Hot Stocks For 2014

Many U.S. investors overlook the benefits of investing in Australia. That’s mainly because the country is far away from Wall Street (13 time zones, to be exact), so it flies below the radar of the American business press.

However, the Land Down Under boasts a number of important advantages that few other countries can match. For example, the country is sitting on a treasure trove of natural resources, and it’s ideally located to sell them into growing Asian markets.

Investing in Australia: A Great Way to Tap Into China’s Growth

According to the CIA World Factbook, China is Australia’s largest export market, taking in 29.5% of the goods the country ships abroad, followed by Japan (19.3%), South Korea (8%) and India (4.9%).

Australia is best known as the world’s leading iron ore producer. According to the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), Australia’s mines churned out 525 million metric tons of iron ore in 2012. That’s well ahead of No. 2 producer Brazil, with 375 million, and up 191% from 180 million metric tons in 2001. The production gains have come in lockstep with China’s growing demand for steel as it continues to urbanize. (Iron ore is an important element in steelmaking.)

Top Beverage Stocks To Own Right Now: Bitauto Holdings Limited (BITA)

Bitauto Holdings Limited provides Internet content and marketing services for the automotive industry primarily in the People?s Republic of China. The company offers subscription services to new automobile dealers that enable them to list pricing and promotional information on its bitauto.com Website and partner Websites, and to interact with consumers through its virtual call center, as well as provides advertising service to dealers and automakers on its bitauto.com Website. It also offers listing services to used automobile dealers, which enable them to display used automobile inventory information through its ucar.cn Website and partner Websites; and advertising services to used automobile dealers and automakers with certified pre-owned automobile programs on its ucar.cn Website. In addition, the company provides digital marketing solutions, including Website creation and maintenance, online public relationship, online marketing campaigns, and advertising agent service s. Bitauto Holdings Limited was founded in 2000 and is headquartered in Beijing, the People?s Republic of China.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Jake L'Ecuyer]

  Leading and Lagging Sectors
  Technology stocks gained Tuesday, with Ku6 Media Co (NASDAQ: KUTV) leading advancers. Among leading tech stocks, gains came from Rubicon Technology (NASDAQ: RBCN), Bitauto Holdings (NYSE: BITA) and Sify Technologies (NASDAQ: SIFY).

• [By Jake L'Ecuyer]

  Leading and Lagging Sectors
  Technology stocks gained Tuesday, with Ku6 Media Co (NASDAQ: KUTV) leading advancers. Among leading tech stocks, gains came from Rubicon Technology (NASDAQ: RBCN), Bitauto Holdings (NYSE: BITA) and Sify Technologies (NASDAQ: SIFY). Utilities shares dropped by 0.11 percent in the US market today.

Hot Stocks For 2014: Fabrinet (FN)

Fabrinet, incorporated on August 12, 1999, provides optical packaging and precision optical, electro-mechanical and electronic manufacturing services to original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) of complex products, such as optical communication components, modules and sub-systems, industrial lasers and sensors. The Company offers a range of optical and electro-mechanical capabilities across the entire manufacturing processes, including process design and engineering, supply chain management, manufacturing, advanced packaging, final assembly and test.

The products that the Company manufactures for its OEM customers includes optical communications devices, such as selective switching products, such as reconfigurable optical add-drop modules (ROADMs), optical amplifiers, modulators and other optical components and modules that collectively enable network managers to route signals through fiber traffic at various wavelengths and over various distances; tunable transponders and transceivers that eliminate the need to stock individual fixed wavelength transponders and transceivers used in voice and data communications networks; and active optical cables providing high-speed interconnect capabilities for data centers and computing clusters, as well as Infiniband, Ethernet, fiber channel and optical backplane connectivity.

Solid state, diode-pumped, gas and fiber lasers (industrial lasers) used across a array of industries, including semiconductor processing (wafer inspection, wafer dicing, wafer scribing), biotechnology (DNA sequencing, flow cytometry, hematology, antibody detection), metrology (instrumentation, calibration, inspection), and material processing (photo processing, textile cutting, annealing, marking, engraving); and sensors, including differential pressure, micro-gyro, fuel and other sensors that are used in automobiles, and non-contact temperature measurement sensors for the medical industry. The Company also designs and fabricates application-specific crystals, pri! sms, mirrors, laser components and substrates (customized optics) and other custom and standard borosilicate, clear fused quartz, and synthetic fused silica glass products (customized glass).

The Company competes with Sanmina-SCI Corporation, Celestica Inc., Venture Corporation Limited, Benchmark Electronics, Inc, Browave Corporation, Fujian Castech Crystals, Inc., Research Electro-Optic, Inc. and Photop Technologies, Inc.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Seth Jayson]

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

Hot Stocks For 2014: Nintendo Co Ltd (NTDOY.PK)

Nintendo Co., Ltd. is a Japan-based company mainly engaged in the leisure machine business. The Company operates in two business segments. The Leisure Machine segment is engaged in the development, manufacturing and sale of portable and console game machines as well as game software. The Others segment is engaged in the manufacture and sale of poker cards and karuta (Japanese-style playing cards), the sale of Pokemon (a Japanese animation character) goods, the management of intellectual property rights and the provision of electronic registration services of home use console machines, among others.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Philip Saglimbeni]

  The good news for Microsoft is that consumers are a fickle bunch and can be swayed rather quickly. The upcoming E3 conference in June is a perfect time for Microsoft to announce a barrage of new games for Xbox One and to provide potential customers with a better understanding of what they can expect at launch for the new system. With Nintendo Co. Ltd. (NTDOY.PK) having backed out of the premiere game conference, it will be Microsoft and Sony facing off directly. In an atmosphere filled with nothing but gamers, big expectations and the potential for even bigger headlines, it won't be much of a competition unless Microsoft chooses to battle Sony in the actual video game department. I expect Microsoft will soon come out swinging with popular blockbuster series announcements but as of right now the console is not effectively convincing the gaming masses and is losing valuable time in its increasingly short release window. Microsoft, you're on notice, put your game face on!

• [By Sneha Shah]

  6) Xbox 720 - Microsoft will announce the new version of its blockbuster Xbox game console next month. Its main competitors, Sony (SNE) and Nintendo (NTDOY.PK), have already announced their new game consoles. Xbox has been a tremendous success for Microsoft and has allowed it to gain millions of subscribers for its Xbox LIVE service.

Hot Stocks For 2014: Fiat SpA (FIATY)

Fiat SpA, incorporated in 1906, is engaged principally in the manufacture and sale of automobiles, agricultural and construction equipment and commercial vehicles. It also manufactures other products and systems, principally engines, transmission systems, automotive-related components, metallurgical products and production systems. In addition, it is involved in certain other sectors, including publishing and communications. The Company and its subsidiaries operates approximately in 50 countries. The Company operates under five segments: automobiles, agricultural and construction equipment (CNH-Case New Holland), trucks and commercial vehicles, components and production systems, and other businesses. On 10 June 2009, the Company acquired 20% interest in Chrysler Group LLC. In January 2014, Fiat SpA announced that through its wholly owned subsidiary Fiat North America LLC (FNA) completed its announced acquisition of all of the VEBA Trust�� membership interests in Chrysler Group LLC.

Automobiles

The Company�� automobiles segment designs, develops and sells automobiles, which include Fiat, Alfa Romeo, Lancia, Abarth, Fiat Professional, Maserati and Ferrari. During the year ended December 31, 2009, this segment delivered a total of 2,150,700 passenger cars and light commercial vehicles.

Agricultural and Construction Equipment (CNH-Case New Holland)

The Company�� agricultural and construction equipment segment is engaged in the development of the agricultural and construction equipment industries in Europe and the United States. CNH operates through six brands: Case IH, New Holland Agriculture, Steyr, New Holland Construction, Case Construction and Kobelo. Case IH includes a range of tractors, combines and bailers. New Holland Agriculture�� products include tractors, harvesting equipment and telehandlers. Steyr is the producer of tractors in Austria. New Holland Construction is a producer of construction equipment with a network of 800 dealers an! d more than 2,100 points of sale in 100 countries.

Case Construction sells and provides service support for a range of construction machinery: from loader backhoes to crawler and wheel excavators, from wheel loaders to wheel and crawler skid steer loaders, from articulated dumpers to telescopic handlers. Kobelco produces and sells a range of compact, mid-size and full-size excavators ranging from 1.9 to 88 tons. It owns more than 250 sales outlets located throughout North America.

Truck and Commercial Vehicles

Truck and Commercial Vehicles segment develops, produces and sells a range of trucks and buses under the brands, which include Iveco, Iveco Irisbus, Iveco Astra and Iveco Magirus. Iveco produces a range of light, medium and heavy commercial and industrial vehicles for transportation and distribution of goods. Iveco Irisbus offers a range of vehicles, from minibuses to touring coaches, from urban buses to interurban buses designed to provide a solution to a variety of transportation needs, whether intraurban or interurban.

Iveco Astra produces 2, 3 and 4-axle vehicles for mining and offers over 210 Extra Heavy-Duty models for dump bodies, water and fuel tanks, cement mixers and pumps, drills, mobile service. In addition, it provides rigid dumpers of 14, 28, 32 and 40 tons and articulated dumpers of 25, 30, 35 and 40 tons. Iveco Magirus offers s range of vehicles for situations like fire, floods, earthquakes and explosions. It offers them under the Iveco Magirus, Lohr Magirus, Iveco Special Vehicles and Camiva brands.

Components and Production Systems

The Company�� products under the Components and Production Systems include FPT Powertrain Technologies, Magneti Marelli, Teksid and Comau. FPT Powertrain Technologies provides engines and transmissions. Magneti Marelli designs and produces automotive systems and components: from lighting to engine control systems, from suspensions to electronic systems, from exhaust system! s to comp! onents to the aftermarket and motorsport. Teksid is the producer of grey and nodular iron castings. It manufactures approximately 600 thousand tons of engine blocks, cylinder heads, engine components, transmissions parts, gearboxes and suspensions. Comau makes body welding and assembly robots, and machining and assembly for mechanical systems. It delivers turnkey solution, which includes design, production, installation, production startup and maintenance to the customers.

Other Businesses

The Company�� other businesses includes the contribution from the Company�� publishing businesses, service companies and holding companies.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By John Rosevear and Rex Moore]

  The new Chrysler may share a name with its predecessor, but it's a very different car. Working with the resources of its soon-to-be-merger-partner�Fiat� (NASDAQOTH: FIATY  ) , Chrysler was able to rethink its midsize sedan from the ground up. The result is an intriguing product.

• [By WWW.DAILYFINANCE.COM]

  Daniel Acker/Bloomberg via Getty Images DETROIT -- General Motors (GM) reported a much lower second-quarter profit Thursday due to numerous recalls and the expected cost of at least $400 million for a compensation fund for those killed or injured by a defective ignition switch linked to at least 13 deaths. GM also reiterated that it expected a moderately improved operating profit this year and that its future recall costs would be slightly higher than historic rates. "We're on or ahead of the plan we shared in January," Chief Financial Officer Chuck Stevens told reporters. "Our expectation is that the second half of the year will be better than the first half." Morgan Stanley analyst Adam Jonas said strong vehicle pricing in North America "saves the quarter." GM earlier this year recalled 2.6 million cars for the faulty ignition switches, which can cause engine stalls and stop power steering and power brakes from operating and air bags from deploying. The company is under investigation by U.S. safety regulators, Congress and the U.S. Department of Justice over its failure to detect the problems for more than a decade. Net income in the quarter fell to $190 million, or 11 cents a share, from $1.2 billion, or 75 cents a share, a year earlier. Excluding one-time items, GM earned 58 cents a share, just below the 59 cents analysts polled by Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S had expected. The company's shares fell 2.9 percent to $36.34 in morning trading. Also Thursday, GM's smaller U.S. rival, Ford Motor (F), posted a higher-than-expected profit on strong results in North America and Europe. One-time items for GM included the charge for establishing the victims' compensation fund, which the company said could still rise by about $200 million, as well as an $874 million charge for a change in how the company will account for recalls in the future. GM previously took charges as recalls occurred, but now it will account for potential future liabilities as the cars

Hot Stocks For 2014: Western Digital Corp (WDC)

Western Digital Corporation (WD) is a provider of solutions for the collection, storage, management, protection and use of digital content, including audio and video. Its principal products are hard drives, which are devices that use one or more rotating magnetic disks (magnetic media) to store and allow access to data. Its hard drives are used in desktop and notebook computers, corporate and cloud computing data centers, home entertainment equipment and stand-alone consumer storage devices. In addition to hard drives, its other products include solid-state drives and home entertainment and networking products. The Company operates as the parent company of its hard drive business, Western Digital Technologies, Inc. Effective March 8, 2012, the Company acquired Viviti Technologies Ltd. In May 2012, the Company completed the divestiture of certain 3.5-inch hard drive assets to Toshiba Corporation. As part of its deal with Toshiba, WD also completed its purchase of Toshiba Storage Device (Thailand) Company Limited (TSDT), which manufactured hard drives.

The Company offers a line of storage devices. Its hard drives include 3.5-inch and 2.5-inch form factors, capacities ranging from 80 gigabytes to three terabytes, nominal rotation speeds up to 10,000 revolutions per minute, and interfaces, such as Serial Advanced Technology Attachment (SATA) and Serial Attached SCSI (Small Computer System Interface) (SAS). In addition, the Company offers a family of hard drives specifically designed to consume less power than standard drives, utilizing its WD GreenPower Technology. Its solid-state drives include 2.5-inch and Compact Flash form factors, capacities ranging from 1 gigabyte to 256 gigabytes, and interfaces, such as SATA and PATA.

Client Compute Storage Products

Client compute consists of hard drives and solid-state drives for desktop and mobile personal computers (PC��). During the fiscal year ended July 1, 2011 (fiscal 2011), it shipped 151 million hard drive clie! nt compute unit. Its client compute storage products include WD Caviar, WD Scorpio and WD Silicon Edge. WD Caviar family of hard drives is designed for use in desktop PCs. WD Scorpio family of hard drives is designed for use in mobile PCs. WD Silicon Edge family of solid-state drives is designed for both read-intensive client/consumer applications and write-intensive original equipment manufacturer (OEM) applications.

Client Non-Compute Storage Products

Client non-compute consists of branded products and consumer electronics products. Its hard drive client non-compute unit shipments were 46 million, during fiscal 2011.

Branded Products

Branded products consists of hard drives embedded into WD-branded external storage appliances with capacities ranging from 250 gigabytes to 8 terabytes and using interfaces, such as Universal Serial Bus (USB) 2.0, USB 3.0, external SATA, FireWire and Ethernet network connections. Certain branded products models include software that assists customers with back up, remote access and management of digital content. Branded products also include its home entertainment and networking products. Its branded products include My Book and WD Elements Desktop family of storage appliances. My Passport and WD Elements Portable family of storage appliances include WD ShareSpace, WD TV and WD Livewire.

My Book and WD Elements Desktop family of storage appliances are designed to add external capacity to desktops and digital video recorders (DVRs), allow for the transfer and storage of videos directly from certain camcorders, and connect to networks to simplify storage for consumers. My Passport and WD Elements Portable family of storage appliances are designed for external portability weighing less than one-half of a pound and allow for the transfer and storage of videos directly from certain camcorders. WD ShareSpace is a network-attached storage system designed for home office or small office applications. WD TV m! edia play! ers connect to a user�� television or home theater system and play digital movies, music and photos from an integrated hard drive, network hard drives, any of its WD-branded external hard drives, other USB mass storage devices or content services accessed over the Internet. WD Livewire, which enables consumers to use their existing electrical outlets to extend Internet connections throughout the home.

Consumer Electronics Products

WD AV family of hard drives is designed for use in products, such as DVRs and audio and video applications. WD AV drives deliver the characteristics CE manufacturers.

Enterprise Storage Products

Enterprise consists of hard drives for traditional enterprise and nearline storage applications, as well as solid-state drives for embedded applications. Its hard drive enterprise unit shipments were 10 million, for fiscal 2011. Its enterprise storage products include WD S25 hard drive, WD VelociRaptor, WD RE and WD SiliconDrive. WD S25 hard drive is designed for mission-critical enterprise server and storage applications, such as data centers and data arrays. WD VelociRaptor hard drive is designed for enterprise server and storage applications. This hard drive is also used in the high-end desktop PC market for applications including gaming, servers and advanced computer-aided design/computer-aided manufacturing (CAD/CAM) systems. WD RE family of hard drives is designed for nearline storage enterprise applications. WD SiliconDrive family of solid-state drives features fast read/write speeds in high capacities and is designed for embedded system OEM applications.

The Company competes with Hitachi Global Storage Technologies, Intel Corporation, Micron Technology, Inc., Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd., Seagate Technology, STEC, Inc. and Toshiba Corporation.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Shauna O'Brien]

  On Monday, storage solution company Western Digital Corp (WDC) announced that it has agreed to acquire Virident Systems, Inc. for $685 million.

  The flash storage solutions company will be purchased by HGST, which is a subsidiary of WDC, for a total of $685 million in cash. This amount represents approximately $645 million in enterprise value.

  This deal will allow WDC to expand its presence in the solid state drives market. This market is expected to grow from $2.5 billion in revenue in 2012 to $7 billion in revenue by 2017.

  Mike Cordano, president of Western Digital unit HGST commented: “Virident’s server-side flash storage helps datacenter customers solve their most significant data infrastructure challenges, including application performance across diverse workloads, power efficiency, and total cost of ownership.”

  Western Digital shares were up 37 cents, or 0.57%, during pre-market trading Monday. The stock is up 53% YTD.

• [By Mukesh Baghel]

  Data storage player Seagate Technology (NASDAQ: STX  ) has had a rough go this year. The company is losing market share to rival Western Digital (NASDAQ: WDC  ) , and its financial performance is also on the decline. Seagate's revenue and profit were down in the second quarter on a year-over-year basis, so it's not astonishing to see that the company's shares have taken a beating in 2014.

• [By Dan Caplinger]

  Fusion-io (NYSE: FIO  ) will release its quarterly report on Wednesday, and investors are nervous about the expected plunge in revenue that they expect to result in the data-storage specialist's year-ago profit turning into a loss. Yet even in the face of much larger competitors EMC (NYSE: EMC  ) and Western Digital (NASDAQ: WDC  ) , many still hold out hope that Fusion-io earnings will eventually recover and help the share price gain back some of its long-term losses.

• [By Tim Brugger]

  HGST, a wholly owned subsidiary of Western Digital (NASDAQ: WDC  ) , has entered into an agreement whereby HGST will acquire a 100% ownership stake in sTec (NASDAQ: STEC  ) in an all-cash transaction valued at $340 million, equal to $6.85 a share, the companies announced today.

Hot Stocks For 2014: Deckers Outdoor Corporation(DECK)

Deckers Outdoor Corporation engages in the design, manufacture, and marketing of footwear and accessories for outdoor activities and casual lifestyle use to men, women, and children. The company offers luxury footwear and accessories under the UGG brand name; high performance multi-sport shoes, rugged outdoor footwear, and sport sandals under the Teva brand name; casual and sustainable-lifestyle sneakers and accessories under the Simple brand name; casual footwear under the TSUBO brand name; and outdoor performance and lifestyle footwear under the Ahnu brand name. Its accessories include handbags and cold weather outerwear. The company sells its products primarily to specialty retailers, department stores, outdoor retailers, sporting goods retailers, shoe stores, and online retailers. Deckers Outdoor Corporation also sells its products directly to end-user consumers through its Web sites, call centers, retail concept stores, and retail outlet stores, as well as through ret ailers in the United States. In addition, the company distributes its products through independent distributors and retailers in Europe, Canada, Australia, Asia, and Latin America. It has a joint venture with Stella International Holdings Limited for the opening of retail stores and wholesale distribution for the UGG brand in China. Deckers Outdoor Corporation was founded in 1973 and is headquartered in Goleta, California.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Michael Lewis]

  Two of the biggest shoe companies available to investors, Deckers Outdoor (NASDAQ: DECK  ) and Wolverine Worldwide (NYSE: WWW  ) , have experienced great growth in recent periods, with the former posting a 20% stock gain on the day it released earnings last week. Both companies have made fantastic accretive brand purchases and renovations over the past year, and both should continue to grow at appealing rates. Unfortunately for investors, both also appear to be fully valued stocks. The question for investors going forward regards whether the companies' phenomenal successes can sustain the lofty valuations imparted by an ever-myopic market.

• [By Luke Jacobi]

  Deckers Outdoor (NASDAQ: DECK) lost 7.04 percent to close at $63.15 after word of a negative report on the company from OTR global hit the street early today.

• [By DailyFinance Staff]

  Concerns about the political uncertainty in Ukraine caused some volatility in the markets Friday afternoon, with the major indexes making several U-turns ahead of the weekend. The Dow Jones industrial average (^DJI), which had been up by as much as 125 points, briefly dropped into loss territory before rebounding to end 49 points higher. The Standard & Poor's 500 index (^GPSC) edged up 5 points, adding to Thursday's record high, but the Nasdaq composite (^IXIC) lost 10 points. AP/Darko VojinovicPro-Russian militias have seized local government buildings in Crimea, Ukraine; the unrest there is making investors around the world nervous. February was a great month for investors. All three major averages jumped by about 4 percent. UnitedHealth Group (UNH) led the blue chips, gaining 1½ percent. Other health providers – Aetna (AET), Wellpoint (WLP), Cigna (CI) and Humana (HUM) -- all gained between 1½ and 2 percent. And retail stocks remained active. Target (TGT) added another 3 percent. Best Buy rose 4 percent, and Fred's (FRED), a regional department store chain, jumped 10 percent. But Pier 1 (PIR) fell 5½ percent after lowering its earnings outlook for a second time. That led to a series of brokerage downgrades. Decker Outdoor (DECK) tumbled 12 percent. The maker of footwear brands such as Ugg and Teva issued a weak outlook. And apparel maker Lululemon (LULU) fell 5-percent on negative comments from Credit Suisse. It seems as though there are always some big movers in the drug and biotech sectors – and that was certainly the case today. GW Pharmaceuticals (GWPH) rose 2 percent after the FDA granted orphan status to its drug to treat a rare form of childhood epilepsy. But most of the action was on the downside. Endologix (ELGX) slid 24 percent after forecasting lower revenue growth. Questcor (QCOR) fell 10 percent. It's lost big for three straight days amid allegations of questionable business practices. Jazz Pharma

• [By Suravi Thacker]

  Some of the prominent players in the industry are Crocs (CROX), Deckers Outdoor Corporation (DECK) and Wolverine World Wide (WWW). Each of the players has adopted a variety of ways to attract customers and boost its revenue.