Hot High Tech Stocks To Own For 2014

Although business headlines still tout earnings numbers, many investors have moved past net earnings as a measure of a company's economic output. That's because earnings are very often less trustworthy than cash flow, since earnings are more open to manipulation based on dubious judgment calls.

Earnings' unreliability is one of the reasons Foolish investors often flip straight past the income statement to check the cash flow statement. In general, by taking a close look at the cash moving in and out of the business, you can better understand whether the last batch of earnings brought money into the company, or merely disguised a cash gusher with a pretty headline.

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 Arabian American Development (NYSE: ARSD  ) , whose recent revenue and earnings are plotted below.

Hot Restaurant Stocks To Own For 2015: Lightstream Resources Ltd (LSTMF.PK)

Lightstream Resources Ltd, formerly PetroBakken Energy Ltd., is a Canada-based oil and gas exploration and production company. The Company�� principal operating areas include southeastern Saskatchewan where it targets the Bakken formation and conventional Mississippian reservoirs, central Alberta, where it is focused on the Cardium formation, and north-central Alberta, where it is engaged in exploring for light oil resource plays. In addition, the Company also has land holdings in the Horn River and Montney plays in northeast British Columbia. On December 31, 2012, Petrobank Energy and Resources Ltd. and PetroBakken Energy Ltd. announced the completion of the reorganization. The Reorganization resulted in a newly incorporated company PetroBakken Energy Ltd. (New PetroBakken). Advisors' Opinion:

• [By MLP Trader]

  Here are the current top five companies in the list:

  CompanySymbolEV/BOEPD/NetbackPrice/NAVEV/DACFPinecrest(PNCGF.PK)53564%4.0XLightstream(LSTMF.PK)131753%4.5XNovus(NOVUF.PK)133290%4.1XZargon(ZARFF.PK)138664%5.6XTwin Butte(TBTEF.PK)155885%5.5X

  Of the larger companies, one that remains obstinately near the top of the list is Lightstream . Lightstream trades at 40% of its book value and a whopping 13.4% yield.

Hot High Tech Stocks To Own For 2014: Frontier Communications Company(FTR)

Frontier Communications Corporation, a communications company, provides regulated and unregulated voice, data, and video services to residential, business, and wholesale customers in the United States. It offers local and long distance voice services, including basic telephone wireline services to residential and business customers; switched access services that allow other carriers to use the facilities to originate and terminate their long distance voice and data traffic; and directory services that provide white and yellow page directories for residential and business listings. The company also provides data and Internet services, which include residential services comprising high-speed Internet, dial up Internet, portal and e-mail products, and hard drive back-up services; and commercial and carriers services, such as metro Ethernet; dedicated Internet; Internet protocol, optical, multiprotocol label switching, and TDM data transport services. In addition, it offers di rect broadcast satellite services and fiber optic video services, as well as provides online access to video content, entertainment, and news available on the worldwide Web through its Web site myfitv.com. The company was formerly known as Citizens Communications Company and changed its name to Frontier Communications Corporation in July 2008. Frontier Communications Corporation was founded in 1927 and is based in Stamford, Connecticut.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By WilliamBriat]

  Frontier Communications Corporation (NASDAQ: FTR) provides phone, Internet, and satellite TV (through a partnership with DISH Network) services to more than 25 states. The company provides an annual dividend of 9.3% and reaffirmed its full-year guidance.

• [By Ben Levisohn]

  Frontier Communications (FTR) is a four buck stock with a 8% dividend yield. It’s not supposed to move that much from day to day.

  Getty Images

  But today isn’t any other day. Frontier Communications has gained more than 4%, a big gain for just about any stock, let alone one with a beta of just 0.56. And it’s not as if Frontier’s results were all that good. It reported a non-GAAP profit of six cents a share, in line with analyst estimates, on sales of $1.2 billion, also near forecasts, give or take.

  So what gives? Nomura’s Adam Ilkowitz and Donald Chen say it’s all about the free cash flow:

  Despite the weaker financial results, free cash flow was ahead of our estimate due to timing on cash tax payments. More importantly, management maintained 2013 FCF guidance of $825-925mn, implying a strong 4Q13 outlook. Frontier also reiterated the ability to use free cash flow and cash on hand to meet all obligations in the coming years, supporting our positive outlook on the shares as a sustainable dividend payer with an attractive yield.

  We continue to view the dividend as the main attraction for Frontier shares, supported by FCF stability and limited near-term debt maturities. While the copper-based telephone business is largely in decline, there is a significant growth opportunity to increase share in acquired Verizon properties that Frontier management appears to have begun monetizing. Our target price implies 5.7x 2014E EBITDA and an 8% dividend yield, which we find attractive versus CenturyLink (CTL) at 5.5x with a 6.5% yield.

  So yes, Frontier Communications can keep paying it’s dividend–at least for the time being–and that’s reason enough for it to jump 4.7% to $4.70 today at 2:51 p.m., while CenturyLink has gained 1.1% to $33.75. Verizon (VZ) has advanced 1.1% to $50.64 and AT&T (T) is up 0.9% at $35.86.

Hot High Tech Stocks To Own For 2014: Emak SpA (EM)

Emak SpA is an Italy-based company primarily engaged in the manufacture of outdoor power equipment for gardening, forestry, agriculture and industry. The Company�� portfolio includes chainsaws, brush cutters, lawnmowers, garden tractors, water pumps, high pressure washers, transporters, rotary cultivators, motor hoes and power cutters, among others. It also manufactures spare parts, accessories and protective clothing. The Company sells its products under various brand names, such as Oleo-Mac, Efco, Bertolini, Nibbi and Staub. Emak SpA directly manages distribution in the Italian market and it sells products, through its commercial subsidiaries, in France, Germany, the United Kingdom, Spain, the countries of Benelux, Poland, Ukraine, among others.The Company is controlled by Yama SpA, which is an industrial holding company. Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Federico Zaldua]

  Brookfield Infrastructure has a number of potentially profitable areas for investment around the world but, above all, in infrastructure hungry Emerging Markets (EM) such as Brazil. According to Credit Suisse analysts, in Brazil, funds can be invested at Funds From Operations (FFO) yields above 12%. Therefore, the company's ability to grow its distribution yield, whether through acquisitions or organically, is critical to evaluate the company's value. Moreover, the currently conservative dividend payout ratio should allow Brookfield Infrastructure to self-finance on going opportunities.

• [By Canadian Value]

  For 20+ years there has been a coherent growth story around Emerging Markets (EM), where the label "Emerging Market" had real meaning within a common knowledge perspective. Today ��not so much. Today the story is that it was easy money from the Fed that drove global growth, EM or otherwise. Today the story is that Emerging Markets are just the levered beneficiaries or victims of Fed monetary policy, no different than anyone else��

• [By Holly LaFon]

  As true value investors, Brandes oft en moves against the crowd amid markets' constantly changing performance cycles. Take the recent equity market weakness in a number of emerging market (EM) countries for example. Over the last year, while macroeconomic and geopolitical concerns cast a cloud of uncertainty over the asset class in general, we started to see some interesting investment opportunities at the company level as a result of such market weakness.

Hot High Tech Stocks To Own For 2014: Royale Energy Inc.(ROYL)

Royale Energy, Inc. operates as an independent oil and natural gas producer in the United States. It engages in the production and sale of oil and natural gas; acquisition of oil and gas lease interests and proved reserves; drilling of exploratory and development wells; and sale of working interests in wells to be drilled. The company also owns wells and leases located principally in the Sacramento Basin and San Joaquin Basin in California, as well as in Utah, Texas, and Louisiana. In addition, it holds proved developed producing reserves of oil and natural gas in Texas and Louisiana. As of December 31, 2009, Royale Energy operated 52 natural gas wells in California; owned and operated 7 natural gas wells in Utah; and had non operating interests in 17 oil and gas wells in Texas, 3 in Oklahoma, 1 in California, and 2 in Louisiana. It also had proved developed reserves of 4,563 MMcf and total proved reserves of 4,617 MMcf of natural gas; and proved developed oil reserves of 16 Mbbl and total proved oil reserves of 16 Mbbl. The company was founded in 1986 and is based in San Diego, California.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By James E. Brumley]

  Does the name Royale Energy, Inc. (NASDAQ:ROYL) ring a bell? If you're a regular reader of the Small Cap Network site or newsletter, it might. Back on February 3rd, yours truly penned some bullish thoughts on the way ROYL was acting at the time. Given what we had seen up until that time, though Royale Energy had not yet begun to rally, the stock was getting within reach of a monster-sized breakout. Well, that breakout may be underway as of today.

• [By James E. Brumley]

  With nothing more than a passing glance at Royale Energy, Inc. (NASDAQ:ROYL), it would be easy to dismiss it as just another volatile small caps... one of many small cap stocks that gets a little squirrelly every now and then. The longer you study the chart of ROYL, however, the clearer it becomes... this chart looks like it's coming out of a slightly bearish lull and working its way into an uptrends.

Hot High Tech Stocks To Own For 2014: Johnson Controls Inc.(JCI)

Johnson Controls, Inc. engages in building efficiency, automotive experience, and power solutions businesses worldwide. Its building efficiency business designs, produces, markets, and installs integrated heating, ventilating, and air conditioning systems, as well as building management systems, controls, and security and mechanical equipment. This business also provides technical services, energy management consulting, and operations of real estate portfolios for the non-residential buildings market. In addition, this business offers residential air conditioning and heating systems, and industrial refrigeration products. The company?s automotive experience business designs and manufactures interior products and systems for passenger cars and light trucks, including vans, pick-up trucks, and sport/crossover utility vehicles. It offers seating systems and components; cockpit systems comprising instrument panels and clusters, information displays, and body controllers; overh ead systems, such as headliners and electronic convenience features; floor consoles; and door systems. This business also produces automotive interior systems for original equipment manufacturers. Its power solutions business produces lead-acid automotive batteries serving automotive original equipment manufacturers and the general vehicle battery aftermarket. This business produces lead-acid batteries, as well as offers absorbent glass mat and lithium-ion battery technologies to power hybrid vehicles. The company was formerly known as Johnson Electric Service Company and changed its name to Johnson Controls, Inc. in 1974. Johnson Controls, Inc. was founded in 1885 and is headquartered in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Dan Caplinger]

  But the big problem for Magna has come from Europe. Rival Johnson Controls (NYSE: JCI  ) , which gets more of its revenue from Europe than from North America, has seen poor conditions in Europe weigh on its overall results. That's consistent with the big problems that major customers Ford (NYSE: F  ) and General Motors (NYSE: GM  ) have seen in their own European sales figures, with Ford having lost $1.75 billion last year in Europe and expecting that figure to balloon upward to $2 billion for 2013. Although GM managed to reduce its European losses in the first quarter to just $175 million, both it and Ford have a lot of work to do in order to get their operations on the continent back to profitability.

• [By Selena Maranjian]

  Like most investors, you probably aim for�the best possible return�when picking potential investments. But as consumers increasingly clamor for companies to�embrace social responsibility, good corporate citizenship is becoming a vital part of many companies' success. And it can boost the performance of our portfolios, too.
  
  CR�magazine recently released its "100 Best Corporate Citizens"�list�for 2013, in which it rated members of the Russell 1000 large-cap index on hundreds of different elements related to responsible behavior. In the coming weeks, I'll delve into each of the seven categories that contribute to a company's overall score.
  
  Today, we'll look at the environment ranking, which, along with employee relations, gets the highest weighting, at 19.5%. Here are the top-rated companies in the category:
  
  Johnson Controls (NYSE: JCI  )

• [By Rich Smith]

  Johnson Controls (NYSE: JCI  ) has stepped up its role in India.

  On Tuesday, the auto parts manufacturer and self-proclaimed "global leader in automotive seat systems and components" announced that it has bought out local partner Tata Automotive Components' 50% interest in the companies' Tata Johnson Controls joint venture. The purchase -- whose price both parties agreed not to disclose -- gives Johnson control over 11 joint venture locations across India and a work force of 2,100.

• [By Marc Bastow]

  Automatic temperature control device manufacturer Johnson Controls (JCI) raised its quarterly dividend 16% to 22 cents per share, payable on Jan. 6 to shareholders of record as of Dec. 16.
  JCI Dividend Yield: 1.75%