5 Best Performing Stocks To Watch For 2014

Midcap stocks — usually defined as stocks that have a market capitalization between $2 billion and $10 billion — offer investors a sweet mix of stability and growth.

Sure, they’re underperforming small-cap stocks so far this year, as the Russell 2000 has gained 26% year-to-date vs. the 23% gains of the Russell Midcap Index. However, tossing your money into small-cap stocks comes with a lot more risk and volatility thanks to their frequently untested businesses and small financial cushions. Midcap stocks tend to be more established businesses and thus are slightly safer bets.

On the other side, large-cap stocks might be safer in general, but these big, well-established companies also typically have less room to grow. Hence why the Russell Midcap has outperformed the S&P 500 in four of the past five years.

Best Industrial Disributor Companies To Watch For 2015: Solitron Devices Inc (SODI)

Solitron Devices, Inc., incorporated on March 12, 1987, designs, develops, manufactures and markets solid-state semiconductor components and related devices primarily for the military and aerospace markets. The Company manufactures a variety of bipolar and metal oxide semiconductor (MOS) power transistors, power and controls hybrids, junction and power MOS field effect transistors (Power MOSFETS), field effect transistors and other related products. It's products are custom made pursuant to contracts with customers whose end products are sold to the United States government. The Company�� semiconductor products can be classified as active electronic components. The Company�� active electronic components include bipolar transistors and MOS transistors.

The Company�� semiconductor products are used as components of military, commercial, and aerospace electronic equipment, such as ground and airborne radar systems, power distribution systems, missiles, missile control systems, and spacecraft. Its products have been used on the space shuttle and on the spacecraft sent to the moon, to Jupiter (on Galileo) and, to Mars (on Global Surveyor and Mars Sojourner).

Power Transistors

The Company manufactures a variety of power bipolar transistors for applications requiring currents in the range of 0.1 ampere to 300 ampere or voltages in the range of 30 volts to 1000 volts. It also manufactures power diodes under the same military specification. In addition, it manufactures power N-Channel and P-Channel MOSFET transistors and is expanding that line in accordance with customers��requirements.

Hybrids

The Company manufactures thick film hybrids, which generally contain discrete semiconductor chips, integrated circuits, chip capacitors and thick film or thin film resistors. The hybrids are of the high-power type and are custom manufactured for military and aerospace systems. Some of the Company�� hybrids include high power voltage regulators, p! ower amplifiers, power drivers, boosters and controllers. The Company manufactures both standard and custom hybrids.

Voltage Regulators

Voltage regulators provide the power required to activate electronic components such as the integrated circuits. These circuits are found in all electronic devices from radar and missile systems to smart phones.

Field Effect Transistors

The Company manufactures about 30 different types of junction and MOS field effect transistor chips. They are used to produce over 350 different field effect transistor types. The Company�� field effect transistors conform to standard Joint Electronic Device Engineering Council designated transistors, commonly referred to as standard 2N number types. It manufactures both standard and custom field effect transistors.

The Competes with IXYS Corporation, Motorola Inc., International Rectifier, Microsemi Corporation, M.S. Kennedy Corporation, Natel Engineering Company and Sensitron Semiconductor.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Geoff Gannon]

  Solitron (SODI) sells at 74% of NCAV, has decent z- and f-scores, a FCF margin of 5.3% and an ROA of 12%.
  
  Micropac (MPAD) sells at 83% of NCAV, has similar (slightly better) z- and f-scores, a FCF margin of 6%, but has ROA of 28%.
  
  ADDvantage (AEY) sells at 95% of NCAV, has similar (in the ballpark) scores and FCF and ROA of 23%.

• [By Geoff Gannon] on the amount of stock you can buy and the position size you like. For me, I try not to start buying a stock that I think will never make up 10% of my portfolio. If you don�� mind having 5% positions in your portfolio, your portfolio can obviously be twice as big as mine and you can still consider buying the same small stocks I do. In terms of specific stocks, it depends on the amount of float and the volume the stock trades in an average month. We are really getting into specifics here. And I may be boring people. But if you�� like to hear more about the minutiae of how you actually buy and sell tiny stocks like these, let me know, and I��l do an article on the subject.

  By the way, there is a hard and fast rule of thumb that it usually makes no sense to invest in a company with a market cap that is smaller than your portfolio. This is true for both fund and individual investors. Funds break it all the time. But, frankly, it is probably a waste of an analyst/fund manager�� time to even analyze such tiny positions relative to the size of the whole portfolio. Since even when we are discussing very small stocks we are still talking about millions and millions of dollars in market cap, this is hardly a concern for most individuals.

  So, for individual investors, actual inability to acquire enough shares of a company to meaningful influence their portfolio is rarely the problem. If you bid for a stock month after month ��you��l get your shares.

  The concern for individual investors is not whether buying enough shares is possible. The concern is how quickly and easily you can buy and sell. This is what we call ��iquidity.��/p>

  Instead of thinking about stocks as liquid or illiquid, you should think in terms of your portfolio and your liquidity needs. It doesn't make much sense to use what I'll call an "objective" (as in stock-oriented) approach to liquidity rather than a "subjective" (as in investor-oriented) approach to liquidity.

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• [By Geoff Gannon] strong>OPT-Sciences (OPST)

  Micropac

  Micropac is 76% owned by Heinz-Werner Hempel. He�� a German businessman. You can see the German company he founded here. He�� had control of Micropac for a long-time. I don�� have an exact number in front of me. But I would guess it�� been something like 25 years.

  ADDvantage

  ADDvantage Technologies is controlled by the Chymiak brothers. See the company�� April 4 press release explaining their decision to turn over the CEO position to an outsider. Regardless, the Chymiaks still control 47% of the company. Ken Chymiak is now chairman. And David Chymiak is still a director and now the company�� chief technology officer. Clearly, it�� still their company.

  By the way, the name ADDvantage Technologies has nothing to do with the Chymiaks. Today�� AEY really traces its roots to a private company called Tulsat. The Chymiak brothers acquired that company about 27 years ago. So, effectively, when you buy shares of AEY you are buying into a 27-year-old family-controlled company.

  That�� pretty typical in the world of net-nets.

  Solitron

  Solitron Devices is 29% owned by Shevach Saraf. He has been the CEO for 20 years. The post-bankruptcy Solitron has never known another CEO. Before the bankruptcy, Solitron was a much bigger, much different company. So even though we are not talking about the founder here ��and even though 70% of the company�� shares are not held by the CEO ��we��e still talking about a company where one person has a lot of control. Solitron only has three directors. Saraf is the chairman, CEO, president, CFO and treasurer. Neither of the other two directors joined the board within the last 15 years. So, we aren�� talking about a lot of tumult at the top.

  In fact, profitable net-nets seem to be especially common candidates for abandoning the responsibilities of a public company without actually getting taken private.

  OPT-Sciences

  This

5 Best Performing Stocks To Watch For 2014: CDI Corporation(CDI)

CDI Corp. provides engineering and information technology project outsourcing solutions and professional staffing services primarily in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Canada. It operates in four segments: ES, MRI, Anders, and ITS. The ES segment provides engineering, design, project management, staffing, and outsourcing solutions to oil, gas, refining, alternative energy, power generation and energy transmission, chemicals, and heavy manufacturing industries; engineering, design, logistics, and staffing services to the defense industry, primarily in marine design, systems development, and military aviation support; engineering, design, project management, staffing, and facility start-up services to pharmaceutical, bio-pharmaceutical, and regulated medical services industries; and architecture, civil and environmental engineering, communication technology, and consulting services to governmental, educational, and private industry customers. The MRI segment opera tes as a global franchisor that does business as MRINetwork and provides the use of its trademarks, business systems, and training and support services to its franchisees who engage in the search and recruitment of executive, technical, professional, and managerial personnel for employment by their customers. It also provides training, implementation services, and back-office services to enable franchisees to pursue staffing opportunities. The Anders segment provides contract and permanent placement candidates to customers in the areas of architecture, building services, rail, commercial and industrial construction, consulting engineering, facilities management, interior design, surveying, and town planning. The ITS segment offers various information technology related services, which include staffing augmentation, permanent placement, outsourcing, and consulting. The company was founded in 1950 and is based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Rich Smith]

  Philadelphia-based CDI Corp. (NYSE: CDI  ) has won a $36 million contract to provide watercraft engineering and marine services to the U.S. Navy.

5 Best Performing Stocks To Watch For 2014: Weight Watchers International Inc(WTW)

Weight Watchers International, Inc. provides weight management services worldwide. It offers various services and products that are built upon its weight management plans comprising nutritional, exercise, and behavioral tools and approaches. The company, through its WeightWatchers.com offerings, provides two Internet subscription products, Weight Watchers Online and Weight Watchers eTools. Weight Watchers Online provides online content, functionality, resources, and interactive Web based weight management plans. Weight Watchers eTools is an Internet weight management tool for the Weight Watchers meetings members that helps to manage the day-to-day aspects of weight management plan online, discover various food options, stay informed, and keep track of their weight management efforts. Weight Watchers International also sells various products that complement its weight management plans, such as bars, snacks, cookbooks, food and restaurant guides with PointsPlus values, Weigh t Watchers magazines, and PointsPlus calculators primarily to its members and franchisees. In addition, it offers iPhone application, which provides subscribers with access to a suite of weight-loss tools, as well as helpful content; and iPad application, which provides subscribers with access to a set of recipe tools. The company was founded in 1961 and is headquartered in New York, New York.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By WWW.DAILYFINANCE.COM]

  Alamy We all understand that companies collect information on our behaviors, our shopping patterns and the like. But we collect data about ourselves, too. The problem is that we're not analyzing much of it. And we're missing a big opportunity to improve our lives and our finances. A friend was recently asking me about Fitbit. Most of my friends know that I'm a huge fan of Fitbit, those little pedometers on steroids, that help you monitor the number of daily steps you take and things like calories burned, food consumption, weight, sleep patterns and other health statistics. I love the service and what it tells you about your health. My friend was curious about how it can tell if you got a good night's sleep. I told him that it's a cool feature. Monitoring Your Sleep Is All the Rage A lot of very cool smartphone apps, in addition to Fitbit, monitor your sleep patterns. Studies have shown that there is an optimal time to wake up at your lightest phase of sleep based on your REM sleep patterns, which ebb and flow throughout the night over the course of a few hours each. One app, Sleep Time by Azumio, provides you with stunning graphs and a ream of data about how well you slept the night before. But I told my friend that I don't really know what to do with all of the information. Should I go to bed earlier? Should I stop watching television in bed before I fall asleep? A lot of questions arise from having all of this data at your fingertips. And the same is true with our finances. We often go to great lengths preparing our family's monthly written budget or tracking our net worth. Many credit card companies provide incredible pie charts and graphs about your spending. So what should we do with all of this new information? Are we wasting most of it? How can we put it to work for us instead? Make Some New Habits with the Data "We take the time to construct a detailed budget or use an online budgeting tool, but few of us ever make concrete changes that better

• [By Jake L'Ecuyer]

  Equities Trading DOWN
  Shares of Weight Watchers International (NYSE: WTW) were down 27.57 percent to $22.15 after the company reported downbeat Q4 earnings and issued a weak FY14 forecast.

5 Best Performing Stocks To Watch For 2014: Aerosonic Corporation(AIM)

Aerosonic Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, engages in the design, manufacture, and sale of aircraft instruments worldwide. It offers mechanical and digital altimeters, airspeed indicators, rate of climb indicators, microprocessor controlled air data test sets, and other flight instruments. The company also produces mechanical and electro-mechanical cockpit instruments, angle of attack stall warning systems, digital cockpit instruments, integrated flight display systems, aircraft sensors and monitoring systems, and integrated multifunction probes, such as integrated air data sensors. It markets its products to manufacturers of corporate and private jets, contractors of military jets, the United States government, and private aircraft owners. The company sells its products directly through its sales personnel, as well as through distributors and commissioned sales representatives who resell to aircraft operators. Aerosonic Corporation was founded in 1953 and is b ased in Clearwater, Florida.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Katia Dmitrieva]

  Aimia (AIM) Inc.�� decision to move its Aeroplan reward-partnership to Toronto-Dominion (TD) Bank is a blow to Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, which stands to lose customers and as much as C$3 billion ($2.9 billion) in credit-card balances.