal and external content to enhance the ��ustomer experience�� Information Exchange (iX), "...a set of offerings that facilitate efficient, secure, and compliant exchange of information inside and outside the enterprise." Discovery, which includes the indexing, navigation, and retrieval of information in databases (for a fuller description of these segments, see the 10-K Report for 2014).

  As of June 30, 2014 it employed about 8,000, including 2,000 in cloud services, 1,900 in product development and 1,400 in sales and marketing.

5 Best Electric Utility Stocks To Watch Right Now: Ocera Therapeutics Inc (OCRX)

Ocera Therapeutics, Inc., formerly Tranzyme, Inc., incorporated on January 12, 1998, is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on discovering, developing and commercializing mechanism-based therapeutics for the treatment of upper gastrointestinal (GI) motility disorders. The Company is developing TZP-102, an oral ghrelin agonist for treating the symptoms associated with chronic upper GI motility disorders. Enrollment is complete in a multinational Phase-IIb trial evaluating TZP-102 given once daily in diabetic patients with gastroparesis. The Company has initiated a second Phase-IIb trial (DIGEST) evaluating TZP-102 given prior to meals in diabetic patients with gastroparesis. On July 15, 2013, Ocera Therapeutics, Inc. merged with the Company.

Ulimorelin (Intravenous Ghrelin Agonist)

Ulimorelin is an intravenous ghrelin agonist in Phase III clinical development for the acceleration of postoperative GI recovery. Ulimorelin is designed to accelerate the return of normal GI function in patients suffering from acute GI disorders. In addition to the ongoing trials, the Company has completed multiple trials of ulimorelin.

TZP-102 (Oral Ghrelin Agonist)

TZP-102 is an orally-administered ghrelin agonist, which it is developing for diabetic gastroparesis, an upper GI motility disorder. Gastroparesis is a debilitating, chronic condition characterized by slow or delayed gastric emptying and gastric retention that can be caused by any disease that induces neuromuscular dysfunction of the GI tract, notably diabetes.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Monica Gerson]

  Ocera Therapeutics (NASDAQ: OCRX) plummeted 16.01% to $13.80. Ocera Therapeutics shares have jumped 158.33% over the past 52 weeks, while the S&P 500 index has gained 23.35% in the same period.

• [By Jon C. Ogg]

  Ocera Therapeutics Inc. (NASDAQ: OCRX) was started as Buy with a $19.00 price target at Stifel Nicolaus. This represents 62% upside to the $11.70 closing price. This positive call is based on a best-in-class mechanism action of its lead product candidate against hepatic encephalopathy in patients with acute and chronic liver disease.