Tuesday, December 10, 2013

Top 10 Tech Companies To Buy For 2014

S&P Capital IQ has a positive fundamental outlook for biotechnology over the next 12 months, based on accelerating revenue and earnings growth from several large-cap, profitable names in the group, suggests Steven Silver, S&P Capital IQ equity analyst in The Outlook.

In our view, Amgen (AMGN), Celgene (CELG), and Gilead Sciences (GILD) each has bolstered its long-term growth prospects in recent years.

Celgene, which had been reliant on its multiple myeloma drug Revlimid for the majority of its revenue, secured approval of internally-developed Pomalyst for late-stage multiple myeloma.

Its Apremilast is currently under Food and Drug Administration (FDA) review for the anti-inflammatory condition, psoriatic arthritis, and has also shown promise in such indications as psoriasis and ankylosing spondylitis.

In 2010, Celgene acquired rights to cancer drug Abraxane, which was approved in breast cancer at the time of the deal, but has subsequently been approved for lung and pancreatic cancer, the latter of which we view as a major advance in the treatment paradigm.

Top 10 Tech Companies To Buy For 2014: CommVault Systems Inc. (CVLT)

CommVault Systems, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, provides data and information management software applications and related services primarily in North America, Europe, Australia, and Asia. The company develops, markets, and sells a suite of software applications and services under the Simpana brand. Its Simpana software suite includes solution for the backup and restoration of enterprise data for file systems, applications, databases, and virtual machine systems; integrated data archiving solution that optimizes data tiering and improves information governance; and enterprise-wide storage optimization for email and files reducing space on primary storage. The company also provides solutions for protection of critical applications and data with snapshots and real-time replication; solutions to analyze, discover, track, trend, and report on physical and virtual storage usage; and Web browser, which allows search, sort, select, and retrieval of corporate files and in formation from online, archive, and backup data copies. In addition, it offers assessment and design, implementation and post-deployment, training, consulting, and customer support services. The company markets and sells its software applications and related services directly to large enterprises, small and medium sized businesses, and government agencies, as well as indirectly through a network of value-added reseller partners, systems integrators, corporate resellers, and original equipment manufacturers. It licenses its software applications to customers in various industries, including banking, insurance and financial services, government, healthcare, pharmaceuticals and medical services, technology, legal, manufacturing, utilities, and energy. The company has strategic relationships with Dell, Inc.; Hitachi Data Systems; and NetApp. CommVault Systems, Inc. was incorporated in 1996 and is headquartered in Oceanport, New Jersey.

Advisors' Opinion:
  • [By Seth Jayson]

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

  • [By Lee Jackson]

    CommVault Systems Inc. (NASDAQ: CVLT) announced last week the industry’s first virtual machine (VM) intelligent archiving capability to help enterprises and service providers eliminate VM sprawl and regain control of virtual infrastructure resources. VM sprawl results from pervasive deployment and growth of virtual machines, some of which then sit unutilized long after their useful lives. The consensus price target for this intriguing mid cap name is $88.50.

  • [By Alex Planes]

    What: Shares of CommVault Systems (NASDAQ: CVLT  ) were up by as much as 13% at the start of trading this morning after the company reported earnings that beat expectations. However, the stock has been sliding lower all morning, and has now returned to the same level it reached at the close of trading yesterday.

Top 10 Tech Companies To Buy For 2014: Ditech Networks Inc.(DITC)

Ditech Networks, Inc. designs, develops, and markets telecommunications equipment for use in wireline, wireless, satellite, and Internet protocol telecommunications networks worldwide. It offers voice quality enhancement solutions that enable service providers to deliver end-to-end communications to their subscribers, as well as voice applications solutions. The company?s mobile voice quality products include Broadband Voice Processor-Flex, a broadband voice processor system for interface support; Quad II T1 and Quad II E1, which are single modules for echo cancellation and built-in voice enhancement; and Quad Voice Processor-T1 and Quad Voice Processor-E1 that are narrowband voice processors for supporting echo cancellation and the suite of voice quality assurance and experience intelligence software. It also provides voice-to-text transcription services; and voice-based interface with Web and Web-based based applications, including social networking and calendar applicat ions. Ditech Networks, Inc. markets its products through direct sales force, distributors, value-added resellers, system integrators, and agents. The company was formerly known as Ditech Communications Corporation and changed its name to Ditech Networks, Inc. in May 2006. Ditech Networks, Inc. was founded in 1983 and is headquartered in Mountain View, California.

10 Best Casino Stocks To Buy Right Now: Techne Corporation(TECH)

TECHNE Corporation develops, manufactures, and sells biotechnology products, and hematology calibrators and controls worldwide. The company?s Biotechnology segment offers proteins, such as cytokines, and enzyme substrates and inhibitors; antibodies, including polyclonal and monoclonal antibodies; immunoassays comprising quantikine kits for the detection of human and animal proteins, and immunoassays that allow researchers to quantify a specific analyte in a biological fluids sample; clinical diagnostic immunoassay kits consisting of erythropoietin, transferrin receptor, and beta2-microglobulin immunoassays for use as in vitro diagnostic devices; flow cytometry products, such as fluorochrome labeled antibodies and kits; intracellular cell signaling products, including antibodies, phospho-specific antibodies, antibody arrays, active caspases, kinases, and phosphatases, and ELISA assays to measure the activity of apoptotic and signaling molecules; and natural and synthetic c hemical compounds for use as agonists, antagonists, and inhibitors of various biological functions by investigators. Its Hematology segment provides whole blood CBC controls controls and calibrators; linearity and reportable range controls for the assessment of the linearity of hematology analyzers for white blood cells, red blood cells, platelets, and reticulocytes; whole blood reticulocyte controls for manual and automated counting of reticulocytes; whole blood flow cytometry controls for the identification and quantification white blood cells; whole blood glucose/hemoglobin control to monitor instruments, which measure glucose and hemoglobin in blood; erythrocyte sedimentation rate control to monitor erythrocyte sedimentation rate tests; and multi-purpose platelet reference controls, such as Platelet-Trol II and Platelet-Trol Extended for use by automated and semi-automated analyzers, which monitor platelet levels. The company was founded in 1976 and is headquartered in M inneapolis, Minnesota.

Advisors' Opinion:
  • [By Rich Duprey]

    Biologics researcher�Techne� (NASDAQ: TECH  ) �will pay a regular quarterly dividend of $0.30 on May 24 to the holders of record at the close of business on May 10.

  • [By Nicolas73]

    Digitalized data (documents, books, articles) volume is growing at an incredible pace. Moreover, it would be simply not possible (nor useful) to print everything.Company and institutions encourage people to print something only when strictly needed, both for environmental and for cost-cutting purposes.Fax machines will quickly become (tech) museum pieces, replaced by emails (people are free to print an email whenever it is really necessary).Combo printers (scanner and printer) will quickly replace most photocopiers (people will scan everything and print only when it is really necessary).
    I think Xerox's management felt the responsibility to deal with these kinds of business dangers as soon as they became evident. I also think they brilliantly addressed and solved them.

  • [By Rich Duprey]

    Medical device maker Techne (NASDAQ: TECH  ) announced today that it's taking a 100% ownership stake in�Bionostics Holdings for $104 million cash.

Top 10 Tech Companies To Buy For 2014: Marin Software Inc (MRIN)

Marin Software Incorporated, incorporated on March 16, 2006, provides cloud-based digital advertising management platform to advertisers and agencies. The Company�� Revenue Acquisition Management platform is a software-as-a-service (SaaS), analytics, workflow, and optimization solution for marketing professionals, enabling them to manage their digital advertising spend across search, display, social and mobile advertising channels. Its platform integrates with publishers, such as Baidu, Bing, Facebook, Google, Yahoo! and Yahoo! Japan, as well as Web analytics and ad-serving solutions, and key enterprise applications to enable marketers to measure the return on investment of their marketing programs.

The Company�� software platform serves as a system-of-record for advertising performance, revenue and conversion data and allows advertisers to correlate advertising spend to subsequent revenue outcomes or business events. It enables its customers to simultaneously run large-scale digital advertising campaigns across multiple publishers and channels, making it easy for marketers to create, publish, modify and optimize campaigns in real time.

Advisors' Opinion:
  • [By Evan Niu, CFA]

    What: Shares of Marin Software (NYSE: MRIN  ) got clobbered today, down by as much as 21% after the company reported earnings.

    So what: Revenue in the first quarter totaled $17.2 million, which resulted in a non-GAAP net loss of $9.4 million, or $0.39 per share. The freshly public software maker saw gross margin decline to 57%, and its losses grew from a year ago. Investors obviously wanted more.

Top 10 Tech Companies To Buy For 2014: Rosetta Stone(RST)

Rosetta Stone Inc., together with its subsidiaries, provides technology-based language-learning solutions in the United States and internationally. The company develops, markets, and sells language-learning solutions, such as software, online services, mobile applications, and audio practice tools in approximately 30 languages primarily under the Rosetta Stone brand. Its products and services include Rosetta Course, a self-study interactive language-learning curriculum that consists of sequences of listening, speaking, reading, and writing interactions designed to teach, reinforce, and test learners through its software program; Rosetta Studio comprising a series of coach-led practice sessions that provide learners to practice what they have previously learned through the software program; and Rosetta World, an interactive community of language learners, which gives learners the opportunity to play games with other learners. The company also offers Audio Companion, which i s a series of digital audio files that contain lessons aligned to the Rosetta Stone curriculum, allowing users to practice previously learned material; and TOTALe Companion HD, a learning tool that includes a series of practice lessons, which use images, audio, and speech recognition technology to enable users refine their speaking skills. The company also offers SharedTalk, an online peer-to-peer practice environment at sharedtalk.com; and ReFLEX, a solution designed for English learners who want to enhance listening and speaking skills. Rosetta Stone sells its products and services through Websites, call centers, retailers, direct sales force, and a network of kiosks. Its customers include individuals, home school parents, educational institutions, armed forces, government agencies, corporations, and not-for-profit institutions. Rosetta Stone Inc. was founded in 1992 and is headquartered in Arlington, Virginia.

Advisors' Opinion:
  • [By Matthew Argersinger]

    The following video excerpt was taken from an interview with Steve Swad, CEO of Rosetta Stone (NYSE: RST  ) , in which he talks about his business philosophy, and how it is driving success both for language learners and for the company itself. In this segment, he discusses low past stock performance and the path to higher numbers.�

  • [By Brian Stoffel]

    From these five, I will be purchasing shares of Rosetta Stone� (NYSE: RST  ) , as soon as Foolish trading rules allow. Read below to see what I expect from the company moving forward, and what I'll need to see to determine if my investment will succeed.

  • [By Matthew Argersinger]

    The following video excerpt was taken from an interview with Steve Swad, CEO of Rosetta Stone (NYSE: RST  ) , in which he talks about his business philosophy, and how it is driving success both for language learners and for the company itself. In this segment, he discusses how acquisition opportunities and new customers will further Rosetta Stone's brand.

  • [By Matthew Argersinger]

    The following video excerpt was taken from an interview with Steve Swad, CEO of Rosetta Stone (NYSE: RST  ) , in which he talks about his business philosophy, and how it is driving success both for language learners and for the company itself. In this segment, he discusses the philosophy for building a successful management team.

Top 10 Tech Companies To Buy For 2014: Kewaunee Scientific Corporation(KEQU)

Kewaunee Scientific Corporation engages in the design, manufacture, and installation of laboratory, technical, and laminate furniture products in the United States and internationally. The company offers laboratory furniture products, including steel and wood cabinetry, fume hoods, adaptable modular systems, moveable workstations, casework, biological safety cabinets, and epoxy resin counters and sinks; technical furniture products consisting of column systems, slotted-post systems, pedestal systems, and stand-alone benches; and laminate furniture comprising laminate casework, systems, and related products for educational, healthcare, and industrial applications. Its products also include flexible systems, worksurfaces, workbenches, and computer enclosures. The company sells its products primarily through dealers, commissioned agents, and a national distributor, as well as bids submitted by the company and its subsidiaries. Its customers include pharmaceutical, biotechnolo gy, industrial, chemical, and commercial research laboratories, as well as educational institutions, healthcare institutions, governmental entities, users of networking furniture, and manufacturing facilities of computers and light electronics. Kewaunee Scientific Corporation was founded in 1906 and headquartered in Statesville, North Carolina.

Top 10 Tech Companies To Buy For 2014: Superconductor Technologies Inc.(SCON)

Superconductor Technologies Inc. engages in the development and production of high temperature superconducting (HTS) materials and associated technologies worldwide. The company is leveraging its technologies, including HTS materials and cryogenics, to develop second generation (2G) HTS wire for power applications. Its HTS-based products play a role in emerging power generation, conversion, and distribution applications by enhancing grid reliability and efficiency. The company?s flagship wireless product, SuperLink, combines a specialized filter using patented HTS technology with a proprietary cryogenic cooler and a low-noise amplifier. Its commercial product offerings include SuperLink, a receiver front-end HTS wireless filter system that eliminates out-of-band interference for wireless base stations; AmpLink, a ground-mounted unit for wireless base stations that includes a high-performance amplifier and up to six dual duplexers; and SuperPlex, a multiplexer that provide s low insertion loss and cross-band isolation. The company also grants the U.S. government a royalty-free, non-exclusive, and nontransferable license to use its intellectual property. It sells its products primarily to wireless carriers through direct sales force in the United States, as well as through indirect channels internationally. The company was founded in 1987 and is headquartered in Santa Barbara, California.

Advisors' Opinion:
  • [By Bryan Murphy]

    Just for the record, Superconductor Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ:SCON) isn't over the hump yet. But, given the likelihood that it could get over the hump with little to no fanfare, now's the time to put SCON on your radar.

Top 10 Tech Companies To Buy For 2014: Compuware Corporation(CPWR)

Compuware Corporation provides software and Web performance solutions, professional services, and application services in the United States, Europe, and Africa. The company?s software products consist of Mainframe, Vantage, Changepoint, and Uniface product lines. Its Mainframe product line includes File-AID, Xpediter, Hiperstation, Abend-AID, and Strobe used for application analysis, testing, defect detection and remediation, fault management, file and data management, data compliance, and application performance management in the IBM z/OS environment. The company?s Vantage products provide an end-to-end approach for managing application performance by combining end user experience monitoring, business service management, and application performance monitoring; Changepoint products are management and professional services automation solutions that address the needs of executives in technology companies, enterprise IT, and professional service organizations; and Uniface i s an application development environment for building, renewing, and integrating the enterprise applications. It also offers Web application performance management services, which are marketed under the Gomez brand name, are used by enterprises to test and monitor their Web and mobile applications while in development and after deployment. In addition, the company provides professional services, such as implementation, consulting, and training services, as well as various IT services for mainframe, distributed, and mobile environments; and application services, which are marketed under the Covisint brand name that offers SaaS platform providing industry-specific solutions for organizations in the automotive, healthcare, and energy markets, as well as provides support services. The company serves IT departments of various commercial and government organizations. Compuware Corporation was founded in 1973 and is headquartered in Detroit, Michigan.

Advisors' Opinion:
  • [By Seth Jayson]

    Compuware (Nasdaq: CPWR  ) reported earnings on May 21. Here are the numbers you need to know.

    The 10-second takeaway
    For the quarter ended March 31 (Q4), Compuware met expectations on revenues and met expectations on earnings per share.

  • [By CRWE]

    Compuware Corporation (Nasdaq:CPWR), the technology performance company, will report results for its fiscal 2013 second quarter ��ended September 30, 2012 ��after market-close on October 23, 2012.

Top 10 Tech Companies To Buy For 2014: Avi-tech Electronics Limited (CT1.SI)

Avi-Tech Electronics Limited provides burn-in and related services to the semi conductor industry. It also offers burn-in boards and boards related products, and engineering services; and engages in equipment distribution. The company�s Burn-In Services segment consists of burn-in service and tape and reel service. Burn-in service is a process wherein the individual integrated circuit (IC) chip is stressed at high temperature to weed out any defects caused during the assembly process; and tape and reel services are provided for customers who need the finished products to be delivered in reel form. Its Burn-in Boards and Boards Manufacturing segment involves in the design and assembly of printed circuit boards used for burn-in and reliability testing of IC chips. Avi-Tech�s Engineering segment undertakes system integration projects and engages in equipment manufacturing business, as well as provides technical services. This segment also distributes third party products. T he company operates in Singapore, Malaysia, the Philippines, the United States, Germany, Thailand, Taiwan, and China. Avi-Tech Electronics Limited was incorporated in 1981 and is headquartered in Singapore.

Top 10 Tech Companies To Buy For 2014: Facebook Inc (FB.O)

Facebook, Inc. (Facebook), incorporated in July 2004, is engaged in building products to create utility for users, developers, and advertisers. People use Facebook to stay connected with their friends and family, to discover what is going on in the world around them, and to share and express what matters to them to the people they care about. Developers can use the Facebook Platform to build applications and Websites that integrate with Facebook to reach its global network of users and to build personalized and social products. Advertisers can engage with more than 900 million monthly active users (MAUs) on Facebook or subsets of its users based on information they have chosen to share with the Company, such as their age, location, gender, or interests. It offers advertisers a combination of reach, relevance, social context and engagement.

Products for Users

The Company�� products for users are free of charge and available on the Web, mobile Web, and mobile platforms, such as Android and iOS. It launched Timeline in September 2011, as an enhanced and updated version of the Facebook Profile. Timeline allows users to organize and display the events and activities that matter most to them, enabling them to curate their memories in a searchable personal narrative that is organized chronologically. Users choose what information to share on their Timeline, such as their interests, photos, education, work history, relationship status, and contact information, and users can control with whom each piece of content is shared on their Timeline. The Facebook News Feed is the core feature of a user�� homepage and is a regularly updating list of stories from friends, Pages, and other entities to which a user is connected on Facebook. It includes posts, photos, event updates, group memberships, app updates, and other activities. Each user�� News Feed is personalized based on his or her interests and the sharing activity o f the user�� friends.

Facebook is a photo up! l! oading service on the Web. Users can upload an unlimited number of high resolution photos, create photo albums, and share them with their friends or any audience they choose. Users can also upload and share videos. Users can set specific privacy settings for each of their photo albums and videos, making them visible to everyone, or only to certain friends. Users can arrange their photos, add captions, and tag people in a photo or video. Tagging allows users to identify a person in a photo or video as one of their friends. Its messaging products include email, chat, and text messaging. Groups are shared Facebook pages for groups of users to discuss common interests. Lists allow users to organize their friends in order to filter the stories shown in their News Feeds and reach or exclude specific people when they share on Facebook. Through Events, users can organize gatherings, manage invitations, and send event notifications and reminders to their friends. From the Events page , users can create a new event, check out upcoming events of interest to them and their friends, and view previous events.

Through Places, users can share their location and see where their friends are. They are able to see if any of their friends are nearby. Users can also check in to Places to tell their friends where they are, tag their friends in the Places they visit, or view Comments their friends have made about the Places they visit. Using Subscribe, users can sign up to receive public posts in their News Feeds from other Facebook users of interest, such as celebrities, thought leaders, and other public figures. Ticker is a live stream of the real-time activities of a user�� friends and the Pages and other entities to which the user is connected. On the top of each Facebook page, a highlighted icon is displayed to users when there is relevant and new information available to them, such as a new friend request, a new message from a friend, or an alert that the user has been tagged in a photo posted by a fri! end.!

A Facebook Page is a public profile that allows anyone, including artists, public figures, businesses, brands, organizations, and charities to create a presence on Facebook and engage with the Facebook community. A Page owner can connect with interested users in order to provide updates, answer questions, receive feedback, or otherwise stimulate interest in the owner�� messages, products, and services. When a Facebook user likes a Page, the Page owner has the opportunity to publish stories to the user�� News Feed on an ongoing basis. In addition, when a Facebook user Likes or Comments on a post by a Page owner, that user�� action may be shared with the user�� friends via News Feed to drive awareness to a wider circle of users, increasing the Page�� exposure, recognition, and engagement. The Company does not charge for Pages, nor does it charge for the resulting organic distribution. As of March 31, 2012, there were more than 42 million Pages with 10 or more Li kes, including Harvard, Lady Gaga, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Starbucks, and Boo (the World�� Cutest Dog), as well as millions of local businesses.

Products for Developers

The Facebook Platform is a set of tools and application programming interfaces (APIs) that developers can use to build social apps on Facebook or to integrate their Websites with Facebook. As of March 31, 2012, more than nine million applications and Websites were integrated with Facebook. Some of the elements of the Facebook Platform include open graph, social plugins, payments, applications on Facebook, desktop applications, mobile applications and platform-integrated Websites. The Open Graph is a set of APIs that developers can use to build applications and Websites that enable users to share their activities with friends on Facebook. Social plugins are social features that developers can easily integrate with their Websites by incorporating a single line of HyperText M arkup Language (HTML) code.

Facebook ! provides ! a! n online ! payments infrastructure that enables developers to receive payments from users through a secure system. The Company has designed its Payments infrastructure to streamline the buying process between its users and developers. Its Payments system enables users to purchase virtual or digital goods from developers and third-party Websites by using debit and credit cards, PayPal, mobile phone payments, gift cards or other methods. Applications on Facebook run within the Facebook Website. The Facebook Platform has also enabled new types of social applications on Facebook beyond games to facilitate social sharing and discovery of music, news, television programming, and everyday interests, such as cooking, fitness, and travel. Developers can also build desktop apps that run on the operating system of a personal computer and offer experiences that are integrated with the Facebook Platform. The Facebook Platform for mobile has enabled developers to create engaging mobile applications that integrate with Facebook�� social and personalization capabilities. Websites can integrate with Facebook using social plugins, such as the Like button or design more deeply integrated social experiences built around users and their friends.

Products for Advertisers and Marketers

Facebook offers products that enable advertisers and marketers to leverage its combination of reach, relevance, social context, and engagement. When creating a Facebook ad, advertisers can specify a title, content, image, and destination Web page or Facebook Page to which a user is directed if he or she clicks on the ad. Advertisers can further engage their intended audiences by incorporating social context with their marketing messages. Social context includes actions a user�� friends have taken, such as Liking the advertiser�� Facebook Page. Ads with social context are shown only to a user�� friends, and the user�� privacy settings apply to social ads. It of fers a range of ads with social context, from! an ad wi! th a s! ingle Lik! e button to its Premium Ad paired with social context, which allows advertisers to highlight the interactions of a user�� friends with a brand or product.

Sponsored stories enable marketers to promote the stories they publish from their Facebook Page to users who have connected with the Page or to amplify the distribution of stories users are already sharing that are relevant to their marketing efforts. When advertisers create an ad campaign with Facebook, they specify the types of users they would like to reach based on information that users chose to share about their age, location, gender, relationship status, educational history, workplace, and interests. Advertisers choose to pay for their ads based on either cost per thousand impressions (CPM) on a fixed or bidded basis or cost per click (CPC) on a bidded basis. Facebook ad analytics enable advertisers to gain insights into which ads were displayed and clicked on. These analytics help advertisers make mo difications to their ad campaigns. Advertisers with Facebook Pages can also view the number of users who Liked and Commented on their Page and a newly introduced metric, People Talking About This, which shows how many stories about their brand are being created and shared.

The Company competes with Google, Microsoft, Twitter, Cyworld, Mixi and vKontakte.

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