Top 10 Companies To Own For 2014

For all of Social Security’s solvency problems, Americans, who are notorious for claiming benefits early and therefore leaving lots of money on the table, are doing their part to sustain the program.

But the savvy and disciplined Americans who delay claiming till age 70 to maximize their benefits may also be undermining their retirement income.

Yes, you read that correctly. It is almost a cardinal rule among financial advisors that their clients (in good health) should delay claiming—even past full retirement age of 66—to capture the 7% to 8% annual benefit increase that comes with each year’s delay till age 70.

But T. Rowe Price has crunched some numbers and found that what it calls a “split strategy” may hold the greatest advantage for an average couple.

In that approach, the lowest-earning couple claims Social Security benefits as soon as possible — currently age 62 — while the higher earner takes spousal benefits at full retirement age of 66 while delaying taking his own benefits till age 70.

Top 10 Dow Dividend Stocks To Watch Right Now: Enertopia Corp (ENRT)

Enertopia Corp (Enertopia), incorporated on November 24, 2004, is engaged in medicinal marijuana business. The Company is diverse in its pursuit of business opportunities in several sectors, including: Medicinal Marijuana, Oil and Gas, Solar PV (Photovoltaic), Solar Thermal (Hot Water), Energy Retrofits and Recovery, and Solar powered Filtered Drinking Water.

The Company no longer has any material oil and gas resources. The Company operates in two segments: renewable energy, and mining exploration and developments, which are managed separately based on fundamental differences in their operations nature.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Peter Graham]

  What�� the Catch With Lexaria Corp? According to various disclosures, a transaction or transactions of $1k has or will occur to mention Lexaria Corp in various investment newsletters. Last Friday, Lexaria Corp announced it had closed its Private Placement financing announced on March 5 for gross proceeds of $1,272,000 ��higher than the originally announced $960,000 figure due to ��verwhelming demand.��Lexaria Corp will issue 10,600,000 common shares at US$0.12 and 10,600,000 full warrants that expire on September 21, 2016 with an exercise price of US$0.25. However, the company may also accelerate the expiry date of the warrants if the stock price trades above CAD$0.40 cents for 20 consecutive days at any time after 6 months and one day has elapsed. Otherwise and in early March, Lexaria Corp reported that its board of directors had decided to make a strategic entry into the medical marijuana business by way of an ��mportant Joint Venture��with Enertopia Corp (OTCQB: ENRT). Under the terms of the Agreement, Lexaria Corp had agreed to pay Enertopia 1 million restricted common shares in return for Enertopia's participation plus 500,000 restricted common shares ENRT�� Chairman in return for his participation on the Lexaria Advisory Board. Following the issuance of these shares, Lexaria Corp will have a total of 18,431,452 shares issued and outstanding and 21,256,452 shares fully diluted. A quick look at Lexaria Corp�� financials reveals revenues of $160k (most recent reported quarter), $241k, $251k and $253k for the past four quarters along with net losses of $102k (most recent reported quarter), $126k, $58k and $48k. At the end of last January, Lexaria Corp had $66k in cash to cover $1,415k in current liabilities and $59k in other liabilities. So aside from the income statement, investors might want to look more closely at Lexaria Corp�� financing terms.

Top 10 Companies To Own For 2014: Silicon Laboratories Inc.(SLAB)

Silicon Laboratories Inc., a fabless semiconductor company, designs, develops, and markets analog-intensive and mixed-signal integrated circuits (ICs). The company offers broad-based products, which include microcontrollers, clocks and oscillators, wireless transceivers, digital isolators and related products, and human interface sensors and controllers; broadcast products comprising radio receivers and transmitters, and video tuners and demodulators; and access products consisting of embedded modems, subscriber line interface circuits, Voice over IP (VoIP) products, and power over Ethernet devices, as well as DSL analog front end ICs and IRDA devices. It provides ICs for use in various electronic applications, such as portable devices, AM/FM radios, and other consumer electronics, as well as networking, test and measurement, industrial monitoring and control, and customer premises equipment. The company markets its products through direct sales force, and through a networ k of independent sales representatives and distributors in the United States, Taiwan, China, South Korea, Japan, and internationally. Silicon Laboratories Inc. was founded in 1996 and is headquartered in Austin, Texas.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Garrett Cook]

  In trading on Friday, technology shares were relative laggards, down on the day by about 0.80 percent. Top decliners in the sector included Silicon Laboratories (NASDAQ: SLAB), down 13.7 percent, and Informatica (NASDAQ: INFA), off 13.4 percent.

• [By MONEYMORNING.COM]

  XSD holds such big-cap names as Texas Instruments Inc. (Nasdaq: TXN) and Intel Corp. (Nasdaq: INTC). It also owns Atmel Corp. (Nasdaq: ATML), which has a market cap of less than $4 billion, and Silicon Laboratories Inc. (Nasdaq: SLAB), with a market cap of $2 billion.

• [By Garrett Cook]

  In trading on Friday, technology shares were relative laggards, down on the day by about 0.80 percent. Top decliners in the sector included Silicon Laboratories (NASDAQ: SLAB), down 15.32 percent, and Informatica (NASDAQ: INFA), off 11.91 percent.

• [By Rich Smith]

  Austin, Texas-based Silicon Laboratories (NASDAQ: SLAB  ) , which chose a new chief financial officer last month, has now found him a bit of extra work to do.

Top 10 Companies To Own For 2014: Raytheon Company(RTN)

Raytheon Company, together with its subsidiaries, provides electronics, mission systems integration, and other capabilities in the areas of sensing, effects, and command, control, communications, and intelligence systems, as well as mission support services in the United States and internationally. It operates in six segments: Integrated Defense Systems, Intelligence and Information Systems, Missile Systems, Network Centric Systems, Space and Airborne Systems, and Technical Services. The Integrated Defense Systems segment provides integrated naval, air, and missile defense and civil security response solutions. The Intelligence and Information Systems segment offers intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance, advanced cyber solutions, weather and environmental solutions, and information-based solutions for law enforcement and homeland security. The Missile Systems segment develops and produces weapon systems, including missiles, smart munitions, close-in weapon systems, projectiles, kinetic kill vehicles, and directed energy effectors for the armed forces of the U.S. and other allied nations. The Network Centric Systems segment provides net-centric mission solutions, including integrated communications systems, command and control systems, combat systems, and operations and precision components for the U.S. federal, state, and local government customers, as well as civil customers. The Space and Airborne Systems segment designs and develops integrated systems and solutions for missions, including intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance; precision engagement; unmanned aerial operations; and space. The Technical Services segment provides training, logistics, engineering, product support, and operational support services for the mission support, homeland security, space, civil aviation, counterproliferation, and counterterrorism markets. Raytheon Company was founded in 1922 and is based in Waltham, Massachusetts.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Rich Smith]

  A maker of advanced components and composite assemblies for commercial aviation, defense, and space companies, Reinhold is 85 years old and counts among its customers everyone from makers of commercial airline seats to Raytheon (NYSE: RTN  ) , which uses the company's components in the manufacture of Patriot-2 and Standard Missiles. In announcing the deal, HEICO called Reinhold's "significant presence on key missile defense programs ... very attractive."

• [By Jon C. Ogg]

  Raytheon Co. (NYSE: RTN) is down 2.2% at $75.33 in late Tuesday trading against a 52-week trading range of $52.24 to $77.93. According to Thomson Reuters, its consensus analyst target is $74.63 and the highest target is $91.00. Its media price target is above the consensus at $77 but that still doesn’t leave much room for implied upside.

Top 10 Companies To Own For 2014: Dresser-Rand Group Inc (DRC)

Dresser-Rand Group Inc., incorporated on October 1,2004, is a global supplier of of custom-engineered rotating equipment solutions for long-life, critical applications in the oil, gas, chemical, petrochemical, process, power generation, military and other industries worldwide. Its rotating equipment is also supplied to the environmental solutions market space within energy infrastructure. It designs, manufactures and markets engineered rotating equipment and provide services to the worldwide oil, gas, petrochemical, power generation, environmental solutions and industrial process industries. In July 2012, the Company acquired compressed air energy storage property.

The Company has two segments: new units and aftermarket parts. New units are predominately engineered solutions to new requests from clients. New units also include standardized equipment such as engines and single stage steam turbines. The segment includes engineering, manufacturing, packaging, testing, sales and administrative support. Aftermarket parts and services consist of support solutions for the existing population of installed equipment and the operation and maintenance of several types of energy plants. The segment includes engineering, manufacturing, installation, commissioning, start-up and other field services, repairs, overhauls, refurbishment, sales and administrative support.

The Company's products and services are used in oil and gas applications that include hydrogen recycle, make-up, wet gas and other applications for the refining industry; cracked gas, propylene and ethylene compression for petrochemical facilities; ammonia syngas, refrigeration, and carbon dioxide compression for fertilizer production; a number of compression duties for chemical plants; gas gathering, export, lift and re-injection of natural gas or carbon dioxide (CO2) to meet regulatory requirements or for oil field enhanced recovery in the upstream market; gas processing, main refrigeration compression and a variety of other! duties required in the production of liquefied natural gas (LNG); gas processing duties, storage and pipeline transmission compression for the midstream market; synthetic fuels; and steam turbine power generation for floating production, storage and offloading (FPSO) vessels as well as power generation or mechanical drive duties for a variety of compression and pumping applications in the oil and gas market. It is also a supplier of diesel and gas engines that provides customized energy solutions across worldwide energy infrastructure markets based upon reciprocating engine power systems technologies.

The Company's custom-engineered products are also used in other advanced applications in the environmental markets it serves. These applications use renewable energy sources, reduce carbon footprint, recover energy and/or energy efficiency. These products include, among others, compression technologies for carbon capture and sequestration (CCS); hot gas turbo-expanders for energy recovery in refineries and certain chemical facilities; co- and tri-generation combined heat and power (CHP) packages for institutional and other clients; and a number of steam turbine applications to generate power using steam produced by recovering exhaust heat from the main engines in ships, recovering heat from mining and metals production facilities and exhaust heat recovery from gas turbines in on-shore and off-shore sites.

It provides an array of products and services to its worldwide client base in over 150 countries from its global locations in 18 United States and 32 countries (over 76 sales offices, 49 service and support centers, including six engineering and research and development centers, and 13 manufacturing locations). Its clients include, among others, BP, Chevron, ConocoPhillips, Dow Chemical Company, ExxonMobil, Gazprom, LUKOIL, Marathon Petroleum Company, PDVSA, Pemex, Petrobras, PetroChina, Petronas, Repsol, Royal Dutch Shell, SBM, Saudi Aramco, Statoil, Total and Turkmengaz.

!

New Units

The Company is a manufacturer of engineered turbo and reciprocating compression equipment and steam turbines. It is also a manufacture power turbines; special-purpose gas turbines; hot gas expanders; gas and diesel engines; trip, trip throttle and non-return valves; magnetic bearings and control systems. Its new unit products are built to client specifications for long-life, critical applications. It is a supplier of turbo machinery for the energy infrastructure markets worldwide. Applications for its turbo products include gas gathering, lift, export and injection; CO2 compression for enhanced oil recovery; storage and transmission; synthetic fuels; ethylene and fertilizer production; refineries and chemical production; CCS and CAES. In addition, it offers a variety of gas and power turbines covering a power range from approximately 1.5 megawatts to more than 50 MW, which support driver needs for various centrifugal compressor product lines, as well as for power generation applications. It also offers control systems for its centrifugal compressors.

It is a supplier of reciprocating compressors, offering products ranging from medium to high-speed separable units driven by engines or electric motors, to slow speed motor driven process reciprocating compressors. It is a supplier of standard and engineered mechanical drive steam turbines and turbine generator sets. Its steam turbine models cover a power range from a few kilowatts up to 75MW, are available for high inlet steam pressure and temperature conditions, with or without induction and/or extraction sections and in condensing or back-pressure designs. These units are used primarily to drive pumps, fans, blowers, generators and compressors. It is a supplier of diesel, gas and dual fuel internal combustion reciprocating engines. Its Guascor engines cover a power range of up to 1.5 megawatts. Guascor engines are used in 1) industrial applications and power generation, 2) marine propulsion and auxiliary genera! tion, and! 3) environmental solutions, CHP and bioenergy (waste water treatment plant, landfill and biogas generation).

Aftermarket Parts and Services

Aftermarket parts and services segment provides them with long-term growth opportunities. Aftermarket parts and services are generally less sensitive to business cycles than the new units segment, although revenues and bookings tend to be higher in the second half of the year. With a typical operating life of 30 years or more, rotating equipment requires substantial aftermarket parts and services over its operating life. Parts and services activities realize higher margins than new unit sales. Additionally, the cumulative revenues from these aftermarket activities often exceed the initial purchase price of the unit. Its aftermarket parts and services business offers a range of services designed to enable clients to maximize their return on assets by optimizing the performance of their mission-critical rotating equipment. It offers a broad range of aftermarket parts and services, including: replacement parts, field service turnaround, service and repair, operation and maintenance contracts, rotor / spare parts storage, condition monitoring, controls retrofit, site / reliability audits, remote area energy solutions, equipment repair and rerates, equipment installation, applied technology, long-term service agreements, special coatings / weldings, product training, turnkey installation / project management and energy asset management.

The Company competes with GE Oil & Gas, Solar Turbines, Inc., MAN Diesel & Turbo, Siemens, Rolls-Royce Energy, Elliott Company, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Burckhardt Compression, Neuman & Esser Group, Ariel Corp., Howden Thomassen Compressors BV and Mitsui & Co., Ltd, Elliott Company, Shin Nippon Machinery Co. Ltd, GE/Jenbacher, Caterpillar and Cummins.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Garrett Cook]

  Dresser-Rand Group (NYSE: DRC) shares were also up, gaining 2.60 percent to $81.99 after Siemens AG (OTC: SIEGY) announced its plans to acquire Dresser-Rand for $7.6 billion.

• [By Sally Jones]

  Anglogold Ashanti Limited is a gold exploration, mining and marketing company with a portfolio of operations and projects on four continents. The company is headquartered in Johannesburg, South Africa, and has 21 operations in 10 countries. Major development projects include: Tropicana located in Australia; Kibali in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and La Colosa in Colombia. The company's exploration programs extend to 12 countries, in both established and new gold-producing regions.

• [By Michael Fitzsimmons]

  General Electric's (GE) Oil & Gas division is on fire and growing much faster than the rest of the company. Yet it is such a small part of the company, its valuation is being diluted by GE's other businesses. However, the company has a cash hoard and CEO Jeff Immelt has spoken frequently about his desire to grow the industrial base while reducing the size of GE Capital. As a result, the best way to invest in GE Oil's & Gas business may be to invest companies which GE is likely to takeover. Two likely candidates are the Dresser Rand Corp. (DRC) and Dril-Quip (DRQ).

Top 10 Companies To Own For 2014: Protective Life Corporation(PL)

Protective Life Corporation and its subsidiaries engage in the production, distribution, and administration of insurance and investment products in the United States. Its Life Marketing segment markets universal life, variable universal life, level premium term insurance, and bank-owned life insurance products primarily through a network of independent insurance agents and brokers, stockbrokers, and independent marketing organizations. The company?s Acquisitions segment focuses on acquiring, converting, and servicing life insurance policies and annuity products sold to individuals, which are acquired from other companies. Its Annuities segment markets variable annuity products that offer the policyholder the opportunity to invest in various investment accounts; and fixed annuity products, such as modified guaranteed annuities, single premium deferred annuities, single premium immediate annuities, and equity indexed annuities primarily through broker-dealers, financial ins titutions, and independent agents and brokers. The company?s Stable Value Products segment offers guaranteed funding agreements to special purpose entities; fixed and floating rate funding agreements directly to the trustees of municipal bond proceeds, institutional investors, bank trust departments, and money market funds; and guaranteed investment contracts to qualified retirement savings plans. Its Asset Protection segment primarily markets extended service contracts, and credit life and disability insurance to protect consumers? investments in automobiles, watercraft, and recreational vehicles; and markets a guaranteed asset protection product primarily through a national network of approximately 3,750 automobile, marine, and recreational vehicle dealers. The company was founded in 1907 and is headquartered in Birmingham, Alabama.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Ben Levisohn]

  It was the night before the ECB–and two before US payrolls–and all through the market nothing was stirring, not even…Alright. Some things were stirring, like the shares of Protective Life (PL), Travelers Companies (TRV), Under Armour (UA), Broadcom (BRCM) and Vanda Pharmaceuticals (VNDA).

• [By David Sterman]

  My favorite insurers: AIG (NYSE: AIG) (which I discussed a few months ago), Protective Life (NYSE: PL) and Reinsurance Group of America (NYSE: RGA).

• [By Andrew Bary]

  Life insurance stocks have gotten a boost from Dai-ichi Life�� deal to purchase Protective Life (PL) for $70 a share, or $5.7 billion. Protective Life is up 18%, to $69.30 at 11:55 a.m., trading just below the deal value.� While the deal has been rumored for a few days, the actual price is about 16% higher than the $4.9 billion price that had been discussed in the media.

Top 10 Companies To Own For 2014: Vulcan Materials Company(VMC)

Vulcan Materials Company engages in the production and sale of construction aggregates, as well as asphalt mix, ready-mixed concrete, and cement primarily in the United States. The company operates in four segments: Aggregates, Concrete, Asphalt Mix, and Cement. The Aggregates segment produces construction aggregates, which principally include crushed stone, sand, and gravel. Its aggregates are used in public and private sector construction projects, including highways, airports, water and sewer systems, industrial manufacturing facilities, and residential and nonresidential buildings, as well as railroad track ballast. The Concrete segment produces and sells ready-mixed concrete in California, Florida, Georgia, Maryland, Texas, Virginia, and the District of Columbia; and block and pre-cast beams, as well as resells purchased building materials for use with ready-mixed concrete and concrete block. The Asphalt Mix segment produces and sells asphalt mix in Arizona, Californi a, and Texas. The Cement segment produces and sells Portland and masonry cement in bulk and bags to the concrete products industry. This segment also imports cement, clinker, and slag to resell and export, as well as to blend, bag, or reprocess into specialty cements. In addition, this segment mines, produces, and sells calcium products for the animal feed, paint, plastics, water treatment, and joint compound industries. The company was formerly known as Virginia Holdco, Inc. and changed its name to Vulcan Materials Company in November 2007. Vulcan Materials Company was founded in 1909 and is headquartered in Birmingham, Alabama.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Lu Wang]

  Vulcan Materials Co. (VMC), an asphalt and cement supplier, is projected to return to profitability for the first time since 2009, according to analysts��estimates compiled by Bloomberg. Federal spending on highway construction has risen 11 percent this year, reaching the highest level since 2010, according to Bloomberg Industries research.

• [By Sean Williams]

  Vulcan Materials (NYSE: VMC  ) -- up 400%
  Although its dividend boost came on none other than Valentine's Day, Vulcan's new $0.05 payout, a 400% increase over the $0.01 it had been paying out previously, still has a long way to go before it even gets remotely close to its pre-recession payout of $1.96 per year.

• [By Ben Levisohn]

  The S&P 500 gained 0.4% today, just missing a new all-time high. The benchmark was boosted by the likes of Vulcan Materials (VMC), which rose 7.7% after beating earnings estimates, Newmont Mining (NEM), which rose 5.2% after getting upgraded, and base-metal producers like Alcoa (AA),which rose 7%, and Cliffs Natural Resources (CLF), which finished up 5%.

Top 10 Companies To Own For 2014: Monolithic Power Systems Inc.(MPWR)

Monolithic Power Systems, Inc., a fabless semiconductor company, designs, develops, and markets analog and mixed-signal semiconductors. It offers direct current (DC) to DC converter integrated circuits (IC) that are used to convert and control voltages of various electronic systems, such as portable electronic devices, wireless LAN access points, computers, set top boxes, televisions and monitors, automobiles, and medical equipments. The company also provides lighting control ICs for use in systems that offer the light source for liquid crystal display (LCD) panels in notebook computers, LCD monitors, car navigational systems, and LCD televisions. In addition, it provides audio amplifier ICs to amplify sound produced by audio processors; and Class-D audio amplifiers for plasma televisions, LCD televisions, and digital versatile disk players. The company serves consumer electronics, communications, and computing markets. Monolithic Power Systems, Inc. sells its products thr ough third party distributors and value-added resellers, as well as directly to original equipment manufacturers, original design manufacturers, and electronic manufacturing service providers. The company was founded in 1997 and is headquartered in San Jose, California.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Eric Volkman]

  McDonald is a veteran CFO, having served in that position for a number of tech companies including eASIC, Advanced Analogic Technologies, and Monolithic Power Systems (NASDAQ: MPWR  ) .

• [By Lee Jackson]

  Monolithic Power Systems Inc. (NASDAQ: MPWR) has a diverse market that includes communications, gaming and computing to continue to drive its growth, all markets that will pay a premium for its technology. The list of tech companies that use its chips is impressive. Deutsche Bank has a $30 target, the same as the consensus target.

• [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 Monolithic Power Systems (Nasdaq: MPWR  ) , whose recent revenue and earnings are plotted below.