Gogo flying high but turbulence ahead

Click the chart to track Gogo's stock.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) Gogo, the in-flight wireless Internet provider, has been flying high ever since it went public in June.

Just this week Gogo announced plans to launch a new international service early next year. And its stock soared more than 27% in two days.

Gogo (GOGO) shares have more than doubled since its June IPO, making it one of the hottest stocks on the Nasdaq.

But not everyone is jumping on board.

This week's announcement is "a positive," said Jonathan Schildkraut, an analyst with Evercore Partners. "But [it] doesn't move the needle in the grand scheme of things," he added.

Schildkraut said Gogo is moving in the right direction but the recent momentum is being driven by a so-called short squeeze rather than fundamentals.

In such a scenario, traders who are shorting the stock -- betting on a price decline by selling borrowed shares -- need to cover their losses.

And that often leads a stock to pop.

While the most recent rally may cool, Gogo's future looks bright.

The company cleared a major milestone by getting approval from the FAA to allow them to add their technology to existing Boeing 747's, essentially clearing the way for international service.

"It's a big hurdle to get through," said Gogo spokesman Steve Nolan. "It's a big thing for Gogo."

Gogo also enjoys an enviable position, holding an 80% market share of commercial aircraft outfitted with wi-fi in the United States, Schildkraut said.

And while competitors Panasonic (PCRFF), Row 44 and Viasat are vying for in-flight wi-fi space, many of Gogo's clients -- which include Delta (DAL, Fortune 500), American (AAMRQ, Fortune 500), and Virgin America -- have contracts until 2018, according to Schildkraut.

Panasonic has a contract with United Airlines (UAL, Fortune 500) and Row 44 provides wi-fi to Southwest Airlines (LUV, Fortune 500). Viasat (VSAT)plans to roll out wi-fi on JetBlue (JBLU, Fortune 500) in 2014.

  Gogo CEO promises faster plane Wi-Fi

Gogo ! still has a ways to go. Its current service on many domestic flights uses ground-to-air technology that lacks robust bandwidth.

But the company has been upgrading its technology, and will soon begin equipping aircraft with satellite components for its international push. And Schildkraut believes Gogo's satellite technology is superior relative to other satellite providers.

And though it's had an impressive ride so far this year, Gogo is not alone. Other big winners this year on the tech-heavy Nasdaq include Facebook (FB, Fortune 500), Netflix (NFLX), and Tesla (TSLA).

Mexico's Coca-Cola Tax Beats Bloomberg's New York Big Soda Ban

The U.S. and Mexico share more than a big stretch of border. They share a big waistline too. And some of what is plaguing Mexico's blossoming obesity problem is the great-tasting real sugar formula of Mexico's Coca-Cola. The New York Times called it The Cult of Mexican Coca-Cola. The problem is deeper than any one beverage and any one food.

Still, sweet drinks and junk food are a place to start. So Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto has proposed taking a knife to the fat by taxing heavily sweetened soft drinks. That would combat the country's weight and diabetes problems, he claims. 

There's even a chance it will take effect. Mexico's lower House has approved the soft drink tax of 1 peso (8 US cents) per liter and a 5% excise tax on high-calorie packaged foods like potato chips, peanut butter and sweetened breakfast cereals. The Mexican Senate is expected to pass both measures. Still, a media campaign suggests otherwise.

It should be no surprise that Mr. Peña Nieto has angered some big players. Some of Mexico's biggest companies are involved. Take Femsa, which makes and distributes Coca-Cola and conveniently owns the Oxxo convenience stores. Femsa and Bimbo are two of Mexico's 19 largest public companies, according to Forbes 2013 list Global 2000 Largest Companies. Grupo Bimbo owns Sara Lee, Entenmann's, Boboli and Thomas' English Muffins. 

70% of Mexico's adults and 30% of its children are overweight or obese. That means it is overtaking the U.S., hardly an accolade. There is a corollary rise in chronic illnesses including adult-onset Type 2 diabetes. The latter effects an estimated 15% of Mexicans over age 20. The cost of weight-related illness to the country's public health system is said to exceed $3 billion a year.

But soda consumption in Mexico is especially bad, claiming the highest per-capita consumption in the world. The massive bottler, Coca-Cola Femsa SAB, operates in 10 countries. Femsa is already moping about the tax and its negative impact, grumbling that the proposed tax will cut its sales and even force cuts in its workforce.

Still, the company admits that consumers are likely to foot the bill. That may mean price increases of 12% to 15%. After all, these are sin taxes, excise taxes like those on alcohol, cigarettes and candy.

Although they are imposed on producers or sellers, they are almost inevitably passed on to buyers. They differ from sales taxes mostly by being more targeted. Suspect services can be targeted too. An example was the 10% tanning tax. It was projected to raise $2.7 billion over 10 years from America's 20,000 indoor tanning salons.

Projections may not prove true. All manner of studies are commissioned and debated too. Many are well-intentioned and may be rock-solid. Yet amid the rhetoric it can be hard to identify which are and which are not.

When New York's soda tax or soda ban was being debated, a study published in Health Affairs said experts estimated that a 15% cut in consuming sugared beverages among 25 to 64 year olds would prevent staggering numbers of deaths and serious illnesses, not to mention saving billions in medical costs. It is difficult to pooh-pooh such figures, particularly when the stakes seem so high. Yet money talks in any language.

As reported here—Mexico's Proposed Tax On Soda, Junk Food Opposed By Billionaire Beverage And Food Barons—Mexican companies that will be hurt by the tax have gone to the media. "You don't fight obesity with taxes," said full page anti-tax advertisements in Mexican newspapers. They blamed the tax on foreign influences, including New York's anti-soda Mayor Michael Bloomberg.

Of course, even the powerful Mr. Bloomberg failed against Big-Soda there. And Mexico is hardly New York. And while now the New York Soda Ban to Go Before State's Top Court, it may be that a soda tax in New York would have been far easier to swallow than a big soda ban. Like sugar.

You can reach me at Wood@WoodLLP.com. This discussion is not intended as legal advice, and cannot be relied upon for any purpose without the services of a qualified professional.

The Best Cities to Flip a House

Home flips, an important measure of housing market activity, declined 35% in the third quarter of 2013. Flipping a house — which involves buying, renovating and then reselling it — peaked in popularity in the fourth quarter of 2012, when more than 67,000 homes were flipped. As of the third quarter of this year, nearly 33,000 homes were flipped.

While the market is down overall, investors in some areas are still seeing returns well above the national average of $55,000. The average gross profit on a home flipped in San Jose was more than $166,000, the highest in the country. Based on figures provided by RealtyTrac, an online housing data provider, 24/7 Wall St. examined the 10 markets where flipping a home produced the largest gross profit in the third quarter.

Click here to see the best cities to flip a house

The number of flips also has dropped in the best markets. Compared to the same quarter last year, home flips across the United States declined by 13%. Just two top markets, Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura, Calif., and Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, Wash., had year-over-year increases in home flip activity.

"Fllippers are not just running rampant, they're backing off when the opportunity closes in terms of finding those distressed properties and converting them to quality homes," explained Daren Blomquist, vice president at RealtyTrac. Several factors were forcing home flippers out of the market, including a lack of distressed inventory, added competition from large institutional investors, as well as rising home prices and interest rates.

All but two of the most profitable markets for home flipping last quarter were in California. "Coastal California is one of the most desirable markets in the country," said Bloomquist. This high demand is one of the reasons people were able to flip homes successfully in these markets.

In most of the top cities for home flipping, buyers paid among the nation's highest prices for distressed properties. The average price paid for a distressed property nationwide was $219,412. In half of the top markets for home flipping, buying a distressed home to flip cost, on average, more than $400,000.

Of course, these expensive markets produce even larger returns. "Flippers are able to make a bigger gross profit per flip in these markets with much higher price points," Blomquist said. The average gross profit on a flip in eight of the 10 markets was at least $100,000.

Based on figures provided by RealtyTrac, 24/7 Wall St. examined the 10 housing markets where flipping a house produced the highest gross profit in the third quarter of 2013. A flip is defined by RealtyTrac as a sale of a single-family home purchased up to six months earlier. Markets with less than 50 flips were excluded.

These are the best cities in which to flip a house.

Best Growth Stocks To Watch For 2014

European stocks declined from the highest level in almost five years as bank and airline shares retreated, overshadowing better-than-forecast retail sales data in the U.S.

Commerzbank AG sank the most in two months after Handelsblatt reported the lender will sell new shares this week. Standard Chartered Plc dropped to a four-month low as Carson Block, the short seller who runs Muddy Waters LLC, said he�� betting against the bank�� debt. Air France-KLM Group fell 4 percent. Lonmin Plc rallied 2.6 percent after the platinum producer returned to profit in the fiscal first half.

The Stoxx Europe 600 Index slipped 0.2 percent to 304.46 at the close of trading, snapping four days of gains. The gauge advanced 1.3 percent last week as companies from BT Group Plc to Hochtief AG posted better-than-expected earnings and European Central Bank President Mario Draghi said policy makers are ready to cut interest rates if needed. The measure has climbed 8.9 percent in 2013.

��e still expect the U.S. economy to hit a soft patch in the second quarter, but today�� numbers -- together with the recent labor-market news -- confirms that the underlying recovery is robust,��Witold Bahrke, who helps oversee $55 billion as senior strategist at PFA Pension A/S in Copenhagen, said in an e-mail. ��he risk is that the U.S. economy turns out to be too strong, which could put the sweet spot of decent growth and loose financial conditions at risk.���

Best Growth Stocks To Watch 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.

• [By Vanin Aegea]

  I have heard many people comment about the insurance policies for cars, houses, life, assets, etc. The arguments always revolve around the same issue: Is it really necessary? What are the chances to be hit by a Hurricane, or to meet a sudden death? Well, nobody really knows. Some individuals however, sleep better when they know a policy backs their life investments. Here, I will look into three insurance companies that concentrate on different policies, or geographies. These are: China Life (LFC), and Conseco (CNO).

• [By Jonas Elmerraji]

  Up first is CNO Financial Group (CNO), a mid-cap financial stock that's rocketed close to 60% higher since the calendar flipped over to January. Yup, it's been a great year for the market, but it's been a far better one for investors who own CNO. But that strong performance isn't showing any signs of slowing yet. In fact, CNO looks primed for even more upside in the fourth quarter.

  That's because CNO is currently forming a bullish pattern called an ascending triangle. The ascending triangle pattern is formed by a horizontal resistance level above shares -- in this case at $14.75 -- and uptrending support to the downside. Basically, as CNO bounces in between those two technical price levels, it's getting squeezed closer and closer to a breakout above that $14.75 resistance level. When that breakout happens, it's time to become a buyer.

  ACCO's price action isn't exactly textbook. After all, the pattern is coming in at the bottom of a downtrend, not after an uptrend. But ultimately, that doesn't change the trading implications of a move through that $7.50 level.

  Whenever you're looking at any technical price pattern, it's critical to think in terms of those buyers and sellers. Ascending triangles and other pattern names are a good quick way to explain what's going on in a stock, but they're not the reason it's tradable. Instead, it all comes down to supply and demand for shares.

  That $7.50 resistance level is a price where there has been an excess of supply of shares; in other words, it's a place where sellers have been more eager to step in and take gains than buyers have been to buy. That's what makes a breakout above it so significant. The move means that buyers are finally strong enough to absorb all of the excess supply above that price level.

  Don't be early on this trade.

Best Growth Stocks To Watch 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

Hot Heal Care Companies To Watch In Right Now: 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 Travis Hoium]

  What: Shares of staffing agency TrueBlue (NYSE: TBI  ) jumped 10% today after the company reported earnings.

  So what: Revenue jumped 19%, to $422.3 million, and beat estimates of $420.2 million from Wall Street. Adjusted earnings per share were also up 19%, to $0.31, outpacing estimates by $0.05.�

• [By Jonathan Yates]

  Even though the stock market rallied on Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke's remarks with the Dow Jones Industrial Average (NYSE: DIA) and Standard & Poor's 500 Index (NYSE: SPY) surging, the long term winners will be stocks in the staffing industry such as Paychex(NASDAQ: PAYX), TrueBlue (NYSE: TBI), Robert Half (NYSE: RHI), and Labor SMART (OTCBB: LTNC).

Best Growth Stocks To Watch For 2014: MEDIFAST INC(MED)

Medifast, Inc., through its subsidiaries, engages in the production, distribution, and sale of weight management and disease management products, and other consumable health and diet products in the United States. The company?s product lines include weight and disease management, meal replacement, and vitamins. It also operates weight control centers that offer Medifast programs for weight loss and maintenance, customized patient counseling, and inbody composition analysis. The company markets its products under the Medifast and Essential brand names, including shakes, appetite suppression shakes, women?s health shakes, diabetics shakes, joint health shakes, coronary health shakes, calorie burn drinks, calorie burn flavor infusers, antioxidant shakes, antioxidant flavor infusers, bars, crunch bars, soups, chili, oatmeal, pudding, scrambled eggs, hot cocoa, cappuccino, chai latte, iced teas, fruit drinks, pretzels, puffs, brownie, pancakes, soy crisps, crackers, and omega 3 and digestive health products. Medifast Inc. sells its products through various channels of distribution comprising Web, call center, independent health advisors, medical professionals, weight loss clinics, and direct consumer marketing supported via the phone and the Web; Take Shape for Life, a physician led network of independent health coaches; and weight control centers. The company was founded in 1980 and is headquartered in Owings Mills, Maryland.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Holly LaFon] ast produces, distributes and sells weight and health management products with the brand names Medifast, Take Shape for Life, Hi-Energy Weight Control Centers and Woman�� Wellbeing.

  Its return on assets in the third quarter of 2011 was 19.6%, which has been increasing in the past several years. The average return on assets for the specialty retail industry is 10.48% for the trailing 12 months.

  The company�� total assets amounted to $94 million in 2010, which increased from $62.8 million in 2009. Net income also increased to $19.6 million in 2010 from $12 million in 2009.

  Boston Beer Inc. (SAM)

  Boston Beer Inc. is the largest brewer of handcrafted beers in America. Boston Beer is a growing company that recently saw a large increase in its return on assets. It increased from 19.3% in 2010 to 29.7% in 2011, and was negative as recently as 2008. The average return on assets for the beverages industry in the trailing 12 months is 9.47%.

  In 2011, the company�� total assets increased to $272.5 million from $258.5 million in 2010. Net income increased to $66 million from $50 million.

  Alliances Resources Partners (ARLP)

  Alliance Resources Partners is a coal producer and marketer primarily in the eastern U.S. Its ROA has been increasing since 2008 and increased to 22.5% in 2011 from 21.4% in 2010. The average return on assets for the oil, gas & consumable fuels industry in the trailing 12 months is 24.47%.

  In 2011, its total assets increased to $1.7 billion from $1.1 billion in 2010. Its net income increased to $389 million from $321 million.

  Factset Research Systems Inc. (FDS)

  Factset researches global market trends and develops analytical tools for investors. Of all of GuruFocus��5-star predictable companies, it has the highest return on assets at 27%. ROA has been increasing over the past several years. The average return on assets for the software industry for the trailing 12 m

• [By Ben Levisohn]

  Shares of Nutrisystem have gained 20% to $18.05 at 1:34 p.m., while Weight Watchers (WTW) has risen 3.6% to $39.42. Medifast (MED), however, has dropped 1.9% to $24.94.

Best Growth Stocks To Watch 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 James Brumley]

  Earlier this year, McDonald’s (MCD) tiptoed into KFC’s territory — and even put Buffalo Wild Wings (BWLD) on notice — with the launch of its Mighty Wings chicken wings. Sales of the fried chicken wings have failed to take off as expected, though. As McDonald’s CEO Don Thompson (under)stated it, the wings’ price of $3.69 for five pieces was “not the most competitive.”

Best Growth Stocks To Watch 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 Matt Thalman]

  Editor's note: This video was shot before Intuitive Surgical's (NASDAQ: ISRG  ) recent earnings forecast, in which the stock fell more than 18% in one trading session. The chart presented during the video does not reflect that move.

Best Growth Stocks To Watch 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 Stocks To Watch For 2014: Checkpoint Systms Inc.(CKP)

Checkpoint Systems, Inc. manufactures and markets identification, tracking, security, and merchandising solutions for the retail and apparel industry worldwide. The company operates in three segments: Shrink Management Solutions, Apparel Labeling Solutions, and Retail Merchandising Solutions. The Shrink Management Solutions segment provides shrink management and merchandise visibility solutions. It offers electronic article surveillance systems, such as EVOLVE, a suite of RF and RFID-enabled products that act as a deterrent to prevent merchandise theft in retail stores; and electronic article surveillance consumables, including EAS-RF and EAS-EM labels that work in combination with EAS systems to reduce merchandise theft in retail stores. This segment also provides keepers, spider wraps, bottle security, and hard tags, as well as Showsafe, a line alarm system for protecting display merchandise. In addition, it offers physical and electronic store monitoring solutions, incl uding fire alarms, intrusion alarms, and digital video recording systems for retail environments; and RFID tags and labels. The Apparel Labeling Solutions segment provides apparel labeling solutions to apparel retailers, brand owners, and manufacturers. It has Web-enabled apparel labeling solutions platform and network of 28 service bureaus located in 22 countries that supplies customers with customized apparel tags and labels. The Retail Merchandising Solutions segment offers hand-held label applicators and tags, promotional displays, and queuing systems. The company serves retailers in the supermarket, drug store, hypermarket, and mass merchandiser markets through direct distribution and reseller channels. Checkpoint Systems was founded in 1969 and is based in Thorofare, New Jersey.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Rich Smith]

  Three months after settling upon a new chief executive officer, it looks like Thorofare, N. J.-based Checkpoint Systems (NYSE: CKP  ) will soon have itself a new CFO as well.

• [By John Udovich]

  Small cap Checkpoint Systems, Inc (NYSE: CKP) fights shoplifting or retail theft and other forms of�"shrink��that costs retailers over $112 billion worldwide last year (according to a study funded by the company), meaning it might be an interesting stock to take a closer look at and to compare its performance with that of SPDR S&P Retail ETF (NYSEARCA: XRT) and PowerShares Dynamic Retail ETF (NYSEARCA: PMR). Just how bad can shoplifting or shrink be for a retailer? Troubled retailer J.C. Penney Company, Inc (NYSE: JCP) has just reported that shoplifting took a full percentage point off the department store chain's profit margins during the quarter. Moreover and given that tens of millions of Americans are now facing higher health insurance costs thanks to Obamacare (which will likely impact consumer discretionary spending),�retailers�will need to find ways to shore up their margins and bottom lines by preventing�retail theft with solutions from company�� like Checkpoint Systems.

Salmon: Summers Over

NEW YORK (Reuters Blogs) -- David Wessel has the scoop: Larry Summers has bowed to reality and is withdrawing from consideration as Fed chair. His last-minute attempt to distance himself from Citigroup (C) was far too little, far too late: With Democratic opposition in the Senate only getting harder, it was at this point more likely than not that any Summers nomination would actually fail to get through Congress.

Michael Hirsh's anti-Summers National Journal cover story landed on the desks of everybody who matters in Washington at the end of the week, and it had its intended effect: No matter how much the White House wanted Summers to get the job, those pesky Constitutional checks and balances would conspire to ensure that it would never be his.

This is extremely good news, of course. Summers was the wrong man for the job, and his withdrawal leaves the door wide open for the best-qualified candidate, Janet Yellen, to step into the chairmanship. Summers simply shouldn't be a leader of any major institution: He's too cocksure, too abrasive. He failed at Harvard; since then, his m�tier has been that of consigliere: quietly (or not so quietly) whispering in the ear of real leaders like David Shaw or Barack Obama. He's good at that. But Summers has tasted real power: first at Treasury and then at Harvard, and is young enough, and ambitious enough, to want to relive the experience.

It's not going to happen -- not at any major public institution, in any case. Summers didn't become Treasury secretary when Obama first took office; he didn't become the head of the World Bank; and he has now failed twice to become Fed chair. That's it: Four strikes, and he's done. He is now free to make many millions of dollars in the private sector -- or rather, to continue to make many millions of dollars in the private sector, since he's a prime example of a man who revolves straight into highly-paid consultancies the minute he leaves government. The presumptive-nominee status of Yellen will leave a bad taste in many White House sources' mouths -- they've been quietly briefing against her for months and the unedifying spectacle of seeing the Fed chairmanship turn into a horse race has done her no particular favors. Obama should know, however, that if he nominates any man whatsoever for the job, the howls from women will be heard very loudly indeed.

The real lesson of the past few months, however, is that the Fed chairmanship should never become a political football. If Obama wanted to nominate Summers, he should have just done so, rather than raising a trial balloon in July and then letting it slowly deflate. Both Alan Greenspan and Ben Bernanke were nominated by a Republican and then renominated by a Democrat. That, above-politics status, is exactly as it should be. I hope that Washington will learn from this debacle and that if the Republican candidate wins the next presidential election, he or she will feel free to renominate Janet Yellen. That would be the sign we all need that the Fed chair is a technocratic position, not a political one.

-- Written by Felix Salmon in New York.

Brickwork accredits BWR BB ratings for ARPL's NCD

BWR has relied on the audited financial results of Adarsh Developers for FY 2011,  audited financial statements of ARPL for FY 2011 and quarter ending September 2011, projected financial figures of ARPL, information and legal opinion about the ownership of the  land on which the project is to come up and other data/information provided  by ARPL and the promoters.

As per unaudited results of ARPL for September ending 2011, borrowings stood at ` 100 Crore. The company�s Advances recoverable in cash increased to ` 81.95 Crore in H1 FY2012 from ` 71.77 Crore in H1 FY11. Expenses stood at ` 5.97 Crore in H1 FY12 as compared to ` 2.47 Crore in H1 FY11.

As per latest available audited results of Adarsh Developers, in FY11 income from sale of properties has marginally decreased to ` 312.21 Crore as compared to ` 319.53 Crore in FY10. PBT has marginally decreased to ` 59.06 Crore in FY11 from ` 59.65 Crore in FY10. 

Borrowings, including secured loan and unsecured loan decreased to ` 714.33 Crore in FY11 from ` 739.24 Crore in FY10. Total Debt to Equity ratio has gone down to 2.20 in FY11 as compared to 2.60 in FY10 mainly due to increase in capital and reserves to ` 324.02 Crore in FY11 from ` 284.61 Crore in FY10.

Click here to know more on investing in Fixed Income products

Is LinkedIn About to Phase Out?

With shares of LinkedIn Corporation (NYSE:LNKD) trading at around $176.00, is LNKD an OUTPERFORM, WAIT AND SEE or STAY AWAY? Let's analyze the stock with the relevant sections of our CHEAT SHEET investing framework:

C = Catalyst for the Stock's Movement

LinkedIn dropped 13 percent on Friday due to weak guidance. Analysts expected Q2 revenue to come in at $360 million. LinkedIn announced it expected Q2 revenue to come in between $342 million and $347 million. Analysts expected FY2013 revenue to come in at $1.49 billion. LinkedIn announced that it expected FY2013 revenue to come in between $1.43 billion and $1.46 billion. Despite these being disappointments, they're still vast improvements. High expectations are one of LinkedIn's greatest challenges. Two other big negatives at the current time are increased costs and poor valuation.

NEW! Discover a new stock idea each week for less than the cost of 1 trade. CLICK HERE for your Weekly Stock Cheat Sheets NOW!

There are many more positives for LinkedIn, which include:

Profitability (unlike many other social media companies, it doesn't rely solely on ads) Consistent revenue and earnings improvements Monetization expertise Q1 revenue increased 72.3 percent year-over-year All segments performing well Talent Solutions revenue increased 80.0 percent year-over-year Marketing Solutions revenue increased 56.0 percent year-over-year Premium Subscriptions revenue increased 73.0 percent year-over-year Cash flow from operations increased to $103.9 million from $63.2 million

It should also be noted that only 38.0 percent of revenue was from international markets, which means there is still a great deal of international growth potential.

In regards to site traffic, it has remained stagnant over the past two years. That might sound bad, but LinkedIn is ranked #14 globally and #10 in the United States. As long as that kind of traffic can be at least maintained, there will be a lot of monetization opportunities.

Now let's take a look at some comparative numbers. The chart below compares fundamentals for LinkedIn, Facebook (NASDAQ:FB), and Monster Worldwide (NYSE:MWW). LinkedIn has a market cap of $19.01 billion, Facebook has a market cap of $67.39 billion, and Monster Worldwide has a market cap of $546.75 million.

	LNKD	FB	MWW
Trailing   P/E	675.35	577.35	N/A
Forward   P/E	84.01	36.27	12.30
Profit   Margin	3.54%	1.22%	-29.06%
ROE	4.76%	0.77%	5.69%
Operating   Cash Flow	$307.68 Million	$1.89 Billion	53.33%
Dividend   Yield	N/A	N/A	N/A
Short   Position	6.70%	7.50%	N/A

 

Let's take a look at some more important numbers prior to forming an opinion on this stock.

E = Equity to Debt Ratio Is Strong

The debt-to-equity ratio for LinkedIn is stronger than the industry average of 0.10. LinkedIn's cash position has increased to $830.31 million from $749.55 million.

	Debt-To-Equity	Cash	Long-Term Debt
LNKD	0.00	$830.31 Million	$0
FB	0.19	$9.47 Billion	$2.26 Billion
MWW	0.19	$148.14 Million	$164.24 Million

 

NEW! Discover a new stock idea each week for less than the cost of 1 trade. CLICK HERE for your Weekly Stock Cheat Sheets NOW!

T = Technicals Are Strong    

Despite the big drop on Friday, LinkedIn has still been a top performer year-to-date.

	1 Month	Year-To-Date	1 Year	3 Year
LNKD	1.67%	52.93%	49.69%	N/A
FB	4.57%	6.35%	N/A	N/A
MWW	8.15%	-12.63%	-36.97%	-71.99%

 

At $176.00, LinkedIn is trading below its 50-day SMA, but above its 100-day SMA and 200-day SMA.

50-Day   SMA	176.94
100-Day   SMA	150.85
200-Day   SMA	129.89

 

E = Earnings Have Steady                    

We don't have much information on an annual basis, but at least the trend is in the right direction. Revenue has been especially impressive.

	2008	2009	2010	2011	2012
Revenue   ($)in   millions	N/A	120.13	N/A	522.19	972.31
Diluted   EPS ($)	N/A	0.00	N/A	0.11	0.19

 

When we look at the last quarter on a year-over-year basis, we see improvements in revenue and earnings.

	3/2012	6/2012	9/2012	12/2012	3/2013
Revenue   ($)in   millions	188.46	228.21	252.03	303.62	324.70
Diluted   EPS ($)	0.04	0.03	0.02	0.10	0.20

 

Now let's take a look at the next page for the Trends and Conclusion. Is this stock an OUTPERFORM, a WAIT AND SEE, or a STAY AWAY?

T = Trends Might Support the Industry

LinkedIn has brand uniqueness, which to this point has allowed it to perform well. However, there are other players who have the potential to enter the market and create havoc, which include Facebook and Google Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG). Monster Worldwide is an ever-fading threat.

NEW! Discover a new stock idea each week for less than the cost of 1 trade. CLICK HERE for your Weekly Stock Cheat Sheets NOW!

Conclusion

There are a lot of positives for LinkedIn. On the other hand, if the market corrects, then LinkedIn will be left in the dust by investors. There would be a flight to quality, or perhaps a flight to cash. There certainly wouldn't be a flight to high-risk tech plays like LinkedIn. This is a concern.

3 Tech Stocks That Ignored the Fed and Moved Higher

Lately, investors have been holding their breath trying to figure out what the Federal Reserve will do with its monetary-policy moves, especially the bond-buying quantitative easing program. Today's release of the June minutes of the Federal Open Market Committee meeting didn't really provide any concrete answers, though, as economic data remain open to different interpretations. In the end, investors won't be able to predict what the Fed will do before it takes action, and the nine-point drop in the Dow Jones Industrials (DJINDICES: ^DJI  ) seems to confirm that investors are looking beyond the immediate future and understanding the inevitability that at some point, quantitative easing will end.

But the Dow had some big movers on this quiet day, with three of its technology giants gaining 1% or more. Hewlett-Packard (NYSE: HPQ  ) led the Dow with a 1.8% gain after getting a favorable analyst upgrade. Yet this afternoon, Gartner reported a nearly 11% decline in worldwide PC shipments during the second quarter, further highlighting the steady erosion of what has been a traditional area of strength for HP. Lenovo recaptured the top spot in PC shipments from HP, but HP remains relatively strong in the U.S., Latin America, and the European/Middle Eastern/African market. The report doesn't change anything about HP's strategy though: it needs to move forward with initiatives to develop its non-PC businesses faster.

Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT  ) picked up 1% after announcing its CityNext program to help cities take advantage of their human capital and other resources to foster innovation. But the real news might come tomorrow, when many expect the company to provide more guidance about a possible restructuring. Watching Microsoft's corporate moves could shed some light on which areas the company sees as being highest priority in the years to come, as well as potentially creating a list of possible successors to CEO Steve Ballmer.

Finally, Cisco Systems (NASDAQ: CSCO  ) climbed 1%. The company has done a good job of increasing its presence in the cloud-computing space, with Cisco having been cited by an analyst firm as hurting the prospects of cloud rival VMware (NYSE: VMW  ) . As tech giants across the industry break out of their traditional niches and all chase after the same high-growth areas, such confrontations will become more commonplace, and it'll be essential for Cisco to use its size and financial strength to make the most of the opportunities it has.

Technology has become a hotspot for investing and innovation, but it's incredible to think just how much of our digital and technological lives are almost entirely shaped and molded by just a handful of companies. Find out who will win the war among the 5 biggest tech stocks in The Motley Fool's latest free report, which details the knock-down, drag-out battle being waged by the five kings of tech. Click here to keep reading.

Top 10 High Tech Companies To Buy Right Now

Investors hoping to take advantage of the planned Five Below (NASDAQ: FIVE  ) secondary share issue will have to wait for another day. The company announced that, "in light of current capital market conditions," the offering has been postponed; it did not specify whether it has been rescheduled.

A group of selling shareholders, including members and associates of the firm's management team and board of directors, were to offer just over 8.56 million shares in the underwritten issue. Additionally, it was expected that the company's underwriters were to be granted a 30-day purchase option for up to an additional 1.28 million shares.

In the press release originally heralding the sale, Five Below stressed it is not to receive any monies from the offering, as it is not the selling party.

The joint book-running managers of the offering are Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS  ) , Barclays' (NYSE: BCS  ) Capital unit, Leucadia's Jefferies, and the Securities arms of Credit Suisse (NYSE: CS  ) and Deutsche Bank (NYSE: DB  ) .

Top 10 High Tech Companies To Buy Right Now: WSFS Financial Corporation(WSFS)

WSFS Financial Corporation operates as the thrift holding company for the Wilmington Savings Fund Society, FSB, which provides various financial services primarily in the mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It accepts a range of deposit products, including savings accounts, demand deposits, interest-bearing demand deposits, money market deposit accounts, and certificates of deposits, as well as jumbo certificates of deposit. The company?s loan portfolio comprises residential mortgage loans; residential real estate loans; nonresidential real estate loans; real estate mortgage loans; commercial construction loans; commercial lending that includes loans for the purpose of working capital, financing equipment acquisitions, business expansion, and other business purposes; consumer credit products that primarily comprise home improvement loans, home equity lines of credit, automobile loans, unsecured lines of credit, and other secured and unsecured personal installment lo ans. It also offers a range of trust and wealth management services. The company, through its other subsidiaries, markets various third-party investment and insurance products, such as single-premium annuities, whole life policies, and securities; and provides investment advisory services to high net-worth individuals and institutions. As of October 3, 2011, it operated 49 banking offices, including 39 in Delaware, 8 in Pennsylvania, 1 in Virginia, and 1 in Nevada. The company was founded in 1832 and is headquartered in Wilmington, Delaware.

Top 10 High Tech Companies To Buy Right Now: Zoommed Inc. (ZMD.V)

ZoomMed Inc. and its subsidiaries engage in the development and marketing of various computer applications for healthcare professionals in Canada. The company develops the ZRx Prescriber, a Web application that runs on smart phones, wireless devices or computers allowing physicians to write a bar-coded prescription enabling pharmacists to access and retrieve script information online. It builds and operates e-Pic Communication Network, a clinical information exchange platform between physicians and various other stakeholders of the healthcare sector, such as pharmacists, specialists, pharmaceutical corporations, laboratories, specialized clinics, employers, and others. The company also offers PraxisLab pharmacy management software, which enhances various aspects of the prescription filling process and pharmacists patient file management. It serves physicians, pharmacists, patients, pharmaceutical companies, and private labs. ZoomMed Inc. was incorporated in 2005 and is hea dquartered in Brossard, Canada.

Top Value Companies To Watch In Right Now: Axia Netmedia Corp Com Npv(AXX.TO)

Axia NetMedia Corporation provides broadband Internet services and solutions through its Next Generation Networks (NGNs). It offers Real Broadband services that exchange amounts of audio, data, and video with connectivity levels. The company operates various NGNs, including the Alberta SuperNet, an open access network connecting 429 communities in Alberta; Covage NGN consists of 14 early stage active networks in France; Xarxa Oberta, which connects 696 Generalitat sites in the fields of health, education, justice, and safety in Catalonia; OpenNet, an open access NGN broadband network to provide fibre and access to broadband services in Singapore; and MassBroadband 123 fibre network connecting approximately 120 communities in western and north central Massachusetts. It also offers various networking services comprising bandwith services and NGN enabling services. The company serves customers primarily in the government, health, education, business, industrial, and municipal ity sectors, as well as service providers. Axia NetMedia Corporation was founded in 1994 and is headquartered in Calgary, Canada.

Top 10 High Tech Companies To Buy Right Now: Maxim Power Corp Com Npv (MXG.TO)

Maxim Power Corp., an independent power producer, engages in the acquisition, development, ownership, and operation of power generation facilities, as well as sale of electricity and heat. The company primarily generates electricity through coal, natural gas, waste heat, and landfill gas fuelled cogeneration facilities. It owns and operates 40 power plants with 788 megawatts (MW) of electric and 111 MW of thermal net generating capacity in western Canada, the United States, and France. The company is based in Calgary, Canada.

Top 10 High Tech Companies To Buy Right Now: Csr Ord 0.1p(CSR.L)

CSR plc, a fabless semiconductor company, designs and develops semiconductors and software based solutions in the United Kingdom, rest of Europe, the Americas, and Asia. It offers multifunction semiconductor platforms for the auto, camera, low energy connectivity, document imaging, and wireless voice and music markets; and semiconductors for the handset and other consumer electronics markets. The company?s technology portfolio comprises Bluetooth and Bluetooth SMART; global positioning system (GPS) and global navigation satellite systems location products; frequency modulated radio; Wi-Fi or wireless fidelity; audio and associated codec; near-field communication, a short range wireless technology that enables the transfer of data and secure transactions between devices; and imaging and video processing technologies. Its technologies have applications in a range of mobile consumer devices, such as handsets, tablets, automotive infotainments systems, personal navigation dev ices, wireless headsets, wireless audio systems, personal computers, GPS recreational devices, tracking and logistics management systems, digital cameras, printers, digital televisions, and gaming devices. The company markets its products to original equipment manufacturers and original design manufacturers primarily through its direct sales force and sales representatives, as well as through a network of distributors. It has operations in the United Kingdom, the United States, China, Taiwan, South Korea, Israel, Japan, and Singapore. CSR plc was founded in 1999 and is headquartered in Cambridge, the United Kingdom.

Top 10 High Tech Companies To Buy Right Now: Akela Pharma Inc He Company] (AKL.TO)

Akela Pharma, Inc. operates as a specialty contract pharmaceutical formulation developer in the United States. It offers contract pharma services comprising formulation and process development of drug in tablets, capsules, multiparticulates, fast formulations, oral and topical liquids, powders for suspension/reconstitution, and semi-solid forms. The company also provides analytical services, which include research and development analytical testing and support for formulation development; analytical method development and phase-appropriate validation; quality control testing for API and raw materials release; and stability testing and ICH compliant stability storage. In addition, it offers drug delivery solutions, such as hot melt extrusion for amorphous dispersions, spray-drying for amorphous dispersions, controlled release dosage forms, liquid solutions (encapsulated and bottled), and novel dosage forms, as well as beads, granulation, and drug layering services. Further, the company�s contract services consist of handling of potent compounds; pharmaceutical patent litigation support services; GMP clinical and commercial manufacturing; clinical labeling and packaging; and IP validation and contestation consulting services. The company was formerly known as LAB International Inc. and changed its name to Akela Pharma, Inc. in June 2007. Akela Pharma, Inc. was founded in 1979 and is headquartered in Austin, Texas.

Top 10 High Tech Companies To Buy Right Now: Audiovox Corporation(VOXX)

VOXX International Corporation provides automotive and consumer electronic products, and accessories in the United States and internationally. The company?s products include mobile multimedia systems; auto sound systems comprising satellite radio, vehicle security, and remote start systems; portable DVD players; and personal and vehicle tracking devices. It also offers consumer electronics products, such as personal sound amplifiers, MP3 players, digital camcorders, docking stations, digital voice recorders, clock radios, digital picture frames, and home stereos; consumer electronics accessories comprising digital antennas, remote controls, wireless solutions, headphones, HDMI cables, power solutions, and media cleaning and care; and car audio and video products. In addition, the company provides audio products consisting of home theater systems; indoor and outdoor speaker lines; surround sound systems; sub woofers; professional installation products, such as cinema speake rs; and personal audio products, which include iPod docking stations and computer speakers. It markets its products under the Klipsch, RCA, Invision, Jensen, Audiovox, Terk, Acoustic Research, Advent, Code Alarm, CarLink, Omega, Excalibur, Prestige, SURFACE, Jamo, Energy, Mirage, Mac Audio, Magnat, Heco, Schwaiger, Oehlbach, and Incaar brands through a network of power retailers, mass merchandisers, hardware and independent retailers, 12-volt specialists, military exchanges, and automotive manufacturers, as well as through Internet. The company was formerly known as Audiovox Corporation and changed its name to VOXX International Corporation in December, 2011. VOXX International Corporation was founded in 1965 and is headquartered in Hauppauge, New York.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Seth Jayson]

  VOXX International (Nasdaq: VOXX  ) reported earnings on May 14. Here are the numbers you need to know.

  The 10-second takeaway
  For the quarter ended Feb. 28 (Q4), VOXX International beat slightly on revenues and beat expectations on earnings per share.

• [By Seth Jayson]

  VOXX International (Nasdaq: VOXX  ) is expected to report Q1 earnings on July 10. Here's what Wall Street wants to see:

  The 10-second takeaway
  Comparing the upcoming quarter to the prior-year quarter, average analyst estimates predict VOXX International's revenues will shrink -2.4% and EPS will decrease -69.2%.

• [By Monica Gerson]

  VOXX International (NASDAQ: VOXX) is projected to post its Q2 earnings at $0.09 per share on revenue of $186.73 million.

  RPM International (NYSE: RPM) is expected to report its Q1 earnings at $0.71 per share on revenue of $1.13 billion.

Top 10 High Tech Companies To Buy Right Now: Honeywell Intl Inc(HON.L)

Honeywell International Inc. operates as a diversified technology and manufacturing company worldwide. Its Aerospace segment provides turbine propulsion engines, auxiliary power units, environmental control and electric power systems, engine systems and accessories, avionic systems, aircraft lighting, inertial sensors, control products, space products and subsystems, and landing products for aircraft manufacturers, airlines, business and general aviation, military, space, and airport operations, as well as offers management and technical, logistics, aircraft wheels and brakes and repair, and overhaul services. The company?s Automation and Control Solutions segment provides environmental and combustion controls, and sensing controls; security and life safety products and services; scanning and mobility products; process automation products and solutions; and building solutions and services for homes, buildings, and industrial facilities. Its Performance Materials and Techn ologies segment provides resins and chemicals; hydrofluoric acid; fluorocarbons; nuclear services; research and fine chemicals; performance chemicals; chemical processing sealants; fibers and composites; specialty films and additives; imaging and electronic chemicals; semiconductor materials and services; catalysts, adsorbents, and specialties; and renewable fuels and chemicals. It offers products for applications in the refining, petrochemical, automotive, healthcare, agricultural, packaging, refrigeration, appliance, housing, semiconductor, wax, and adhesives segments. This segment also provides process technology and equipment for the petroleum refining, and petrochemical and gas processing industries. The company?s Transportation Systems segment provides charge-air systems; thermal systems; and brake hard parts and other friction materials for passenger cars and commercial vehicles. Honeywell International Inc. was founded in 1920 and is headquartered in Morris Township , New Jersey.

Top 10 High Tech Companies To Buy Right Now: Novellus Systems Inc.(NVLS)

Novellus Systems, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, develops, manufactures, sells, and supports equipment used in the fabrication of integrated circuits. The company operates in two segments, Semiconductor Group and Industrial Applications Group. The Semiconductor Group segment provides equipment used in wafer processing, advanced wafer-level packaging, and light-emitting diode (LED) manufacturing. Its deposition systems use chemical vapor deposition (CVD), physical vapor deposition (PVD), and electrochemical deposition (ECD) processes to form transistor, capacitor, and interconnect layers in an integrated circuit; and High-Density Plasma CVD (HDP-CVD) and Plasma-Enhanced CVD (PECVD) systems employ chemical plasma to deposit dielectric material within the gaps formed by the etching of aluminum, or as a blanket film that can be etched with patterns for depositing conductive materials into the etched dielectric. This segment?s CVD Tungsten systems are used to deposit co nductive contacts between transistors and interconnects; PVD systems are used to deposit conductive aluminum and copper metal layers by sputtering metal atoms; and Electrofil ECD systems are used for depositing copper to form the conductive wiring on integrated circuits using copper interconnects. The Industrial Applications Group segment provides grinding, lapping, and polishing equipment for fine-surface optimization. It offers products for use in the semiconductor and LED manufacturing, automotive, aerospace, medical, green energy, and glass and ceramics industries, as well as manufacturers of products, such as pumps, transmissions, compressors, and bearings. The company markets its products through direct sales force and manufacturer?s representatives primarily in Europe, the United States, Korea, Japan, China, Taiwan, and southeast Asia. Novellus Systems, Inc. was founded in 1984 and is headquartered in San Jose, California.

Top 10 High Tech Companies To Buy Right Now: Flotek Industries Inc (FTK)

Flotek Industries, Inc. (Flotek), incorporated on May 17, 1985, is a diversified global supplier of drilling and production related products and services. Its core focus is oilfield specialty chemicals and logistics, down-hole drilling tools and down-hole production tools used in the energy and mining industries. Flotek operates in three segments: Chemicals and Logistics, Drilling Products and Artificial Lift. The Company operates using third party agents in Canada, Mexico, Central America, South America, the Middle East, and Asia. In May 2013, Flotek Industries Inc through its wholly owned subsidiary acquired the entire share capital of Florida Chemical Co Inc.

Chemicals and Logistics

The chemical business provides oil and natural gas field specialty chemicals for use in drilling, cementing, stimulation and production activities. The Company�� specialty chemicals are manufactured to withstand a range of down-hole pressures, temperatures and other well-specific conditions. Flotek operates two laboratories, a technical services laboratory and a research and development laboratory, which focus on design, development and testing of new chemical formulations and enhancement of existing products, often in cooperation with the customers. Its micro-emulsions are stable mixtures of oil, water and surface active agents, forming complex nano-fluids, in which the molecules are organized into nanostructures. The micro-emulsions are composed of renewable plant derived cleaning ingredients and oils and are biodegradable. Flotek�� logistics business designs, project manages and operates automated bulk material handling and loading facilities. These bulk facilities handle oilfield products, including sand and other materials for well-fracturing operations, dry cement and additives for oil and gas well cementing, and supply materials used in oilfield operations.

Drilling Products

Flotek is a provider of down-hole drilling tools used in the oilfield, min! ing, water-well and industrial drilling activities. It manufactures, sells, rents and inspects specialized equipment for use in drilling, completion, and production and workover activities. The rental tools include stabilizers, drill collars, reamers, wipers, jars, shock subs, wireless survey, and measurement while drilling (MWD) tools and mud-motors. Equipment sold primarily includes mining equipment, centralizers and drill bits. Flotek focuses its product marketing primarily in the Southeast, Northeast, Mid-Continent and Rocky Mountain regions of the United States, with international sales conducted through third party agents.

Artificial Lift

Flotek provides pumping system components, electric submersible pumps (ESPs), gas separators, production valves and services. The products address the needs of coal bed methane and traditional oil and gas production to move gas, oil and other fluids from the producing horizon to the surface. The Artificial Lift products employ technologies to improved performance. The Petrovalve product optimizes pumping efficiency in horizontal completions, heavy oil and wells with high liquid to gas ratios. Artificial Lift products are manufactured in China, assembled domestically and distributed globally.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By David Smith]

  Flotek Industries (NYSE: FTK  )
  The smallest member of the trio, with a market cap of about $815 million, Flotek operates on the services side of the energy sector. As I've previously pointed out to Fools, it also constitutes a rare instance wherein the analysts who monitor the company all accord it strong buy ratings. But with Flotek's share price having risen by more than 40% year to date, it is difficult to contest that unanimous confidence.

• [By David Smith]

  Flotek Industries (NYSE: FTK  )
  I've mentioned Flotek Industries to Fools in the past. The relatively small ($940 million capitalization and growing) company provides a range of products and assistance for oil and gas operations, from well construction to production. It's also the only services company -- and one of but a handful of companies in any sector -- that's been accorded a perfect consensus of one (strong buy) by the analysts.

Best 5 Stock Investments for 2014

The Internet is currently flooded with a tsunami of stock market predictions—from brokerage firms, investment strategists, financial media types and every flavor of portfolio manager. Many of them even sport sort of impressive scorecard.

We at ThinkAdvisor accept the common industry disclosure that “past performance is not indicative of future results,” and its corollary that foresight is not 20-20.

So to take part in this annual ritual, we sought someone with direct oversight responsibility for managing unrelated investors’ wealth (sorry investment strategists); a fund with a record of success going back at least 10 years (and this has been a challenging decade); and a fund that has had market-beating current performance even by today’s buoyant standards.

That led us to the Kinetics Small Cap Opportunities Fund (KSCOX) and its research affiliate Horizon Asset Management. In a year in which the small-cap Russell 2000 index has returned (so far) a whopping 32%, KSCOX has vastly outperformed with year-to-date returns of 56%.

And over a choppy decade in which the Russell 2000 has delivered 105%, KSCOX has bested its benchmark with returns of 136%.

(Check out last year’s predictions: Best 5 Investment Picks for 2013)

Admirably, the fund exhibits an unusual degree of conviction and concentration, with a turnover ratio of just 11% and its top portfolio holdings amounting to more than half the fund’s assets, based on Q3 data from Kinetics’ website, which also lists both no-load and Class A and C shares.

So is there a method to KSCOX fund shareholder gladness? “We buy and sit and wait,” co-portfolio manager Matthew Houk told ThinkAdvisor in a phone interview from his office in New York.

That’s the simple explanation. The more technical description Houk offers is that the “equity yield curve” is the cornerstone of Kinetics’ management philosophy—“a fancy sounding term for identifying investment opportunities with abnormally high discount rates.”

In other words, Houk says he and co-manager Peter Doyle are relatively less interested than other portfolio managers in a company’s recent quarterly performance as long as they see catalysts to high future performance.

Apart from a different emphasis in portfolio selection, Houk says his fund also differs in its process:

“When it comes to identifying investment opportunities, we focus on what we call predictive attributes” rather than “descriptive attributes.”

The latter looks for stocks in a certain sector or market cap, whereas the former approach finds that three attributes tend to predict performance: owner-operators—where the “day-to-day decision maker is a large shareholder;” spinoffs, where a corporation unlocks value by segregating some of its assets into a separate entity; and dormant assets, where a corporation extracts value from non-performing assets.

With those principles, here are five stocks Houk expects to outperform in 2014.

1. Icahn Enterprises (Nasdaq: IEP)

Carl Icahn owns 90% of the holding company bearing his name, making it a quintessential owner-operator scenario, Houk says.

The famed corporate raider is known for building up large stakes in the companies he buys then pushing to unlock value through his shareholder activism.

Icahn gave his most recent demonstration of that technique late last month when he filed a shareholder proposal with Apple asking the firm to use its cash to buy back shares to increase their value. That proposal should be a topic of great investor interest come Feb. 26, when Apple holds its annual shareholder meeting.

In his company’s earnings statement last month, Icahn said “there has never been a better time than today for activist investing, if practiced properly,” referring to mediocre management and the ease of buying in a low-rate environment, Bloomberg BusinessWeek reported.

2. The Wendy’s Co. (Nasdaq: WEN)

Investors, not just diners, have been feasting on the national restaurant chain this year, pushing up its stock 52% year-to-date. But what Houk finds most appetizing is the role of its non-executive chairman of the board, Nelson Peltz, a hedge fund billionaire whose Trian Fund owns a 21% stake in the stock, in addition to Peltz’s personal 4% ownership.

That owner-operator attribute is predictive of further gains in shareholder value as far as KSCOX is concerned; and indeed Wendy’s is the fund’s second largest holding, at 7.1% of the portfolio, second to and close to its 7.3% stake in Icahn Enterprises.

Houk sees a bright future for the stock:

“When you look at Wendy’s, it has essentially no non-U.S. exposure,” he says. “That signals opportunity to grow over the long-term.”

3. The Howard Hughes Corp. (NYSE: HHC)

Real estate developer The Howard Hughes Corp. is a three-fer in the constellation of “predictive attributes” that Kinetics looks for in selecting stocks.

Like Icahn and Wendy’s, it’s got an owner-operator in hedge fund hero Bill Ackman, whose Pershing Square Capital Management, follows the activist model of buying large stakes in a company in order to push management for changes that would boost shareholder value. Pershing’s stake in HHC is just under 5% and Ackman serves as its independent chairman of the board.

HHC was also a spin-off, unlocking hidden value that was lost in the larger real estate firm General Growth Properties.

Its third predictive attribute, dormant assets, lay in its market emphasis on master-planned communities in places like the Summerlin suburb of Las Vegas, which has benefited hugely from the recovery in residential real estate.

4. Jarden Corp. (NYSE: JAH)

Jarden Corp is a global consumer products powerhouse that, like its KSCOX portfolio cousins, benefits from an owner-operator champion—in this case, executive chairman of the board, Martin Franklin.

“It’s essentially a publicly traded leveraged buyout fund in function” through its emphasis on buying “on a leveraged basis very stable growth consumer products companies” and unlocking their value, Houk says.

Jarden owns Mr. Coffee, Crock-Pot and a large number of other household consumer brands; it recently bought and plans to develop Yankee Candle, a trendy scented candles store with an attractive retail presence.

Houk calls Jarden “fairly significantly undervalued,” saying, “the company could pay down its net debt in approximately three years” if it wanted to.

“Then, ceteris paribus [all other things being equal]…its stock price would be closer to $75 a share vs. $58 today—a 30% return. That’s the base case,” Houk says.

5. Federal-Mogul Corp. (Nasdaq: FDML)

If you like Icahn Enterprises, then you’ll probably also like auto parts maker Federal-Mogul, which is about 80% owned by Icahn, who serves as the firm’s independent chairman of the board.

Icahn championed the maker of powertrains and car safety solutions after it was left for dead when the financial crisis crushed the U.S. auto industry. The company sold off again this year when investors grew nervous about a low cash balance and worried about covenant breaches and potential insolvency.

Icahn, who owned about 50% of the company at the time, recapitalized FDML through a rights offering, took his own stake up to 80% and agreed to backstop the company in case it needed financing in the future. The shares have rocketed ever since, rising 151% year-to-date.

FDML and the other owner-operator companies favored by KSCOX “tend to trade at large discounts for abnormally large amounts of time,” Houk says.

That is in part because so much of investment flow these days passes through index funds and ETFs, which he says bypass companies that have only a limited free-float, which is typically the case in owner-operated companies.

-- Check out these related stories on ThinkAdvisor:

Android customizer Cyanogen notches $23 million

SAN FRANCISCO -- Talk about a mobile revolution.

A growing software movement is quietly taking hold on Android-based devices, allowing people to customize smartphones and tablets more to their liking.

What's known as Android "software mods" can soup up devices with mobile Wi-Fi hot spots, new looks, alternative text messaging and more. Personalizing Google's operating system has morphed beyond geeky obsession as a means to add new features.

Startup Cyanogen is leading the way. With "tens of millions" of installs, today it announced $23 million in funding for its popular CyanogenMod mobile software.

"Currently, we're like Android on steroids and LSD. There's a bunch of features that you can't get on stock Android ... that you just can't do with any other OS," says CEO Kirt McMaster.

Formed in 2009, Cyanogen is the brainchild of founder Steve Kondik, who launched his Android modification, now dubbed CyanogenMod, into the open-source software community. Developers can make their own modifications to the code to bring new features, and such enthusiast ideas can be adopted by Cyanogen.

"There's kind of a whole underworld," says Gartner analyst Brian Blau of those modifying operating systems. "It totally makes sense, but they have a lot of competition."

Cyanogen's development team wants to make customizing Android phones more accessible to the masses. The startup last month launched an installer in an effort to automate the installation process that was otherwise reserved for the ultra-tech savvy.

"The market is speaking, a revelation is under way here in the sense that users want a 100% compatible OS that is all about customization and personalization," says Peter Levine, a partner with Andreesen Horowitz. "I believe that trend will only continue."

Cyanogen's McMaster says the startup's variant of Android can boost battery life on devices. But he also says that there are a lot ways that apps will be able to communicate and work together to enhance device c! apabilities in ways standard Android versions and Apple's iOS can't.

Andreessen Horowitz led the funding round in Cyanogen and included participation from Benchmark Capital, Repoint Capital and China's Tencent. The investment in Cyanogen will be used to hire developers to boost the software's functions and ease of use. The investment round brings Cyanogen's total funding to $30 million.

Top China Stocks To Buy Right Now

"China and US lift global economy" was the banner headline this weekend for the Financial Times. While obviously bullish for the global economy, it is particularly so for gold and silver stocks such as Barrick Gold (NYSE: ABX), Goldcorp (NYSE: GG), and Wishbone Gold PLC (PINK: WISHY). That was shown by the exchange traded fund for gold, SPDR Gold Shares (NYSE: GLD), and the exchange traded fund for silver iShares Silver Trust (NYSE: SLV), both rising sharply for the week.

While SPDR gold shares was up more than 3% and iSharies Silver Trust jumped about 2.50% last week, it has not been that way for 2013. For the year, the SLV is off nearly 30%. Over the same period, the GLD is down more than 20%.

That has been registered in the performance of stocks such as Barrick Gold and Goldcorp.

Top China Stocks To Buy Right Now: Qihoo 360 Technology Co. Ltd.(QIHU)

Qihoo 360 Technology Co. Ltd. provides Internet and mobile security products in the People's Republic of China. Its principal products include 360 Safe Guard, an Internet security product for Internet security and system optimization; 360 Anti-Virus, an anti-virus application to protect users? computers against trojan horses, viruses, worms, adware, and other forms of malware; and 360 Mobile Safe, a security program for the Google Android, Apple iOS, and Nokia Symbian smartphone operating systems. The company?s platform products comprise 360 Safe Browser, a Web browser; 360 Personal Start-up Page, a default homepage of 360 Safe Browser and a key access point to popular and preferred information and applications; 360 Application Store, a key access point to securely obtain and manage software and applications; and 360 Safebox, a solution that protects users against thefts of personal account information. It also provides online advertising services, including online marketi ng services and search referral services; and Internet value-added services comprising the operation of Web games developed by third-parties, remote technical support, and cloud-based services. The company was formerly known as Qihoo Technology Company Limited and changed its name to Qihoo 360 Technology Co. Ltd. in December 2010. Qihoo 360 Technology Co. was founded in 2005 and is based in Beijing, the People?s Republic of China.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Rick Munarriz]

  Baidu (NASDAQ: BIDU  ) was the dot-com darling of China until last year, when the arrival of Qihoo 360's (NYSE: QIHU  ) �rival search engine began to cast doubt on the theory that Baidu had the lucrative market all to itself.

• [By Andrew Tonner]

  Search has long been one of the most profitable businesses in all of tech. This has been fantastic for Baidu (NASDAQ: BIDU  ) shareholders who have watched the company effectively dominate the search market in China for some time now. However, all that changed last year as rival Internet power Qihoo 360 (NYSE: QIHU  ) decided it wanted its own piece of this booming market. In fact, Qihoo recently raised the stakes by snapping up another rival in hopes of unseating Baidu from its top spot in this growth market. So how great a threat is this for Baidu? In this video, Fool contributor Andrew Tonner discusses how investors should interpret this very real threat.

• [By Rick Munarriz]

  Qihoo 360 (NYSE: QIHU  ) changed the search landscape when it moved to offer an in-house solution last summer. A T.H. Capital report shows Qihoo 360 commanding nearly 15% of the market. Baidu is still the undisputed top dog with 70% of the market, but it feels vulnerable for the first time since Google (NASDAQ: GOOG  ) decided to stage a partial retreat out of the world's most populous nation a couple of years ago.

• [By Louis Navellier]

  China’s Qihoo 360 Technology (QIHU) also made headlines today after its third-quarter earnings announcement. Net income more than tripled to $44.5 million, and revenues more than doubled to $187.9 million. Adjusted EPS beat the consensus estimate by $0.10, or 27%. Even so, shares fell after Stifel Research (SF) downgraded the stock to hold (despite the fact that Morgan Stanley raised its target price for QIHU to $95.30). As for me, I’m with Morgan Stanley (MS)� on this and consider .

Top China Stocks To Buy Right Now: Trina Solar Limited(TSL)

Trina Solar Limited, through its subsidiaries, designs, develops, manufactures, and sells photovoltaic (PV) modules worldwide. The company offers monocrystalline PV modules ranging from 165 watts to 185 watts in power output; and multicrystalline PV modules ranging from 215 watts to 240 watts in power output that provide electric power for residential, commercial, industrial, and other applications. It also involves in the design and production of various PV modules, such as colored modules for architectural applications and larger sized modules for utility grid applications based on customers? and end-users? specifications. Trina Solar Limited sells and markets its products primarily to distributors, wholesalers, power plant developers and operators, and PV system integrators. The company was founded in 1997 and is based in Changzhou, the People?s Republic of China.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Paul Ausick]

  In the Chinese solar sector we tracked the following short interest changes: JA Solar Holdings Co. Ltd. (NASDAQ: JASO), LDK Solar Co. Inc. (NYSE: LDK), Suntech Power Holdings Co. Ltd. (NYSE: STP), Trina Solar Ltd. (NYSE: TSL) and Yingli Green Energy Holding Co. Ltd. (NYSE: YGE).�For China-based firms, the percentage of shares short is not available because the companies are also listed on other exchanges.

• [By Paul Ausick]

  Canadian Solar has been on a tear, and the company�� market value is a fairly modest $587 million. But that�� most of the Chinese solar players. Only Trina Solar Ltd. (NYSE: TSL) and Yingli Green Energy Holding Co. Ltd. (NYSE: YGE) have higher market caps.

Top Canadian Stocks To Watch For 2014: China Security & Surveillance Technology Inc. (CSR)

China Security & Surveillance Technology, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, manufactures, installs, distributes, and services surveillance and safety products, systems, and software in the People?s Republic of China. The company?s products include standalone digital video recorders (DVRs); embedded DVRs; mobile DVRs; real-time hard-compression coding cards; DVR compression boards; digital cameras; intelligent high-speed dome cameras; intelligent control system software platforms; perimeter security alarm systems; monitors; and radio frequency identification terminals and data collectors. It serves various customers, which include governmental entities, such as customs agencies, courts, public security bureaus, and prisons; non-profit organizations, including schools, museums, sports arenas, and libraries; and commercial entities consisting of airports, hotels, real estate, banks, mines, railways, supermarkets, and entertainment venues. The company is headquartered in S henzhen, the People?s Republic of China.

Top China Stocks To Buy Right Now: Universal Travel Group(UTA)

Universal Travel Group, together with its subsidiaries, operates as a travel service provider offering air ticketing and hotel booking services, as well as domestic and international packaged tourism services via the Internet, customer representatives, and kiosks in the People?s Republic of China. It also provides technological solutions to travel reservations, and tour planning and tour guide services. In addition, the company operates TRIPEASY Kiosks, which are placed in hotels, office buildings, banks, shopping malls, and MTR stations for travel booking with credit cards or bank debit cards. Universal Travel Group is headquartered in Shenzhen, the People?s Republic of China.

Top China Stocks To Buy Right Now: ChinaCast Education Corporation(CAST)

ChinaCast Education Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, provides post-secondary education and e-learning services in China. The company operates in two segments, E-learning and Training Service Group and Traditional University Group. The E-learning and Training Service Group provides post secondary education distance learning services that enable universities and other higher learning institutions to provide nationwide real-time distance learning services. It also provides K-12 educational services, such as broadcast multimedia educational content services to primary, middle, and high schools; and vocational/career training services. The Traditional University Group segment operates private residential universities that offer four-year bachelor?s degree and three-year diploma programs in finance, economics, trade, tourism, advertising, IT, music, foreign languages, tourism, hospitality, computer engineering, law, and art. The company also provides logistic service s. ChinaCast Education Corporation was founded in 1999 and is headquartered in Central, Hong Kong.

Microsoft Exec Moves to Google (MSFT, GOOG)

As Microsoft (MSFT) looks for a new CEO to replace Steve Ballmer, there is now one less in-house prospect, as Blaise Aguera y Arcas has left the company to join Google.

Aguera y Arcas worked on developing the Microsoft Bing search engine, focusing on the maps and mobile aspects, according to the New York Times. This news comes after it was announced on Friday that Qualcomm (QCOM) promoted its operating chief, Steven Mollenkopf, to CEO. Many saw Mollenkopf as a potential new CEO for Microsoft.

Microsoft shares were up 22 cents, or 0.6%, in pre-market trading. YTD, the company’s stock is up 32.84%.

10 Best Tech Stocks To Watch Right Now

With shares of Boeing (NYSE:BA) trading around $134, is BA an OUTPERFORM, WAIT AND SEE, or STAY AWAY? Let�� analyze the stock with the relevant sections of our CHEAT SHEET investing framework:

T = Trends for a Stock’s Movement

Boeing is an aerospace company. It focuses primarily on engineering, information technology, research and development, test and evaluation, technology strategy development, environmental remediation management, and intellectual property management. The company operates in five segments: Commercial Airplanes, Boeing Military Aircraft, Network & Space Systems, Global Services & Support, and Boeing Capital Corp.

Boeing released its annual forecast Tuesday and said that commercial jet buyers will look to capital markets to provide more financing in 2014, as the value of jet sales is rising by about 7.7 percent and they need to fund an anticipated $112 billion in jet deliveries next year. While capital markets accounted for just 3 percent of total jet financing in 2009, that number rose to 14 percent this year, and will jump to 22 percent in 2014.

10 Best Tech Stocks To Watch Right Now: Redknee Solutions Inc (RKN.TO)

Redknee Solutions Inc. provides communication software products, solutions, and services to wireless, wireline, broadband, and satellite network operators. It offers Real-time Converged Billing, a cloud-enabled converged billing and customer care platform, which provides real-time unified billing, rating, and charging for the operator�s data, voice, and messaging services; customer care capabilities; subscriber promotions and loyalty programs; and self-care options for prepaid, postpaid, and hybrid subscribers. The company also provides Brand Challenger, a cloud-based end-to-end converged billing solution for mobile network operators, mobile virtual network enablers, and mobile virtual network operators. In addition, it offers Wholesale Settlement, an interconnect, wholesale, roaming, MVNO, franchise management, and content settlement software solution that provides operators with visibility into network transactions for achieving converged settlement and interconnect bil ling. Further, the company provides related hardware and services, including maintenance, support, and professional services, as well as learning, managed, and advisory services. It operates in North America, South America, the Caribbean, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and the Asia Pacific. The company distributes its products and services through direct sales force and resellers. Redknee Solutions Inc. was founded in 1999 and is headquartered in Mississauga, Canada.

10 Best Tech Stocks To Watch Right Now: FairPoint Communications Inc.(FRP)

FairPoint Communications, Inc. provides communications services in rural and small urban communities primarily in northern New England. The company offers an array of services, including high speed data, Internet access, voice, television, and broadband product offerings to residential, business, and wholesale customers. It provides local calling services, such as basic local lines, local private lines, and switched data services; data services comprising private line special access, fast packet, optical, Ethernet, and IP services; and Internet services, including IP addresses obtaining services, basic Web site design and hosting, domain name, content feeds, and Web-based email services, as well as carrier Ethernet services. In addition, the company offers network transport services, such as access services, which primarily include DS-1 and DS-3 services; and high speed digital services that primarily comprise Ethernet-based services provisioned over fiber and copper facil ities. Further, it provides billing and collection services for interexchange carriers; directories, which offer white page, yellow page, and community information listings; public (coin) telephone, and the sale and maintenance of customer premise equipment; and video services to its customers by reselling DirectTV content, and cable and IP TV video-over- digital subscriber lines. As of December 31, 2011, the company operated approximately 1.3 million access line equivalents in 18 states. It provides cellular backhaul connectivity to approximately 1,600 towers. FairPoint Communications, Inc. is headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina.

Best Insurance Stocks To Invest In 2014: Maxim Integrated Products Inc.(MXIM)

Maxim Integrated Products, Inc. engages in designing, developing, manufacturing, and marketing various linear and mixed-signal integrated circuits worldwide. The company also provides various high-frequency process technologies and capabilities for use in custom designs. It primarily serves industrial, communications, consumer, and computing markets. The company markets its products through a direct-sales and applications organization, as well as through its own and other unaffiliated distribution channels. Maxim Integrated Products, Inc. was founded in 1983 and is headquartered in Sunnyvale, California.

10 Best Tech Stocks To Watch Right Now: Responsys Inc.(MKTG)

Responsys, Inc. provides on-demand software and professional services primarily in North America, the Asia Pacific, and Europe. The company offers Responsys Interact suite, a software-as-a-service platform that provides marketers with a set of integrated applications to create, execute, optimize, and automate marketing campaigns in various channels, including email, mobile, social, and the Web. Its platform also leverages third-party applications and data from real-time sources allowing customers to deliver targeted content to its customers and known prospects as part of their interactive marketing campaigns. In addition, it provides professional services, such as strategic, creative, deliverability, campaign, and education services. The company offers its on-demand software and professional services to retail and consumer, travel, financial services, and technology industries through a direct sales force. Responsys, Inc. was founded in 1998 and is headquartered in San Bru no, California.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By The GeoTeam]

  Our recent 2013 articles on SaaS companies Selectica (SLTC), E2open (EOPN), Responsys (MKTG), Vocus (VOCS), and ExactTarget (ET) highlighted such opportunities. The average return since the inception of our coverage currently stands at around 34% (55% at their highs).

• [By Seth Jayson]

  Calling all cash flows
  When you are trying to buy the market's best stocks, it's worth checking up on your companies' free cash flow once a quarter or so, to see whether it bears any relationship to the net income in the headlines. That's what we do with this series. Today, we're checking in on Responsys (Nasdaq: MKTG  ) , whose recent revenue and earnings are plotted below.

10 Best Tech Stocks To Watch Right Now: MER Telemanagement Solutions Ltd.(MTSL)

Mer Telemanagement Solutions Ltd., together with its subsidiaries, designs, develops, markets, and supports a line of telecommunication expense management (TEM), and customer care and billing solutions for business organizations and other enterprises worldwide. Its TEM solutions assist enterprises and organizations in the allocation of costs, budget control, fraud detection, processing of payments, and spending forecasting. The company also offers converged billing solutions, including applications for charging and invoicing customers, interconnect billing, and partner revenue management through pre-pay and post-pay schemes for wireless providers, voice over Internet protocol, Internet protocol television, and content service providers. Its products provide telecommunication and information technology managers with tools to reduce communication costs, recover charges payable by third parties, and to detect and prevent abuse and misuse of telephone networks comprising fault telecommunication usage. The company markets its products through its direct sales force, distributors, and business telephone switching systems manufacturers and vendors. Mer Telemanagement Solutions Ltd. was founded in 1995 and is headquartered in Raanana, Israel.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Bryan Murphy]

  If you're a small cap enthusiast looking for some budding ideas, you may not need to look any further than China GengSheng Minerals, Inc. (NYSEMKT:CHGS), Bio Matrix Scientific Group Inc. (OTCMKTS:BMSN), and MER Telemanagement Solutions Ltd. (NASDAQ:MTSL). All three have either pushed themselves to the brink of a breakout, if they haven't started one already. Here's a closer technical look at MTSL, BMSN, and CHGS, and what it's going to take to get them going if they're not going already.

10 Best Tech Stocks To Watch Right Now: Sapiens International Corporation N.V.(SPNS)

Sapiens International Corporation N.V. provides software solutions for the insurance industry primarily in North America, Europe, Israel, and the Asia Pacific. The company offers solutions for the property and casualty (P&C)/general insurance, as well as life, pension, and annuity markets. Its products include RapidSure, a component-based software solution used for general, personal, and commercial lines of businesses, including homeowners, fleet insurance, and specialty lines insurance products; IDIT, a component based software solution that addresses the needs of general insurance carriers for traditional insurance, direct insurance, banc assurance, and brokers markets; Insight for Reinsurance, a solution to handle P&C/general reinsurance activities of general insurance carriers and brokers; and Insight for P&C, a software solution for P&C carriers to support legacy solutions. The company?s products also comprise ALIS, a software solution for individual, group, and work site life and pension insurance products; eMerge, a rules-based model-driven architecture that enables the creation of enterprise applications with little or no coding using agile methodologies; and Decision, a business decision management solution developed for the financial services market, including mortgage banks, investment banks, and insurers. In addition, it provides implementation and integration services; custom-made IT solutions that assists organizations to meet its business challenges; and legacy modernization solution, mobile application solution, and application delivery services. Sapiens International Corporation sells its products and services through various distribution channels, which include direct sales force, system integrators, and distributors. The company was founded in 1982 and is headquartered in Rehovot, Israel. As of January 27, 2012, Sapiens International Corp. NV operates as a subsidiary of Formula Systems (1985) Ltd.

10 Best Tech Stocks To Watch Right Now: Open Ec Technologies Inc. (OCE.V)

Open EC Technologies, Inc. provides e-business software, services, and solutions. It develops and markets electronic data interchange (EDI) software primarily to retailers, financial and public institutions, utility and pharmaceutical companies, and wholesalers in North America and Asia. It also offers e-commerce software; software through Internet portals and licenses; and consulting and support services. In addition, the company provides a healthcare information exchange solution to connect healthcare providers and healthcare payers, for healthcare claims, eligibility, payments, purchasing, and records, as well as medical claim clearing and billing services. Its products are used by customers, software companies, and resellers to implement standards based electronic commerce, EDI, business to business commerce, and business document exchanges. The company was founded in 1981 and is headquartered in North Vancouver, Canada. As of October 25, 2012, Open EC Technologies Inc . operates as a subsidiary of QHR Technologies Inc.

10 Best Tech Stocks To Watch Right Now: Intersil Corporation(ISIL)

Intersil Corporation designs, develops, manufactures, and markets analog and mixed-signal integrated circuits for applications in the industrial, computing, consumer, and communications electronics markets. The company?s industrial products include operational amplifiers, bridge drivers, isolated and non-isolated power management products, switches and multiplexers, video decoders, and other standard analog and power management products used in medical imaging, energy management, automotive, military, instrumentation, security surveillance, and factory automation markets. Its computing products comprise desktop, server, notebook, and network attached storage power management products, including core power devices and other power management products for peripheral devices, as well as lithium ion battery chargers. The company?s consumer products consist of handheld, display, gaming, light sensor, and class-D audio amplifier products for use in smartphones, LCD televisions, tablet computers, electronic game systems, set top boxes, MP3 players, GPS systems, AV receivers, and home audio systems. Its communication products include line drivers, isolated and non-isolated power management, radiation-hardened products, digital power management products, broadband and hot plug power management products, and high-speed data converters for applications in DSL, home gateway, satellite, networking, cellular base station, and networking/switching equipment markets. The company markets its products through distributors and value added resellers to original equipment manufacturers, original design manufacturers, and contract manufacturers in China, the United States, South Korea, Taiwan, Japan, Germany, Singapore, and Mexico. Intersil Corporation was founded in 1999 and is headquartered in Milpitas, California.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Seth Jayson]

  Basic guidelines
  In this series, I examine inventory using a simple rule of thumb: Inventory increases ought to roughly parallel revenue increases. If inventory bloats more quickly than sales grow, this might be a sign that expected sales haven't materialized. Is the current inventory situation at Intersil (Nasdaq: ISIL  ) out of line? To figure that out, start by comparing the company's inventory growth to sales growth. How is Intersil doing by this quick checkup? At first glance, pretty well. Trailing-12-month revenue decreased 18.7%, and inventory decreased 19.5%. Comparing the latest quarter to the prior-year quarter, the story looks decent. Revenue shrank 15.6%, and inventory shrank 19.5%. Over the sequential quarterly period, the trend looks OK but not great. Revenue dropped 4.2%, and inventory dropped 3.1%.

10 Best Tech Stocks To Watch Right Now: Finisar Corporation(FNSR)

Finisar Corporation designs, develops, manufactures, and markets optical subsystems and components that are used to interconnect equipment in short-distance local area networks (LANs), storage area networks (SANs), longer distance metropolitan area networks (MANs), fiber-to-the-home networks, cable television networks, and wide area networks. Its optical subsystems primarily include transmitters, receivers, transceivers, and transponders. The company?s optical subsystems provides the fundamental optical-electrical interface for connecting the equipment used in building networks comprising switches, routers, and file servers in wireline networks, as well as antennas and base stations for wireless networks. It also offers products for switching network traffic from one optical wavelength to another across multiple wavelengths, known as reconfigurable optical add/drop multiplexers. The company?s line of optical components principally comprises packaged lasers and photodetec tors used in transceivers for LAN and SAN applications; and passive optical components used in building MANs. It sells its optical products to manufacturers of storage system, networking equipment, and telecommunication equipment or their contract manufacturers through direct sales force and distribution channels in the United States, Malaysia, the People?s Republic of China, and internationally. The company was founded in 1987 and is headquartered in Sunnyvale, California.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Paul McWilliams]

  Paul McWilliams: Oh, yeah. Let's touch on just a couple of them really quickly. First off, there's Finisar (FNSR). Finisar is a world leader in fiber optic components and substances. It's not as big as JDSU in revenue, but half of JDSU is capital equipment. So, it doesn't compete with Finisar.

• [By Rich Smith]

  JDS Uniphase stock is losing ground
  When you stack up JDS Uniphase stock up against two of its rivals�-- Cisco Systems (NASDAQ: CSCO  ) and Finisar (NASDAQ: FNSR  ) , some interesting dynamics become apparent. First and foremost, of the three, JDS Uniphase stock is the only one �that has no P/E ratio ... because it has no "E" -- earnings -- to weigh its "P" -- price -- against.

• [By Dan Caplinger]

  On Wednesday, Finisar (NASDAQ: FNSR  ) will release its latest quarterly results. With the stock having traded down sharply from its highs in early 2011, investors are hoping that the company can finally pull off a long-awaited turnaround and send shares higher.

• [By Jake L'Ecuyer]

  Shares of Finisar (NASDAQ: FNSR) got a boost, gaining 1.28 percent to $22.04 as the stock gradually sold of on Friday's session following the company's upbeat Q2 results and strong Q3 forecast.

10 Best Tech Stocks To Watch Right Now: Silicon Laboratories Inc.(SLAB)

Silicon Laboratories Inc., a fabless semiconductor company, designs, develops, and markets analog-intensive and mixed-signal integrated circuits (ICs). The company offers broad-based products, which include microcontrollers, clocks and oscillators, wireless transceivers, digital isolators and related products, and human interface sensors and controllers; broadcast products comprising radio receivers and transmitters, and video tuners and demodulators; and access products consisting of embedded modems, subscriber line interface circuits, Voice over IP (VoIP) products, and power over Ethernet devices, as well as DSL analog front end ICs and IRDA devices. It provides ICs for use in various electronic applications, such as portable devices, AM/FM radios, and other consumer electronics, as well as networking, test and measurement, industrial monitoring and control, and customer premises equipment. The company markets its products through direct sales force, and through a networ k of independent sales representatives and distributors in the United States, Taiwan, China, South Korea, Japan, and internationally. Silicon Laboratories Inc. was founded in 1996 and is headquartered in Austin, Texas.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Rich Smith]

  Austin, Texas-based Silicon Laboratories (NASDAQ: SLAB  ) , which chose a new chief financial officer last month, has now found him a bit of extra work to do.