5 Best Japanese Stocks To Invest In 2015

This is the telecom drama that never ends... except the end really does seem to be in sight now.

Just one week ago, it seemed nearly certain that the four-way bidding war over wireless network operators Clearwire (NASDAQ: CLWR  ) and Sprint� (NYSE: S  ) would end up with a split pot. Sprint's board had approved an updated offer from Japanese telecom SoftBank while Clearwire recommended shareholders accepting a raised bid from satellite broadcasting veteran DISH Network (NASDAQ: DISH  ) .

Blink and you'd miss it: DISH�missed a deadline to raise its Sprint offer and then officially dropped out of the Sprint battle altogether, leaving SoftBank's win down to mere formalities such as a successful approval vote among Sprint shareholders. But Sprint then turned around and raised its own bid for Clearwire to 47% above Sprint's previous bid, or 14% beyond DISH's best offer -- and immediately gained the support of Clearwire's board of directors. Money talks, you know.

5 Best Japanese Stocks To Invest In 2015: Lennar Corp.(LEN)

The third largest U.S. homebuilder by revenue reported exceptional Q3 results, as its earnings more than quadrupled, primarily as a result of an increase in new-home demand. The reported net income of 40c was well ahead of last year's 11c, and the forecasted 28c.

According to the company's CEO, Stuart Miller, "The homebuilding business is beginning to revert to normal, and that's a positive for the U.S. economy in general, which is in turn good for sustained recovery in the housing market. Overall demand has been improving and we've seen a consistent sales pace at improving prices."

LEN's contract backlog, which is an indicator of future sales, rose by a whopping 79% on a YoY basis. Its average selling price of delivered homes also increased to $258,000 from last year's $247,000.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By John Maxfield]

  In addition to this much-needed buoyancy, the increase in prices is also spurring homebuilders into action. At the end of June, Lennar Corp (NYSE: LEN  ) , the nation's third largest homebuilder, reported that orders for new homes in the second quarter climbed by 27% over the same time period last year. And similar trends have been observed at D.R. Horton (NYSE: DHI  ) and PulteGroup (NYSE: PHM  ) , both of which report earnings later this week -- for charts of these two companies' quarterly home sales, click here and here, respectively.

5 Best Japanese Stocks To Invest In 2015: Basic Energy Services Inc. (BAS)

Basic Energy Services, Inc. provides various well site services to oil and natural gas drilling and producing companies in the United States. Its Completion and Remedial Services segment provides pumping services, such as cementing, acidizing, fracturing, coiled tubing, nitrogen, and pressure testing; rental and fishing tools; snubbing services; thru-tubing; cased-hole wireline services; and underbalanced drilling in low pressure and fluid sensitive reservoirs. This segment operates 228 pressure pumping units. It also operates 14 coiled tubing units; 49 air compressor packages; 12 wireline units; and 34 snubbing units. The company�s Fluid Services segment offers oilfield fluid supply, transportation, storage, and construction services, which comprise the transportation of fluids and salt water; sale and transportation of fresh and brine water; rental of portable frac tanks and test tanks; operation of company-owned fresh water and brine source wells and non-hazardous wast ewater disposal wells; and preparation, construction, and maintenance of access roads, drilling locations, and production facilities. This segment owns and operates 955 fluid services trucks with a fluid hauling capacity of up to 150 barrels apiece. Its Well Servicing segment provides various services performed with a mobile well servicing rig and ancillary equipment, such as maintenance work, hoisting tools and equipment required by the operation, and plugging and abandonment services, as well as manufactures and sells workover rigs. It operates a fleet of 425 well servicing rigs. The company�s Contract Drilling segment employs drilling rigs and related equipment to penetrate the earth to a desired depth and initiate production. This segment owns and operates 12 land drilling rigs. The company was formerly known as Sierra Well Service, Inc. and changed its name to Basic Energy Services, Inc. in 2000. Basic Energy Services, Inc. was founded in 1992 and is based in Fort Wort h, Texas.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Jonathan Morgan]

  German stocks declined the most in more than two months as a report showed that Germany�� auto market plummeted last month, while Bayer AG (BAYN) and BASF SE (BAS) fell.

• [By Simon Casey]

  Dow is investing $4 billion to expand production in the U.S., where an abundance of natural gas from drilling in shale formations has made U.S. plastics production competitive with the Middle East. The company, founded in 1897 as a bleach maker, is the world�� biggest producer of chlorine, epoxy resins and polyethylene plastic. It�� the world�� second-biggest chemical maker after Germany�� BASF SE. (BAS)

• [By Sara Murphy]

  Basic Energy Services (NYSE: BAS  ) derived more than a quarter of 2012 revenues from its fluid services unit. Its operations rely heavily on the legacy model of hauling water. Superior Energy Services (NYSE: SPN  ) counts on its traditional fluid services offerings for about 20% of revenues.

• [By Aaron Levitt]

  For investors, the choice is clear — you need to focus globally when it comes to oil stocks. North American-focused oil stocks like C&J Energy (CJES) and Basic Energy Services (BAS) might not be up to snuff in such a highly challenging pricing environment.

Hot Up And Coming Companies To Buy For 2015: Conmed Corp (CNMD)

CONMED Corporation (CONMED), incorporated on February 10, 1970, is a medical technology company/ The Company emphasizes on surgical devices and equipment for minimally invasive procedures and monitoring. The Company's products are used by surgeons and physicians in a range of specialties, including orthopedics, general surgery, gynecology, neurosurgery, and gastroenterology. The Company operates in five segments: CONMED Endoscopic Technologies, CONMED Endosurgery, CONMED Electrosurgery, CONMED Linvatec and CONMED Patient Care.

Arthroscopy

The Company offers a range of devices and products for uses in arthroscopic surgery. The Company's arthroscopy products include powered resection instruments, arthroscopes, reconstructive systems, tissue repair sets, metal and bioabsorbable implants as well as related disposable products and fluid management systems. The Company also offers a line of video Endoscopy products suitable for uses in multi-specialty clinical environments beyond orthopedic arthroscopy, including laparoscopy, ear, nose and throat (ENT), gynecology and urology, as well as integrated operating room systems and equipment.

Powered Surgical Instruments

Electric, battery or pneumatic powered surgical instruments are used to perform orthopedic, arthroscopic and other surgical procedures where cutting, drilling or reaming of bone is required. Each power system consists of one or more handpieces and related accessories as well as disposable and limited reusable items (e.g., burs, saw blades, drills and reamers). Powered instruments are categorized as either small bone, large bone or specialty powered instruments. Specialty powered instruments are utilized in procedures such as spinal surgery, neurosurgery, ENT, oral/maxillofacial surgery, and cardiothoracic surgery.

The Company's line of powered instruments is sold principally under the Hall Surgical brand name, for use in large and small bone orthopedic, arthroscopic, oral/maxillofaci! al, podiatric, plastic, ENT, neurological, spinal and cardiothoracic surgeries. Large bone, neurosurgical, spinal and cardiothoracic powered instruments are sold primarily to hospitals while small bone arthroscopic, otolaryngological and oral/maxillofacial powered instruments are sold to hospitals, outpatient facilities and physicians offices.

The Company's powered instruments product line includes the MPower battery system. This orthopedic power system is specifically designed to meet the requirements of orthopedic applications. The MPower battery system allows a facility to purchase a single power system to perform total joint arthroplasty, trauma, arthroscopy, and small bone procedures. The system also provides a multitude of battery technologies to meet the varying needs of hospitals worldwide.

Electrosurgery

The use of electrosurgical units and associated surgical tools is commonplace in the hospital surgical suite, surgery centers, clinics and physician offices. Electrosurgery is routinely used to cut and coagulate tissue and small vessels in open and laparoscopic procedures using energy produced through radio frequency (RF) technology. Electrosurgery can be used in almost all surgical procedures including specialties, such as general, gynecology, orthopedics, cardiology, thoracics, urology, neurology, and dermatology. The Company�� portfolio consist of energy-based products is the Argon Beam Coagulation (ABC) technology. ABC technology combines the use of argon gas and electrosurgical energy to allow the surgeon to produce a surface coagulation which results in less tissue damage.

Patient Care

The Company's patient care product line includes a line of vital signs and cardiac monitoring products, including pulse oximetry equipment and sensors, electrocardiogram (ECG) electrodes and cables, cardiac defibrillation and pacing pads and blood pressure cuffs. The Company also offers a line of suction instruments and tubing for use in the! operatin! g room, as well as a line of intravenous (IV) products for use in the critical care areas of the hospital.

Endosurgery

Endosurgery (also referred to as minimally invasive surgery or laparoscopic surgery) is surgery performed without a incision. The Company's Endosurgical products include the Reflex and PermaClip clip appliers for vessel and duct ligation, Universal S/I (suction/irrigation) and Universal Plus laparoscopic instruments and specialized suction/irrigation electrosurgical instrument systems for use in laparoscopic surgery. The Company also offers cutting and dilating trocars, suction/irrigation accessories, laparoscopic scissors, dissectors and graspers, active electrodes, insufflation needles and linear cutters and staplers for use in laparoscopic surgery. The Company's disposable skin staplers are used to close large skin incisions with surgical staples, thus eliminating the time consuming suturing process. CONMED Endosurgery also offers a uterine manipulator called VCARE for use in increasing the efficiency of laparoscopic hysterectomies and other gynecologic laparoscopic procedures.

Endoscopic Technologies

The Company offers a line of minimally invasive diagnostic and therapeutic products used in conjunction with procedures, which requires flexible endoscopy. The Company's principal customers include gastrointestinal (GI) endoscopists, pulmonologists, and nurses who perform both diagnostic and therapeutic endoscopic procedures in hospitals and outpatient clinics.

The Company's primary focus is to identify, develop, acquire, manufacture and market differentiated medical devices, which improve outcomes in the diagnosis and treatment of gastrointestinal and pulmonary disorders. The Company's diagnostic and therapeutic product offerings for GI and pulmonology include mucosal management devices, forceps, scope management accessories, bronchoscopy devices, dilatation, stricture management devices, hemostasis, biliary devices, and ! polypecto! my.

The Company competes with Smith & Nephew, plc, Arthrex, Inc., Stryker Corporation, ArthroCare Corporation, Johnson & Johnson: DePuy Mitek, Inc., Biomet, Inc., Medtronic, Inc. Midas Rex and Xomed, Synvasive Technology, Inc., Synthes, Inc., MicroAire Surgical Instruments, LLC, Zimmer Holdings, Inc., Covidien Ltd.; Valleylab, Medline Industries, Inc., ERBE Elektromedizin GmbH, Megadyne, Kendall, 3M Company, Ethicon Endo-Surgery, Inc, U.S.Surgical, Boston Scientific Corporation, Wilson-Cook Medical, Inc, Olympus America, Inc. and STERIS Corporation.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By James Brumley]

  Shares of MDT stock have fallen 6% since their early January peak, but have been in an uptrend since late 2011 … one of the few stocks in the medical device world that has been rock-solid in a rocky environment.

  Medical Devices: ConMed Corp. (CNMD)

  With a market cap of only $1.2 billion, ConMed Corp. (CNMD) isn’t exactly a household name. That doesn’t mean CNMD stock can’t be a potent addiction to a portfolio, though.

• [By Seth Jayson]

  Margins matter. The more CONMED (Nasdaq: CNMD  ) keeps of each buck it earns in revenue, the more money it has to invest in growth, fund new strategic plans, or (gasp!) distribute to shareholders. Healthy margins often separate pretenders from the best stocks in the market. That's why we check up on margins at least once a quarter in this series. I'm looking for the absolute numbers, so I can compare them to current and potential competitors, and any trend that may tell me how strong CONMED's competitive position could be.

• [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 CONMED (Nasdaq: CNMD  ) , whose recent revenue and earnings are plotted below.

5 Best Japanese Stocks To Invest In 2015: Galectin Therapeutics Inc (GALT)

Galectin Therapeutics Inc., formerly Pro-Pharmaceuticals, Inc., incorporated on January 26, 2001, is a development-stage company. The Company is engaged in drug development to create therapies for cancer and fibrotic disease. As of December 31, 2011, the Company has two compounds in development, one is to be used in cancer therapy and the other intended to be used in the treatment of liver fibrosis and fatty liver disease. These two compounds are produced from different natural starting materials, both possessing the property, which lends itself to binding to and inhibiting galectin proteins. GM-CT-01, the Company's product candidate for cancer therapy, is a linear polysaccharide polymer consisted of mannose and galactose that has a defined chemical structure and is derived from a plant source. GR-MD-02, the Company's product for treatment of liver fibrosis and fatty liver disease with inflammation and fibrosis, is a polysaccharide polymer possessing both linear and globular structures, which also is derived from a plant source.

GM-CT-01 has in development for the therapy of colorectal cancer and is in a Phase I/II clinical trial as a combination therapy with a tumor vaccine in patients with advanced melanoma. Based on the completed Phase I and partially completed Phase II clinical trials, the Company is exploring two additional potential indicia for the use of GM-CT-01 in combination with cancer chemotherapy. There are two additional pathways for the development of GM-CT-01 for use in treatment of cancer. GM-CT-01 was found to be generally safe when studied in a Phase I clinical trial in end-stage cancer patients with multiple tumor types alone and in combination with 5-Fluorouracil (5-FU), which is an Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-approved chemotherapy used for treatment of various types of cancer.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Roberto Pedone]

   

  Galectin Therapeutics (GALT) offers drug research and development to create new therapies for fibrotic disease and cancer. This stock closed up 9.6% to $12.06 in Monday's trading session.

   

  Monday's Volume: 674,000
  
  Three-Month Average Volume: 222,171
  
  Volume % Change: 149%

   

  Shares of GALT jumped higher on Monday after Ascendiant initiated coverage on the stock with a buy recommendation.

   

   

  From a technical perspective, GALT spiked sharply higher here with strong upside volume. This stock has been uptrending for the last three months, with shares ripping higher from its low of $3.95 to its recent high of $13.21. During that move, shares of GALT have been making mostly higher lows and higher highs, which is bullish technical price action. That move has now pushed shares of GALT within range of triggering a near-term breakout trade. That trade will hit if GALT manages to take out Monday's high of $12.44 and then once it clears its 52-week high at $13.21 with high volume.

   

  Traders should now look for long-biased trades in GALT as long as it's trending above some near-term support levels at $11 or at $10 and then once it sustains a move or close above those breakout levels with volume that hits near or above 222,171 shares. If that breakout hits soon, then GALT will set up to enter new 52-week-high territory above $13.21, which is bullish technical price action. Some possible upside targets off that breakout are $15 to $16.

   

5 Best Japanese Stocks To Invest In 2015: Intralinks Holdings Inc (IL)

IntraLinks Holdings, Inc. (IntraLinks), incorporated in June 1996, together with its subsidiaries, is a global provider of Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) solutions for securely managing content, exchanging critical business information and collaborating within and among organizations. The Company�� cloud-based solutions enable organizations to control, track, search and exchange time-sensitive information inside and outside the firewall, all within a secure environment. The Company provide services to enterprises and governmental agencies in over 60 countries across a variety of industries, including financial services, pharmaceutical, biotechnology, consumer, energy, industrial, legal, insurance, real estate and technology. The Company sells its solutions directly through an enterprise sales team with industry-specific expertise and indirectly through a customer referral network and channel partners. In April 2013, it acquired MergerID. Concurrently, IntraLinks acquired PE-Nexus LLC.

The Company delivers its solutions through a cloud-based model where they are available on-demand over the Internet using a multi-tenant SaaS architecture in which a single instance of its software serves all of its customers. The Company provides its customers with various services, including access to its cloud-based IntraLinks Platform, access to one or more of its intraLinks exchanges, and related customer support and other services.

The Company competes with Merrill Corporation, RR Donnelley & Sons Company, EMC Corporation and International Business Machines Corp. (IBM).

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Seth Jayson]

  IntraLinks Holdings (NYSE: IL  ) reported earnings on May 8. Here are the numbers you need to know.

  The 10-second takeaway
  For the quarter ended March 31 (Q1), IntraLinks Holdings beat expectations on revenues and met expectations on earnings per share.

• [By Lee Jackson]

  IntraLinks Holdings Inc. (NYSE: IL) is a leading global software as a service (SaaS) provider of inter-enterprise content management and collaboration solutions. It recently launched Intralinks DealNexus, the largest global deal marketplace and professional network for qualified mergers and acquisitions (M&A) professionals. Intralinks DealNexus offers a secure and confidential way for dealmakers to find and engage the best buyers or capital partners, and it is used by more than 5,000 private equity firms, corporations, investment banks and advisors to intelligently connect and exchange deal opportunities. Wunderlich rates the company a stock to buy and has a $17 price objective. The consensus target is $12.The stock closed on Friday at $8.61.