Friday, February 13, 2015

Top 5 Performing Stocks For 2014

I had the opportunity to hear advisor coach George Hartman speak this year at the annual Million Dollor Round Table meeting in Toronto. While many presenters I've heard lately focus on the clients to maximize their success rate, Hartman went in another direction. He said advisors need to look in the mirror, first, to figure out if they're doing things right and maximizing their potential.

He asked the audience to raise their hands if they believed they were doing the things they needed to be top-performing advisors. Hands shot up. Hartman didn't shake his head. "In fact, I am willing to bet that most of you are already performing at a high level in many aspects of your business. You wouldn’t have qualified to attend this meeting without having done many of the right things and done them well. . . Don't worry, I won't be wasting your time. Even the highest-performing advisors rarely do everything perfectly."

What the best advisors have learned to do, according to Hartman, is to "recognize their strengths and weaknesses and then work to capitalize on the first and eliminate the second. They have also come to understand that, in the dynamic world of financial advice, perfection is an elusive goal."

10 Best High Tech Stocks To Own Right Now: Vitacost.com Inc (VITC)

Vitacost.com, Inc. (Vitacost), incorporated in May 20, 1994, is an online retailer of health and wellness products, including dietary supplements such as vitamins, minerals, herbs and other botanicals, amino acids and metabolites, as well as cosmetics, natural personal care products, pet products, sports nutrition and health foods. The Company sells these products directly to consumers primarily through its Website, www.vitacost.com. It offers its customers the selection of healthy living products. It offers its customers a selection of approximately 40,000 Stock Keeping Units (SKUs), from over 2,000 third-party brands, such as New Chapter, Nature�� Way, Twinlab, Source Naturals, Jarrow Formulas, Jason, Desert Essence, Atkins, Bob�� Red Mill, BSN, Optimum Nutrition, USP Labs and MuscleTech in addition to its own brands: Vitacost, Cosmeceutical Sciences Institute (CSI), Best of All, and Smart Basics. As of December 31, 2012, the Company had approximately 2.1 million customers.

The Company offers products in a range of potency levels and dosage forms, such as tablets, capsules, vegi-capsules, softgels, gelcaps, liquids and powders. It offers products that encompass four main categories: Vitamins, Minerals, Herbs and Supplements; Sports Nutrition; Beauty; and Natural and Organic Food.

Vitamins, Minerals, Herbs and Supplements (VMHS)

VMHS products are taken to maintain or improve health and address specific health conditions. In its dietary supplements category, the Company offers its offer its Vitacost branded products as well as third-party brands such as Nature�� Way, Twinlab, Jarrow, Carlson and Rainbow Light. Vitamin and mineral products include multi-vitamins, lettered vitamins, such as Vitamin A, C, D, E and B-complex, along with minerals such as calcium, magnesium, chromium and zinc.

Herbal products include whole herbs, standardized extracts, herb combination formulas and teas. Supplements include essential fatty acids, probiotics, anti-o! xidants, phytonutrients and condition-specific formulas.

Sports Nutrition

Sports nutrition products are used in conjunction with cardiovascular conditioning, weight training and sports activities. Major categories in sports nutrition include protein and weight gain powders, meal replacements, nutrition bars, sport drinks and pre and post-workout supplements. The Company offers bodybuilding and sports products from third parties, such as Optimum Nutrition, CytoSport and BSN as well as our Vitacost branded sports nutrition products.

Beauty

Natural care products consist of a variety of natural products for skin, body, hair and oral health. The Company offers hundreds of natural personal-care products from companies, such as JASON, and Kiss My Face, as well as its CSI-branded products. These products appeal to allergen-conscious and environmentally-conscious consumers seeking products that are made without harsh chemicals and additives.

Natural and Organic Food

Natural and organic food products consist of organic and specialty products such as organic peanut butter, gluten free foods and low mercury tuna and salmon. The Company offers third-party brands, such as Kashi, Eden Foods and Amy�� Organic, as well as its Best of All natural food products.

Under its Vitacost brand, the Company offers over 900 products including multivitamins, minerals, herbs, amino acids, anti-oxidants and others. Under its CSI brand, it markets and sells health and beauty products such as facial cleanser, facial and body moisturizing creams and lotions, and other beauty and skincare products. Under its Best of All brand, it markets and sells organic food products such as banana chips, trail mix, almonds, cashews and more. Under its Smart Basics brand, it markets and sells organic fruit juices and extracts and related dietary supplements. Under its Walker Diet brand, it markets and sells low carb powders used to assist in weight loss and ! managemen! t.

Advisors' Opinion:
  • [By Seth Jayson]

    Margins matter. The more Vitacost.com (Nasdaq: VITC  ) keeps of each buck it earns in revenue, the more money it has to invest in growth, fund new strategic plans, or (gasp!) distribute to shareholders. Healthy margins often separate pretenders from the best stocks in the market. That's why we check up on margins at least once a quarter in this series. I'm looking for the absolute numbers, so I can compare them to current and potential competitors, and any trend that may tell me how strong Vitacost.com's competitive position could be.

  • [By Seth Jayson]

    Calling all cash flows
    When you are trying to buy the market's best stocks, it's worth checking up on your companies' free cash flow once a quarter or so, to see whether it bears any relationship to the net income in the headlines. That's what we do with this series. Today, we're checking in on Vitacost.com (Nasdaq: VITC  ) , whose recent revenue and earnings are plotted below.

Top 5 Performing Stocks For 2014: Chatham Lodging Trust (CLDT)

Chatham Lodging Trust is a hotel investment company. The Company was formed to invest in extended-stay, select-service and full-service hotels. The Company focuses on investing in select-service hotels, such as Courtyard by Marriott, Hampton Inn and Hampton Inn and Suites. In addition, Chatham Lodging Trust focuses on investing in branded full-service hotels. In October 2011, the Company and affiliates of Cerberus Capital Management, L.P., acquired 64 hotels from affiliates of Innkeepers USA Trust. In June 2013, Chatham Lodging Trust announced that has completed its acquisition of the 178-room Hyatt Place Pittsburgh/North Shore in Pittsburgh, Pa. Effective August 13, 2013, Chatham Lodging Trust acquired Hampton Inn & Suites, an owner and operator of hotels. In October 2013, Chatham Lodging Trust acquired Hilton Garden Inn Denver Tech Center. In November 2013, Chatham Lodging Trust acquired the 231-room Residence Inn by Marriott Seattle Bellevue/Downtown. In December 2013, Chatham Lodging Trust acquired the 160-room SpringHill Suites by Marriott Savannah Downtown/Historic District.

The Company focuses on investing primarily in hotels in the metropolitan markets in the United States. The Company has not entered into any contracts to acquire hotel properties or other assets.

Advisors' Opinion:
  • [By , Zacks Investment Research]

    Here are five�stocks that made it through this week’s screen:

    AmTrust Financial (AFSI) Allied World Assurance (AWH) Chatham Lodging Trust (CLDT) Federated National Holding Co. (FNHC) Whitewave Foods (WWAV)

    Get the rest of the stocks on this list and start screening for these companies on your own.

  • [By Rich Duprey]

    Luxury, extended-stay hotel operator�Chatham Lodging Trust (NYSE: CLDT  ) announced this morning�its dividend for the month of June of $0.07 per share, the same rate it's paid for the past five months after switching over to a monthly payment schedule.�

  • [By Lauren Pollock]

    Chatham Lodging Trust(CLDT) unveiled a plan to offer at least 3.3 million shares, as the real-estate investment trust looks to raise proceeds to repay debt and help fund a portion of a property acquisition in Bellevue, Wash. Shares slipped 5.4% to $18.35 premarket.

Top 5 Performing Stocks For 2014: Trovagene Inc (TROV)

TrovaGene, Inc. (TrovaGene), incorporated on April 26, 2002, is a development-stage molecular diagnostic company that focuses on the development and marketing of urine-based nucleic acid tests for patient/disease screening and monitoring. The Company's novel tests predominantly use transrenal DNA (Tr-DNA) and transrenal RNA (Tr-RNA). The Company's technology is used to all transrenal nucleic acids (Tr-NA). The Company�� urine-based test addresses market needs, such as women�� healthcare-fetal medicine-down syndrome, infectious diseases, cancer testing, transplantation, drug development and monitoring of therapeutic outcomes, ultra-sensitive analytical and detection system, technologies for the collection, shipment and storage of urine specimens, and transrenal nucleic acid extraction, and instrumentation/system platform.

On January 18, 2011, the Company entered into an asset purchase agreement pursuant to which the Company acquired a hybridoma able to produce a monoclonal antibody targeting the NPM1 biomarker. On February 8, 2011, the Company entered into a sublicense agreement with MLL Munchner Leukamielabor (MLL). In July, 2011, the Company entered into a sublicense agreement with Fairview Health Services (Fairview) for NPM1 patent rights.

In October 2011, the Company entered into a license agreement pursuant to which the Company licensed the patent rights to a specific gene mutation with respect to chronic lymphoblastic leukemia. On December 12, 2011, the Company entered into a license agreement pursuant to which the Company licensed the patent rights to hairy cell leukemia biomarkers. On February 1, 2012, the Company acquired the clinical laboratory improvement amendments (CLIA) laboratory assets of MultiGEN Diagnostics, Inc. (MultiGEN).

Advisors' Opinion:
  • [By Daniel Lauchheimer]

    In the past few weeks, I wrote two articles about TrovaGene (TROV) -- one detailing the history of the DNA market generally and the molecular diagnostics -- and TROV's place therein -- market specifically, and the second detailing the company's internal valuation. In this article, I will value TROV on an external, relative basis. Specifically, I will compare TROV to another molecular diagnostics company, Exact Sciences (EXAS), and try to show that while the market seems to have given EXAS a fair shake, it has not done the same for TROV. I will prove this argument by looking at both companies' addressable markets, and their respective progress at bringing the products to market. However, before we take this deep dive into both companies, I will take a moment to review each of the companies' products, so we have a strong background before turning to the deeper analysis.

  • [By Roberto Pedone]

    TrovaGene (TROV) is a development stage molecular diagnostic company focused on the development and marketing of urine-based nucleic acid tests for patient/disease screening and monitoring. This stock closed up 6% to $10.02 in Friday's trading session.

    Friday's Volume: 712,000

    Three-Month Average Volume: 183,106

    Volume % Change: 294%

    From a technical perspective, TROV ripped higher here into all-time high territory with heavy upside volume. This stock has been uptrending strong for the last month and change, with shares soaring higher from its low of $5.75 to its new all-time high of $10.20. During that move, shares of TROV have been making mostly higher lows and higher highs, which is bullish technical price action. That move has also been accompanied by bullish upside volume flows.

    Traders should now look for long-biased trades in TROV as long as it's trending above its recent breakout level of $8.83, and then once it sustains a move or close above its all-time high of $10.20 with volume that hits near or above 183,106 shares. If we get that move soon, then TROV will set up to enter new all-time high territory, which is bullish technical price action. Some possible upside targets off that move are $13 to $15.

Top 5 Performing Stocks For 2014: L&L Energy Inc.(LLEN)

L&L Energy, Inc., through its subsidiaries, engages in the coal mining, clean coal washing, coal coking, and coal wholesaling businesses in the People?s Republic of China. It involves in producing, processing, and selling metallurgical coke used primarily for steel manufacturing; and crushing coal and washing out soluble sulfur compounds with water or other solvents. The company has four coal mines comprising the DaPuAn, SuTsong, Ping Yi, and DaPing mines; three coal washing plants; one coking facility; and coal wholesale and distribution facilities. It also has a financial interest in the Bowie mine, a thermal coal mine located in Paonia, Colorado. The company provides its products to customers in the steel and the electrical/utility industries, as well as to cement factories. L&L Energy, Inc. sells its products directly and through third-party wholesalers. The company was formerly known as L & L International Holdings, Inc. and changed its name to L&L Energy, Inc. in Jan uary 2010. L&L Energy, Inc. was founded in 1995 and is headquartered in Seattle, Washington.

Advisors' Opinion:
  • [By James E. Brumley]

    Well, as it turns out, the snake that bit L&L Energy, Inc. (NASDAQ:LLEN) and Sovereign Lithium Inc. (OTCMKTS:SLCO) didn't end up biting Makism 3D Corp. (OTCMKTS:MDDD). And in retrospect, that's probably how it should be. Indeed, the fact that MDDD didn't even come close to suffering the same fate as SLCO or LLEN did may be the biggest assurance Makism 3D fans could hope for that the company is everything it says it is.

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