Hot Small Cap Companies To Buy For 2014

The SEC has halted trading of small cap marijuana stock Growlife Inc (OTCMKTS: PHOT) after a relatively brief trading halt for�Advanced Cannabis Solutions, Inc (OTCMKTS: CANN), but Tranzbyte Corp (OTCMKTS: ERBB), Cannabis Science Inc (OTCMKTS: CBIS) and Medical Marijuana Inc (OTCMKTS: MJNA) are still very much alive. However and as I have noted (repeatedly)�in the past (see here), Medical Marijuana Inc has a�former CEO who has been indicted for a multi-state mortgage fraud scam/ponzi scheme while Medbox Inc (OTCMKTS: MDBX) is another marijuana stock with some ��ssues��that were summed up nicely in a Southern Investigative Reporting Foundation article cleverly entitled: Tinkerer, Lawyer, Hustler, Lies: One Man�� Path to a Dope Fortune. Obviously, investing in marijuana stocks is not for conservative. Nevertheless, there is�still plenty of good or bad news for investors in the marijuana sector to inhale, including the following:

Top 10 Performing Stocks To Invest In Right Now: Texas Instruments Incorporated(TXN)

Texas Instruments Incorporated engages in the design and sale of semiconductors to electronics designers and manufacturers worldwide. The company?s Analog segment offers high-performance analog products comprising standard analog semiconductors, such as amplifiers, data converters, and interface semiconductors; high-volume analog and logic products; and power management semiconductors and line-powered systems. Its Embedded Processing segment includes DSPs that perform mathematical computations to process and enhance digital data; and microcontrollers, which are designed to control a set of specific tasks for electronic equipment. The company?s Wireless segment designs, manufactures, and sells application processors and connectivity products. Its Other segment offers smaller semiconductor products, which include DLP products that are primarily used in projectors to create high-definition images; and application-specific integrated circuits. This segment also provides handhe ld graphing and scientific calculators, as well as licenses technologies to other electronic companies. The company serves the communications, computing, industrial, consumer electronics, automotive, and education sectors. Texas Instruments Incorporated sells its products through a direct sales force, distributors, and third-party sales representatives. It has collaboration agreements with PLX Technology Inc.; Neonode, Inc.; and Ubiquisys Ltd. The company was founded in 1938 and is headquartered in Dallas, Texas.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Chuck Saletta]

  Texas Instruments (NASDAQ: TXN  ) is a selection for the real-money Inflation-Protected Income Growth portfolio. In this brief video, portfolio manager Chuck Saletta offers two-and-a-half reasons he's holding on to Texas Instruments' stock despite its substantial rise since he bought those shares a little more than a year ago.

• [By Alyssa Oursler]

  But a few dreamy stocks have have provided double rewards for loyal shareholders so far in 2013.�Texas Instruments�(TXN),�Seagate Technology�(STX),�Paychex�(PAYX),�Lockheed Martin�(LMT) and Blackstone Group (BX) are five dividend stocks that have been anything but sleepy so far this year.

• [By Beth Piskora]

  They are listed below:

  Altera (ALTR)��ielding 1.7%
  
  Apple (AAPL)��ielding 2.5%
  
  Applied Materials (AMAT)��ielding 2.6%
  
  Cisco (CSCO)��ielding 2.9%
  
  EMC Corp. (EMC)��ielding 1.5%
  
  International Business Machines (IBM)��ielding 2.0%
  
  KLA-Tencor (KLAC)��ielding 3.2%
  
  Microchip Technology (MCHP)��ielding 3.6%
  
  Oracle (ORCL)��ielding 1.5%
  
  Qualcomm (QCOM)��ielding 2.1%
  
  Texas Instruments (TXN)��ielding 2.9%
  
  Xilinx (XLNX)��ielding 2.3%
  
  

  Subscribe to S&P's The Outlook here��/P>

Hot Small Cap Companies To Buy For 2014: Petroquest Energy Inc(PQ)

PetroQuest Energy, Inc. operates as an independent oil and gas company. It engages in the acquisition, exploration, development, and operation of oil and gas properties in Oklahoma, Arkansas, and Texas, as well as onshore and in the shallow waters offshore the Gulf Coast Basin. As of December 31, 2009, the company had estimated proved reserves of 1,931 thousand barrels of oil and 167,361 million cubic feet equivalent of natural gas. It owned working interests in 9 net producing oil wells and 277 net producing gas wells. PetroQuest Energy was founded in 1983 and is headquartered in Lafayette, Louisiana.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Jon C. Ogg]

  PetroQuest Energy Inc. (NYSE: PQ) was downgraded to Neutral from Overweight at J.P. Morgan.

  Rubicon Technology Inc. (NASDAQ: RBCN) was downgraded to Underperform from Perform at Oppenheimer.

Hot Small Cap Companies To Buy For 2014: OmniVision Technologies Inc.(OVTI)

OmniVision Technologies, Inc. designs, develops, and markets semiconductor image-sensor devices. The company offers CameraChip image sensors, which are single-chip solutions that integrate various functions, such as image capture, image processing, color processing, signal conversion, and output of a processed image or video stream for use in various consumer and commercial mass-market applications; and CameraCube imaging devices that are image sensors with integrated wafer-level optics. It also provides companion chips used to connect its image sensors to various interfaces, including the universal serial bus and other industry standard interfaces; and companion digital signal processors that perform compression in standardized still photo and digital video formats. In addition, the company designs and develops software drivers for Linux, Mac OS, and Microsoft Windows, as well as for embedded operating systems, such as Blackberry OS, Palm OS, Symbian, Windows CE, Windows Embedded, and Windows Mobile. Its products are used in mobile phones, notebooks, Webcams, digital still and video cameras, commercial and security and surveillance, and automotive and medical applications, as well as in entertainment devices. The company sells its products directly to original equipment manufacturers and value added resellers, as well as indirectly through distributors worldwide. OmniVision Technologies, Inc. was founded in 1995 and is based in Santa Clara, California.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Anders Bylund]

  Shares of OmniVision Technologies (NASDAQ: OVTI  ) jumped as much as 23% overnight, driven by a rock-solid fourth quarter report. The stock set a fresh 52-week high, but remains far below the $36 high-water mark that was set in 2011 when OmniVision's back side illumination, or BSI, camera chips seemed set to rule the smartphone world.

• [By Jake L'Ecuyer]

  OmniVision Technologies (NASDAQ: OVTI) shares tumbled 6.32 percent to $14.98 after the company issued downbeat third-quarter forecast.

  Sears Holdings (NASDAQ: SHLD) was down, falling 7.90 percent to $51.16 after the company's CEO Edward Lampert cut his stake in the company to 48.4% from 55.4%.

• [By Rick Munarriz]

  Briefly in the news
  And now let's take a quick look at some of the other stories that shaped our week.

  OmniVision (NASDAQ: OVTI  ) investors are seeing the big picture. Shares of the image sensor maker moved higher after posting better-than-expected quarterly results. Revenue soared 54%, and OmniVision's profit of $0.31 a share blew away the $0.21 analysts were targeting. Nokia (NYSE: NOK  ) is no longer the leading smartphone seller in Finland. Tech tracker IDC reports that Samsung outsold Nokia in its home country this past quarter. So much for the hometown hero. Vringo (NASDAQ: VRNG  ) got another tech giant to pay up, but it won't be much. The company announced a patent-infringement settlement with Mr. Softy in which Vringo will receive $1 million and enter into a licensing deal with the world's largest software company.

Hot Small Cap Companies To Buy For 2014: Rackspace Hosting Inc(RAX)

Rackspace Hosting, Inc. operates in the hosting and cloud computing industry. It provides information technology (IT) as a service, managing Web-based IT systems for small and medium-sized businesses, as well as large enterprises worldwide. The company?s service suite includes dedicated hosting comprising customer management portal and other management tools that manage data center, network, hardware devices, and operating system software; and cloud computing that enables customers to provide and manage a pool of computing resources, as well as delivery of computing resources to business when they need them. It offers cloud servers, cloud files, and cloud sites, as well as cloud applications, such as email, collaboration, and file back-ups; and hybrid hosting that provides a combination of dedicated hosting and cloud computing services. The company also offers customer support services. It sells its service suite through direct sales teams, third-party channel partners, an d online ordering. The company was formerly known as Rackspace.com, Inc. and changed its name to Rackspace Hosting, Inc. in June 2008. Rackspace Hosting, Inc. was founded in 1998 and is headquartered in San Antonio, Texas.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Ben Levisohn]

  Shares of CenturyLink (CTL) have dropped more than 2% today on reports that it’s trying to buy cloud-computing company Rackspace Hosting (RAX).

• [By Jake L'Ecuyer]

  Equities Trading UP
  Rackspace Hosting (NYSE: RAX) shares shot up 18.97 percent to $36.50 on confirmation of approach by potential buyers and partners.

• [By Lee Jackson]

  Rackspace Hosting Inc. (NYSE: RAX) recently added a huge new customer in Emerson Electric (NYSE: EMR). In January Emerson started using Rackspace to help tune and monitor climate control products for residential and commercial customers. Adoption has gone so well that Rackspace expects Emerson to hike its commitment from 43 servers today to 100 by year’s end. The consensus price target for the stock is posted at $52. The stock closed at $50.60.