Best Sliver Stocks To Own For 2014

Among the latest new additions to the model portfolio at The Buyback Letter are two stocks that have made it on the newsletter's buy list numerous times already; here, buyback expert David Fried, explains the ongoing attraction of these shares.

We dabbled in WellPoint, Inc. (WLP) four times between 2009 and 2012, and bought it earlier this year, in August, as well. The company has strong buyback activity and has reduced shares outstanding by 8.06% in the past 12 months.

WellPoint is the second-largest health insurer in the US, with more than 36 million members in its affiliated health plans and 68 million individuals served through subsidiaries. In fact, one of every nine Americans is a member of a WellPoint affiliated health plan.

Healthcare reforms, such as the formation of health insurance exchanges, and the government providing health insurance to citizens who can't afford it, will be the biggest contributors to this growth. WellPoint is well positioned to capitalize on the potential growth.

Top 5 Gas Stocks To Own For 2015: Synutra International Inc.(SYUT)

Synutra International, Inc., through its subsidiaries, engages in the production, marketing, and distribution of dairy based nutritional products primarily in the People?s Republic of China. The company offers powdered infant and adult formula products for adults and children under the Super, U-Smart, My Angel, Mingshan, and Helanruniu brand names; prepared baby food for babies and children under the Huiliduo brand name; and nutritional ingredients and supplements, such as chondroitin sulfate, microencapsulated Docosahexanoic Acid, and Arachidonic Acid. It also sells milk powder, whey protein, and raw milk to industrial customers. The company markets its products under Shengyuan or Synutra brands. It sells its products through sales and distribution network covering 30 provinces and provincial-level municipalities in China. Synutra International, Inc. is headquartered in Rockville, Maryland.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Seth Jayson]

  Synutra International (Nasdaq: SYUT  ) reported earnings on June 13. Here are the numbers you need to know.

  The 10-second takeaway
  For the quarter ended March 31 (Q4), Synutra International missed estimates on revenues and beat expectations on earnings per share.

• [By Seth Jayson]

  Synutra International (Nasdaq: SYUT  ) is expected to report Q4 earnings on June 13. Here's what Wall Street wants to see:

  The 10-second takeaway
  Comparing the upcoming quarter to the prior-year quarter, average analyst estimates predict Synutra International's revenues will contract -9.1% and EPS will decrease -84.6%.

Best Sliver Stocks To Own For 2014: Dj Wilshire Reit Etf (RWR)

SPDR DJ Wilshire REIT (the Fund), formerly DJ Wilshire REIT ETF, seeks to replicate as closely as possible the performance of the Dow Jones Wilshire REIT Index (the Index). The Fund utilizes a passive or indexing approach, and attempts to approximate the investment performance of its Index, by investing in a portfolio of stocks to replicate the Index. The Index seeks to provide an effective representation of the United States real estate investment trust (REIT) market.

The Index consists of companies whose charters are the equity ownership and operation of commercial real estate, and which operate under the REIT Act of 1960. The Index is generally rebalanced monthly. Companies are chosen based upon market capitalization, source of revenue and liquidity. Each REIT in the Index is weighted by its float-adjusted market capitalization. The Fund�� investment manager is SSgA Funds Management, Inc.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Hilary Kramer]

   

  2. Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs) The REIT is another alternative vehicle that's gone mainstream in recent years. Hundreds of broad-based and specialized real estate companies and ETFs are available, and after a correction a few months ago, many are on the cheap side. Like any other alternative, this should be a seasoning for your portfolio and not the sauce itself. For most retail investors, a stake in an indexed fund like the SPDR Dow Jones REIT (NYSE: RWR) should be more than adequate, or look into the companies that provide services to the REIT industry like HFF (NYSE: HF) and Jones Lang LaSalle (NYSE: JLL).

   

Best Sliver Stocks To Own For 2014: Cutera Inc. (CUTR)

Cutera, Inc., a medical device company, engages in the research, design, development, manufacture, marketing, sale, and service of laser and other energy based aesthetics systems for practitioners worldwide. The company offers a range of non-invasive laser and intense pulsed light products for use in the treatment of cosmetic vascular conditions, hair removal, vascular lesions, skin rejuvenation, onychomycosis or toenail fungus, pigmented lesions, laser skin toning, tattoo removal, cutaneous lesions, fine wrinkles, diffuse redness, rosacea, skin texture, and pore size, as well as for non-invasive body contouring applications. It primarily serves plastic surgeons, dermatologists, gynecologists, primary care physicians, family practitioners, physicians offering aesthetic treatments in non-medical offices, podiatrists, and other qualified practitioners. The company sells and markets its products through its direct sales force and distributors, as well as sells hand piece refi lls through the Internet. Cutera, Inc. was founded in 1998 and is headquartered in Brisbane, California.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By John Udovich]

  Large cap serial acquirer�Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc (NYSE: VRX) is teaming up with activist investor�Bill Ackman to pursue large cap Botox maker Allergan, Inc (NYSE: AGN), but stocks like Cutera, Inc (NASDAQ: CUTR), Cynosure, Inc (NASDAQ: CYNO), PhotoMedex Inc (NASDAQ: PHMD) and Syneron Medical Ltd (NASDAQ: ELOS)�actually offer investors more exposure to the growing anti aging and aesthetics market (Note: See my recent article: These Small Caps Seek to Treat Your Crow�� Feet and Double Chin (RVNC & KYTH)). To begin with, Valeant Pharmaceuticals International has a wide focus on neurology, dermatology and infectious diseases�but acquiring the maker of Botox won�� be its first foray into the aesthetic market�because earlier this year, the company completed its acquisition of Solta Medical Inc (NASDAQ: SLTM) -�a designer, developer, manufacturer and marketer of�energy-based medical device systems for aesthetic applications.�And while�Allergan, Inc may be most well known for Botox, its actually a pretty big�company focused on a diverse range of areas, including ophthalmic pharmaceuticals, dermatology, neuroscience, urology and cosmetics���meaning the following stocks offer investors better exposure to the aesthetics market:

Best Sliver Stocks To Own For 2014: Altera Corporation (ALTR)

Altera Corporation, a semiconductor company, designs, manufactures, and markets programmable logic devices (PLD), HardCopy application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) devices, pre-defined design building blocks, and associated development tools. Its PLDs consist of field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs) and complex programmable logic devices (CPLDs), which are semiconductor integrated circuits manufactured as standard chips that can be programmed to perform logic functions in electronic systems; and HardCopy structured ASIC devices that transition customer designs from high-density FPGAs to low-cost non-programmable implementations for volume production. The company?s products primarily include Stratix series high-end, system-level FPGAs; Arria series mid-range, transceiver-equipped FPGAs; Cyclone series low-cost FPGAs; MAX series CPLDs; and HardCopy ASICs. It also offers intellectual property cores that are pre-verified building blocks that execute system-level functio ns that is incorporated into the PLD design; and development tools consisting primarily of the Quartus II software for design entry, design compilation, design verification, and device programming. Altera Corporation serves customers primarily in the telecom and wireless, industrial automation, military and automotive, networking, and computer and storage markets. The company markets its products through a network of distributors, independent sales representatives, and direct sales personnel. It has operations in the Americas, the Asia Pacific, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and Japan. The company was founded in 1983 and is headquartered in San Jose, California.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Rich Bieglmeier]

  Altera Corporation (NASDAQ:ALTR) was on the move today and could have a lot more to go. RBC Capital upgraded the specialized semiconductor company to "Outperform" from "Sector Perform" with a price target of $39 ��upside potential to target of 17.64%.

• [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>

• [By Jon C. Ogg]

  Altera Corp. (NASDAQ: ALTR) was raised to Buy from Neutral at Citigroup.

  Arkansas Best Corp. (NASDAQ: ABFS) was raised to Strong Buy from Market Perform at Raymond James.