Best Up And Coming Companies For 2014

The Alibaba IPO was officially filed earlier this month, and analysts estimate that the deal could be the largest initial public offering in U.S. history.

Bloomberg has estimated that the Hong-Kong based e-commerce firm could be valued as high as $168 billion and will be selling a 12% stake in the company through the IPO. That means the company would raise $20.16 billion through its IPO.

That total would outpace the largest U.S. IPO to date, Visa Inc. (NYSE: V), which raised $19.65 billion when it hit the market on March 13, 2008. General Motors Co. (NYSE: GM) checks in at No. 3 on the list, having raised $18.14 billion in its 2010 IPO.

With a valuation of $168 billion, Alibaba will still be smaller than Apple Inc. (Nasdaq: AAPL) and Google Inc. (Nasdaq: GOOG, GOOGL), which have market caps of $508 billion and $356 billion, respectively. However, Alibaba's market cap will be bigger than Facebook Inc.'s (Nasdaq: FB) $148 billion, Amazon.com Inc.'s (Nasdaq: AMZN)$136 billion, and eBay Inc.'s (Nasdaq: EBAY) $65 billion.

Best Oil Stocks For 2015: Genworth Financial Inc (GNW)

Genworth Financial, Inc., a financial security company, provides insurance, wealth management, investment, and financial solutions in the United States and internationally. The company offers various insurance and fixed annuity products, including life and long-term care insurance products; payment protection insurance products for consumers primarily to meet specified payment obligations; and wealth management products, such as managed account programs with advisor support and financial planning services. It also provides mortgage insurance products and related services to insure prime-based, individually underwritten residential mortgage loans or flow mortgage insurance; and mortgage insurance on a structured or bulk basis, as well as offers services, analytical tools, and technology that enable lenders to operate and manage risk. In addition, the company provides institutional products consisting of funding agreements, funding agreements backing notes, and guaranteed in vestment contracts. Genworth Financial, Inc. distributes its products and services through financial intermediaries, advisors, independent distributors, affinity groups, and sales specialists. The company was founded in 2003 and is headquartered in Richmond, Virginia.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Dan Caplinger]

  Genworth Financial (NYSE: GNW  ) will release its quarterly report tomorrow, but investors have already gotten a head-start in celebrating. With the recovery in housing greatly bolstering the creditworthiness of mortgage-backed securities compared to their financial-crisis lows, companies that insure those bonds against loss have bounced back sharply, and Genworth earnings look poised to reap the benefits.

Best Up And Coming Companies For 2014: Oil and Gas Development Co Ltd (OGDC)

Oil and Gas Development Company Limited (OGDCL) is a Pakistan-based company engaged in the exploration and development of oil and gas resources, including production and sale of oil and gas and related activities. As the fiscal year ended June 30, 2012, the Company�� crude oil production was 37,615 barrels of oil per day, and 17 wells were spudded. As of June 30, 2011, the Company operated in 31 exploration blocks (22 blocks with 100% shares including an offshore block, and 12 blocks as operated joint ventures), including 3 offshore blocks. Its projects include Uch-II Development Project, KPD-TAY Integrated Development Project, Jhal Magsi Development Project, Sinjhoro Development Project and Nashpa/ Mela Development Project. Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Weiyi Lim]

  Drinkall, whose $83 million Frontier Emerging Markets Portfolio (MFMIX) beat 99 percent of peers tracked by Bloomberg during the past 12 months with a 40 percent gain, said he favors Nigeria because of its economic growth prospects and Pakistan on the nation�� improving political stability. His fund held shares of Lagos-based Dangote Cement Plc (DANGCEM) and Islamabad-based Oil & Gas Development Co. (OGDC) as of April 30, Morgan Stanley�� website shows.

Best Up And Coming Companies For 2014: Zurich Insurance Group AG (ZURN)

Zurich Insurance Group Limited is a Switzerland-based holding company engaged in the insurance sector. The Company provides a range of general and life insurance products and services for individuals, small business, mid-sized and large-sized companies, and multinational corporations. The Company offers its products and services through three business segments, namely General Insurance, Global life and Farmers. The General Insurance segment offers motor, home and commercial products and services for individuals, as well as small and large business. The Global life segment offers life insurance, savings, investment and pensions solutions. The Farmers segment includes farmers management services, which provides non-claims management services to the farmers exchange, as well as Farmers Re business, which includes reinsurance assumed from the Farmers Exchange by the Company's group. Furthermore, the Company provides reinsurance and insurance business considered as non-core business. Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Namitha Jagadeesh]

  Zurich Insurance Group AG (ZURN) lost 3.6 percent after second-quarter profit missed analysts��estimates. Hennes & Mauritz AB (HMB) declined the most in seven weeks as Europe�� second-biggest clothing retailer reported worse-than-expected sales. BG Group Plc, which derives 20 percent of its oil-and-gas production from Egypt, slipped 2.4 percent as the death toll from nationwide violence in the most populous Arab country climbed above 500.

Best Up And Coming Companies For 2014: First Trust Portfolios LP (QQEW)

First Trust NASDAQ-100 Equal Weighted Index Fund (the Fund) seeks investment results that correspond generally to the price and yield of an equity index called the NASDAQ-100 Equal Weighted Index (the Index). The Fund will normally invest at least 90% of its assets in common stocks that comprise the Index. The Index is the equal-weighted version of the NASDAQ-100 Index, which includes 100 of the largest non-financial securities listed on NASDAQ based on market capitalization. The Index contains the same securities as the NASDAQ-100 Index but each of the securities is initially set at a weight of 1% of the Index and is rebalanced quarterly. The Fund�� investment advisor is First Trust Advisors L.P. Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Selena Maranjian]

  Perhaps the best reason to pass up this otherwise solid ETF is its market-cap-based weighting, which gives much more influence to some companies than others. If you're not a strong believer in Apple's future, for example, you may not want more than 13% of your money in this ETF tied up in it. If you agree that equal weighting makes more sense in indexes, consider the First Trust NASDAQ-100 Equal Weighted ETF (NASDAQ: QQEW  ) , an ETF with the same stock focus as the PowerShares ETF that's also compelling in terms of fees and performance. It charges a bit more in fees, but it will give all its holdings an equal shot at boosting the value of the index.

Best Up And Coming Companies For 2014: Ultratech Inc.(UTEK)

Ultratech, Inc. develops, manufactures, and markets photolithography and laser thermal processing equipment. It supplies step-and-repeat photolithography systems based on one-to-one imaging technology to semiconductor device manufacturers for applications involving line geometries of 0.75 microns or greater and to nanotechnology manufacturers. The company?s steppers are also used to manufacture semiconductors that are used in various applications, such as telecommunications, automotive control systems, power systems, and consumer electronics. It also supplies 1X photolithography systems to thin film head manufacturers; and offers LSA100, a laser-based thermal annealing tool used by the semiconductor industry for various process steps, including activation of implanted impurities, dielectric film formation, formation of silicides, and stabilization of copper grain structures. Ultratech, Inc. sells its systems to semiconductor, advanced packaging, high-brightness light emit ting diodes, thin film head, and various other nanotechnology manufacturers in North America, Europe, and Asia. The company was founded in 1979 and is headquartered in San Jose, California.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Evan Niu, CFA]

  What: Shares of Ultratech (NASDAQ: UTEK  ) dropped today by as much as 13% after the company reported earnings that fell short of expectations.

• [By Evan Niu, CFA]

  What: Shares of Ultratech (NASDAQ: UTEK  ) got ultra crushed today, down by 18% at the low, following a first-quarter earnings release that didn't meet expectations.

• [By Ashraf Eassa]

  Does the Samsung timeline work?
  Samsung has repeatedly claimed that it would go into high-volume manufacturing on its 14-nanometer FinFET process by the end of 2014. However, Ultratech (NASDAQ: UTEK  ) , a chip equipment vendor that claims that its laser spike anneal or LSA tools will be used at "all but one" of the major foundries in the manufacture of 14/16-nanometer chips.

Best Up And Coming Companies For 2014: Advanced Energy Industries Inc.(AEIS)

Advanced Energy Industries, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, designs, manufactures, sells, and supports power conversion products that transform power into various usable forms. It offers thin-film deposition power conversion systems, including direct current (DC), pulsed DC mid frequency, and radio frequency (RF) power supplies, as well as matching networks and RF instrumentation; and thermal instrumentation products that provide temperature measurement solutions for applications in which time-temperature cycles affect material properties, productivity, and yield. The company also offers solar power inverters, which provide a transformer-based or transformerless grid-tie photovoltaic (PV) solution to convert renewable solar power into electrical power, as well as integrated monitoring and performance measurement of PV installations. Its power conversion systems are used by semiconductor, solar panel, and similar thin-film manufacturers, such as flat panel display, da ta storage, and architectural glass manufacturers; thermal instrumentation products are used in rapid thermal processing, chemical vapor deposition, and other semiconductor and solar applications requiring non-contact temperature measurement by the semiconductor, solar panels, and LED industries; and solar inverters are used in the residential, commercial, and utility-scale solar projects and installations. In addition, the company provides repair services, conversions, upgrades, and refurbishment services, as well as operations and maintenance service plans for individual PV sites. Advanced Energy Industries, Inc. sells its products through direct sales force, sales representatives, and distributors in North America, Europe, and Asia. The company was founded in 1981 and is headquartered in Fort Collins, Colorado.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Nelson Hem]

  Among the leading U.S. solar-related stocks, Advanced Energy Industries (NASDAQ: AEIS), First Solar (NASDAQ: FSLR) and SolarCity (NASDAQ: SCTY) saw the largest swings in the number of shares sold short in the first two weeks of March.