Hot Life Sciences Companies To Own For 2014

Although we don't believe in timing the market or panicking over market movements, we do like to keep an eye on big changes -- just in case they're material to our investing thesis.

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.

So what: For the quarter, Steris' shareholders witnessed revenue increase by 10% to $428.2 million as EPS shrank modestly to $0.70 from $0.76 in the year-ago period. Although Steris blamed European weakness and the medical device excise tax for its weaker bottom-line results, both figures topped the $406 million in revenue and $0.65 in EPS that the Street had been expecting. The biggest boost came from the company's life sciences segment, which saw operating income grow by 14%. For the upcoming year, Steris issued guidance calling for revenue growth of 8%-10% (implying $1.62 billion to $1.65 billion) and EPS of $2.47-$2.60. Current consensus estimates are for revenue of $1.57 billion and EPS of $2.49.

Best Industrial Conglomerate Companies To Invest In Right Now: Turcas Petrol AS (TRCAS)

Turcas Petrol AS (Turcas) is a Turkey-based integrated energy holding company that operates in the fields of fuel distribution, oil refining, power generation & trading, and import & wholesale of natural gas. The joint venture company, Shell & Turcas Petrol AS (STAS), carries out the Company�� fuel distribution activities through a network of gas stations, delivering services across Turkey. Its Oil refining and petroleum production is undertaken by SOCAR & Turcas Energy (STEAS). The Company operates its power generation, trading and distribution activities through Turcas Energy Holding. The import, export and wholesale of natural gas are handled by Turcas Gas Trading. Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Lyubov Pronina]

  Akbank sank 4.2 percent in Istanbul, falling for a sixth straight day, the longest streak in almost two months. Turcas Petrol AS (TRCAS) lost 1.6 percent after the Turkish energy company said Finance Ministry officials started an inspection at its venture with Royal Dutch Shell Plc.

Hot Life Sciences Companies To Own For 2014: Professional Diversity Network Inc (IPDN)

Professional Diversity Network, Inc, formerly Professional Diversity Network, LLC, incorporated on October 23, 2003, develops and operates online networks serving diverse professionals in the United States. As of February 28, 2013, the Company focused on Hispanic-American and African-American professionals and launched additional Websites to other diverse segments, including women, Asian-American, lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT), differently-abled and military professionals. As of February 28, 2013, it had two million members and more than 3,000 companies and organizations, including 60% of the companies, have listed job postings on its Websites. The Company�� major assets include iHispano.com, which has over 1.2 million members in its network and AMightyRiver.com, which has over 600,000 members in its network. As of September 30, 2012, iHispano.com had over 3.7 million visitors and over 4.3 million visits, while AMightyRiver.com had over one million visitors and over 1.2 million visits. In June 2013, Professional Diversity Network announced that it has acquired Resunate Recruiting Technology Platform. In September 2013, Professional Diversity Network Inc acquired the assets of Personnel Strategies Inc.

The Company launched additional online professional networking Websites that serve other diverse communities, including women (WomensCareerChannel.com), Asian Americans (ACareers.net), LGBT (OutProNet.com), enlisted and veteran military personnel (Military2Career.com) and differently-abled (ProAble.net) professionals. In the nine months ended September 30, 2012, this Website had over 700,000 visits and over 600,000 visitors. As of September 30, 2012, WomensCareerChannel.com had over 75,000 members. On November 12, 2012, the Company entered into a diversity recruitment partnership agreement with LinkedIn, which became effective on January 1, 2013. Pursuant to its agreement, LinkedIn may resell to its customer diversity-based job postings and recruitment advertising on the Co! mpany�� Websites.

Solutions for Members

The Company offers a variety online professional networking and career placement solutions. The solutions include talent recruitment communities, job postings and company information search capability, identity and contact management, networking tools, mentoring program, career tools and skill-based content , and E-newsletter and national event information.

Solutions for Employers and Recruiters

The Company posts job listings of employers through its strategic partnership with LinkedIn. These employers include large corporations, small and medium-sized businesses, educational institutions, government agencies, non-profit organizations and other enterprises. The hiring solutions the Company offers include talent recruitment communities, single and multiple job postings, resume database, hiring campaign marketing and advertising, research on products and services, and employment recruitment intelligence compliance assistance (ERICA).

Solutions for Advertisers

The Company�� platform also enables advertisers to target and reach large audiences of diverse professionals and connect them to relevant services. It assists advertisers in building campaigns and provides additional creative services. The Company�� branding and marketing platform employs email marketing, social media, search engines, traffic aggregators and strategic partnerships.

The Company competes with LinkedIn, Facebook, Google, Microsoft and Twitter, Monster Worldwide, Taleo, Career Builder, Black Planet and MiGente.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Wallace Witkowski]

  Shares of Professional Diversity Network LLC (IPDN) �dropped 26% to $3.50 on light volume after hours Friday. The company said in an SEC filing that LinkedIn Corp. (LNKD) �will no longer resell the company�� postings or recruitment advertising on LinkedIn after March 30.

Hot Life Sciences Companies To Own For 2014: Destiny Media Technologies Inc (DSNY)

Destiny Media Technologies, Inc. (Destiny), incorporated on August 24, 1998, develops and markets services that enable the secure distribution of digital media content over the Internet. Destiny services are based around security, watermarking and playerless streaming media technologies. The Company carries out its business operations through its wholly owned subsidiary, Destiny Software Productions Inc., MPE Distribution, Inc. and Sonox Digital Inc. The Company�� products include Clipstream Legacy, Clipstream Next Generation, Clipstream Cloud and Play MPE. MPE enables content to be owned the way a recipient might own a digital versatile disc (DVD) or compact disc (CD's). Clipstream enables content to be securely streamed for temporary viewing or listening, similar to television or radio. Clipstream recipients don�� need a player and sites don�� need a streaming server.

Clipstream Legacy

Clipstream powered videos are integrated into video questionnaires for use in market research surveys.

Videos can be secured to play only from authorized uniform resource locator�� and they actively block screenscraping programs that might try to download the video locally. In addition, videos are watermarked, so the source of unauthorized content can be identified.

Clipstream Next Generation

The introduction of new browsers supporting hypertext markup language 5 has created an opportunity where video can be decompressed and rendered directly by the browser. Streaming video encoded in this format can be hosted from any brand of Web server and it plays directly across desktops, laptops, smart phones, tablets, e-book readers, Internet enabled television�� and other devices, including future devices still under development.

Clipstream Cloud

The cloud is managed by servers at one or more Destiny controlled facilities. The actual location where the content is stored and hosted is open ended. The Company is partnered with Amazon's! cloud services to provide hosting services, but some or all of the content can be moved in the future to other providers, including Destiny's own facilities. The business model is usage based. Users purchase a monthly package through an automated credit card sale, which limits the amount of transfer they are allowed in a month.

Play MPE

Play MPE is a digital delivery service for securely moving broadcast quality audio, video, images, promotional information and other digital content securely through the Internet. The system is used by the recording industry for transferring pre-release broadcast quality music, radio shows, and music videos to trusted recipients such as radio stations, media reviewers, very important person (VIP's),, disc jockey��(DJ's), film and telivision personnel, sports stadiums and retailers. The system replaces the physical distribution (mail, courier or hand delivery) of Compact discs.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Tom Bemis]

  Few major companies are reporting after Monday�� bell. Results are expected from Destiny Media Technologies (DSNY) �, Stanley Furniture Co. (STLY) � and Peregrine Pharmaceuticals. (PPHM) �.

Hot Life Sciences Companies To Own For 2014: Charter Financial Corp.(CHFN)

Charter Financial Corporation operates as the holding company for CharterBank that provides various banking services to individuals and businesses in Georgia and Alabama. Its deposit products include demand, NOW, and money market accounts; savings deposits; time deposits; checking accounts; and certificates of deposit. The company's loan products comprise commercial real estate loans; one- to four-family residential mortgage loans; construction and development loans; commercial business loans; and consumer loans, such as home equity loans, lines of credit, auto loans, and second mortgage loans. It operates through 16 branch offices located in West Point, LaGrange, Newnan, Carrollton, Bremen, Covington, and Peachtree City, Georgia; and Auburn, Opelika, and Valley, Alabama, as well as through a loan production office located in Norcross, Georgia. The company was founded in 1954 and is based in West Point, Georgia. Charter Financial Corporation operates as a subsidiary of Fir st Charter, MHC.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Tim Melvin]

  I get somewhat amused every day by the thousands of traders who spend all day trying to figure out what the hot stocks like Twitter (TWTR) and Facebook (FB) are going to do every day. Owning stocks like these two banks — or ones I have mentioned before, like ESSA Bancorp (ESSA) and Charter Financial (CHFN) — will be a far more profitable and relaxing endeavor over the next few years.

Hot Life Sciences Companies To Own For 2014: T-Mobile US Inc (TMUS)

T-Mobile US, Inc., formerly MetroPCS Communications, Inc., incorporated on March 10, 2004, is a wireless telecommunications carrier, which offers wireless broadband mobile services primarily in metropolitan areas in the United States, including the Atlanta, Boston, Dallas/Fort Worth, Detroit, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Miami, New York, Orlando/Jacksonville, Philadelphia, Sacramento, San Francisco and Tampa/Sarasota metropolitan areas. Its flagship brands include T-Mobile and MetroPCS. As of December 31, 2012, it held licenses for wireless spectrum suitable for wireless broadband mobile services covering a total population of 144 million people in and around many of the metropolitan areas in the United States. It provides its services using code division multiple accesses (CDMA) networks using 1xRTT technology and evolution data optimized (EVDO) and fourth generation long term evolution (4G LTE).

The Company has roaming agreements with other wireless broadband mobile carriers that allow them to offer its customers service in many areas when they are outside its service area. These roaming agreements, together with the area it serve with its own networks, allows its customers to receive service in an area covering over 280 million in total population under the Metro USA brand. The Company sells products and services to customers through its Company-owned retail stores, as well as indirectly through relationships with independent retailers and third party dealers. Its service allows its customers to place unlimited local calls from within its local service area and to receive unlimited calls from any area while in its service area, for a flat-rate monthly service fee. For additional usage fees, it also provide certain other value-added services. All of these plans require payment in advance for one month of service. If no payment is made in advance for month of service, service is suspended at the end of the month that was paid for by the customer and, if the customer does not pay within 30 day! s, the customer is terminated. It believes its service plans differentiate them from the more complex plans and long-term contract requirements of traditional wireless carriers.

The Company voice services allow customers to place voice calls to, and receive calls from, any telephone in the world, including local, domestic long distance, and international calls. Its voice services also allow customers to receive and make calls while they are located in areas served by its networks and in those geographic areas served by the networks of certain other wireless broadband mobile carriers with whom it has roaming arrangements. The Company�� data services include text messaging services (domestic and international); multimedia messaging services; mobile Internet access; mobile instant messaging; location-based services; social networking services; push e-mail; multimedia streaming and downloads; and services provided, depending on the network and locale, through the Binary Runtime Environment for Wireless, or BREW, Blackberry, Windows, and the Android platforms, such as ringtones, ring back tones, games, content, and applications.

The Company�� Custom calling features offers custom calling features, including caller ID, call waiting, three-way calling and voicemail. Its Advanced handsets sells a variety of feature phones, and increasingly, smartphones, predominately manufactured by nationally recognized manufacturers for use on its network, including models that have cameras, include HTML browsers, play music, play streaming audio, display streaming video and downloaded video, and have other features facilitating digital data. It sells a variety of handsets using vendor or handset specific operating systems, such as BREW, Blackberry, Windows, and the Android operating system.

The Company provides its wireless broadband mobile services using paired personal communications services (PCS), spectrum and advanced wireless services, or AWS, spectrum. In addition, it holds a! license ! for 12 MHz of paired 700 MHz Lower Band A spectrum in the Boston-Worcester, MA/NH/RI/VT basic economic area (BEA), which, unless it receives a waiver from the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), of the four year construction requirements, it plans to construct in the first half of 2013. In each of its metropolitan areas where irt provides service. As of December 31, 2012, it holds between 10 mega hertz (MHz) and 60 MHz of paired spectrum and on average it has approximately 22 MHz of paired spectrum in the metropolitan areas it serves. In the aggregate, as of December 31, 2012, it offers wireless broadband mobile services using its own network.

The Company operates 1xRTT CDMA networks in all of the metropolitan areas it serves and it has upgraded its networks to 4G LTE in all of metropolitan areas. It also has deployed EVDO at selected high use sites in its CDMA network to increase network data capacity to meet the growing data needs of iy customers. Its network includes a mobile switching center (for CDMA), enhanced packet core (for 4G LTE), and IP core. These serve several purposes, including routing traffic, managing call handoffs, and managing access to the public switched telephone network (for CDMA) or the Internet (CDMA and 4G LTE). These network elements also provide access to voicemail and other value-added services, base stations (for CDMA) or eNodeBs (for 4G LTE), cell sites or distributed antenna system (DAS), nodes, and backhaul facilities, which carry traffic to and from its cell sites and its switching or enhanced packet core facilities, consisting of a combination of dedicated circuits, cable, fiber, and microwave facilities.

Its cell sites in the network are co-located, meaning its equipment is located on leased facilities that are owned by third parties who retain the right to lease the locations to additional carriers and in many cases other wireless broadband mobile service providers already have facilities at such locations. The switching centers and na! tional op! erations center provide around-the-clock monitoring of its network. Its switches connect to the public switched telephone network through fiber rings leased from third-parties, which transmit originating and terminating traffic between its equipment and local exchange and long distance carriers. It also has negotiated interconnection agreements with relevant local exchange carriers, or LECs, in its service areas. It uses third-party providers for domestic and international long distance services, international SMS interconnection with the public switched network and other carriers, roaming services, and the majority of its backhaul services.

The Company competes with AT&T, Verizon Wireless, Sprint Nextel, T-Mobile USA , Deutsche Telekom, Clearwire, Dish Network , Time Warner Cable, Comcast, Cox Communications, Cricket Communications, Leap Wireless International and Google.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Jayson Derrick]

  Yesterday there have been reports that Dish (NASDAQ: DISH) is considering a bid for T-Mobile USA�(NASDAQ: TMUS). This morning, analysts at JPMorgan (NYSE: JPM) valued a potential deal at a $35 a share price tag. Shares of Dish climbed to new 52 week highs of $56.31 before closing the day at $55.83, up 0.98 percent. T-Mobile USA hit new 52 week highs of $29.84 before closing at $29.60, up 8.62 percent.

• [By Jon C. Ogg]

  T-Mobile US Inc. (NYSE: TMUS) was started as Outperform at Cowen & Co.

  Total S.A. (NYSE: TOT) was raised to Equal Weight from Underweight at Barclays.

• [By Dan Caplinger]

  On Thursday, Verizon Communications (NYSE: VZ  ) will release its quarterly report, and investors are looking forward to seeing substantial earnings growth this quarter and for the remainder of the year. Although the company's complete takeover of its Verizon Wireless division is responsible for much of that growth, Verizon has also done a reasonably good job of keeping archrival Verizon (NYSE: T  ) at bay, while also distancing itself from pricing pressure from T-Mobile US (NYSE: TMUS  ) and Sprint (NYSE: S  ) .

Hot Life Sciences Companies To Own For 2014: iShares S&P Small-Cap 600 Value ETF (IJS)

The iShares S&P SmallCap 600 Value Index Fund (the Fund) seeks investment results that correspond generally to the price and yield performance, before fees and expenses, of the Standard & Poor�� SmallCap 600/Citigroup Value Index (the Index). The Index measures the performance of the small-capitalization value sector of the United States equity market. The Index is a subset of the S&P SmallCap 600 Index and consists of those companies exhibiting the strongest value characteristics within the S&P SmallCap 600 Index.

The Fund invests in a representative sample of securities included in the Index that collectively has an investment profile similar to the Index. Barclays Global Fund Advisors (BGFA) acts as the investment advisor of the Fund.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Gary Gordon]

  On behalf of most of my clients in 2013, I chose to overweight tech and health care. However, I did so with areas that are traditionally less volatile. I continue to own Powershares Pharmaceuticals (PJP) and/or SPDR Select Healthcare (XLV). I’ve been a proponent of “old tech” with the attractive prices and dividends; First Trust NASDAQ Tech Dividend (TDIV) fits the bill. Additionally, I have remained faithful to iShares Small Cap Value (IJS) for small-cap exposure, rather than hop on the IWO express.