Top 10 US Stocks For 2014

One stock that has been in the official Magic Formula (MFI) screen for the past month or so has piqued my interest: Kraft (KRFT).

The MFI screens, particularly the $50 million screen, are usually reserved for deep value stocks. Usually you find stocks in here suffering serious adverse business developments (LQDT, NSR, etc.), operate in out-of-favor industries (APOL, STRA, etc.), have volatile and difficult-to-predict future prospects (PDLI comes to mind), or are just simply cheap quantitatively (CSCO, COH, et.al.).

Kraft doesn't seem to meet those descriptions. The company operates in one of the most stable and predictable industries around: packaged foods. Kraft is suffering no material adverse business developments, enjoys immense competitive advantages in the form of scale and brands, has a reasonably good balance sheet for the industry, and pays a 3.7% dividend yield.

So why the 12.5 P/E ratio, vs. a 16.3 for former parent Mondelez (MDLX), a 15.9 for ConAgra (CAG), or a 20.8 for Unilever (UL)? Is Kraft really an overlooked value play here?

Top Food Stocks To Watch For 2015: Grillit Inc (GRLT)

Grillit Inc, formerly Holdings Energy Inc., incorporated on May 21, 2002, is a public corporation that discovers, invests and or acquires development-stage with solutions, clean technologies and eco-friendly products that serve the global alternative energy sector. The Company was formed to develop and engage in operations and management of digital wireless data communications services of 220 megahertz digital wireless data communications. In April 2013, the Company acquired Healthy & Tasty Ventures LLC. Effective December 19, 2013, GRILLiT Inc acquired a 10% interest in Natura Foods LLC.

Effective March 30, 2011, the Company had entered into a formal letter of intent with Remington Energy of Houston, Texas for the purchase of two oil and gas properties. On March 29, 2011, the Company disposed of its previous assets that represented the remaining business segment known as CX2 Technologies, Inc.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Peter Graham]

  Last Friday, small cap stocks Cambridge Heart, Inc (OTCMKTS: CAMH), Abby Inc (OTCMKTS: ABBY) and Grillit Inc (OTCMKTS: GRLT) surged 176.92%, 71.2% and 24.07%, respectively. Of course, that was last week and today is a new trading week. So what should investors and traders alike be prepared for this week with these three small caps? Here is a closer look to help you decide on an investing or trading strategy:

Top 10 US Stocks For 2014: Amazon.com Inc.(AMZN)

Amazon.com, Inc. operates as an online retailer in North America and internationally. It operates retail Web sites, including amazon.com and amazon.ca. The company serves consumers through its retail Web sites and focuses on selection, price, and convenience. It also offers programs that enable sellers to sell their products on its Web sites, and their own branded Web sites. In addition, the company serves developer customers through Amazon Web Services, which provides access to technology infrastructure that developers can use to enable virtually various type of business. Further, it manufactures and sells the Kindle e-reader. Additionally, the company provides fulfillment; miscellaneous marketing and promotional agreements, such as online advertising; and co-branded credit cards. Amazon.com, Inc. was founded in 1994 and is headquartered in Seattle, Washington.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Lauren Pollock]

  Amazon.com Inc.(AMZN) reported its third quarterly loss in the past year after a more than nine-year run of profitable quarters. The online retailer, as expected, reported a big jump in revenue heading into the holiday season, its biggest quarter of the year. Shares rose.

• [By Jim Jubak]

  That could actually be true. Started as a business-to-business e-commerce site, Alibaba has expanded to include Tmall (where companies sell to consumers) and Taobao (where consumers sell to other consumers). According to Morgan Stanley, the gross value of goods that moved through Alibaba exceeded the combined value of goods that moved through Amazon.com (AMZN) and eBay (EBAY) in 2012.

• [By Matt Thalman]

  Likewise, inequality can take on a different meaning in terms of investing. Look at Amazon.com (NASDAQ: AMZN  ) or Tesla Motors (NASDAQ: TSLA  ) to see what I mean. Amazon never records a large profit, and that's because Jeff Bezos has made it clear from the start that most profits will be rolled back into the business. But because Amazon isn't treated like other companies in the retail world, the stock price, on a price-to-earnings basis, looks insane. It currently trades at a mind-boggling P/E ratio of 1,447,

• [By Jon Friedman]

  Is Amazon.com's (NASDAQ: AMZN  ) corporate glass half-full or half-empty? I take the positive side of the debate.

  Amazon chief Jeff Bezos recently sought to reassure his shareholders that all is well. In a recent letter to stockholders, he stressed, "As I write this, our recent stock performance has been positive but we constantly remind ourselves of an important point -- as I frequently quote famed investor Benjamin Graham in our employee all-hands meetings: 'In the short run, the market is a voting machine but in the long run, it is a weighing machine.'"

Top 10 US Stocks For 2014: Reliance Steel & Aluminum Co.(RS)

Reliance Steel & Aluminum Co. operates as a metals service center company primarily in the United States and Canada. The company provides metals processing services and distributes a line of approximately 100,000 metal products, including alloy, aluminum, brass, copper, carbon steel, stainless steel, titanium, and specialty steel products to mills and original equipment manufacturers. Its processing services comprise cutting, leveling, sawing, machining, or electropolishing. The company also offers a range of metal perforating and fabrication services; and steel and alloy pipes, tube and bar products, and precision manufacturing of various tools designed for the global energy service companies. Reliance Steel & Aluminum Co. serves manufacturers and end-users in the general manufacturing, non-residential construction, transportation, aerospace, energy, electronics, and semiconductor fabrication and related industries. As of December 31, 2011, it maintained approximately 220 metals service center processing and distribution facilities in the United States, Belgium, Canada, China, Malaysia, Mexico, Singapore, South Korea, the United Arab Emirates, and the United Kingdom. The company was founded in 1939 and is headquartered in Los Angeles, California.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Seth Jayson]

  When judging a company's prospects, how quickly it turns cash outflows into cash inflows can be just as important as how much profit it's booking in the accounting fantasy world we call "earnings." This is one of the first metrics I check when I'm hunting for the market's best stocks. Today, we'll see how it applies to Reliance Steel & Aluminum (NYSE: RS  ) .

• [By Dan Caplinger]

  Reliance Steel & Aluminum (NYSE: RS  ) : up 100%
  The steel industry has been struggling lately, so it's especially remarkable to see Reliance Steel having made not one but two dividend increases in the past year. With increases from $0.15 per share last May to $0.25 in August and then to $0.30 in March, Reliance is bucking the negative trends in steel. What's especially noteworthy is that the company raised its payout even after announcing more than a $750 million deal to buy Metals USA in February -- a move that might have led other companies to rein in its payouts.

• [By Kelley Wright]

  Reliance Steel & Aluminum (RS) is North America's largest metals service company and is looking to get even bigger. The company has increased dividends 20 times since its IPO in 1994, so its designation for outstanding dividend growth is a no-brainer.

• [By Monica Gerson]

  Reliance Steel & Aluminum Co (NYSE: RS) is estimated to report its Q3 earnings at $1.20 per share on revenue of $2.54 billion.

  PulteGroup (NYSE: PHM) is expected to report its Q3 earnings at $0.36 per share on revenue of $1.46 billion.

Top 10 US Stocks For 2014: State Street Corporation(STT)

State Street Corporation, a financial holding company, provides various financial products and services to institutional investors worldwide. The company?s Investment Servicing business line provides products and services, including custody, product- and participant-level accounting; daily pricing and administration; master trust and master custody; record-keeping; foreign exchange, brokerage, and other trading services; securities finance; deposit and short-term investment facilities; loan and lease financing; investment manager and alternative investment manager operations outsourcing; and performance, risk, and compliance analytics. This segment also offers shareholder services, which comprise mutual fund and collective investment fund shareholder accounting. Its Investment Management business line provides a range of investment management, investment research, and other related services, such as securities finance; and strategies for managing passive and active financ ial assets, such as enhanced indexing and hedge fund strategies for U.S. and global equities and fixed-income securities. The company serves mutual funds, collective investment funds and other investment pools, corporate and public retirement plans, insurance companies, foundations, endowments, and investment managers. State Street Corporation was founded in 1832 and is headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By David Hanson and Matt Koppenheffer]

  Despite ticking lower today, Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS  ) , Bank of New York Mellon� (NYSE: BK  ) , and State Street (NYSE: STT  ) have crushed the market over the past year.

• [By Wallace Witkowski]

  While the big banks and financial firms have already reported earnings, Greenhaus noted this week will see the largest number of financial sector firms reporting than any other week. More than 20 S&P 500 financial sector companies report including several insurers such as Dow component Travelers Cos. (TRV) , a number of real-estate investment trusts such as Simon Properties Group Inc. (SPG) , capital markets firms such as Franklin Resources Inc. (BEN) �and State Street Corp. (STT) , as well as exchange operator Nasdaq OMX Group Inc. (NDAQ) �

Top 10 US Stocks For 2014: Nordic American Tanker Ltd (NAT)

Nordic American Tankers Limited is an international tanker company. As of December 31, 2011, the Company owned 20 Suezmax tankers. The Company�� vessels include Nordic Harrier, Nordic Hawk, Nordic Hunter, Nordic Voyager, Nordic Freedom, Nordic Fighter, Nordic Discovery, Nordic Saturn, Nordic Jupiter, Nordic Apollo and Nordic Moon. Its vessels also include Nordic Cosmos, Nordic Sprite, Nordic Grace, Nordic Mistral, Nordic Passat, Nordic Vega, Nordic Breeze, Nordic Aurora and Nordic Zenith. In September 2011, the Company acquired the vessel, Nordic Aurora. It chartered all of its vessels in the spot market pursuant to a cooperative arrangement with Gemini Tankers LLC until November 24, 2011. In November 2011, the Orion Tankers pool was established with Orion Tankers Ltd. as pool manager and its vessels were transferred from the Gemini Tankers LLC arrangement to the Orion Tankers pool. On December 17, 2012, the Company acquired 100% interest in Scandic American Shipping Ltd. Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Eric Volkman]

  Nordic American Tankers (NYSE: NAT  ) is presenting a calm sea to its stockholders by keeping its upcoming dividend level with the previous payout. The company has declared a distribution of $0.16 per share of its common stock for its Q1, which its expects to hand out "on or about" May 14. It expects that the record date will be April 30.

• [By Jake L'Ecuyer]

  Equities Trading DOWN
  Shares of Nordic American Tankers (NYSE: NAT) were down 10.08 percent to $7.98 after the company announced the pricing of follow-on offering.

Top 10 US Stocks For 2014: Boewe Systec AG (BSY)

BOEWE SYSTEC AG is a Germany-based provider of paper management systems. The Company is primarily engaged in the production of inserting systems, for the secure distribution of printed documents and plastic cards. Its product portfolio also includes plastic card personalization and mailing solutions, software for the monitoring and interconnection of various mailroom systems, paper processing solutions, sorting and mail verification systems, and scanners. The Company developed reading technologies used for cutters, cut sheet feeders, enclosure feeders and inserting systems, which are integrated into its software solutions. BOEWE SYSTEC AG�� products are modular, allowing machinery from different manufacturers to be connected into a production line, offering solutions for the automated mailroom. In addition, the Company provides installation, commissioning and maintenance services, as well as spare parts for its products. Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Inyoung Hwang]

  U.K. stocks erased losses in the last half hour of trading, leaving the FTSE 100 Index (UKX) little changed, as a rally in British Sky Broadcasting Group Plc (BSY) and SABMiller Plc (SAB) offset Dagong Global Credit Rating Co.�� downgrade of U.S. sovereign debt.

Top 10 US Stocks For 2014: Soditech Ingenierie SA (SEC)

Soditech Ingenierie SA is a France-based company that is primarily engaged in electronic and mechanical engineering services in various sectors. The Company�� activity is organized into three sectors: Defense & Research, Space and Energy & Nuclear. It provides specialized services in four fields: aerospace, covering communication satellites, observation satellites and space stations; automotive, providing such services as engine design and plasturgy for equipment manufacturers; aeronautics, offering structural research for aircraft makers, instruments or electro-mechanical systems for assisting pilots and others, and defense, providing engineering of numerous tests and trials systems, with or without implementations, among others. The Company also offers additional services, such as energy forecasting and environmental analysis, environmental management system, and others. In May 2014, it restructured company into three main divisions: Defense & Research, Space and Energy & Nuclear. Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Vanina Egea]

  Over the past days hedge funds have been filing their form 13-F, which is a quarterly report of equity holdings filed by institutional investment managers with at least $100 million in equity assets under management, as required by the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). In this article, let麓s concentrate in one particular hedge fund and try to see the principal holdings in its portfolio. I will look into Blackhill Capital Inc., a financial investment advisory firm headquartered in Morristown, N.J.

• [By ovenerio]

  Over the past days hedge funds have been filing their form 13-F, which is a quarterly report of equity holdings by filed institutional investment managers with at least $100 million in equity assets under management, as required by the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). In this article, let麓s concentrate in one particular hedge fund and try to see the principal holdings in its portfolio. I will look into America First Investment Advisor.Recently the fund reported its equity portfolio, as at the end of June. The total value of the portfolio amounted to $222.9 million, up from $203.2 million disclosed at the end of the previous quarter. Consequently, the fund's total return was 9.7% in the last quarter. The filing revealed that at the end of June, the fund added 14 new positions to its equity portfolio, and sold out of 24 other companies. The top ten portfolio holdings as of the end of the quarter represented 41.8%. The largest changes from previous 13-F麓s fillings are in the tech and energy sectors.In this article, we have selected three companies, in which the fund holds the largest stakes, in terms of market value.The first on the list is The Clorox Company (CLX), in which the fund disclosed a $10.53 million stake with over 115,150 shares. The company is a diversified producer of household cleaning, grocery and specialty food products is also a leading producer of natural personal care products.Long-Term VisionIn October 2013, Clorox introduced its 2020 Strategy. The 2020 Strategy focuses on delivering long-term, profitable growth through the year 2020. The key elements of its strategy to grow sales and earnings over the long term are: category, channel and geographic expansion, increased brand investment, and cost reductions.The company's long-term financial goals include:Growing net sales 3-5 percent annuallyExpanding EBIT margin 25-50 basis points annuallyGenerating free cash flow of 10% to 12% of sales annuallyIt has improved earnings