5 Best Rising Stocks To Own For 2014

With shares of News Corp. (NASDAQ:NWSA)�trading around $14, is NWSA an OUTPERFORM, WAIT AND SEE or STAY AWAY? Let�� analyze the stock with the relevant sections of our CHEAT SHEET investing framework:

T = Trends for a Stock’s Movement

News Corp. was a diversified global media company that operates in six segments: Cable Network Programming; Filmed Entertainment; Television; Direct Broadcast Satellite Television; Publishing; and Other. The company was involved in programming distribution through cable television systems and direct broadcast satellite operators; live-action and animated motion pictures distribution and licensing; operation of broadcast television stations and the broadcasting of network programming and in direct broadcast satellite business through its subsidiary, SKY Italia. However, News Corp. has officially split.

The entertainment arm of the company is now known as 21st Century Fox (NASDAQ:FOXA) while the publishing arm will keep the company�� name. News Corp needs to prove that it can be profitable in its own right, as the company�� publishing businesses have struggled.�The company distributes information and entertainment through just about every medium possible which reinforces a powerful presence. As companies and consumers continue to search for entertainment and information at increasing rates, look for companies like News Corp. to see rising profits. However, it will be interesting to see what the company does to improve their publishing engagement.

Top 5 Electric Utility Stocks To Buy For 2015: LifeLock Inc (LOCK)

LifeLock, Inc., incorporated on April 12, 2005, is a provider of proactive identity theft protection services for consumers and identity risk assessment and fraud protection services for enterprises. It operates in two segments: consumer segment and an enterprise segment. In its consumer segment, the Company offer identity theft protection services to consumers on a monthly or annual subscription basis. In its enterprise segment, it offer identity risk assessment and fraud protection services to enterprise customers who pay the Company based on their monthly volume of transactions with it. It protects its consumer subscribers, whom it refers to as its members, by monitoring identity-related events, such as new account openings and credit-related applications. It also provides remediation services to its members in the event that an identity theft actually occurs. On March 14, 2012, the Company acquired ID Analytics, Inc. In December 2013, the Company announced that it has completed the acquisition of Lemon Inc.

Consumer Business

The Company protects its members by proactively monitoring identity-related events, such as new account openings and credit-related applications, which may present a risk of identity theft. If it detects that a member�� personally identifiable information is being used, the Company sends notifications and alerts, including proactive, near real-time, actionable alerts, to the member via text message, phone call, or e-mail through its LifeLock Identity Alert system that allows the member to confirm valid or unauthorized identity use.

Enterprise Business

The Company delivers on-demand identity risk assessment and authentication information about consumers to its enterprise customers in their daily transaction flows. Its enterprise customers utilize this information in real time to authenticate their customers, assess their risk profile, and enhance the enterprise�� decision making process on which to base account opening, le! nding, credit, and other risk-based decisions. By integrating its services into their business processes, its enterprise customers can reduce potential financial losses from identity fraud. Information generated from the transaction flow at its enterprise customers is transmitted back to its data repositories, which continually enhances the LifeLock ecosystem and helps strengthen the services the Company can provide to its customers in the future.

The Company competes with Experian, Equifax, TransUnion, Affinion, Early Warning Systems, Intersections and LexisNexis.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Rick Aristotle Munarriz]

  AFP/Getty Images/Gabriel Bouys Companies can make brilliant moves, but there are also times when things don't work out quite as planned. From a luxury electric car maker ramping up its production to sandwich makers failing to make dough rise, here's a rundown of the week's smartest moves and biggest blunders in the business world. Tesla Motors (TSLA) -- Winner The Model S isn't cheap, but Tesla is selling enough of them to impress investors. Shares of the maker of plug-in electric vehicles raced to a new high after announcing that it delivered 6,892 cars in its latest quarter. Things will get even better in 2014 as Tesla expects to sell and deliver 35,000 vehicles. Tesla will need to ramp up its production -- currently, roughly 600 cars a week -- to closer to 1,000 Model S and new Model X cars by the end of the year. Conn's (CONN) -- Loser It isn't easy running a consumer electronics store these days. Shares of Conn's plunged 43 percent on Thursday after warning that its holiday quarter results will fall well short of its earlier expectations. If that seems like a significant drop for a mere miss, let's dive a little deeper. Conn's also warned that it's suffering from higher loan delinquencies than usual. Conn's provides in-house consumer credit on its appliances, furniture, mattresses, and consumer electronics, so revealing that 8.8 percent of its loan portfolio hasn't made a payment in more than 60 days is problematic. Conn's, which has stores in the Southwest, blames cold weather for disrupting payments, but things are never as simple as that. Conn's was holding up better than its peers that had imploded earlier this year on reports that the holidays weren't so jolly this time around. Now we know that Conn's is merely mortal, and that way too many of its customers last year aren't current on their payments. Candy Crush Saga -- Winner The company behind "Candy Crush Saga" filed to go public this week. Dublin-based King Digital Entertainment is hoping

• [By Jake L'Ecuyer]

  LifeLock (NYSE: LOCK) was also down, falling 15.33 percent to $10.99 after the company announced Friday that it had halted its mobile wallet service, shocking the street.

• [By Luke Jacobi]

  LifeLock (NYSE: LOCK) was also down, falling 17.57 percent to $10.70 after the company announced Friday that it had halted its mobile wallet service, shocking the street.

• [By Lee Jackson]

  LifeLock Inc. (NYSE: LOCK) is a top small cap name to buy that may hold big gains for investors. The company is a leader in identity-theft protection systems and crushed its recent earnings estimates. Deutsche Bank has an $18 target, and the consensus target is $15.50. A move to the Deutsche Bank target would be a gain of 50% for investors.

5 Best Rising Stocks To Own For 2014: Lexmark International Inc.(LXK)

Lexmark International, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, engages in the development, manufacture, and supply of printing, imaging, document workflow, and content management solutions for offices in North and South America, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Asia, the Pacific Rim, and the Caribbean. It offers monochrome and color laser printers, laser multifunction products, inkjet all-in-one devices, dot matrix printers, and cartridges and other supplies; and services and solutions, including maintenance, consulting, and systems integration, as well as managed print services, such as asset lifecycle management, implementation and decommissioning services, consumables management, optimization services, and utilization management. The company also provides enterprise content management (ECM) software products, including ImageNow document management, document imaging, and workflow suite that allows users to capture, process, and collaborate on important documents and inform ation, protect data integrity throughout its lifecycle, and access precise content; and industry specific workflow solutions for the healthcare, higher education, government, and financial services industries, as well as for back office functions, including accounting, human resources, contracts, and records. Its software modules include Retention Policy Manager to manage the complete lifecycle of content from creation to destruction or disposition; Business Insight, which integrates IBM Cognos to provide industry and business process dashboards, operational and ad-hoc reporting, and report design tools; workflow software that automates processing steps, simplifies work tasks, and provides real-time monitoring; and eForms module, which enables the online entry and collection of raw data in electronic forms that are accessible from Web sites and portals. The company was founded in 1990 and is headquartered in Lexington, Kentucky.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Anna Prior]

  Lexmark International Inc.(LXK) again increased its offer for Sweden’s ReadSoft AB(RSOF-B.SK), returning fire in its bidding war with Hyland Software U.K.

• [By Evan Niu, CFA]

  What: Shares of Lexmark (NYSE: LXK  ) have popped today by greater than 17% following the company's first-quarter earnings release.

  So what: Revenue in the quarter came in at the high end of guidance at $884 million, topping the consensus estimate of $873.6 million. The same is true for Lexmark's non-GAAP earnings per share of $0.88, which was more than the $0.87 per share adjusted profit that investors were expecting. CEO Paul Rooke said Lexmark continues to transition from a hardware-centric model to a solutions-centric approach, which is underscored by the recent acquisitions of two software companies and the sale of the inkjet business.

• [By Rich Duprey]

  Printer maker�Lexmark (NYSE: LXK  ) announced yesterday its third-quarter dividend of $0.30 per share, the same rate it's paid for the past five quarters after raising the payout 20% from $0.25 per share.

5 Best Rising Stocks To Own For 2014: Syneron Medical Ltd. (ELOS)

Syneron Medical Ltd., together with its subsidiaries, engages in the research, manufacture, development, marketing, and sale of aesthetic medical products worldwide. The company develops products based on its proprietary Electro-Optical Synergy (ELOS) technology, which uses the synergy between electrical energy and optical energy to provide aesthetic medical treatments. Its products target a range of non-invasive aesthetic medical procedures, including hair removal, wrinkle reduction, rejuvenation of the skin�s appearance through the treatment of superficial benign vascular and pigmented lesions, acne treatment, treatment of leg veins, treatment for the temporary reduction in the appearance of cellulite and thigh circumference, ablation and resurfacing of the skin, laser-assisted lipolysis, and topical skin brightening products. It also develops, manufactures, and markets non-invasive technologies for fat cell destruction and body sculpting; and Viador system, a handheld device with a radiofrequency-needle array for use in transdermal delivery of biologic drug-products via a system-specific skin patch. The company sells its products to dermatologists, plastic and cosmetic surgeons, other qualified practitioners, and aestheticians and medical spas through direct sales force and distributors; and to home-use consumers directly, as well as through retailers and a chain of distributors. Syneron Medical Ltd. was founded in 2000 and is headquartered in Yokneam Illit, Israel.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Seth Jayson]

  Syneron Medical (Nasdaq: ELOS  ) reported earnings on May 22. Here are the numbers you need to know.

  The 10-second takeaway
  For the quarter ended March 31 (Q1), Syneron Medical met expectations on revenues and met expectations on earnings per share.

5 Best Rising Stocks To Own For 2014: Cott Corp (COT)

Cott Corporation (Cott), incorporated on December 31, 2006, is a producers of beverages on behalf of retailers, brand owners and distributors. The Company�� product lines include carbonated soft drinks (CSDs), 100% shelf stable juice and juice-based products, clear, still and sparkling flavored waters, energy products, sports products, new age beverages, and ready-to-drink teas, as well as alcoholic beverages for brand owners. The Company operates in five segments: North America (which includes the United States operating segment and Canada operating segment), the United Kingdom (which includes its United Kingdom reporting unit and its Continental European reporting unit), Mexico, Royal Crown International (RCI) and All Other. The Company markets or supplies over 500 retailer, licensed and Company-owned brands in its four core geographic segments. In March of 2012, its U.K. reporting segment acquired a beverage and wholesale business based in Scotland.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Nicole Seghetti]

  Private-label pressures
  Regardless, private labels are becoming a bigger problem for companies such as Kraft and, to a lesser extent, Mondelez. According to an industry profile compiled by First Research, these brands typically cost 20% to 40% less than name-brand products. Couple that with the fact that more consumers are ditching big brands, and we can easily see why ConAgra (NYSE: CAG  ) , Cott (NYSE: COT  ) , and others are continually strengthening their private-label positions.

• [By Dan Moskowitz]

  Cott (NYSE: COT  ) produces and sells over 200 different types of beverages in over 50 countries, and it implements a highly effective strategy. Cott is what is known as a Fast Follower, which makes it unique to other beverage companies.�

• [By Rick Munarriz]

  It's been a year of brand-widening initiatives for SodaStream, and not just because it cranked out its first Super Bowl ad back in February.

  In February it teamed up with Ocean Spray to co-develop cranberry juice blends exclusively for the SodaStream system. This follows deals last year with Crystal Light, Kool-Aid, and V8 for non-conventional carbonated beverages. My 2012 wish for SodaStream to strike a deal with Monster Beverage (NASDAQ: MNST  ) to make a bigger splash in the energy-drinks market hasn't materialized, but a deal with EBOOST did happen earlier this year. The initial natural energy drink flavors of orange and acai pomegranate will hit the market as SodaStream syrups during the latter half of this year, packing an all-natural energy boost and vitamins in every serving. EBOOST doesn't have the same allure as Monster or Red Bull, but the move was still a strong one since there's a real value proposition for home-crafted energy drinks. If SodaStream is successful, the big boys will be on notice. In March, SodaStream, which is based in Israel, teamed up with private-label bottler Cott (NYSE: COT  ) to produce SodaStream's existing flavors at its facility in Georgia, making it easier to get SodaStream products into the country with the world's largest soda consumption per capita.

  The next chapter in what has been a successful year will naturally write itself on Wednesday. There is plenty to prove, even after SodaStream proves quarter after quarter that it's not just a company behind a faddish novelty.