5 Best Defensive Stocks To Buy Right Now

On Monday night, Sony (NYSE: SNE  ) held a major event to show off its new PlayStation 4 game console before the E3 gaming conference officially kicked off on Tuesday. It's clear from the event that Sony is going for the jugular in its battle with console rivals Nintendo and Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT  ) .

Nintendo has already been struggling with poor sales of its new Wii U console, which was released last fall, and Microsoft is facing a backlash from fans over its use of digital rights management technology. With its announcement on Monday, Sony undercut the Xbox One's price by $100 while emphasizing that the PS4 will not incorporate new DRM restrictions. With these two moves, Sony has positioned itself to become the clear winner in this generation of video game consoles. Meanwhile, Microsoft finds itself on the defensive, as it needs to justify both draconian DRM restrictions and a high price tag.

Battle of the consoles
Last month, after Microsoft revealed the Xbox One -- the successor to its highly successful Xbox 360 game console -- many gamers were outraged by the implementation of digital rights management for the new console. While very few details were given, it was clear that users would not be able to freely trade or resell used games.

Best India Stocks To Watch For 2015: Holcim Ltd (HOLN)

Holcim Ltd (Holcim) is a Switzerland-based holding company that specializes in the manufacture, distribution and marketing of building materials. The Company operates four business segments, including Cement, Aggregates, Other construction materials and services, and Corporate. The Cement segment is engaged in the development of cement and comprises clinker and other cementitious materials, among others. The Aggregates business segment includes crushed stone, gravel and sand. The Other construction materials and services business segment comprises ready-mix concrete, concrete products, asphalt, construction and paving, and trading, among others. Additionally, other construction materials and services segment provides environmental services, including waste management, among others. The Corporate segment is engaged in holding activities and general management. It operates through subsidiaries in Asia Pacific, Latin America, Europe, North America, Africa and Middle East regions. Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Sofia Horta e Costa]

  Holcim Ltd. (HOLN) lost 0.9 percent to 68.15 francs in Zurich. Bank of America Corp.�� Merrill Lynch unit cut its rating on the world�� largest cement maker to underperform, similar to a sell recommendation, from neutral. Merrill Lynch cited the company�� exposure to emerging markets.

5 Best Defensive Stocks To Buy Right Now: Erickson Air-Crane Inc (EAC)

Erickson Air-Crane Incorporated (Erickson) is engaged in the operation and manufacture of the Erickson S-64 Aircrane (Aircrane), a heavy-lift helicopter. The Company operates in two segments: Aerial Services and Manufacturing / MRO. Aerial Services offers a range of heavy-lift helicopter services through the Company's worldwide fleet, including firefighting, timber harvesting, infrastructure construction, and crewing services. Manufacturing / MRO manufactures Aircranes from existing airframes, manufactures new components on a contract basis, and provides customers with Federal Aviation Administration and European Aviation Safety Agency certified maintenance, and MRO services in the Company's AS9100 certified facility. In October 2012, the Company purchased the Sun Bird Aircraft and associated spare parts inventory and accessories from San Diego Gas & Electric Company. In May 2013, Erickson Air-Crane Inc acquired the entire share capital of Evergreen Helicopters Inc. In September 2013, Erickson Air-Crane Incorporated announced the completion of its acquisition of Air Amazonia Servicos Aeronauticos Ltda and certain related assets from HRT Participacoes em Petroleo S.A.

In February 2012, its Malaysian subsidiary, Erickson Aircrane Malaysia Sdn. Bhd., entered into an amendment to its existing logging contract with Syarikat Samling Timber Sdn. Bhd. (Samling Global) to extend the contract term to January 31, 2013. Pursuant to the amended contract, it began providing aerial timber harvesting services in Malaysia on February 1, 2012 to Samling Global. In January 2012, its Canadian subsidiary, Canadian Air-Crane Limited, amended its existing agreement with Western Forest Products Inc. (Western Forest Products), a Canadian forest products and timberlands management company, to establish the terms for one year of aviation services.

The Company offers a full spectrum of heavy-lift helicopter solutions, including the design, engineering, development, manufacturing, and testing of the Airc! rane, as well as Aerial Services and MRO services. It has production, maintenance, and logistics facilities in Central Point, Oregon. It maintains a year-round international presence with operations in Canada, Italy, Malaysia, and Peru, and an operating presence in Australia and Greece.

It owns the Type and Production Certificates for the Aircrane, granting us exclusive design, manufacturing, and related rights for the aircraft and original equipment manufacturer (OEM) components. It has made more than 350 design improvements to the Aircrane since acquiring the Type Certificate and it has developed Aircrane accessories that enhance its aerial operations, such as its firefighting tank system and snorkel, timber heli harvester, and anti-rotation device and hoist.

Aerial Services

The Aircrane has a lift capacity of up to 25,000 pounds and is a commercial aircraft built specifically as a flying crane without a fuselage for internal loads. The Aircrane is also a commercial heavy-lift helicopter with a rear load-facing cockpit, combining an unobstructed view and complete aircraft control for precision lift and load placement capabilities. It owns and operates a fleet of 17 Aircranes, which it uses to support a variety of government and commercial customers worldwide across a range of aerial services, including firefighting, timber harvesting, infrastructure construction, and crewing. The Aircrane is capable of providing heavy-lift solutions to a wide variety of industries, including firefighting, timber harvesting, infrastructure construction, oil and gas and energy related construction, disaster recovery, and emergency response. It leases its aircraft to customers for specific missions, with customers generally paying for the aircraft, maintenance, and crewing services, as well as fuel expense. In addition, it provides crewing for aircraft it has sold. Its Aircrane accessories include Fire Tank and Pond Snorkel, Fire Tank and Sea Snorkel, Foam Cannon, Hydromulch Loading Manifo! ld, Heli ! Harvester, Hydraulic Grapple, Long-Line Shock and Pendant, Anti-Rotation Device and Hoist and Material Transport Bucket.

The Aircrane Helitanker has provided firefighting services in the United States, Canada, Mexico, Italy, Greece, France, Turkey, and Australia. Its firefighting customers include federal, state, local, and international government agencies who hire the Company to be available as needed. Under its firefighting contracts, aircraft are deployed to locations prone to seasonal fires and remain on standby throughout the fire season. For these contracts, which it refers to as exclusive-use contracts, it typically charge on a per-day basis for availability and on a per-hour basis for actual aircraft use.

Aircrane is engaged in timber operations in a number of regions, including the United States, Canada, and the tropical forests in Malaysia. Its customers uses its harvesting solutions primarily for timber, such as tropical hardwoods and for remote area harvesting in locations that would otherwise require road construction or prohibit ground-based harvesting. Timber is vertically lifted and transported with its hydraulic grapple.

The Aircrane's rear load-facing pilot seat makes the aircraft particularly for infrastructure projects that require extreme precision in load delivery, such as electricity transmission and broadcasting towers, oil and gas pipelines, wind turbines, mining conveying systems, industrial equipment, emergency shelters, and ski-lift equipment. The Aircrane can be configured to transport heavy machinery and equipment, such as heating, ventilating, and air conditioning (HVAC) units, automotive equipment, and other cargo items.

Aircraft Manufacturing and Maintenance, Repair, and Overhaul (Manufacturing/MRO)

The Company manufactures Aircranes and related components for sale to government and commercial customers and provide aftermarket support and maintenance, repair, and overhaul services for the Aircrane and oth! er aircra! ft. It also offers cost per hour (CPH) contracts pursuant to which it provides components and expendable supplies for a customer's aircraft at a fixed cost per flight hour. Through its Manufacturing / MRO segment it manufactures Aircranes from existing airframes, manufacture components on a contract basis, and provide customers with FAA- and European Aviation Safety Agency-certified MRO services

The Company has manufactured a total of 33 Aircranes for its own use and for sale to customers, and has sold one for domestic construction operations and eight for international firefighting operations. It also builds and manufactures Aircranes for its own use and owns, operates, and maintains 17 Aircranes. As the owner of the S-64 Type and Production Certificates, it also has the authority and ability to manufacture an Aircrane entirely from new parts. It manufactures aluminum main and tail rotor blades and have partnered with OEMs to design and manufacture composite main rotor blades. While it provides MRO services to its own Aircranes, it continues to provide parts and maintenance and overhaul services to every Aircrane it has sold. It also performs similar operations on engines and other components for owners of other aircraft platforms. Its FAA-certificated repair station offers an array of services from small repairs to extensive heavy airframe maintenance.

The Company competes with Columbia Helicopters, Helicopter Transport Services and Siller Brothers.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Blake Bos]

  In the following video, Motley Fool industrials analyst Blake Bos takes a question from a Fool reader on Facebook, who asks, "What's your Foolish take on Erickson Air-Crane Incorporated (NASDAQ: EAC  ) ?"

5 Best Defensive Stocks To Buy Right Now: Cyan Inc (CYNI)

Cyan, Inc., incorporated on October 25, 2006, has carrier-grade networking solutions that transform legacy networks into open, high-performance networks. The Company�� solutions include high-capacity, multi-layer switching and transport platforms, as well as a carrier-grade software-defined networking platform and applications. The Company�� solutions enable network operators to virtualize their networks, accelerate service delivery. The Company has designed its solutions to provide a range of applications, including business Ethernet, Wireless and broadband support services and cloud connectivity. The Company also offer high-capacity, multi-layer switching and transport platforms, known as its Cyan Z-Series, that have been designed to support the multiple concurrent technologies used in regional and metro networks, including both Ethernet-based services, as well as optical services.

The Company�� Z-Series platforms have been designed to transport traffic over network layer, utilizing both electrical and optical domains, to enable network operators to maximize network capacity at the lowest cost per bit. The Company�� customers range from service providers to high-performance data center and large, private network operators.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Lauren Pollock]

  Among the companies with shares expected to actively trade in Tuesday’s session are Cyan Inc.(CYNI), Neurocrine Biosciences Inc.(NBIX) and SandRidge Energy Inc.(SD)

5 Best Defensive Stocks To Buy Right Now: SPDR S&P International Consumer Discretionary Sector ETF (IPD)

SPDR S&P International Consumer Discretionary Sector ETF (the Fund) seeks to provide investment results that correspond generally to the total return performance of the S&P Developed Ex-U.S. BMI Consumer Discretionary Sector Index (the Index), an index that tracks the consumer discretionary sector of developed global markets outside the United States. The Index represents the non-United States consumer discretionary sub-industry of developed countries included in the S&P Broad Market Index (the Global BMI Index). The Global BMI Index captures the full universe of institutionally investable stocks in developed and emerging markets with float-adjusted market capitalizations of at lease $100 million. The Fund�� investment advisor is SSgA Funds Management, Inc. Advisors' Opinion:

• [By WilliamBriat]

  The SPDR S&P International Consumer Discretionary Sector (NYSE: IPD) is an ETF that tracks the consumer discretionary sector of developed global markets. Holdings include luxury brand stock juggernaut LVMH Moët Hennessy – Louis Vuitton SA and Swedish luxury brand stock multinational retail clothing company H & M Hennes & Mauritz AB.

Best Performing Stocks To Buy For 2014

By Ironwood Investment Management

The Ironwood SMID Cap Value portfolio had a strong February. The strategy advanced 6% for the month. The strategy's materials and processing, producer durables, utility and energy stocks drove the strong performance.

Within those sectors some of the better performing stocks were Platform Specialty Products (PAH), Carrizo Oil & Gas (CRZO), Weatherford International (WFT), Xylem (XYL), Zynga (ZNGA) and Dynegy (DYN). The one thing all of these stocks have in common is that the management team is executing on the transition strategy that we outlined when we first purchased the stock.

We did not initiate any positions in February. Here are the positions eliminated in February.

Itron (ITRI): We owned Itron as of our January 1, 2013 inception date as we believed the new CEO Philip Mezey, hired in November 2012, would renew the company's focus on advancing its technology and rationalizing its cost structure after a series of mergers. This transition was needed as the company was facing a period of reduced levels of new orders.

Top 5 Financial Stocks To Buy Right Now: Oshkosh Truck Corporation(OSK)

Oshkosh Corporation designs, manufactures, and markets a range of specialty vehicles, and vehicle bodies worldwide. Its Defense segment manufactures severe-duty, heavy, and medium-payload tactical trucks for the Department of Defense, including hauling tanks, missile systems, ammunition, fuel, and troops and cargo for combat units. The company?s Access Equipment segment offers aerial work platforms and telehandlers used in a range of construction, agricultural, industrial, institutional, and general maintenance applications. This segment also manufactures towing and recovery equipment and related parts; and leases equipments for short-term to rental companies. The company?s Fire and Emergency segment provides custom and commercial fire apparatus, and emergency vehicles, including pumpers, aerial and ladder trucks, tankers, rescue vehicles, wildland rough terrain response vehicles, mobile command and control centers, bomb squad vehicles, hazardous materials control vehicl es, and other emergency response vehicles. This segment also offers snow removal vehicles in airports; custom ambulances for private and public transporters, and fire departments; mobile medical trailers for medical centers and service providers; mobile command and control centers and simulation units; and vehicles for broadcasters, TV stations, broadcast production, and radio stations. Oshkosh Corporation?s Commercial segment manufactures refuse collection vehicles for the waste services industry; front and rear discharge concrete mixers, and portable and stationary concrete batch plants for the concrete ready-mix industry; and field service vehicles and truck-mounted cranes for the construction, equipment dealer, building supply, utility, tire service, and mining industries. The company was formerly known as Oshkosh Truck Corporation and changed its name to Oshkosh Corporation in February 2008. Oshkosh Corporation was founded in 1917 and is based in Oshkosh, Wisconsin.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By gurujx]

  Oshkosh Corporation (OSK): Exec. VP and CFO David M. Sagehorn Sold 141,005 Shares

  Exec. VP and CFO David M. Sagehorn sold 141,005 shares of OSK stock on 11/18/2013 at the average price of $50.36. David M. Sagehorn owns at least 69,667 shares after this. The price of the stock has decreased by 6.29% since.

• [By Jake L'Ecuyer]

  Shares of Oshkosh (NYSE: OSK) got a boost, shooting up 7.96 percent to $55.55 after the companyposted upbeat fiscal first-quarter earnings and lifted its full-year forecast.

• [By Rich Smith]

  Principal contractors, should the sales be approved, include Textron (NYSE: TXT  ) for the helicopter sale and General Dynamics (NYSE: GD  ) for the Strykers. No single principal contractor has been identified as associated with the spare parts sale, but both the HETTs and the HEMTTs, for example, are manufactured by Oshkosh (NYSE: OSK  ) , while Britain's BAE Systems (NASDAQOTH: BAESY  ) builds the recovery vehicles, howitzers, and M113s.

Best Performing Stocks To Buy For 2014: Synacor Inc (SYNC)

Synacor, Inc. (Synacor) is a provider of solutions for delivery of online content and services. Synacor delivers its solutions as a set of services through its hosted and managed platform, enabling cable and telecom service providers and consumer electronics manufacturers to provide the online content and services. The Company platform allows its customers to package an array of online content and services with their Internet, communications, television and other offerings. Its platform includes Website design and development, unified registration and login (single sign-on), billing integration, personalization, video delivery capability, content management system, household management, toolbar and television listings. Its customers offer the services under their own brands on Internet-enabled devices such as personal computers (PCs), tablets, smartphones and connected televisions. In January 2012, Synacor acquired the assets of Carbyn, Inc. (Carbyn). In May 2012, the Company acquired Carbyn, the hypertext markup language 5 (HTML5) Platform. In November 2013, Synacor Inc acquired Teknision.

Synacor�� acquired assets consist of mobile device software and technology and other property, which it enhances the efforts in the development of next generation Web applications for mobile devices. The Company�� hosted and managed platform allows the customers to enhance their consumers��online experience. Its customers use the platform to develop personalized Websites that serve as their consumers��respective online hubs for communication services, entertainment offerings and support services. Its platform enables the customers to combine entertainment, such as television shows, multi-player games and streaming music based on a subscriber�� access rights and preferences with communications offerings, such as voicemail, e-mail, and third party messaging services, such as Yahoo Mail, Google Gmail, AOL Mail, Facebook, and Twitter. Its platform also allows the customers to deliver appropriate ! account tools, support, bill pay services and up-sell promotions to their consumers, all without leaving the applicable customer�� Website.

Website Design and Development

Synacor creates, designs and develops branded Websites for the customers. The Company�� Websites is designed to be the online destination for the customers��consumers and aggregate an array of resources, including free-to-subscriber content and service offerings, value added services, online content and search, all in one location.

Unified Registration and Login (Single Sign-On)

Synacor�� platform gives subscribers access to all of the services and paid content, including subscription television programming the consumer have the right to consume, using a single user ID and password, which are the same credentials that they use for e-mail. Single sign-on for subscribers is integrated with both its customers and the content and value added service partners.

Billing Integration

Synacor�� platform allows the customers to integrate billing for services and paid content purchases with other services and products provided to their subscribers, including television and telephony service. A customer may collect transaction fees through credit card or on the subscriber�� service provider bill, and it may bill transactions each time the consumer occur or on a monthly basis using monthly summary totals. The Company's system enables online bill review, providing subscribers with access to a detailed transaction account.

Personalization

Synacor�� platform enables the consumer to personalize his or her online experience through customization and localization. Consumers may add, delete, move, and otherwise customize the content displayed on its customers��branded Websites, such as by setting preferred television stations in its television-at-a-glance module. Localization allows consumers to set a Website to a favorite zip code to ! gain acce! ss to radio stations, weather, movies, and events, all in the local area. The Company�� platform also allows consumers to comment on online articles and to create shortcuts to their favorite content using an online personal assistant on the personalized Website.

Video Delivery Capability

Synacor�� video delivery capability includes two primary components: a video player and a video discovery and delivery system. The video player contains video controls, such as play, pause, fast forward and rewind and full-screen viewing and can be configured to play within or on top of a page. The Company's video discovery and delivery system is database-driven, supports multiple video hosting methods and enables transcoding from a number of video formats to formats that are playable on a variety of devices. The system contains a number of access control mechanisms, including the ability to restrict access based on Internet protocol (IP) address location, consumer type or household management settings. The system also permits consumers to search videos and browse by channel, genre or content type.

Content Management System

Synacor�� content management system enables the customers and it to create customizable online experiences containing content from various sources. Content is distributed through Web services in an architecture that is portable to multiple devices and platforms. The Company�� system is comprised of administrative interfaces, a scalable content storage system and a system to distribute content to the platform. The interface is easy to use and displays a preview of page or component designs prior to approval and publishing. Its system can also automatically publish content from outside sources or assign publishing rights, by site section, to outside vendors.

Household Management

Synacor�� household management system puts parents in control of the content their children are allowed to purchase or consume through i! ts platfo! rm. This system allows the head of household to specify the range of products the consumer�� child accounts may access and utilize and to establish preset spending limits for content purchases, such as music.

Toolbar and Television Listings

Synacor offers its customers the ability to create branded toolbars that can be personalized by their consumers. The toolbar can be updated automatically as new features become available and may be configured with search, weather, television and movie listings, as well as services and paid content packages, enabling consumers to access their favorite features on the platform even when they leave the customers��Websites. The toolbars can also integrate internal services, such as instant messaging, customer support and e-mail. The Company�� platform provides television listings and corresponding television channels, which enables consumers to search and browse local television programming.

The Company competes with Yahoo! Inc., Google, AOL LLC, Microsoft Corporation, Netflix, Inc., Hulu, LLC and Amazon.com Inc.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Roberto Pedone]

  Another under-$10 stock that's starting to trend within range of triggering a major breakout trade is Synacor (SYNC), a provider of startpages, TV Everywhere solutions, Identity Management services and various cloud-based services across multiple devices for cable, satellite, telecom and consumer electronics companies. This stock has been hammered by the bears so far in 2013, with shares off by 39%.

  If you take a look at the chart for Synacor, you'll notice that this stock recently formed a double bottom chart pattern at $2.85 to $2.96 a share. Following that bottom, shares of SYNC have started to surge higher and move back above its 50-day moving average at $3.27 a share. That move is quickly pushing SYNC within range of triggering a major breakout trade.

  Market players should now look for long-biased trades in SYNC if it manages to break out above some near-term overhead resistance levels at $3.43 to $3.56 a share and then once it takes out more resistance at $4 to $4.17 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 action of 388,369 shares. If that breakout triggers soon, then SYNC will set up to re-test or possibly take out its next major overhead resistance levels at $6 to $6.50 a share.

  Traders can look to buy SYNC off weakness to anticipate that breakout and simply use a stop that sits right below some key near-term support levels at $2.96 to $2.85 a share. One can also buy SYNC off strength once it clears those breakout levels with volume and then simply use a stop that sits a comfortable percentage from your entry point.

• [By Monica Gerson]

  Synacor (NASDAQ: SYNC) is estimated to post a Q1 loss at $0.05 per share on revenue of $24.53 million.

  Diana Containerships (NASDAQ: DCIX) is projected to report its Q1 earnings at $0.01 per share on revenue of $13.22 million.

Best Performing Stocks To Buy For 2014: SPDR S&P Russia ETF (RBL)

SPDR S&P Russia ETF (the Fund) seeks to provide investment results that correspond generally to the price and yield performance of the S&P Russia Capped BMI Index (the Index). The Index is a float adjusted market cap index designed to define and measure the investable universe of publicly-traded companies domiciled in Russia. The Index component securities are a subset, based on region, of component securities included in the S&P Global BMI Equity Index. The Global BMI Equity Index is a comprehensive, float-weighted, rules-based benchmark that is readily divisible and customizable. The Fund generally invests substantially all, but at least 80%, of its total assets in the securities comprising the Index or in American Depositary Receipts (ADRs) or Global Depositary Receipts (GDRs) based on securities comprising the Index. The Fund�� investment advisor is SSgA Funds Management, Inc. Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Barbara Kollmeyer]

  As for U.S. investor exposure, the pain was there for all to see as the week wound down. Among exchange-traded funds, the iShares MSCI Russia ETF (ERUS) �and the SPDR S&P Russia ETF (RBL) �each fell more than 6% for the week, contrasting with a 0.1% gain for the iShares MSCI Emerging Markets ETF (EEM) .

• [By John Waggoner]

  First up: SPDR S&P Russia (ticker: RBL), which concentrates on Russian stocks. The fund has more than 16% of its assets in Gazprom, and plunged 7.9% in early Monday trading. Following close behind: Market Vectors Russia ETF (RSX), in contrast, has just 7.8% of its assets in Gazprom. It tumbled 6.9% Monday.

• [By Charles Sizemore]

  But what exactly are you buying when you buy Russian stocks? Let�� take a look under the hood at the ETFs that track the Russian market: the Market Vectors Russia ETF (RSX), the iShares MSCI Russia Capped Index (ERUS) and the SPDR S&P Russia (RBL).

Best Performing Stocks To Buy For 2014: Coeur d'Alene Mines Corporation(CDE)

Coeur d'Alene Mines Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, engages in the ownership, operation, exploration, and development of silver and gold mining properties located primarily in South America, Mexico, the United States, and Australia. The company also explores for lead and zinc ores. Its properties include the Palmarejo mine located in the state of Chihuahua, northern Mexico; San Bartolome mine located near Potosi, Bolivia; Kensington mine located north-northwest of Juneau, Alaska; Rochester mine located in northwestern Nevada; Martha mine located in Santa Cruz, Argentina; and the Endeavor mine in New South Wales, Australia, as well as Joaquin, Tornado, and Satelite properties in Santa Cruz, Argentina. The company was founded in 1928 and is based in Coeur d?Alene, Idaho.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Ben Levisohn]

  We continue to recommend Newmont, [Coeur Mining (CDE)] and [Gold Resource Corp. (GORO)] as large cap, silver and small cap picks, respectively.

  Sterne Agee’s comments come one day after Ned Davis Research upgraded the gold sector to Neutral from Underweight. “…gold miners look to be finally bottoming,” John Laforge and Waren Pies wrote, though they say it’s too early to know if a new uptrend has begun.

Best Performing Stocks To Buy For 2014: Dril-Quip Inc. (DRQ)

Dril-Quip, Inc. designs, manufactures, sells, and services engineered offshore drilling and production equipment for use in deepwater, harsh environment, and severe service applications worldwide. It operates in three segments: Western Hemisphere, Eastern Hemisphere, and Asia-Pacific. The company’s principal products consist of subsea and surface wellheads, subsea and surface production trees, subsea control systems and manifolds, mudline hanger systems, specialty connectors and associated pipe, drilling and production riser systems, liner hangers, wellhead connectors, and diverters. Its products are used for drilling and production of oil and gas wells on offshore platforms; tension leg platforms, which are floating production platforms connected to the ocean floor via vertical mooring tethers; Spars, a floating cylindrical structure; and floating production, storage, and offloading monohull moored vessels, as well as to explore for oil and gas from offshore drillin g rigs, such as floating rigs and jack-up rigs. The company also provides services, including technical advisory services, rework and reconditioning services, and rental of running tools for use in the installation and retrieval of its products. It primarily serves integrated, independent, and foreign national oil and gas companies, as well as offshore drilling contractors, and engineering and construction companies. Dril-Quip, Inc. was founded in 1981 and is headquartered in Houston, Texas.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Jake L'Ecuyer]

  Dril-Quip (NYSE: DRQ) was also on the rise, gaining 12.27 percent to $107.68 after the company's fourth quarter report impressed the street.

  Equities Trading DOWN
  Shares of Endologix (NASDAQ: ELGX) were down 24.85 percent to $13.43 on lowered guidance, analyst downgrades. Oppenheimer downgraded the stock from Outperform to Market Perform and cut the price target from $20.00 to $16.00.

• [By Aaron Levitt]

  It takes an awful lot of muscle and technological know-how to frack and drill unconventional wells. So the oil service industry is poised to continue churning out hefty profits in years to come. That fact has benefited mid-cap maker of drill-bits, pipes and other rig equipment Dril-Quip (DRQ).

Top 5 Chemical Companies To Own For 2014

With shares of BP (NYSE:BP) trading around $45, is BP an OUTPERFORM, WAIT AND SEE, or STAY AWAY? Let�� analyze the stock with the relevant sections of our CHEAT SHEET investing framework:

T = Trends for a Stock’s Movement

BP is an integrated oil and gas company. The firm provides its customers with fuel for transportation, energy for heat and light, lubricants, and the petrochemicals products used to make items like paints, clothes, and packaging. It operates in two business segments: exploration and production, and refining and marketing. BP provides energy products to consumers and companies worldwide. Without the oil and gas products provided, many consumers and businesses would not be able to operate on a daily basis.

BP had some good news for shareholders in its third quarter earnings report. Underlying replacement profit came in ahead of estimates despite dropping from $5 billion a year ago to $3.7 billion. BP also promised to sell off $10 billion in assets over the next two years and return the proceeds to shareholders, and the company�� dividend was up 5.6 percent to 9.5 cents a share. But the Deepwater Horizon oil spill was still looming over BP, which raised the total cost of the spill from $42.4 to $42.5 billion.

Top 5 Warren Buffett Companies To Own For 2015: Tronox Ltd (TROX)

Tronox Limited, incorporated on September 21, 2011, is engaged in production and marketing of titanium bearing mineral sands and titanium dioxide pigment (TiO2). The Company�� TiO2 products are critical components of everyday applications, such as coatings, plastics, paper and other applications. The Company�� mineral sands business consists primarily of two product streams: titanium feedstock and zircon. The Company operates in three segments: mineral sands, pigment and corporate and other. The corporate and other include its electrolytic manufacturing business. It has operations in North America, Europe, South Africa and the Asia-Pacific region. The Company operates three TiO2 facilities at the locations in Hamilton, Mississippi, Botlek, The Netherlands, and Kwinana, Western Australia, representing approximately 465,000 tons of annual TiO2 production capacity. In addition, it operates three separate mining operations: KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) Sands located in South Africa, Namakwa Sands located in South Africa and the Tiwest Joint Venture located in Western Australia, which has a combined annual production capacity of approximately 723,000 tons of titanium feedstock and approximately 265,000 tons of zircon. On June 15, 2012, the existing business of Tronox Incorporated was combined with the mineral sands business under Tronox Limited.

Mineral Sand segment

The Company's minerals segment includes the exploration, mining and beneficiation of mineral sands deposits. These operations produce titanium feedstock, including ilmenite, chloride slag, slag fines and rutile, as well as zircon, pig iron and activated charcoal. Titanium feedstock is used primarily to manufacture TiO2. Zircon is a mineral which is primarily used as an opacifier in ceramic glazes for tiles, plates, dishes and industrial products.

Pigment segment

The Company's pigment segment primarily produces and markets TiO2, and has production facilities in the United States, Australia, and the! Netherlands. TiO2 is used in a range of products due to its ability to impart whiteness, brightness and opacity. TiO2 is used in the manufacture of coatings, plastics and paper and in a range of other applications, including inks, fibers, rubber, food, cosmetics and pharmaceuticals. TiO2 is a critical component of everyday consumer applications due to its superior ability to cover or mask other materials effectively and efficiently relative to alternative white pigments and extenders.

Corporate and other

Corporate and other is comprised of corporate activities and businesses that are no longer in operation, as well as its electrolytic manufacturing and marketing operations, all of which are located in the United States. It�� electrolytic and other chemical products operations are focused on advanced battery materials, sodium chlorate and specialty boron products.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By John Udovich]
  Kronos Worldwide, Inc. Since 1916, Kronos Worldwide has been producing titanium dioxide pigments (TiO2), the world's primary pigment for providing whiteness, brightness and opacity. Kronos Worldwide also owns the�world�� largest mining operation of ilmenite, the raw material used for titanium products such as white pigment titanium oxide and titanium metal products. Citi analyst�James Finnerty told clients in a note Monday that Kronos Worldwide�could be a target for�Tronox Ltd (NYSE: TROX)�as the�combined entity would account for 19% of global titanium dioxide capacity. Moreover, a buyout�offer could be partially funded by a seven-year $1.5 billion term loan that Tronox Ltd secured in March, with around $700 million used to pay down existing debt. On Monday, Kronos Worldwide rose 7.96% to $18.58 (KRO has a 52 week trading range of $14.44 to $20.52 a share) for a market cap of $2.15 billion plus the stock is down 4.7% since the start of the year and up 273.1% over the past five years. Kronos Worldwide has no P/E and has a forward dividend of $0.60 for a dividend yield of 3.5%.

• [By Selena Maranjian]

  Finally, SAC Capital's biggest closed positions included Coach�and Dover. Other closed positions of interest include Exelixis (NASDAQ: EXEL  ) and, also,�Tronox Ltd. (NYSE: TROX  ) . Biotech company Exelixis recently reported non-blowout early sales of its thyroid cancer drug, Cometriq. Some are waiting to see if the drug gets approved to treat prostate cancer, too, and the company is looking at treating as many as nine different�conditions with it, such as bone tumors. On the other hand, Cometriq is expensive, and the company's debt has been growing, along with its share count.

Top 5 Chemical Companies To Own For 2014: K&S AG (KPLUY)

K&S AG is a Germany-based holding company which is active in the chemical sector. The Company divides its activities into four main business segments. The Potash and Magnesium Products segment is engaged in the crude potash and magnesium salts extraction and in processing raw materials into products for industrial, pharmaceutical, cosmetics and food industries. The Nitrogen Fertilizers business segment distributes fertilizers for almost all agricultural crops, and products for home and garden, plant care and plant protection, specialty fertilizers for public green areas, tree nurseries, horticulture and various special crops are offered. The Salt segment offers food grade salt, industrial salt and salt for chemical use, as well as de-icing salt applied to ensure road safety. The Complementary Business segments include recycling activities and the disposal and reutilization of waste salt mines, granulation of CATASAN, logistics, and trading in different basic chemicals. Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Rich Duprey]

  Yet, Europe's leading potash player K+S (NASDAQOTH: KPLUY  ) just said that, because of the upheaval that's occurred in the market, it was slashing its dividend by 82% for 2013,�reducing the payout ratio to just 11% of adjusted after tax�earnings, a far cry from the miner's usual�ratio of between 40% and 50%. Could this signal a new era of austerity that will ultimately see Potash,�Agrium (NYSE: AGU  ) , and Mosaic (NYSE: MOS  ) �end up whacking their payouts, as well?

Top 5 Chemical Companies To Own For 2014: Axiall Corp (AXLL)

Axiall Corporation (Axiall), formerly Georgia Gulf Corporation, incorporated on April 16, 1984, is a manufacturer and an international marketer of chlorovinyl and aromatic chemicals and also manufacture and market vinyl-based building and home improvement products. The Company operates in three business segments: Chlorovinyls segment consists of two product groups: Electrovinyls products, which are composed of chlorine, caustic soda, ethylene dichloride (EDC), vinyl chloride monomer (VCM), and vinyl resins; and Compound products, which are composed of vinyl compounds, compound additives and plasticizers; Building Products segment consists of two primary product groups: Window and Door Profiles and Mouldings, and Outdoor Building Products, which consists of siding, pipe and pipe fittings and deck, fence and rail products, and Aromatics segment also contains two commodity chemical product groups: cumene; and phenol and acetone. In January 2013, the combined company formed by uniting Georgia Gulf with PPG's former commodity chemicals business is named Axiall Corporation.

Chlorovinyls segment

The chlorovinyls segment consists of an integrated chain of products, which including chlor-alkali and derivative products (chlorine, caustic soda, vinyl chloride monomer (VCM), vinyl resins, ethylene dichloride, chlorinated solvents, calcium hypochlorite, hydrochloric acid and phosgene derivatives and compound products (vinyl compounds and compound additives and plasticizers). In North America, the Company is one of the producers of VCM, vinyl resins, and vinyl compounds.

During the year ended December 31, 2012, approximately 45%t of its vinyl resins production was sold into the United States and Canadian merchant markets where its vinyl resins were used in a variety of flexible and rigid vinyl end-use applications. During 2012, the largest end-uses of its products were for pipe and pipe fittings, siding, extruded sheet and film and window profiles. Approximately 24% of its pro! duction was sold into the export market, and approximately 31% of its vinyl resins were used internally in the manufacture of its vinyl compounds and vinyl building products. During 2012, the Company used substantially all of its VCM production in the manufacture of vinyl resins in its PVC manufacturing operations. The Company sells all of its caustic soda to customers domestically and overseas in numerous industries, with the pulp and paper, chemical and alumina industries constituting its markets. Other markets for its caustic soda include soap and detergents and the water treatment industries.

Vinyl compounds are highly customized formulations that offer specific end-use properties based on customer-determined manufacturing specifications that enable its customers to utilize them directly in their manufacturing processes to fabricate their finished products. The Company produces flexible and rigid compounds, which are used in many different applications, including wire and cable insulation and jacketing, electrical outlet boxes and pipe fittings, window and furniture profiles and food-grade and general-purpose bottles. It also supplies chlorinated vinyl compounds (CPVC), to the extrusion and injection molding markets, mainly for production of hot water pipe and pipe fittings. The Company produces lubricants, stabilizers, impact modifiers and process aids used in the production of compounds, and which are part of the typical compound formulations. The majority of its additives and plasticizers are consumed internally.

Building Products Segment

The Window and Door Profiles and Mouldings Products have a level of customization based on customer specifications, whereas Outdoor Building Products are based more on industry standards. The Company manufactures and extrude vinyl window profiles, including frames, sashes, trim and other components, as well as vinyl patio door components and fabricated patio doors, which are sold primarily to window and door fabricators. I! ts sales ! are primarily to the custom segment of the vinyl window profile market with the profile design customized to a window fabricator's specific requirements. It manufactures and markets extruded decorative mouldings and millwork. Its decorative trim products are used for interior mouldings, such as crown, base and chair rail. For exterior mouldings, its products are used in applications, such as brick mouldings, and as components used in the fabrication of doors, windows and spas. This product line includes a series of offerings, such as bendable trim and paintable/stainable trim.

The Company�� outdoor building products (OBP) include siding; pipe and pipe fittings; and deck, fence, and rail. It manufactures vinyl siding, and it also offers a range of accessories, including vinyl soffit, aluminum soffit, fascia and trim and molded vent mounts and exterior shutters. These additional product offerings to its existing offerings include rich, dark, color-fast shades, as well as a siding system, which enables siding panels to withstand harsh wind conditions. It manufactures pipe and pipe fittings for the municipal and electrical markets, as well as pipe for plumbing applications. Its municipal pipe and pipe fittings product lines are used in potable water applications, as well as in storm and sewer applications. Its plumbing lines are used in residential and industrial applications to move storm and sanitary wastewater from the building to the municipal sewer at the property line. This product line is focused on at drain, waste and vent applications. Electrical, pipe, conduit and fittings are available in a range of sizes and configurations, to meet the needs of both commercial and residential applications.

The Company manufactures vinyl deck products that are sold by distributors and used primarily by professionally installed market segments. The Company�� deck product lines are positioned as a lower-maintenance alternative to conventional wood products.

Aromatics Seg! ment

The aromatics segment is integrated and consists of cumene and phenol/acetone products. Phenol/acetone products are co-products made from cumene in the same production process. The Company�� aromatic products are primarily commodity based products. It operates cumene plant located in Pasadena, Texas. About 28 % of its cumene was consumed internally, during 2012, to produce phenol and acetone. Cumene is used as an intermediate to make phenol and acetone and specialty chemicals and can be sold as an additive for gasoline blending.

Phenol is sold to a base of customers who are producers of a range of phenolic resins, engineering plastics and specialty chemicals. Phenolic resins are used as adhesives for wood products, such as plywood and Oriented Strand Board (OSB). Engineering plastics are used in compact discs, digital video discs, automobiles, household appliances, electronics and protective coating applications. It also sells phenol for use in insulation, electrical parts, oil additives and chemical intermediates. Acetone is a chemical used primarily in the production of acrylic resins, engineering plastics and industrial solvents. The Company sells the majority of its acetone into the acrylic resins market, where it is used in the manufacture of various plastics and coatings used for signage, automotive parts, household appliances, paints and industrial coatings. Other uses range from solvents for automotive and industrial applications to pharmaceuticals and cosmetics.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Rich Duprey]

  Specialty chemicals maker�Axiall� (NYSE: AXLL  ) �announced yesterday its second-quarter dividend of $0.08 per share, the same rate it's paid for the past four quarters after reinstating the payout.

• [By Johanna Bennett]

  Dow isn�� the only chemical play gaining on the news. �Axiall (AXLL) rose 9.3% to $49.58 in Monday market action. Olin (OLN) rose 6.1% to $26.36. And Westlake Chemical (WLK) rose 2.2% to $115.10.

• [By Jake L'Ecuyer]

  Leading and Lagging Sectors
  In trading on Thursday, basic materials shares were relative leaders, up on the day by about 1.20 percent. Among the leading sector stocks, gains came from Axiall (NYSE: AXLL), Materion (NYSE: MTRN), Huntsman (NYSE: HUN) and Joy Global (NYSE: JOY).

• [By Seth Jayson]

  Axiall (NYSE: AXLL  ) reported earnings on May 7. Here are the numbers you need to know.

  The 10-second takeaway
  For the quarter ended March 31 (Q1), Axiall missed estimates on revenues and whiffed on earnings per share.

Top 5 Chemical Companies To Own For 2014: Agrium Inc.(AGU)

Agrium Inc., together with its subsidiaries, produces and markets agricultural nutrients, industrial products, and specialty products worldwide, as well as involves in the retail supply of agricultural products and services in North and South Americas. The company?s Retail segment markets crop nutrient products, including nitrogen, phosphate, potash, sulphur, and micronutrients; crop protection products, such as herbicides, fungicides, adjuvants, and insecticides; and seeds. This segment also offers agronomic services, as well as product application, soil and leaf tissue testing and analysis, and crop scouting services. This segment operates 1,192 outlets in the United States, Canada, Australia, Argentina, Chile, and Uruguay. The company?s Wholesale segment produces, markets, and distributes nitrogen, phosphate, potash, sulphate, and other crop nutrient products for agricultural and industrial customers. This segment also owns and operates facilities that upgrade ammonia t o other nitrogen products, such as urea, nitric acid, and ammonium nitrate, as well as provides Rainbow plant food products. Agrium?s Advanced Technologies segment produces and markets controlled-release crop nutrients and micronutrients for the agriculture, specialty agriculture, professional turf, horticulture, and consumer lawn and garden markets. The company was formerly known as Cominco Fertilizers Ltd. and changed its name to Agrium Inc. in 1995. Agrium Inc. was founded in 1931 and is headquartered in Calgary, Canada.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Dan Burrows]

  Whether it’s phosphates, sulfur or nitrogen, agriculture stocks have stunk up the market this year. Agrium (AGU), which sells all three through both wholesale and retail, has seen its stock fall 15% for the year-to-date, lagging the S&P 500 by 33 percentage points.

• [By Matt DiLallo]

  The reason Monsanto and its peers even exist is to help farmers produce more crops from less land in order to feed the world's growing population. There are other ways to invest in a solution to these agricultural issues; some investors might find a more palpable investment opportunity with fertilizer makers Agrium (NYSE: AGU  ) or PotashCorp (NYSE: POT  ) .

• [By Russ Krull]

  Agrium (NYSE: AGU  ) funded some seeds for future growth with 10- and 30-year paper totaling $1 billion. According to the company's press release, the money will be used to fund planned capital expenditures. No specifics for the capex were provided.

Top 10 Computer Hardware Stocks To Watch For 2014

The outcome of the Fed's FOMC meeting on Wednesday sparked a downdraft in stock and bond markets worldwide. Since Tuesday, the S&P 500 (SNPINDEX: ^GSPC  ) and the narrower, price-weighted Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJINDICES: ^DJI  ) have both fallen around 3%. Meanwhile, volatility, as measured by the VIX Index (VOLATILITYINDICES: ^VIX  ) has shot up to its highest level year to date.

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10 Best Construction Stocks To Watch Right Now: Steel Excel Inc (SXCL)

Steel Excel Inc., formerly ADPT Corp., incorporated in 1981, is primarily focused on capital redeployment and identification of new business operations. The identification of new business operations includes, but is not limited to, the oilfield servicing, sports, training, education, entertainment and lifestyle businesses. The Company operates in two segments: oilfield servicing and sports-related segment. During the year ended December 31, 2011, the Company acquired two sports-related businesses and one oilfield servicing business. On June 27, 2011, the Company acquired Baseball Heaven LLC and Baseball Cafe, Inc. On August 15, 2011, the Company acquired The Show, LLC. On December 7, 2011, the Company acquired Rogue Pressure Services, LLC. On February 9, 2012, the Company acquired Eagle Well Services, Inc. In May 2012, the Company acquired Sun Well Service, Inc. Effective December 16, 2013, Steel Excel Inc acquired Black Hawk Energy Services Inc, a provider of oil and gas field services.

The Company�� oilfield servicing segment provides services in horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing. Services include snubbing services (controlled installation and removal of all tubulars - drill strings and production strings) in and out of the wellbore with the well under full pressure, flowtesting, and hydraulic work over/simultaneous operations (allows customers to perform multiple tasks on multiple wells on one pad at the same time). The Company�� sports-related services segment provides services related to marketing and providing baseball facility services, including training camps, summer camps, leagues and tournaments, concession and catering events and other events and related Websites. In addition, the Company outfit little league baseball and softball players and coaches in official major league baseball uniforms.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Geoff Gannon]

  1. Steel Excel (SXCL)
  2. FormFactor (FORM)
  3. Imation (IMN)
  4. Tuesday Morning (TUES)
  5. Pacific Biosciences (PACB)
  6. Maxygen (MAXY)
  7. Westell (WSTL)
  8. Volt Information Sciences (VISI)
  9. Yasheng Group (YHGG)

Top 10 Computer Hardware Stocks To Watch For 2014: Mitek Systems Inc (MITK)

Mitek Systems, Inc. (Mitek), incorporated in 1986, is engaged in the development, sale and service of software solutions related to mobile imaging applications and intelligent recognition software. Mitek is applying its technology and in image correction, optical character recognition and intelligent data extraction to mobile devices. Using Mitek Mobile Apps, camera-equipped smartphone users can deposit checks, pay bills, save receipts and fax documents. Users simply take a picture of the document and its products corrects image distortion, extracting relevant data, routing images to their desired location, and processing transactions through users��financial institutions. It has developed and deployed Mobile Deposit, a software application that allows users to deposit a check using their smartphone camera. It has developed and deployed Mobile Receipt, a receipt archival and expense report application, and Mobile Phax, a mobile document faxing application. Its Mobile Photo Bill Pay, a mobile bill paying application that allows users to pay their bills using their smartphone camera. During fiscal year ended September 30, 2010 (fiscal 2010), it had one operating segment based on its product and service offerings.

IMagePROVE Technology Products

Using IMagePROVE, the Company has a suite of business productivity applications for camera-equipped smartphones, including the iPhone and selected BlackBerry, Android and Windows Mobile handsets. It has four products that use its IMagePROVE technology Mobile Deposit, Mobile Receipt, Mobile Phax and Mobile Photo Bill Pay. Its products are used in the financial services industry. It has secured sales partnerships with system integrators for the financial services industry, including Fiserv, FIS, NCR, Jack Henry, Wausau, BankServ, RDM, J&B Software and Bluepoint Solutions.

The Company�� Mobile Deposit is the smartphone application allows banks to accept check deposits through photos of checks taken with camera-equipped smart! phones. Mobile Deposit allows users to make deposits by photographing the front and back of a check and submitting the item electronically to their bank from their smartphone. Its Mobile Receipt is designed to convert the photo of a receipt taken with a smartphone into an image and with a single touch, converts the data into a professional looking expense report. Mobile Phax allows user to take a photo of any letter sized document or page and send it as a portable document format (PDF) file to any e-mail address or fax machine.

The Company�� Mobile Photo Bill Pay allows users to take pictures of their bills with their smartphone cameras and its Mobile Photo Bill Pay product correct image distortion, reading relevant data and processing the transactions through the users��banks. The payment is made electronically by debiting the users checking account and using existing online bill pay systems. With Mobile Photo Bill Pay, users can submit electronic payments from their smartphones without having to write checks, lick stamps, visit a payment location or even use their personal computers.

ImageNet Intelligent Character Recognition Toolkits

The Company�� ImageNet products are designed to provide remittance processing, proof of deposit and lock box processing applications. Its products are used to reduce manual labor by automatically extracting amounts and routing information from checks and distinguishing between common document types, such as personal and business checks, substitute checks, pre-authorized drafts and other document types specified by customers. It sells ImageNet suite of products to its channel partners, who resell them as integrated components of their solutions and services. Its ImageNet suite of products includes ImageNet Prep & ID, ImageNet Payments, ImageNet Data Capture and ImageNet Signatures.

ImageNet Prep & ID is a software toolkit that is designed to provide automatic form information document (ID), form registration and fo! rm/templa! te removal. Image Net Prep & ID reduces the image size by removing information, such as pre-printed text, lines, and boxes; leaving only the filled-in data. ImageNet Payments allows for the automatic reading of machine and hand print information found on scanned documents and forms from any structured form, as well as bank documents, such as checks, deposit slips, and remittance coupons. ImageNet Payments integrates technology components from the CheckReader product that it licenses from a vendor that is designed to read rates of the currency and legal amounts of checks drawn on the United States and Canadian financial institutions.

ImageNet Data Capture is a software toolkit that captures data from types of unstructured business documents. ImageNet Data Capture is used in data capture applications where data must be found and extracted from documents that have no pre-determined format or layout, but share common data elements. ImageNet Data Capture is designed to locate this data on documents using contextual, positional, format and keyword specific information. It has supplied ImageNet Data Capture as a stand alone application programming interface (API) to several original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) in the document processing field. ImageNet Signatures is a software toolkit that locates, extracts and verifies signatures in any document. It encodes each signature and compares it with encoded reference examples rather than comparing actual images. Its image analytics encode 60 characteristics of each signature, which allows for accurate signature fraud detection.

FraudProtect Systems

The Company�� FraudProtect System is an automated software application designed to allow banks to detect check fraud from forged signatures and counterfeit checks, as well as the detection of pre-authorized drafts and payee name alterations. Its FraudProtect suite of products includes FraudProtect SDK, PADsafe and PayeeFind. Its FraudProtect SDK is a toolkit designed to detect c! heck frau! d and forgery using image analytics to uncover inconsistencies and alterations in checks as they are processed by banks. These products are sold to OEMs and system integrators and can detect forged or illegally modified checks. Its PADsafe product detects fraudulent preauthorized drafts (PADs). PADsafe automatically identifies PADs from checks, and then notifies the user of fraudulent transactions, reducing and preventing the unauthorized withdrawal of funds. Its PayeeFind product is designed to prevent payee-altered checks from clearing.

ImageScore

ImageScore is the Company�� Check 21 readiness solution for any financial institution that truncates or uses check images in an accounts receivables conversion environment. Integrated solution providers for financial institutions can also buy ImageScore to enhance their products. ImageScore is designed to analyze check images to provide the usability and information needed to help financial institutions act in accordance with regulatory and industry mandates.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By James E. Brumley]

  Anybody who was lucky enough to get into a Recon Technology, Ltd. (NASDAQ:RCON) position before October 7th, then congratulations - you're up big-time. Now get out. Instead, a better use of that capital is Mitek Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:MITK). While RCON is overbought and ripe for a pullback, MITK is itching to stage a breakout.

• [By Eric Volkman]

  Mitek Systems (NASDAQ: MITK  ) is hoping to widen its capital base. The company announced it is floating nearly 2.86 million shares of its common stock in an underwritten public flotation, at a price of $5.25 per share. Additionally, the company's underwriters have been granted a 30-day option to purchase up to 428,571 shares to cover overallotments, if any.

• [By U.S. News]

  In at least one Texas bank and one Ohio credit union, 3D video banking is currently undergoing testing, according to TheFinancialBrand.com, a website for bank and credit union marketing executives. Three-dimensional video banking is similar to a consumer video conference with a bank representative –- only in this case, the executive looks like a living, breathing person sitting across from you. Thanks to theater surround sound, the representative also sounds as if they're in the same room. And since the consumer is interacting with a real person and not an automated hologram, the experience apparently isn't much different than the real thing. Banking and managing money isn't what it used to be. The 1970s and 1980s brought us the rise of the ATM. Consumers became acquainted with online banking during the 1990s and the first decade of the 2000s. The 2010s are shaping up as the era of mobile banking. That was underscored Sept. 10-11 in New York City when Mitek Systems Inc. (MITK), a San Diego-based technology company, debuted its Mobile Photo Account Opening product at Finovate, a trade show where banking tech products are often unveiled. The product allows consumers to open a bank account within 60 seconds. If you have your bank's app, you can use your smartphone's camera to take a photo of the front and back of your driver's license, and presto, your new checking, savings or credit card account is open. Here's a look at other financial products and services personal financial experts think we'll be using in the future. Within 10 years. "The economic payments system will begin to 'know us,' either through biometrics, optical sensor or facial recognition," says Joshua Siegel, managing principal of StoneCastle Partners, a New York-based asset management firm that invests in banks. That's already happening to some extent with smartphones –- the new Apple (AAPL) iPhone 5S, for example, uses fingerprint scanning to unlock the phone. Meanwhile, some fi

Top 10 Computer Hardware Stocks To Watch For 2014: Violin Memory Inc (VMEM)

Violin Memory, Inc., incorporated on March 9, 2005, is pioneering a new class of flash-based storage systems that are designed to bring storage performance in-line with high-speed applications, servers and networks. The Company�� Flash Memory Arrays are specifically designed at each level of the system architecture starting with memory and optimized through the array to leverage the inherent capabilities of flash memory and meet the sustained requirements of business-critical applications, virtualized environments and Big Data solutions in enterprise data centers. The Company�� Velocity Peripheral Component Interconnect Express (PCIe), Flash Memory Cards leverage its persistent memory-based architecture in servers and are optimized for applications that require continuous access to quantities of low latency persistent memory located directly in servers.

The Company�� storage systems are based on a four-layer hardware architecture, which is integrated with its Violin Memory Operating System (vMOS), software stack to optimize the management of flash memory at each level of its system architecture. The Company�� Velocity PCIe Flash Memory Cards leverage its expertise in persistent memory-based storage and controller design, as well as its vMOS software stack, to offer a differentiated architecture in a deployable PCIe form factor.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Michael Calia]

  Violin Memory Inc.(VMEM) named Kevin A. DeNuccio as chief executive after firing prior CEO Don Basile in December because of the company’s poor performance. The flash-storage company posted disappointing third-quarter results and a sagging stock price.

• [By Steve Symington]

  What: Shares of Violin Memory, (NYSE: VMEM  ) plunged 48% Friday after the high-speed data storage specialist came up well short of analysts' estimates with its first quarterly report as a public company.

Top 10 Computer Hardware Stocks To Watch For 2014: Diebold Inc (DBD)

Diebold, Incorporated, incorporated in August 1876, is engaged in providing integrated self-service delivery and security systems and services to the financial, commercial, government and retail markets. Sales of systems and equipment are made directly to customers by the Company�� sales personnel, manufacturers��representatives and distributors globally. The sales and support organizations work closely with customers and their consultants to analyze and fulfill the customers��needs. The Company has two lines of business: Self-Service Solutions and Security Solutions. The Company�� segments are consisted of two sales channels: Diebold North America (DNA) and Diebold International (DI). In September 2012, it acquired GAS Tecnologia (GAS).

The DNA segment sells and services financial and retail systems in the United States and Canada. The DI segment sells and services financial and retail systems over the remainder of the globe through wholly owned subsidiaries, joint ventures and independent distributors in countries throughout Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Latin America and in the Asia Pacific region, excluding Japan and Korea.

Self-Service Solutions

The Company offers an integrated line of self-service technologies and services, including comprehensive automated teller machine (ATM) outsourcing, ATM security, deposit and payment terminals and software. The Company is a global supplier of ATMs and related services. The Company offers a range of self-service solutions. Self-service products include a range of ATMs and teller automation, including deposit automation technology, such as check-cashing machines, bulk cash recyclers and bulk check deposit. The Company offers software solutions consisting of multiple applications, which process events and transactions. These solutions are delivered on the appropriate platform. From analysis and consulting to monitoring and repair, the Company provides value and support to its customers every step of the way. ! Services include installation and ongoing maintenance of its products, OpteView remote services, branch transformation and distribution channel consulting. Outsourced and managed services include remote monitoring, troubleshooting for self-service customers, transaction processing, currency management, maintenance services and full support through person to person or online communication.

Security Solutions

The Company provides its customers with the technological advances to protect their assets. The Company provides physical and electronic security systems, as well as facility transaction products, which integrate security, software and assisted-service transactions, providing total security systems solutions to financial, retail, commercial and government markets. The Company provides security solutions and facility products, including in-store bank branches, pneumatic tube systems for drive-up lanes, vaults, safes, depositories, bullet-resistive items and undercounter equipment. The Company provides a range of electronic security products, including digital surveillance, access control systems, biometric technologies, alarms and remote monitoring and diagnostics. The Company provides security monitoring solutions, including fire, managed access control, energy management, remote video management and storage, as well as logical security.

Integrated Solutions

The Company provides end-to-end outsourcing solutions with a single point of contact for customer�� self-service channel. Its solution includes hardware, software, services or a combination of all three components. The Company provides value to its customers by offering a range of integrated services and support. The Company�� service organization provides analysis and planning of new systems, systems integration, architectural engineering, consulting and project management, which encompass all facets of a financial self-service implementation. The Company also provides design, products, ser! vice, ins! tallation, project management and monitoring of electronic security products to financial, government, retail and commercial customers.

Election Systems

The Company is a provider of voting equipment and related products and services in Brazil. The Company provides elections equipment, networking, tabulation and diagnostic software development, training, support and maintenance.

The Company competes with NCR Corporation, Wincor-Nixdorf, Grg Equipment Co., Nautilus Hyosung, Itautec and Perto.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Mark Morelli]

  How will the potential disruption impact business and affect investors? Should the executives at ATM manufacturers such as Diebold (NYSE: DBD  ) �be worried? Credit�and debit card processors like MasterCard (NYSE: MA  ) and Visa (NYSE: V  ) �are already benefiting from the trend to a cashless society. Could things get even better?

• [By U.S. News]

  In at least one Texas bank and one Ohio credit union, 3D video banking is currently undergoing testing, according to TheFinancialBrand.com, a website for bank and credit union marketing executives. Three-dimensional video banking is similar to a consumer video conference with a bank representative –- only in this case, the executive looks like a living, breathing person sitting across from you. Thanks to theater surround sound, the representative also sounds as if they're in the same room. And since the consumer is interacting with a real person and not an automated hologram, the experience apparently isn't much different than the real thing. Banking and managing money isn't what it used to be. The 1970s and 1980s brought us the rise of the ATM. Consumers became acquainted with online banking during the 1990s and the first decade of the 2000s. The 2010s are shaping up as the era of mobile banking. That was underscored Sept. 10-11 in New York City when Mitek Systems Inc. (MITK), a San Diego-based technology company, debuted its Mobile Photo Account Opening product at Finovate, a trade show where banking tech products are often unveiled. The product allows consumers to open a bank account within 60 seconds. If you have your bank's app, you can use your smartphone's camera to take a photo of the front and back of your driver's license, and presto, your new checking, savings or credit card account is open. Here's a look at other financial products and services personal financial experts think we'll be using in the future. Within 10 years. "The economic payments system will begin to 'know us,' either through biometrics, optical sensor or facial recognition," says Joshua Siegel, managing principal of StoneCastle Partners, a New York-based asset management firm that invests in banks. That's already happening to some extent with smartphones –- the new Apple (AAPL) iPhone 5S, for example, uses fingerprint scanning to unlock the phone. Meanwhile, some fi

Top 10 Computer Hardware Stocks To Watch For 2014: Logitech international SA (LOGI)

Logitech International S.A. (Logitech) is a holding company. Logitech develops and markets hardware and software products for digital navigation, music and video entertainment, gaming, social networking, audio and video communication over the Internet, video security and home-entertainment control. Logitech operates in two segments: peripherals and video conferencing. The Company�� peripherals segment includes design, manufacturing and marketing of peripherals for personal computers (PCs) and other digital platforms. Its products for the PC include mice, trackballs, keyboards, interactive gaming controllers, multimedia speakers, headsets, webcams, and lapdesks. Logitech�� Internet communications products include webcams, headsets, video communications services, and digital video security systems for a home or small business. Its digital music products include speakers, earphones, and custom in-ear monitors. On July 6, 2010, Logitech acquired all of the assets of Paradial AS. On March 31, 2011, the Company sold its equity interest in certain 3Dconnexion subsidiaries.

3Dconnexion subsidiaries are the providers of the Company�� 3D controllers, and its intellectual property rights related to the manufacture and sale of certain 3Dconnexion products. Paradial AS provides firewall and network address translation (NAT) traversal solutions for video communications. For home entertainment systems, Logitech offers the Harmony line of advanced remote controls, Squeezebox wireless music solutions and, in the United States, a line of Logitech products for the Google TV platform. For gaming consoles, the Company offers a range of gaming controllers and microphones, as well as other accessories. Logitech�� sells its peripheral products to a network of distributors and resellers and to other equipment manufacturers (OEMs). The Company�� worldwide retail network includes wholesale distributors, consumer electronics retailers, mass merchandisers, specialty electronics stores, computer and telecomm! unications stores, resellers and online merchants.

The Company�� video conferencing segment includes design, manufacturing and marketing of LifeSize video conferencing products, infrastructure and services for the enterprise, public sector and other business markets. LifeSize products include high-definition (HD) video communication endpoints, HD video conferencing systems with integrated monitors, video bridges and other infrastructure software and hardware to support large scale video deployments, and services to support these products. Logitech sells its LifeSize products and services to distributors, resellers, OEMs and direct enterprise customers. Logitech conducts its business through subsidiaries in the Americas, including North and South America; Europe, Middle East, Africa (EMEA), and Asia Pacific, including, among other countries, China, Taiwan, Japan, India and Australia.

Pointing Devices

Logitech offers a range of computer mice, sold through retail and OEM channels. Its mice products include M215, M310 and M305 wireless mice with advanced 2.4 gigahertz wireless connection and cordless universal serial bus (USB) plug-and-forget nano-receiver; Performance Mouse MX and Anywhere Mouse MX with Logitech Darkfield Laser Tracking; Marathon Mouse 750, and Wireless Trackball M570. Logitech�� mice products also include a line of gaming mice, including the Wireless Gaming Mouse G700, with 13 precisely placed, programmable controls to perform single actions and complex macros, full-speed gaming-grade wireless, and a quick-connect charging cable. In addition, the Company sells both corded and cordless mice designed specifically for OEM customers.

Keyboards and Desktops

Logitech offers a range of corded and cordless keyboards and desktops (keyboard-and-mouse combinations). The Company�� keyboards and desktops include Wireless Solar Keyboard K750; K800 Illuminated Wireless Keyboard; The diNovo Edge keyboard; Wireless Desktop MK320, and G! 19 Keyboa! rd for Gaming.

Audio

Logitech designs and manufactures a range of multimedia speakers, including Wireless Speaker Z515, The Laptop Z305 speaker, and The S-series line of portable iPod/MP3 docks, including the Rechargeable Speaker S715i and the Portable Speaker S135i. It also designs and manufactures The Z-623 2.1 THX certified speakers, the Z-506 5.1 Speakers, and the Z-906 5.1 Surround Sound speakers. Logitech offers a portfolio of network music systems. The Squeezebox Touch, with its 4.3-inch color touch screen, connects to existing stereo system and speakers and supports sampling rates of up to 24 bits at 96 kilohertz. The Squeezebox Radio is a compact network music player and alarm that allows to connect to home network, and access Internet radio, personal music collection or subscription services.

The Ultimate Ears product line offers a range of in-ear consumer or fit earphones for portable music enthusiasts, as well as custom stage earphones for musicians and sound engineers. Its line of earphones include Ultimate Ears 100 and 200 value-priced earphones, with silicone ear cushions in a durable sweat-resistant design; Ultimate Ears TripleFi 10 with triple armature speakers, and The Ultimate Ears 600 featuring single armature speakers, the Ultimate Ears 600vi, and the Ultimate Ears 700 featuring dual armature speakers. Its line of Ultimate Ears Custom Stage Earphones include Ultimate Ears In-Ear Reference Monitors co-designed with Capitol Studios for professional studio engineers and producers for use during recording, mixing and mastering original music content, the UE-18 Pro featuring a six-speaker design, the UE-7 Pro for live performance and stage use, and the UE-4 Pro featuring a dual speaker design for artists and audiophiles.

Logitech offers headsets and microphones designed for applications, such as PC voice communications, voice over Internet protocol (VoIP) applications and online gaming. Its products in this category include the ClearCha! t PC Wire! less headset, the Wireless Headset H760, the USB Headset H530, the G35 Surround Sound Headset for gaming, the Wireless Gaming Headset G930, the USB Desktop Microphone, and the OCS certified Logitech B-530 USB Headset.

Video

Logitech�� webcam offerings include Logitech HD Pro Webcam C910, Logitech Webcam Pro 9000, Logitech HD Webcam C510 and Logitech TV Cam for use with Logitech Revue. Logitech�� webcams works with video messaging applications, and provides up to HD 720p video calling in Skype, Windows Live Messenger and Logitech Vid HD. The Logitech Alert digital video security system is a complete home or small business video security system, with software that provides motion alerts and a live view from an Internet-connected computer, smartphone, tablet or Google TV system, including Logitech Revue.

Gaming

Logitech offers a range of game controllers for PC gamers, including joysticks, steering wheels, gamepads, mice and keyboards, and headsets, as well as gaming products for console platforms, such as PlayStation2, PlayStation3, PSP (PlayStation Portable), Xbox, Xbox 360 and Nintendo Wii. The Company�� gaming products include Logitech G700 Wireless Gaming Mouse; Logitech G13 advanced gameboard with a built-in LCD screen, 25 programmable keys and onboard memory; Logitech G27 Racing Wheel and Logitech G35 Surround Sound Headset.

Digital Home

The Company�� line of remotes includes Harmony One remote, Harmony 900 remote and Harmony 650. In October 2010, Logitech introduced its line of products for Google TV in the United States, including Logitech Revue and the Logitech Keyboard Controller; Logitech TV Cam and Vid HD service, and Logitech Mini Controller.

LifeSize Video Conferencing

LifeSize division offers HD video communication solutions, including HD video conferencing products, audio conference telephones, hardware infrastructure solutions, video management software, and services to support ! video and! audio communications and help users connect to any network securely and with ease. The LifeSize product line includes Passport, LifeSize Video Center, Express Series, Team Series, Room Series and LifeSize Bridge.

The Company competes with Microsoft Corporation, Plantronics, Inc., Altec Lansing LLC, Creative Labs, Inc., Bose Corporation, Sony Corporation, Royal Philips Electronics NV, Hewlett-Packard, Intec, Razer USA Ltd., Performance Designed Products, LLC (Pelican Accessories), Mad Catz Interactive, Inc., Universal Remote Control, Inc., Universal Electronics Inc., RCA, Apple Inc., Roku, Inc., Cisco, Radvision Ltd., Vidyo, Inc. and Polycom.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Jake L'Ecuyer]

  Equities Trading UP
  Logitech International SA (NASDAQ: LOGI) shot up 16.94 percent to $15.46 after the company reported strong FQ3 results and lifted its full-rear guidance.

Top 10 Computer Hardware Stocks To Watch For 2014: Altec Holdings SA (AXY)

Altec Holdings SA the parent company of Altec Group, is a Greece-based company engaged in the information technology and telecommunications fields. The Company's range of activities includes the manufacture, import, export, trade, distribution, leasing and support of computers and telecommunication materials, as well as the design, production, development, import, export, leasing and trading of software for computers and electronic cash registers. Its hardware products include a range of personal computers, servers and related equipment. Its software products include systems for enterprise resource planning, customer relationship management, accounting, human resource management, payroll and data warehousing, insurance brokerage software and equipment for call centers. It operates a retail network under the brand Microland. The Company has established subsidiaries in Romania, Bulgaria and Cyprus. Advisors' Opinion:

• [By John Udovich]

  Yesterday, small cap geothermal stock U.S. Geothermal Inc (NYSEMKT: HTM) produced a geyser of a return when it surged 26.79%, meaning its worth taking a closer look at the stock verses the performance of other geothermal stocks like small cap Ormat Technologies, Inc (NYSE: ORA) and mid cap Calpine Corporation (NYSE: CPN).�First of all, I should mention there are some other geothermal stocks out there like Alterra Power Corp (CVE: AXY) and Ram Power Corp (TSE: RPG) who have their primary listing on Canadian exchanges with secondary ones on the OTC���meaning they may not be a good deal for American investors or easy to invest in. Second, U.S. Geothermal Inc itself is a good geothermal proxy as its�focused on developing, owning, and operating clean, sustainable electric power from geothermal energy resources and its�operating geothermal power projects at Neal Hot Springs, Oregon; San Emidio, Nevada; and Raft River, Idaho plus El Ceibillo, an advanced stage, geothermal prospect located within a 24,710 acre energy rights concession area near Guatemala City, the largest city in Central America.

Top 10 Computer Hardware Stocks To Watch For 2014: Onyx Service & Solutions Inc (ONYX)

Onyx Service & Solutions, Inc., incorporated on November 25, 2009, focuses on energy solutions. The Company is a solar products manufacturer and supplier. Utilizing Polycrystalline silicon, with 72 cells in series, it provides 240 watt, 245 watt, 250 watt, 255 watt, 260 watt, 265 watt, 270 watt, 275 watt and 280 watt configurations. Its 72 cell panel size is 1955 x 992 x 50 millimeters. It also provides panels, which utilize 54 cells in series for 200 watt, 205 watt, 210 watt and 215 watt configurations. The Company is also a provider of both privately-owned and company-owned automatic teller machines (ATM��), in Onondaga County in upstate New York. The Company receives revenues from the collection of the surcharge revenues and inter-exchange revenues. As of July 31, 2011, it owned three ATMs and manages 19 ATMS throughout upstate New York. On August 22, 2011, the Company acquired Southern Geo Power Corp. (SGPC).

The Company�� 54 cell panel size is 1482 x 992 x 50 millimeters. ONYX/Optimum Solar silicon ingots are provided in both Monocrystalline and Polycrystalline versions. Its ingots are P type with Boron dopant. ONYX/Optimum solar silicon wafers are Polycrystalline solar cell materials. Its wafers are provided in the 156 x 156 millimeter size with a thickness of 220 micrometer/ 220 micrometer +/- 40 micrometer. ONYX/Optimum Solar cells are crystalline materials. It offers two models of solar cells, its Mono five inches (R150) 125S and its Mono five inches (R165) 125SL. Its R150 125S delivers 10 different levels of efficiency and its R165 125SL delivers 11 different levels of efficiency. ONYX Solar Air Conditioning Units offer thermal solar, as well as photovoltaic alternate current (AC) technology solutions. ONYX Solar Street Lights employed for both surface road and elevated highway use, in single or multiple unit setups. Its solar street lights are replenished within the sunlit hours of the day, enabling sustained performance throughout the night.

ONYX Solar Desalin! ization Systems are driven by means of photovoltaic panels, making use of pressure pumps, which force sea water across a membrane filtration system. ONYX/Optimum Solar 300 watt grid-tied micro photovoltaic inverter model OSI-300 is designed for superior installation, functionality and field maintenance. ONYX Solar Photovoltaic (PV) Glass is able to supply power to any given location with access to sunlight. ONYX Solar Well-Water Pump Systems are available in four energy options for use in a range of functions. Its solar well water pump systems were developed for virtual maintenance-free operation, rendering these units as solution for usage throughout isolated regions, including those without an electricity infrastructure readily available. ONYX Solar�� Vertical Vane Wind Turbines thrive on their ability to deliver energy from the smallest of application sites with the most stringent requirements. Each unit is able to deliver six kilowatts of power and may be used in multi-unit configurations. Onyx Solar�� Attic Fans operate within attic room setup, delivering needed aid in overall temperature regulation of the entire home or industrial/commercial building. Each fan supplies a steady exchange rate of 1600 cubic feet per minute.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Lee Jackson]

  Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ: AMGN) is a company doing the acquiring. The company recently completed a $10.4 billion purchase of Onyx Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ: ONYX) to add its cancer drug Kyprolis to its already sprawling portfolio. UBS has a $124 price target on the stock. The consensus target is at $123. Investors are paid a 1.7% dividend.

Hot Companies To Invest In Right Now

While we don't believe in timing the stock market, timing your big purchases in life can save you hundreds and sometimes thousands of dollars. That's especially true if you're in the market to buy a new car. If you're patient, you can score a great deal on a new car.

Buy at the end of the year

Every dealer has annual quotas and there are bonuses for salespeople who meet certain annual figures. Take advantage of this. If you can wait, buy your new car in the last two weeks of December, when dealers are dying to beat their quotas. Annual sales bonuses are sometimes incentive enough for dealers to knock off up to $3,000 from the price.

Dealers have the added incentive of clearing last year's models to make way for the new year models. If you don't need the latest and greatest, you can find a great deal on a car that's only a few months old. Unless there's a major redesign on the model you want, the small difference between this year's and last year's model isn't as significant as the price difference.

Top 10 Consumer Companies To Invest In Right Now: Sally Beauty Holdings Inc.(SBH)

Sally Beauty Holdings, Inc., through its subsidiaries, engages in the distribution and retail of professional beauty supplies primarily in North America, South America, and Europe. The company operates in two segments, Sally Beauty Supply and Beauty Systems Group. The Sally Beauty Supply segment operates a chain of cash and carry retail stores that provide various third-party branded and exclusive-label professional beauty supplies, including hair color products, hair care products, hair dryers and hair styling appliances, skin and nail care products, and other beauty items to retail consumers and salon professionals. This segment sells various third-party brands, such as Clairol, Revlon, and Conair, as well as a selection of exclusive-label merchandise. The Beauty Systems Group segment distributes professional brands of beauty products directly to salons and salon professionals through its sales force and professional-only stores. This segment operates stores under the Co smoProf service mark. It sells a range of third-party brands, such as Paul Mitchell, Wella, Sebastian, Goldwell, Joico, and TIGI. As of September 30, 2011, the company operated a multi-channel platform of 4,128 company-owned stores, 181 franchised stores, and 1,116 professional distributor sales consultants in the United States, Puerto Rico, Canada, Mexico, Chile, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Belgium, France, Germany, and Spain. Sally Beauty Holdings, Inc. was founded in 1964 and is headquartered in Denton, Texas.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By John Kell and Tess Stynes var popups = dojo.query(".socialByline .popC"); p]

  Sally Beauty Holdings Inc.(SBH) on Monday said credit-card data from fewer than 25,000 customer records were illegally accessed and may have been stolen. The beauty-supplies company said it is working with the U.S. Secret Service on the agency’s preliminary investigation of the situation. The company also said it continues to work with Verizon Communications Inc.(VZ), which has helped with Sally Beauty’s internal probe since the breach was identified.

• [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 Sally Beauty Holdings (NYSE: SBH  ) , whose recent revenue and earnings are plotted below.

• [By Amal Singh]

  Some companies in the beauty and personal care segment have one important characteristic -- a recession-proof nature, which is a result of everyone's desire to look beautiful and young. This brings us to Ulta Salon, Cosmetics & Fragrance (NASDAQ: ULTA  ) and Sally Beauty Holdings (NYSE: SBH  ) . Both have performed quite well over the last few years, as shown in the chart below, even during the recession (the gray area being the recession period). Their performance stands in stark contrast to that of�Regis (NYSE: RGS  ) , which has seen its top line drop continuously after peaking in 2008.

• [By Rich Bieglmeier]

  Sally Beauty Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:SBH) is ready for a makeover according to Wells Fargo. Analyst, Chris Ferrara believes the worst could be over for SBH. The analyst says, "While near-term visibility is generally limited for SBH's business model, shares are -7% YTD (vs S&P 500 -3%), presenting attractive risk/reward. We believe comps likely bottomed at Sally Beauty Supply in the December quarter, and that the recent string of downward earnings revisions is likely over."

Hot Companies To Invest In Right Now: Jasper Mining Corp (JSP)

Jasper Mining Corporation (Jasper) is an exploration-stage company engaged in the exploration for and development of base and precious metals in Canada. Its properties consist of the Vowell Creek property, the Lydy property, the McFarlane property, the Cascade property, the Faith property, the Isintok property, the Alaric property, the Proximal property, the Erie Creek property, the Irony property and Crawford property. The Vowell Creek property consists of 12,750 hectares located approximately 35 kilometers south of Golden, British Columbia. The Cascade property is located approximately 55 kilometers north of the community of Kaslo, British Columbia and is comprised of approximately 1,545 hectares (3,819 acres), on the west side of the Lardeau River. The Irony property is located north of Revelstoke, British Columbia and southwest of Mica Dam, consisting of 2,375 hectares (5,869 acres). The Company's properties include lead, zinc, gold and silver. Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Jessica Summers]

  India�� S&P BSE Sensex (SENSEX) extended this week�� drop to 3 percent, the most since five days ended March 24. Jindal Steel & Power Ltd. (JSP) plunged 7.6 percent, leading a gauge of 10 metal companies to its lowest close in more than four years. ICICI Bank Ltd. fell to an 11-month low, pacing losses among its peers. The rupee slid 1.1 percent, capping its biggest weekly drop in almost two years.

Hot Companies To Invest In Right Now: Fair Isaac Corp (FICO)

Fair Isaac Corporation (FICO), incorporated on May 15, 1987, provides products and services that enable businesses to automate, improve and connect decisions to enhance business performance. The Company operates in three segments: Applications, which include pre-configured Decision Management applications designed for a specific type of business problem or process; Scores, which includes the Company's business-to-business scoring solutions and services, its myFICO solutions for consumers, and associated professional services, and Tools segment, which include software tools that clients can use to create their own custom Decision Management applications, as well as associated professional services. In May 2012, the Company acquired Entiera Inc. In September 2012, it acquired Adeptra Ltd. On April 1, 2013, FICO acquired Infoglide Software Corp.

Applications

The Company develops industry-tailored Decision Management applications, categorized as Applications, which apply analytics, data management and Decision Management software to specific business challenges and processes. These include credit offer prescreening, insurance claims management and others. The Company's Applications primarily serve clients in the banking, insurance, healthcare, and retail sectors. The chief offerings for marketing are the Company's FICO Analytic Offer Manager and FICO Customer Dialogue Manager. These solutions offer a suite of products, capabilities and services designed to integrate the technology and analytic services needed to perform context-sensitive customer acquisition, cross-selling and retention programs and deliver mathematically optimized offers.

The Company provides solutions that enable banks, credit unions, finance companies, installment lenders and other companies to automates and improve the processing of requests for credit or service. The Company provides customer management solutions for banking, where it�� account and customer management product is the FICO TRIAD! Customer Manager. The Company markets and sells TRIAD end-user software licenses, maintenance, consulting services, and strategy designs and evaluation. The Company's fraud management products improve the Company's clients' profitability by predicting the likelihood that a given transaction or customer account is experiencing fraud.

The Company's solutions are designed to detect and prevent a range of fraud and risk types across multiple industries, including credit and debit payment card fraud; e-payment fraud; deposit account fraud; technical fraud and bad debt; healthcare fraud; Medicaid and Medicare fraud, and property and casualty insurance claims fraud, including workers' compensation fraud. FICO fraud solutions protect financial institutions, insurance companies and government agencies from losses and damaged customer relationships caused by fraud and related criminal behavior.

FICO Fraud Predictor with Merchant Profiles is used in conjunction with Falcon Fraud Manager on payment card monitoring for credit and debit to improve fraud detection rates through the inclusion of merchant profiles. In addition to the Falcon products, the Company offers FICO Card Alert Service. Card Alert Service is a solution for fighting ATM debit fraud. The Card Alert Service identifies counterfeit payment cards and reports them to issuers. The Company offers FICO Economic Impact Service, which uses time series modeling of the macro economy to allow lenders to forecast future credit risk performance based on their views of the economy. Adeptra's software as a service (SaaS) platform enables financial services institutions and other businesses to take advantage of the explosion in mobile communication in order to manage risk, fight fraud and improve the customer experience, all in real time.

The Company competes with Acxiom, Epsilon, Equifax, Experian, Harte-Hanks, InfoUSA, KnowledgeBase, Merkle, TargetBase, CGI, NICE Systems, BAE, SAS, ACI Worldwide, Emdeon, Ingenix, ViPS, MedSt! at, Veris! k Analytics and IBM.

Scores

The Company develops credit scores based on third-party data. The Company's FICO Scores are used in most United States credit decisions, by the banks and credit card organizations, as well as by mortgage and auto loan originators. These scores provide a consistent and objective measure of an individual's credit risk. Credit grantors use the FICO Scores to prescreen candidates for solicitation, to evaluate applicants for new credit and to review existing accounts. The FICO Scores are calculated based on scoring models and implemented on third-party data. The version of the FICO Score for United States and Canadian lenders is the FICO 8 Score. The Company's other solutions include The FICO Credit Capacity Index and The FICO Economic Impact Index.

The Company competes with Experian and Experian-Scorex (U.S. partner), TransUnion and TransUnion International, Equifax, VantageScore, CRIF, LexisNexis and ChoicePoint.

Tools

The Company provides software products that businesses use to build their own tailored Decision Management applications. In contrast to its packaged Applications developed for specific industry applications, the Company�� Tools support the addition of Decision Management capabilities to virtually any application or operational system. These tools are sold as licensed software, and can be used by themselves or together to advance a client�� Decision Management initiatives. The Company uses these tools as common software components for its own Decision Management applications. The principal products offered are software tools include Rules Management, Predictive Modeling and Optimization.

The Company competes with IBM, SAS, Pegasystems and Angoss.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By WWW.DAILYFINANCE.COM]

  Incoming college freshmen receive dozens of warnings:

  Mom and dad caution them to not get carried away with extracurricular activities and instead focus on their grades. Older siblings kindly suggest avoiding any beverage with the word "jungle" in the name. Financial experts yell, scream and throw their arms in the air about avoiding credit cards. While jungle juice should be avoided, there is a case for most college students to sign up for a credit card. Students who describe themselves as impulsive, spenders or forgetful may need to wait. Here are three reasons why a credit card will set them up for a healthy financial future. 1. Credit Cards Help Establish Credit History A credit card is a simple tool to both establish credit history and begin working toward a good credit score. Student loans help establish credit and can positively impact a credit score. However, part of Fair Isaac's (FICO) FICO scoring model depends on diversity of credit. And responsible use of a credit card -– making on-time payments, for example -– is a simple way to increase a credit score. Credit cards also let students without loans establish their credit and spend four years proving they are responsible borrowers before graduation. Lest we forget, recent grads who don't want to return to their parents' basement will need a credit score to get their own apartment or house. Parents concerned their child can't handle the credit limit associated with a credit card should consider having their child apply for a secured card to prove their responsibility before upgrading to the real McCoy. 2. Students Don't Always Have Cash Some financial experts advise using cash to avoid debt because mindlessly swiping plastic doesn't register as spending money. Except cash is quickly becoming a relic of the past. Plenty of young men and women are used to debit cards and use apps like PayPal or Venmo to pay back a friend instead of cutting a check or getting cash out at the ATM.
• [By Geoff Gannon]

  But there are some companies like Fair Isaac (FICO) where it�� different. FICO can actually grow earnings faster than assets. As a result, you are probably getting something like a 3% annual kicker beyond ROA * Assets/Market Cap when you invest in Fair Isaac. They throw in a little ��ree��growth.

• [By Dan Caplinger]

  What we do know
  Credit-reporting agencies aren't entirely opaque about what goes into their credit score calculations. For instance, Fair Isaac (NYSE: FICO  ) , the company behind the popular FICO score, offers a detailed explanation of what goes into every person's score. A strong payment history without delinquencies or late payments carries the most weight, making up 35% of the FICO score, while 30% comes from how the amounts you owe compare to the total credit you have available to you. Smaller percentages of the score come from other areas, including the length of your credit history, the amount of new credit you've taken out recently, and how wide a mix of different types of credit you have outstanding.

• [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 Fair Isaac (NYSE: FICO  ) , whose recent revenue and earnings are plotted below.

Hot Companies To Invest In Right Now: Mapfre SA (MAP)

Mapfre SA is a Spain-based holding company active in the insurance industry. It provides insurance services to businesses, professionals and individuals. The range of the Company�� products and services includes insurance policies of direct life, property and casualty, health, automotive and third party liability, among others. In addition, Mapfre SA is active in the management of pension funds, retirement plans and investment funds, as well as the provision of healthcare services in Spain. The Company is a parent of Grupo Mapfre, which comprises a number of entities active in the insurance, reinsurance, financial and real estate sectors with operations established worldwide. The Company operates such subsidiaries as Mapfre Familiar, Mapfre Vida, Mapfre Emperesas, MSG Portugal, Mapfre America, Mapfre Internatcional, Mapfre Re, Mapfre Global Risks and Mapfre Asistencia, among others. Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Tom Stoukas]

  Mapfre SA (MAP) slid 3.1 percent to 2.67 euros. Bankia SA sold a 12 percent stake, or 369.6 million shares, in Spain�� biggest insurer.

  Centrica Slides

  Centrica Plc (CNA), the largest energy supplier to U.K. homes, lost 2.3 percent to 366.9 pence. JPMorgan Chase & Co. downgraded the shares to neutral from overweight, citing proposals from Britain�� Labour Party to freeze energy bills and break up the country�� six biggest power suppliers.