Tuesday, August 5, 2014

Best High Tech Stocks To Invest In 2014

NovaGold Resources (NYSEMKT: NG  ) will give investors its quarterly report on Wednesday. But the mining company has already seen its stock plunge in the wake of crashing gold prices, and NovaGold earnings results aren't likely to give investors much good news barring a big surprise.

NovaGold is in the uncomfortable position of having no revenue, as the company's mines are still stuck at the developmental stage. The key for the company's success is moving forward with its most lucrative projects, but falling gold prices aren't leaving its partners in much of a mood to cooperate. Let's take an early look at what's been happening with NovaGold over the past quarter and what we're likely to see in its quarterly report.

Stats on NovaGold Resources

Analyst EPS Estimate

($0.03)

Year-Ago EPS

10 Best Communications Equipment Stocks To Own Right Now: Medidata Solutions Inc.(MDSO)

Medidata Solutions, Inc. provides software-as-a-service based clinical development solutions for life science organizations worldwide. Its solutions comprise software and services that allow customers to increase the value of their development programs by designing, planning, and managing key aspects of the clinical trial process, including study and protocol design, trial planning and budgeting, site negotiation, clinical portal, trial management, randomization and trial supply management, clinical data capture and management, safety events capture, medical coding, clinical business analytics, and data flow and interoperability. The company primarily offers Medidata Rave, a comprehensive platform for capturing and managing clinical data. It also provides Medidata CTMS, a clinical trial management solution that streamlines operational workflows; Medidata Designer, a protocol development tool that enhances the efficiency of clinical trial start-up; Medidata Insights, a busi ness analytics platform; and Medidata Balance, a randomization and trial supply management solution, which streamlines the process of developing, building, and implementing subject allocation plans. In addition, the company offers Medidata Grants Manager, an application to benchmark the investigator budgets against industry data; Medidata contract research organization (CRO) Contractor, an analytical tool for CRO outsourcing, budgeting, and negotiation; and iMedidata, a hosted portal application that allows investigative sites and sponsor study teams to start trial activities. Further, it provides hosting, support, and professional services. The company serves pharmaceutical, biotechnology, and medical device companies; academic institutions; and CROs and other entities engaged in clinical trials through a direct sales force; and through relationships with CROs and other strategic partners. The company was founded in 1999 and is headquartered in New York, New York.

Advisors' Opinion:
  • [By Jake L'Ecuyer]

    Equities Trading DOWN
    Shares of Medidata Solutions (NASDAQ: MDSO) were 27.49 percent to $38.21 after the company reported downbeat quarterly results.

  • [By Jake L'Ecuyer]

    Equities Trading DOWN
    Shares of Medidata Solutions (NASDAQ: MDSO) were 19.89 percent to $42.21 after the company reported downbeat quarterly results.

Best High Tech Stocks To Invest In 2014: Royale Energy Inc.(ROYL)

Royale Energy, Inc. operates as an independent oil and natural gas producer in the United States. It engages in the production and sale of oil and natural gas; acquisition of oil and gas lease interests and proved reserves; drilling of exploratory and development wells; and sale of working interests in wells to be drilled. The company also owns wells and leases located principally in the Sacramento Basin and San Joaquin Basin in California, as well as in Utah, Texas, and Louisiana. In addition, it holds proved developed producing reserves of oil and natural gas in Texas and Louisiana. As of December 31, 2009, Royale Energy operated 52 natural gas wells in California; owned and operated 7 natural gas wells in Utah; and had non operating interests in 17 oil and gas wells in Texas, 3 in Oklahoma, 1 in California, and 2 in Louisiana. It also had proved developed reserves of 4,563 MMcf and total proved reserves of 4,617 MMcf of natural gas; and proved developed oil reserves of 16 Mbbl and total proved oil reserves of 16 Mbbl. The company was founded in 1986 and is based in San Diego, California.

Advisors' Opinion:
  • [By James E. Brumley]

    Does the name Royale Energy, Inc. (NASDAQ:ROYL) ring a bell? If you're a regular reader of the Small Cap Network site or newsletter, it might. Back on February 3rd, yours truly penned some bullish thoughts on the way ROYL was acting at the time. Given what we had seen up until that time, though Royale Energy had not yet begun to rally, the stock was getting within reach of a monster-sized breakout. Well, that breakout may be underway as of today.

  • [By James E. Brumley]

    With nothing more than a passing glance at Royale Energy, Inc. (NASDAQ:ROYL), it would be easy to dismiss it as just another volatile small caps... one of many small cap stocks that gets a little squirrelly every now and then. The longer you study the chart of ROYL, however, the clearer it becomes... this chart looks like it's coming out of a slightly bearish lull and working its way into an uptrends.

Best High Tech Stocks To Invest In 2014: Walter Energy Inc.(WLT)

Walter Energy, Inc. produces and exports metallurgical coal for the steel industry primarily in the United States. The company also produces thermal and industrial coal, anthracite, metallurgical coke, coal bed methane gas, and other related products. It principally serves electric utility and industrial customers. The company was formerly known as Walter Industries, Inc. and changed its name to Walter Energy, Inc. in April 2009. Walter Energy, Inc. was founded in 1946 and is headquartered in Birmingham, Alabama.

Advisors' Opinion:
  • [By Ben Levisohn]

    Coal stocks are tumbling today, as Walter Energy (WLT) sold a boatload of debt, and Bank of America Merrill Lynch predicted lower coal prices.

    Greg Kahn / GRAIN

    Shares of Walter Energy have dropped 17% to $7.54 at 1:$1 p.m. today, Peabody Energy (BTU) has fallen 1.4% to $15.52, Alpha Natural Resources (ANR) has declined 3.2% to $4.31 and Arch Coal (ACI) is off 1.2% at $43.0.

    Walter Energy announced that it would sell�$200 million of senior secured notes due 2019 with a coupon of 9.500% a year, and priced its private offering of $350 million aggregate principal amount of 11.0%/12.0% Senior Secured Second Lien PIK Toggle Notes due 2020. Walter has a debt-equity ratio of 369, according to Bloomberg, more than twice Peabody Energy’s 152. Walter’s announcement comes just two days after�James River Coal (JRCC) missed a coupon payment on its own debt. Standard & Poor’s reaffirmed Walter Energy’s B-minus rating yesterday but said the outlook is negative.

    Bloomberg has the details on Merrill Lynch’s coal forecast:

    Walter Energy Inc. and other U.S. producers of metallurgical coal slumped after Bank of America Corp. said supply and demand fundamentals for the commodity will be ��epressed��for the next several years…

    Benchmark contract prices for metallurgical coal, which is used to make steel, are at $143 a ton in the first quarter, the lowest since 2010. Quarterly prices will be in a range of $130 to $150 a ton in the next several years, Timna Tanners, a New York-based analyst at Bank of America, said today in a note.

    Shares of Walter Energy have plunged 55% so far this year, while Peabody Energy has fallen 21%, Alpha Natural Resources has declined 40% and Arch Coal has dipped 3.2%.

  • [By Reuben Brewer]

    Good news is bad news
    The exact opposite trend, however, has taken place in the metallurgical coal market. Prices in this sector have collapsed over the past few years taking results at Peabody Energy down with them, not to mention met focused miners like Walter Energy (NYSE: WLT  ) . Peabody Energy's operations are split between thermal and met coal, so it has an offset. Walter Energy gets around 95% of its coal revenues from the met market��t has virtually nothing to soften the blow.

  • [By Ben Levisohn]

    When Goldman Sachs talks, people listen. So it’s odd to see Goldman upgrade Consol Energy (CNX) and for the coal miner to fall today. Even odder: Three coal stocks that were on the receiving end of price target cuts–Alpha Natural Resources (ANR), Arch Coal (ACI) and Walter Energy (WLT)–have gained. At least Peabody Energy (BTU), which Goldman cut, is falling.

Best High Tech Stocks To Invest In 2014: Lumber Liquidators Holdings Inc (LL)

Lumber Liquidators Holdings, Inc. (Lumber Liquidators) is retailer of hardwood flooring, and hardwood flooring enhancements and accessories. The Company offers an assortment of wood flooring, which includes prefinished domestic and exotic hardwoods, engineered hardwoods, unfinished hardwoods, bamboo, cork and laminates, as well as resilient flooring. Its flooring enhancements and accessories include moldings, noise-reducing underlay and adhesives. Lumber Liquidators and Bellawood are it brands. Its hardwood flooring products are available in various widths and lengths. It offers approximately 350 different flooring product stock-keeping units. In September 2011, it acquired certain assets of Sequoia Floorings Inc. (Sequoia) relating to Sequoia�� quality control and assurance, product development and logistics operations in China.

In June 2013, Lumber Liquidators Holdings Inc announced that the Company has opened its 300th store, located in Las Vegas, Nevada.

During the year ended December 31, 2011, the Company opened 40 stores. As of February 20, 2012, the Company operated 266 stores located in 46 states and Canada. During 2011, Lumber Liquidators opened its first stores in Canada. It operates a central distribution center located in Hampton, Virginia, supplemented by its facilities in Toano, Virginia. In addition, it operates a facility in Toronto, Canada, with both a store front and a small warehouse serving that metropolitan market. In 2011, Lumber Liquidators finished approximately 79% of its Bellawood products at its finishing facility in Toano, Virginia.

Solid Hardwood

The Company�� solid hardwood products are milled from one thick piece of wood, which can be sanded and refinished numerous times. It offers flooring products made from more than 25 wood species, including both domestic woods, such as ash, beech, birch, hickory, northern hard maple, northern red oak, pine and American walnut, and exotic woods, such as bloodwood, cherry, cypress, e! bony, koa, mesquite, mahogany, rosewood and teak. Lumber Liquidators sells these products either prefinished or unfinished.

Engineered Hardwood

The Company�� engineered hardwood products are produced by bonding a layer of hardwood to a plywood or fiber board backing. Its engineered hardwood floors are offered in domestic and exotic wood species, and in either glue down or floating application. All of its engineered hardwood products are prefinished. Engineered flooring is designed primarily to be installed in areas where hardwood is not conducive, such as slab construction, basements and areas where moisture may be a factor.

Laminates

Lumber Liquidators Holdings, Inc.�� laminate flooring is constructed with a fiber board core, inserted between a melamine laminate backing and photographic paper displaying an image of wood and a ceramic finish, abrasion-resistant laminate top. Its laminate flooring brands allow for easy-click installation, and some include a pre-glued undersurface, moisture repellent, soundproofing, single-strip format or a handscraped textured finish.

Moldings and Accessories

Lumber Liquidators offer a variety of wood flooring moldings and accessories. It sells stair treads and risers in both finished and unfinished versions. Accessories include underlayments that are placed between the new floor and the sub-floor, insulating sound and cushioning the floors. In addition, it sells installation supplies, such as sealers, adhesives and trowels, floor cleaning supplies, and butcher-block kitchen countertops.

Bamboo and Cork

The Company�� bamboo products, harvested from the bamboo plant, are offered as a prefinished, natural or stained, solid or engineered floor. Its cork flooring is produced by harvesting the outer bark of the cork oak tree.

Advisors' Opinion:
  • [By Steve Symington]

    For those of you who thought�Lumber Liquidators (NYSE: LL  ) would finally pull back with the company's earnings announcement this week, think again.

  • [By Demitrios Kalogeropoulos]

    The Tile Shop's (NASDAQ: TTS  ) shares fell 11% yesterday despite no news coming from the company. Instead, investors were spooked by a big profit warning from a seemingly unrelated retailer: Lumber Liquidators (NYSE: LL  ) .�

  • [By Rick Munarriz]

    I went out on a limb last week, and now it's time to see how that decision played out.

    I predicted that Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL  ) would close higher on the week. The consumer-tech giant plunged below $400 last week on fears that this week's quarterly report would be a disaster. Guidance for the current quarter is terrible, but an otherwise reasonable fiscal second quarter and Apple's move to beef up its dividend and share buyback helped draw in bargain hunters. The stock soared 6.8% higher. I was right. I predicted that the tech-heavy Nasdaq would outperform the Dow Jones Industrial Average. (DJINDICES: ^DJI  ) . This has been a tricky call lately, so how did it play out this time? Well, the market bounced back this week, and secondary stocks were leading the way. The Nasdaq rose 2.3% on the week. The Dow managed to close just 1.1% higher. I was right. My final call was for Lumber Liquidators (NYSE: LL  ) to beat Wall Street's quarterly profit target. The leading retailer of hardwood flooring has been growing quickly and making the most of homeowners who are finally feeling comfortable enough to invest in upgrading their digs. Analysts were looking for a profit of $0.42 a share during the quarter, and it came through with adjusted net income of $0.57. I was right.

    Three for three? Perfect!

Best High Tech Stocks To Invest In 2014: Microsemi Corporation(MSCC)

Microsemi Corporation engages in the design, manufacture, and marketing of analog and mixed-signal integrated circuits (IC) and semiconductors primarily in the United States, Europe, and Asia. Its products include individual components and IC solutions that offer light, sound, and power management for desktop and mobile computing platforms, LCD TVs, and other power control applications. These products are used in notebook computers, data storage, wireless local area network, LCD backlighting, LCD TVs, LCD monitors, automobiles, telecommunications, test instruments, defense and aerospace equipment, sound reproduction, and data transfer equipment. The company?s semiconductor products include silicon rectifiers, zener diodes, low leakage and high voltage diodes, temperature compensated zener diodes, transistors, subminiature high power transient suppressor diodes, and pin diodes used in magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) machines. It also manufactures semiconductors for commer cial applications, such as automatic surge protectors, transient suppressor diodes used for telephone applications, and switching diodes used in computer systems. In addition, the company provides electronic components and systems for the defense and aerospace markets; multi-band radio frequency integrated circuit solutions; and anti-tamper solutions to defense clients in securing systems against tampering, piracy, and reverse engineering. It markets its products directly, as well as through electronic component distributors and independent sales representatives to the defense and security, aerospace, enterprise and communication, and industrial and alternative energy markets. The company was formerly known as Microsemiconductor Corporation and changed its name to Microsemi Corporation in February 1983. Microsemi Corporation was founded in 1960 and is headquartered in Aliso Viejo, California.

Advisors' Opinion:
  • [By Lauren Pollock]

    Microsemi Corp.(MSCC) agreed to pay almost $298 million to acquire Symmetricom Inc.(SYMM), a deal that will expand the power-management supplier’s exposure into the aerospace and defense industries while also immediately adding to earnings. Shares in Symmetricom soared.

Best High Tech Stocks To Invest In 2014: Nelnet Inc (NNI)

Nelnet, Inc.,incorporated on December 21, 1977,is an education services company focused primarily on providing fee-based processing services and education-related products and services in four core areas: asset management and finance, loan servicing, payment processing, and enrollment services (education planning). The Company's products and services help students and families plan, prepare and pay for their education and make the administrative and financial processes more efficient for schools and financial organizations.

In addition, the Company earns interest income on a portfolio of federally insured student loans. The Company's operating segments include: Student Loan and Guaranty Servicing, Tuition Payment Processing and Campus Commerce, Enrollment Services and Asset Generation and Management.

Student Loan and Guaranty Servicing

The primary service offerings of Student Loan and Guaranty Servicing segment includes Servicing FFELP loans, Originating and servicing non-federally insured student loans, Servicing federally-owned student loans for the Department of Education, Servicing and outsourcing services for FFELP guaranty agencies, including FFELP guaranty collection services and Providing student loan servicing software and other information technology products and services. The Student Loan and Guaranty Servicing operating segment provides for the servicing of the Company's student loan portfolio and the portfolios of third parties. The loan servicing activities include loan conversion activities, application processing, borrower updates, payment processing, due diligence procedures, funds management reconciliations, and claim processing.

Although similar in terms of activities and functions as FFELP servicing (i.e., disbursement processing, application processing, payment processing, statement distribution, and reporting), non-federally insured loan servicing activities are not required to comply with provisions of the Higher Education Act ! and may be more customized to individual client requirements. The Company serviced non-federally insured loans on behalf of approximately 20 third-party servicing customers as of December 31, 2012.

The Student Loan and Guaranty Servicing operating segment provides servicing support for guaranty agencies, which are the organizations that serve as the intermediary between the United States federal government and FFELP lenders, and are responsible for paying the claims made on defaulted loans. The Department has designated approximately 30 guarantors that have been formed as either state agencies or non-profit corporations that provide FFELP guaranty services in one or more states. Approximately half of these guarantors contract externally for operational or technology services. The services provided by the Company include providing software and data center services, borrower and loan updates, default aversion tracking services, claim processing services, and post-default collection services. A portion of guaranty servicing revenue earned by the Company relates to rehabilitating delinquent loans (collection services).

The Student Loan and Guaranty Servicing operating segment provides student loan servicing software, which is used internally by the Company and licensed to third-party student loan holders and servicers. These software systems have been adapted so that they can be offered as hosted servicing software solutions that can be used by third-parties to service various types of student loans, including Private, Federal Direct Loan Program, and FFEL Program loans. The Company earns a monthly fee from its remote hosting customers for each borrower on the Company's platform, with a minimum monthly charge for contracts.

Tuition Payment Processing and Campus Commerce

The Company's Tuition Payment Processing and Campus Commerce operating segment provides products and services to help students and families manage the payment of education costs at all leve! ls.It als! o provides education-focused technologies, services, and support solutions to help schools with the everyday challenges of collecting and processing commerce data. The Company's financial needs assessment service serves over 3,600 schools and dioceses, helps schools evaluate and determine the amount of grants and financial aid to disburse to the families it serves. The Company's donor services allow schools to assess and deliver strategic fundraising solutions using the latest technology.

The higher education market consists of nearly 4,400 colleges and universities. The Company offers two principal products to the higher education market: actively managed tuition payment plans, and campus commerce technologies and payment processing.

The Company has actively managed tuition payment plans in place at approximately 650 colleges and universities. Higher education institutions contract with the Company to administer payment plans that allow the student and family to make monthly payments on either a semester or annual basis. The Company collects a fee from the student or family as an administration fee.

The Company's suite of campus commerce solutions provides services that allow for families' electronic billing and payment of campus charges. Campus commerce includes cashiering for face-to-face transactions, campus-wide commerce management, and refunds management, among others.

Enrollment Services

The Enrollment Services segment offers products and services that are focused on helping colleges recruit and retain students and helping students plan and prepare for life after high school and military service. The primary products and services the Company offers as part of the Enrollment Services segment: Inquiry Generation - Inquiry generation services include delivering qualified inquiries or clicks to third-party customers, primarily higher education institutions, Inquiry Management (Agency) services, which include managing the marketin! g activit! ies for third-party customers, primarily higher education institutions, in order to provide qualified inquiries or clicks, Inquiry Management (Software) services, which include the licensing of software to third-party customers, primarily higher education institutions, Digital marketing services include interactive services to connect students to colleges and universities and are sold primarily based on subscriptions. Digital marketing services also include editing services for admission essays. Content Solutions - Content solutions includes test preparation study guides, school directories and databases, career exploration guides, on-line courses, scholarship search and selection data, career planning, and on-line information about colleges and universities. Its Content solutions includes providing list marketing services to help higher education institutions and businesses reach the middle school, high school, college bound high school, college, and young adult market places.

Asset Generation and Management Operating Segment

The Asset Generation and Management segment includes the acquisition, management, and ownership of the Company's student loan assets, which was historically the Company's product and service offering. The Company generates a substantial portion of its earnings from the spread, referred to as the Company's student loan spread, between the yield it receives on its student loan portfolio and the associated costs to finance such portfolio. The student loan assets are held in a series of education lending subsidiaries and associated securitization trusts designed specifically for this purpose. In addition to the student loan spread earned on its portfolio, all costs and activity associated with managing the portfolio, such as servicing of the assets and debt maintenance, are included in this segment.

Student loans consist of federally insured student loans and non-federally insured student loans. Federally insured student loans were made un! der the F! FEL Program. The Higher Education Act regulates every aspect of the federally insured student loan program, including certain communications with borrowers, loan originations, and default aversion.

The Company competes with SLM Corporation, reat Lakes Educational Loan Services Inc. (Great Lakes), Pennsylvania Higher Education Assistance Agency (PHEAA), and Sallie Mae.

Advisors' Opinion:
  • [By Victor Selva]

    We can appreciate that Capital One麓s ROE is lower than that of American Express, Discover Financial Services, First Cash Financial Services (FCFS) and Nelnet Inc. (NNI).

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