Top Industrial Disributor Companies To Watch For 2014

Although business headlines still tout earnings numbers, many investors have moved past net earnings as a measure of a company's economic output. That's because earnings are very often less trustworthy than cash flow, since earnings are more open to manipulation based on dubious judgment calls.

Earnings' unreliability is one of the reasons Foolish investors often flip straight past the income statement to check the cash flow statement. In general, by taking a close look at the cash moving in and out of the business, you can better understand whether the last batch of earnings brought money into the company, or merely disguised a cash gusher with a pretty headline.

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 NGL Energy Partners (NYSE: NGL  ) , whose recent revenue and earnings are plotted below.

Top Industrial Disributor Companies To Watch For 2014: Textainer Group Holdings Limited(TGH)

Textainer Group Holdings Limited, through its subsidiaries, engages in the purchase, ownership, management, leasing, and resale of a fleet of marine cargo containers worldwide. The company leases dry freight containers, as well as special-purpose containers to shipping lines, freight forwarding companies, and the United States military; manages a fleet of containers for and on behalf of the owners; and buys and resells used containers. It operates a fleet of approximately 1.6 million containers. The company was founded in 1979 and is headquartered in Hamilton, Bermuda. Textainer Group Holdings Limited is a subsidiary of Halco Holdings Inc.

Top Industrial Disributor Companies To Watch For 2014: Tenneco Automotive Inc.(TEN)

Tenneco Inc. designs, manufactures, and sells emission control and ride control products and systems for light, commercial, and specialty vehicle applications worldwide. The company offers emission control systems, such as catalytic converters and diesel oxidation catalysts to reduce harmful gaseous emissions; diesel particulate filters to eliminate particulate matter emitted from diesel engines; burner systems, which combust fuel and air inside the exhaust system; and hydrocarbon vaporizers and injectors. It also provides lean nitrogen oxide traps, selective catalytic reduction systems, and alternative NOx reduction technologies that reduce nitrogen oxide emissions from diesel power trains; mufflers and resonators to provide noise elimination and acoustic tuning; exhaust manifolds that collect gases from individual cylinders of a vehicle?s engine and direct them into a single exhaust pipe; pipes to connect various parts of hot and cold ends of an exhaust system; hydro fo rmed assemblies; hangers and isolators used for system installation and elimination of noise and vibration; and after treatment control units. In addition, the company offers ride control systems comprising shock absorbers, struts, vibration control components, a suite of roll-control and nearly equal wheel-loading systems, and advanced suspension systems, as well as other ride control products, including load assist products, springs, steering stabilizers, suspension kits, and modular assemblies. The company provides its products under the Monroe, Rancho, Clevite Elastomers, Marzocchi, Axios, Kinetic, Fric-Rot, Walker, Fonos, DynoMax, Thrush, and Lukey brands. It serves original equipment manufacturers, and repair and replacement markets. The company was formerly known as Tenneco Automotive Inc. and changed its name to Tenneco Inc. in 2005. Tenneco Inc. was founded in 1987 and is headquartered in Lake Forest, Illinois.

Top 5 Integrated Utility Companies For 2014: Alamos Gold Inc Com Npv (AGI.TO)

Alamos Gold Inc., together with its subsidiaries, engages in the acquisition, exploration, development, and extraction of precious metals, primarily gold in Canada, Mexico, and Turkey. It owns and operates the Mulatos Mine within the 30,536 hectare Salamandra group of concessions located in the state of Sonora in northwest Mexico. The company also owns the 7,657 hectare Ağı Dağı and Kirazli advanced-stage gold development projects located in the Biga Peninsula of northwestern Turkey. The company was founded in 1994 and is headquartered in Toronto, Canada.

Top Industrial Disributor Companies To Watch For 2014: Photronics Inc.(PLAB)

Photronics, Inc. engages in the manufacture and sale of photomasks primarily in the United States, Europe, and Asia. Photomasks are high precision photographic quartz plates containing microscopic images of electronic circuits, which are used in the manufacture of semiconductors and flat panel displays; and used as masters to transfer circuit patterns onto semiconductor wafers and flat panel substrates during the fabrication of integrated circuits, various flat panel displays, and other types of electrical and optical components. The company sells its photomasks to semiconductor designers, manufacturers, foundries, and other high performance electronics manufacturers through its sales personnel and customer service representatives. Photronics, Inc. was founded in 1969 and is headquartered in Brookfield, Connecticut.