Hot High Tech Stocks To Own For 2014

Flashback to the start of 2008

The markets are roaring and everyone� who� been left out of the equity ride up is rushing to enter. Cut -- to the start of 2009: equity is worse than a four-letter bad word by now. Nobody can get it right 100% of the time; and, at both these times, the investor would have been protected with the asset allocation approach �taken out profits when his weightage of equity shot up beyond his risk-taking ability; and entered when no one dared to even look towards the markets in 2009.

Look at the Whole Picture

The allocation to debt is met for the salaried class through regular deductions and investment in the employee provident fund (EPF) scheme; and others create their safety net through Public Provident Fund, bank deposits, Post Office deposits, National Savings Certificates and the like. We all spend more time on analyzing why we made a loss of 10% on one share, even when that share is a miniscule proportion of one� total financial assets. The focus needs to move away from making a profit in every transaction to having a suitable risk-adjusted return portfolio.

Hot High Tech Stocks To Own For 2014: Aspial Corporation Limited (A30.SI)

Aspial Corporation Limited, an investment holding company, engages in the manufacture, wholesale, retail, and export of jewelry. It offers fine contemporary jewelry principally under the Lee Hwa, Goldheart, and CitiGems brand names. The company also engages in property investment, development, and management; investment holding; building construction and contracting; and pawn broking activities. It specializes in the development, marketing, and management of small to medium sized apartments. Aspial Corporation operates 22 pawnshops. The company was formerly known as Lee Hwa Holdings Pte Ltd. and changed its name to Aspial Corporation Limited in 2001. The company was incorporated in 1970 and is based in Singapore. Aspial Corporation Limited is a subsidiary of MLHS Holdings Pte Ltd.

Hot High Tech Stocks To Own For 2014: Ashtead Grp(AHT.L)

Ashtead Group plc, an investment holding and management company, engages in the rental of equipment to industrial and commercial users primarily in the non-residential construction sectors of the United States and the United Kingdom. It supplies equipments that lift, power, generate, move, dig, compact, drill, support, scrub, pump, direct, and ventilate under the brand names of Sunbelt Rentals and A-Plant. The company provides a range of industrial and construction equipment, such as earthmoving equipment, aerial work platforms, high reach forklifts and other materials handling units, tools, and pumps, as well as power generation, portable site accommodation, scaffolding, formwork and false work, and temporary traffic management equipment; and new and used equipment. Ashtead operates 106 stores in England, Scotland, and Wales; and 316 full service stores and 40 Sunbelt at Lowes shops in the United Kingdom. It serves construction and industrial markets, disaster relief agen cies, sport and music event organizers, governments, local authorities, facilities management, and homeowners. The company was founded in 1947 and is based in London, the United Kingdom.

Top 10 Safest Companies For 2014: Dot Hill Systems Corporation(HILL)

Dot Hill Systems Corp. designs, manufactures, and markets a range of software and hardware storage systems for the entry and midrange storage markets worldwide. Its storage solutions consist of integrated hardware, firmware, and software products employing a modular system that allows end-users to add various protocol, performance, capacity, or data protection schemes. The company offers AssuredSAN products, a flexible line of networked data storage solutions for open systems environments, including fiber channel, Internet small computer systems interface, and serial attached small computer systems interface, or SAS storage markets. Its AssuredSAN product lines range from approximately 146 gigabyte to 192 terabyte storage systems. The company also provides RAID software for industry standard Windows and Linux servers, as well as storage management applications, which manage its storage system configurations. In addition, it sells DMS software products comprising AssuredSna p, AssuredCopy, AssuredRemote, and RAIDar. Further, the company offers standalone storage software products, such as AssuredUVS, a unified virtual storage appliance product; and AssuredVRA. It sells its products through original equipment manufacturers, systems integrators, distributors, and value added resellers. The company was founded in 1988 and is headquartered in Longmont, Colorado.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By John Udovich]

  Small cap storage stock Dot Hill Systems Corp (NASDAQ: HILL) is up 193.4% since the start of the year for a much better performance than its larger cap peers Western Digital Corp (NASDAQ: WDC) and SanDisk Corporation (NASDAQ: SNDK), which are 55.5% and 35.3%, respectively, since the start of the year. So why has this relatively unknown small cap storage stock been a better performer than its better known storage stock peers?

Hot High Tech Stocks To Own For 2014: Cir-comp(CIRX.MI)

CIR S.p.A., through its subsidiaries, engages in the utilities, media, automotive components, healthcare, and financial services businesses. In the utilities sector, the company engages in the sourcing, marketing, and supply of electricity and natural gas. It operates wind, photovoltaic, hydro, thermo, and biomass power generation plants with an installed capacity of approximately 4,000 megawatts. In the media sector, the company is involved in publishing la Repuibblica national daily newspaper, 17 local dailies, 1 three-weekly paper, L'Espresso weekly magazine, 2 monthlies, 2 quarterlies, and various guide books; providing Internet and applications for mobile and new generation devices; broadcasting 3 national radio stations comprising Radio Deejay, Radio Capital, and Radio M2O; and operating the national TV channel Deejay TV, as well as the satellite channels MyDeejay and Onda Latina. In the automotive components sector, the company offers filtration systems, such as oil , engine air, petrol fuel, diesel fuel, and cabin air filters; and flexible suspension components, including coil springs for shock absorbers, stabilizer and torsion bars, stabilinks, leaf springs, precision springs, and track adjusters. In the healthcare sector, it operates nursing homes under the Anni Azzurri brand; psychiatric rehabilitation units under the Santo Stefano and Redancia brands; and hospital facilities under the Medipass brand. The company manages 60 facilities with a total of approximately 5,600 beds in central and northern Italy. In the financial sector, it engages in the acquisition and management of non-performing loans; venture capital, private equity, and hedge funds business; operation of restaurants; and provision of hospitality management training. The company has operations in Italy, other European countries, North America, South America, and Asia. CIR S.p.A. was founded in 1976 and is headquartered in Milan, Italy.

Hot High Tech Stocks To Own For 2014: Isis Pharmaceuticals Inc.(ISIS)

Isis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. engages in the discovery and development of antisense drugs using antisense drug discovery platform. The company?s antisense drug development programs focus on treating cardiovascular, metabolic, cancer, and severe neurodegenerative diseases. It has commercialized antisense drugs and has 24 drugs in development. Isis Pharmaceuticals, through Regulus Therapeutics Inc., also focuses on the discovery, development, and commercialization of microRNA-based therapeutics. The company has strategic alliances and collaboration agreements primarily with GlaxoSmithKline; Genzyme Corporation; Archemix Corp.; Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, Inc.; Bristol-Myers Squibb; Ortho-McNeil-Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Inc.; and Eli Lilly and Company. Isis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. was founded in 1989 and is based in Carlsbad, California.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Keith Speights]

  A penny costs a lot these days
  Isis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: ISIS  ) reported its first quarter results on Tuesday, missing analysts' earnings estimate by $0.01 per share. Isis shares fell 15% for the week. Is a penny worth that much these days? Not really.

Hot High Tech Stocks To Own For 2014: Ivanhoe Energy Inc Com Npv(IE.TO)

Ivanhoe Energy Inc., together with its subsidiaries, engages in the development and production of oil and gas properties. The company holds interests in the Tamarack property, which is a 6,880 acre block located to the northeast of Fort McMurray, Alberta, Canada; the Zitong block that covers an area of approximately 248,000 gross acres and is located in the Sichuan basin, China; the Dagang field, which covers an area of 10,255 gross acres and is located in Hebei province, China; the Nyalga Block XVI that covers an area of approximately 3.1 million gross acres and is located in the Khenti and Tov provinces, Mongolia; and the Pungarayacu heavy oil field in Block 20 that covers an area of 426 square miles and is located to the southeast of Quito, Ecuador. As of December 31, 2011, it had 49 gross producing oil wells; and proved reserves of 1,729 thousand barrels. The company was formerly known as Black Sea Energy Limited and changed its name to Ivanhoe Energy Inc. in June 1999 . Ivanhoe Energy was founded in 1995 and is headquartered in Calgary, Canada.

Hot High Tech Stocks To Own For 2014: STERIS Corporation(STE)

STERIS Corporation and its subsidiaries develop, manufacture, and sell infection prevention, contamination control, microbial reduction, and surgical support products and services for healthcare, pharmaceutical, scientific, research, industrial, and governmental customers worldwide. It provides steam, vaporized hydrogen peroxide, and ethylene oxide sterilizers; liquid chemical sterilant processing systems; washer/disinfector systems; general and specialty surgical tables; surgical and examination lights; equipment management systems; operating room storage cabinets; warming cabinets; scrub sinks; and other products and accessories. The company also offers connectivity solutions, such as operating room integration, workflow, patient tracking, and instrument management that allow transfer of information and images; cleaning chemistries and sterility assurance products; cleansing products, including hard surface disinfectants, and skin care and hand hygiene solutions; high-pu rity water equipment; vaporized hydrogen peroxide generators. In addition, it sells contract materials processing services using gamma irradiation and ethylene oxide technologies, as well as offers microbial reduction services based on customer specifications. Further, the company provides maintenance programs and repair services, sterilization and surgical management consulting services, information management and decision support services, and other support services, such as construction and facility planning, engineering support, device testing, customer education, hand hygiene process excellence, asset management/planning, and the sale of replacement parts. STERIS Corporation sells its products to end users, dealers, and distributors through direct field sales and service representatives. The company was formerly known as Innovative Medical Technologies and changed its name to STERIS Corporation in 1987. STERIS Corporation was founded in 1985 and is headquartered in Ment or, Ohio.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Sean Williams]

  What: Shares of Steris (NYSE: STE  ) �-- a manufacturer of infection prevention, contamination control, and surgical support products for the health-care industry -- jumped as much as 10% after reporting better-than-expected fourth-quarter results.

Hot High Tech Stocks To Own For 2014: Fifth Third Bancorp(FITB)

Fifth Third Bancorp operates as a diversified financial services holding company in the United States. The company?s Commercial Banking segment offers credit intermediation, cash management, and financial services; lending and depository products; and foreign exchange and international trade finance, derivatives and capital markets services, asset-based lending, real estate finance, public finance, commercial leasing, and syndicated finance for business, government, and professional customers. Its Branch Banking segment provides deposit and loan, and lease products to individuals and small businesses. This segment?s products include checking and savings accounts, home equity loans and lines of credit, credit cards, loans for automobile and personal financing needs, and cash management services. The company?s Consumer Lending segment engages in the mortgage and home equity lending activities, such as origination, retention, and servicing of mortgage and home equity loans ; and other indirect lending activities, which include loans to consumers through mortgage brokers and automobile dealers. Its Investment Advisors segment offers investment alternatives for individuals, companies, and not-for-profit organizations. It offers retail brokerage services to individual clients, and broker dealer services to the institutional marketplace. This segment also provides asset management services; holistic strategies to affluent clients in wealth planning, investing, insurance, and wealth protection; and advisory services for institutional clients, as well as advises the company?s proprietary family of mutual funds. As of December 31, 2011, the company operated 1,316 full-service banking centers, including 104 Bank Mart locations; and 2,425 automated teller machines in 12 states in the midwestern and southeastern regions of the United States. The company was founded in 1862 and is headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Rich Smith]

  Few regional banking stocks in the U.S. today cost more than BB&T (NYSE: BBT  ) stock. Indeed, the stock's biggest distinguishing factor is probably its priciness. Valued at 14.1 times trailing earnings, shares of BB&T cost 14% more than bigger rival US Bancorp (NYSE: USB  ) , and 33% more than smaller Fifth Third Bancorp (NASDAQ: FITB  ) . But is there a good reason for investors to pay up for BB&T stock?