Hot Energy Companies To Invest In Right Now

There's an enormous amount of buzz surrounding the oil-production explosion in the Bakken shale formation in North Dakota. But in this video, Motley Fool energy analysts Joel South and Taylor Muckerman call to investors' attention the fact that this explosive growth is slowing, and that there might be newer, more exciting plays. Joel discusses a more recent area of enormous growth, the Eagle Ford formation in Texas, and gives investors a few advantages that this area has over the Bakken, including cheaper drilling and higher takeaway capacity resulting from a more robust pipeline infrastructure in the area. He then gives us his picks for which companies could make the best investments for those looking to capitalize on Eagle Ford oil.

There are many different ways to play the energy sector, and The Motley Fool's analysts have uncovered an under-the-radar company that's dominating its industry. This company is a leading provider of equipment and components used in drilling and production operations and is poised to profit in a big way from it. To get the name and detailed analysis of this company that will prosper for years to come, check out the special free report: "The Only Energy Stock You'll Ever Need." Don't miss out on this limited-time offer and your opportunity to discover this company before the market does. Click here to access your report -- it's totally free.

Hot Energy Companies To Invest In Right Now: New Energy Technologies Inc (NENE)

New Energy Technologies, Inc., incorporated on May 5, 1998, is a development-stage company. The Company is engaged in renewable and alternative energy business. The Company conducts its operations through two wholly owned subsidiaries: Kinetic Energy Corporation (KEC), Sungen Energy, Inc. and New Energy Solar Corporation (New Energy Solar). The Company focuses on the development of two technologies: MotionPower Technology for capturing the kinetic energy of moving vehicles to generate electricity, and SolarWindow Technology, which enables see-through glass windows to generate electricity by spraying glass surfaces with its electricity-generating coatings to their glass surface. It has filed 10 patent applications for inventions related to its MotionPower Technology and one for its SolarWindow Technology. As of June 21, 2012, it had no commercial products. As of June 21, 2012, the Company had no revenues.

SolarWindow

The Company�� SolarWindow products in development are designed to generate electricity on glass while remaining see-through. It has six product development goals for its SolarWindow technology: SolarWindow - Commercial, which is a flat glass product for installation in new commercial towers under construction and replacement windows; SolarWindow - Structural Glass, which is a structural glass walls and curtains for tall structures; SolarWindow - Architectural Glass, which is a textured and decorative interior glass walls and room dividers; SolarWindow - Residential, which is a window glass for installation in residential homes under construction and replacement windows; SolarWindow - Flex , which is a film which may be applied directly onto glass, similar to aftermarket window tint films, for retrofit to existing commercial towers, buildings, and residential homes; and SolarWindow - BIPV, which is a building product components associated with building-integrated-photovoltaic (BIPV) applications in homes, buildings, and office towers.

MotionPower

MotionPower products are designed to generate electricity from the capture and conversion of available kinetic energy into electricity, which is present in vehicles which are slowing down before stopping. It is developing three MotionPower products: MotionPower - Heavy, which is a fluid-driven, system with limited moving mechanical components for installation at sites where big rigs, such as tractor trailers, buses, and commercial vehicles are traveling at below 15 miles per hour and are in the process of slowing down; MotionPower - Auto, which is a fluid-driven, system similar to MotionPower - Heavy for installation at sites where cars and light-duty trucks, such as sport utility vehicles and automobiles, are traveling at below 15 miles per hour and are in the process of slowing down; and MotionPower - Express, which is a mechanical system for installation at sites where all cars, light-duty trucks, motor homes, buses, big rigs, and commercial vehicles are traveling faster than 15 miles per hour and are in the process of slowing down.

The Company competes with Konarka Technologies, Inc., XsunX, Inc. and Sharp Corporation.

Hot Energy Companies To Invest In Right Now: ENSCO plc(ESV)

Ensco plc, together with its subsidiaries, provides offshore contract drilling services to the oil and gas industry. The company engages in the drilling of offshore oil and natural gas wells by providing its drilling rigs and crews under contracts with international, government-owned, and independent oil and gas companies. As of February 15, 2010, it owned and operated 42 jackup rigs, 4 ultra-deepwater semisubmersible rigs, and 1 barge rig. The company also has 4 ultra-deepwater semisubmersible rigs under construction. It operates in Asia, the Middle East, Australia, New Zealand, Europe, Africa, and North and South America. The company was formerly known as Ensco International plc and changed its name to Ensco plc in March 2010. Ensco plc was founded in 1975 and is based in London, the United Kingdom.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Chris Hill]

  In this segment, Jason and Taylor tell investors why they'll be watching shares of Transocean (NYSE: RIG  ) , Ensco (NYSE: ESV  ) and McDonald's (NYSE: MCD  ) this week.

• [By John Buckingham, Chief Investment Officer, Al Frank Asset Management, Inc. (AFAM)]

  Ensco PLC (ESV) is the world's second largest offshore driller. The firm operates across six continents with one of the newest jackup and deepwater fleets in the contract drilling industry.

• [By Double Dividend Stocks]

  London-based Ensco plc, (ESV), provides offshore contract drilling services to the oil and gas industry worldwide, and operates a drilling rig fleet of approximately 74 rigs, including 9 drill ships, 13 dynamically positioned semisubmersible rigs, 6 moored semisubmersible rigs, and 46 jackup rigs. ESV currently has the world's second largest offshore rig fleet, behind only Transocean, which has 95 rigs, and just ahead of Noble, (NE), which has 73 rigs. Ensco has the newest fleet of Ultradeepwater rigs, with 3, and, has 4 more on order, which are already contracted.

Top 5 Canadian Companies For 2014: DAQQ New Energy Corp.(DQ)

Daqo New Energy Corp., together with its subsidiaries, manufactures and sells polysilicon in China. The company sells its polysilicon to photovoltaic product manufacturers for use in the processing of ingots, wafers, cells and modules for solar power solutions. It also produces and sells mono-crystalline and multi-crystalline modules to photovoltaic system integrators and distributors in China and internationally under its Daqo brand. The company was formerly known as Mega Stand International Limited and changed its name to Daqo New Energy Corp. in August 2009. Daqo New Energy Corp. was founded in 2006 and is headquartered Wanzhou, the People?s Republic of China.

Hot Energy Companies To Invest In Right Now: Euro FX(P)

Ecopetrol S.A. operates as an integrated oil company in Colombia, Peru, Brazil, and the U.S. Gulf Coast. The company engages in the exploration, development, and production of crude oil and natural gas. As of December 31, 2010, its proved reserves of crude oil and natural gas consisted of 1,714.0 million barrels of oil equivalent. The company also transports crude oil, motor fuels, fuel oil, and other refined products, as well as mixture of diesel and palm oil. It owns transportation network consisting of 3,003 kilometers of crude oil pipeline directly, as well as an additional 2,178 kilometers of crude oil pipeline with its business partners; and 3,017 kilometers of multi-purpose pipelines for transportation of refined products from refinery to wholesale distribution points. As of the above date, Ecopetrol S.A. owned 58 stations with a nominal storage capacity of 19 million barrels of crude oil and 6 million barrels of refined products. In addition, the company owns and o perates refineries that produce a range of refined products, including gasoline, diesel, kerosene, jet fuel, aviation fuel, liquefied petroleum gas, sulfur, heavy fuel oils, motor fuels, and petrochemicals, including paraffin waxes, lube base oils, low-density polyethylene, aromatics, asphalts, alkylates, cyclohexane and aliphatic solvents, and refinery grade propylene, as well as provides industrial services to third parties. Further, it markets various refined and feed stock products, including regular and high octane gasoline, diesel fuel, jet fuel, natural gas, and petrochemical products. The company was formerly known as Empresa Colombiana de Petroleos and changed its name to Ecopetrol S.A. in June 2003. Ecopetrol S.A. was founded in 1948 and is based in Bogota, Colombia.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Steve Symington]

  What: Shares of Pandora Media (NYSE: P  ) fell by more than 13% during intraday trading Friday after the Internet radio specialist reported mixed second-quarter earnings.

• [By Holly LaFon]

  A short-term cycle, (which is commonly called the business cycle), arises from a) the rate of growth in spending (i.e. total $ funded by the rates of growth in money and credit) being faster than the rate of growth in the capacity to produce (i.e. total Q) leading to price (P) increases until b) the rate of growth in spending is curtailed by tight money and credit, at which time a recession occurs. In other words, a recession is an economic contraction that is due to a contraction in private sector debt growth arising from tight central bank policy (usually to fight inflation), which ends when the central bank eases. Recessions end when central banks lower interest rates to stimulate demand for goods and services and the credit growth that finances these purchases, because lower interest rates 1) reduce debt service costs; 2) lower monthly payments (defacto, the costs) of items bought on credit, which stimulates the demand for them; and 3) raise the prices of income-producing assets like stocks, bonds and real estate through the present value effect of discounting their expected cash flows at the lower interest rates, producing a "wealth effect" on spending. In contrast:

• [By Paul Ausick]

  Big earnings movers: Pandora Media Inc. (NYSE: P) is down 12.9% at $18.90 after a decent earnings reports was spoiled by a weak outlook<<LINK>>. Net 1 UEPS Technologies Inc. (NASDAQ: UEPS) is up 46.6% at $10.69 after beating estimates on EPS and revenues, raising its outlook for the third quarter, and posting a new 52-week high of $11.20. Aeropostale Inc. (NYSE: ARO) is down 20.2% at $8.76, following a new 52-week low of $8.66, after a big earnings miss.

• [By Monica Gerson]

  Pandora Media (NYSE: P) surged 3.57% to $26.56. The volume of Pandora shares traded was 554% higher than normal. Pandora priced an underwritten public offering of 18,200,000 shares of its common stock at a price of $25.00 per share.

Hot Energy Companies To Invest In Right Now: IHS Inc. (IHS)

IHS Inc. (IHS), incorporated on May 5, 1994, is a source of information and insight in areas, such as energy and power; design and supply chain; defense, risk, and security; environment, health and safety (EHS) and sustainability; country and industry forecasting, and commodities, pricing, and cost. The Company is organized by geographies into three business segments: Americas, which includes the United States, Canada, and Latin America; EMEA, which includes Europe, the Middle East, and Africa, and APAC (Asia Pacific). IHS sources data and transforms it into information and insight that businesses, Governments, and others use every day to make decisions. Its product development teams have also created Web services and application interfaces. These services allow its customers to integrate the Company�� information with other data, business processes and applications (computer-aided design, enterprise resource planning, supply chain management, and product data/lifecycle management). The Company develops its offerings based on its customers' workflows, and it sells and delivers them into the industries in which IHS�� customers operate. As of November 30, 2011, HIS focused on five customer workflows: strategy, planning, and analysis; energy technical; product engineering; supply chain, and EHS & sustainability. As of November 30, 2011, it was focused on six verticals: energy and natural resources; Government, defense and security; chemicals; transportation; manufacturing, and technology, media, and telecommunications. In March 2012, the Company acquired Displaybank, a global authority in market research and consulting for the display industry; the Computer Assisted Product Selection (CAPSTM) electronic components database and tools business, including CAPS Expert, from PartMiner Worldwide, and the digital oil and gas pipeline and infrastructure information business from Hild Technology Services. In March 2012, the Company acquired IMS Research. In March 2012, the Company acquired BDW Automotive GmbH. I! n May 2012, it acquired Xedar Corporation, a developer and provider of geospatial information products and services. In July 2012, the Company acquired CyberRegs business from Citation Technologies, Inc. In July 2012, the Company acquired GlobalSpec, Inc. On April 16, 2011, IHS acquired ODS-Petrodata (Holdings) Ltd. ODS-Petrodata is a provider of data, information, and market intelligence to the offshore energy industry. On April 26, 2011, it acquired Dyadem International, Ltd. (Dyadem). Dyadem offers operational risk management and quality risk management solutions. On May 2, 2011, the Company acquired Chemical Market Associates, Inc. (CMAI). CMAI is a leading provider of market and business advisory services for the worldwide petrochemical, specialty chemicals, fertilizer, plastics, fibers, and chlor-alkali industries. On August 10, 2011, the Company acquired Seismic Micro-Technology (SMT). SMT offers Windows-based exploration and production software, and its solutions are used by geoscientists worldwide to evaluate potential reservoirs and plan field development. On November 10, 2011, it acquired Purvin & Gertz. Purvin & Gertz is a global advisory and market research firm that provides technical, commercial, and strategic advice to international clients in the petroleum refining, natural gas, natural gas liquids, crude oil and petrochemical industries. Energy and Power IHS covers the technical and economic spectrum of energy and power. Detailed records and forecasts on oil, gas and coal supplies, combined with insights on traditional and emerging energy markets, help enable its customers to make decisions. Its offerings include production information on more than 90 % of the world's oil and gas production in more than 100 countries; oil and gas well data that includes geological information on more than four million current and historic wells worldwide; energy activity data that includes current and future seismic, drilling and development activities in more than 180 countries and 335 hydrocarbon-producing regions worldwide; information and research to develop unconventional hydrocarbon resources-shale gas, coal bed methane and heavy oil; knowledge of energy markets, strategies, industry trends, and companies; information and research summits, such as IHS CERAWeek and the IHS Herold Pacesetters Energy Conference, which offer decision makers the opportunity to interact with its experts, and critical information about analysis of coal, nuclear and renewables, including wind, solar, and hydro power. The Company competes with DrillingInfo, Inc., TGS-NOPEC Geophysical Company, Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Limited, Accenture, Deloitte, Wood Mackenzie, Ltd., Schlumberger Limited, Halliburton, LMKR and Paradigm Ltd. Design and Supply Chain IHS Design and Supply Chain solutions provide information for customers that allow them to manage a product from conception to research and development to production, maintenance and disposal. It also provides companies access to specifications and standards. The Company�� offerings include market and technology research and analysis; standards management solutions, including more than 370 commercial and military standards and specification publishing organizations; advanced product design and process engineering; strategic product content and supply chain management; environmentally compliant product design; counterfeit part risk mitigation; product performance and cost optimization, and indirect parts and maintenance, repair, and operations logistics, inventory and cash flow optimization tables, including wind, solar, and hydro power. The Company competes with SAI Global and Thomson Reuters Corporation. Defense, Risk and Security IHS delivers open source intelligence in the areas of global defense, risk, and security, including maritime domain awareness. IHS offers open source intelligence solutions for military planners, national security analysts, and defense and maritime industry strategy and planning professionals. The Company�� offerings include military and national security assessments; defense equipment and technology information; defense budgets and procurement forecasting; defense industry trends and analysis; terrorism and insurgency analysis; global commercial ship identification and specifications; live tracking of commercial ship movements; shipping and shipbuilding markets and forecasts, and ports and port security information. The Company competes with McGraw-Hill, Gannett, Forecast International and Control Risks Group. EHS and Sustainability IHS EHS and Sustainability solutions support critical decisions around environmental, health and safety, operational risk, greenhouse gas and energy, product stewardship and corporate responsibility. The Company�� offerings include global and local software implementations; material compliance and lifecycle information content; strategic planning services in greenhouse gas management and cap-and-trade; compliance and verification expertise for local, regional, national, and international EHS and sustainability management system responsibilities, and risk management assessment across a range of industries. The Company competes with SAP and Verisk. Country and Industry Forecasting IHS delivers detailed forecasts and analysis of economic conditions within political, economic, legal, tax, operational, and security environments worldwide. Additionally, IHS provides forecasts, market-sizing, and risk assessments for a number of industries worldwide, including aerospace and defense, agriculture, automotive, chemicals, construction, consumer and retail, energy, finance, government, healthcare and pharmaceutical, military and security, mining and metals, commerce and transport, and telecommunications. Its offerings include in-depth analysis of the business conditions, economic prospects, and risks in more than 200 countries and more than 170 industries; security risk analysis and daily updates on both Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) and sovereign risk ratings in more than 200 countries; event-driven updates of its risk analysis and ratings; short-, medium- and long-term forecasts for business planning and decision making; historical information since 1970; Deep market intelligence for the automotive, agriculture, chemicals, construction, consumer goods, commerce and transport, energy, financial, healthcare and pharmaceutical, telecommunications, and steel industries; and scenario explorations examining alternative outcomes to the questions impacting global business. The Company competes with Economist Intelligence Unit and Moody's Corporation. Commodities, Pricing and Cost IHS offers information, forecasts, and analysis to help its customers understand the how, when, and what of commodity prices and labor costs. IHS analysts monitor and forecast more than 1,300 global price, wage, and manufacturing costs across the regions for sectors, including energy products, chemicals, steel, nonferrous metals, industrial machinery and equipment, electronic components, paper and packaging, transportation, and building materials. Its offerings include analysis and forecasts for more than 1,300 global price, wage, and manufacturing costs; market intelligence of drivers, assumptions, and risks relating to commodity and service prices; cost and price data with actionable insights; forecasts covering global spot market prices, wages, and material costs; advisory forums to assist in monitoring, forecasting, and managing power and energy portfolio project costs, and consulting capabilities that enable clients to source materials.

Hot Energy Companies To Invest In Right Now: El Paso Corporation(EP)

El Paso Corporation operates in the natural gas transmission, and exploration and production sectors of the energy industry primarily in the United States. It offers natural gas transmission services to a range of customers, including natural gas producers, marketers, and end-users, as well as other natural gas transmission, distribution, and electric generation companies through its interests in approximately 43,100 miles of interstate pipeline system. The company also operates approximately 240 billion cubic feet of storage capacity, and an LNG receiving terminal in Elba Island, Georgia. In addition, El Paso Corporation focuses on the exploration, acquisition, development, and production of natural gas, oil, and natural gas liquids in the United States, Brazil, and Egypt, as well as engages in midstream business. The company primarily sells its domestic natural gas and oil to third parties. As of December 31, 2010, it had proved natural gas and oil reserves of approximat ely 3.4 trillion cubic feet of natural gas equivalents. The company was founded in 1928 and is based in Houston, Texas.

Dividend Challengers: 22 Increases Expected By November 30

In compiling the Dividend Champions list I get to see which companies are nearing the anniversaries of their previous dividend increases. Since most of these firms raise their payout about the same time every year, I can say with some confidence that they are likely to do so again. I have modified the Expected Increase series to reflect a more SA-friendly format by separating the Champions (25 or more years of higher dividends), Contenders (10-24 years), and Challengers (5-9 years) into distinct groupings, so please look for the other articles, which I hope will be published about the same time.

Dividend Growth Continues to Accelerate

As mentioned last month, the quicker pace entering the autumn months is accelerating as we enter the fourth quarter of the year. (Next month, we'll see some December anniversaries that represent "accelerated" payments - prompted by last year's tax-hike fears - that may appear as "delays," but are actually a return to a more normal schedule.) The table below coincides with the usual "forward look" of about 11 weeks for this article.

Based on last year's announcements, I'm expecting the following companies to announce dividend increases between now and the anniversary of the Ex-Dividend Date of their previous increase:

Dividend Challengers (5-9 years):

Company	Ticker	No.	8/30	Div.	MR%	LY	Ann.
Name	Symbol	Yrs	Price	Yield	Inc.	Ex-Div	Div.
Farmers and Merchants	(FMAO.OB)	9	21.25	3.76	5.26	9/28/12	0.80
Inmarsat plc	(IMASF.PK)	8	10.71	! 3.91	10.00	10/3/12	0.42
Accenture plc	(ACN)	8	72.25	2.24	20.00	10/4/12	1.62
Covidien plc	(COV)	6	59.40	1.75	15.56	10/9/12	1.04
Pall Corp.	(PLL)	8	69.14	1.45	19.05	10/10/12	1.00
Yum! Brands Inc.	(YUM)	9	70.02	1.91	17.54	10/10/12	1.34
A. Schulman Inc.	(SHLM)	5	26.96	2.89	2.63	10/17/12	0.78
Senior Housing Properties	(SNH)	9	22.75	6.86	2.63	10/18/12	1.56
ConAgra Foods Inc.	(CAG)	6	33.82	2.96	4.17	10/29/12	1.00
Techne Corp.	(TECH)	5	77.51	1.55	7.14	11/1/12	1.20
High Country Bancorp Inc.	(HCBC)	5	29.50	4.75	27.27	11/7/12	1.40
NuStar GP Holdings LLC	(NSH)	7	23.69	9.20	6.86	11/7/12	2.18
Hickory Tech Corp.	(HTCO)	5	10.02 !	! 5.79	3.57	11/13/12	0.58
Kroger Company	(KR)	7	36.60	1.64	30.43	11/13/12	0.60
Visa Inc.	(V)	6	174.42	0.76	50.00	11/14/12	1.32
AmerisourceBergen Corp.	(ABC)	8	56.92	1.48	61.54	11/15/12	0.84
Tim Hortons Inc.	(THI)	7	54.79	1.54	23.46	11/26/12	0.84
DeVry Inc.	(DV)	7	30.01	1.13	13.33	11/28/12	0.34
Evercore Partners Inc.	(EVR)	6	44.59	1.97	10.00	11/28/12	0.88
American Equity Investment	(AEL)	9	19.81	0.76	25.00	11/29/12	0.15
Orange County Bancorp	(OCBI)	5	39.90	3.81	5.56	11/29/12	1.52
Suncor Energy Inc.	(SU)	7	33.87	1.48	14.68	11/29/12	0.50

MR=Most Recent; LY=Last Year

Note that there are a number of foreign companies above that trade as ADRs (American Depository Receipts), so potential investors should consider tax withholding and currency exchange, in addition to the possibility of an ! irregular! dividend schedule. Among the Contenders and Challengers there are also about two dozen MLPs (Master Limited Partnerships) that typically increase their distributions on a quarterly basis, which they would typically announce in late October and pay in early November. Not all of the above companies will meet the strict standards of every investor, but some may be appropriate for portfolio diversification. Potential investors should do more research before committing funds.

Every Picture Tells a Story

As a bonus, I'm inserting one of Chuck Carnevale's F.A.S.T. Graphs below, highlighting one of the companies listed above. When the stock's price line has moved into the green area, it indicates that the stock is undervalued in relation to its earnings. I'm attaching the chart below.

(click to enlarge)

Source: Dividend Challengers: 22 Increases Expected By November 30

Disclosure: I am long YUM, CAG. I wrote this article myself, and it expresses my own opinions. I am not receiving compensation for it (other than from Seeking Alpha). I have no business relationship with any company whose stock is mentioned in this article. (More...)

Best Growth Companies To Buy For 2014

On Jul 11, 2013, the shares of Humana Inc. (HUM) reached a new 52-week high of $86.50. The momentum was driven by the company�� fundamental strength, including higher earnings and Medicare coverage, strong financials, sturdy ratings and an efficient inorganic growth strategy.

Humana has maintained a strong cash and short-term investment position over the past several years. The strong cash position enabled the company to increase its quarterly dividend by 3.85% in Apr 2013, after a 4% dividend hike in Apr 2012.

Moreover, Humana�� individual Medicare stand-alone prescription drugs plan membership has been increasing over the past few years, driven by strategic alliances and competitive pricing. It grew 17.5% in 2012 and 8.9% in the first quarter of 2013. For 2013, the company expects it to increase by 170,000��90,000.

Best Growth Companies To Buy For 2014: Eastern Insurance Holdings Inc.(EIHI)

Eastern Insurance Holdings, Inc., through its subsidiaries, provides workers compensation insurance and reinsurance products in the United States. The company?s Workers Compensation Insurance segment provides traditional workers compensation insurance coverage products, including guaranteed cost policies, policyholder dividend policies, retrospectively-rated policies, deductible policies, and alternative market products to employers. This segment distributes its workers? compensation products and services through its independent insurance agents primarily in Pennsylvania, Delaware, North Carolina, Maryland, Indiana, and Virginia. Its Segregated Portfolio Cell Reinsurance segment offers alternative market workers compensation solutions comprising program design, fronting, claims administration, risk management, segregated portfolio cell rental, asset management, and segregated portfolio management services to individual companies, groups, and associations. Eastern Insurance Holdings, Inc. is headquartered in Lancaster, Pennsylvania.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Lauren Pollock]

  ProAssurance Corp.(PRA) agreed to acquire Eastern Insurance Holdings Inc.(EIHI) for about $205 million, expanding the insurance company’s casualty insurance offerings. Eastern Insurance is a domestic casualty insurance group specializing in workers’ compensation products and services, among other things. ProAssurance plans to pay $24.50 in cash for each outstanding Eastern share, a 16% premium over Monday’s closing price.

Best Growth Companies To Buy For 2014: Crocs Inc.(CROX)

Crocs, Inc. and its subsidiaries engage in the design, development, manufacture, marketing, and distribution of footwear, apparel, and accessories for men, women, and children. The company primarily offers casual and athletic shoes, and shoe charms. It also designs and sells a range of footwear and accessories that utilize its proprietary closed cell-resin, called Croslite. The company?s footwear products include boots, sandals, sneakers, mules, and flats. In addition, it provides footwear products for the hospital, restaurant, hotel, and hospitality markets, as well as general foot care and diabetic-needs markets. Further, the company offers leather and ethylene vinyl acetate based footwear, sandals, and printed apparels principally for the beach, adventure, and action sports markets; and accessories comprising snap-on charms. The company sells its products through the United States and international retailers and distributors, as well as directly to end-user consumers th rough its company-operated retail stores, outlets, kiosks, and Web stores primarily under the Crocs Work, Crocs Rx, Jibbitz, Ocean Minded, and YOU by Crocs brand names. As of December 31, 2010, it operated 164 retail kiosks located in malls and other high foot traffic areas; 138 retail stores; 76 outlet stores; and 46 Web stores. Crocs, Inc. operates in the Americas, Europe, and Asia. The company was formerly known as Western Brands, LLC and changed its name to Crocs, Inc. in January 2005. Crocs, Inc. was founded in 1999 and is headquartered in Niwot, Colorado.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Matt Brownell]

  AOL When we spoke to Crocs (CROX) CEO John McCarvel back in January, we couldn't help but notice his choice of footwear: He wasn't wearing Crocs. But we couldn't really hold it against him. McCarvel was in town to accept an innovator award from the National Retail Federation, and Crocs didn't really make anything appropriate for the occasion. You can't wear Crocs with a suit, right? Well, that's not entirely true. As it turns out, Crocs now offers a number of shoes that are a bit more on the dressy side. They've got loafers, for instance, which could work at the country club. And for the office they've got the "Tummler" shoe, which combines the molded rubber clogs with a black leather slip-on dress shoe. As the website explains, it's meant to be a "work shoe you can live with." Around the same time we came across the Crocs dress shoe, we also became aware of another product that tries to combine stay-at-home comfort with office-appropriate wear: Dress pants-style sweatpants. These have all the comfort and warmth of a pair of sweatpants, but are designed like a pair of dress slacks, complete with back pockets, belt loops and pinstripes. Together, the Crocs dress shoes and sweatpants dress pants suggest a new paradigm for office wear: Dressy enough to pass muster with your boss, but comfortable enough that you can feel like you're having a pajama day working from home. But could you really pull this off in an office environment? To find out, I got a pair of each, then put them on and headed down to the offices of StyleList, Aol's fashion experts. I modeled my office wear for a panel of three StyleList editors: Ellen Thomas, Logan Sowa and Abby Silverman. Their first reaction was telling -- two of them didn't realize that I'd actually changed into the sweatpants. That, I thought, meant that I could get away with wearing sweatpants without anyone noticing. But on closer inspection, doubts started to emerge. "I don't think I'll ever be inclined to think this is

10 Best Cheap Stocks To Own For 2014: Nordstrom Inc.(JWN)

Nordstrom, Inc., a fashion specialty retailer, offers apparel, shoes, cosmetics, and accessories for women, men, and children in the United States. It offers a selection of brand name and private label merchandise. The company sells its products through various channels, including Nordstrom full-line stores, off-price Nordstrom Rack stores, Jeffrey? boutiques, treasure & bond, and Last Chance clearance stores; and its online store, nordstrom.com, as well as through catalog. Nordstrom also provides a private label card, two Nordstrom VISA credit cards, and a debit card for Nordstrom purchases. The company?s credit and debit cards feature a shopping-based loyalty program. As of September 30, 2011, it operated 222 stores, including 117 full-line stores, 101 Nordstrom Racks, 2 Jeffrey boutiques, 1 treasure & bond store, and 1 clearance store in 30 states. The company was founded in 1901 and is based in Seattle, Washington.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Marshall Hargrave]

  Worth noting is that the average remaining tenure for the Calvin Klein licenses is eight to nine years. Other tailwinds for GIII include:

  The team sports business is now a $100 million business and was nonexistent 5 years ago. Sales makeup is 50% sportswear and 50% coats. We see this business continuing to grow as the overall popularity of sports teams continues.Dresses from Eliza J continue to be a top seller at Nordstrom's (JWN) and other high-end retailers.Ivanka Trump showrooms will be opening in Q4. The line will be launching dresses, suit separates and swimwear.The biggest business for GIII remains outerwear and the company started shipping product at the end of Q2. GIII has approximately 30 licensed, owned and private label brands and a covers the entire spectrum of retailers from mass market to luxury.Vilebrequin was acquired in August of last year and the addition helped grow non-licensed revenues to $70 million in Q2 compared to $48 million last year without Vilebrequin. Vilebrequin sells swimwear, resort wear and related accessories through a network of company-owned and franchised shops. To grow Vilebrequin, the company will be adding footwear to its shops, in particular flip-flops in all of the stores by November. The company is planning to grow Vilebrequin's presence in the U.S. and has been adding buildouts in key department stores. Furthermore, Vilebrequin's e-commerce site should be live in the next 60 days.

  GIII's entry into the footwear market is well in line with its long-term plans to become a men's and women's head-to-toe apparel maker.

• [By Ben Levisohn]

  The day’s winners include Nordstrom (JWN), which gained 3.4% to $60.79 and is scheduled to report earnings on Thursday, and Mosaic (MOS), which jumped 3.2% to $43.85 and continued its strong showing following a Friday upgrade.

Best Growth Companies To Buy For 2014: Intuitive Surgical Inc.(ISRG)

Intuitive Surgical, Inc. designs, manufactures, and markets da Vinci surgical systems for various surgical procedures, including urologic, gynecologic, cardiothoracic, general, and head and neck surgeries. Its da Vinci surgical system consists of a surgeon?s console or consoles, a patient-side cart, a 3-D vision system, and proprietary ?wristed? instruments. The company?s da Vinci surgical system translates the surgeon?s natural hand movements on instrument controls at the console into corresponding micro-movements of instruments positioned inside the patient through small puncture incisions, or ports. It also manufactures a range of EndoWrist instruments, which incorporate wrist joints for natural dexterity for various surgical procedures. Its EndoWrist instruments consist of forceps, scissors, electrocautery, scalpels, and other surgical tools. In addition, it sells various vision and accessory products for use in conjunction with the da Vinci Surgical System as surgical procedures are performed. The company?s accessory products include sterile drapes used to ensure a sterile field during surgery; vision products, such as replacement 3-D stereo endoscopes, camera heads, light guides, and other items. It markets its products through sales representatives in the United States, and through sales representatives and distributors in international markets. The company was founded in 1995 and is headquartered in Sunnyvale, California.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By John Udovich]

  Yesterday, small cap medical robotics stock MAKO Surgical Corp (NASDAQ: MAKO) soared 82.19% after it was announced that Stryker Corporation (NYSE: SYK) would acquire it���meaning it might be time to take a closer look at large cap medical robotics leader Intuitive Surgical, Inc (NASDAQ: ISRG) along with small caps Accuray Incorporated (NASDAQ: ARAY) and Hansen Medical, Inc (NASDAQ: HNSN). MAKO Surgical Corp�markets both its RIO Robotic Arm Interactive Orthopedic System and proprietary RESTORIS family of implants to surgeons for a procedure called MAKOplastythat provides a less invasive method for knee resurfacing and a new procedure for Total Hip Arthroplasty.�Stryker Corporation, whose medical technologies include reconstructive, medical and surgical, and neurotechnology and spine products, agreed to pay $1.65 billion or $30 a share for a massive 86%�premium for MAKO Surgical Corp. That�� sounds great for investors unless you are an investor who go in the stock back in 2011 and early 2012 when shares hit as high as the�$43 level.

• [By Joseph Hogue]

  Enter Intuitive Surgical (Nasdaq: ISRG) and Da Vinci, a robotic arm that allows surgeons to operate with just a single incision less than an inch in size.

• [By Holly LaFon] tive Surgical is the maker of the da Vinci Surgical System, a breakthrough in robotic-assisted minimally invasive surgery. It provides technology and procedural innovation across cardiac, thoracic, urology, gynecologic, colorectal, pediatric and general surgical disciplines and allows patients to recover in record time.

  In the last year, this fast-growing company�� stock has surged 66% to $529.54. Its revenue over the last ten years has grown at a rate of 38%, and it grew 24.5% last year with 72.5% gross profit and 39.5% operating margin. The company expects fiscal 2012 revenue growth of 17-19%.

  The da Vinci System is new technology first introduced to market in July 2000 after the US FDA approved it for laparoscopic surgery. Its new S model was released in April 2009. Already there are more than 1,933 systems installed in over 1,560 hospitals worldwide.

  Apple Inc. (AAPL)

  Apple Inc. is the maker of popular consumer products such as the Mac, iPod, iPhone and iPad. Its stock has famously increased 569% over the past five years to hit a record of $600 per share last week. Apple has split its stock 2 for 1 three times in the past on June 15, 1987, June 21, 2000 and February 28, 2005. CEO Tim Cook said as recently as this morning that the company saw little reason to that a split would help the stock but if it was in the best interest of shareholder the company would have one. The company also announced this morning that it would initiate a $2.65 per share quarterly dividend and buy back up to $10 billion of its common stock.

  In the last ten years, Apple�� annual growth rate for revenue was 34.5%, EBITDA 112.4% and book value 36.3%. Free cash flow increased 11% in the last five years and 58% in the last year. The rapidly growing company still has a relatively low P/E ratio of 16.68.

  Google Inc. Cl A (GOOG)

  Google Inc. is the search engine company founded in 1998 that has expanded to offer dozens of advertising and web ser

Best Growth Companies To Buy For 2014: Sara Lee Corporation(SLE)

Sara Lee Corporation engages in the manufacture and marketing of a range of branded packaged meat, bakery, and beverage products worldwide. Its packaged meat products include hot dogs and corn dogs, breakfast sausages, sandwiches and bowls, smoked and dinner sausages, premium deli and luncheon meats, bacon, beef, turkey, and cooked ham. It also offers frozen baked products, which comprise frozen pies, cakes, cheesecakes, pastries, and other desserts. In addition, Sara Lee provides roast, ground, and liquid coffee; cappuccinos; lattes; and hot and iced teas, as well as refrigerated dough products. The company sells its products under Hillshire Farm, Ball Park, Jimmy Dean, Sara Lee, State Fair, Douwe Egberts, Senseo, Maison du Caf

Best Growth Companies To Buy For 2014: CNO Financial Group Inc. (CNO)

CNO Financial Group, Inc., through its subsidiaries, engages in the development, marketing, and administration of health insurance, annuity, individual life insurance, and other insurance products for senior and middle-income markets in the United States. The company markets and distributes Medicare supplement insurance, interest-sensitive and traditional life insurance, fixed annuities, and long-term care insurance products; Medicare advantage plans through a distribution arrangement with Humana Inc.; and Medicare Part D prescription drug plans through a distribution and reinsurance arrangement with Coventry Health Care. It also markets and distributes supplemental health, including specified disease, accident, and hospital indemnity insurance products; and life insurance to middle-income consumers at home and the worksite through independent marketing organizations and insurance agencies. In addition, the company markets primarily graded benefit and simplified issue life insurance products directly to customers through television advertising, direct mail, Internet, and telemarketing. It sells its products through career agents, independent producers, direct marketing, and sales managers. CNO Financial Group, Inc. has strategic alliances with Coventry and Humana. The company was formerly known as Conseco, Inc. and changed its name to CNO Financial Group, Inc. in May 2010. CNO Financial Group, Inc. was founded in 1979 and is headquartered in Carmel, Indiana.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By David Fried, Editor, The Buyback Letter]

  Insurance holding company CNO Financial Group (CNO) and its insurance subsidiaries��rincipally Bankers Life and Casualty Company, Washington National, and Colonial Penn Life Insurance Company��erve pre-retiree and retired Americans.

Best Growth Companies To Buy For 2014: TrueBlue Inc.(TBI)

TrueBlue, Inc. provides temporary blue-collar staffing services in the United States. It supplies on demand general labor to various industries under the Labor Ready brand; skilled labor to manufacturing and logistics industries under the Spartan Staffing brand; and trades people for commercial, industrial, and residential construction, and building and plant maintenance industries under the CLP Resources brand. The company also provides mechanics and technicians to the aviation maintenance, repair and overhaul, aerospace manufacturing, and assembly industries, as well as to other transportation industries under the Plane Techs brand; and temporary drivers to the transportation and distribution industries under the Centerline brand. It primarily serves small and medium-size businesses. The company was formerly known as Labor Ready, Inc. and changed its name to TrueBlue, Inc. in December 2007. TrueBlue, Inc. was founded in 1985 and is headquartered in Tacoma, Washington.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By idahansen]

  The entire demand labor industry should do well as the US Department of Labor just reported that 169,000 more jobs were added to the American economy. The more work there is, the more demand there is for the services of staffing solutions firms such as Labor SMART, Paychex (NASDAQ: PAYX), TrueBlue (NYSE: TBI), and Robert Half International (NYSE: RHI).

Best Growth Companies To Buy For 2014: Buffalo Wild Wings Inc.(BWLD)

Buffalo Wild Wings, Inc. engages in the ownership, operation, and franchise of restaurants in the United States. The company provides quick casual and casual dining services, as well as serves bottled beers, wines, and liquor. As of July 26, 2011, it had 773 Buffalo Wild Wings locations in 45 states in the United States, as well as in Canada. The company was founded in 1982 and is headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By AnnaLisa Kraft]

  A chicken-wing upstart
  But with success comes competition.�McDonald's (NYSE: MCD  ) is debuting its own Mighty Wings nationally, chicken wings seasoned similarly to Popeye's New Orleans style with cayenne and chili pepper. The huge quantity of wings that McDonald's will need likely driving up prices from $1.44 a pound most recently will of course, affect the entire space including Yum! Brands, AFCE, and chicken focused Buffalo Wild Wings (NASDAQ: BWLD  ) ��

• [By AlphaStreetResearch]

  Buffalo Wild Wings (BWLD) has been a hot growth stock, but this company has plenty of room to run higher as the firm continues to execute its domestic and international growth strategy. This is a company with huge potential in Restaurant and Services sector as the company's customer base continues to grow and remain loyal. Below is our introduction into its business model, it's strengths, and the buying opportunity that currently exists for Buffalo Wild Wings. Wall Street has not yet realized the full potential of this company as it continues to be seen as a seasonality play in this space. The company continues to prove this stigma wrong. The company has a market cap of $2.06 Billion and reports the next quarter on October 21, 2013. With this in mind, we value Buffalo Wild Wings at $123.00 by year-end of 2013 and $138.00 by May 1, 2014, an increase of 28% from current levels. We strongly feel that this company has the potential to see major upside over the next year and we could see the stock continue to run like Chipotle (CMG) or Panera (PNRA) in recent history. Dining and entertainment demand is growing and Buffalo Wild Wings continues to take market share, as the company has some of the best customer retention rates and average ticket sales in the sector. We will later highlight:

• [By CNBC]

  Tony Tribble, Invision/AP Forget about Bloomin' Onions or boneless wings, for many consumers, the choice of where to dine often comes down to a different factor: which restaurant has the best booze. "Alcoholic beverages can be a key driver of traffic, differentiation, and loyalty," said David Decker, president of Consumer Edge Insight. According to the firm, two factors that keep customers coming back are "selection" and "pricing." Consumer Edge Insight recently surveyed restaurant customers to find out which casual-dining spots generated the most loyalty with their alcoholic beverages. Taking the top spot for "selection" was Buffalo Wild Wings (BWLD), with 29 percent of those surveyed saying they were "most likely to visit it most often due to its good selection of alcoholic beverages." Applebee's (DIN) took the second spot, with 24 percent, and Outback Steakhouse (BLMN) and T.G.I. Friday's tied for third place with 22 percent each. Prices also keep customers coming back to Buffalo Wild Wings. When asked which casual-dining brand they were "most likely to visit most often due to its good prices of alcoholic beverages," Buffalo Wild Wings came out on top with 30 percent. Chili's (EAT) was No. 2 at 23 percent, and Ruby Tuesday (RT) was third with 22 percent. Buffalo Wild Wings has always made alcohol a part of its experience, even making it part of its tagline: "Wings.Beer.Sports." The chain is the No. 1 account for more than 50 different beer brands and recently launched Game Changer, a new beer in a partnership with Redhook Brewery. Priced between cheaper domestic lagers and pricier craft beers, Game Changer became the fourth-most-popular draft beer at company-owned locations within two weeks of its release. "Among casual-dining restaurants, Buffalo Wild Wings is seeing the greatest positive effect in terms of building customer loyalty with its alcohol offerings," Decker said. "There are many steps other restaurants can take to improve their alcoho

• [By Michael Ugulini]

  Craft Brew Alliance and Buffalo Wild Wings (BWLD) are working together on a new beer brew called Game Changer. The company's Redhook has partnered with BWLD.

U.S. Stock Futures Inch Higher

U.S. stock futures inched higher following encouraging unemployment reports as the market attempted to stabilize after a recent string of losses amid growing worries about a government shutdown.

About 10 minutes ahead of the opening bell, Dow Jones Industrial Average futures advanced 37 points, or 0.24%, to 15,247. On Wednesday, the Dow fell 61 points, or 0.4%, for its fifth-straight loss.

S&P 500 index futures tacked on 4.75 points, or 0.28%, to 1,690 and Nasdaq-100 futures gained 17.25 points, or 0.5%, to 3,217. Changes in stock futures don’t always accurately predict stock moves after the opening bell.

U.S. markets have sold off for five consecutive days, shaken by the prospect of a government shutdown. Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew told Congress this week that the Treasury’s ability to borrow funds will be exhausted on Oct. 17.

The Labor Department announced that weekly jobless claims fell by 5,000 to 305,000, nearing a six year low. Economists had expected new applications for unemployment to jump to 330,000.

Meanwhile, U.S. GDP growth remained unchanged at 2.5% in the second quarter.

Pending home sales for August, due out at 10 a.m., are seen declining 1.5% on the month. And several Federal Reserve officials are speaking today.

The yield on the 10-year Treasury note ticked up to 2.65% from a six-week low of 2.615% late Wednesday.

November crude oil futures and September gold futures edged higher. The U.S. dollar gained ground against both the yen and the euro.

European markets slipped. And Asian markets were mixed. Japan’s Nikkei Stock Average rallied 1.2% to a two-month high, as a weakened yen helped lift exporter shares. Meanwhile, China’s Shanghai Composite fell 1.9%, as the euphoria over stocks linked to Shanghai’s proposed free-trade zone continued to fade.

In corporate news:

Hertz Global Holdings (HTZ) dove more than 11% to $23 after the car-rental company cuts its full year guidance. Hertz said it now projects adjusted per-share earnings of $1.68 to $1.78, down from guidance of $1.78 to $1.88 in February. Separately, the company announced Wednesday that it would now begin renting Tesla Motors (TSLA) models to customers in certain California airport locations

Initially down almost 7% in premarket action after Citigroup Deborah Weinswig lowered her price target to $1, J.C. Penney (JCP) regained ground on news it is mulling a $1 billion equity offering and said it will report positive third-quarter comps. At $10.03, the stock was off 0.9% in premarket trading.

The WSJ reports that J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. (JPM) is in talks for an $11 billion settlement with regulators over probes into mortgage-backed securities. The stock was up 0.6% to $52 in premarket action.

Drug maker Eli Lilly & Co. (LLY) fell 4.3% to $50.35 after announcing that its experimental cancer drug ramucirumab failed to meet its target in a large late-stage trial of breast-cancer patients, a setback in the company’s hopes that the agent will be effective against a wide range of tumors.

And after announcing fiscal second quarter earnings late Wednesday, Bed Bath & Beyond (BBBY) rose 5.9% to $78.60.

The Best Small Cap Online Trading Stock? FXCM, GCAP & IGEX

Small cap stocks FXCM Inc (NYSE: FXCM), Gain Capital Holdings Inc (NYSE: GCAP) and up and coming Indo Global Exchanges PteLtd (OTCMKTS: IGEX) all offer online trading platforms to retail or institutional traders and investors. Certainly if you have found yourself trading more lately or if markets become more volatile, trading platforms are going to be the big winners. With that in mind, here is a close look at these three small cap trading platform stocks: 

FXCM Inc. A global online provider of foreign exchange  trading and related services to retail and institutional customers world-wide, FXCM Inc offers mobile trading, one-click order execution and trading from real-time charts while its UK subsidiary (Forex Capital Markets Limited) also offers CFD products and allows clients to trade oil, gold, silver and stock indices along with forex on one platform. In addition, FXCM Inc offers educational courses on forex trading and provides free news and market research through DailyFX.com. After coming out with a positive article last year ("A Fast-Growing Money Machine"), Barron's had a slightly bearish article in the middle of August that said while prospects for the company still look favorable, it might be a good time to take profits as any downturn in currency volatility could send the shares lower. Barron's also noted another risk in that insiders own a significant stake in FXCM Inc with 69% of the holding units - which are convertible into class A stock. Around the same time, Citigroup analyst William Katz agreed that foreign exchange rates could become less volatile, but then the added that he believes FXCM Inc could report higher than expected 2014 profits if interest rates continue to rise. Otherwise and earlier this month, FXCM Inc reported August retail customer trading volume of $307 billion (21% lower than July 2013 and 13% higher than August 2012) and institutional customer trading volume of $210 billion (14% higher than July 2013 and 320% higher than August 2012). Investors may also want to take a look at the transcript (available on Seeking Alpha here) from the CFO's presentation at last week's Barclays Global Financial Services Conference. On Thursday, small cap FXCM Inc closed at $18.97 (FXCM has a 52 week trading range of $8.53 to $19.97 a share) for a market cap of $721.74 million plus the stock is ip 95.6% since the start of the year, up 93% over the past year and up 26.5% since December 2010.

Gain Capital Holdings Inc. A global provider of online trading services, Gain Capital Holdings businesses include FOREX.com, which provides retail traders around the world access to a variety of global OTC financial markets, including forex, precious metals and CFDs on commodities and indices; GTX, a fully independent FX ECN for hedge funds and institutions; and OEC, an online futures broker. On Tuesday, Gain Capital Holdings reported August retail OTC trading volume of $123.2 billion (a decrease of 13.1% from July 2013 and an increase of 30.9% from August 2012) and total institutional trading volume of $270.4 billion (a decrease of 23.2% from July 2013 and an increase of 66.4% from August 2012). In early August, Gain Capital Holdings reported that net revenues increased 59.7% to $73.0 million, EBITDA rose threefold, EBITDA margin reached 36.8% and net income more than tripled to $17.2 million with the CEO noting:

"We posted another quarter of positive results across all of our key operating metrics, ending the quarter with higher trading activity in our retail and institutional businesses, as well as a record level of client assets. Looking ahead to the remainder of the year, each of our business areas are well positioned to benefit from a continued improvement in market conditions."

On Thursday, small cap Gain Capital Holdings rose 8.57% to $11.15 (GCAP has a 52 week trading range of $3.86 to $11.20 a share) for a market cap of $398.72 million plus the stock is up 178.7% since the start of the year, up 143.4% over the past year and up 31.9% since December 2010.

Indo Global Exchanges PteLtd. Based in Indonesia with its population of 240,000,000, Indo Global Exchanges is one of the more interesting trading platform providers given its focus on the largely untapped Asian markets and its aim to become one of the world's foremost online global trading platforms. Specifically, Indo Global Exchanges provides comprehensive online trading platforms offering the following market access to the clients: Over 30 global equity exchanges for trading in securities; Over 30 global equity exchanges for trading in CFD's (Euro Zone, UK, Japan, Asia, Oceania, Canada and USA); Over 180 currency pairs in spot (Cash), forwards and options; Gold and Silver trading in spot (Cash), forwards and options; Global Commodity Futures exchanges including financial futures; and Indices and Commodity CFD's. The Indo Global Exchange also uses Halifax Investment Services Pty Ltd and Australian Stock Report as its clearing and settling operation in Australia. To further its goal to become a more global trading platform, the Indo Global Exchanges recently announced the appointment of Dermot Michael Monaghan to its Board of Directors. Dermot has extensive experience in the North American and Asian financial markets working in various capacities for the Royal Bank of Canada, RBC Capital Markets, PT Masuka, ABN AMRO (SECS) Asia, Standard Chartered Securities, ING Baring Securities and Cresvale Securities plus he currently resides in Indonesia. On Thursday, Indo Global Exchanges rose 9.09% to $0.660 (IGEX has a 52 week trading range of $0.59 to $0.82 a share) for a market cap of $47.85 million and the stock is up 300% since it started trading in July.

The Bottom Line. If you are an active trader or investor, it might be time to take a closer look at small cap trading platforms like FXCM Inc, Gain Capital Holdings Inc  and Indo Global Exchanges PteLtd.

6 Ways to Profit From TV's Golden Age: Emmy Season Edition

Let's face it: Film and TV awards shows are disconnected from reality. But that does that mean investors shouldn't care? Hardly. Just as Oscar-winning films have a way of boosting studio profits, critically acclaimed shows sometimes grow to become ratings monsters.

Who will get the nod this year? We won't know until Sept. 22, when the Primetime Emmy Awards roll out the red carpet in Hollywood. The following slideshow details the nominees by network and explains why these stocks are poised to profit even more in the years ahead.

Meanwhile, Silicon Valley isn't content to just let Hollywood control the content game. Several big names are vying for a piece of the profit pie as TV becomes a watch-anywhere experience. Our analysts believe Walt Disney will do well regardless, and name two other stocks you many want to own in a shocking new video report. Care to learn more? Click here to watch now -- it's free.

6 TV Stocks Worth Watching This Emmy Season from The Motley Fool

Top Financial Companies To Watch In Right Now

The following video is from Wednesday's installment of The Motley Fool's daily Financials show, in which analysts Matt Koppenheffer and David Hanson highlight for investors the most important stock news from the financial sector.

In today's edition, Matt and David discuss the Fed and why a potential tapering off of its quantitative easing program doesn't worry them. Also, news from the mREIT space, trouble for Jefferies, why size matters in banking, AIG gets a boost from Deutsche Bank, and a little rant about the Fed.

With the American markets reaching new highs, investors and pundits alike are skeptical about future growth. They�shouldn't�be. Many global regions are still stuck in neutral, and their resurgence could result in windfall profits for select companies. A recent Motley Fool report, "3 Strong Buys for a Global Economic Recovery" outlines three companies that could take off when the global economy gains steam. Click here to read the full report!

Top Financial Companies To Watch In Right Now: Pioneer Floating Rate Trust(PHD)

Pioneer Floating Rate Trust is closed ended fixed income mutual fund launched and managed by Pioneer Investment Management, Inc. It invests in the fixed income markets of the United States. The fund primarily invests in senior secured floating-rate loans. It invests in fixed income securities with average credit quality of B. The fund benchmarks the performance of its portfolio against the Credit Suisse Leveraged Loan Index. Pioneer Floating Rate Trust was formed on October 6, 2004 and is domiciled in the United States.

Top Financial Companies To Watch In Right Now: Royce Value Trust Inc.(RVT)

Royce Value Trust Inc. is a close ended equity mutual fund launched and managed by Royce & Associates, LLC. It invests in the public equity markets of the United States. The fund spreads its investments across diversified sectors. It invests in value oriented stocks of small cap and micro cap companies. The fund benchmarks the performance of its portfolio against the Russell 2000 Index. Royce Value Trust Inc. was formed on July 1, 1986 and is domiciled in the United States.

Top 5 Casino Companies To Invest In 2014: National Financial Partners Corporation (NFP)

National Financial Partners Corp., together with its subsidiaries, provides advisory and brokerage services to corporate and high net worth individual clients in the United States and Canada. It operates in three segments: Corporate Client Group, Individual Client Group, and Advisor Services Group. The Corporate Client Group segment operates as corporate benefits advisor in the middle market, offering independent solutions for health and welfare, retirement planning, executive benefits, and property and casualty insurance; and offers property and casualty insurance brokerage and consulting services. It serves corporate clients by providing advisory and brokerage services related to the planning and administration of benefit plans that take into account the overall business profile and needs of the corporate client. The Individual Client Group segment delivers independent life insurance, annuities, long term care, and wealth transfer solutions; and wholesale life brokerage, retail life, and investment advisory services. It serves wealth accumulation, preservation, and transfer needs, including estate planning, business succession, charitable giving, and financial advisory services. The Advisor Services Group segment provides broker-dealer and asset management products and services to independent financial advisors. In addition, the company provides IndeSuite, a wealth management platform for the independent registered investment advisor market. National Financial Partners Corp. was founded in 1998 and is headquartered in New York City, New York.

Top Financial Companies To Watch In Right Now: Barclays PLC(BCS)

Barclays PLC provides various financial products and services in Europe, the United States, Africa, and Asia. It offers retail and commercial banking, credit cards, investment banking, wealth management, and investment management services. The company?s products include current account and savings products, Woolwich branded mortgages, unsecured loans, protection products, general insurance, credit cards, Sharia-compliant products, installment finance and commercial property finance, commercial loans, and personal loans. It also offers money transmission, international and private banking, investment management, fiduciary, and brokerage services, as well as payment solutions and mobile banking services. In addition, the company provides fixed income, currency and commodities, foreign exchange, emerging markets, money markets, and credit services; equities, which include cash and equity derivatives and prime services; investment banking products and services that comprise fi nancial advisory, and equity and debt underwriting; and advisory services. It serves individual, commercial, corporate, institutional, retail, and mass affluent customers. The company was formerly known as Barclays Bank Limited and changed its name to Barclays PLC in January 1985. Barclays PLC was founded in 1896 and is headquartered in London, the United Kingdom.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Shauna O'Brien]

  Nomura Securities reported that it has upgraded financial services company Barclays PLC (BCS) to “Buy.”

  The firm has lifted its rating on BCS two notches from “Reduce” to “Buy.” Normura has also raised its price target from 260p to 340p.

  Analyst Chintan Joshi commented: “With growth in the developed world likely to continue well into the start of next year, stocks geared to capital markets should see macroeconomic support. Structural issues are an industry feature and Barclays could still come out better relative to peers compared with its current position. We expect 2015 ROTE of c12% and believe Barclays should be valued at a 2014E P/TB of 1x as we look for 1Q14 momentum. We set our ex-rights target price at 340p (cum rights it would be 380p), which puts the stock at a 2015E P/E of 6.4x, which is hardly demanding. Barclays is now our top pick among its IB and UK peers and a preferred way to gain exposure to the current risk rally. We upgrade our rating on Barclays to Buy from Reduce. We believe investors waiting for the infamous J curve may find that it is fairly muted for Barclays on the downside.”

  Barclays shares were up 27 cents, or 1.40%, during pre-market trading Monday. The stock is up 11% YTD.

• [By Alanna Petroff]

  The police linked the theft at Barclays (BCS) to another attempt to steal money from a Santander (SAN) branch in London, which led to the arrest of 12 men last week.

• [By Maureen Farrell]

  Shortly after Lehman declared bankruptcy, Barclays (BCS) paid $1.3 billion for most of the firm's North American operations, its Times Square headquarters, and about 9,000 employees. Nomura Holdings (NMR) paid roughly $200 million for Lehman's operations in Asia.

Top Financial Companies To Watch In Right Now: Banco Bibao Vizcaya Argentaria(BVA.L)

Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria, S.A. engages in the retail banking, asset management, private banking, and wholesale banking businesses in Spain and internationally. It accepts various customer deposits, including demand, savings, and time deposits, as well as offers current accounts. The company provides banking services and consumer finance to private individuals, enterprises, and institutions; involves in renting and leasing businesses; and offers Internet banking services. It also engages in the distribution of lines of credit primarily to the manufacturing, trade, and tourism sectors, as well as provides mortgages, residential real estate loans, auto dealer loans student loans, commercial loans, corporate lending products; life and non-life insurance products; and insurance brokerage services. In addition, the company manages mutual and pension fund assets; and offers wealth management services. Further, it coordinates origination, distribution, and management of var ious corporate and investment banking products, such as corporate finance, structured finance, syndicated loans, and debt capital markets; provides global trade finance and global transaction services; handles the origination, structuring, distribution, and risk management of market products; designs and manages asset management products; and manages a portfolio of industrial holdings and other Spanish and international projects. Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria, S.A. was founded in 1988 and is headquartered in Bilbao, Spain.

Top Financial Companies To Watch In Right Now: Westaim Corp Com Npv (WED.TO)

The Westaim Corporation invests, directly and indirectly, through acquisitions, joint ventures, and other arrangements, with the objective of providing its shareholders with capital appreciation and real wealth preservation. Previously, the company, through its subsidiary, JEVCO Insurance Company, provided property and casualty insurance products in Canada. The company sold JEVCO Insurance to Intact Financial Corporation on September 5, 2012. The Westaim Corporation was founded in 1980 and is headquartered in Toronto, Canada.

Top Financial Companies To Watch In Right Now: Royce Micro-Cap Trust Inc.(RMT)

Royce Micro-Cap Trust, Inc. is a closed-ended equity mutual fund launched and managed Royce & Associates, LLC. It invests in the public equity markets of the United States. The fund seeks to invest in stocks of companies operating across diversified sectors. It primarily invests in value stocks of companies with market capitalization of less than $500 million. The fund benchmarks the performance of its portfolios against Russell 2000 Index. Royce Micro-Cap Trust, Inc was formed on December 14, 1993 and is domiciled in the United States.

Top Financial Companies To Watch In Right Now: Commonwealth Bankshares Inc. (CWBS)

Commonwealth Bankshares, Inc. completed the sale of Bank of the Commonwealth to Southern Bank and Trust Company in September 2011. Previously, the company provided a range of commercial banking services to individuals and small to medium-sized businesses in the United States. Commonwealth Bankshares, Inc. was founded in 1970 and is headquartered in Norfolk, Virginia.

Jim Cramer's 6 Stocks in 60 Seconds: SSYS HLF RDN APA WFM DAL (Update 1)

Check out Jim Cramer's latest trading recommendations on "Action Alerts Plus". (Updates from 10:35 a.m. ET with closing information.)

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Here's what Jim Cramer had to say on CNBC's "Squawk on the Street" Tuesday.

Credit Suisse says to buy Stratasys (SSYS). Cramer said the stock has been on fire since its secondary offering. SSYS rose 3.6% to $96.82.

D.A. Davidson & Co. is looking for Herbalife (HLF) to do a $2 billion tender offer. This would crush the short-sellers, Cramer said. HLF rose 3.8% to $73.29. Radian (RDN) is a buy, according to Cramer, especially with the Federal Housing Administration pulling out of the industry. RDN was 3% higher at $14.05. Everyone loves Apache's (APA) deal with Egypt, Cramer said, which is why the stock will go higher. APA was up 1.4% at $88.25. Cramer was short and sweet on Whole Foods Market (WFM): It will go much higher. WFM rose nearly 1% to $58.14. Delta Air Lines (DAL) and other airlines would go up significantly if the U.S. Airways-American Airlines merger actually went through Cramer said, but doubted that it would. DAL ended the day at $23.32, up nearly 1%. To sign up for Jim Cramer's free Booyah! newsletter, with all of his latest articles and videos, please click here. -- Written by Bret Kenwell in Petoskey, Mich. Follow @BretKenwell

America’s Disappearing Jobs

Because of a major decline in jobs during the recession, the number of nonfarm workers is up just 5% over the past 10 years. While the past decade's painful recession and the slow job growth that has followed have negatively affected most Americans, certain occupations have experienced job losses that were especially severe.

24/7 Wall St. compared employment figures published by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) for hundreds of occupations from May of 2002 and May 2012. In that time, the estimated number of advertising and promotions managers fell by nearly two-thirds. Because of the housing crisis, many occupations in the construction sector were disproportionately hurt, while many manufacturing trades lost jobs due to structural changes in the economy. These are America's disappearing jobs.

Click here to see what jobs are disappearing

According to Martin Kohli, Chief Regional Economist for the BLS, "most of these occupations were concentrated in industries that hemorrhaged jobs during the Great Recession and have not yet bounced back to their job levels of 2002."

This is clearly the case in the construction industry where, according to a 2011 BLS study, 1.5 million jobs were lost from December 2007 to June 2009. This nearly 20% drop in construction-related jobs was the largest of any other major sector. Three of the five occupations with the largest decline in employment are in the construction sector, where job totals are still well below pre-recession levels.

The number of workers in other occupations has been greatly reduced because of technological improvements. Jobs in several manufacturing occupations have been made expendable because of advances in automation. For drilling and boring machine operators working with metals and plastics, as well as for textile workers, automation has helped contribute to a more than 50% decrease in jobs between 2002 and 2012. Work in several fields, including prepress technicians and computer operators, has also been cut by improved software and automation of processes that specialists once had to do by hand.

Several occupations on this list also have suffered from companies moving jobs abroad. U.S.-based semiconductor processors jobs fell by half between May 2002 and May 2012, partly because of the lower labor cost in other countries. Similarly, more than half of textile jobs were cut due to the combination of outsourcing and improved automation.

To determine the jobs with the highest percentage decline in employment, 24/7 Wall St. compared data from the BLS's Occupational Employment Statistics program for both 2002 and 2012. We included only jobs with an estimated 20,000 employees or more. The figures are estimates subject to sampling error and do not count self-employed workers. Data are collected by the program over several years. We considered only occupations that existed in both 2002 and 2012, and excluded any occupations split-up or consolidated between these periods. The textile workers occupation is a combination of two similar occupations listed by the BLS. The bulleted data is for one of these categories, but we make reference to both in the description. Further information on each occupation came from the Occupational Outlook Handbook and O*Net OnLine.

S&P 500 Analyst Ratings By Sector

Earlier this week, we ran a deep analysis of buy, sell, and hold ratings for the stocks in the S&P 500. In the report we identified the most loved and hated stocks in the index, along with names that may be good contrarian plays due to excessive bullishness or bearishness. Below is a condensed version of a larger summary table provided in the report focusing on analyst sentiment by sector. As shown, there are currently 11,732 analyst ratings for S&P 500 stocks, which equates to 23.5 analyst ratings per stock in the index. Talk about excessive.

The sector with the most analyst coverage is Technology at 29.1 analyst ratings per stock, but Energy is not far behind at 29.0. The Utilities and Materials sectors are the least covered by analysts at 18.5 and 18.8, respectively. So which sectors are analysts most bullish on at the moment? Given the fact that 50.4% of all ratings in the S&P 500 are Buy ratings, Energy is the biggest bullish standout with 61.2% Buy ratings. Four other sectors have a higher percentage of Buy ratings than the overall S&P 500 -- Consumer Discretionary, Healthcare, Industrials, and Technology. Analysts are least bullish on Utilities with 33.9% Buy ratings. Consumer Staples, Financials, Materials and Telecom are the four other sectors with a lower percentage of Buy ratings than the S&P 500 as a whole.

On the far right of the table you'll see the year-to-date change in the percentage of Buy ratings for the S&P 500 and its 10 sectors. For the S&P 500, Buy ratings have dropped by 1.5 percentage points, which means analysts have gotten less bullish on stocks this year even though the average stock in the index is up significantly at 19.73%. The Materials sector has seen the biggest drop in Buy ratings at -3.9 percentage points, followed by Financials at -2.4 and then Telecom, Healthcare and Industrials all at -1.8. The Utilities sector has actually seen a small uptick in Buy ratings at +0.1 percentage points, while the two Consumer sect! ors have seen a very minor downtick.

Source: S&P 500 Analyst Ratings By Sector

How To Cut Your Mutual Fund Fees By Up To 90%

I came from a generation that believed mutual funds were run by real experts like John Templeton, who did tons of research, made spectacular investments, and allowed the little guy like me to benefit from the results – for a fee, of course. For many years that was true, but our investment team has convinced me that I need to rethink my firmly ingrained beliefs. Let's take a look behind the curtain.

Most Mutual Funds Cannot Beat the S&P 500 Over the last five years 65.44% of active, large-cap fund managers failed to outperform the S&P 500. Nevertheless, paying management fees to a mutual fund is not always a bad idea. Not all funds are stock funds designed to grow and beat the S&P 500. If you want a fund for specific reasons – like being more defensive or having specific diversifications, or maybe you want a bond mutual fund – then beating the S&P 500 may not be your primary goal. Comparing these types of funds to the S&P 500 misses the point.

If, however, you are investing in a diversified portfolio of equities for growth, then the comparison to the S&P 500 makes sense. It is a tough challenge for a fund manager to not only beat the S&P 500 consistently, but to also beat it by a wide enough margin to cover their management fees. You might just be better off in an ETF like SPY that mirrors the S&P 500 with lower costs to the investor.

This might mean you miss out on a mutual fund that performs better, but it will probably just keep you away from funds that can't get the job done. Frankly, at this point in life protecting our nest egg trumps reaching for the remote possibility of higher yields from funds that have not performed consistently.

At the same time, when it comes to investing in bonds, a good fund with a low expense ratio makes a lot of sense. A person with $10,000 to invest puts his money at greater risk if he invests all $10,000 in a single bond than he would with a bond fund. First, if he wanted to sell a single bond, he might face some liquidity issues. And second, if there was a default, he could easily lose his entire investment.

The Optimal Way to Diversify While mutual funds may technically be the optimal way to diversify – assuming they actually perform well – do we really need optimal diversification? Before you say to yourself, "Yes, of course; I want the best," consider the following comments in the April 2013 issue of Money Forever:

"There is tons of academic research on optimal portfolio size and diversification, and what has been discovered is pretty dumbfounding. With a bunch of math and statistics, you can reduce the risk of your portfolio. Needless to say, it gets complicated.

But there is good news for retail investors. Academics have also found that owning 10 to 25 stocks has just about the same risk-reducing effect as the fancy math-based portfolios.

Depending on the study, the number may be slightly different (10-25), but they all conclude that after a certain point, owning another stock does little to reduce your risk – even if you're using some impressive formulas. Being a math wiz only reduces your risk a tiny bit more."

I have a friend who thinks investing in six mutual funds in different sectors keeps him protected. While it may give him some protection, how much does he really need, and is the cost worth it? Each fund lists its top ten holdings, plus it outlines the total number of holdings. Frankly, he could easily have positions in over 1,000 stocks, and he is paying significant fees that put him well beyond the point of diminishing returns. In short, mutual funds and ETFs can provide diversification, but at a certain point, it becomes overkill.

Management Fees Do Matter A dear friend of mine works with a firm that charges him a management fee to invest his money in a basket of mutual funds. In his case, the funds are bond funds, so it would be unfair to compare the results to the S&P 500. His return last year was 6%, net of fees, which totaled 1.38%.

In effect the funds yielded 7.38%, which is quite good for a basket of bond funds. The funds had experienced some appreciation due to the drop in interest rates, but my friend cannot count on that to happen regularly. If interest rates stay the same this year, his yield will be lower. Should they rise, the net value of his investment will decrease.

While 1.38% in fees doesn't sound too high, think of it from another perspective. My friend paid 18.7% of his return (that being 1.38% divided by 7.38%) – in a good year – for management fees. That makes the fees sound a bit steeper.

Furthermore, while the manager's portion of the fees is 0.65% per year, which doesn't sound like much at first, consider the following example. For the sake of simplicity, assume my friend has a $500,000 portfolio, which means that the 0.65% management fee adds up to $3,250 per year. That's quite a bit of money, particularly when you think about how quickly it adds up over a five- or ten year period. If you're still not convinced that fees matter, keep reading.

Would you like to be able to trade in your car and pay cash for a new one every five years? Maybe you'd prefer some other pricey toy, or a fancy vacation. It sure seems like investing directly could allow one to do just that; in the end, you'd have thousands of extra dollars at your disposal. While I understand paying for advice and education once, the fact that management fees are an annual expense is cause for concern.

Let me give you real number examples: the average US equity mutual fund's annual expense fee is 1.43%. However, over the years investors have gotten smarter about fees. The average fee of mutual funds held by investors is 0.79% (of course, this does not include sneaky sales load fees that can be as high as 5.4%).

The fee range for the ETF options we recently reviewed in the May issue of Money Forever is 0.07% to 0.38%. If for example, you had $100,000 in a typical investor mutual fund charging 0.79% and you swapped it out for an ETF with a similar composition of stocks charging 0.07%, you'd save $720. That's a 90% savings in fees for essentially the same performance.

For folks investing in mutual funds that deal with stocks, I suggest making the time to review your options. Unless you've found one of the few funds that consistently beats the S&P 500, are you really better off? After all, an educated investor can put together a safe, diversified, and profitable portfolio without loading up on high-fee mutual funds or paying someone annually to do it for them.

While we all know the phrase "penny wise and pound foolish," we don't want to be penny foolish either. If your portfolio is leaking pennies, the leak can quickly add up to a big loss. After all, $720 here and $720 there starts to become real money pretty quickly.

If a certain mutual fund is exactly what you want and there doesn't appear to be a cheaper alternative, then go for it. However, do not make your choice based on past performance alone. More often than not, you can find a suitable ETF alternative with very similar holdings for a fraction of the fees. Plus, ETFs are generally much more liquid than mutual funds.

We recently published new report called "Top 10 ETFs to Replace Your Expensive Mutual Funds." It's dedicated to comparing mutual funds to ETFs, including the 10 top ETFs you should consider for replacing your expensive mutual funds. Chances are, you hold one or more of these expensive funds in your portfolio or retirement account right now, and you don't even know how much they're gouging you. You can get a copy of the report here.

Deere: 175 Years and Running

This company was founded in 1837 and it continues to stick by their commitment to integrity, quality, and commitment to change, to meet the needs of the global economy, explains Russ Kaplan, editor of Heartland Advisor.

John Deere Company (DE) was founded by a blacksmith and inventor by the same name. This was around the time the wooden plow was being replaced by Deere's stainless steel plow, which could allow farmers to cut better rows for their crops.

There have been many innovations since then, from combines, to planters, to lawn mowers, and much more; and Deere has always kept up with, or developed and implemented these many changes.

They have grown to the point where they have dealers throughout the world, spanning Africa, Asia, Middle East, Australia/New Zealand, Europe, Central /South America, and North America.

Over the past 175+ years, Deere has branched out into such areas as farm equipment, lawn and grounds-keeping equipment, forestry equipment, and even toys.

We first recommended investing in Deere back in 1998, when it was trading in the mid $30 range.

Although Deere is now trading in the low $80 range, it still fits our value criteria of continuing to be a financially solid stock, which offers a good opportunity to purchase it, or to buy more of the stock if you already have some.

The stock price is down due to a weak world economy, but I don't see this condition continuing indefinitely. Even in this economic climate, Deere had a 2012 return on equity of 45%.

Plus there will always be the need to plant food and keep the environment safe enough to support all growing plant life.

The dividend at about 2.5% will be a nice supplement to your income while you wait for the stock price to turn around.

Subscribe to Heartland Advisor here…

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Top 10 Dividend Companies To Buy For 2014

LONDON --�

Prudential
Shares in insurer�Prudential� (LSE: PRU  ) (NYSE: PUK  ) are up 51% in the last 12 months. In that time, the FTSE 100 is 16.7% ahead.

Prudential's last results confirmed a 71% earnings per share increase, and a 16% dividend hike. Although a decline in EPS is expected for 2013, the dividend is forecast to rise again.

Looking further ahead, broker forecasts put the shares on a 2014 P/E of 12.0, with an expected dividend yield of 3%. That's a discount to the average FTSE constituent.

Prudential's business has considerable exposure to Asia, where it generates around one-third of its profits. It is the prospects of those operations that have pushed Prudential's shares higher in recent years.

Excellent easyJet
Budget airline�easyJet� (LSE: EZJ  ) is the FTSE's best performing share of the last 12 months. Anyone buying a year ago would be 145% ahead today, excluding dividends.

Top 10 Dividend Companies To Buy For 2014: Colgate-Palmolive Company(CL)

Colgate-Palmolive Company, together with its subsidiaries, manufactures and markets consumer products worldwide. It offers oral care products, including toothpaste, toothbrushes, and mouth rinses, as well as dental floss and pharmaceutical products for dentists and other oral health professionals; personal care products, such as liquid hand soap, shower gels, bar soaps, deodorants, antiperspirants, shampoos, and conditioners; and home care products comprising laundry and dishwashing detergents, fabric conditioners, household cleaners, bleaches, dishwashing liquids, and oil soaps. The company offers its oral, personal, and home care products under the Colgate Total, Colgate Max Fresh, Colgate 360 Advisors' Opinion:

• [By ChuckCarlson]

  Colgate-Palmolive Company (CL), together with its subsidiaries, manufactures and markets consumer products worldwide. The company has raised distributions for 48 years in a row. The 10 year annual dividend growth rate is 12.40%/year. The last dividend increase was 9.40% to 58 cents/share. Analysts are expecting that Colgate Palmolive will earn $5.52/share in 2012. I expect that the quarterly dividend will be raised to 64 cents/share in 2012. Yield: 2.60%

Top 10 Dividend Companies To Buy For 2014: Consolidated Edison Company of New York Inc. (ED)

Consolidated Edison, Inc., through its subsidiaries, provides electric, gas, and steam utility services in the United States. It provides electric service to approximately 3.3 million customers and gas service to approximately 1.1 million customers in New York City and Westchester County, as well as provides steam service to office buildings and apartment houses in parts of Manhattan. The company also provides electric service to approximately 0.3 million customers in southeastern New York and in adjacent areas of northern New Jersey, and northeastern Pennsylvania; and gas service to approximately 0.1 million customers in southeastern New York and adjacent areas of northeastern Pennsylvania. In addition, Consolidated Edison involves in the sale and related hedging of electricity to wholesale and retail customers; operation of generating plants; participation in other infrastructure projects; and provision of energy-efficiency services, including the design and installation of lighting retrofits, high-efficiency heating, ventilating and air conditioning equipment, and other energy saving technologies to government and commercial customers. It serves residential, industrial, and large commercial customers. The company was founded in 1884 and is based in New York, New York.

Top 5 Gold Companies To Own For 2014: S&P Smallcap 600(PH)

Parker Hannifin Corporation manufactures fluid power systems, electromechanical controls, and related components worldwide. Its Industrial segment offers pneumatic and electromechanical components, and systems; filters, systems, and instruments to monitor and remove contaminants from fuel, air, oil, water, and other liquids and gases; connectors that control, transmit, and contain fluid; hydraulic components and systems for builders and users of industrial and mobile machinery and equipment; critical flow components for process instrumentation, healthcare, and ultra-high-purity applications; and static and dynamic sealing devices. This segment sells its products to original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and their replacement markets in the manufacturing, transportation, and processing industries. The company?s Aerospace segment provides flight control systems and components, including hydraulic, electrohydraulic, electric backup hydraulic, electrohydrostatic, and electro -mechanical components for precise control of aircraft rudders, elevators, ailerons, and other aerodynamic control surfaces. It also provides electronics thermal management heat rejection systems, and single-phase and two-phase heat collection systems for radar, ISAR, and power electronics. This segment markets its products primarily to OEMs in the commercial, military, and general aviation markets, as well as to end users. Its Climate and Industrial Controls segment offers systems and components primarily for use in the mobile and stationary refrigeration, and air conditioning industry; and in fluid control applications in various industries, such as processing, fuel dispensing, beverage dispensing, and mobile emissions. This segment serves OEMs and their replacement markets. Parker-Hannifin Corporation markets its products through direct-sales employees, independent distributors, wholesalers, and sales representatives. The company was founded in 1918 and is headquartered i n Cleveland, Ohio.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Putnam]

  Parker Hannifin (PH) operates in a broadly diversified engineering industry with peers such as General Electric (GE) and 3M Company (MMM). Its products serve aerospace, commercial, mobile and industrial markets.

  The 2011 fiscal year was stellar for Parker. An all time record of $12.3 billion in sales was reached, a 23.5% increase. Net income increased a whopping 90%.

  The common stock currently trades at a price to earnings ratio of 10.5, below the industry average of 14.8 and historical average of 14. Price to book ratio is 2.02 with price to cash flow being 7.3.

  Making comparisons in a broadly diversified industry is difficult, since products and service offerings vary greatly between businesses. Therefore, the peer company’s business lines and products were used as the main selection criteria for peer analysis.

Top 10 Dividend Companies To Buy For 2014: Nucor Corporation(NUE)

Nucor Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, engages in the manufacture and sale of steel and steel products in North America and internationally. It operates through three segments: Steel Mills, Steel Products, and Raw Materials. The Steel Mills segment produces hot and cold-rolled sheet steel; plate steel; structural steel comprising wide-flange beams, beam blanks, and sheet piling; and bar steel, such as blooms, billets, concrete reinforcing bar, merchant bar, and special bar quality products. The Steel Products segment offers steel joists and joist girders, steel deck, fabricated concrete reinforcing steel, cold finished steel, steel fasteners, metal building systems, light gauge steel framing, steel grating and expanded metal, and wire and wire mesh products. The Raw Materials segment produces direct reduced iron (DRI); brokers ferrous and nonferrous metals, pig iron, hot briquetted iron, and DRI; supplies ferro-alloys; and processes ferrous and nonferrous scrap metal products. The company?s operations also include various international trading companies that buy and sell steel and steel products. It sells its hot-rolled steel and cold-rolled steel to steel service centers, fabricators, and manufacturers; steel joists and joist girders, and steel deck to general contractors and fabricators; and cold finished steel and steel fasteners to distributors and manufacturers. The company?s products are used by contractors in constructing highways, bridges, reservoirs, utilities, hospitals, schools, airports, stadiums, and high-rise buildings. Nucor Corporation was founded in 1940 and is based in Charlotte, North Carolina.

Top 10 Dividend Companies To Buy For 2014: Pinnacle West Capital Corporation(PNW)

Pinnacle West Capital Corporation, through its subsidiaries, provides retail and wholesale electric services primarily in the State of Arizona. The company involves in the generation, transmission, and distribution of electricity through coal, nuclear, gas and oil, and solar resources. It also offers energy-related products and services, such as energy master planning, energy use consultation and facility audits, cogeneration analysis and installation, and project management with a focus on energy efficiency and renewable energy to commercial and industrial retail customers in the western United States. In addition, the company owns minority interests in various energy-related investments and Arizona community-based ventures; and develops residential, commercial, and industrial real estate projects in Arizona, Idaho, New Mexico, and Utah. As of December 31, 2010, it owned or leased approximately 6,290 mega watts of regulated generation capacity; and serviced approximately 1.1 million customers. Pinnacle West Capital Corporation was founded in 1920 and is based in Phoenix, Arizona.

Top 10 Dividend Companies To Buy For 2014: Plum Creek Timber Company Inc.(PCL)

Plum Creek Timber Company, Inc. is a publicly owned real estate investment trust (REIT). The trust owns and manages timberlands in the United States. Its products include lumber products, plywood, medium density fiberboard, and related by-products, such as wood chips. The trust also focuses on mineral extraction and natural gas production, communication, and transportation. Plum Creek Timber Company was founded in 1989 and is based in Seattle, Washington.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Jonas Elmerraji]

  Plum Creek Timber (PCL) isn't your typical commercial REIT. Instead, the firm is a niche trust that operates in the timber business, one of the less conventional businesses allowed by the REIT Act signed in 1960. PCL owns 6.6 million acres of timberlands in 19 states.

  Only the timberland business falls under REIT rules, with logging operations treated as a traditional taxable corporation. For all intents and purposes, though, PCL's bread and butter remains its timberland; the firm earns more money through recreation, development, and conservation efforts than through logging. That could change as the housing market heats up, especially as supply constraints push timber prices higher. Either way, Plum Creek's combination of tax-advantaged REIT income and conventional business makes the firm a unique name to own right now...

  Financially, PCL is in strong shape, with more than $350 million in cash offsetting a reasonable $3 billion debt load. While PCL resorted to liquidating land to fund its dividend in the wake of the Great Recession, recent acquisitions should help calm investors' concerns. For the moment, this stock pays a 3.5% dividend yield. While Plum Creek isn't a conventional REIT by most measures, it does make a great non-core holding for income-seekers in 2013.

• [By Richard Young]

  Prices for lumber are improving after a big drop in early 2011. Plum Creek Timber (NYSE:PCL) took advantage of the increased export demand from China last year by increasing its harvest by 40%. When lumber prices fall, timber companies can wait out the hard times with assets (the trees) that keep increasing in value. My price chart for Plum Creek shows a nice breakout around its 200-day moving average. Buy.

Top 10 Dividend Companies To Buy For 2014: PPL Corporation(PPL)

PPL Corporation, an energy and utility holding company, generates and sells electricity; and delivers natural gas to approximately 5.3 million utility customers primarily in the northeastern and northwestern U.S. The company operates in four segments: Kentucky Regulated, International Regulated, Pennsylvania Regulated, and Supply. The Kentucky Regulated segment engages in the generation, transmission, distribution, and sale of electricity; and the distribution and sale of natural gas to approximately 1.3 million customers in Kentucky, Virginia, and Tennessee. The International Regulated segment owns and operates electricity distribution businesses in the United Kingdom that deliver electricity to 7.7 million customers. The Pennsylvania Regulated segment delivers electricity to approximately 1.4 million customers in eastern and central Pennsylvania. The Supply segment owns and operates power plants to generate electricity using coal, uranium, natural gas, oil, and water res ources; markets and trades electricity and other purchased power to wholesale and retail markets; and acquires and develops domestic generation projects. It controls or owns a portfolio of generation assets of approximately 11,000 megawatts in Montana and Pennsylvania. As of December 31, 2010, the company?s distribution system included 649 substations with a capacity of 25 million kVA, 28,838 circuit miles of overhead lines, and 24,131 cable miles of underground conductors in the United Kingdom. It also operated 377 substations with a capacity of 31 million kVA, 33,122 circuit miles of overhead lines, and 7,368 cable miles of underground conductors in Pennsylvania. The company was founded in 1920 and is headquartered in Allentown, Pennsylvania.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Jonas Elmerraji]

  You can't build a dividend portfolio without looking at utility stocks—which brings us to PPL.

  PPL is a utility stock that owns 11,200 megawatts of generation capacity, and provides regulated utility service to electricity customers in Pennsylvania, Kentucky, Virginia, Tennessee and the UK. PPL also distributes natural gas to Kentucky. Just a few years ago PPL was primarily a generation firm, earning three-fourths of its profits by selling power on the open market. Today, though, the firm has shifted its strategy towards the stable income of the regulated utility business.

  Stable, predictable income is the hallmark of a stellar dividend stock, and PPL has managed to pick up its regulated exposure while still keeping its uniqueness. A big differentiator for PPL is its energy distribution unit in the UK—that expertise in a foreign market should open the door to other overseas utility operations if attractive opportunities present themselves down the road.

  Dividend growth at PPL is likely to cool in the next couple of years as the firm dumps considerable CapEx into upgrading its infrastructure. That's actually a good thing for dividend investors because it means that PPL's dividend prospects are going to be artificially held down in the near-term. With the firm's payout already at 4.87 percent, investors shouldn't have any trouble waiting a while for the next hike.

• [By Michael Brush]

  PPL (PPL) has a dividend yield of 5%.

  Utilities are the classic dividend play from your grandparents' day. They're still a good place to get yield.

  Wright says he favors PPL in part because the provider of electricity to customers in Pennsylvania, Kentucky, Virginia and Tennessee is out of favor with investors. "Your risk/reward is not going to get much better than it is now."

  Electricity demand should increase as the economy picks up. And much of the revenue from increased sales will fall to the company's bottom line, because PPL generates power from lower-cost energy sources, particularly nuclear and coal.

Top 10 Dividend Companies To Buy For 2014: Kohlberg Capital Corporation(KCAP)

Kohlberg Capital Corporation is a private equity and venture capital firm specializing in buyouts and mezzanine investments. It focuses on mature and middle market companies. The firm structures its investments through senior debt, second lien debt, secured and unsecured subordinated debt, mezzanine debt, and equity. It invests in all sectors except cyclical industries. The firm invests equity in both minority and control transactions alongside other equity investors. It invests through its own balance sheet. Kohlberg Capital Corporation is based in the New York, New York.

Top 10 Dividend Companies To Buy For 2014: Spectra Energy Corp(SE)

Spectra Energy Corp, through its subsidiaries, engages in the ownership and operation of a portfolio of complementary natural gas-related energy assets in the United States and Canada. The company operates in four segments: U.S. Transmission, Distribution, Western Canada Transmission and Processing, and Field Services. The U.S. Transmission segment engages in the transportation and storage of natural gas for customers in various regions of the northeastern and southeastern United States and the Maritime Provinces in Canada. Its natural gas pipeline systems consist of approximately 19,000 miles of transmission pipelines; and storage capacity comprises 305 billion cubic feet in the United States and Canada. The Distribution segment engages in the natural gas storage, transmission, and distribution in Western Canada and the United States. This segment has approximately 37,600 miles of distribution main and service pipelines serving approximately 1.3 million residential, comme rcial, and industrial customers. The Western Canada Transmission and Processing segment provides natural gas transportation, and gas gathering and processing services; and provides services to natural gas producers to remove impurities from the raw gas stream including water, carbon dioxide, hydrogen sulfide, and other substances. This segment serves local distribution companies, end-use industrial and commercial customers, marketers, and exploration and production companies. The Field Services segment gathers and processes natural gas, as well as fractionates, markets, and trades natural gas liquids. It engages in gathering raw natural gas through gathering systems located in nine natural gas producing regions consisting of the Mid-Continent, Rocky Mountain, east Texas-north Louisiana, Barnett Shale, Gulf Coast, South Texas, Central Texas, Antrim Shale, and Permian Basin. The company is headquartered in Houston, Texas.

Top 10 Dividend Companies To Buy For 2014: First Security Group Inc.(FSGI)

First Security Group, Inc. operates as the holding company for FSGBank that provides banking and financial products and services to various communities in eastern and middle Tennessee and northern Georgia. The company offers various deposit services, such as checking, savings, and money market accounts, as well as certificates of deposit. It offers commercial loans, including loans to smaller business ventures, credit lines for working capital, short-term seasonal or inventory financing, and letters of credit; real estate?construction and development loans to residential and commercial contractors and developers; and consumer loans to individuals for personal, family, and household purposes, including secured and unsecured installment and term loans. The company also offers commercial mortgage loans to finance the purchase of real property; commercial leasing for new and used equipment, fixtures, and furnishings to owner-managed businesses; and leasing for forklifts, heavy equipment, and other machinery to owner-managed businesses primarily in the trucking and construction industries. It also provides trust and investment management, mortgage banking, financial planning, and electronic banking services, such as Internet banking, online bill payment, cash management, ACH originations, wire transfers, direct deposit, traveler?s checks, safe deposit boxes, United States savings bonds, and remote deposit capture, as well as equipment leasing. The company operates 38 full-service banking offices and 1 loan and lease production office. Its market areas include in Bradley, Hamilton, Jackson, Jefferson, Knox, Loudon, McMinn, Monroe, Putnam, and Union counties, Tennessee; and Catoosa and Whitfield counties, Georgia. First Security Group was founded in 1974 and is headquartered in Chattanooga, Tennessee.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Roberto Pedone]

  First Security Group (FSGI) operates as the holding company for FSGBank, which provides banking products and services to various communities in Tennessee and Georgia. This stock closed up 6.5% to $2.29 in Tuesday's trading session.

  Tuesday's Range: $2.16-$2.30
  
  52-Week Range: $1.30-$7.45
  
  Tuesday's Volume: 80,000
  
  Three-Month Average Volume: 509,606

  From a technical perspective, FSGI ripped higher here right above some near-term support levels at $2.14 to $2.12 with lighter-than-average volume. This move is quickly pushing shares of FSGI within range of triggering a major breakout trade. That trade will hit if FSGI manages to take out some near-term overhead resistance levels at $2.38 to $2.52 and then once it clears its 200-day moving average at $2.80 with high volume.

  Traders should now look for long-biased trades in FSGI as long as it's trending above some key support levels at $2.14 to $2.12 and then once it sustains a move or close above those breakout levels with volume that hits near or above 509,606 shares. If that breakout triggers soon, then FSGI will set up to re-fill some of its previous gap down zone from June that started at $5.08.