The firm chose companies in the following segments: Aerospace & Defense; Auto, Auto Parts and Auto Retailers; Coal & Precious Metals; Engineering & Construction; Construction Materials & Diversified Industrials; Oil & Gas; Services; and Shipping & Transportation Equipment. We included a street-consensus target from Thomson Reuters and put in firm data specific to these calls today.

The Boeing Company (NYSE: BA) was the top pick for Aerospace & Defense “given our updated commercial aircraft forecast coupled with our view that Boeing’s gross order book will be >1.0x in 2013/2014. Longer-term, given the cash flow dynamics with ramping production and improving 787 cost curve, a 50% move in Boeing shares is achievable before the peak of the cycle in 2015.” Boeing’s $120 price target at Stern Agee compares to a current price of $98.92 and compares to a consensus price target of $103.90. BE Aerospace (NASDAQ: BEAV) was also shown as a top pick after Boeing with big upside. BE Aero trades at $62.95 and Stern Agee’s $72 target compares to $69.17 from Wall Street.

Ford Motor Co. (NYSE: F), General Motors Company (NYSE: GM) and TRW Automotive Holdings Corp. (NYSE: TRW) led in the Auto, Auto Parts and Auto Retailers. The firm said, “We believe all three companies are well positioned to benefit from the global demand trends, as well as the likelihood of company specific actions to enhance shareholder value.” Ford is the only one of these three with a dividend.

Consol Energy Inc. (NYSE: CNX) was Stern Agee’s Coal & Precious Metals top pick as the low-cost provider with a solid balance sheet. The firm said, “We note the solid potential of upside to Northern Appalachian thermal margins as scrubbed utilities and international power companies seek out high heat coals, with enhanced met coal margins once pricing recovers and added shale exploitation success. We believe the market will accelerate its appreciation of the asset value compiled at Consol, especially with an overcapitalized balance sheet.” Shares closed at $33.97 recently, way under the $60 target price from Stern Agee. That implies almost a double your money call, but we would caution that Wall Street’s consensus price target was $42.22 per share on last look.

Fluor Corp. (NYSE: FLR) was the top pick in Engineering & Construction and Stern Agee said, “We expect continued strong cash generation, balance sheet strength and margin expansion as the current cycle evolves. With the approval of the second U.S. LNG export facility last week, we believe these opportunities continue to become more tangible providing further catalysts for Fluor.” Stern Agee see Fluor going to $80 and Wall Street has a consensus of $75 on the stock versus $64.57 recently.

Martin Marietta Materials Inc. (NYSE: MLM) is the top pick for Construction Materials & Diversified Industrials as the number-two producer of construction aggregates with a strong balance sheet and significant operating leverage of over 60% to a volume recovery. The firm said, “For investors in housing-related stocks looking for what’s next, we think MLM is it.” At $110.91 now, the consensus target is actually under the current price at $110.67. Stern Agee has the street-high target of $128 for this stock.

Whiting Petroleum Corp. (NYSE: WLL) was the top exploration and production pick in Oil & Gas. Stern Agee said, “Given increasing activity in the Permian Basin and Niobrara this year, we see upside to 2013E production of 94.8 mboe/d. With a possible monetization of the mature Postle field and/or a joint venture in an emerging basin as 2013 catalysts, we believe shares remain attractively valued relative to our $62 price target.” Whiting’s current price is $46.54 against a consensus price target of $60.50 on the stock.

Superior Energy Services, Inc. (NYSE: SPN) was said to remain as a top pick in the Services sector which should post strong earnings and cash flow growth in 2014-15. Stern Agee likes its improving U.S. land market and rising Gulf of Mexico activity coming with strong international growth initiatives. The price of $28.44 compares to a Stern Agee target of $34.00 and a consensus target price of $32.93.

The Greenbrier Companies, Inc. (NYSE: GBX) is Stern Agee’s top pick in Shipping & Transportation Equipment. The firm said. “We believe GBX is poised to benefit from continued strong order flow for tank cars, a re-acceleration in non-tank car backlog growth, and robust margin expansion over the next two years as more higher margin tank and automotive cars are delivered out of the backlog.” Shares trade at $24.45 and hit a new 52-week high of $24.45 today, and Stern Agee sees the stock going up to $28 versus a $26 consensus price target.

Eagle Materials Inc. (NYSE: EXP) was also given a positive reiterated Buy rating. Stern Agee said that the construction recovery remains on track, as does the company’s frac sand business. Both are expected to be strong drivers over the next few years. At about $77 now, Stern Agee has a target price of $85.00 and the consensus price target is $83.50.

As you can see, some of these picks are very aggressive while others are very much in-line with Wall Street consensus target price expectations.

Among the companies Team serves are refiners, pipeline and oil field services firms. The company said the estimate cuts are the result “primarily of cost and utilization challenges in the quarter.”

The issues appear to be local to Team, and not applicable generally to the industry. The company added more resources than it could effectively utilize in the quarter. Team said its lower revenue growth reflected fewer large turnaround projects, presumably in the refining sector.

Team now expects earnings per share (EPS) of $0.52 to $0.60. In March the company guided EPS at $0.69 to $0.84. The consensus estimate had called for EPS of $0.74.

The previous revenue estimate of $192 million to $207 million also has been narrowed, to $195 million to $200 million. Gross margins are expected to fall 2%.

Saying that the firm will issue 2014 fiscal year guidance in August, Team did offer guidance based on its initial review. The company expects 2014 revenues of $790 million and EPS of about $2.00 a share. The consensus estimates call for EPS of $2.24 on revenues of $789.17 million.

Shares are down more than 16%, at $35.32 in a 52-week range of $24.95 to $46.66.

The industrial equipment maker has released its monthly dealer statistics. On a standalone basis the numbers look horrible. When you look at how they compare to prior reports, that is where the less bad comes into play. Global retail machine sales fell by 9% in April on a year-over-year basis. While that is soft, March was -11% and February was -13%.

The figures are lower but less bad elsewhere for its retail sales of machines in April (year-over-year) shown in the SEC filing. Asia/Pacific fell by 20%, but that was -24% in March and -26% in February. Latin America rose by 28%, versus a gain of 12% in March and a gain of 3% in February. North America sales were a disappointment as the sales were down by 18% in April, wider than the -11% in March and -12% in February. The EMEA (Europe, Africa and Middle East) region was down by only 3%, versus -8% in March and -9% in February.

We have also seen the by unit sales reported globally on a constant dollar basis from dealers and direct sales. Electric power sales fell 11%, versus -17% and -8% in the two months before. Industrial fell 7%, versus -24% and -25% in the two prior months. Transportation rose by 8%, but this had been up 19% the prior month and up 15% two months ago. Petroleum segment sales were down by 6% in April, worse than down 1% in March but not as bad as -8% in February.

Caterpillar shares have been all over the place this morning, and the real direction of the day has not yet been decided. After closing at $87.67 on Friday, the stock was as high as $87.90 after the open, and shares are currently down $0.22 at $87.45. This stock has traded in a 52-week range of $78.25 to $99.70, and the current consensus analyst target price from Thomson Reuters is $96.95. As you can see below, the stockcharts.com chart shows that Caterpillar shares are in a bit of a chart fight, as the 50-day moving average is $85.85 and the 200-day moving average is $87.45.

The analysts at Jefferies scoured their coverage universe for industrial stocks that fit those two categories. They continue to expect several specific end-markets to lead an acceleration in industrial activity in the second half of the year. After a generally lackluster first quarter, the degree of the improvement is difficult to project. So using several important industrial variables, they found that even with no improvement in the industrial economy, second half of the year sales should benefit from easier comparisons.

They believe machinery and auto/transports are relatively more attractive from a valuation perspective. The industrial stock picks of the month that fall in those two categories are:

Ingersoll-Rand PLC (NYSE: IR) also has been on the radar screen of CNBC’s Jim Cramer this week. The company engages in the design, manufacture, sale and service of a diverse portfolio of industrial and commercial products in the United States and internationally. The Thomson/First Call price objective for the stock is $58. Investors receive a 1.50% dividend.

PACCAR Inc. (NASDAQ: PCAR) hit a 52-week high less than two weeks ago. The company designs, manufactures and distributes light, medium and heavy-duty trucks and related aftermarket parts worldwide. The consensus price target for the stock is $50, which is below the current trading level. Shareholders are paid a 1.50% dividend.

AGCO Corp. (NYSE: AGCO) is another name the recently bounced down from a 52-week high. Valuations remain attractive for this agriculture equipment company even after a 30% return since May 2012. The consensus price target is $59. Investors receive a small 0.7% dividend.

Norfolk Southern Corp. (NYSE: NSC) is a major railroad that makes the Jefferies list of stocks to buy. Transporting raw materials around the country, the company operates approximately 20,000 miles of route in 22 states and the District of Columbia. Consensus price estimates for the stock are at $85. Shareholders are paid a 2.50% dividend.

Dana Holding Corp. (NYSE: DAN) recently received two grants totaling $3 million to develop technology to improve thermal management systems for battery systems in electric, plug-in hybrid-electric and hybrid-electric vehicles. The consensus for the stock is $19.50. Investors receive a 1.10% dividend.

Ryder System Inc. (NYSE: R) is the last stock of the month to buy at Jefferies. Ryder System is more than just a truck rental company these days. It also provides innovative outsourced transportation, logistics and supply chain solutions globally. The consensus price target is $69. Investors receive a 2.00% dividend.

Investors interested in the Jefferies stocks need to remember the main thesis. These are stocks expected to benefit more than others in the second half of 2013. So while they may be the stock picks of the month, there may not be any rush to buy them today.

In its outlook statement, Deere projected an increase in equipment sales for the full year of 5% and a third-quarter increase of 3%. Net income for the year is expected to come in at $3.3 billion. Currency exchange effects are included in these estimates and knock off about 1% of annual growth.

This forecast is lower than the 6% growth Deere forecast at the end of its first quarter, and that will hit share prices this morning.

The consensus estimates call for EPS of $8.60 on revenues of $35.41 billion for the year and EPS of $2.20 on revenues of $9.35 billion for the third quarter.

The company’s CEO said:

Deere’s results are a reflection of positive conditions in the global farm economy, which continues to show impressive strength. … Deere’s near-term forecast is being tempered by lingering economic concerns in many parts of the world, which are restraining business confidence and growth. In addition, cool, wet weather in North America has delayed crop planting, slowed construction activity and hurt sales of turf-care equipment.

Sales in the company’s agriculture and turf division rose 12%, while construction and forestry equipment sales declined 6%. Sales figures followed volume: Deere shipped more tractors and lawnmowers and fewer loaders.

Deere expects equipment sales to rise 7% for the full year, compared with 2012. Sales in the United States and Canada are forecast to rise 5%, and Latin American sales are forecast to rise 15% to 20%. Sales in the former Soviet Union and in Europe are expected to be lower, and Asian sales are forecast to be flat.

Shares of Deere are trading down about 4% in the premarket this morning at $90.00. The 52-week range is $69.51 to $95.60. Thomson Reuters had a consensus analyst price target of around $98.70 before today’s report.

On a GAAP basis, Stratasys posted a quarterly net EPS loss of $0.40, compared with a GAAP net loss of $0.23 in the first quarter of 2012.

Stratasys affirmed its previous guidance for the 2013 fiscal year of adjusted EPS of $1.80 to $1.95 on revenues of $430 million to $445 million. On a GAAP basis, the company continues to forecast an EPS loss of $0.16 to $0.41. The adjustments include a $60.5 million charge for amortization of intangible assets, $20.5 to $23 million for share-based compensation and $7.2 to $8.8 million in expenses related to the company’s merger in 2012 with Objet Ltd. The company also “expects to record significant one-time integration expenses as a result of infrastructure alignment and brand unification.” The consensus forecast for fiscal year 2013 calls for EPS of $1.88 on revenues of $439.1 million.

The company’s CEO said:

Strong sales of our higher-margin products help drive a significant increase in non-GAAP gross margin, and a 40% increase in non-GAAP net income in the first quarter over last year. We are pleased with our strong start to 2013.

On a GAAP basis, gross margins declined compared with the first quarter of 2012, from 43.6% to 38.4%. Combined with the revenue miss, this is not what analysts and investors were looking for. The bloom may be coming off the rose for the 3D printing firms.

Over the past 12 months, Stratasys stock is up nearly 600%, largely on the strength of its merger with Objet. Competitors The ExOne Co. (NASDAQ: XONE) and 3D Systems Inc. (NYSE: DDD) have grown by 65% and 56%, respectively. ExOne held its IPO in early February.

Shares of Stratasys are down nearly 3% in early trading this morning, at $80.80 in a 52-week range of $42.71 to $92.30. Thomson Reuters had a consensus analyst price target of around $84.20 before today’s results were announced.

Short interest in 3D Systems fell 2.9% to 26.54 million shares. Some 31% of the company’s stock is short.

Short interest in Proto Labs rose 8.4% to 1.55 million shares, or 8.2% of the company’s float.

Stratasys saw short interest fall by 7.7% in the last two weeks of April to 4.09 million shares, or about 15% of the company’s float.

Short interest in ExOne rose by 7.3% to 2.22 million shares. About 32.8% of the company’s shares are now held short.

Short interest in half these firms rose, while it fell in the other half. The rise in short interest in Proto Labs is likely the result of a rather tepid earnings report that came out during the final two weeks. The rise in short interest at ExOne could be a bet against the company’s first-quarter earnings results, due out next week.

Both 3D Systems and Stratasys saw declines in short interest in the latter two weeks of April. Even a secondary offering could not slow down 3D Systems’ 25% share price gain since April 15. Stratasys reports first-quarter results next Monday and is expected to post earnings per share of $0.38 on revenues of $98.07 million.

Short interest in 3D Systems rose 2.9% to 27.32 million shares. Some 32.2% of the company’s stock is short.

Short interest in Proto Labs rose 37.8% to 1.43 million shares, or 7.6% of the company’s float.

Stratasys saw short interest rise by 7% in the first two weeks of April to 4.43 million shares, or about 16.2% of the company’s float.

Short interest in ExOne rose by 23.1% to 2.07 million shares. About 32.9% of the company’s shares are now held short.

Short interest in the 3D printing companies continues to rise as the bloom fades. The big question is how quickly the technology will be adopted. Forward earnings multiples are falling back to earth, and that is reflected in the fact that both 3D Systems and ExOne now have about a third of their shares held short.

Proto Labs reported first-quarter results this morning that were above estimates for both earnings and revenues, but the beats were relatively narrow. That likely will only inflame short interest in the company’s stock.

We wanted to take a look at some of the bright spots in the earnings season so far, and these include Intel Corp. (NASDAQ: INTC), Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ: MSFT), Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE: VZ), Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ), Netflix Inc. (NASDAQ: NFLX), Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) and Peabody Energy Corp. (NYSE: BTU).

Intel Corp. (NASDAQ: INTC) and Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ: MSFT), the Wintel duo, were not expected to show much in the first quarter. Fourth-quarter PC shipments were down and not expected to improve, while Microsoft’s Windows 8 operating system was generating some buzz, but not much in the way of sales. The two companies offered surprising, if not exciting results. Both companies’ share prices have remained above their pre-release levels even though both remain well within their 52-week ranges. One possible note of caution going forward is that the channels may be stuffed with product that is not moving and we won’t know that until next earnings season.

Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE: VZ) seems to post a new 52-week high every day. Perhaps there is increasing optimism that the company will buy out Verizon Wireless partner Vodafone Group PLC (NASDAQ: VOD). That buyout would be immediately accretive to revenue and profit, but leave Verizon with a punishing debt load. This may be one of those situations where everything is fine until it’s not.

Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ), like Verizon, seems to make a new high every day. The company appears to have fixed its quality control issues and many of its most important lines of business are growing again. As we noted last week, we expect the 2.9% dividend yield to get a boost any day now.

Netflix Inc. (NASDAQ: NFLX) absolutely shattered expectations and the shares have been on a tear for the last couple of days, posting another 52-week high today of just under $220. Subscriber numbers were up and much of the credit is going to the company’s original production of “House of Cards.” Original programming is expensive and eats into the bottom line, but given the demands for licensing content from other media houses, Netflix’s original programming should carry it to more growth going forward.

Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) earnings beat estimates and were just a bit shy on the top line. Paid clicks were up 20%, but the amount the company received for each click fell by 4%. That’s still a net positive, however, and the plain fact is that web searching is massive, and Google simply owns search in much of the world. That’s not likely to change anytime — sooner or later.

Peabody Energy Co. (NYSE: BTU) did not post a profit in the first quarter but its loss was only a third as large at analysts had expected. Peabody and Arch Coal Inc. (NYSE: ACI), which reported in-line results this morning, both expect sales to improve as natural gas prices rise for the rest of this year. The entire coal mining sector could begin to see improvements based on these two miners’ results

We said at the beginning that we were going to cover bright spots so far this earnings season, but there is one storm cloud that deserves to be mentioned as well. As we’ve noted before, Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE: CAT) may be very bad news not just for the mining and heavy equipment sector, but for the whole mining group. The big miners have been struggling with rising costs and surging stockpiles. It could be several quarters before the mining sector sorts itself out.

For the 2013 fiscal year, Caterpillar lowered its forecast revenues from $60 billion to $68 billion to a new range of $57 billion to $61 billion. The company’s EPS forecast of $7.00 to $9.00 was reeled in as well, to $7.00 “at the middle of the sales and revenues outlook range.”

At the beginning of the year, the consensus analyst forecast for EPS was $8.54 on revenues of $65.18 billion. Caterpillar put those numbers in the rear-view mirror in January and have now crushed the analysts most recent estimates. The current consensus estimate for $7.71 in EPS on revenues of $62.74 billion in revenues will take another hit today.

The company’s CEO said:

In our year-end 2012 financial release, we said the first quarter of 2013 would be challenging, and it certainly was. As expected, inventory changes were a major factor. Caterpillar and our dealers usually add inventory in the first quarter to prepare for higher end-user demand in the spring and summer. In the first quarter of 2012, we added about $2 billion to inventory, but this year, we cut inventory by about a half billion dollars. In the first quarter of 2012, Cat dealers added machine inventory of about $875 million, and this year, they reduced machine inventory by about $700 million. Those are significant year-to-year swings, and coupled with moderating end-user demand, resulted in sales and revenues being down 17 percent.

Caterpillar’s shares are down about 0.2% in premarket trading at $80.66 in a 52-week range of $78.25 to $108.79. Thomson Reuters had a consensus analyst price target of around $103.80 before today’s report.