Best Oil Service Companies To Invest In Right Now

It's been a busy week for Halliburton (NYSE: HAL  ) . And at the end, the second largest oil services company seems to have come out trumps. Here is a company whose management knows what it's doing. The strategy to return cash to investors through share buybacks is proving to be a master stroke.

Halliburton's corporate headquarters in Houston. Source: Wikimedia commons.

Not the best of weeks ...
Starting with the reporting of the second-quarter results, this hasn't been the most impressive of weeks for Halliburton. A flat rig count and lower drilling activity ensured that revenue from the North American segment -- the company's largest market -- declined almost 10%, year over year, in the first six months of 2013. To top that, a federal antitrust probe has been initiated targeting the U.S. hydraulic fracturing market, with the top names, including Halliburton, coming under investigation.

Top 5 Financial Stocks To Own Right Now: ZAGG Incorporated(ZAGG)

ZAGG Incorporated, together with its subsidiaries, designs, manufactures, and distributes protective coverings, audio accessories, and power solutions for consumer electronics and hand-held devices under the invisibleSHIELD, ZAGGskins, ZAGGbuds, ZAGGsparq, and ZAGGmate brand names, primarily in the United States and Europe. Its invisibleSHIELD is a protective film covering designed for iPods, iPads, laptops, cell phones, digital cameras, watch faces, global positioning systems, personal digital assistants, MP3 players, watch faces, global positioning systems, gaming devices, and rotary blades of military helicopters. The company?s ZAGGaudio brand of electronics accessories and products primarily comprise ZAGGsmartbuds, a water resistant ear bud; ZAGGskins brand consists of high-resolution images with the scratch protection of ZAGG?s invisibleSHIELD; ZAGGsparq is a portable battery that recharges various USB-charged devices, including the Apple iPads and iPhones, cell phone s, handheld gaming systems, and digital cameras; ZAGG LEATHERskins are thin, pliable cases for personal electronics; and ZAGGmate products are protective cases for the Apple iPad. ZAGG Incorporated offers approximately 5,000 precision pre-cut designs of its products through online channels, big-box retailers, electronics specialty stores, resellers, college bookstores, Mac stores, and mall kiosks. The company is headquartered in Salt Lake City, Utah.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Rick Munarriz]

  Thursday
  ZAGG (NASDAQ: ZAGG  ) has been a brutal disappointment for investors who thought they were getting a thinking investor's play on the smartphone and tablet revolutions. The maker of protective screens, keyboard covers, and other mobile-gadget accessories has fallen hard after hosing down its outlook twice over the past three months.

• [By Alex Planes]

  Investors love stocks that consistently beat the Street without getting ahead of their fundamentals and risking a meltdown. The best stocks offer sustainable market-beating gains, with robust and improving financial metrics that support strong price growth. Does ZAGG (NASDAQ: ZAGG  ) fit the bill? Let's look at what its recent results tell us about its potential for future gains.

• [By CRWE]

  ZAGG Inc (NASDAQ:ZAGG), a leading mobile device accessories and technology company, reported that ZAGG Intellectual Property Holding Co., Inc. has been awarded patent number D659,139 by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, issued on May 8, 2012.

• [By Selena Maranjian]

  Why Corning?
  The company is a giant in specialty glasses and fiber optics. Its fortunes are influenced these days by smartphone and tablet makers such as Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL  ) , which use its glass in their displays. Corning's Gorilla Glass is so strong that it has put a crimp in the business of screen-protecting companies such as ZAGG (NASDAQ: ZAGG  ) . Some worry about Apple's interest in sapphire, though, as it's even stronger than Gorilla Glass (though more expensive) and could threaten Corning.

Best Oil Service Companies To Invest In Right Now: Verizon Communications Inc.(VZ)

Verizon Communications Inc. provides communication services. The company operates through two segments, Domestic Wireless and Wireline. The Domestic Wireless segment offers wireless voice and data services; and sells equipment in the United States. The Wireline segment provides voice, Internet access, broadband video and data, Internet protocol network, network access, long distance, and other services in the United States and internationally. The company serves consumer, business, and government customers, as well as carriers. As of December 31, 2010, its network covered a population of approximately 292 million and provided service to a customer base of approximately 94.1 million. The company was formerly known as Bell Atlantic Corporation and changed its name to Verizon Communications Inc. in June 2000. Verizon Communications Inc. was founded in 1983 and is based in New York, New York.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Travis Hoium]

  The other company gaining steam today is Verizon (NYSE: VZ  ) , also one of last week's big winners. Last week the company jumped on further speculation that it would buy out Vodafone's 45% stake in Verizon Wireless, and today investors are anticipating competitor Sprint's earnings. Sprint reports second-quarter results tomorrow and is expected to report a loss of 1.5 million customers, most of whom went to either Verizon or AT&T.�

• [By Dan Caplinger]

  Verizon (NYSE: VZ  ) is scheduled to release its quarterly earnings report tomorrow, and the telecom giant has managed to put together the No. 1 wireless carrier in the nation. Yet despite the fact that Verizon's earnings have soared along with the popularity of smartphones and wireless-network use, the company faces a big question: where to get the growth it needs to move on to the next phase of its development.

• [By John Divine]

  Having shed more than 100 points by early afternoon, the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJINDICES: ^DJI  ) staged a comeback in its final hours of trading, as Wall Street looks to tomorrow's employment data to gauge the health of the economy. Surprisingly, Verizon's (NYSE: VZ  ) stock was the top gainer in the index, even after The Guardian revealed that the National Security Agency is secretly obtaining the phone records of millions of U.S. Verizon customers.�

Best Oil Service Companies To Invest In Right Now: Constellation Brands Inc (STZ.B)

Constellation Brands, Inc., incorporated on December 4, 1972, is a producer and marketer of beer, wine and spirits with operations in the United States, Canada, Mexico, New Zealand and Italy. The Company�� beer brands include Corona Extra, Corona Light, Modelo Especial, Negra Modelo and Pacifico. Its wine brands consist of Robert Mondavi, Clos du Bois, Kim Crawford, Rex Goliath, Mark West, Franciscan Estate, Ruffino and Jackson-Triggs. The Company�� spirits brands include SVEDKA Vodka and Black Velvet Canadian Whisky. The Company has more than 100 brands in its portfolio, sales in approximately 100 countries and has about 40 facilities.

Beer

The Company imports markets and sells Mexican Beer Brands in all 50 states of the United States, which includes Corona Extra, Corona Light, Modelo Especial, Pacifico, Negra Modelo and Victoria. During the fiscal year ended February 28, 2014 (fiscal 2014), the Company had 15 imported beer brands in the United States. During fiscal 2014, the Company introduced Modelo Especial Chelada, a blend of Modelo Especial with flavors of tomato, salt and lime.

Wine and Spirits

The Company sells a range of wine brands across all categories, such as table wine, sparkling wine and dessert wine in the United States, Canada and New Zealand. Its wine produced in the United States is primarily marketed domestically and in Canada and the United Kingdom. The wine produced in Canada is primarily marketed domestically. Wine produced in New Zealand is primarily marketed in the United States, Canada, Australia, the United Kingdom and domestically. Wine produced in Italy is primarily marketed in the United States, Canada and domestically. In addition, it also exports its wine products to other world markets. Its spirits business, Svedka Vodka is imported from Sweden.

The Company sells its wine brands in the United States, which comprise its United States Focus Brands (Focus Brands) includes Arbor Mist, Inniskillin, Rex Go! liath, Black Box, Kim Crawford, Robert Mondavi, Blackstone, Mark West, Ruffino, Clos du Bois, Mount Veeder, Simi, Estancia, Nobilo, Toasted Head, Franciscan Estate, Ravenswood and Wild Horse. Its spirits brands include Black Velvet Canadian Whisky and Svedka Vodka.

Corporate Operations and Other

The Corporate Operations and Other segment includes corporate-related items, including executive management, corporate development, corporate finance, human resources, internal audit, investor relations, legal, public relations and global information technology.

The Company competes with Anheuser-Busch InBev, MillerCoors, Heineken, E&J Gallo Winery, The Wine Group, Trinchero, Treasury Wine Estates, Deutsch Family Wine & Spirits, Ste. Michelle Wine Estates, Kendall-Jackson, Andrew Peller, Kruger, Pernod Ricard, Lion Nathan, Diageo, Beam, Pernod Ricard, Bacardi and Brown-Forman.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By sandyinvestment]

  As the craft beer industry has a considerable measure of room to develop, Boston Beer confronts rivalry from Molson Coors Brewing (TAP) and Constellation Brands (STZ) (STZ.B). Each of the three organizations have had great runs on the Street, however Boston Beer and Constellation Brands have been the greatest outperformers. We should investigate each of them.

Best Oil Service Companies To Invest In Right Now: Medley Capital Corporation (MCC)

Medley Capital Corporation is a business development company. The fund seeks to invest in privately negotiated debt and equity securities of small and middle market companies. It targets private debt transactions ranging in size from $10 million to $50 million to borrowers principally located in North America. It structures its investments as first lien senior secured loans, second lien senior secured loans, senior secured notes, senior subordinated notes, unitranche loans, and seeks warrants or other equity participation. The fund may take a board seat on its investee companies and exits its investments between three years and seven years.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Nathan Slaughter]

  All of this is to say that while I strive to hunt down and recommend attractive securities with double-digit yields -- and own a few, like Medley Capital Corp. (NYSE: MCC) -- they are the exception in this environment, not the rule.

Best Oil Service Companies To Invest In Right Now: AeroVironment Inc.(AVAV)

AeroVironment, Inc. designs, develops, produces, and supports unmanned aircraft systems (UAS), and efficient energy systems for various industries and governmental agencies. Its UAS provide intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance, including real-time tactical reconnaissance, tracking, combat assessment, and geographic data to the small tactical unit or individual war fighter. The UAS wirelessly transmit critical live video and other information generated by their payload of electro-optical or infrared sensors directly to a hand-held ground control system, enabling the operator to view and capture images during the day or at night on a hand-held ground control unit. AeroVironment also provides spare equipment, alternative payload modules, batteries, chargers, repair services, and customer support for the UAS. In addition, the company produces industrial productivity and clean transportation solutions for commercial and government customers, develops potential clean t ransportation solutions, and performs contract engineering services; offers PosiCharge electric vehicle charging systems for industrial electric material handling fleets, electric vehicle charging systems for passenger and fleet vehicles, and power cycling and test systems for developers and manufacturers of plug-in electric and hybrid vehicles, as well as battery packs, electric motors, and fuel cells; and supplies power cycling and test systems to research and development organizations that focus on developing electric propulsion systems, electric generation systems, and electricity storage systems. It supplies its UAS primarily to the organizations within the United States department of defense. AeroVironment, Inc. was incorporated in 1971 and is headquartered in Monrovia, California.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Rich Smith]

  AlamyA US Navy X-47B Unmanned Combat Air System aircraft is towed into the hanger bay aboard the aircraft carrier USS George H.W. Bush -- the first aircraft carrier to successfully catapult launch an unmanned aircraft from its flight deck. With a fiscal 2013 defense budget of nearly $614 billion, the United States is widely known to be a big spender on defense. By some estimates, U.S. defense spending accounts for nearly 60 percent of the $1.19 trillion the top 10 military powers spent on defense in 2011. In fact, our country allocates more than five times more money to defense than does its closest spending rival, China. And that's not the half of it. In the cutting-edge field of military unmanned aerial vehicles, the United States has such a huge lead over its rivals that it makes their combined UAV fleets look like a rounding error in a world that's essentially 100 percent dominated by U.S. drones. Pax Americana As The Wall Street Journal recently reported, the U.S. military commands a fleet of 429 "large drone" aircraft such as the General Atomics Predator and Northrop Grumman (NOC) Global Hawk. Meanwhile, America's smaller drones, built by everyone from Boeing (BA) to Textron (TXT) to tiny AeroVironment (AVAV), maker of the ubiquitous Raven man-portable UAV, number in the thousands. In contrast, the military of the United Kingdom, not even a U.S. rival but a close ally, boasts a fleet of precisely 10 large drones, most of which we built for them, and the rest imported from Israel. Italy has nine, France, four, and Germany has three. As a result, when allied forces need a drone to "put eyes" on a target, more often than not, they have to ring up the U.S. military to get one. Who You Gonna Call? For allied nations, that has to be embarrassing -- but it's a situation unlikely to change soon. As the Journal reports, European defense giant European Aeronautic Defence & Space (EADSY), the parent company of Airbus, is only just now beginning to test a

• [By Rich Smith]

  President Obama just released his 2014 proposed defense budget -- and it's chock-full of nada for investors in the fledgling drone/unmanned aerial vehicle industry. What does the lack of funding for drones portend for such manufacturers as General Atomics, Northrop Grumman (NYSE: NOC  ) , �AeroVironment (NASDAQ: AVAV  ) , and Textron (NYSE: TXT  ) ?

• [By Roberto Pedone]

  One aerospace player that insiders are loading up on here is AeroVironment (AVAV), which is engaged in the design, development, production and support of unmanned aircraft systems and efficient energy systems for various industries and governmental agencies. Insiders are buying this stock into decent strength, since shares are up 23% during the last six months.

  AeroVironment has a market cap of $504 million and an enterprise value of $379 million. This stock trades at a premium valuation, with a trailing price-to-earnings of 108.75 and a forward price-to-earnings of 44.35. Its estimated growth rate for this year is 47.4%, and for next year it's pegged at 82.1%. This is a cash-rich company, since the total cash position on its balance sheet is $128.81 million and its total debt is zero.

  A director just bought 5,000 shares, or about $112,000 worth of stock, at $22.50 per share.

  From a technical perspective, AVAV is currently trending right below its 50-day moving average and above its 200-day moving averages, which is neutral trendwise. This stock has been trending sideways for the last two months, with shares moving between $20.78 on the downside and $23.97 on the upside. Shares of AVAV are now starting to trend within range of triggering a breakout trade above the upper-end of its recent sideways trading chart pattern.

  If you're bullish on AVAV, then look for long-biased trades as long as this stock is trending above support at $22.30 or above its 200-day at $21.05 and then once it breaks out above some near-term overhead resistance levels at $23.60 to $23.97 a share with high volume. Look for a sustained move or close above those levels with volume that hits near or above its three-month average volume of 205,927 shares. If that breakout triggers soon, then AVAV will set up to re-test or possibly take out its next major overhead resistance levels at $25 to $28 a share.

• [By WWW.DAILYFINANCE.COM]

  Ringo Chiu/Zuma Press/Alamy There were plenty of winners and losers this week, including a fast-growing pastry shop that ran out of dough and had to shut its stores, and a maker of unmanned aircraft vehicles soaring after a blowout quarterly report. Here's a rundown of the week's best and worst. Nikola Tesla -- Winner Funding for a Nikola Tesla museum was announced on Thursday with Telsa Motors (TSLA) CEO Elon Musk is contributing $1 million to build the homage to Tesla on the grounds of the inventor's lab in Long Island. Brainy humorist Matthew "The Oatmeal" Inman has been championing a museum to honor the underrated visionary, taking to Twitter a few months ago to appeal for Musk's financial contribution. It worked. The museum's getting built. Musk gets one step closer to becoming Tony "Iron Man" Stark incarnate. And Tesla Motors does the right thing by honoring the man that gave it its name. The Container Store (TCS) -- Loser Remember when retailers dismissed concerns about sloppy holiday showings because of the snowstorms that blanketed a lot of the country in December and January? Remember how those same retailers then blamed the Easter holiday shift -- from March last year to April this year -- as a reason for the slow traffic the following quarter? Well, it seems that many chains are still stumbling, and they're running out of excuses. "We thought our sluggish sales were all because of weather and calendar shifts that began last November and continued into the spring, but now we've come to realize it's more than weather and calendar," The Container Store's CEO said on Tuesday. Kip Tindell blamed his storage and housewares store's weakness on a "retail funk" that's going around. Symptoms include "traffic declines" a "tepid retail environment" and "challenging sales." The Container Store warned that it will fall short of its earlier profit and sales targets for this fiscal year. Comparable store sales declined during the quarter ending in May, an

Best Oil Service Companies To Invest In Right Now: AFC Enterprises Inc.(AFCE)

AFC Enterprises, Inc. develops, operates, and franchises quick-service restaurants under the trade names of Popeyes Chicken & Biscuits and Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen. As of December 25, 2011, it operated and franchised 2,035 Popeyes restaurants in 45 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, Guam, the Cayman Islands, and 25 foreign countries. The company was founded in 1972 and is headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By John Reese]

  Indeed, in 2013, the Greenblatt-based portfolio has bounced back strong, returning more than 50%. Below is a look at its current holdings.

  EBIX, Inc. (EBIX)
  
  Western Refining (WNR)
  
  DirecTV (DTV)
  
  ITT Educational Services (ESI)
  
  Science Applications International (SAIC)
  
  Weight Watchers International (WTW)
  
  ConocoPhillips (COP)
  
  AmSurg Corp. (AMSG)
  
  PDL BioPharma (PDLI)
  
  AFC Enterprises (AFCE)
  
  

  Subscribe to Validea here��/p>

• [By Seth Jayson]

  AFC Enterprises (Nasdaq: AFCE  ) reported earnings on May 29. Here are the numbers you need to know.

  The 10-second takeaway
  For the quarter ended April 21 (Q1), AFC Enterprises beat expectations on revenues and met expectations on earnings per share.

• [By AnnaLisa Kraft]

  AFC Enterprises (NASDAQ: AFCE  ) , which owns the Popeye's Louisiana Kitchen quick- serve chain, once an undiscovered gem, has now soared 66% over the last year.