Five Big Upside Sector Winners for 2014

As the stock market is challenging all-time highs around a holiday week, investors have to be considering how to position their portfolios and assets for 2014 and beyond. 24/7 Wall St. has been issuing value outlooks and sector outlooks for 2014 to see where the best spots are ahead.

It turns out that there may be some incredible upside left in selective autos and biotechs. Some financial stocks may offer upside, and there is still some value in oil and gas. We will be following up with more 2014 outlook pieces in December.

The best carmaker for 2014 appears to be General Motors Co. (NYSE: GM). With the government out of the shares, its stock muted since its re-IPO and an attractive earnings multiple of only eight times expected earnings in 2014, GM was the winner against peers. By the way, analysts see more than 25% gains on average in GM’s share price over the next year.

Regions Financial Corp. (NYSE: RF) is a top pick at Jefferies for 2014 in its most recent sector and themes trend report for the year ahead. The super-regional bank is the 15th largest one in the United States, and its net interest margin keeps moving up. Regions’ consensus analyst price target is posted up about $1 from current prices, implying gains of 10% over the coming year.

The top exporters could have a great 2014 if the stars align properly. Deutsche Bank pointed out Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE: CAT) and several other key winners for the theme of exporting from America in 2014. Investors have been disappointed, but its 2.9% dividend may entice holders to remain patient. Caterpillar has been among the worst Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) performers of 2013, and the consensus price target is about 10% higher than the price now.

Chevron Corp. (NYSE: CVX) appears to be the best value for 2014 among the integrated oil and gas giants. The stock has close to 10% in expected upside from the analysts that cover it, it has a high yield of 3.2% and it trades at only ten times expected 2014 earnings. We expect that dividend to keep marching higher as well.

NPS Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ: NPSP) is among the best revenue growth possibilities for biotech in 2014. The company’s revenue growth is expected to be 71%. We would caution that the consensus analyst price target of $37 implies more than 40% upside, but what our readers need to know is that this stock has been an incredibly volatile one. With shares around $25, it has a 52-week range of $7.35 to $35.72.

Goldman Sachs recently issued a call for the S&P 500 up to 1,900 in 2014, with the possibility of a 10% correction between now and then. Merrill Lynch also came out and gave a global economic outlook calling for calmer seas ahead in 2014 after comparing the situation at the start of 2013 and also at the start of 2014. Lastly, we are looking for eight big dividend hikes before the end of 2013 and some of those are DJIA stocks.

Top 5 Bank Stocks To Watch For 2014

In this segment from Thursday's episode of The Motley Fool's everything-financials show,�Where the Money Is, banking analysts Matt Koppenheffer and David Hanson go through a rapid-fire round of three top headlines. The newsmakers included�KKR (NYSE: KKR  ) ,�Bank of America (NYSE: BAC  ) ,�Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS  ) ,�Lazard (NYSE: LAZ  ) , and�Evercore (NYSE: EVR  ) .

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Top 5 Bank Stocks To Watch For 2014: Wells Fargo & Company(WFC)

Wells Fargo & Company, through its subsidiaries, provides retail, commercial, and corporate banking services primarily in the United States. The company operates in three segments: Community Banking; Wholesale Banking; and Wealth, Brokerage, and Retirement. The Community Banking segment offers deposits, including checking, market rate, and individual retirement accounts; savings and time deposits; and debit cards. Its loan products comprise lines of credit, auto floor plans, equity lines and loans, equipment and transportation loans, education loans, residential mortgage loans, health savings accounts, and credit cards. This segment also provides equipment leases, real estate financing, small business administration financing, venture capital financing, cash management, payroll services, retirement plans, loans secured by autos, and merchant payment processing services; purchases sales finance contracts from retail merchants; and a family of funds, and investment managemen t services. The Wholesale Banking segment offers commercial and corporate banking products and services, including commercial loans and lines of credit, letters of credit, asset-based lending, equipment leasing, international trade facilities, trade financing, collection services, foreign exchange services, treasury and investment management, institutional fixed-income sales, commodity and equity risk management, insurance, corporate trust fiduciary and agency services, and investment banking services. This segment also provides banking products for commercial real estate market, and real estate and mortgage brokerage services. The Wealth, Brokerage, and Retirement segment offers financial advisory, brokerage, and institutional retirement and trust services. As of December 31, 2010, the company served its customers through approximately 9,000 banking stores in 39 States and the District of Columbia. Wells Fargo & Company was founded in 1929 and is headquartered in San Franci sco, California.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Michael Burnick, Director of Research and Client Communications, Weiss Capital Management, Inc.]

  Thanks to the easy-money carry trade in recent years, big banks, including JPMorgan Chase (JPM), Bank of America (BAC), Wells Fargo (WFC) and Citigroup (C) are now holding bloated portfolios of available-for-sale securities, mainly long-term Treasury and mortgage-backed bonds.

• [By John Grgurich]

  1. Big-bank beating first-quarter earnings
  For the first quarter of 2013, PNC reported net income of $1.0 billion. For the first quarter of 2012, PNC's net income was $811 million. That makes for an increase of 23.3%. Wells Fargo (NYSE: WFC  ) came close to but couldn't quite match PNC's performance, with net-income growth of 22% year over year. �

Top 5 Bank Stocks To Watch For 2014: Ampco-Pittsburgh Corporation(AP)

Ampco-Pittsburgh Corporation and its subsidiaries manufacture and sell custom-engineered equipment in the United States and internationally. It operates in two segments, Forged and Cast Rolls, and Air and Liquid Processing. The Forged and Cast Rolls segment produces forged hardened steel rolls used in cold rolling for the producers of steel, aluminum, and other metals; and cast iron and steel rolls for hot and cold strip mills, medium/heavy section mills, and plate mills. The Air and Liquid Processing segment manufactures finned tube and plate finned heat exchange coils for the commercial and industrial construction, as well as for process and utility industries; custom air handling systems used in commercial, institutional, and industrial buildings; and a line of centrifugal pumps for the refrigeration, power generation, and marine defense industries. The company was founded in 1929 and is based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By AP 6:27 p.m. EDT October 19] LONG BEACH, Calif. (AP) ��The oil production technique known as fracking is more widespread and frequently used in the offshore platforms and man-made islands near some of California's most populous and famous coastal communities than state officials believed.

• [By Rhonda Abrams]

  David Packard, left, and Bill Hewlett in 1996 in front of the Palo Alto, Calif., garage where they founded Hewlett-Packard Co.(Photo: AP)

  If you're considering going into business with someone, sit down and ask your potential partner the following questions:

Top 10 Gold Companies To Own For 2014: Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Ltd (ANZ.AX)

Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Limited (ANZ) provides a range of banking and financial products and services to retail, small business, corporate and institutional clients. The Company conducts its operations in Australia, New Zealand and the Asia Pacific region. It also operates in a range of other countries, including the United Kingdom and the United States. The Company operates on a divisional structure with Australia, International and Institutional Banking (IIB), New Zealand, and Global Wealth and Private Banking. As of September 30, 2012, the Company had 1,337 branches and other points of representation worldwide, excluding automatic teller machines (ATMs). In September 2012, it sold its remaining shareholding in Visa Inc.

Top 5 Bank Stocks To Watch For 2014: Federal National Mortgage Association (FNMA)

Federal National Mortgage Association (Fannie Mae) is a government-sponsored enterprise (GSE) chartered by the United States Congress to support liquidity and stability in the secondary mortgage market, where mortgage-related assets are purchased and sold. The Company�� activities include providing market liquidity by securitizing mortgage loans originated by lenders in the primary mortgage market into Fannie Mae mortgage-backed securities (Fannie Mae MBS), and purchasing mortgage loans and mortgage-related securities in the secondary market for its mortgage portfolio. Fannie Mae operates in three business segments: Single-Family business, Multifamily Business (formerly Housing and Community Development (HCD)) and Capital Markets group. Its Single-Family Credit Guaranty and Multifamily businesses work with its lender customers to purchase and securitize mortgage loans customers deliver to the Company into Fannie Mae MBS.

The Company obtains funds to support its business activities by issuing a variety of debt securities in the domestic and international capital markets. Fannie Mae acquires funds to purchase mortgage-related assets for its mortgage portfolio by issuing a variety of debt securities in the domestic and international capital markets. It also makes other investments. Fannie Mae conducts its business in the United States residential mortgage market and the global securities market. It conducts business in the United States residential mortgage market and the global securities market. During the year ended December 31, 2011, the Company��

Single-Family Business

Single-Family business includes mortgage securitizations, mortgage acquisitions, credit risk management and credit loss management. Single-Family business works with the Company�� lender customers to provide funds to the mortgage market by securitizing single-family mortgage loans into Fannie Mae MBS. Its Single-Family business also works with its Capital Markets group to facilitate the pu! rchase of single-family mortgage loans for the Company�� mortgage portfolio. Fannie Mae�� Single-Family business prices and manages the credit risk on its single-family guaranty book of business, which consists of single-family mortgage loans underlying Fannie Mae MBS and single-family loans held in its mortgage portfolio. Single-Family business and Capital Markets group securitize and purchase primarily single-family fixed-rate or adjustable-rate, first lien mortgage loans, or mortgage-related securities backed by these types of loans.

The Company securitizes or purchases loans insured by Federal Housing Administration (FHA), loans guaranteed by the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), and loans guaranteed by the Rural Development Housing and Community Facilities Program of the Department of Agriculture, manufactured housing loans, reverse mortgage loans, multifamily mortgage loans, subordinate lien mortgage loans and other mortgage-related securities. Its Single-Family business securitizes single-family mortgage loans and issues single-class Fannie Mae MBS. Fannie Mae�� Single-Family business securitizes loans solely in lender swap transactions, in which lenders deliver pools of mortgage loans to the Company, which are placed immediately in a trust, in exchange for Fannie Mae MBS backed by these loans. Generally, the servicing of the mortgage loans held in its mortgage portfolio or that backs its Fannie Mae MBS is performed by mortgage servicers on the Company�� behalf. Lenders who sell single-family mortgage loans to Fannie Mae service these loans for the Company. For loans it owns or guarantees, the lender or servicer must obtain its approval before selling servicing rights to another servicer.

Fannie Mae�� mortgage servicers collect and deliver principal and interest payments, administer escrow accounts, monitor and report delinquencies, perform default prevention activities, evaluate transfers of ownership interests, respond to requests for partial releases of s! ecurity, ! and handle proceeds from casualty and condemnation losses. Its mortgage servicers are the primary point of contact for borrowers and perform implementation of its homeownership assistance initiatives, negotiation of workouts of troubled loans, and loss mitigation activities. Mortgage servicers also inspect and preserve properties and process foreclosures and bankruptcies.

Multifamily Mortgage Business

Multifamily business works with the Company�� lender customers to provide funds to the mortgage market by securitizing multifamily mortgage loans into Fannie Mae MBS. Through its Multifamily business, Fannie Mae provides liquidity and support to the United States multifamily housing market principally by purchasing or securitizing loans that finance multifamily rental housing properties. It also provides some limited debt financing for other acquisition, development, construction and rehabilitation activity related to projects that complement this business. Fannie Mae�� Multifamily business also works with its Capital Markets group to facilitate the purchase and securitization of multifamily mortgage loans and securities for Fannie Mae�� portfolio, as well as to facilitate portfolio securitization and resecuritization activities.

The Company�� multifamily guaranty book of business consists of multifamily mortgage loans underlying Fannie Mae MBS and multifamily loans and securities held in Fannie Mae�� mortgage portfolio. Revenues for Fannie Mae�� Multifamily business are derived from a variety of sources, including guaranty fees received as compensation for assuming the credit risk on the mortgage loans underlying multifamily Fannie Mae MBS and on the multifamily mortgage loans held in its portfolio and on other mortgage-related securities; transaction fees associated with the multifamily business, and other bond credit enhancement related fees. As with the servicing of single-family mortgages, multifamily mortgage servicing is performed by the lenders who! sell the! mortgages to the Company. Fannie Mae�� Multifamily business is organized and operated as an integrated commercial real estate finance business.

Capital Markets

Capital Markets group's primary business activities include mortgage and other investments, mortgage securitizations, structured mortgage securitizations and other customer services, and interest rate risk management. Capital Markets group manages the Company�� investment activity in mortgage-related assets and other interest-earning, non-mortgage investments. It funds its investments primarily through proceeds the Company receives from the issuance of debt securities in the domestic and international capital markets. Its business activity is focused on making short-term use of its balance sheet rather than long-term investments. Activities Fannie Mae is undertaking to provide liquidity to the mortgage market include whole loan conduit, early funding, real estate mortgage investment conduit (REMICs) and other structured securitizations and dollar roll transactions. Whole loan conduit activities include its purchase of both single-family and multifamily loans principally for the purpose of securitizing them. During the year ended December 31, 2010, it was engaged in dollar roll activity. A dollar roll transaction is a commitment to purchase a mortgage-related security with a concurrent agreement to re-sell a similar security at a later date or vice versa.

Fannie Mae�� Capital Markets group is engaged in issuing both single-class and multi-class Fannie Mae MBS through both portfolio securitizations and structured securitizations involving third party assets. Its Capital Markets group creates single-class and multi-class Fannie Mae MBS from mortgage-related assets held in its mortgage portfolio. Fannie Mae�� Capital Markets group may sell these Fannie Mae MBS into the secondary market or may retain the Fannie Mae MBS in its investment portfolio. The Company�� Capital Markets group creates single-clas! s and mul! ti-class structured Fannie Mae MBS, for its lender customers or securities dealer customers, in exchange for a transaction fee. The Company�� Capital Markets group provides its lender customers and their affiliates with services that include offering to purchase a range of mortgage assets, including non-standard mortgage loan products; segregating customer portfolios to obtain optimal pricing for their mortgage loans, and assisting customers with hedging their mortgage business.

Although the Company�� Capital Markets group�� business activities are focused on short-term financing and investing, revenue from its Capital Markets group is derived primarily from the difference, or spread, between the interests it earns on its mortgage and non-mortgage investments and the interest it incurs on the debt the Company issues to fund these assets. Its Capital Markets revenues are primarily derived from the Company�� mortgage asset portfolio. Capital Markets group funds its investments primarily through the issuance of a variety of debt securities in a range of maturities in the domestic and international capital markets. Investors in the Company�� debt securities include commercial bank portfolios and trust departments, investment fund managers, insurance companies, pension funds, state and local governments, and central banks.

The Company competes with Freddie Mac, FHA and Ginnie Mae.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Matt Koppenheffer]

  In the following video, Motley Fool financial analyst Matt Koppenheffer takes a question from a Fool reader on Facebook, who asks, "What is actually going on with Fannie Mae (NASDAQOTCBB: FNMA  ) and Freddie Mac (NASDAQOTCBB: FMCC  ) ?"

• [By Dan Caplinger]

  Interestingly, though, this analysis doesn't mention an important factor: Increasingly over the past decade, major mortgage lenders haven't held onto their loans but rather have sold them on to government-sponsored enterprises Fannie Mae (NASDAQOTCBB: FNMA  ) and Freddie Mac (NASDAQOTCBB: FMCC  ) . During the housing boom, mortgage lenders Bank of America (NYSE: BAC  ) and Citigroup (NYSE: C  ) didn't perform as well as they did because they were securing particularly high margins on their mortgage loans. Rather, they collected transaction-based income by immediately reselling conforming loans to Fannie and Freddie, often retaining streams of income from risk-free mortgage-servicing rights without keeping any liability for potential loan default. Even now, Wells Fargo (NYSE: WFC  ) relies on strength in mortgage-related income, and decreases in refinancing activity pose a threat to income growth in future quarters -- although unlike many of its peers, Wells has actually retained a good portion of its loans on its own books.

• [By Matt Koppenheffer]

  In the following video, Motley Fool financial analyst Matt Koppenheffer takes a question from a Fool reader, who asks, "Is Fannie Mae (NASDAQOTCBB: FNMA  ) a good buy?"

• [By Dan Caplinger]

  The challenge of retiree mortgages
  Recently, Fannie Mae (NASDAQOTCBB: FNMA  ) and Freddie Mac (NASDAQOTCBB: FMCC  ) made it a little easier for retirees to get new mortgages or to refinance their existing mortgages. By changing the rules for what a lender can consider as income to include retirement account balances in IRAs, 401(k)s, and similar accounts, the mortgage agencies hope to make it easier for low-income seniors to make beneficial moves like refinancing existing debt to capture low interest rates or moving from a large family home to a more modest home to free up locked-in home equity.

Top 5 Bank Stocks To Watch For 2014: New York Community Bancorp Inc (NYCB.N)

New York Community Bancorp, Inc. is a bank holding company and a producer of multi-family mortgage loans in New York City, with an emphasis on apartment buildings that feature below-market rents. It has two bank subsidiaries: New York Community Bank (the Community Bank),New York Commercial Bank (the Commercial Bank. The Community Bank has 241 branches and operates through seven divisional banks. The Commercial Bank has 34 branches in Manhattan and operates 17 of its branches under the divisional name Atlantic Bank.

During the year ended December 31, 2011, all of the one-to-four family loans the Company originated was sold to government-sponsored enterprises (GSEs). In New York, the Company serves its Community Bank customers through Roslyn Savings Bank, with 55 branches on Long Island; Queens County Savings Bank, with 34 branches in the New York City borough of Queens; Richmond County Savings Bank, with 22 branches in the borough of Staten Island, and Roose velt Savings Bank, with eight branches in the borough of Brooklyn. As of December 31, 2011, in the Bronx and neighboring Westchester County, the Company had four branches that operated directly under the name New York Community Bank.

In New Jersey, the Company serves its Community Bank customers through 51 branches that operate under the name Garden State Community Bank. In Florida and Arizona, where it has 25 and 14 branches, respectively, the Company serves its customers through the AmTrust Bank (AmTrust) division of the Community Bank. In Ohio, the Company serves its Community Bank customers through 28 branches of Ohio Savings Bank. Customers of the Community Bank and the Commercial Bank have access to their accounts through 261 of its 285 automatic teller machines (ATMs) locations in five states. The Company also serves its customers through three Websites, which include www.myNYCB.com, www.NewYorkCommercialBank.com and www.NYCBfamily.com.

Lendi ng Activities

The Company�� principal asset i! s loans. Its loan portfolio consists of three components: covered loans, non-covered loans held for sale and non-covered loans held for investment. As of December 31, 2011, the balance of covered loans was $3.8 billion, of which $3.4 billion were one-to-four family loans. Non-covered loans held for sale consists of the one-to-four family loans that are originated for sale, primarily to GSEs. At December 31, 2011, the held-for-sale loan portfolio totaled $1.0 billion

As of December 31, 2011, loans held for investment consisted of loans that it originates for its own portfolio, and totaled $ 25.5 billion.

In addition to multi-family loans, loans held for investment include commercial real estate loans (CRE); acquisition, development and construction (ADC) loans; commercial and industrial loans (C&I), and one-to-four family loans. As of December 31, 2011, its multi-family loans represented $17.4 billion, or 68.3%, of total loans held for investment, and repr esented $5.8 billion, or 64.1%, of the total loans that it originated for investment. The multi-family loans it originates are typically secured by non-luxury apartment buildings in New York City. It also makes multi-family loans to property owners who are seeking to expand their real estate holdings by purchasing additional properties.

As of December 31, 2011, CRE loans represented $6.9 billion, or 26.9%, of total held for investment; ADC loans represented $445.7 million, or 1.7%, of total loans held for investment. Its ADC loan portfolio consists of loans that were originated for land acquisition, development, and construction of multi-family and residential tract projects in New York City and Long Island.

C&I loans represented $600.0 million, or 2.4%, of total held for investment. It also offers a range of loans to small and mid-size businesses for working capital (including in! ventory a! nd receivables), business expansion, and the purchase of equipment a nd machinery. Non-covered one-to-four family loans totaled $! 127.4 mil! lion at December 31, 2011.

Investment Activities

The Company�� securities portfolio primarily consists of mortgage-related securities, and debt and equity (other) securities. Its investments include GSE certificates, GSE collateralized mortgage obligations (CMOs) and GSE debentures. The Community Bank and the Commercial Bank are members of the Federal Home Loan Bank of New York (FHLB-NY), one of 12 regional Federal Home Loan Banks (FHLBs) consisting of the FHLB system. As of December 31, 2011, the Company�� securities represented $4.5 billion, or 10.8%, of total assets. As of December 31, 2011, 93.7% of its securities portfolio consisted of GSE obligations; held-to-maturity securities represented $3.8 billion, or 84.0%, of total securities, and its investment in bank-owned life insurance (BOLI) was $769.0 million.

Source of Funds

The Company has four primary funding sources. These include the deposits that it added thr ough its acquisitions or gathered through its branch network, and brokered deposits; wholesale borrowings, primarily in the form of FHLB advances and repurchase agreements with the FHLB and various brokerage firms; cash flows produced by the repayment and sale of loans, and cash flows produced by securities repayments and sales. As of December 31, 2011, deposits totaled $ 22.3 billion, which included certificates of deposit (CDs) of $7.4 billion; negotiable order withdrawal (NOW) and money market accounts of $8.8 billion; savings accounts of $ 4.0 billion, and non-interest-bearing accounts of $2.2 billion. As of December 31, 2011, the Company�� borrowed funds totaled $14.0 billion, loan repayments and sales generated cash flows of $15.0 billion, and securities sales and repayments generated cash flows of $4.2 billion.

Subsidiary Activities

As of December 31, 2011, C! ommunity ! Bank had 34 subsidiary corporations. Of these, 22 are direct subsidiaries of the Community Bank and 12 are subsidiaries of Community B! ank-owned! entities. The 22 direct subsidiaries of the Community Bank include DHB Real Estate, LLC, Mt. Sinai Ventures, LLC, NYCB Community Development Corp., NYCB Mortgage Company, LLC, Eagle Rock Investment Corp., Pacific Urban Renewal, Inc., Somerset Manor Holding Corp., Synergy Capital Investments, Inc., 1400 Corp., BSR 1400 Corp., Bellingham Corp., Blizzard Realty Corp., CFS Investments, Inc., Main Omni Realty Corp., NYB Realty Holding Company, LLC, O.B. Ventures, LLC, RCBK Mortgage Corp., RCSB Corporation, RSB Agency, Inc., Richmond Enterprises, Inc. and Roslyn National Mortgage Corporation.

The 12 subsidiaries of Community Bank-owned entities include Bronx Realty Funding Company, LLC, Columbia Preferred Capital Corporation, Ferry Development Holding Company, Peter B. Cannell & Co., Inc., Roslyn Real Estate Asset Corp., Walnut Realty Funding Company, LLC, Woodhaven Investments Inc, Your New REO, LLC, Ironbound Investment Company, Inc.,The Hamlet at Olde Oyster Bay, LLC, The Hamlet at Willow Creek, LLC and Richmond County Capital Corporation.

The two direct subsidiaries of the Commercial Bank include Beta Investments, Inc., and Gramercy Leasing Services, Inc. The two subsidiaries of Commercial Bank-owned entities include Omega Commercial Mortgage Corp. and Long Island Commercial Capital Corp.

Top Penny Companies To Own In Right Now

If you're looking for some trading action, then Organovo Holdings Inc. (NYSEMKT:ONVO) and Albemarle Corporation (NYSE:ALB) are the two top names to put on your radar today. Granted, they're trading candidates for completely opposing reasons. In fact, the best "play" may be to swap one for the other. However you want to play it though, here's what you need to know about ALB and ONVO.

If the name Organovo Holdings rings a bell, it might be because yours truly named it as a budding bullish idea back on October 18th. As they say though, that was then and this is now. A lot can happen in three weeks, and in the case of ONVO, a lot did happen - the stock gained 50%.

Although the ultimate expectation from ONVO was for a move to slightly higher levels than the current price of $9.03, you deal with what the market gives you rather than try and make the market give you something it's just not willing to give up. In this case, what the market gave us was a runup that unfurled a little too rapidly for its own good. Though the weekly chart of Organovo Holdings Inc. has yet to hit the upper resistance line that's tagged the last couple of major peaks, there's not a lot of sense in being penny-wise but pound-foolish; a 50% pop isn't too shabby.

Top Penny Companies To Own In Right Now: TranSwitch Corporation(TXCC)

Transwitch Corporation designs, develops, and supplies semiconductor and intellectual property solutions for voice, data, and video communications equipment. The company provides integrated multi-core network processor system-on-a-chip (SoC) and software solutions for fixed, 3G and 4G mobile, VoIP, and multimedia infrastructures. It offers converged network infrastructure products, including infrastructure VoIP processors comprising Entropia series of processors for wire-line and wireless carrier equipment; EoS/EoPDH mappers and framers for formats and data speeds in the access portion of the network; tributary switches that enable traffic to be switched or re-arranged; and carrier Ethernet solutions consisting of Ethernet controllers and switches, as well as circuit emulation and clock recovery devices. The company also provides FTTx protocol processors, such as mustang, a system-on-chip solution for EPON optical network unit equipment; COLT processor, a system-on-chip so lution for the optical line terminator equipment; and Diplomat-ONT product, an integrated SoC solution for GPON ONU applications, as well as access VoIP processors and access controllers. In addition, it offers broadband customer premises equipment, including multi-service communications processors comprising Atlanta processor, a multi-service SoC for customer premises equipment that supports toll-quality telephone voice, fax, and routing functionality; and HDMI, displayport, HDP, and Ethernet IP cores for consumer electronics, home network equipment, and industrial and automotive applications. The company serves public network systems OEMs, WAN and LAN equipment OEMs, Internet-oriented OEMs, and communications test and performance measurement equipment OEMs, as well as government, university, and private laboratories. It sells its products through direct sales force, independent distributors, and sales representatives. The company was founded in 1988 and is headquartered in Shelton, Connecticut.

Top Penny Companies To Own In Right Now: Medallion Financial Corp.(TAXI)

Medallion Financial Corp., through its subsidiaries, operates as a specialty finance company in the United States. The company engages in originating, acquiring, and servicing loans that finance taxicab medallions and various types of commercial businesses. It offers commercial loans to finance the purchase of the equipment and related assets necessary to open a new business, or the purchase or improvement of an existing business; asset-based loans to small businesses; and secured mezzanine loans to businesses in various industries, including manufacturing and various service providers. The company also raises deposits; originates consumer loans for the purchase of recreational vehicles, boats, motorcycles, trailers, and hearing aids; and conducts other banking activities. In addition, it provides other debt, mezzanine, and equity investment capital to companies in various industries. The company was founded in 1995 and is headquartered in New York, New York.

Best Cheap Stocks To Buy For 2014: Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory Inc.(RMCF)

Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory, Inc. operates as a franchiser, confectionery manufacturer, and retail operator. It offers a range of chocolate candies and confectionery products. The company?s products include clusters, caramels, creams, mints, and truffles. As of March 31, 2010 it operated 11 owned, 29 franchised/licensed owned, and 305 franchised Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory stores in 36 states in the United States, Canada, and the United Arab Emirates. The company was founded in 1981 and is headquartered in Durango, Colorado.

Top Penny Companies To Own In Right Now: Dreyfus Strategic Municipals Inc. (LEO)

Dreyfus Strategic Municipals, Inc. operates as a diversified, closed-end management investment company. The fund invests primarily in municipal obligations of various states of the United States. The Dreyfus Corporation serves as the investment adviser of the fund. Dreyfus Strategic Municipals was founded in 1987 and is based in New York City.

Top Penny Companies To Own In Right Now: Telular Corporation(WRLS)

Telular Corporation designs, develops, and distributes products and services that utilize wireless networks to provide data and voice connectivity among people and machines primarily in the United States and internationally. It provides machine-to-machine and event monitoring services, including Telguard that comprises a specialized terminal unit, which interfaces with commercial security control panels and communicates with event processing servers to provide real-time transport of alarm signals from residential and commercial locations to an alarm company?s central monitoring station; and TankLink solution that combines a cellular communicator, wireless data services, and a Web-based application into a single offering, which allows end-users to monitor the product level in a given tank vessel. The company also offers fixed cellular terminals for voice, fax, and Internet access over the wireless networks. It sells its products to security equipment distributors, cellular carriers, and value added resellers. The company was founded in 1986 and is headquartered in Chicago, Illinois.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Eric Volkman]

  Telular (NASDAQ: WRLS  ) will most likely soon be an asset belonging to another company. It has entered into an agreement to be bought by private equity firm Avista Capital Partners for total consideration of $253 million. This consists of $12.61 per share in cash and roughly $18.5 million in assumed debt.

Top Penny Companies To Own In Right Now: Paid, Inc.(PAYD)

Paid, Inc. focuses on providing brand-related services to businesses and celebrity clients in the entertainment, sports, and collectible industries. The company?s brand management, brand marketing, social media marketing, product design and merchandising, and authentication services, as well as Website design, development, and hosting services help its clients in growing their customer base in size, loyalty, and revenue generation. It offers entertainers, celebrity athletes, and business entities Web-presence and related services supporting and managing clients? official Websites and fan-community services, including e-commerce, VIP ticketing, live event fan experiences, user-generated content, client content publishing and distribution, fan forums, social network management, and social media marketing, as well as customer data capture, management, and analysis. Its brand support services also comprise design and production of print, audio, and video promotion marketing ma terials for client branded products and events. In addition, Paid, through official fan Website stores and other Web-based outlets, and on-tour and retail outlets, sells merchandise for celebrities. Further, the company, through AuctionInc, offers a suite of online shipping management tools, which assist businesses with e-commerce storefronts, shipping solutions, inventory management, and auction processing. Paid, Inc. was founded in 1986 and is based in Worcester, Massachusetts.

Top Penny Companies To Own In Right Now: Summit State Bank(SSBI)

Summit State Bank operates as a community bank in Sonoma, Napa, San Francisco, and Marin Counties in California. It offers deposit accounts, such as transaction accounts, money market accounts, savings accounts, time deposit accounts, business checking accounts, time certificates of deposit, sweep accounts, and specialized deposit accounts, including professional, small business packaged, and tiered accounts for larger deposits, and Keogh and IRA accounts. The company also provides commercial and industrial lines of credit and term loans, credit lines to individuals, equipment loans, real estate and construction loans, small business loans, and business lines of credit; consumer loans, including auto loans, mortgage loans, home improvement loans, and home equity lines of credit; and loans for accounts receivable and inventory financing, loans to agriculture-related businesses, and equipment and expansion financing programs. In addition, it offers banking by appointment, on line and telephone banking services, direct payroll and social security deposits, letters of credit, access to national automated teller machine networks, courier services, safe deposit boxes, night depository facilities, notary services, travelers? checks, lockbox, and banking by mail. Further, the company, through its subsidiary, Alto Service Corporation, provides deed of trust services. It serves small-to medium-sized businesses, professionals and professional associations, entrepreneurs, high net worth families, foundations, estates, and individual consumers. The company operated five offices in Santa Rosa, Petaluma, Rohnert Park, and Healdsburg. Summit State Bank was founded in 1982 and is headquartered in Santa Rosa, California.

Top Penny Companies To Own In Right Now: Brocade Communications Systems Inc.(BRCD)

Brocade Communications Systems, Inc. supplies networking equipment comprising end-to-end Internet protocol based Ethernet and storage area networking solutions. Its Data Storage segment provides infrastructure products and solutions, including directors, switches, routers, fabric-based software applications, distance/extension products, management applications, and utilities to centralize data management; and host bus adapters, converged network adapters, mezzanine cards, and switch modules for bladed servers. The company?s Ethernet Products segment offers Open Systems Interconnection Reference Model (OSI) Layer 2-3 switches and routers, which enable the use of bandwidth-intensive network business applications and digital entertainment on local area networks and wide area networks; and OSI Layer 4?7 switches that allow enterprises and service providers to build network infrastructures to direct the flow of traffic, and file area network products and associated management s olutions. The company?s Global Services segment provides break/fix maintenance, extended warranty, installation, consulting, network management, and related software maintenance and support services; consulting and support services that assist customers in designing, implementing, deploying, and managing networking solutions; and post-contract customer support and extended warranties. It serves various businesses and organizations, which include global enterprises and service providers, such as telecommunication firms, cable operators, and mobile carriers. The company has a strategic partnership with LG-Ericsson. It offers its products and services to end-user customers directly, and through various distribution partners comprising original equipment manufacturers, distributors, systems integrators, and value-added resellers in the United States, western Europe, Japan, and the greater Asia Pacific region. The company was founded in 1995 and is headquartered in San Jose, Cali fornia.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Lauren Pollock]

  Brocade Communications Systems Inc.(BRCD) raised its stock buyback program to $1 billion from $308 million, as the company cited confidence in generating greater cash flow as well as its long-term business prospects. Shares rose 3.8% premarket to $8.49.

• [By Lauren Pollock]

  Brocade Communications Systems Inc.'s(BRCD) fiscal fourth-quarter earnings rose 19% as stronger margins and decreased costs offset lower revenue for the maker of data and storage-network products. Adjusted profit for the period exceeded the company’s expectations, sending shares up 5.3% to $8.52 premarket.

• [By Muhammad Bazil]

  There is a looming monumental change in the information technology sector that will obviously benefit some existing producers of technology networking equipment but unfortunately, some will be drowned in the ensuing storm. The size of the networking equipment industry where Cisco Systems (CSCO) currently plays a prominent role is massive: The industry is worth about $50 billion in annual spending. Cisco is a tech manufacturing company that manufactures and markets Internet protocol-based switches and routers commonly used by networking companies and professionals for data and voice transmission across networks. Other major players in this industry include F5 Networks (FFIV), Juniper Networks (JNPR) and Brocade (BRCD).

James Glassman touts taxing consumption instead of earnings

One theory of why the “new normal” slower-growth economy is here to stay is that the United States has become more like Europe and Japan, which is attracting mixed reviews, according to James Glassman, visiting fellow at the American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research.

“This is one of my own pet theories, but the debate is about whether the government should play a larger role in making life easier for people by providing more safety and comfort,” he said as part of a keynote presentation Monday morning in Chicago at the Investment Management Consultants Association's Advanced Wealth Management Conference.

“It is possible to still get America to grow faster in this environment of chasing desires by doing some things like taxing consumption instead of earnings,” Mr. Glassman said. “Policy change is really key to growth.”

As one example of the kind of government gridlock impeding economic growth, Mr. Glassman cited the fact that it takes 433 days to start a business in this country, up from 368 days in 2006.

Mr. Glassman, who is also chairman and chief executive of Public Affairs Engagement, laid the foundation for his presentation by pointing out: “The world is getting riskier in a special kind of way.”

Beyond what he described as the familiar notion of risk comparable to flipping a coin and having it come up heads about half the time, he said we are in a period of “discontinuous risk,” which he compared to a “bolt from the sky, a flash crash or the toppling of the World Trade Center towers.”

“That kind of risk is always hanging out there, and I think it's increasing,” Mr. Glassman said.

On the subject of the government shutdown, he tried to spread the blame evenly between Democrats and Republicans, but he also downplayed its significance.

“The previous 17 government shutdowns going back to when Gerald Ford was president totaled more than 100 days, including the longest during the Clinton era which lasted 21 days,” Mr. Glassman said. “During that shutdown, the stock market gained 3 percentage points, so the likelihood this time is that it will not have much of an effect on the economy.”

Mr. Glassman chided the Republican Party for its focus on defunding Obamacare, saying that those efforts “don't make sense, for all kinds of reasons.”

“If the Republicans had simply sat back and let the problems with Obamacare happen, people would have recognized that this government can't even run a website,” he said.

On the economy and the stubborn persistence of the new normal, Mr. Glassman pointed out that it might be easy for some to ignore the sluggish pace of economic growth against the backdrop of a stock market that has gained more than 150% since the March 2009 bottom.

“Investors are naturally reacting to l! ow interest rates, so stocks don't really indicate a strong economy,” he said.

“This is the worst recovery from a recession in modern history. It's not a recession right now and it's not a depression, but it feels pretty depressing,” Mr. Glassman said.

The good news is that you can “never, never, never underestimate the ability of Americans to overcome obstacles that are often created by our own government,” he said.

“I think one of the things people in this room can do is demand better leaders,” Mr. Glassman said.

On that note, he suggested an emphasis on reforming the U.S. tax code, something that he said could get bipartisan support.

“There are two points where tax revenue to the government will be zero. The first is if tax rates are at zero, and the second is if tax rates are at 100% and nobody will have a reason to work,” Mr. Glassman said.

“There is no doubt that at certain marginal tax rates, you are discouraged from earning or investing, and instead are apt to consume or choose leisure,” he said.

For example, Mr. Glassman said, if he were offered the opportunity to work an extra 10 hours for income that would be taxed at 80%, he would choose leisure.

“In some parts of the country, some people believe we have already gotten to the point where tax rates are too high and are discouraging work,” he said. “I think raising taxes is about the single worst thing you could do in this economy.”

Where would Mr. Glassman start with reforming the tax code?

“I would tax consumption instead of income, and I'd give people a deduction with no limit on investments they make, and I'd keep marginal rates as low as possible to not discourage work,” Mr. Glassman said.

“I'd introduce a simplified tax code so there aren't any special deals. If the government wants to give special deals for having more kids or buying an electric car or taking out a mortgage, just send them a check.”

Economy gained 166,000 private jobs in Sept.

Businesses added 166,000 jobs in September, payroll processor ADP said Wednesday, as employment continued a recent trend of more modest gains.

Economists expected ADP to report 180,000 additional jobs, according to a consensus forecast.

ADP revised its previously reported August figure from 176,000 to 159,000.

Small businesses added 74,000 jobs; large companies, 64,000; and midsize ones, 28,000.

Trade, transportation and utilities led job gains, with 54,000. Professional and business services added 27,000. And construction companies added 16,000. But manufacturers added only 1,000 and financial firms cut 4,000.

"Fiscal austerity has begun to take a toll on job creation," says Mark Zandi, chief economist of Moody's Analytics, which helps ADP conduct the survey. "The run-up in interest rates may also be doing some damage to jobs in the financial services industry."

Economists expected the Labor Department to report about 180,000 job gains in its survey, which tallies net job increases among businesses and all levels of governments. That report, which was scheduled to be released Friday, could be delayed because of the government shutdown.

Top Safest Stocks To Buy Right Now

.

The job market has slumped recently amid federal spending cuts and a January payroll tax increase. Monthly job growth has averaged about 148,000 the past three months, vs. 224,000 the previous three months, according to the Labor Department.

ADP has had mixed success in forecasting Labor's report. Last month, it estimated that businesses added 176,000 jobsin August, while Labor reported just 152,000 new private-sector jobs. ADP says it strives to closely track the government's final revised numbers.

Retirement Savings For The Self-Employed

If you're self-employed or have self-employment income from moonlighting, fourth quarter is a crucial time to review retirement savings as there are year-end deadlines for setting up and funding certain types of accounts. "The rules are convoluted," says Barry Milberg, a Plymouth Meeting, Pa.-based pension plan consultant. That's an understatement.

For solo 401(k) plans, the plan itself has to be established by year-end to make contributions for 2013. Contributions are split between employee contributions and employer contributions. For plan sponsors—that's you if it's your business—who are C corporations or S corporations, you need to make the employee contributions by year-end out of your last paycheck at the latest. Sole proprietors have until April 15—or October 15 if they're on extension—to make their contributions as employees. Any match or employer profit sharing contributions can be put in by the corporate deadline of March 15 or September 15 on extension, but the plan still has to have been set up by Dec. 31 of this year. And that's just a taste of the rules that apply!

Yet for super savers, these plans are golden. You're reducing your tax bill—all the more important with 2013's higher tax rates–and saving for retirement. It's common for small business owners to focus on their jobs and bypass retirement savings accounts altogether—or not fund them to the max, but they need to be thinking about multiple sources of retirement income. "When a small business owner is looking only at the value of his company as his potential retirement nest egg, we think it's shortsighted and unrealistic," says Nick Ventura, a financial planner in Ewing, N.J.

With a solo 401(k) someone with self-employment income who is 50 or older by Dec. 31 of this year can save up to $56,500 (a combined employee-employer contribution limit), and it's tax deductible. A couple in business together could shelter $113,000. The employee contribution is up to $17,500, or $23,000 if you're 50 or older by Dec. 31 thanks to a $5,500 catch-up provision, and the employer contribution can equal 20% of your net earnings if you're a sole proprietor or 25% if your business is a corporation.

If you really want to supercharge your savings, consider a defined benefit plan or a defined benefit plan in combination with a solo 401(k); a business owner 45 or older could shelter an additional $100,000 or more a year, says Milberg. You're basically fudning a traditional pension plan for yourself; to snag the 2013 deduction you have to set open a plan by Dec. 31.

Solo 401(k)s, also known as individual 401(k)s or one-participant plans, have all the rules of a big employer plan and more, which is a reason people shy away from them. But a reason to go with this type of plan is because it allows you to shelter more at lower earnings levels than other retirement savings plans. For 2013, a self-employed 50-year-old netting $100,000 could put away $43,000 in a solo 401(k) but only $20,000 in a SEP IRA. Most solo 401(k)s allow you to take loans and offer a Roth account option (it depends on where you set up the plan). With a Roth account, your contributions are made aftertax (you get no tax deduction now), but all withdrawals from a Roth are income tax free after age 59 ½.

So who might prefer a SEP IRA? A high-earning, self-employed person who doesn't have employees. Or a moonlighter who has an employer-sponsored 401(k) to which she also contributes; your contributions to a SEP aren't affected by your workplace plan. Your annual SEP IRA contribution, all of it pretax, can be as much as 20% of your net earnings up to a maximum of $51,000 for 2013. (There's no catch-up provision like with a 401(k)).

Ventura says most of his solo clients favor the simplicity of SEP IRAs (and the fact that they're cheaper to administer than individual 401(k)s). A pediatric surgeon client, for example, puts a steady $3,000 a month into a SEP IRA, a number he's comfortable with based on his lifestyle. Then at tax time, the surgeon sits down with his accountant to confirm that he can make additional contributions to reach the $51,000 max. You can put a larger contribution in earlier in the year, but you have to earn the income to justify the contribution amount. Ventura likes the dollar-cost-averaging approach to making contributions throughout the year, which certainly helped clients in this year's market run-up build their account balances.

Of course, SEP IRAs have rules too. All the money you put into a SEP-IRA counts as an "employer" contribution, and you must make the same percentage contributions for all "covered" employees (other than your spouse). That includes part-time employees who are at least 21 and who have been employed by you for at least three of the last five years and who earned at least $550 from you last year. With solo 401(k)s any employee, 21 years and up, who works more than 1,000 hours a year, has to be included in the plan, and if that worker doesn't make employee contributions, you can't either.

For 2014, there's another plan to consider, a SIMPLE IRA. (The deadline for setting up a SIMPLE for 2013 was Oct. 1.) The right plan for you one year might not be the right plan for you the next year. "It's the extent of your earned income that helps make the determination of which plan is right for you," Milberg says. A SIMPLE is a good choice if you earn less or if you have long-term employees. For 2013, you can make an employee contribution of up to $12,000 pretax, or $14,500 if you're 50 or older, and there's no percent-of-income limitation. As to employer contributions, you typically must match contributions made by any eligible employee (including you) up to 3% of pay.

Top 10 Gold Companies To Buy Right Now

And don't forget the simplest option of all: you can contribute $5,500 a year ($6,500 if you're 50 or older) to a plain vanilla IRA, not designed for the self-employed. Your eligibility to get a tax deduction for your contributions could be limited by your family's income.

Or go for a Roth IRA (the same contribution limits apply). Note that couples with adjusted gross income over $188,000 and singles with AGI over $127,000 aren't allowed to make annual contributions to Roth IRAs. But they can fund traditional, nondeductible IRAs and then immediately convert them into Roth IRAs since there are no income limits on Roth conversions.

No matter which plan you pick, make sure you stay up to speed on contribution limits, which are adjusted for inflation, and adjust your contributions accordingly.

Update: The 2014 SEP IRA and 401(k) limit is $52,000. For more on the 2014 pension plan limits, click here.

See also:

10 Steps To Boost Your 401(k) Balance

Agree To Purchase Priceline.com At $720, Earn 7.6%

Investors eyeing a purchase of Priceline.com Priceline.com (NASD: PCLN) shares, but tentative about paying the going market price of $1003.44/share, might benefit from considering selling puts among the alternative strategies at their disposal. One interesting put contract in particular, is the January 2016 put at the $720 strike, which has a bid at the time of this writing of $54.50. Collecting that bid as the premium represents a 7.6% return against the $720 commitment, or a 3.3% annualized rate of return (at Stock Options Channel we call this the YieldBoost).

Click here to find out the Top YieldBoost Puts of the Nasdaq 100 »

Selling a put does not give an investor access to PCLN's upside potential the way owning shares would, because the put seller only ends up owning shares in the scenario where the contract is exercised. And the person on the other side of the contract would only benefit from exercising at the $720 strike if doing so produced a better outcome than selling at the going market price. (Do options carry counterparty risk? This and six other common options myths debunked). So unless Priceline.com sees its shares fall 28.4% and the contract is exercised (resulting in a cost basis of $665.50 per share before broker commissions, subtracting the $54.50 from $720), the only upside to the put seller is from collecting that premium for the 3.3% annualized rate of return.

Below is a chart showing the trailing twelve month trading history for Priceline.com, and highlighting in green where the $720 strike is located relative to that history:

Top 5 Medical Companies To Own For 2014

The chart above, and the stock's historical volatility, can be a helpful guide in combination with fundamental analysis to judge whether selling the January 2016 put at the $720 strike for the 3.3% annualized rate of return represents good reward for the risks. We calculate the trailing twelve month volatility for Priceline.com, Inc. (considering the last 250 trading day closing values as well as today's price of $1003.44) to be 24%. For other put options contract ideas at the various different available expirations, visit the PCLN Stock Options page of StockOptionsChannel.com.

Two dividend paying stocks to consider today

Every week, I look at the list of weekly dividend increases, in order to uncover hidden opportunities. I also use it in order to review the dividend performance of the companies in my portfolio. In this article, I am going to highlight a couple companies, which raised dividends. I weeded out companies that has low current yields or had low streaks of dividend increases. I looked at the initial statistics such as earnings and dividend growth over the past decade, and I found them promising enough to put in focus, and place on my list for further research.

The two dividend paying companies in focus today include:

Lockheed Martin Corporation (LMT), a security and aerospace company, engages in the research, design, development, manufacture, integration, and sustainment of advanced technology systems and products for defense, civil, and commercial applications in the United States and internationally. The company raised its quarterly dividend by 15.60% to $1.33/share. This marked the eleventh consecutive annual dividend increase for this dividend achiever. Over the past decade, Lockheed Martin has managed to increase dividends at a rate of 24.70%/year. The company is projected to earn $9.46/share in 2013 and $9.64 by 2014.

Currently, Lockheed Martin trades at 13.60 times forward earnings and yields 4.10%. Values like this are hard to come by in the current environment. I analyzed the company back in 2010, and liked everything except for the fact it hadn't raised distributions for ten years in a row. I plan on reviewing the company in more detail in a future post, and make a decision on whether I should buy it or not.

Accenture plc (ACN) provides management consulting, technology, and business process outsourcing services worldwide. The company raised its semi-annual dividend by 15% to 93 cents/share. This marked the ninth consecutive annual dividend increase for Accenture. Over the past five years, Accenture has managed to increase dividends at a rate of 28.70%/year. The company ! is projected to earn $4.47/share in 2014 and $4.94 by 2014.

Currently, Accenture trades at 16.60 times forward earnings and yields 2.50%. I like how the company has managed to grow earnings and dividends over the past decade, and I also like the strong brand name that company has.

5 Best Penny Stocks For 2014

I am going to place these quality companies on top of my list for further research. I like the fact that I still can find value even in an overextended market like todays.

Full Disclosure: None

Low interest rates threaten universal life insurance policies

Low interest rates are imperiling in-force universal life insurance policies, and consequently pose a potential threat to trusts and estates.

Attorneys, accountants and financial advisers are struggling with universal life insurance policies that were written during periods of higher interest rates for use within an irrevocable life insurance trust to help soften the blow of estate taxes.

These days, those policies – which were sold in the 1980s and '90s – are at risk of lapsing, and clients will have to make the choice between letting the policy go, taking a cut in death benefits or shelling out even more money to fund premiums and keep the policy in force.

“Back in the day when the estate planning attorneys drafted these trusts, many of them also became the trustees,” said Thomas J. Henske, a partner at Lenox Advisors. “They didn't think of the life insurance [inside] as an investment, but rather as something they could set and forget. These policies are now set to fail and the price for remediation is enormous.”

The cost of failing to keep up with an insurance policy are very real. One of Mr. Henske's clients bought a policy from an agent when he was 40 and was told he would be paying premiums of $12,000 a year for $4 million of coverage. At the time, the interest paid on the policy was 6.25%.When Mr. Henske reviewed the policy six years later, the credited interest rate had come down to 4%, and now the client will need to pay up $25,000 per year to keep the policy.

“This is problematic: He budgeted for $12,000, and now he's literally paying double that amount to keep it in force,” said Mr. Henske. “If we hadn't audited the policy, it would've been even more. If you catch it early, you have a better chance of beating it.”

This client wound up keeping the policy at the higher premium.

The problem is that these policies were based on optimistic interest rate assumptions, back when those rates were as high as 15%. So-called UL features included not only a death benefit, but also a cash value account that receives interest and that can be funded by a portion of premium dollars. Costs of insurance are drawn from the cash value.

Upbeat interest rate projections at the time meant that clients being sold these policies did not expect to pay much to fund the policy's costs. Those high credited interest rates supposedly would help foot the bill.

“Even the most conservative agents and brokers were projecting 7% to 10% [long-term] interest rates,” noted Henry Montag, a partner at Financial Forums Inc., who has been discussing the issue with a number of estate planner! s.

But in today's low interest rate environment, it's become significantly harder for insurers to credit the rates clients were expecting 20 years ago. Now, those customers need to cough up more money to fund the cost of keeping the policy in force. If they can't, they have the option of lapsing or cutting their death benefits. Even charitable giving plans that intend to donate UL death benefits to causes have also been dinged by the development.

Mr. Montag estimates that many of the trustees overseeing the affected trusts also are relatives of the person who set up the vehicle in the first place. “They accepted the position without any knowledge of their responsibilities, duties and liabilities, nor do they have the skills necessary to successfully keep the trust's primary holding — its life insurance — from expiring prematurely,” he said.

In fact, those trustees run the risk of violating the fiduciary duty they owe the trust if the insurance policy fails, according to an Oct. 17 newsletter from the Association for Advanced Life Underwriting.

There's a lesson here for financial advisers and trustees: Treat life insurance as an asset that will require a periodic check-up to ensure that it's holding up in today's environment. Randy Whitelaw, managing director of Trust Asset Consultants and co-creator of The TOLI Center, a life insurance risk management services provider, uses a framework that not only employs an investment policy statement but also ponders the suitability of a given policy for a trust.

“If it's determined that it's suitable, you want to ensure that there is a credible evaluation to determine the premium amount necessary to be paid to sustain the policy,” he said.

As for policies that are already in crisis, advisers should evaluate whether the client can reasonably reduce the policy's death benefit. “Many of these were bought when the estate tax exemption was far below what we have today [now at $5.25 million for individuals],R! 21; said ! Gavin Morrissey, senior vice president of wealth management at Commonwealth Financial Network.

Still, “there may be cases where they need the liquidity, say for state-level estate taxes or if it's part of a buy-sell agreement or for succession planning,” he added.

5 Worst Sectors to Avoid This Week

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For the week, the worst sectors according to Portfolio Grader are the Metals and Mining, Computer and Personal Electronics, Energy Services, Oil and Gas, and Communications Equipment sectors.

The Metals and Mining sector looks weak, with 78% of its stocks (74 out of 95) rated a “sell”. Finishing near the bottom this week are Cliffs Natural Resources (NYSE:), Walter Energy (NYSE:), and Thompson Creek Metals Company Inc. (NYSE:) among the Metals and Mining stocks. Cliffs Natural Resources has a score of F while Walter Energy and Thompson Creek Metals Company Inc. rated F and F. Over the last 12 months, Walter Energy is the worst performer in this sector, with a 70.4% decline.

The Computer and Personal Electronics sector is lagging this week with 60% of its stocks (12 out of 20) rated a “sell”. Among Computer and Personal Electronics stocks, Diebold, Incorporated (NYSE:), QLogic Corporation (NASDAQ:), and Hewlett-Packard Company (NYSE:) finished near the bottom. Diebold, Incorporated is currently rated F. QLogic Corporation and Hewlett-Packard Company are rated F and F.

The Energy Services sector is trailing behind others this week, with 59% of its stocks (33 out of 56) rated a “sell”. Dwelling near the bottom this week are GulfMark Offshore, Inc. Class A (NYSE:), Key Energy Services, Inc. (NYSE:), and Nabors Industries (NYSE:) among the Energy Services stocks. GulfMark Offshore, Inc. Class A has a score of F while Key Energy Services, Inc. and Nabors Industries rated F and F. Key Energy Services, Inc. is the worst performer in this sector, with a 42.7% decline in the last 12 months.

The Oil and Gas sector is dragging, with 58% of its stocks (124 out of 212) rated a “sell”. Out of the Oil and Gas stocks, Enerplus Corporation (NYSE:), Swift Energy Company (NYSE:), and Newfield Exploration Company (NYSE:) finished near the bottom. Enerplus Corporation has a score of F while Swift Energy Company and Newfield Exploration Company rated F and F. Swift Energy Company is performing worst overall in the sector, with a 51% decline over the last 12 months.

With 56% of its stocks (20 out of 36) rated “sell,” the Communications Equipment sector is struggling this week. Among Communications Equipment stocks, Alcatel-Lucent SA Sponsored ADR (NYSE:), ADTRAN, Inc. (NASDAQ:), and Polycom, Inc. (NASDAQ:) lingered near the bottom. Alcatel-Lucent SA Sponsored ADR has a score of F while ADTRAN, Inc. and Polycom, Inc. rated F and F.

Top Biotech Companies To Invest In Right Now

Louis Navellier’s proprietary Portfolio Grader stock ranking system assesses roughly 5,000 companies every week based on a number of fundamental and quantitative measures. Stocks are given a letter grade based on their results — with A being “strong buy,” and F being “strong sell.” Explore the tool here.

Stocks to Watch: ViroPharma, Transocean, Gogo

Among the companies with shares expected to actively trade in Monday’s session are ViroPharma Inc.(VPHM), Transocean Ltd.(RIGN.VX) and Gogo Inc.(GOGO)

Shire(SHPG) PLC has agreed to buy ViroPharma for $4.2 billion, extending its bet on the market for medicines treating rare diseases. The purchase price of $50 a share is a 27% premium to ViroPharma’s closing share price on Friday and a 64% premium to the price in September before speculation of a deal emerged. Shire’s American depositary shares rose 3.7% to $139.36 premarket, while ViroPharma’s shares jumped 26% to $49.58.

Transocean said it has entered into an agreement with activist investor and major shareholder Carl Icahn that includes a proposed reduction in the maximum number of directors on its board, while separately announcing plans for an initial public offering of a master limited partnership. The offshore driller’s shares rose 2.5% to $54.81 premarket.

Gogo’s third-quarter beat-and-raise showed the business that’s liable to be generated as fliers continue to seek out wireless services while flying. As of Sept. 30, the company provided service on 24% more commercial planes in North America than a year earlier and had 41% more business jets with its air-to-ground broadband services. Shares rose 19% to $22.25 premarket.

Cloud communication provider 8x8 Inc.(EGHT) agreed to acquire privately held U.K.-based Voicenet Solutions for $18.4 million in cash. Shares fell 4.7% to $10.14 in light premarket trading.

Top High Tech Stocks To Watch Right Now

Best Buy Co.(BBY) joins a growing list of retailers trying to extend the much-hyped Black Friday shopping frenzy by opening most of its stores Thanksgiving Day. The consumer-electronics retailer said that more than 1,000 of its stores will open at 6 p.m. local time Thanksgiving Day.

Cohen & Steers Inc.(CNS) said Monday that it will separate the chairman and chief executive roles in January, as the investment management firm divides up the positions among its two namesakes.

Genesee & Wyoming Inc.'s(GWR) consolidated traffic rose 6.3% in October from a year earlier on a pro forma basis, boosted by growth in metallic ores and metals shipments.

IntercontinentalExchange Inc.(ICE) and NYSE Euronext sa(NYX)id Friday they had received the necessary regulatory approvals to close their deal. ICE’s $9.4 billion acquisition of NYSE will close Wednesday, the companies said.

RDA Microelectronics Inc.(RDA) agreed to be acquired by a unit of Chinese state owned Tsinghua Holdings Co. in a deal estimated at $910 million. RDA Microelectronics shareholders will receive $18.50 per American depositary share, a 5.5% premium to Friday’s close.

Apple to buy plant in Arizona

MESA, Ariz. -- A company that will make small pieces of high-tech glass for Apple products plans to employ about 700 people at the now-vacant First Solar Inc. factory in east Mesa.

This is the first significant Arizona presence for Apple Inc., which is buying the building for its supplier, GT Advanced Technologies Inc. Apple looked closely at the Phoenix area about two years ago before deciding to award a much larger facility to Austin.

The deal, which was announced by GT in a regulatory filing Monday afternoon, is seen as a coup for Arizona, drawing excitement and praise from Gov. Jan Brewer and Mesa Mayor Scott Smith.

The project also will create 1,300 construction-related jobs to get the facility ready for production, Brewer said in a statement.

"Apple is indisputably one of the world's most innovative companies and I'm thrilled to welcome them to Arizona," her statement said.

Apple confirmed the deal but shared few details.

It is still unclear what incentives, if any, they used to seal the deal with the technology giant.

"Apple will have an incredibly positive economic impact for Arizona, and its decision to locate here speaks volumes about the friendly, pro-business climate we have been creating these past four years," Brewer said in her statement.

The factory will be run by GT, a New Hampshire-based company that will supply specialty sapphire glass for some of Apple's tech products.

Apple will buy the building and lease it to GT. GT said in its regulatory filing that it expected sapphire-glass production to start bringing in significant revenue in 2014.

The sapphire glass that GT will make in the facility will be used to cover the camera lenses in Apple's phones and the fingerprint-reading devices in its latest products. GT's technology also can be used to make scratchproof glass covers for smartphones, although it is not used for that purpose by Apple today.

"We are very excited about this agreement with Apple as it represents a sig! nificant milestone in GT's long-term diversification strategy," said Tom Gutierrez, GT's president and CEO.

The Arizona factory is a departure from GT's usual business, which is selling the equipment for sapphire-glass production. Supplying Apple with sapphire glass represents a more steady line of business than equipment manufacturing, the company said.

GT has lost about $45 million this year.

Apple prepaid for $578 million of GT's sapphire-glass goods, which GT must repay over five years ending in 2020, either as credit against Apple's purchases or as cash, GT said in its regulatory filings.

Why Mesa?

Arnold Maltz, supply-chain-management professor at Arizona State University's W. P. Carey School of Business, said it is unclear why Apple wants the production capacity in Mesa, but he had several ideas.

Maltz said it is possible that the material made in Mesa could go to another factory nearby in Juarez, Mexico, run by Foxconn Technology Group, another Apple supplier.

"I would not be surprised if a lot of this output doesn't go to Juarez," he said. "Foxconn has a monster plant there, and my guess is their client is Apple."

He also said it is possible either Apple or GT executives wanted to keep sapphire-glass production in the United States.

The majority of Apple products are manufactured in China, a fact that has put the company under considerable scrutiny. At its October launch event, Apple disclosed it was assembling its specialty Mac Pro computers in the United States

The building also comes at a steep discount price, with First Solar announcing it is taking a $56 million loss on the sale.

Second chance

Apple courted the Phoenix area, at least superficially, before deciding in early 2012 to build a massive operations center in Austin, where it will spend $282 million in the next decade on a 39-acre campus.

The Austin-American Statesman reported that project will receive an estimated $35 million in state and local tax incen! tives. Th! e campus is projected to house 3,600 new workers with an average wage of $54,000 in the first year, growing to an average wage of $73,500 in a decade.

The Arizona Commerce Authority and other government agencies can provide tax incentives in Arizona. About $51.5 million was offered to First Solar to build a factory at the site before it scaled back global expansion plans last year due to worldwide oversupply of solar panels.

Brewer and other economic-development officials declined to detail any such offers Monday.

"Apple's presence in the region will be a game-changer for the Greater Phoenix area, its innovation landscape and future ability to attract other high-tech companies," Greater Phoenix Economic Council President/CEO Barry Broome said in a statement Monday.

WMT – Why Wal-Mart Needs A Price Check

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Wal-Mart Stores (WMT) made headlines—and not in a good way—when word got out that a technical error threw some product’s prices out of whack on the company’s website.

Lightening-fingered shoppers were able to score treadmills for $33 and Hewlett-Packard (HPQ) LCD monitors for less than nine bucks (though the jury is out on whether the company will honor those transactions). These were super low prices, even by the discount retailer’s standards.

The PR debacle from Wal-Mart got me thinking about the stock. After all, Black Friday is fast approaching, and Wal-Mart is a perennial favorite of pre-dawn bargain hunters. The Friday after November marks what should be the happiest time of year for Wall Street—and Main Street—so WMT is sure to get a piece of the action, right?

Well yes, but not enough of the action, in my opinion. For the fourth quarter, Wall Street expects the big box retailer to see sales climb 2.5% and earnings rise just 1.2% over Q4 2012. Despite the fact the company plans to promote 25,000 employees next quarter (and move 70,000 part-time employees to full-time status by year-end), the company is plagued with worker strikes and protests surrounding its labor practices.

In the meantime, Wal-Mart reports third-quarter results next Thursday, November 14. And I wouldn’t expect this announcement to turn heads either. The consensus is calling for just 2.5% annual sales growth and 4.6% earnings growth. This is while the Discount and Variety Stores industry as a whole is expected to see an average 23% jump in profits. To add insult to injury, the analyst community has lowered the consensus EPS estimate by 4 cents per share over the past three months to $1.13. These downward revisions suggest that Wal-Mart will yet again miss analyst earnings estimates—just as it has for the past two quarters.

In fact, I could go on and on about what WMT needs to change before it becomes a buy in my book, but a picture is worth a thousand words, so I’ll let this snapshot from Portfolio Grader speak for itself:

So while a lucky few shoppers may have been able to pick up Wal-Mart merchandise on the cheap, WMT shares couldn’t be cheap enough, in my opinion. .

Whole Foods Falls After Cutting Forecast

Whole Foods Market Inc. (WFM), the largest natural-foods grocer in the U.S., fell in extended trading yesterday after saying fiscal 2014 profit would be less than it previously forecast as same-store sales growth slows.

Profit excluding certain items will be as much as $1.69 a share in the year ending in September, compared with a previous projection of as much as $1.72, Austin, Texas-based Whole Foods said in a statement yesterday. Analysts estimate $1.73 a share, on average, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

Whole Foods is facing increased competition from expanding organic and natural-food sellers including Fairway Group Holdings Corp. (FWM) and Sprouts Farmers Market Inc. (SFM) The chain has been adding more of its 365 private-label brand items to attract price-conscious shoppers. Sales at stores open at least a year rose 5.9 percent in the fourth quarter, which ended Sept. 29, the slowest growth in 15 quarters.

"You've had Sprouts and you've had several other companies come public that are playing in the same space as Whole Foods," Brian Yarbrough, an analyst at Edward Jones & Co. in St. Louis who advises buying the shares, said in an interview. "That just heightens the concerns around the Whole Foods story."

The shares fell as much as 12 percent to $57.01 in extended trading yesterday, after closing up 1.2 percent to $64.47 in New York. Whole Foods gained 41 percent this year through yesterday, while the Standard & Poor's 500 Index increased 24 percent.

Net income in the fourth quarter rose 7.1 percent to $121 million, or 32 cents a share, from a year earlier. Analysts projected 31 cents, the average of 28 estimates compiled by Bloomberg.

Revenue Forecast

The grocer also lowered its revenue growth forecast for fiscal 2014 to as much as 13 percent from a prior estimate of as much as 14 percent.

Whole Foods, which has said it can expand to 1,000 U.S. locations, plans to open as many as 38 new stores in fiscal 2014 after opening 32 in 2013. It's moving to smaller markets and recently signed leases to open stores in Dayton, Ohio, and Germantown, Tennessee.

Stable energy prices have saved the economy bil…

Nationwide gas prices averaged $3.75 a gallon in June. Today, they average $3.29.

That's a big drop. And Americans spend enough on gas that it means a real savings.

Americans consume about 367 million gallons of gasoline per day. So a $0.45 drop saves $165 million a day, or about $60 billion per year.

Sure, prices can (and will) rise again. A lot of the current drop is likely seasonal. But gas prices have been remarkably stable year to year lately. Check out the average weekly price since 2011, according to the Energy Information Agency:

• 2011: $3.58

• 2012: $3.68

• 2013: $3.64

Keep in mind, average weekly earnings during were $650 in 2011 and $682 today, so real gas prices are close to 5% lower this year than they were two years ago. That adds up. The general rule of thumb is that every one-cent increase in gas prices takes $1 billion out of consumers' pockets. Three years of flat (or declining) gas prices is the equivalent of a small stimulus package.

Thank tame oil prices for this. A barrel of oil costs the same amount today as it did 2.5 years ago, and more than 40% less than it did five years ago. Oil prices haven't really gone anywhere since the recession began in late 2007.

What's incredible about this is that we've had a ton of geopolitical chaos in the last five years. The Arab Spring. Conflicts in Syria, Iran, Libya, and Nigeria. A few years ago, these events would wreak havoc on the price of oil. But they haven't lately. I think the best explanation for this is that America's oil boom has offered enough supply to world oil markets to offset a big portion of geopolitical tension.

Combine gas prices with other energy products like heating oil and propane, and Americans are now devoting less of their spending to energy than they have for most of the last half-century.

This line is about about half a percentage point below the long-term average. That small gap equates to about $57 billion per year.

Things move in cycles! . For most of the last 15 years, energy prices moved relentlessly higher. Combine an energy boom with an efficiency push among car manufacturers and industrial plants, and there is good reason to believe we are at a turning point to begin a new trend toward lower, more stable energy prices. That's good news for everyone.

The Motley Fool is a USA TODAY content partner offering financial news, analysis and commentary designed to help people take control of their financial lives. Its content is produced independently of USA TODAY

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Can Nat Gas Drop Even Lower?

Moneyshow's Jim Jubak discusses what he sees as the stock market's current problem and what this may mean once the summer is over.

You could argue that well, a little complacency never hurt anybody.  Tell that to the Trojans.  The problem right now in the stock market as I see it is that the VIX, which is a measure of how much traders are willing to pay to get rid of risk in the market.  The VIX go up as people’s willingness to pay more goes up as the market is perceived as riskier and it goes down when the people perceive the market as less risky. 

Right now, it’s at a really, really low level.  It’s back to where it was before the 2007 global financial crisis.  VIX is a pretty good contrarian indicator that when risk is received as this low, it’s usually a sign that the market is over complacent, that people are not very fearful.  The cliche is that a rally or a market that’s moving up climbs a wall of fear. 

What happens is as the market moves higher, people who have been on the sidelines and because they were afraid of the market come in.  When the VIX is really, really low it indicates there aren’t a whole lot of people ought there who are afraid this market waiting to come.  The question is as a rally progresses what you’d really like to see is more money coming in as stocks go higher. 

With a VIX this low you’d have to ask well, who’s going to come in?  Where is the next group of money to drive this higher?  We are after all at all-time historic highs on the S&P so it’s an important question.  Right now, it’s August and it’s very hard to tell anything in August.  Volumes dry up especially in the last couple of weeks in August as lots of people go away or stop paying attention so it’s not clear that you can draw conclusions from this. 

Top 5 Undervalued Companies To Watch In Right Now

To me right now the market feels kind of listless, looking for direction, some profit taking.  My real worry, however, is not August but September when everyone comes back and we suddenly get to focus on the Fed and when it’s going to taper and of course the threat to shut down the U.S. government at the end of September.  Those don’t strike me as good things, and I would suspect that at that point the VIX will start to go up which is usually not a good time for stocks in general because that means money is coming out the market as people start to feel that it’s riskier.

This is Jim Jubak for the MoneyShow.com video network.

Sell-off Shines a Light on CREE

As is often the case with stocks that trade at high valuation multiples, this stock was fragile going into its earnings report, and the lower than consensus forecast has led to a significant sell-off. In my opinion, this creates a buying opportunity for long-term investors, says Paul McWilliams, editor of Next Inning.

Cree (CREE) reported fiscal Q4 revenue of $375M and non-GAAP earnings of $0.38 per fully diluted share. The consensus estimates were $378.4M and $0.38 respectively.

For fiscal Q1 (2014), the company forecasted revenue in the range of $380M to $400M and non-GAAP earnings in the range of $0.36 to $0.41. The consensus estimates ahead of the forecast were $398.4M and $0.43.

While the midpoint of its revenue guidance is somewhat below my expectation, and I was assuming the firm's 19% corporate tax rate would hold in fiscal 2014, everything else in the story appears to be intact.

Cree's non-GAAP operating profit margin increased to 14.0%, up from 10.2% last year, and is expected to increase to 15% in calendar Q3.

Its operational leverage increased in calendar Q2 to 1.51 from 1.39 last year, and is expected to be 1.58 in calendar Q3 (based on guidance midpoints).

Operational leverage measures how many gross profit dollars are generated from every operating expense dollar invested. Given the data CREE shared during the call, this trend should continue during fiscal 2014.

Trailing 12-month free cash flow (FCF) was $1.58 per fully diluted share, versus Cree's reported non-GAAP earnings of $1.32, and net cash per fully diluted share increased by $2.06 year-over-year.

Net Current Assets per fully diluted share increased by $2.09 year-over-year. The primary difference here is, the company modestly increased its working capital during the fiscal year to support higher sales.

If we sum this data, it leads me to believe all of the fundamentals are lining up well, that the company is developing leverage in its business model, and that the firm's earnings, as reported, understate the performance of the business.

Bottom Line: I continue to believe Cree is focusing on the right things and executing well. I think all of the new products it has introduced this year are destined to be big winners, and, in most cases, increase its branding power—an effort the company now states very clearly is a strategic objective.

While revenue growth for calendar Q3 will be a bit lower than I was expecting, I think Cree will achieve, or top, the full year fiscal 2014 revenue consensus of $1.68M, and with that, hit my $2.00 non-GAAP full year revenue target.

Subscribe to Next Inning here…

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Baxter's Advate Continues to Impress - Analyst Blog

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Baxter International (BAX) presented encouraging data from the Advate [Antihemophilic Factor (Recombinant), Plasma/Albumin-Free Method] prophylaxis study at the International Society on Thrombosis and Haemostasis (ISTH) in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. Advate is meant for the avoidance or curtailment of bleeding in victims of hemophilia A.

A post-hoc analysis has identified an interrelation between peak levels of factor VIII (FVIII) in a patient's body in the first few hours after infusion and the efficiency of prophylaxis treatment in patients with hemophilia A. The duration of the factor remaining active in the body will aid doctors determine the optimal dosage of the drug required to reduce bleeding.

Additional findings from a survey of 76 adults living with hemophilia and 86 parents of children with hemophilia in the U.S. revealed that patients prefer lower bleeding rate in comparison to lesser infusion per week.

Last week, the company had presented a meta-analysis of post-authorization safety studies (PASS) of the Advate at the ISTH, which demonstrated that the product lowers inhibitor rate and is safe and effective for use in routine clinical practices. The results were consistent with that of the trials conducted in controlled, interventional settings. Another integrated 10-year data from 12 interventional clinical studies showed that the offering is safe for children and adults with moderately severe or severe hemophilia A.

Our Take

Positive findings from the Advate clinical trials should boost sales of Advate, which is a part of Baxter's Recombitants product category under the BioScience segment. Revenues from the BioScience business grew 5% in the first quarter of 2013, partly led by higher demand for Advate.

Baxter is striving to grow its hemophilia business through the international expansion of its product line. According to the World Federation of Hemophilia, there are! about 400,000 hemophilia patients in the world. Advate is approved in 58 countries across the globe, including the U.S., Canada, and several countries in the European Union.

Recently, the product received regulatory approval in China for the control and prophylaxis of bleeding episodes in individuals with hemophilia A. We believe that Advate has considerable scope to capture significant market share in the world's second largest economy.

Although we believe that the recent developments including a strong product line and several products in late stage clinical development are encouraging, we are concerned about the relative stagnation in sales, a difficult outlook for hospital spending and tightening of reimbursement.

The stock currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). While we choose to remain on the sidelines for Baxter, medical device stocks worth a look are Wright Medical Group (WMGI), Resmed (RMD) and Hanger (HGR). While WMGI and RMD carry a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), HGR carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).

Top Tech Stocks To Buy For 2014

Obamacare is more than a mandate that everyone buy insurance now that they can't be denied for pre-existing conditions. It's full of attempts to rein in long-term health-care spending by bending the cost curve. One such strategy is increasing the use of health-care IT. � For example, hospital adoption of electronic health records, or EHRs, was under 10% back in 2008, and now it's closing in on 50% at an accelerating clip. However those with a comprehensive EHR solution are still under 20%.

In this video, health-care analyst David Williamson discusses how Obamacare's�HITECH Act is creating interesting developments in the marketplace, as well as potential investment opportunities to take advantage of this technological revolution.

Still in the dark about how Obamacare might affect you and your portfolio? Don't worry -- you're not alone. To help prepare investors for the massive changes coming to the American health care system, The Motley Fool created a special free report that makes this complex topic easily understandable. Download "Everything You Need to Know About Obamacare" and discover how the law may affect your taxes, health insurance, and investments.�Click here�for your free copy today.

Top Tech Stocks To Buy For 2014: Linktone Ltd.(LTON)

Linktone Ltd., through its subsidiaries, provides entertainment-oriented telecom value-added services and content to mobile phone users over mobile telecommunications networks in China and Indonesia, as well as the 3G mobile telecommunications network in Indonesia. The company specializes in the development, aggregation, marketing, and distribution of user wireless content and applications for access by mobile phone users through three mobile network operators in China and nine mobile network operators in Indonesia. Its 2G short messaging service (SMS)-based services include ringtones, icons and screen savers, interactive SMS messaging in certain television programs, adventure, action, trivia and fortune-telling games, lunar and Western horoscopes, jokes, fan clubs, and event-driven or entertainment news updates. The company?s 2.5G services comprise multimedia messaging services, such as animated cartoons and screensavers, comic strips, magazine-style ?mobile articles? on various topics, and event-driven news updates; and WAP services, which consist of WAP-based ringtones, screensavers, games and dating services, and advanced Java games. It also offers audio-related services, including color ring-back tones; and interactive voice response services that allow users to listen to songs, jokes, stories, and coverage of various events. In addition, Linktone is launching 3G services in Indonesia, including e-paper/e-reading; video-on-demand on tablet devices and smart TVs; and radio streaming on mobile applications. Further, it distributes and sells home entertainment products, such as VCDs/DVDs/Blu-ray discs and video-on-demand in Singapore, Malaysia, and Indonesia; and engages in the theatrical distribution of movies, karaoke video licensing, karaoke system rental, and providing a karaoke-on-demand channel on Pay TV platforms. The company was founded in 1999 and is based in Shanghai, China. Linktone Ltd. is a subsidiary of MNC International Li mited.

Top Tech Stocks To Buy For 2014: Liquidity Services Inc.(LQDT)

Liquidity Services, Inc. operates various online auction marketplaces for surplus and salvage assets in the United States. Its auction marketplaces include liquidation.com, which enables corporations and selected government agencies located in the United States to sell surplus and salvage consumer goods and capital assets; govliquidation.com that enables government agencies to sell surplus and scrap assets; govdeals.com, which enables local and state government entities, including city, county, and state agencies, as well as school boards and public utilities located in the United States to sell surplus and salvage assets. The company also operates secondipity.com that provides consumers a source of products and a socially conscious online experience through donating a portion of the proceeds of every sale to charity; and truckcenter.com, a marketplace for the sale of idle, surplus, and used fleet and transportation equipment. Its marketplaces provide professional buyers a ccess to supply of surplus and salvage assets presented with customer focused information, including digital images and other relevant product information along with services to complete the transaction; and enable corporate and government sellers to enhance their financial return on excess assets by providing liquid marketplaces and value-added services that integrate sales and marketing, logistics, and transaction settlement. The company offers approximately 500 products organized into various categories, including consumer electronics, general merchandise, apparel, scientific equipment, aerospace parts and equipment, technology hardware, energy equipment, industrial capital assets, fleet and transportation equipment, and specialty equipment. Liquidity Services, Inc. was founded in 1999 and is headquartered in Washington, District of Columbia.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Rich Smith]

  Liquidity Services is drying up
  Shares of surplus, scrap, and salvage merchandise liquidator Liquidity Services (NASDAQ: LQDT  ) are getting vaporized Monday, down nearly 4% as of this writing. For this, you can (at least partly)�blame analysts at the Benchmark Company, who cut their price target on Liquidity to $47.

• [By Chuck Carnevale]

  Liquidity Services Inc. (LQDT)

  Our final example of fast growth looks at Liquidity Services Inc. Although somewhat cyclical, we see that stock prices have tracked earnings growth very closely. Moreover, we see that the market has typically applied a fair value PE ratio that equates very closely with the company�� earnings growth rate, thereby providing additional evidence of the validity of the PE equals growth rate valuation concept applies to fast growth above 15%.

Top Companies To Own For 2014: Hewlett-Packard Company(HPQ)

Hewlett-Packard Company and its subsidiaries provide products, technologies, software, solutions, and services to individual consumers and small- and medium-sized businesses (SMBs), as well as to the government, health, and education sectors worldwide. Its Personal Systems Group segment offers commercial personal computers (PCs), consumer PCs, workstations, calculators and other related accessories, and software and services for the commercial and consumer markets. The company?s Services segment provides consulting, outsourcing, and technology services to infrastructure, applications, and business process domains. Its Imaging and Printing Group segment provides consumer and commercial printer hardware, supplies, media, and scanning devices, such as inkjet and Web solutions, laser jet and enterprise solutions, managed enterprise solutions, graphics solutions, and printer supplies. The company?s Enterprise Servers, Storage, and Networking segment offers industry standard s ervers, business critical systems, storage platforms, and networking products, including switches, routers, wireless LAN, and TippingPoint network security products. Its HP Software segment provides enterprise IT management software, information management solutions, and security intelligence/risk management solutions. The company?s HP Financial Services segment offers leasing, financing, utility programs, and asset recovery services; and financial asset management services for enterprise customers, as well as specialized financial services to SMBs, and educational and governmental entities. Hewlett-Packard Company also provides business intelligence solutions that enable businesses to standardize on consistent data management schemes, connect and share data across the enterprise, and apply analytics, as well as licenses its specific technology to third parties. The company was founded in 1939 and is headquartered in Palo Alto, California.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By John Divine]

  Battling conflicting indicators, the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJINDICES: ^DJI  ) slipped 12 points, or less than 0.1%, to close at 15,294 today. Down 120 points at one point in early trading, Wall Street struggled to come to terms with a decline in Chinese factory output. However, when U.S. new home sales in April rose by nearly 30% from a year ago, and blowout Hewlett-Packard (NYSE: HPQ  ) earnings were considered, the Dow nearly clawed its way back to even ground.

• [By Alex Planes]

  One big mistake deserves another
  The minicomputer era came to an end (years after its natural death) when onetime minicomputer industry leader Digital Equipment Corporation became part of Compaq on June 11, 1998. The $9.6 billion merger, which had been proposed early that year, was at the time the largest such deal in computing history and was intended to help Compaq compete in the highly competitive enterprise-computing arena. CNNMoney noted that the deal "enable[d] Compaq to take advantage of the coming boom in business computing as companies upgrade their equipment ahead of the new millennium." The new company was to become the second-largest computer-maker in the world, ahead of even Compaq's eventual acquirer, Hewlett-Packard (NYSE: HPQ  ) .

Top Tech Stocks To Buy For 2014: Spice I2i Limited (M09.SI)

S i2i Limited provides voice, data, and computing services worldwide. It also engages in the research, development, and distribution of telecommunication handsets, and related products and services, as well as design and marketing of telecommunication software. The company offers VoIP services to carriers, enterprises, service providers, and consumers. Its voice and data services comprise PC-Phone service that allows users to make calls from their PC to any phone in the world; GCC service, which enables users to make calls via IP infrastructure; IDD, mobile VoIP, and VoIP telephony service to corporate users and consumers; and enterprise service that allows corporate users to make calls via their existing corporate PABX and Internet access. The company�s voice and data services also include wholesale terminating services to carriers and service providers; technology licensing that offers connectivity and interoperability solutions to telecommunication carriers and wholesa le clearing houses; ISP service, which offers various data services, including broadband, leaseline access, private network, network security, hosted services, and IT solutions to corporate users and consumers; and Internet infrastructure, e-business applications consulting, project management, and systems support services, as well as business process outsourcing services and customer relationship management. In addition, it is involved in the supply, rental, maintenance, and servicing of computer hardware and peripheral equipment; system integration services relating to computer equipment and peripherals, storage systems, and network products; and computer advising and consultation activities, training of personnel and sales, and services of computer software. The company was formerly known as Spice i2i Limited and changed its name to S i2i Limited in July 2011. S i2i Limited was incorporated in 1993 and is headquartered in Singapore.

Top Tech Stocks To Buy For 2014: Universal Display Corporation(PANL)

Universal Display Corporation engages in the research, development, and commercialization of organic light emitting diode (OLED) technologies and materials for use in flat panel display, solid-state lighting, and other product applications. It owns exclusively license or has the sole right to sublicense approximately 1,400 patents issued and pending worldwide. The company licenses and supplies its proprietary UniversalPHOLED phosphorescent OLED technologies and materials to display manufacturers and others. It is also involved in the research, development, and commercialization of other OLED device and manufacturing technologies, including TOLED, which are transparent OLEDs for the fabrication of OLEDs that have transparent cathodes; FOLED that are flexible OLEDs for the fabrication of OLEDs on flexible substrates; OVPD, an organic vapor phase deposition process to deposit the layers of organic material in an OLED; UniversalP2OLED, which are printable phosphorescent OLEDs; OVJP that is an organic vapor jet printing technology; and encapsulation technology for the packaging of flexible OLEDs and other thin-film devices, as well as for use as a barrier film for plastic substrates. In addition, the company provides technology development and support services to third parties for the commercialization of their OLED products. It has strategic relationships with Samsung Mobile Display Co., Ltd.; LG Display Co., Ltd.; AU Optronics Corporation; Sony Corporation; Pioneer Corporation; Panasonic Idemitsu OLED Lighting Co., Ltd.; Tohoku Pioneer Corporation; Moser Baer Technologies, Inc.; Konica Minolta Holdings, Inc.; Denko K.K.; LG Chem, Ltd.; Panasonic Electric Works Co., Ltd.; NEC Lighting, Ltd.; Seiko Epson Corporation; and DuPont Displays, Inc. The company was founded in 1985 and is based in Ewing, New Jersey.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Seth Jayson]

  Universal Display (Nasdaq: PANL  ) is expected to report Q1 earnings on May 9. 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 Universal Display's revenues will expand 13.7% and EPS will remain in the red.

Top Tech Stocks To Buy For 2014: Rovi Corporation(ROVI)

Rovi Corporation provides digital entertainment technology solutions for the discovery and management of entertainment content. It offers interactive program guides; embedded licensing technologies, such as recommendations and search capability; media recognition technologies; licensing of the company?s database of descriptive information about television, movie, music, books, and game content; and analog content protection technologies and services. The company?s interactive program guides technology is an interactive listing of television or video program information that enables viewers to navigate through, sort, select, and schedule video programming for viewing and recording. The company also provides video delivery solutions, such as compression-decompression technology (codec) to enable distribution of content across the Internet and through recordable media in physical or streamed forms; and media manager, a personal computer application enabling consumers to man age personal media files, including music, photos, and video files. In addition, it offers digital copy solution for consumer electronics devices and PC software applications; the Rovi Entertainment Store video delivery solutions; content authoring solutions; and advertising solutions. Rovi Corporation primarily serves companies in the consumer electronics, cable and satellite, entertainment, and online distribution markets. The company was formerly known as Macrovision Solutions Corporation and changed its name to Rovi Corporation in July 2009. Rovi Corporation was founded in 1983 and is headquartered in Santa Clara, California.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Alex Planes]

  What: Shares of Rovi (NASDAQ: ROVI  ) have lost nearly 12% today as a result of the company's disappointing earnings report. Both top and bottom lines missed estimates, and the company is now contemplating divestitures to keep itself afloat.

• [By Seth Jayson]

  Rovi (Nasdaq: ROVI  ) is expected to report Q1 earnings on May 1. 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 Rovi's revenues will decrease -12.8% and EPS will wither -17.9%.

Top Tech Stocks To Buy For 2014: Deq Systems Corp. (DEQ.V)

DEQ Systems Corp. manufactures and sells auxiliary systems suitable for casino gaming tables worldwide. It offers table game bonusing technology, table games, table game results tracking, and jackpot connectivity solutions. The company�s products include table games comprising EZ Baccarat, EZ Pai Gow, and Caribbean Stud Poker; i3 technology side betting system; i3 progressive paytables, such as 5 Card Hand Bonus, Bad Beat Blackjack Progressive, and Progressive Pai Gow Poker tables; and Real Link, a secure wireless progressive jackpot management system, which links and manages various casino locations to a single shared table game progressive jackpot. Its patents and products also comprise multiple credit betting on the player�s and dealer�s hand, denomination betting flexibility, electronic credit bank, and electronic rake, as well as baccarat and blackjack hand tracking. In addition, the company offers G3 System side bet bonusing with progressive and random jackpot pri zes and slot machine style mystery bonusing; Dragon 7 and Panda 8 optional side wagers; EZ TRAK system, an LCD-based hand tracking system that provides players with valuable statistical data; and EZ Pai Gow, which accelerates the speed of Pai Gow poker. Further, it engages in the development of intellectual property related to table game bonusing; IP license management; lease and sale of table game bonusing technology; sale of patent rights; and collection of royalties. DEQ Systems Corp. is headquartered in L茅vis, Canada.

Top Tech Stocks To Buy For 2014: Wolfson Microelectronics(WLF.L)

Wolfson Microelectronics plc, a semiconductor company, engages in the design, manufacture, and supply of mixed-signal integrated circuits for the digital consumer electronics market worldwide. The company?s products include mono, multi-channel, stereo, and stereo low power ADCs; audio amplifiers; audio hubs; HDA, mono, mono low power, multi channel, stereo, and stereo low power CODECs, as well as stereo low power CODECs with touch screen controller and low power CODECs with integrated video buffer; multi channel, stereo, and stereo low power DACs; imaging ADCs; myZone ANC; power management products, power management with audio, and processors; S/PDIF transceivers; and true mics. Its products are used in portable battery operated products, such as mobile phones, portable media players, headsets/headphones, portable navigation devices, eBook readers, handheld game consoles, and digital cameras; and mains operated products, including Hi-Fi, flat panel televisions, Blu-ray pl ayers, set-top boxes, games consoles, and multi-functional printers and scanners. Wolfson markets and sells its products directly to original equipment manufacturer customers; and through independent distributors primarily in Japan, the Asia Pacific, Europe, and the Americas. The company was founded in 1984 and is headquartered in Edinburgh, the United Kingdom.