Hot High Tech Companies To Buy For 2014

The Defense Security Cooperation Agency notified Congress (link opens a PDF) Monday of plans to conduct a foreign military "sale" of an F-16 Formal Training Unit, or FTU, to the Netherlands.

According to the DSCA, the provision to the Royal Netherlands Air Force of the F-16 FTU -- a training course for fighter pilots -- along with 50,000 Infrared Decoy Flares, 30,000 units of Training Chaff, 3,750 "dummy" training bombs, 4,050 inert training bombs of assorted types, and 120,000 blank training rounds, along with necessary fuel and support services, pilot training services, and "other related elements of logistics support" -- will cost the Dutch an estimated $191 million.

The DSCA justifies the "sale" of this course to the Dutch by saying that it will further the "foreign policy and national security objectives of the U.S. by improving the capabilities of the Royal Netherlands Air Force and enhancing its standardization and interoperability with U.S. forces." Training, if approved, will take place in the U.S. with the Tucson Air National Guard, 162nd Fighter Wing, serving in the role of course manager.

Top 10 Performing Stocks To Own Right Now: Berry Plastics Group Inc (BERY)

Berry Plastics Group, Inc. (Berry), incorporated on November 18, 2005, is a provider of plastic consumer packaging and engineered materials. Berry owns 100% interest of Berry Plastics Corporation. Berry sells its solutions predominantly into end markets, such as food and beverage, healthcare and personal care. The Company operates in three segments: Rigid Packaging, Engineered Materials and Flexible Packaging. As of September 19, 2012, the Company supplied its customers through 82 manufacturing facilities throughout the United States (68 locations) and select international locations (14 locations). In June 2012, the Company acquired 100% interest of Frans Nooren Beheer B.V. and its operating companies (Stopaq). In September 2011, the Company acquired 100% interests of Rexam Closures Kentucky Inc., Rexam Delta Inc., Rexam Closures LLC, Rexam Closure Systems LLC, Rexam de Mexico S. de R.L. de C.V., Rexam Singapore PTE Ltd., Rexam Participacoes Ltda. and Rexam Plasticos do Brasil Ltda. (collectively, Rexam SBC). In August 2011, Berry acquired 100% interest of LINPAC Packaging Filmco, Inc.

Rigid Packaging

The Company�� Rigid Packaging business consists of containers, foodservice items, house wares, closures, over caps, bottles, prescription vials, and tubes. The end uses for these products are consumer-oriented end markets, such as food and beverage, retail mass marketers, healthcare, personal care and household chemical. The Company manufactures a collection of container products. The Company produces 32 ounce or thermoformed polypropylene (PP) drink cups and offers a product line with sizes ranging from 12 to 52 ounces. The Company�� products of house wares market is focused on producing semi-disposable plastic home and party and plastic garden products. The Company produces closures and over caps across several of its product lines, including continuous-thread and child-resistant closures, as well as aerosol over caps. The Company also provides a range of custom closure ! solutions including fitments and plugs for medical applications, cups and spouts for liquid laundry detergent, and dropper bulb assemblies for medical and personal care applications.

The Company competes with Airlite, Letica, Polytainers, Silgan, Aptar Group and Reynolds.

Engineered Materials

Berry�� Engineered Materials business primarily consists of pipeline corrosion protection solutions, specialty tapes and adhesives, polyethylene-based film products, and can liners served to a variety of end markets including oil, water and gas infrastructure, industrial and consumer-oriented end markets. The Company produces anti-corrosion products to infrastructure, rehabilitation and pipeline projects throughout the world. Products include heat-shrinkable coatings, single- and multi-layer sleeves, pipeline coating tapes, anode systems for cathodic protection and epoxy coatings. These products are used in oil, gas and water supply and construction applications.

Berry is the manufacturer of cloth and foil tape products. Other tape products include range of splicing and laminating tapes, flame-retardant tapes, vinyl-coated and carton sealing tapes, electrical, double-faced cloth, masking, mounting, original equipment manufacturer (OEM) medical and specialty tapes. These products are sold under the National, Nashua and Polyken brands in the United States. The Company manufactures and sells a portfolio of PE-based film products to end users in the retail markets. These products are sold under brands, such as Ruffies and Film-Gard. Its products include drop cloths and retail trash bags. The Company manufactures customized PP-based, woven and sewn containers for the transportation and storage of raw materials, such as seeds, titanium dioxide, clay and resin pellets.

The Company offers range of polyvinyl chloride (PVC) meat film and agricultural film. Berry�� products are used primarily to wrap fresh meats, poultry and produce for supermarket applic! ations. I! n addition, the Company offers a line of boxed products for food service and retail sales. Berry sells trash-can liners and food bags for offices, restaurants, schools, hospitals, hotels, municipalities and manufacturing facilities. The Company also sells products under the Big City, Hospi-Tuff, Plas-Tuff, Rhino-X and Steel-Flex brands. The Company produces both hand and machine-wrap stretch films, which are used by end users to wrap products and packages for storage and shipping. It sells stretch film products to distributors and retail and industrial end users under the MaxTech and PalleTech brands.

The Company competes with AEP, Sigma and 3M.

Flexible Packaging

The Company�� Flexible Packaging business consists of barrier, multilayer film products, as well as finished flexible packages, such as printed bags and pouches. Berry manufactures and sells a range of film products ranging from mono layer to coextruded films having up to nine layers, lamination films sold primarily to flexible packaging converters and used for peelable lid stock, stand-up pouches, pillow pouches and other flexible packaging formats. The Company also manufactures barrier films used for cereal, cookie, cracker and dry mix packages that are sold directly to food manufacturers like Kraft and Pepsico. It also manufactures films for industrial applications ranging from lamination film for carpet padding to films used in solar panel construction.

The Company supplies component and packaging films used for personal care applications. Berry is a converter of printed bags, pouches and roll stock. Its manufacturing base includes integrated extrusion that combines with printing, laminating, bagmaking, Innolok and laser-score converting processes. The Company is a supplier of printed film products for the fresh bakery, tortilla and frozen vegetable markets with brands, such as SteamQuick Film, Freshview bags and Billboard. The Company manufactures specialty coated and laminated produ! cts for a! range of packaging applications. Its products are sold under the MarvelGuard and MarvelSeal brands and are sold to converters who transform them into finished goods.

The Company competes with Printpak, Tredegar and Bemis.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Bryan Murphy]

  It's certainly not as big as Berry Plastics Group Inc. (NYSE:BERY). It's not even as big as Tredegar Corporation (NYSE:TG). There's one big way AEP Industries (NASDAQ:AEPI) can certainly compete head-on with BERY and TG right now, however... as an investment opportunity. Thanks to the bullish bump AEPI gave us last week, a long-standing selloff has been revered, and there's a whole lot of ground to make up.

• [By John Udovich]

  One of the most famous scenes in the cult classic, the Graduate, was when Mr. McGuire�took Dustin Hoffman�� character aside and said�"Ben, I want to say one word to you, just one word: Plastics"; but what about the Berry Plastics Group Inc (NYSE: BERY) and its performance verses that of the�iShares S&P 500 Index ETF (NYSEARCA: IVV), iShares Russell Midcap Index Fund ETF (NYSEARCA: IWR) and iShares S&P SmallCap 600 Index ETF (NYSEARCA: IJR)? I should mention that plastics and the Berry Plastics Group was not the place to be yesterday as the stock took a tumble on reduced guidance.

Hot High Tech Companies To Buy For 2014: Independent Bank Group Inc (IBTX)

Independent Bank Group, Inc., incorporated on September 20, 2002, is bank holding company. Through its wholly owned subsidiary, Independent Bank (Bank), a state chartered bank, the Company provides a range of commercial banking products and services for businesses, professionals and individuals. Commercial lending products includes owner-occupied commercial real estate loans, interim construction loans, commercial loans (such as Small Business Administration (SBA) guaranteed loans, business term loans, equipment financing and lines of credit) to a diversified mix of small and midsized businesses, and loans to professionals, particularly medical practices. Retail lending products include residential first and second mortgage loans, and consumer installment loans such as loans to purchase cars, boats and other recreational vehicles. On April 1, 2012, it acquired I Bank Holding Company and its bank subsidiary, and on October 1, 2012, it acquired The Community Group and its bank subsidiary. As of March 18, 2013, it operated 30 banking offices in 26 communities in two market regions located in the Dallas-Fort Worth metropolitan area and in the greater Austin area. Independent Bank operates 30 banking offices throughout North and Central Texas. In December 2013, the Company announced that it has completed the acquisition of Collin Bank, Plano, Texas. In January 2014, Independent Bank Group, Inc. acquired Live Oak Financial Corp. and its subsidiary, Live Oak State Bank.

Lending Activities

Its loans are primarily real estate secured loans spread among a variety of types of borrowers, including owner occupied offices for small businesses, medical practices and offices, retail operations, and multi-family properties. Its loans are diversified geographically throughout its Dallas/North Texas region (approximately 55%) and its Austin/Central Texas region (approximately 45%). As of December 31, 2012, it had total loans of approximately $1.4 billion

The Company is primarily a real es! tate secured lender. It originates real estate loans to finance commercial property that is owner-occupied, as well as commercial property owned by real estate investors. The total amount of owner-occupied commercial real estate loans outstanding as of December 31, 2012, was $353.5 million, or 25.6% of its loan portfolio. The total amount of commercial real estate loans outstanding as of December 31, 2012, excluding owner-occupied properties, was $295 million, or 21.4% of its loan portfolio. The real estate securing its existing commercial real estate loans includes a variety of property types, such as owner-occupied offices/warehouses/production facilities, office buildings, healthcare facilities, hotels, mixed-use residential/commercial, retail centers, multifamily properties, restaurants, churches and assisted living facilities.

The Company�� construction portfolio includes loans to small and midsized businesses to construct owner-user properties, and, to a much lesser extent, loans to developers of commercial real estate investment properties and residential developments. These loans are typically disbursed as construction progresses and carry interest rates that vary with the prime rate. As of December 31, 2012, the outstanding balance of its construction loans was $97.3 million, or 7.1% of its total loan portfolio. It offers first and second mortgage loans to its individual customers primarily for the purchase of primary and secondary residences. As of December 31, 2012, the outstanding balance of one-to four-family real estate secured loans, including home equity loans, represented $315.3 million, or 22.9%, of its total loan portfolio. Residential real estate loans held for sale of $9.2 million at December 31, 2012, were also included in this category.

The Company makes single-family interim construction loans to home builders and individuals to fund the construction of single family residences. Such loans are secured by the real property being built and are made based! on its a! ssessment of the value of the property on an as-completed basis. As of December 31, 2012, the outstanding balance of its single-family interim construction loans was $67.9 million, or 4.9% of its total loan portfolio. The Company originates commercial loans to small businesses and professionals, in particular, medical practices, located in its market areas. These loans are primarily term loans to purchase capital equipment and small loans for working capital and operational purposes. As of December 31, 2012, it had outstanding commercial loans, of $169.9 million, or 12.3% of its total loan portfolio.

The Company�� agricultural loan portfolio primarily includes loans secured by real property used for agricultural purposes. It provides loans for the acquisition of farm and ranch land, as well as the construction of buildings upon agricultural real estate. On a more limited basis, it offers agricultural equipment financing and crop production loans which are secured by crops, equipment, and crop insurance. The total amount of agricultural loans outstanding at December 31, 2012, was $40.1 million, or 2.9% of its total loan portfolio. The Company offers a variety of consumer loans, such as installment loans to purchase cars, boats and other recreational vehicles. Its consumer loans typically are part of an overall customer relationship designed to support the individual consumer borrowing needs of its commercial loan and deposit customers. As of December 31, 2012, it had outstanding $39.5 million of consumer loans, or 2.9% of its total loan portfolio. The Company also engages in the origination of residential loans sold into the secondary market. Its mortgage originations were $177.1 million during the year ended December 31, 2012. It sells all of the originated mortgages to institutional purchasers shortly after closing.

Investment Activities

The types and maturities of securities purchased are primarily based on its liquidity and interest rate sensitivity position! s. As of ! December 31, 2012, investment securities held were United States Treasury securities, government agency securities, obligations of state and municipal subdivisions, Residential mortgage backed securities, and corporate bonds.

Sources of Funds

Deposits are the Company�� principal source of funds for use in lending and other general banking purposes. The Company provides a range of deposit products and services, including a variety of checking and savings accounts, debit cards, online banking, mobile banking, eStatements and bank-by-mail and direct deposit services. It also offers business accounts and management services, including analyzed business checking, business savings, and treasury management services. As of December 31, 2012, it had total deposits of approximately $1.4 billion. In addition to deposits, it utilizes Federal Home Loan Bank (FHLB) advances either as a short-term funding source or a longer-term funding source and to manage its interest rate risks on its loan portfolio. The maximum amount of short-term FHLB advances it had outstanding at any month end during the year ended December 31, 2012, was $16.0 million. The Company�� FHLB borrowings totaled $164.6 million as of December 31, 2012. Its FHLB advances are collateralized by assets, including a blanket pledge of certain loans with a carrying value of $524.8 million and FHLB stock. As of December 31, 2012, it had $92.7 million in undisbursed advance commitments (letters of credit) with the FHLB.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Markus Aarnio]

  2. Independent Bank Group (IBTX) operates as a bank holding company for Independent Bank that provides commercial banking products and services for small to medium size businesses, professionals, and individuals in North and Central Texas.

Hot High Tech Companies To Buy For 2014: Fomento Economico Mexicano SAB de CV (FOMC)

Fomento Economico Mexicano SAB de CV (FEMSA) is a Mexico-based holding company engaged in the beverages industry. Through its subsidiary Coca-Cola FEMSA SAB de CV, the Company is active in the production and distribution of a variety of non-alcoholic beverages, bottled water and still beverages such brands as Coca-Cola, Fanta, Sprite, Powerade, Delaware Punch and other trademark beverages of The Coca-Cola Company in Mexico. Through FEMSA Comercio SA de CV, it operates the OXXO convenience-store chain in Latin America. The Company operates in a number of Latinamerican countries and in Philippines. Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Canadian Value]

  Also interesting is that the duration of rising rate environments is distinctly shorter after 1982. The average duration declines to 14 months from 40 months prior to 1982. A possible explanation could be changes in the monetary mechanism influencing interest rates. In 1982, the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) first referenced a targeted federal funds rate.7

Hot High Tech Companies To Buy For 2014: WPCS International Incorporated(WPCS)

WPCS International Incorporated provides design-build engineering services for communications infrastructure. The company operates in three segments: Electrical Power, Wireless Communication, and Specialty Construction. The Electrical Power segment provides electrical contracting services to help commercial and industrial facilities for upgrading power systems; and creates integrated building systems, including the installation of structured cabling systems and electrical networks, as well as supports the integration of telecommunications, fire protection, security, and HVAC. The Wireless Communication segment designs and deploys wireless network solutions comprising Wi-Fi networks, point-to-point systems, mesh networks, microwave systems, cellular networks, in-building systems, and two-way communication systems. The Specialty Construction segment offers specialty construction services for building design, such as the design and integration of mechanical, electrical, hydra ulic, and life safety systems. The company provides its services to public services, healthcare, energy, and corporate enterprise markets worldwide. WPCS International Incorporated was founded in 1997 and is headquartered in Exton, Pennsylvania.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Monica Gerson]

  WPCS International (NASDAQ: WPCS) announced the public release of beta version of its Windows-based trading platform for bitcoin traders. WPCS shares jumped 26.49% to $1.91 in the after-hours trading.

Hot High Tech Companies To Buy For 2014: Education Realty Trust Inc. (EDR)

Education Realty Trust, Inc., a real estate investment trust (REIT), develops, acquires, owns, and manages student housing communities located near university campuses in the United States. It also provides third-party management services, including residence life and student development, marketing, leasing administration, strategic relationships, information systems, and accounting services for student housing communities owned by educational institutions and charitable foundations. In addition, the company offers third-party development consulting services, such as market analysis and evaluation of housing needs and options; co-operation with university in architectural design; negotiation of ground lease, development agreement, construction contract, architectural contract, and bond documents; oversight of architectural design process; co-ordination of governmental and university plan approvals; oversight of construction process; design, purchase, and installation of fu rniture; pre-opening marketing to students; and obtaining final approvals of construction. It provides its third-party development consulting services primarily to universities seeking to modernize their on-campus student housing communities, as well as to other third-party investors. As of December 31, 2009, the company owned 40 student housing communities located in 19 states containing 25,454 beds in 7,813 apartment units located near 35 universities. It also provided third-party management services for 20 student housing communities located in 9 states containing 10,186 beds in 3,272 apartment units at 16 universities. The company qualifies as a REIT for federal income tax purposes. As a REIT, it would not be subject to federal corporate income tax if it distributes at least 90% of its REIT taxable income to its stockholders. The company was founded in 1964 and is based in Memphis, Tennessee.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Rich Duprey]

  College dorm room operator�Education Realty Trust (NYSE: EDR  ) announced today its second-quarter dividend of $0.11 per share, a 10% hike in the payout of $0.10 per share that it made last quarter.

• [By Monica Wolfe]

  Education Realty Trust (EDR)
  
  Over the past week two insiders made some buys. Both the CEO as well as the company�� CFO made these buys.

  Executive VP, CFO and Treasurer Randall Brown bought 5,500 shares at $9.04 per share. This cost him a total of $49,720. The price per share has increased 1.44% since then. Brown now holds on to 99,346 shares of company stock.

Hot High Tech Companies To Buy For 2014: Woodside Petroleum Ltd (WPL)

Woodside Petroleum Ltd (Woodside) is an Australia-based oil and gas company. Woodside, along with its subsidiaries is engaged in hydrocarbon exploration, evaluation, development, production and marketing. As of December 31, 2011, the Company produced around 700,000 barrels of oil equivalent each day from a portfolio of facilities, which it operates on behalf of some of the major oil and gas companies. It operating facilities include six liquefied natural gas (LNG) trains, five offshore platforms and four oil floating production storage and offloading (FPSO) vessels. It is one of the non-government operators LNG plants. The Company operates six segments: North West Shelf Business Unit, Australia Oil Business Unit, Pluto Business Unit, Browse Business Unit, United States Business Unit and Other. In September 2012, it sold a minority portion of its equity in the proposed Browse LNG Development to Japan Australia LNG (MIMI Browse) Pty Ltd. Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Jonathan Burgos]

  Agricultural Bank of China Ltd., the nation�� third-largest lender, slid 2.3 percent in Hong Kong. Yamada Denki Co. sank 4.8 percent in Tokyo after the consumer electronics retailer missed its full-year profit forecast. Woodside Petroleum Ltd. (WPL), Australia�� second-biggest oil producer, jumped 9.7 percent after announcing plans to return cash to shareholders.