Maria Bartiromo talks with Mark Cuban

Mark Cuban, Internet billionaire, Dallas Mavericks owner and Shark Tank star is in fighting form. Recently cleared of insider trading charges by the Securities and Exchange Commission, he is naming names in the government attacks leveled against him which a jury found baseless. I caught up with him to find out what happened and how he cleared his name. Our interview follows, edited for clarity and length.

Q: You have been cleared of all charges of insider trading, a stinging rebuke for the U.S. government. Can you tell us what happened?

A: The SEC took a flyer in 2006 on a case that had no foundation. As the evidence confirmed my position, that there was nothing even resembling insider trading, they refused to drop the case. So we had to spend seven years and a lot of money to get to a point where a jury took just a few hours, including lunch and coffee breaks, to confirm that the SEC did not have a case.

Q: The SEC initially said you used a private tip to avoid a loss on the sale of your 600,000 shares of Internet company Mamma.com shares back in 2004. How did they get this so wrong?

A: Confirmation bias. They ignored fact after fact. Even those written by SEC agents. Instead of dealing with facts, they misrepresented and mislabeled testimony and documentation and ignored the obvious.

Q: The news of a private placement had already leaked in the market so why would they target you specifically?

A: Remember, this dates back to 2006 when Linda Thomsen was head of SEC enforcement. This is just my opinion, but I really get the sense that she had no idea what she was doing. She was looking for a name to prosecute and I was the name she came upon. To give you a sense of timing, they announced the charges against me three weeks before Bernie Madoff was arrested. Maybe she knew Madoff was coming and she wanted something to divert attention from it? Maybe she was just desperate for a skin on the wall. I don't know. What was certain was that they wanted the b! iggest bang for their PR buck. Imagine how I felt to wake up the morning of Nov. 18, 2008, and turn on CNBC to find that I was the non-stop headline. It wasn't fun. It made me feel sick to my stomach.

So to answer your question, I can only guess. You have to ask Ms. Thomsen.

(Editor's note: Thomsen didn't respond to e-mails seeking comment.)

Q: Do you think it's that the SEC doesn't have the right resources and people overseeing business and the securities industry or are they just trying to make examples of high profile people?

A: I think they exemplify what type of organization you should expect when you have nothing but attorneys and in particular former prosecutors running the show. From every dealing and observation I have had of the SEC, it is obvious that lawyers run the show. There is a culture of trying to win, not trying to find justice. There is a culture of looking to find their next job. I always say that SEC equals "Swiftly Enhanced Careers." There is no business sense that I can find. That has, in my humble opinion, led to a bloated entity that has no idea what resources it needs, no concept of what its true goals should be or how to get there. They don't know how to make markets fairer or better at creating capital for business. They just know how to use the courts to litigate matters. (The SEC declined comment.)

Q You refused to settle and went to trial. You had to spend more money on lawyers than on the potential fines you would have had to pay. Why was this so important to take this to the mat.

A: Because I hate to be bullied. I love this country. The idea that the people who over the first six years of my case ran the SEC could just ignore facts and care only about winning and losing and have no interest in justice, turned my stomach. I have the resources to fight. I felt compelled to take up that fight.

Q: The SEC has been trying to be tougher on wrong doing to show the world they are not asleep at the wheel after missing things li! ke Bernie! Madoff. Are they targeting the wrong people?

A: It's not about who they target, it's the concept that PR solves the problem. The SEC tries to maximize the amount of press they can get. They have yet to prove, or my guess even research and evaluate whether or not there is any correlation between PR and safe markets and efficient capital formation. Despite this lack of knowledge, they keep on taking the same approach year after year. You know the definition of insanity.

Q: You are also the owner of the Dallas Mavericks. Is this for profit or just for fun? How big of a business is owning a basketball team.

A: It's both. As far as size, it depends on how you value an NBA team. In my case the team isn't for sale, so the value really doesn't matter. The only value that really matters to me is the value I can bring to our customers. I want them to love every minute of a Mavs game, no matter how they consume it.

Q: You are also one of the stars of the show Shark Tank which features financiers analyzing and deciding whether to invest in new products presented by entrepreneurs. What's most important in deciding whether it not to put money into something? What are the important metrics you use to decide?

A: Sometimes you buy the horse, sometimes you invest in the jockey. It really comes down to the actual business and the upside. The ultimate scenario is a great entrepreneur with a business that is poised to explode. But every now and then I love to invest in a company that may not set the world on fire, but has the chance to establish itself, create jobs and have a positive impact.

Shark Tank is so unique in that we send the message every week that the American Dream is alive and well. We have entrepreneurs from all over the country, from every demographic, each with a company that any of our viewers could have created themselves. We send the message that if our entrepreneurs can do it, so can you.

That is something I am proud to be part of. I can't tell you how! many tim! es people have told me the show has inspired them to start their own business or push themselves harder to make their business successful.

That is an amazing feeling for me and why I do the show.

Q: You were active in the '90s with several Internet companies, broadcast.com and others. Twitter went public and Facebook and Google are on fire again. Are we entering another Internet bubble?

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A: I wouldn't call it a bubble. In a bubble any company that resembles a high flyer takes off as well. We aren't seeing Twitter or Facebook wannabes go public. We aren't seeing tiny social media companies go public and run up.

What are seeing instead is momentum investments that are driving stocks to new highs. That is not from being in a bubble; it's from the decline in the number of stocks available to investors. I think there are only 3,700 operating companies in the Wilshire 5000. There are fewer than half the number of public companies trading today than there were 15 years ago.

Which makes the point that more and more money is chasing fewer and fewer stocks. The law of supply and demand says that pushes up pricing until there is a better risk reward somewhere else, or something else like a flash crash/Nasdaq freeze destabilizes market confidence and causes money to be pulled from equities again.

And it will happen again. That is probably the only certainty there is in the stock markets.

Q: Are you an Investor in Twitter? What do you think if its prospects?

A: No. It's a great company. I think they did the right thing by limiting the number of shares they offered to the market. That pushed up the price, which puts them in a great position to do a secondary and not only raise more capital at a higher price, but also allows insider shares to be placed in the market in an orderly fashion.

All that said, I have not been chasing stocks here. I! have no ! idea how high they will go, twitter included. I tend to try to be patient, wait on the sidelines, be hedged and when whatever happens that will crush stocks, whenever it happens, I will be in great position to buy.

Repros Therapeutics Inc (RPRX): This Insider Hits Home Runs

iStock likes to keep track of a number of things for our weekly insider buying column. A couple of them come into play this week.

First up, the number of purchase records dramatically fell last week following a month of improving numbers. Maybe, just maybe, investors in corporate boardrooms are weary about Washington D.C. antics and their potential impact on the economy.

The second and more important point, in our view, is the performance history and timing of previous buys from our highlighted shopper.

In the movie business, they call this foreshadowing. You would have made a killing if you did nothing else but ride piggy-back when Repros Therapeutics Inc.'s (RPRX) Ms. Katherine A. Anderson opened the checkbook. She might not be a big buyer, but whoa, it's no doubt that the CPA and Chief Financial Officer, Chief Accounting Officer and Secretary knows how to work the numbers.

Repros Therapeutics is a development stage biopharmaceutical company engaged in the development of new drugs to treat hormonal and reproductive system disorders. Its product portfolio includes Androxal, an oral therapy, which is in Phase III used for the treatment of low testosterone due to secondary hypogonadism; Proellex that is in Phase II used for the treatment of symptoms associated with uterine fibroids and endometriosis; and VASOMAX that is used for the treatment of male erectile dysfunction.

Check out this performance! In April 2012, the numbers cruncher bought 3,000 shares of RPRX at $3.86. She popped out the debit card again in February 2013. That time, the executive bought 1,000 shares at $11.89.  She stepped to the plate again on October 10, 2013 at $23.77.

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Based on today's price, her first purchase is up more than 500% in the last 18-months, and buy number two has more than doubled in the eight-months. If the third time is the charm or goo! d things really do come in threes, then what's next?

Well, in all likelihood, the biotech company will file for Androxal sometime within the next six-to-nine months. Phase III for Proellex will probably come within a year of Androxal's approval filing with application for Proellex approval in 2016. Meanwhile, VASOMAX® has been on partial clinical hold in the U.S. since 1998, and no further development activities are planned, according to the company's most recent 10-Q.

Overall: Repros Therapeutics Inc.'s (RPRX) is an Adam Dunn stock in our view. They don't have a product to market yet and are at the mercy of the FDA. Like the aforementioned Dunn, RPRX could strike-out or hit a home-run based on the regulatory body's decision; although, Anderson's sterling track-record is hard to ignore.

Good News Powers Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) Ahead of Earnings

Advanced Micro Devices, Inc (NYSE: AMD) is scheduled to report earnings late next week and over the past week or so, there has been a steady stream of good news about the stock. I should mention that we have Advanced Micro Devices in our SmallCap Network Elite Opportunity (SCN EO) portfolio and its been an up and down ride for us as the last earnings report, which actually wasn't all that bad, erased our gains but shares have largely recovered since then. With that in mind, here's the latest good news from the past week or so:

Verizon Picks AMD's SeaMicro Servers to Create New Cloud. On Monday, Advanced Micro Devices announced that Verizon Communications Inc (NYSE: VZ) is deploying SeaMicro SM15000™ servers for its new global cloud platform and cloud-based object storage service. According to the press release, Verizon and AMD co-developed additional hardware and software technology on the SM15000 server to provide unprecedented performance and reliability that is backed by enterprise-level service level agreements (SLAs). The Wall Street Journal's Digits blog has noted that Advanced Micro Devices had puzzled some people when it bought the startup SeaMicro as no-one knew at the time that Verizon is exclusively using SeaMicro server and storage hardware for its cloud computing service. However, AMD isn't disclosing just how many pieces of hardware are involved, nor how much it will be paid but this is the biggest deal ever for SeaMicro. FBR Capital Markets Raises Its Price Target. On Monday, FBR Capital Markets upped their price target on Advanced Micro Devices from $5.50 to $6.00. In light of Verizon announcing two enterprise infrastructure-as-a-service offerings, FBR Capital Markets' analysts wrote:  

"Details surrounding the announcement lead us to believe that Verizon has chosen SeaMicro microservers to power these platforms and may provide AMD as much as ~$50M in incremental annual revenues. While we reported after our BIG 'switches': little SERVERS conference that Verizon had deployed SeaMicro in 12 global datacenters, this announcement signifies a more meaningful commitment, well beyond a trial deployment."

They also added:

"In addition to SeaMicro, AMD's results should be buoyed by the better-than-expected PC market exhibiting resiliency, as our ODM notebook tracker indicates units up 7% sequentially. Furthermore, China has relaxed its national gaming console ban, causing us to increase our 2015 Xbox One and PS4 estimates. Additionally, AMD may have a chance at providing parts for both the MS 'Bestpad' and Sony 'Vita TV.'"

AMD's Mantle Matters. Advanced Micro Devices recently launched Mantle as a brand new API (Application Programming Interface) designed to significantly aid game developers in crafting games targeted for release on multiple platforms and Jason Evangelho has written a piece for the Forbes Contributor Network about its importance. He noted:

"AMD's Mantle is a While its prevalence is yet to be determined, its importance is clear. Mantle is a rally cry from AMD to developers, and a crucial consideration for PC gamers choosing their next graphics card."

Origin PC Publicly Dumps the AMD Graphics Options. In what might be considered not so good news, the CEO of the boutique PC builder Origin PC has informed some in the media that his company will no longer sell machines with AMD graphics cards inside based on "a combination of many factors including customer experiences, GPU performance/drivers/stability, and requests from our support staff." However,  Brad Chacos has written a blog post (since updated with further updates) to question PCWorld's motives and to ask whether Nvidia has "purchased" Origin's fealty with marketing dollars. Both Nvidia and Origin have issued denials. Upcoming Earnings Report. Advanced Micro Devices is scheduled to report third quarter earnings on Thursday, October 17, after the market closes with the conference call scheduled for 5:30 p.m. EDT / 2:30 p.m. PDT – meaning big investors and traders alike will be jockeying their positions from now until late next week. Moreover, it should be remembered that the stock dropped after the last earnings report which coincided with some other tech earnings reports that were disappointing. Share Performance. On Tuesday, Advanced Micro Devices fell 3.63% to $3.72 (AMD has a 52 week trading range of $1.81 to $4.65 a share) for a market cap of $2.68 billion plus the stock is up 63.2% since the start of the year, up 15.5% over the past year and down 17.9% over the past five years:

Finally, here is the latest technical chart for Advanced Micro Devices:

In other words, there is plenty of good news for investors and traders alike in Advanced Micro Devices as the company heads into earnings next week.  

SmallCap Network Elite Opportunity (SCN EO) has an open position in AMD. To find out what other open positions SCN EO currently has, and to learn why so many traders and investors are relying on this premium subscription service, click here to find out more.

Can Goldman Sachs Stock Move Higher?

With shares of Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS) trading around $166, is GS an OUTPERFORM, WAIT AND SEE, or STAY AWAY? Let's analyze the stock with the relevant sections of our CHEAT SHEET investing framework:

T = Trends for a Stock’s Movement

Goldman Sachs is engaged in investment banking, securities, and investment management. It provides a range of financial services to a substantial and diversified client base that includes corporations, financial institutions, governments, and high net worth individuals. The company operates in four segments: investment banking, institutional client services, investing and lending, and investment management. Through its segments, Goldman Sachs provides valuable investment services to consumers and companies worldwide.

Goldman Sachs has lost a complicated bet it made on the foreign-exchange market, leading to a drop in revenue for the third-quarter and forcing executives to defend the bank's trading strategy. According to people familiar with the matter who spoke to the Wall Street Journal, a bet made on the value of the U.S. dollar versus the Japanese yen backfired on Goldman during the third quarter. When Goldman reported its third-quarter results last month, the company showed a drop in the revenue of its currency trading unit, and WSJ's sources say the yen-dollar bet is what caused the slump.

T = Technicals on the Stock Chart Are Strong

Goldman Sachs stock has made significant progress in the last several quarters. The stock is currently trading in a sideways range that has existed for most of the year. Analyzing the price trend and its strength can be done using key simple moving averages. What are the key moving averages? The 50-day (pink), 100-day (blue), and 200-day (yellow) simple moving averages. As seen in the daily price chart below, Goldman Sachs is trading above its rising key averages, which signal neutral to bullish price action in the near-term.

(Source: Thinkorswim)

Taking a look at the implied volatility (red) and implied volatility skew levels of Goldman Sachs options may help determine if investors are bullish, neutral, or bearish.

	Implied Volatility (IV)	30-Day IV Percentile	90-Day IV Percentile
Goldman Sachs Options	19.66%	23%	21%

What does this mean? This means that investors or traders are buying a minimal amount of call and put options contracts, as compared to the last 30 and 90 trading days.

	Put IV Skew	Call IV Skew
December Options	Flat	Average
January Options	Flat	Average

As of today, there is an average demand from call buyers or sellers and low demand by put buyers or high demand by put sellers, all neutral to bullish over the next two months. To summarize, investors are buying a minimal amount of call and put option contracts and are leaning neutral to bullish over the next two months.

On the next page, let’s take a look at the earnings and revenue growth rates and the conclusion.

E = Earnings Are Increasing Quarter-Over-Quarter

Rising stock prices are often strongly correlated with rising earnings and revenue growth rates. Also, the last four quarterly earnings announcement reactions help gauge investor sentiment on Goldman Sachs’s stock. What do the last four quarterly earnings and revenue growth (Y-O-Y) figures for Goldman Sachs look like and more importantly, how did the markets like these numbers?

	2013 Q2	2013 Q1	2012 Q4	2012 Q3
Earnings Growth (Y-O-Y)	Top Value Stocks To Own For 2014 1.05%	107.87%	9.44%	203.29%
Revenue Growth (Y-O-Y)	-19.51%	0.21%	1.42%	52.69%
Earnings Reaction	-2.42%	-1.69%	-1.61%	4.05%

Goldman Sachs has seen increasing earnings and revenue figures over the last four quarters. From these numbers, the markets have had conflicting feelings about Goldman Sachs’s recent earnings announcements.

P = Excellent Relative Performance Versus Peers and Sector

How has Goldman Sachs stock done relative to its peers, JPMorgan Chase (NYSE:JPM), Citigroup (NYSE:C), Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS), and sector?

	Goldman Sachs	JPMorgan Chase	Citigroup	Morgan Stanley	Sector
Year-to-Date Return	30.53%	29.63%	30.45%	61.24%	38.96%

Goldman Sachs has been a relative performance leader, year-to-date.

Conclusion

Goldman Sachs is a bellwether in the financial sector that strives to provide valuable financial products and services to consumers and businesses around the world. The company has lost a complicated bet it made on the foreign-exchange market, leading to a drop in revenue for the third quarter and forcing executives to defend the bank's trading strategy. The stock has been moving higher in recent years but has been part of a range for most of this year. Over the last four quarters, earnings and revenues have been on the rise. However, investors have had conflicting feelings about Goldman Sachs's earnings announcements. Relative to its peers and sector, Goldman Sachs has been a relative performance leader year-to-date. Look for Goldman Sachs to OUTPERFORM.

U.S. Stocks End Turbulent Week With Friday Fall

U.S. stocks lost some of their recent gains on Friday amid conflicting signals from Federal Reserve sources on when it might reduce its bond-buying stimulus and disagreements in Washington over what to do when the Government reaches its borrowing limits in the next few weeks.

Disappointing sales took shares of Caterpillar lower, proving to be a drag on the Dow Jones

There was also some big corporate news, with shares of BlackBerry falling about 17% to $8.73 after the company said it expects a net quarterly operating loss of up to $995 million and that it would cut about 4,500 jobs.

Shares of Caterpillar Caterpillar fell roughly 3% to $84.75 after disappointing sales figures for Asia-Pacific.

AK Steel shares fell 8% to $4.09 after reports that it forecast a bigger-than-expected third quarter loss. U.S. Steel fell about 3% to $20.52.

Shares of Airplane cockpit specialist Rockwell Collins Rockwell Collins fell more than 5% to $70 after reports it announced a revenue forecast below analysts' estimates.

Investors were confused by news reports quoting St. Louis Federal Reserve Bank President James Bullard saying it was still possible that the Fed could start slightly reducing its stimulus at its next meeting at the end of October.

There were also reports that Kansas City Federal Reserve Bank President Esther George said the Fed needs to move away from its bond-buying policy and called Wednesday's decision not to taper the bond purchases disappointing.

The Dow Jones industrial ended the Friday session down roughly 1.2% at 15,451.10, the S&P 500 finished the day down about 0.7% to 1,709.91 and the Nasdaq slid almost 0.4% to 3,774.73.

For the week, though, the Dow Jones was up roughly 0.6%, the S&P 500 was up about 1.3%and the Nasdaq was up 1.4%.

The Dow Jones and the S&P had touched record highs amid heavy trading on Wednesday after the Fed surprised markets by saying it would not, as expected, start reducing its purchases of Treasury bonds.

The S&P is up almost 22% year to date.

Fiat goes back to future with ‘1957 Edition’ 500

In the beginning, there was the 1957 "Nuova Cinquecento," New 500 in English. That began the generation of 500s people picture dashing about European streets.

Fifty seven years later, Fiat is bringing back a taste of that original with a new "1957 Edition" of the 2014 Fiat 500.

Automakers love car birthdays. It lets them bring out special editions to promote that is a version of something they already build, adding some goodies and paint and boosting the price at only a modest cost to the car company.

To accomplish the retro look, Fiat has dressed up the 1957 Editon in period green or blue with a painted roof, an ivory interior with brown leather seats and back-in-the-day 16-inch wheels.

But, in this case, the special is not as made-up as many and this is not just any birthday.

Fiat considers the 1957 500 the "rebirth of Fiat and its product range." It was an affordable car when that wasn't commonplace and the formula worked for Fiat to make 3,893,294 500s from the 1957 launch until it was discontinued Aug. 4, 1975.

"The 1957 Edition celebrates the Cinquecento, the icon of our brand, and its unique cachet of Italian style, efficiency and engaging road manners," said Jason Stoicevich, head of Fiat brand for North America.

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The homage special will get a public unveiling at the Los Angeles Auto Show next week and goes on sale in the U.S. next spring. Pricing is still to come.

Concessions to modernity include a deluxe stereo and a 1.4-liter MultiAir four-cylinder engine, mated to a five-speed manual or six-speed automatic transmission. The manual is rated by the government at 31 miles per gallon city and 40 mpg on the highway.

The 1957 Edition also includes a modern, driver-selectable "Sport" mode on the instrument panel that makes the throttle response more aggressive.

American International Group Inc (AIG): Current Weakness Offers A Buying Opportunity

Shares of American International Group, Inc. (NYSE: AIG) were down more than 6 percent after CEO Bob Benmosche's "goals" versus "guidance" commentary that was a retraction on the company's plan to achieve a 10 percent plus return on equity (ROE) by 2015.

Benmosche stressed that the goals set in the 2011 re-IPO process--the centerpiece being a 10 percent plus ROE in 2015--were very much aspirational in nature, noting that the company still aspires to achieve them.

Management is unsure whether AIG can reach its aspirational goals by 2015, suggesting these goals may take longer to reach. Goals with time distant deadlines begin to look more like guidance as the deadline approaches, and AIG does not intend to give guidance to the investment community.

[Related -American International Group Inc (AIG): Buy This 'Hated' Company While It's Still An Incredible Bargain]

The knee-jerk reaction of investors is that AIG management is now concerned about its ability to meet its goals in a timely manner, and so they are retracting these goals. That's probably the worst-case interpretation of Benmosche's comments, and that is precisely the correct way investors ought to interpret them.

However, the question is whether this is actually problematic?

Investors should note that precise guidance is tough for an insurance company, which deals with events such as natural disasters. Insurance is not a business that operates under strict degrees of accuracy.

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Consensus 2015 EPS forecasts suggest a 2015 ROE range of 7-9 percent without a single analyst believing AIG is capable of achieving a 10%+ ROE in 2015.

" Essentially, AIG management is coming around to a view that investors have already widely shared. Our view has been and continues to be that AIG does not need to achieve a 10% ROE to be an attractive investment. We have and continue to forecast an 8% as attractive enough to buy the stock today," Deutsch! e Bank analyst Joshua Shanker said in a client note.

If AIG management has merely scaled back its guidance to a consensus view, there is some mystery as to why the stock is down over four days of trading. The market at times is subject to irrational dislocations.

It may be the case that there were some investors whose blue sky 2015 scenario has been reined in. However, for most investors, not much has changed.

The company proposed (and perhaps retracted) a lofty and likely unachievable goal of a 10 percent plus ROE in 2015. This involves execution, cost-cutting, capital management and high interest yields.

On the other hand, the company may be able to execute on some of these plans and achieve a stable 8 percent plus ROE instead. If the company is able to show quarterly consistency, implementation of a nominal dividend and deployment of cash into interest bearing investments, the stock can appreciate.

"We believe AIG shareholders will enjoy healthy double-digit appreciation in the stock with a mere 8% ROE in two years," Shanker added.

As the company monetizes assets for the purpose of share repurchase, the book value per share growth can be accelerated. There is additional upside associated with improved operations at its United Guaranty subsidiary, actualization of deferred tax assets and gains in its diminished derivatives portfolio.

In addition, under the leadership of Benmosche, the company has improved the results of all of its key segments. It has lowered its financing costs and spent heavily on infrastructure, which should help underwriting margins going forward.

AIG offers continued earnings growth, with EPS expected to increase at an average rate of 11.33 percent over the next five years. In comparison, the industry and sector growth rates are estimated at 11.09 percent and 10.54 percent, respectively. The S&P 500 is expected to grow 9.78 percent for the same period.

Further, AIG generates excess liquidity that should continue enhance it! s ability! to buyback shares at a discount to tangible book value, likely reducing downside.

Shares of AIG trade 11 times its 2014 consensus earnings estimate, and traded between $30.64 and $53.33 during the past 52-weeks.

As such, investors should take the current weakness in AIG shares as a buying opportunity, as AIG at $47 to $48 represents likely the best risk/reward opportunity.

Best Tech Stocks To Invest In 2014

Small cap holding companies Sibling Group Holdings Inc (OTCMKTS: SIBE), Tranzbyte Corp (OTCMKTS: ERBB) and Readen Holding Corp (OTCMKTS: RHCO) are in the business of holding or acquiring other companies. They have also been getting some attention lately in various investment newsletters and not necessarily because of acquisitions or other news but rather because of a few recent paid promotions. With that in mind, here is a quick look and a reality check about all three:

Sibling Group Holdings Inc (OTCMKTS: SIBE) Has Been Quiet Lately

Small cap Sibling Group Holdings intends to acquire, on a global basis, advanced technology and education management operations in order to enhance and accelerate the delivery of 21st century learning. On Friday, Sibling Group Holdings closed at $0.05 for a market cap of $39,342 plus SIBE is down 96.7% over the past year and down 80% over the past five years according to Google Finance.

Best Tech Stocks To Invest In 2014: Aruba Networks Inc.(ARUN)

Aruba Networks, Inc. provides next-generation network access solutions for the mobile enterprises worldwide. Its products include ArubaOS, an operating system software for wired, wireless, and remote access products for integrating user-based security, application-aware radio-frequency services, and wireless LAN access to deliver mobile networking solutions; software modules for ArubaOS; mobility controllers for managing wired and wireless access; access points, which serve as on-ramps that aggregate user traffic onto the enterprise network and direct this traffic to mobility controllers; and mobility access switches that provide secure network access for wired users and devices. The company also offers remote networking products comprising remote access points for securing always-on network access to corporate enterprise networks from remote locations; Aruba Instant; and Virtual Intranet Access client software that provides secure network connectivity for Windows laptops and MacBooks. In addition, it offers outdoor wireless mesh routers to secure Wi-Fi access and backhaul links for transporting voice, video, and data traffic wirelessly. Further, the company provides management and security software products, such as AirWave network management for managing mobile and wired users on multisite networks; and Amigopod access management, which manages secure wireless LAN access for visitors, contractors, employees, and their mobile devices, as well as offers cloud-based content security services for branch offices and teleworkers. It markets its products to construction, general enterprise, education, finance, government, healthcare, hospitality, manufacturing, media, retail, technology, telecom, transportation, and utility industries through its sales force, value-added resellers, value-added distributors, and original equipment manufacturers. The company was incorporated in 2002 and is headquartered in Sunnyvale, California.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Roberto Pedone]

  One network equipment player that's quickly moving within range of triggering a major breakout trade is Aruba Networks (ARUN), which provides enterprise mobility solutions. This stock is off to a weak start in 2013, with shares off by 11%.

  If you take a look at the chart for Aruba Networks, you'll notice that this stock just formed a major bottom chart pattern, after buyers stepped in to support the price over the last month and change from $17 to $16.25 a share. Following that bottom, shares of ARUN have now started to rebound higher and move back above its 50-day moving average of $17.73 a share. That move is quickly pushing shares of ARUN within range of triggering a major breakout trade.

  Traders should now look for long-biased trades in ARUN if it manages to break out above some near-term overhead resistance levels at $19.16 a share to its 200-day moving average at $19.63 a share with high volume. Look for a sustained move or close above those levels with volume that hits near or above its three-month average action of 2.12 million shares. If that breakout triggers soon, then ARUN will set up to re-fill some of its previous gap down zone from May that started near $22 a share. Any high-volume move above $22 will then give ARUN a chance to hit $24 to $25 a share.

  Traders can look to buy ARUN off any weakness to anticipate that breakout and simply use a stop that sits right below support at $17 a share or below $16.25 a share if you want to give it more room. One can also buy ARUN off strength once it takes out those breakout levels with volume and then simply use a stop that sits a comfortable percentage from your entry point.

Best Tech Stocks To Invest In 2014: Texas Instruments Incorporated(TXN)

Texas Instruments Incorporated engages in the design and sale of semiconductors to electronics designers and manufacturers worldwide. The company?s Analog segment offers high-performance analog products comprising standard analog semiconductors, such as amplifiers, data converters, and interface semiconductors; high-volume analog and logic products; and power management semiconductors and line-powered systems. Its Embedded Processing segment includes DSPs that perform mathematical computations to process and enhance digital data; and microcontrollers, which are designed to control a set of specific tasks for electronic equipment. The company?s Wireless segment designs, manufactures, and sells application processors and connectivity products. Its Other segment offers smaller semiconductor products, which include DLP products that are primarily used in projectors to create high-definition images; and application-specific integrated circuits. This segment also provides handhe ld graphing and scientific calculators, as well as licenses technologies to other electronic companies. The company serves the communications, computing, industrial, consumer electronics, automotive, and education sectors. Texas Instruments Incorporated sells its products through a direct sales force, distributors, and third-party sales representatives. It has collaboration agreements with PLX Technology Inc.; Neonode, Inc.; and Ubiquisys Ltd. The company was founded in 1938 and is headquartered in Dallas, Texas.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Chuck Saletta]

  Speaking of results ...
  Right now, quarterly earnings season is well under way, which provides a perfect opportunity for one of those "check in from time to time" moments. While the iPIG portfolio did nothing last week, several of its picks did report, and those quarterly confessionals can help determine whether the companies are still worth owning. To summarize key results:

  United Technologies (NYSE: UTX  ) reported decent numbers, with net earnings ahead of expectations but growth driven more by acquisitions than by organic improvements in its existing businesses. Given the company's conglomerate setup, growth by bolt-on acquisitions isn't surprising, but over the long haul, it'd be better to see its businesses growing internally as well as through acquisitions. The news at Mine Safety Appliances (NYSE: MSA  ) wasn't quite as good, with both revenues and net earnings falling from year ago levels on a tough environment for the mining businesses it supports. That's a risk well known to the company and its shareholders, though, and while the weaker results did knock the company's stock down, the business has ridden through tough cycles before. It looks capable of riding through this one, too. Hasbro (NASDAQ: HAS  ) , on the other hand, reported earnings that beat expectations on an operating basis, before restructuring charges knocked it down to a net loss. Given that the company is in the very seasonal toy business, that loss in an off-peak quarter is much less of a concern than it would have been in the make-or-break holiday quarter. UPS (NYSE: UPS  ) kept on trucking, with a better-than-expected January and strength from eCommerce helping the company turn in an 8% growth in net reported earnings per share. Overall, UPS is operating efficiently, though its future success is tied to its ability to continue delivering more packages. As long as its e-commerce business continues to grow, though, UPS is wel

Top 5 Growth Companies To Own In Right Now: Digimarc Corporation(DMRC)

Digimarc Corporation provides media identification and management solutions to commercial entities and government customers in the United States and internationally. It develops and patents intellectual property to differentiate products and technology, mitigate infringement risks, and develop opportunities for licensing. The company?s patents relate to various methods for embedding and decoding digital information in video, audio, and images, whether the content is rendered in analog or digital formats. Its solutions are used to identify, track, manage, and protect content, as well as to enable new consumer applications to access networks and information from personal computers and mobile devices. The company?s technologies are used in various media identification and management products and solutions supporting various media objects, such as movies, music, banknotes, and secure credentials. Digimarc Corporation is based in Beaverton, Oregon. Digimarc Corporation operat es independently of L-1 Secure Credentialing, Inc. as of October 17, 2008.

Best Tech Stocks To Invest In 2014: Hoku Corporation(HOKU)

Hoku Corporation operates as a solar energy products and services company primarily in the United States. It focuses on manufacturing polysilicon, a primary material used in the manufacture of photovoltaic (PV) modules; and designing, engineering, and installing turnkey PV systems and related services in Hawaii using solar modules purchased from third-party suppliers. The company was formerly known as Hoku Scientific, Inc. and changed its name to Hoku Corporation in March 2010. Hoku Corporation was incorporated in 2001 and is headquartered in Honolulu, Hawaii.

Best Tech Stocks To Invest In 2014: Circa Enterprises Inc (CTO.V)

Circa Enterprises Inc. engages in the design, manufacture, marketing, and sale of surge protection and related telecommunications products primarily in the United States and Canada. The company�s surge protection products provide primary protection to telephone systems and data transmission equipment against voltage surges. It offers indoor and outdoor building entrance terminals, central office connectors, surge protection modules, station protectors, station protection enclosures, and 5 pin protector modules; and custom original equipment manufacturer products for the telecommunications sector, including rack mount protectors, test cords, and panels primarily for large outdoor cabinets. The company is also involved in the precision metal fabrication business; and designs, manufactures, markets, and sells pole line hardware, mining hardware, transmission hardware, anchors, bolts, washers, transformer hardware, arrestor brackets, insulators, forgings, meter sockets, enclo sures, and industrial bus duct and generator switches, as well as grounding, distribution, and communication hardware to the electrical industry. It sells its products directly, as well as through distributor networks. The company was founded in 1985 and is headquartered in Calgary, Canada.

American Style? Or European?

Best Penny Companies To Own In Right Now

Today, I will continue my review is about another of the six elements of option pricing, American vs European  style.

American style options may be exercised at any moment in their lifetime. You can buy an option and exercise it one second later if you like. American style options also settle in the physical delivery of the underlying asset. As a rule, individual stock options are American style.

European style options, on the other hand, are exercised only at the moment of expiration and settle in cash. So, on expiration if the underlying value is 100, holders of he 90 call receive $10 (notwithstanding what they paid for it) and holders of the 100 and above put get nothing. Holders of the 110 put get $10 and holders of the 100 and below call get nothing, etc.

As a rule, index options are European style. It's just too much of a hassle to physically deliver the various components of, say, the S&P 500. This makes trading index options certainly less complicated.

If one trades American style options one must be constantly aware of the possibility of early assignment. With calls early exercise is likely to happen the day before a dividend is paid out. Dividends are only paid to shareholders, not option holders. With puts early exercise is likely to happen the day after the dividend is paid out. If I am holding stock with a very deep in the money (ITM) put, once I've received the dividend there is no longer any reason to carry the position so I exercise my option and "put the stock" away.

Very important! With American style stock options dividends create extra, hidden, expirations. Deep ITM calls for all intents and purposes expire the day before a dividend is paid out and deep ITM puts expire for all intents and purposes the day after the dividend is paid out.

If, as a small investor, you cannot take delivery of the stock then be sure to sell your ITM call before the dividend as the call, like the stock, is likely to lose the amount of the dividend the next day. Similiarly, if you have no stock to deliver and no facility to sell the stock short, be sure and sell your ITM put the day before the dividend as whatever dividend premium was in the put will vanish the next day.

The following article is from one of our external contributors. It does not represent the opinion of Benzinga and has not been edited.

Posted-In: Options Markets

Originally posted here...

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Top 10 Clean Energy Stocks To Own Right Now

The leaders in hydrogen fuel cell technology, General Motors Company (GM) and Honda Motor Co. (HMC), entered a long-term agreement to collaborate on development of next-generation fuel cell vehicles in order to meet the fuel economy standard set in the U.S.

Both GM and Honda have more than 1,200 fuel cell patents between them, filed between 2002 and 2012, and experimental vehicle fleets. They are the top two companies in terms of total fuel cell patents according to the Clean Energy Patent Growth Index.

Both companies aim to develop the vehicles by 2020. The alliance will bring down their costs in building this expensive technology by sharing each other�� expertise and suppliers.

Why Fuel Cell Vehicles?

The U.S. mandate requires corporate average fuel economy of 54.5 miles per gallon by 2020 and there is no better competent than fuel cell vehicles. Why? Fuel cells have highly fuel-efficient technology compared to gasoline and electric batteries. Secondly, it has a longer driving range (up to 400 miles) than electric cars but pollutes less than gasoline vehicles.

Top 10 Clean Energy Stocks To Own Right Now: AEterna Zentaris Inc.(AEZS)

Aeterna Zentaris Inc. operates as a late-stage drug development company specialized in oncology and endocrine therapy. Its lead oncology compounds include perifosine, a PI3K/Akt pathway inhibitor that is in Phase 3 registration trial for refractory advanced colorectal cancer and multiple myeloma; and AEZS-108, a doxorubicin-targeted conjugate in Phase II for the treatment of ovarian, endometrial, castration refractory prostate, and refractory bladder cancer. The company?s lead endocrinology compound, AEZS-130, is an oral ghrelin antagonist in Phase III trial as a diagnostic test for adult growth hormone deficiency. Its pipeline also includes earlier-stage compounds, such as AEZS-112 that is in a Phase I trial in advanced solid tumors and lymphoma, as well as AEZS-120, an anti-cancer vaccine in pre-clinical development. The company was founded in 1991 and is headquartered in Quebec City, Canada.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Sean Williams]

  What's coming down the pipeline
  As we saw with the current treatment options, the endometrial cancer pipeline isn't filled with a lot of choices, but they are at least more encouraging than the standard care treatments we've seen over the past three decades.

  Avastin: Surprise: It's Roche's (NASDAQOTH: RHHBY  ) wonder drug yet again! Roche's Avastin is in the process of being tested as a treatment for recurrent endometrial cancer and demonstrated promising results in a mid-stage trial according to the Journal of Clinical Oncology. Avastin, which is an angiogenesis inhibitor (a fancy way of saying it inhibits blood vessel growth), was tested on 52 evaluable patients and delivered a progression-free survival of at least six months for 21 of them. Overall median PFS was 4.2 months, and median overall survival came in at 10.5 months. Don't be surprised if Roche decides to pursue further studies of Avastin in recurrent endometrial cancer with these results.� AEZS-108: Currently in late-stage development by Aeterna Zentaris (NASDAQ: AEZS  ) , a holding in my own portfolio, AEZS-108 is an intravenous treatment composed of a synthetic peptide carrier and doxorubicin that targets Luteinizing Hormone Releasing Hormone-receptor expressing tumors. That series of scientific jargon simply means it targets cancer cells with minimal healthy cell death relative to the current standards of treatment. In mid-stage trials, AEZS-108 delivered an overall response rate of 30.8% and a clinical benefit rate of 74.4%. These figures were enough to get AEZS-108 a special protocol assessment (SPA), which should streamline its approval if these results stay consistent in late-stage studies.

  Your best investment
  With very few investable options to choose from, since many of these treatments are off patent as they're decades old, I'm going to split my decision this week between Roche and Aeterna Zentaris for obvious reasons.

• [By Sean Williams]

  High-risk, high-reward suggestions
  There's an undeniably large dollar amount being pledged to cancer research, but, even if a drug gains approval, that's no guarantee that the biotech or pharmaceutical company behind that drug will be a success. Some of the biggest gains (and losses) come from taking a leap of faith based on clinical data, or the approval of one or two drugs or devices within a pipeline. After that, it's all up to the drug or devices' effectiveness, its pricing, and the success of the marketing teams promoting the drug or device. Here are a few high-risk, high-reward names you should be keeping your eye on.

  Exelixis (NASDAQ: EXEL  ) : In November Exelixis had its first drug, known as Cometriq, approved by the Food and Drug Administration to treat metastatic medullary thyroid cancer. Although the market for this disease is pretty small -- somewhere between 500 and 700 people in the U.S. -- the near-tripling in progression-free survival, or PFS, in trials would indicate to me a strong likelihood that it could translate to success in other cancer types. In mid-stage prostate cancer trials, for instance, Cometriq was found to be particularly effective in dealing with bone metastases as a second or third-line treatment. We won't get any additional data until next year on Cometriq, but positive data on the prostate cancer front could be enough to double its share price if the PFS, compared to the placebo, is notably strong. ImmunoGen (NASDAQ: IMGN  ) : In February, Roche�and ImmunoGen received approval for Kadcyla as a secondary treatment for HER2-positive breast cancer. This is ImmunoGen's first drug approval, and it gives the company a chance to showcase what I feel is one of the future pathways of fighting cancer -- its targeted-antibody payload, or TAP, technology. ImmunoGen's TAP technology works by attaching a toxin -- in this case Roche's Herceptin -- to an antibody, and teaching that antibody to release the to
• [By Eric Volkman]

  Aeterna Zentaris (NASDAQ: AEZS  ) has made a significant change in its executive suite and boardroom. David Dodd is now the company's chief executive and a member of its board of directors. He succeeds Juergen Engel. The firm did not provide the reasons for the succession.

Top 10 Clean Energy Stocks To Own Right Now: Univest Corporation of Pennsylvania(UVSP)

Univest Corporation of Pennsylvania, through its subsidiaries, provides various financial solutions, including personal and business banking, online banking, residential mortgages, insurance products, and investment and wealth advisory solutions. It serves the financial needs of residents, businesses, and nonprofit organizations in Bucks, Chester, Montgomery, and Lehigh counties, Pennsylvania. The company accepts various deposit products that include non interest-bearing demand deposits, interest-bearing checking deposits, money market savings accounts, regular savings accounts, and time deposits. Its loan and lease portfolio comprises commercial, financial, and agricultural loans and leases; commercial and construction loans; residential loans; loans to individuals; and municipal loans and leases. Univest Corporation also offers lease financing, financial planning, investment management, insurance products, and brokerage services; and provides investment advisory services , which include discretionary investment consulting and management services, as well as engages in small ticket commercial finance business. It provides its services through 32 financial service centers, 12 retirement financial services centers, and 39 ATM locations. The company was founded in 1973 and is headquartered in Souderton, Pennsylvania.

Best Low Price Companies To Own For 2014: Phytopharm(PYM.L)

Phytopharm plc, a development stage pharmaceutical company, develops novel treatments targeting diseases with high levels of unmet need. The company?s lead compounds include Cogane and Myogane, which are orally bioavailable neurotrophic factor modulators that readily cross the blood brain barrier. Its Cogane is in Phase II clinical trials for the treatment of early stage Parkinson?s disease. The company?s Cogane and Myogane compounds are also in various preclinical stages for the treatment of Parkinson?s disease, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, glaucoma, and Alzheimer?s disease. In addition, it focuses on developing PYM60001, a pharmaceutical medicine for the treatment of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, asthma, atopic dermatitis, psoriasis, gastrointestinal inflammatory conditions, and pain; and Hoodia for the management of obesity. The company has operations in Europe, the United Kingdom, Asia, South Africa, and the United States. Phytopharm plc is based in Hun tingdon, the United Kingdom.

Top 10 Clean Energy Stocks To Own Right Now: Aquarius Platinum Ld(AQP.L)

Aquarius Platinum Limited engages in the acquisition, exploration, and development of platinum group metal (PGM) projects, and mining of PGM. It explores primarily for platinum, palladium, rhodium, and gold. The company owns interests in seven operations that are located on the Bushveld Complex in South Africa and the Great Dyke in Zimbabwe. Its primary operation is the Kroondal Mine, situated on the Western Limb of the Bushveld Complex in North West province of South Africa. The company is based in Hamilton, Bermuda.

Top 10 Clean Energy Stocks To Own Right Now: The Herzfeld Caribbean Basin Fund Inc. (CUBA)

Herzfeld Caribbean Basin Fund Inc. is a closed-ended equity mutual fund launched by Thomas J. Herzfeld Advisors, Inc. The fund is managed by Herzfeld/Cuba. It invests in the public equity markets of the Caribbean Basin Countries and the United States. The fund makes its investments in stocks of companies operating across diversified sectors. Herzfeld Caribbean Basin Fund Inc. was formed on March 10, 1992 and is domiciled in the United States.

Top 10 Clean Energy Stocks To Own Right Now: Cobar Consolidated Resources Ltd(CCU.AX)

Cobar Consolidated Resources Limited engages in the exploration and development of base and precious metals in Australia. It has 1,371 square kilometers of tenement interests on the western margin of the Cobar basin in western New South Wales. The company primarily focuses on developing the Wonawinta silver project in the Cobar basin in western New South Wales. It also has exploration projects, including the Gundaroo project, the Winduck Super project, the McKinnons gold deposit, and the Goldwing project. The company is based in Melbourne, Australia.

Top 10 Clean Energy Stocks To Own Right Now: Fisher Communications Inc.(FSCI)

Fisher Communications, Inc., an integrated media company, through its subsidiaries, engages in television and radio broadcasting businesses. The company owns and operates network-affiliated television stations in Washington, Oregon, Idaho, and California, as well as engages in Internet business; and radio stations and managed radio stations in Washington and Montana. It also owns and operates Fisher Plaza, a commercial building that includes a data center designed to enable companies to distribute analog and digital media content through various distribution channels, including broadcast, satellite, cable, Internet, broadband, and other wired and wireless communication systems, as well as houses various companies, including media and communications companies. The company owns and operates 13 full power television stations, 7 low power television stations, and 10 owned and managed radio stations in the Western United States. Its television stations reach 4.2 million househo lds. The company was formerly known as Fisher Companies, Inc. and changed its name in March 2001. Fisher Communications, Inc. was founded in 1910 and is based in Seattle, Washington.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Eric Volkman]

  In the latest of a string of acquisitions, Sinclair Broadcast Group (NASDAQ: SBGI  ) is to buy Fisher Communications (NASDAQ: FSCI  ) . The merger transaction will cost the former roughly $373 million. Fisher stockholders are to receive a cash payout of $41.00 per share, which, according to Sinclair, is a 44% premium to the stock's recent closing price.

Top 10 Clean Energy Stocks To Own Right Now: Forest Place Group Ltd(FPG.AX)

Forest Place Group Limited engages in the ownership, development, and operation of retirement villages and residential aged care facilities (nursing homes) in south-east Queensland, Australia. The company?s portfolio comprises five retirement villages located in Albany Creek, Clayfield, Cleveland, Durack, and Taringa. It leases and re-leases 102 accommodation units in its owned retirement villages. The company is based in Brisbane, Australia.

Top 10 Clean Energy Stocks To Own Right Now: John B. Sanfilippo & Son Inc.(JBSS)

John B. Sanfilippo & Son, Inc. engages in the processing and marketing of tree nuts and peanuts in the United States. It offers raw and processed nuts, including peanuts, almonds, Brazil nuts, pecans, pistachios, filberts, cashews, English walnuts, black walnuts, pine nuts, and macadamia nuts. The company provides nut products in various styles and seasonings, such as natural, blanched, oil roasted, dry roasted, unsalted, honey roasted, flavored, spicy, butter toffee, praline, and cinnamon toasted. It also offers peanut butter; food and snack products comprising snack mixes, salad toppings, natural snacks, trail mixes, dried fruit, and chocolate and yogurt coated products; baking ingredients; bulk food products; sunflower seeds, almond butter, sesame sticks, and other sesame snack products; and toppings for ice cream and yogurt. The company provides its products under various private labels, as well as under the Fisher, Orchard Valley Harvest, and Sunshine Country brand na mes. John B. Sanfilippo & Son, Inc. markets its products through its own sales department, a network of independent brokers, and various independent distributors and suppliers to retailers and wholesalers, as well as to industrial, food service, and contract packaging customers. The company was founded in 1959 and is headquartered in Elgin, Illinois.

Top 10 Clean Energy Stocks To Own Right Now: Nextraction Energy Corp. (NE.V)

Nextraction Energy Corp. engages in the acquisition, exploration, development, and production of petroleum and natural gas reserves in Canada and the United States. The company holds 50% working interest in the Alexandra Provost Viking A Unit covering 2,000 net acres in east-central Alberta, and a 100% working interest in 1 section contiguous to the area; and owns 1,900 net acres along the northern extent of the Pinedale Anticline, a natural gas field, in the Green River basin of western Wyoming, the United States. It has proved plus probable reserves of 1,011 thousand barrels of oil equivalent. The company was founded in 2008 and is based in Vancouver, Canada.

Should You Invest Alongside Soros In This Battered Retailer?

There are two ways to invest in retail stocks. You can focus on strong and steady operators such as Costco (Nasdaq: COST) or Wal-Mart (NYSE: WMT) and hope to secure moderate upside. Or you can be bold and buy shares of truly struggling retailers that have fallen deeply out of favor.

That latter approach has been extremely profitable in 2013 for anyone with the guts to invest in GameStop (NYSE: GME) or Best Buy (NYSE: BBY). Just a few quarters ago, these companies looked to be in deep trouble as spending on video games and consumer electronics, respectively, increasingly was taking place at rivals. Those two retailers have found a way to lure back customers, and the payoff has been huge.

Major investors are now scouring the retail landscape in search of the next turnaround play, and mega-investor George Soros thinks he's found one. In this year's second quarter, he plunked down $3 million to buy shares of J.C. Penney (NYSE: JCP) at an average price of $16.83. Not only should a purchase of that size get your attention, but it's also notable that shares are now 20% lower. You've got a chance to ride herd with George Soros, at a solid discount.

 

But should you? This is certainly a company in trouble, with a great deal of risk. I've already been burned once, noting roughly a year ago that then-CEO Ron Johnson had crafted a creative new strategy to help differentiate the struggling retailer from the pack. 

Johnson's strategy ultimately failed, and the board has brought back former CEO Mike Ullman to help stem the bleeding. In his previous tenure, Ullman wasn't held in high regard by investors, so the move to reinstate him was a bit curious. The board knew that Ullman would at least unwind some of his predecessor's most egregious moves.

Roughly three months ago, my colleague James Brumley helped frame the issue, identifying the necessary steps to help bring J.C. Penney back to relevance.

To be sure, Ullman has yet to stop the hemorrhaging. Fiscal second-quarter sales slid 12%, and gross margins dipped below 30%. That figure, which used to hover in the upper 30s, means the difference between solid net profits and massive net losses. Analysts expect the latter, calling for J.C. Penney to lose more than $5 a share in the current fiscal year and more than $2 a share in fiscal 2015.

	Flickr/NHD-INFO
	With J.C. Penney's shares down 20% since his $3 million purchase, you've got a chance to ride herd with George Soros, at a solid discount.

But behind the dismal numbers, clear improvements are underway. In recent months, J.C. Penney has begun to:

Whittle away at bloated inventories Return the assortment of merchandise back to styles and fashions that formerly devoted customers used to embrace Increase the sales emphasis on private label brands, which should eventually boost gross margins Make an investment in previous staffing levels, which will hurt margins in the near term, but restore the shopping experience to levels that customers had come to expect

Though these moves not bear fruit in the current quarter, analysts now think J.C. Penney will eke out a small profit in the all-important fiscal fourth quarter (reversing a $745 million operating loss in the fiscal fourth quarter of 2013). And subsequent quarters are expected to show ever-smaller losses, when compared with the quarterly results being generated this year.

Such a trajectory is crucial if J.C. Penney is to regain relevance. The company recently established a new loan agreement that will ensure it has ample cash on hand through the holidays. Once better quarterly metrics are in place, management will have an even stronger hand in refinancing the current debt.

Of course at the end of the day, J.C. Penney needs to find the formula to return to positive free cash flow if balance sheet concerns are to truly recede. For a point of reference, a healthy J.C. Penney generated $791 million in positive free cash flow in fiscal 2010, and a whopping $906 million free cash flow loss in fiscal 2013.

The Soros Effect
In light of this retailer's challenges and opportunities, George Soros' massive recent investment in J.C. Penney is notable. He has presumably looked at the roadmap ahead, and concluded that new CEO Ullman can stabilize the ship. And stability may be just enough to justify Soros' interest. After all, J.C. Penney currently trades at a sharp discount to its peers.

Simply delivering acceptably boring results will close that valuation gap. Ullman doesn't need to be a hero. This stock would more than double if J.C. Penney is eventually seen in the same light as its peers. George Soros would be thrilled to see that gap close by half as much.

Risks to Consider: J.C. Penney alienated many shoppers with its myriad changes on the sales floor. It will be a challenge to win back those customers. 

Action to Take --> Recent debt refinancings have given J.C. Penney breathing room, and as long as the company starts to show progress in stabilizing operations, then the retailer will be better positioned with lenders to take any other steps to improve the balance sheet. This isn't the kind of stock that you want to wait see become truly healthy in terms of quarterly results. By the time that happens, shares will have already moved up considerable off of their multi-year lows.

P.S. -- Soros has made a $3 million prediction that J.C. Penney will reverse its fortunes. At StreetAuthority, we're big on predictions -- and our previous predictions have given investors 89%... 92%... 293%... and even 310% gains in a year. To hear our latest, click here.

5 Winners and Losers of the Week in Business

AP From a struggling department store chain finally turning things around to a video store calling it quits, here are the big wins and losses of the business world this week. J.C. Penney (JCP) -- Winner One of the ugliest streaks in retail is dead. J.C. Penney posted a 0.9 percent increase in same-store sales for the month of October, snapping an horrible streak of 21 consecutive negative months. J.C. Penney's fall from grace began when a new CEO attempted a radical makeover that eliminated sales in favor of everyday low pricing. Shoppers didn't like that, and the CEO was eventually shown the door. J.C. Penney still has a long way to truly bounce back. That 0.9 percent increase in store-level sales didn't even keep up with inflation over the past year. However, at a time when many were starting to write the chain off as dead, J.C. Penney is starting to recover, and pick up momentum heading into the crucial holiday shopping season. Blockbuster -- Loser DISH Network (DISH) is closing the last 300 Blockbuster stores that were still open in this country. It will also shutter its distribution centers and wind down its DVDs-by-mail service next month. The country's second-largest provider of satellite television service seemed to be scooping up the video rental chain at a bargain price out of bankruptcy two years ago. However, DISH Network failed to take the steps that would have been necessary to turn the struggling chain around. Instead of weaning customers off the fading DVD platform, DISH Network stuck to optical discs and used the stores to promote its flagship pay-TV service. That was never going to work. "Star Wars" Fans -- Winners Disney (DIS) posted record results on Thursday afternoon, but the real nugget of news out of the entertainment giant is that Episode VII of the ballyhooed "Star Wars" franchise will be released on Dec. 18, 2015. Reports had indicated that there was a disagreement about the release date. Disney's top brass was hoping for a summer 2015 release, but the creative side wanted the next sci-fi installment out during the summer of 2016. A compromise appears to have been reached. Disney has already been milking its $4 billion acquisition of George Lucas' media empire, but it's a safe bet that Disney will the studio owning the holiday movie season in two years. BlackBerry (BBRY) -- Loser This was supposed to be a good week for BlackBerry. Prospective buyers had until Monday afternoon to top a buyout offer proposed by private equity firm Fairfax Financial. We never made it to the end of the auction. BlackBerry stunned the market on Monday morning by calling off the bidding process. It would boot its CEO, scrap its strategic review, and move to raise $1 billion in convertible debt from a group that includes the private equity firm that was supposed be buying all of BlackBerry. With BlackBerry smartphone sales falling sharply over the past two years, remaining independent doesn't sound like a very promising option. Twitter (TWTR) -- Winner Twitter was the blowout IPO that the market was expecting. Underwriters priced the microblogging juggernaut at $26 on Wednesday night, but it wasn't enough. The stock opened at $45.10 on Thursday morning, closing at $44.90 on the day. One could argue that Twitter left more than $1 billion on the table by letting underwriters price it so low, but at least it now has more of a cushion before it can become a broken IPO the way that Facebook (FB) did last year. Twitter isn't profitable, but it's growing quickly. The challenge here will be if it can cash in on its growing page views to the point where it stops losing money.

Top 10 Financial Stocks For 2014

Getty Images Lawrence McDonald, author of the New York Times Bestseller "A Colossal Failure of Common Sense," gave International Business Times his views on the 2007 financial crisis, the collapse of Lehman Brothers and where the next big downfall is going to come from. What do you make of the news that Bank of America Corp. is being replaced in the Dow by Goldman Sachs? The Dow is an interesting index; it has 30 large cap companies. I'm not sure what you can make out of that. Goldman's market cap right now is $77 billion and Bank of America's is $157 billion. So it's unclear why they did this. One reason could be, Bank of America have had an extremely volatile stock price in recent years. I mean, it's made a bunch of round trips. In 2011 it hit $5.03, in 2009 it hit $3.87. Five years ago today it was trading at around $40 at one point. So it's had multiple periods of volatility. Also, there is no investment bank in the Dow. Bank of America is a commercial bank. There's a lot of talk about Glass-Steagall, I wrote about in my book. They may break up the big banks over the next year. What would you characterize as the successes and failures of U.S. policy in the crisis aftermath? Successes are getting the banks in a much healthier leverage and higher capital ratios. That's the biggest success by far. The failure is, and there's a theme in my book about this, capitalism doesn't work without transparency of risk. And if you listen to what Sandy Weill said about that, it's "in a capitalist system, dollars are votes." And when you can see the banks risk and see the risk on the balance sheets, that's transparent banking. Let's just say our dad gave us $200 million and we wanted to invest $10 million it in Citigroup. You wouldn't put that money in if you knew they were sitting on toxic assets, and if you can't see the toxic assets, then capitalism doesn't work.

All of my systemic risk indicators are clearly pointing at Asia. Asia is back where we were in 2007; they have a trillion dollars of toxic assets off the balance sheets -- hidden.

Top 10 Financial Stocks For 2014: Canaccord Finl Inc (CF.TO)

Canaccord Financial Inc., an independent and full-service investment dealer, provides various investment products, brokerage services, and investment banking services to private, institutional, and corporate clients. The company operates in two segments, Canaccord Genuity and Canaccord Wealth Management. The Canaccord Genuity segment engages in the investment banking, research, and trading activities on behalf of corporate, institutional, and government clients, as well as in principal trading activities. It offers an integrated platform for equity research, sales and trading, and investment banking services. This segment focuses its service offerings in the areas of mining and metals, energy, technology, life sciences, consumer products, real estate, infrastructure, sustainability and cleantech, financials, agriculture and fertilizers, media and telecommunications, transportation and industrial products, paper and forestry products, investment trusts, support services, an d structured products. The Canaccord Wealth Management segment provides wealth management solutions and brokerage services to individual investors, private clients, charities, and intermediaries. Its services include wealth management strategies, investment opportunities, and financial planning solutions. The company also offers insurance and estate planning services to its Canadian private clients, which comprise retirement protection programs, capital preservation plans, and insurance strategies for handling capital gains. The capital markets division of the company, Canaccord Genuity, has operations in Canada, the United Kingdom, Europe, the United States, Australia, China, Singapore, and Barbados. The company was founded in 1950 and is headquartered in Vancouver, Canada.

Top 10 Financial Stocks For 2014: Newcastle Investment Corp (NCT)

Newcastle Investment Corp. (Newcastle) is a real estate investment and finance company. Newcastle invests in, and actively manages, a portfolio of, real estate securities, loans, excess mortgage servicing rights (MSRs) and other real estate related assets. The Company segments include unlevered CDOs, which include unlevered investments in deconsolidated Newcastle CDO debt; unlevered excess MSRs; non-recourse other, which includes investments financed with other non-recourse debt; recourse, which includes investments and debt repurchases financed with recourse debt; unlevered other, which includes other unlevered investments, and corporate. In April 2011, Newcastle sold its retained interests in Newcastle CDO VII, a non-consolidated VIE of Newcastle. On May 15, 2013, the Company announced the spin-off of New Residential Investment Corp. In June 2013, Newcastle Investment Corp completed the sale of 100% of the assets in Newcastle CDO IV.

Real Estate Securities

Newcastle underwrite, acquire and manage a portfolio of credit sensitive real estate securities, including commercial mortgage backed securities (CMBS), senior unsecured real estate investment trust (REIT) debt issued by REITs, real estate related asset backed securities (ABS), including subprime securities, and Federal National Mortgage Association (FNMA)/ Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corp. (FHLMC) securities. As of December 31, 2011, the Company�� real estate securities represented 47.4% of its assets.

Real Estate Related Loans

Newcastle acquires and originates loans to real estate owners, including B-notes, mezzanine loans, corporate bank loans, and whole loans. As of December 31, 2011, the Company�� real estate related loans represented 22.3% of its assets.

Residential Mortgage Loans

Newcastle acquires residential mortgage loans, including manufactured housing loans and subprime mortgage loans. As of December 31, 2011, the Company�� residential mortgage loans rep! resented 9.1% of its assets.

Operating Real Estate

Newcastle acquires and manages direct and indirect interests in operating real estate. As of December 31, 2011, the Company�� operating real estate represented 0.9% of its assets.

Excess Mortgage Servicing Rights

Newcastle invested in excess MSRs in December 2011. As of December 31, 2011, the Company�� interests in these rights represented 1.2% of its assets.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Albert Alfonso]

  On April 26, Newcastle Investment Corp. (NCT) finally announced the spin-off date for shares in its wholly owned subsidiary New Residential (NRZ). The distribution is expected to be made on or about May 15, 2013. Below is a helpful timeline from the presentation related to the spin-off of New Residential:

• [By Jonas Elmerraji]

  You don't have to be an expert technical analyst to figure out what's going on in shares of Newcastle Investment (NCT) -- a quick glance at the chart will do. NCT has been in an uptrend since the end of December, rallying as it got pushed by tailwinds in the real estate sector and then spun off its residential financing unit into New Residential Investment (NRZ) in May.

  Adjusting shares of NCT for the spinoff gives us the chart above.

  As you might expect, the best time to be a buyer in NCT is on a bounce off of support. Buying off a support bounce makes sense for two big reasons: It's the spot where shares have the furthest to move up before they hit resistance, and it's the spot where the risk is the least (because shares have the least room to move lower before you know you're wrong).

  The fact that NCT has managed to clear its previous swing high from May speaks volumes about this stock's relative strength right now. Historically, high relative strength tends to continue to outperform the market for another three to 10 months. That puts NCT owners in a good position for the second part of 2013.

• [By Matt Koppenheffer and David Hanson]

  After an incredible run-up this year, the broader market trend was downward this week, to the tune of 1.6%, but some of the stocks out there were hit particularly hard. In this video, Motley Fool financial analysts Matt Koppenheffer and David Hanson take a look at what was behind three big dives this week:�National Bank of Greece� (NYSE: NBG  ) ,�Newcastle Investment� (NYSE: NCT  ) , and�American Capital Mortgage Investment� (NASDAQ: MTGE  ) .�

10 Best Safest Stocks To Watch For 2014: CFS Bancorp Inc.(CITZ)

CFS Bancorp, Inc. operates as the holding company for Citizens Financial Bank that provides various banking products and services to individuals and businesses in the United States. The company offers various deposit products, including checking accounts, money market accounts, savings accounts, and certificates of deposit. Its commercial loan portfolio comprises commercial real estate loans, construction and land development loans, and commercial and industrial loans; and retail loan portfolio includes one-to-four family residential mortgage loans, lot loans, and consumer loans comprising home equity loans, home equity lines of credit, and auto loans. The company also offers investment services and securities brokerage for individuals, families, and small- to medium-sized businesses; and public fund deposits, repurchase sweep accounts, zero balance accounts, remote merchant capture, business overdraft privilege, business on-line banking, and other cash management related services. The company offers its services through its executive offices in Munster; and 23 banking centers located in Lake and Porter counties of northwest Indiana, as well as Cook, DuPage, and Will counties of Illinois. The company was founded in 1934 and is headquartered in Munster, Indiana.

Top 10 Financial Stocks For 2014: Univest Corporation of Pennsylvania(UVSP)

Univest Corporation of Pennsylvania, through its subsidiaries, provides various financial solutions, including personal and business banking, online banking, residential mortgages, insurance products, and investment and wealth advisory solutions. It serves the financial needs of residents, businesses, and nonprofit organizations in Bucks, Chester, Montgomery, and Lehigh counties, Pennsylvania. The company accepts various deposit products that include non interest-bearing demand deposits, interest-bearing checking deposits, money market savings accounts, regular savings accounts, and time deposits. Its loan and lease portfolio comprises commercial, financial, and agricultural loans and leases; commercial and construction loans; residential loans; loans to individuals; and municipal loans and leases. Univest Corporation also offers lease financing, financial planning, investment management, insurance products, and brokerage services; and provides investment advisory services , which include discretionary investment consulting and management services, as well as engages in small ticket commercial finance business. It provides its services through 32 financial service centers, 12 retirement financial services centers, and 39 ATM locations. The company was founded in 1973 and is headquartered in Souderton, Pennsylvania.

Top 10 Financial Stocks For 2014: 3i Group(III.L)

3i Group Plc is a private equity and venture capital firm specializing in mid venture, late venture, emerging growth, growth capital, middle market, buyout, and mature investments. It prefers to invest in business services, healthcare, consumer, media, oil, gas, power, technology, general industries, financial services, infrastructure, and regional sectors. The firm also seeks to invest in family owned business. It seeks to invest in media businesses at all stages of development and on selective basis, it also makes early-stage venture investments in oilfield technologies. The firm typically makes growth capital investments in medium-sized businesses in the healthcare, financial services, food and drink, media, IT services, support services, and oil and gas sectors. It prefers to invest in buyouts across a broad range of sectors with a particular focus on healthcare, business services, telecommunication, media, consumer, and oil, gas and power. The firm typically invests i n business services with a focus on blue collar services (including cleaning, security, repair and maintenance, and facilities management); white collar services (including consultancy services including engineering, environmental, and recruitment and training and process outsourcing); distribution; and rental services (including hire of equipment and other non consumables). In the healthcare sector it focuses on pharmaceuticals and biotechnology (including supply drug marketing and delivery services, as well as animal health specialists), medical devices and technology (including dialysis and cardiovascular equipment, through to surgical instruments and imaging technology), and specialist care service providers (including care activities for the young, the disabled, and the elderly in their own homes, in hospitals, and in community facilities, and vitally-important diagnostic services). In the consumer sector the firm focuses on consumer goods, retail, food and drinks, and leisure (travel distribution, hotels and resorts, local lei! sure, betting and gaming, and hospitality). In the media sector it prefers to invest in broadcasting and entertainment (including TV, radio, Internet, and mobile broadcasting, the creators and owners of content, and suppliers of allied services), publishing and information (ranging from newspapers, through to directories and business information), marketing services (marketing and advertising including market research), and technology (software and hardware that enables major disruptions within large markets). In the oil, gas, and power sectors the firm focuses on exploration and production, oil services (including services which provide products, people, and technology for all elements of drilling, evaluation, development, construction, and production), and midstream gas and power which includes companies that develop, generate, store, and transmit energy. Within the gas and power sector it seeks to invest in compan ies delivering oil and gas to the consumer, through activities such as gas storage, transportation in liquefied form, refining, and distribution; generating power and transmitting and distributing; developing alternatives to oil and gas, including biofuels; products/components like generators and services such as wind turbine maintenance for related activities. In the technology sector the firm focuses on software and Internet (including digital marketing, e-commerce, social media), online media, telecoms, electronics and semiconductors, IT services, and cleantech (including energy, air and water, waste management, and supporting technologies like sensing and remote monitoring technologies, process innovations, and new materials). In the general industrial sectors it prefers to invest in aerospace and defense; automotive; chemicals; construction and building materials; electronic and electrical equipment; industrial engineering; paper, packaging, and print; and transport and logistics. In the financial sectors it seeks to invest in asset management, specialty finance, general insurance, out! sourcing ! providers, and electronic trading. In the software sector the firm does not invest in generic office and enterprise applications. It prefers to invest in companies across Europe, United States, and Asia. It seeks to make growth investments in China, investing between $20 million and $150 million. For small minority investments the firm seeks invest predominantly in the United Kingdom and Germany. For venture capital investments, it typically invests between ?1 million ($1.99 million) and ?75million ($149.88 million) in seed to late stage in information technology, healthcare, cleantech, oil and gas, and ESAT (electronics, semiconductors, and advanced materials) sectors in Europe and United States. For growth capital investments the firm typically invests up to ?250 million ($499.62 million) per deal, in businesses with enterprise values ranging fr om ?100 million ($199.85 million) to ?1 billion ($1.99 billion), to acquire minority holdings in companies across Europe, Asia, and North America. For infrastructure investments it seeks to invest between ?70 million ($139.89 million) and ?400 million ($799.4 million) per deal, focusing on European, North American, and Asian infrastructure assets. In the software sector it prefers to invest between $2 million to $10 million and for the others range between ?2 million ($3.99 million) and ?50 million ($99.92 million). For buyouts, the firm typically acquires European businesses with an enterprise value up to around ?1billion ($1.99 billion). It seeks to acquire influential or controlling shareholdings in quoted small and mid-cap companies with an enterprise value of ?100 million ($199.85 million) to ?2 billion ($3.99 billion) on the European quoted markets. With a mix of equity and debt, the firm seeks to invest an average of around ?100 million ($199.85 million) in each business in such businesses. The firm also makes mid-market investment across Europe in transactions with an enterprise value of up to ?1 billion ($1.99 billion) when it is the sole investor. It! s Brazil ! team seeks to invest between $30 million and $100 million for majority or minority stakes in businesses with an enterprise value of up to $200 million. The firm typically takes a minority shareholding between 10 percent and 45 percent and a seat on the board with regards to its growth capital investments. It seeks to take a board seat in its portfolio companies with regards to its venture capital investments. 3i Group Plc was founded in 1945 and is headquartered in London, United Kingdom with additional offices across Europe, United States, Brazil and Asia.

Top 10 Financial Stocks For 2014: Deutsche Bank AG(DB)

Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft provides investment, financial, and related products and services. The company?s Corporate and Investment Bank division engages in the origination, sale, structuring, and trading of bonds, equities and equity-linked products, exchange-traded and over-the-counter derivatives, foreign exchange, money market instruments, securitized instruments, and commodities to sovereign countries and multinational organizations; and medium-sized companies and multinational corporations. It also offers mergers and acquisitions advisory, corporate finance, and transaction banking, as well as trade finance, cash management, and trust and securities services for financial institutions and other companies. The company?s Private Clients and Asset Management division provides mutual funds and alternative investment products; manages real estate and infrastructure investments and private equity funds; offers advisory and portfolio management services to insurance companies; and provides investment solutions to institutional customers, high net worth individuals, and families. This division also offers a range of banking products and services, including current accounts, deposits and loans, and investment management and pension products to private and self-employed individuals, and small to medium-sized businesses. Its Corporate Investments division?s principal investment activities comprise private equity and venture capital investments, corporate real estate investments, a minority stake in Deutsche Postbank AG, credit exposures, and other non-strategic investments. As of December 31, 2010, the company operated 3,083 branches in approximately 74 countries worldwide, including 2,087 in Germany. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft was founded in 1870 and is headquartered in Frankfurt am Main, Germany.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Eric Volkman]

  The joint book-running managers of the sale are Bank of America's Merrill Lynch, Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS  ) , JPMorgan Chase's (NYSE: JPM  ) J.P. Morgan Securities, Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS  ) , and the Securities arm of Deutsche Bank (NYSE: DB  ) . The offering is expected to close on May 29.

• [By Eric Volkman]

  The joint book-running managers of the issue are Raymond James Financial (NYSE: RJF  ) unit Raymond James & Associates, Royal Bank of Canada's (NYSE: RY  ) RBC Capital Markets, and the Securities divisions of Credit Suisse and Deutsche Bank (NYSE: DB  ) . The sale is expected to close on May 28.

• [By Annalyn Kurtz]

  That board currently includes some of the world's largest financial firms, like Bank of America (BAC, Fortune 500), Goldman Sachs (GS, Fortune 500), JPMorgan Chase (JPM, Fortune 500) and Deutsche Bank (DB), which don't exactly have an interest in a U.S. default, because they hold massive amounts of U.S. Treasuries and dollar-denominated assets.

Top 10 Financial Stocks For 2014: AMERISAFE Inc.(AMSF)

AMERISAFE, Inc., an insurance holding company, provides workers? compensation insurance focusing on small to mid-sized employers engaged in hazardous industries, primarily construction, trucking, agriculture, logging, oil and gas, maritime, and sawmills in the southeast United States. It also offers general liability insurance policies for its workers? compensation policyholders in the logging industry. The company?s workers? compensation insurance policies provide benefits to injured employees for temporary or permanent disability, death, and medical and hospital expenses. AMERISAFE, Inc. sells its products and services through independent agencies, as well as through its insurance agency subsidiary, Amerisafe General Agency, Inc. The company was incorporated in 1985 and is based in DeRidder, Louisiana.

Top 10 Financial Stocks For 2014: Credicorp Ltd (BAP)

Credicorp Ltd. (Credicorp), incorporated on October 20, 1995, is a financial services holding company. The Company is organized in four operating segments: Banking, Insurance, Pension funds and Brokerage and other. Credicorp is engaged principally in banking (including commercial and investment banking), insurance (including commercial property, transportation and marine hull, automobile, life, health and underwriting insurance), pension funds (including private pension fund management services), and brokerage and other (including the structuring and placement of primary market securities issues and the execution and trading of secondary market transactions.). Its four operating subsidiaries are : Banco de Credito del Peru (BCP), Atlantic Security Bank (ASB), El Pacifico-Peruano Suiza Compania de Seguros y Reaseguros, and Prima AFP.

Banking segment

Banking includes handling loans, credit facilities, deposits and current accounts, and providing investment banking services, including corporate finance, both for corporate and institutional customers. Banking also includes handling deposits consumer loans and credit cards facilities for individual customers. The Company conducts banking activities in Bolivia through BCP Bolivia, a service commercial bank. Its banking business is organized into wholesale banking activities, which are carried out by BCP�� wholesale banking group (which includes the corporate banking operations of ASB), and retail banking activities, which are carried out by BCP's retail banking group. Its deposit-taking operations are managed by BCP'�� retail banking group and and ASB's private banking group.

Insurance

Credicorp�� insurance segment includes commercial property, transportation and marine hull, automobile, life, health and pension fund underwriting insurance. Private hospital services are also included under this operating segment. The Company conducts its insurance operations Grupo Pacifico and its subsidiaries, whic! h provide a broad range of insurance products. Grupo Pacifico property and casualty insurance through Pacifico Seguros, life and pension insurance through Pacifico Vida, and health care insurance through Pacificosalud EPS.. Grupo Pacifico sells its products both directly and through independent brokers and agents.

Pension funds

Credicorp�� pension funds segment provides private pension fund management services to customers. Credicorp conducts all of its pension fund activities through its private pension fund administrator Prima AFP. Credicorp through its subsidiary Prima AFP, focuses mainly on obtaining new affiliates, by providing permanent information and diverse channels of communication.

Brokerage and other

The Company�� brokerage and others segment includes the structuring and placement of primary market issues and the execution and trading of secondary market transactions. This segment also includes offers of local securitization structuring to corporate entities, management of mutual funds and other services. The majority of its trading and brokerage activities are conducted through BCP, ASB and Credicorp Securities Inc. Its asset management business is carried out by BCP in Peru, through its subsidiary Credifondo, and by ASB. It offers Brokerage and other services through BCP and ASB. BCP offers clients a range of such products and services, such as brokerage, mutual funds and custody services through its branch network in Lima and throughout the rest of Peru. In addition, ASB also offers brokerage and other services.

The Company competes with BCP, BBVA Banco Continental, Scotiabank Peru, Interbank and Banco Interamericano de Finanzas.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Chuck Carnevale]

  Credit Corp. Limited (BAP)

  My first featured aggressive financial candidate is Credit Corp. Limited, a Bermuda-based financial services holding company, and the largest financial holding company in Peru. Although the company is headquartered in Bermuda and operates in Peru, its long-term track record is exceptional. Once again, I will let the F.A.S.T. Graphs��speak for themselves, other than to say in addition to a great track record, this ADR is expected to offer above-average growth and appears to be very attractively valued at today�� levels.

Top 10 Financial Stocks For 2014: TICC Capital Corp.(TICC)

TICC Capital Corp., a business development company, operates as a closed-end, non-diversified management investment company. The firm invests in both public and private companies. It invests in secured and unsecured senior debt, subordinated debt, junior subordinated debt, preferred stock, and common stock. The firm primarily invests in debt and/or equity securities of technology-related companies that operate in the computer software, Internet, information technology infrastructure and services, media, telecommunications and telecommunications equipment, semiconductors, hardware, technology-enabled services, semiconductor capital equipment, medical device technology, diversified technology, and networking systems sectors. It concentrates its investments in companies having annual revenues of less than $200 million and a market capitalization or enterprise value of less than $300 million. The firm invests between $5 million and $30 million per transaction. It seeks to exit its investments within 7 years. It serves as the investment adviser to TICC. The company was formerly known as Technology Investment Capital Corp. and changed its name to TICC Capital Corp. in December 2007. TICC Capital Corp. was founded in 2003 and is headquartered in Greenwich, Connecticut.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Brian Pacampara]

  Based on the aggregated intelligence of 180,000-plus investors participating in Motley Fool CAPS, the Fool's free investing community, closed-end asset manager TICC Capital Corp. (NASDAQ: TICC  ) has earned a respected four-star ranking.

Top 10 Financial Stocks For 2014: Citizens Inc (CIA)

Citizens, Inc. (Citizens), incorporated on November 8, 1977, is an insurance holding company serving the life insurance needs of individuals in the United States. The Company operates in three segments: Life Insurance, Home Service and Other Non-insurance Enterprises. Its core insurance operations include issuing and servicing the United States Dollar-denominated ordinary whole life insurance and endowment policies predominantly to high net worth, high income foreign residents, principally in Latin America and the Pacific Rim, through independent marketing consultants; ordinary whole life insurance policies to middle income households concentrated in the midwest and southern United States through independent marketing consultants, and final expense and limited liability property policies to middle and lower income households in Louisiana, Arkansas, and Mississippi through employee and independent agents in its home service distribution channel.

Life Insurance

The Company�� Life Insurance segment issues ordinary whole life insurance domestically and in United States Dollar-denominated amounts to foreign residents. These contracts are designed to provide a fixed amount of insurance coverage over the life of the insured. Additionally, endowment contracts are issued by the Company, which are principally accumulation contracts that incorporate an element of life insurance protection. The Company operates the segment through its subsidiaries: CICA Life Insurance Company of America (CICA) and Citizens National Life Insurance Company (CNLIC).

The Company offers several ordinary whole life insurance and endowment products designed to meet the needs of its non-United States policy owners. Its domestic life insurance products focus primarily on living needs and provide benefits focused toward accumulating money for the policyowner. The Company�� life insurance products are principally designed to address the insured�� concern about outliving his or her monthly income,! while at the same time providing death benefits. The primary purpose of its product portfolio is to help the insured create capital for needs, such as retirement income, children's higher education funds, business opportunities, emergencies and health care needs.

Home Service Insurance

The Company operates in the Home Service market through its subsidiaries Security Plan Life Insurance Company (SPLIC) and Security Plan Fire Insurance Company (SPFIC), and focus on the life insurance needs of the middle and lower income markets, primarily in Louisiana, Mississippi and Arkansas. Its home service insurance products consist primarily of small face amount ordinary whole life and pre-need policies, which are designed to fund final expenses for the insured, primarily consisting of funeral and burial costs.

Other Non-Insurance Enterprises

Other Non-insurance Enterprises includes Computing Technology, Inc., which provides data processing services to the Company, and Insurance Investors, Inc., which provides aviation transportation to the Company. This segment also includes the results of Citizens, Inc., the parent Company.