Top 10 Safest Companies To Buy Right Now

The proposed northern portion of TransCanada's (NYSE: TRP  ) Keystone XL pipeline, which would transport massive quantities of mainly heavy crude oil from Alberta's oil sands to the U.S., has drawn harsh criticism from groups that oppose its construction largely on environmental grounds.

They argue that the pipeline would promote further development in Alberta's oil sands, a region whose oil production is thought to be significantly worse for the environment because it spews more greenhouse gases into the atmosphere than more conventional methods of oil production.

Some also argue that the type of oil the pipeline will carry ��heavy bituminous crude ��is more corrosive, more prone to spills than lighter types of oil, and much more costly and difficult to clean up once spilled. Let's take a closer look at this second argument and see what TransCanada is doing to ensure Keystone XL's utmost safety.

TransCanada's claims
TransCanada maintains that Keystone will meet or exceed federal pipeline standards. The company's CEO, Russ Girling, has said�that Keystone will be "the safest, most advanced pipeline ever built in North America." The company also suggests that, in addition to being closely monitored at all times, the pipeline will be equipped with a state of the art leak detection system.

Hot Shipping Stocks To Invest In 2015: (AMC)

AMC Entertainment Holdings, Inc., through its subsidiaries, operates as a theatrical exhibition company in the United States and internationally. As of June 30, 2011, it owned, operated, or had interests in 357 theatres and 5,098 screens in 31 states and the District of Columbia, and 4 countries outside the United States. The company was founded in 1920 and is headquartered in Kansas City, Missouri. As of August 30, 2012, AMC Entertainment Holdings, Inc. operates as a subsidiary of Dalian Wanda Group Corporation Ltd.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By WWW.DAILYFINANCE.COM]

  www.sixflags.com Major market indexes may be hitting new highs, but not everyone is celebrating. Given the lofty stock valuations and slowly expanding economy, many investors are starting to hunt for high-yielding stocks that can provide some steady income to help offset any upcoming market declines. Utility stocks, real estate investment trusts and limited partnerships are magnetic because of their chunky yields, but let's look beyond the obvious high-payers. Let's check out a few investments generating high payouts in some unlikely places. Six Flags (SIX) -- 5.1 percent yield It seems as if you can't run an amusement park chain as a public company without rewarding your stakeholders with some spending money for the next time they hit the park. This can probably be attributed to Cedar Fair (FUN), which as a limited partnership shells out most of its profits as distributions. This translated into a head-turning yield of 5.7 percent. Six Flags isn't too shabby, presently yielding more than 5 percent. Even SeaWorld (SEAS) is now brandishing a yield north of 4 percent, largely the result of losing nearly a third of its value after a poorly received quarterly report a few weeks ago. Running a theme park isn't cheap. It takes frequent sizable investments during the off-seasons to beef up the attractions. However, Six Flags is finding a way to build out its gated attractions while still being able to return money to its shareholders. Mattel (MAT) -- 4.3 percent yield Barbie, Hot Wheels and American Girl are just some of the famous playthings produced by Mattel. Barbie sales have slowed in recent years, plunging 15 percent in Mattel's latest quarter, and having a few more hit toys and games this upcoming holiday season wouldn't hurt. The toy-making giant has been struggling lately, missing Wall Street's profit targets in each of the past three quarters. Still, toy makers apparently don't play games when it comes to their payouts. Rival Hasbro (HAS) -- the to

• [By Brian Nichols]

  Thanks to visionaries like Steve Jobs, Jeff Bezos, Reed Hastings, and Larry Page, the way we view, interact, and process data has changed and this includes all of the major industries within technology and entertainment. Today, it's a mobile world, yet the one industry that remains unchanged is very much the movie industry. According to DreamWorks Animation (NASDAQ: DWA  ) CEO Jeffrey Katzenberg, this could spell trouble, especially for the likes of Carmike Cinemas (NASDAQ: CKEC  ) , Regal Entertainment (NYSE: RGC  ) , and AMC Entertainment Holdings (NYSE: AMC  ) .

Top 10 Safest Companies To Buy Right Now: Solutia Inc(SOA)

Solutia Inc. and its subsidiaries manufacture performance materials and specialty chemicals used in various consumer and industrial applications. The company?s Advanced Interlayers segment provides polyvinyl butyral (PVB) sheet that is used in the manufacture of laminated glass for automotive and architectural applications, and as an encapsulant in photovoltaic applications primarily under the SAFLEX name; ethyl vinyl acetate films under the VISTASOLAR name for photovoltaic module encapsulation; and specialty intermediate PVB resin and plasticizer products under the BUTVAR name. Its Performance Films segment manufactures solar control, decorative, safety and security window films for aftermarket automotive and architectural applications under the LLUMAR, V-KOOL, H�ER OPTIK, VISTA, GILA, and FORMULA ONE HIGH PERFORMANCE AUTOMOTIVE TINT names; and advanced film components that are used in electronics and energy industrial products under the FLEXVUE name. The company?s Te chnical Specialties segment manufactures and sells chemicals for the rubber, solar energy, process manufacturing, and aviation industries. This segment offers insoluble sulfur under the CRYSTEX name; and antidegradants, which are used in pneumatic tire components, solid tires, belts, hoses, cables, automotive mounts, bushings, and general mechanical products under the SANTOFLEX name. This segment also provides heat transfer fluids that are used for indirect heating or cooling of chemical processes in various types of industrial equipment and in solar energy power systems under the THERMINOL name; and aviation hydraulic fluids for airline airframe manufacturers and aviation maintenance facilities under the SKYDROL name. The company sells its products to end users in various industries through distributors and franchisees, as well as through its sales force in the United States, Europe, the Asia Pacific, and internationally. Solutia Inc. was founded in 1901 and is headquartere d in St. Louis, Missouri.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Holly LaFon]

  His largest new buys in the first quarter are: Penn Virginia Group Holdings LP (PVG), Wynn Resorts Ltd. (WYNN), Methanex Corp. (MEOH), Solutia Inc. (SOA) and Georgia Gulf (GGC). Of his top eight stocks, five are from the chemicals industry.

Top 10 Safest Companies To Buy Right Now: PBF Energy Inc (PBF)

PBF Energy Inc. (PBF Energy), incorporated on November 7, 2011, is an independent petroleum refiners and suppliers of unbranded transportation fuels, heating oils, petrochemical feedstocks, lubricants and other petroleum products in the United States. The Company produces a range of products at each of its refineries, including gasoline, ultra-low-sulfur diesel (ULSD), heating oil, jet fuel, lubricants, petrochemicals and asphalt. The Company sells its products throughout the Northeast and Midwest of the United States, as well as in other regions of the United States and Canada, and are able to ship products to other international destinations. As of December 31, 2011, the Company owned and operated three domestic oil refineries and related assets. The Company's refineries have a combined processing capacity of approximately 540,000 thousand barrels per day. The Company's three refineries are located in Toledo, Ohio, Delaware City, Delaware and Paulsboro, New Jersey.

The Company's Midcontinent refinery at Toledo processes light, sweet crude, has a throughput capacity of 170,000 thousand barrels per day and a Nelson Complexity Index of 9.2. Toledo's West Texas Intermediate (WTI) based crude is delivered through pipelines, which originate in both Canada and the United States. The Company's East Coast refineries at Delaware City and Paulsboro have a combined refining capacity of 370,000 thousand barrels per day and Nelson Complexity Indices of 11.3 and 13.2, respectively. These refineries process medium and heavy and sour crudes.

Delaware City Refinery

The Delaware City refinery is located on a 5,000-acre site, with access to waterborne cargoes and a distribution network of pipelines, barges and tankers, truck and rail. Delaware City is a fully integrated operation, which receives crude through rail at the crude unloading facility, or ship or barge at its docks located on the Delaware River. The crude and other feedstocks are transported, through pipes, to a tank! farm where they are stored until processing. In addition, there is a 17-bay, 50,000 thousand barrels per day capacity truck loading rack located adjacent to the refinery and a 23-mile interstate pipeline that are used to distribute clean products.

The Delaware City refinery has a throughput capacity of 190,000 thousand barrels per day and a Nelson Complexity Index of 11.3. The Delaware City refinery processes a range of medium to heavy, sour crude oils. The refinery has conversion capacity with its 82,000 thousand barrels per day fluid catalytic cracking (FCC) unit, 47,000 thousand barrels per day fluid coking unit (FCU) and 18,000 thousand barrels per day hydro cracking unit with vacuum distillation. Hydrogen is provided through the refinery's steam methane reformer and continuous catalytic reformer. The Delaware City refinery has total storage capacity of approximately 10 million barrels.

Paulsboro Refinery

Paulsboro has a throughput capacity of 180,000 thousand barrels per day and a Nelson Complexity Index of 13.2. The Paulsboro refinery is located on approximately 950 acres on the Delaware River in Paulsboro, New Jersey, just south of Philadelphia and approximately 30 miles away from Delaware City. Paulsboro receives crude and feedstocks through its marine terminal on the Delaware River. Paulsboro is one of two operating refineries on the East Coast with coking capacity, the other being Delaware City. Units at the Paulsboro refinery include crude distillation units, vacuum distillation units, an FCC unit, a delayed coking unit, a lube oil processing unit and a propane de-asphalting unit. The Paulsboro refinery processes a range of medium and heavy, sour crude oils. The Paulsboro refinery produces gasoline, heating oil and jet fuel and also manufactures Group I base oils or lubricants. In addition to its finished clean products slate, Paulsboro produces asphalt and petroleum coke. In addition, separate from the Company's agreement with Statoil the Company ha! s a long-! term contract with Saudi Aramco. The Paulsboro refinery has total storage capacity of approximately 7.5 million barrels. Of the total, approximately 2.1 million barrels are dedicated to crude oil storage with the remaining 5.4 million barrels allocated to finished products, intermediates and other products.

Toledo Refinery

Toledo has a throughput capacity of approximately 170,000 thousand barrels per day and a Nelson Complexity Index of 9.2. Toledo processes a slate of light, sweet crudes from Canada, the Midcontinent, the Bakken region and the United States Gulf Coast. Toledo produces a high percentage of finished products, including gasoline and ULSD, in addition to a range of petrochemicals, including nonene, xylene, tetramer and toluene. The Toledo refinery is located on a 282-acre site near Toledo, Ohio, approximately 60 miles from Detroit. Units at the Toledo refinery include an FCC unit, a hydrocracker, an alkylation unit and a UDEX unit. Crude is delivered to the Toledo refinery through three primary pipelines: Enbridge from the north, Capline from the south and Mid-Valley from the south. Crude is also delivered to a nearby terminal by rail and from local sources by truck to a truck unloading facility within the refinery.

Toledo is connected through pipelines, to a distribution network throughout Ohio, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Pennsylvania and West Virginia. The finished products are transported on pipelines owned by Sunoco Logistics Partners L.P. and Buckeye Partners.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Aimee Duffy]

  For example, East Coast refiners like PBF Energy (NYSE: PBF  ) did not see the astronomical margins that mid-continent refiners experienced last year, because they were still importing foreign oil, while midcontinent refiners had access to cheap Bakken crude. PBF has built out its rail infrastructure, and it can now receive cheaper domestic crude from North Dakota and Canada by rail -- provided that domestic crude remains cheaper than foreign crude.

Top 10 Safest Companies To Buy Right Now: Stock Building Supply Holdings Inc (STCK)

Stock Building Supply Holdings, Inc., incorporated on April 16, 2009, is a diversified lumber and building materials (LBM) distributor and solutions provider that sells to new construction and repair and remodel contractors. The Company�� primary products are lumber & lumber sheet goods, millwork, doors, flooring, windows, structural components, such as engineered wood products (EWP), trusses, wall panels and other exterior products. The Company serves a customer base, including large-scale production homebuilders, custom homebuilders and repair and remodeling contractors. In addition, the Company provides solution-based services to its customers, including design, product specification and installation management services. The Company�� primary operating regions include the South and West regions of the United States.

The Company provides a balanced mix of products and services to the United States production and custom homebuilders and repair and remodel, multi-family and commercial contractors. The Company offer over 39,000 products sourced through its strategic network of suppliers, which together with its various solution-based services; represent approximately 50% of the construction cost of a new home.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Monica Gerson]

  Stock Building Supply Holdings (NASDAQ: STCK) dipped 1.53% to $19.95 in the pre-market session after the company prices 5.6 million shares at $19.50 per share by selling shareholders.

Top 10 Safest Companies To Buy Right Now: ITT Educational Services Inc (ESI)

ITT Educational Services, Inc. (ITT/ESI), incorporated in 1946, is a provider of postsecondary degree programs in the United States. As of December 31, 2011, the Company offered master, bachelor and associate degree programs to approximately 73,000 students. As of December 31, 2011, the Company had 144 locations (including 141 campuses and three learning sites) in 39 states. In addition, ITT/ESI offered one or more of its online programs to students who were located in 48 states. The Company designs its education programs, after consultation with employers and other constituents, to help graduates prepare for careers in various fields involving their areas of study. The Company provides career-oriented education programs under the Daniel Webster College (DWC) name. During the year ended December 31, 2011, it began operations at 11 new ITT Technical Institute campuses and discontinued operations at one learning site. As of December 31, 2011, the ITT Technical Institutes offered 55 degree programs in various fields of study across the schools of study, such as information technology (IT); electronics technology; drafting and design; business; criminal justice, and breckinridge school of nursing and health sciences. As of December 31, 2011, the Company had 144 locations (including 141 campuses and three learning sites) in 39 states, which provided postsecondary education to approximately 73,000 students. In 2011, the Company derived approximately 98% of its revenue from tuition and approximately 2% from the sale of tool kits and fees, charged to and paid by, or on behalf of, its students. On August 1, 2013, the Company announced that it has acquired Cable Holdings, LLC.

At most of its campuses, ITT/ESI organizes the academic schedule for programs of study on the basis of four 12-week academic quarters in a calendar year, with new students beginning at the start of each academic quarter. At these campuses, students taking a full-time course load can complete its associate degree programs in ! eight academic quarters, bachelor degree programs in 14 or 15 academic quarters and a master degree program in six or seven academic quarters. ITT/ESI offers classes in residence programs in 3.5- to 5.5-hour sessions three days a week, Monday through Saturday, with all program courses taught entirely or partially in residence; or sessions that are scheduled two to three days a week, Monday through Saturday, with certain program courses taught entirely or partially online over the Internet academic quarters. Depending on student enrollment, class sessions at the most of its campuses are available in the morning, afternoon and evening. The courses that are taught online over the Internet are delivered through an asynchronous learning network and have a prescribed schedule for completion of the coursework. In addition to courses directly related to a student�� program of study, its programs also include general education courses in the humanities, composition, mathematics, the sciences and the social sciences.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Bill Smith]

  ITT Educational Services (ESI) is a company in the for-profit education services industry, and appears on GuruFocus��Buffett-Munger screener. This screener can be used to find companies with high quality businesses at undervalued, or fairly-valued, prices. Businesses on this screener are able to consistently grow revenue and earnings, maintain and expand profit margins while growing, and incur little debt during growth.

• [By Ben Levisohn]

  Shres of Corinthian have dropped 4.2% to $1.96 but don’t seem to be hitting other for profit universities. ITT Educational Services (ESI) has gained 2.2% to $31, Apollo Group (APOL) has risen 0.7% to $20.44 and Devry (DV) is up 0.9% at $31.95.

• [By Jeremy Bowman]

  So what: ITT Educational Services (NYSE: ESI  ) reported earnings earlier this morning, shooting up 30%, and earlier this week,�Capella Education (NASDAQ: CPLA  ) jumped 15% after reporting, and is now approaching a new 52-week high. The education sector has gotten hammered over the last couple of years, but investors seem to be getting the feeling that enrollment numbers are bottoming. One exception was DeVry (NYSE: DV  ) , which fell sharply after reporting earnings earlier this week, but still managed to gain 5.8% today.

• [By Ben Levisohn]

  Last week, ITT Educational Services (ESI) filed an 8-K disclosing that it was being investigated by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to determine whether it broke any rules in how it marketed loans.

  Reuters

  The filing, however, hasn’t had much of an impact. Shares of ITT Educational Services have dropped just 3.4% this week but have gained 95% so far in 2013. Corinthian Colleges (COCO), on the other hand, has dropped 27% this year, while DeVry Education (DV) has gained 50% and Apollo Education (APOL) has advanced 30%.

  So why don’t investors care about the announcement? First of all, investors have known this was coming. Second, no one believes it will result in a damaging fine. William Blair’s Timo Connor explains:

  We view as unlikely a severely punitive settlement against ITT Education from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) related to its continuing investigation of marketing practices on third-party student lending programs, and we believe the risk is a manageable one for ITT. We continue to like the company�� competitive positioning in capacity-constrained, growing educational markets like drafting, electronics, IT, and nursing, and believe the stock will distance itself from legacy student loan issues in the coming years…

  Connor‘s optimism also stems from previous penalties assessed by the CFPB: The median fine has been $3.9 million, or just 0.4% of ITT Educational Services market cap, Connor says.

  Shares of ITT Educational Services have gained 1.8% to $33.87 today at 1:09 p.m., while Corinthian Colleges has risen 1.7% to $1.79, DeVry Education advanced 0.6% to $35.48 and Apollo Education has ticked down 0.1% to $27.17.

Top 10 Safest Companies To Buy Right Now: Solitron Devices Inc (SODI)

Solitron Devices, Inc., incorporated on March 12, 1987, designs, develops, manufactures and markets solid-state semiconductor components and related devices primarily for the military and aerospace markets. The Company manufactures a variety of bipolar and metal oxide semiconductor (MOS) power transistors, power and controls hybrids, junction and power MOS field effect transistors (Power MOSFETS), field effect transistors and other related products. It's products are custom made pursuant to contracts with customers whose end products are sold to the United States government. The Company�� semiconductor products can be classified as active electronic components. The Company�� active electronic components include bipolar transistors and MOS transistors.

The Company�� semiconductor products are used as components of military, commercial, and aerospace electronic equipment, such as ground and airborne radar systems, power distribution systems, missiles, missile control systems, and spacecraft. Its products have been used on the space shuttle and on the spacecraft sent to the moon, to Jupiter (on Galileo) and, to Mars (on Global Surveyor and Mars Sojourner).

Power Transistors

The Company manufactures a variety of power bipolar transistors for applications requiring currents in the range of 0.1 ampere to 300 ampere or voltages in the range of 30 volts to 1000 volts. It also manufactures power diodes under the same military specification. In addition, it manufactures power N-Channel and P-Channel MOSFET transistors and is expanding that line in accordance with customers��requirements.

Hybrids

The Company manufactures thick film hybrids, which generally contain discrete semiconductor chips, integrated circuits, chip capacitors and thick film or thin film resistors. The hybrids are of the high-power type and are custom manufactured for military and aerospace systems. Some of the Company�� hybrids include high power voltage regulators, p! ower amplifiers, power drivers, boosters and controllers. The Company manufactures both standard and custom hybrids.

Voltage Regulators

Voltage regulators provide the power required to activate electronic components such as the integrated circuits. These circuits are found in all electronic devices from radar and missile systems to smart phones.

Field Effect Transistors

The Company manufactures about 30 different types of junction and MOS field effect transistor chips. They are used to produce over 350 different field effect transistor types. The Company�� field effect transistors conform to standard Joint Electronic Device Engineering Council designated transistors, commonly referred to as standard 2N number types. It manufactures both standard and custom field effect transistors.

The Competes with IXYS Corporation, Motorola Inc., International Rectifier, Microsemi Corporation, M.S. Kennedy Corporation, Natel Engineering Company and Sensitron Semiconductor.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Geoff Gannon] on the amount of stock you can buy and the position size you like. For me, I try not to start buying a stock that I think will never make up 10% of my portfolio. If you don�� mind having 5% positions in your portfolio, your portfolio can obviously be twice as big as mine and you can still consider buying the same small stocks I do. In terms of specific stocks, it depends on the amount of float and the volume the stock trades in an average month. We are really getting into specifics here. And I may be boring people. But if you�� like to hear more about the minutiae of how you actually buy and sell tiny stocks like these, let me know, and I��l do an article on the subject.

  By the way, there is a hard and fast rule of thumb that it usually makes no sense to invest in a company with a market cap that is smaller than your portfolio. This is true for both fund and individual investors. Funds break it all the time. But, frankly, it is probably a waste of an analyst/fund manager�� time to even analyze such tiny positions relative to the size of the whole portfolio. Since even when we are discussing very small stocks we are still talking about millions and millions of dollars in market cap, this is hardly a concern for most individuals.

  So, for individual investors, actual inability to acquire enough shares of a company to meaningful influence their portfolio is rarely the problem. If you bid for a stock month after month ��you��l get your shares.

  The concern for individual investors is not whether buying enough shares is possible. The concern is how quickly and easily you can buy and sell. This is what we call ��iquidity.��/p>

  Instead of thinking about stocks as liquid or illiquid, you should think in terms of your portfolio and your liquidity needs. It doesn't make much sense to use what I'll call an "objective" (as in stock-oriented) approach to liquidity rather than a "subjective" (as in investor-oriented) approach to liquidity.

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• [By Geoff Gannon]

  Solitron (SODI) sells at 74% of NCAV, has decent z- and f-scores, a FCF margin of 5.3% and an ROA of 12%.
  
  Micropac (MPAD) sells at 83% of NCAV, has similar (slightly better) z- and f-scores, a FCF margin of 6%, but has ROA of 28%.
  
  ADDvantage (AEY) sells at 95% of NCAV, has similar (in the ballpark) scores and FCF and ROA of 23%.

Top 10 Safest Companies To Buy Right Now: Digital Brand Media & Marketing Group Inc (DBMM)

Digital Brand Media & Marketing Group Inc. (DBMM), formerly RTG Ventures, Inc., incorporated on September 29, 1998, designs and executes digital marketing strategies across multiple ad platforms and social media networks for a broad array of clients to help each of them establish a uniform brand identity across the digital universe. Digital Clarity is a Digital Marketing Agency that has been at the forefront of online marketing.

The Company is engaged in search engine marketing, Web design, social media including digital analysis, the Company works with both brands and medium sized companies to help leverage online brand presence and new customer acquisition strategy. Digital Clarity also delivers consultancy and strategy planning for both client companies and advertising agency partners. Pay per click (PPC) (also called Cost per click) is an Internet advertising model used to direct traffic to websites, where advertisers pay the publisher (typically a Website owner) when the ad is clicked. With search engines, advertisers typically bid on keyword phrases relevant to their target market. Search engine optimization (SEO) is the process of improving the visibility of a Website or a Web page in search engines via the natural or un-paid (organic or algorithmic) search results. In general, the earlier (or higher ranked on the search results page), and more frequently a site appears in the search results list, the more visitors it receives from the search engine's users. Email marketing is a form of direct marketing which uses email as a means of communicating commercial or fund-raising messages to an audience.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Peter Graham]

  Last Friday, small cap Digital Brand Media & Marketing Group Inc (OTCMKTS: DBMM) surged 22.22% while Blue Water Global Group Inc (OTCBB: BLUU) sank 18.42% and Medina International Holdings, Inc (OTCMKTS: MIHI) sank 50%. However, one of these small caps (Blue Water Global Group) appears to be reversing course in early morning trading today. So with it and the rest of these small cap stocks either sink or swim in trading this week? Here is a closer look to help you decide on an investing or trading strategy:

Top 5 International Stocks To Invest In 2015

Top 5 International Stocks To Invest In 2015: HeartWare International Inc (HTWR)

Heartware International, Inc. (HeartWare), incorporated on June 25, 2010, develops and manufactures small implantable heart pumps, or ventricular assist devices, for the treatment of advanced heart failure. The HeartWare Ventricular Assist System (the HeartWare System), which includes a ventricular assist device (VAD), or blood pump, patient accessories and surgical tools, is designed to provide circulatory support for patients in the advanced stage of heart failure. The core of the HeartWare System is a continuous flow blood pump, the HVAD Pump, which is a full-output device capable of pumping up to 10 liters of blood per minute. The HeartWare System is designed to be implanted adjacent to the heart, avoiding the abdominal surgery generally required to implant similar devices. In August 2012, it acquired World Heart Corporation. As of December 31, 2012, the HeartWare System has been implanted outside of the United States at approximately 168 health care sites in 28 countr ies. In December 2013, HeartWare International Inc acquired CircuLite, Inc.

Proprietary Pump Technology

The HeartWare System is full-output centrifugal pump designed to be implanted in the chest, directly adjacent to the heart. At the core of the Company's technology platform is its hybrid system for suspending the impeller, which is the only moving part within the pump. The impeller is suspended within the pump housing by the opposing forces of passive magnets and hydrodynamic thrust generated by the pump impeller, which circulates a cushion of

blood. Once power is applied to the device and the impeller begins to rotate, there are no points of mechanical contact within the pump, thus providing a completely wearless pumping system.

The HeartWare System

The HeartWare System consists of the HV! AD Pump, a small, permanently implantable VAD, patient accessories and surgical tools. The HVAD Pump is capable of generating up to 10 liters of blood flow per minute. With a displaced v! olume of only 50 cubic centimeters and a mass of 140 grams, the HVAD Pump is the only full-output pump implantable in the pericardial space, directly adjacent to the heart. It is also the only pump designed to be implanted above the diaphragm in all eligible patients.

The HeartWare MVAD

The miniaturized ventricular assist device (MVAD) is a miniaturized blood pump intended for chronic heart failure patients. The device is a full-output axial flow pump with a fully suspended rotor and a displacement volume approximately one-third that of the HVAD Pump.

The Company competes with Thoratec Corporation, Jarvik Heart, MicroMed Technology, Inc, Berlin Heart AG, Terumo Heart, Inc., Sunshine Heart, Inc and CircuLite, Inc., Evaheart Medical USA, Inc.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Maria Armental var popups = dojo.query(".socialByline .popC"); popups.forEach]

  HeartWare International Inc.(HTWR) said it received a warning letter from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, citing concerns about procedures for validating device design and other issues.

• [By Lauren Pollock]

  Medical device company HeartWare International Inc.(HTWR) issued a revenue forecast that fell short of market expectations.

  Intrepid Potash Inc.(IPI), the largest potash producer in the U.S., plans to cut its workforce by 7% and cut executive compensation as part of a plan to trim costs in reaction to weaker prices for the fertilizer ingredient.

• [By Todd Campbell]

  Competing for heart pump market share
  Abiomed's products provide circulatory support for up to six hours and are designed for use in cardiac cath labs or during heart surgery, but competitors Thoratec (NASDAQ: THOR  ) and Heartware (NASDAQ: HTWR!  &nb! sp;) target the intermediate- and long-term-use market instead.

source from Top Stocks For 2015:http://www.topstocksblog.com/top-5-international-stocks-to-invest-in-2015-2.html

10 Best Oil Service Stocks To Buy Right Now

10 Best Oil Service Stocks To Buy Right Now: Hexcel Corp (HXL)

Hexcel Corporation (Hexcel), incorporated in 1948, is a composites company. The Company develops, manufactures and markets composites, including carbon fibers, reinforcements, prepregs, honeycomb, matrix systems, adhesives and composite structures, for use in Commercial Aerospace, Space and Defense, and Industrial Applications. Its products are used in a variety of end applications, such as commercial and military aircraft, space launch vehicles and satellites, wind turbine blades, automotive, bikes, skis and a variety of other industrial applications. Hexcel has two segments: Composite Materials and Engineered Products. The Composite Materials consists of carbon fiber, reinforcements for composites, honeycomb core and matrix product lines. The Engineered Products consists of composite structures and specially machined honeycomb product lines.

Composite Materials

The Composite Materials segment manufactures and markets carbon fibers, fabrics and specialt y reinforcements, prepregs, structural adhesives, honeycomb, composite panels, molding compounds, polyurethane systems and laminates that are incorporated into many applications, including military and commercial aircraft, wind turbine blades, recreational products and other industrial applications. HexTow carbon fibers are manufactured for sale to third-party customers, as well as for its own use in manufacturing certain reinforcements and composite materials. Carbon fibers are woven into carbon fabrics, used as reinforcement in conjunction with a resin matrix to produce pre-impregnated composite materials. Carbon fibers is also used in filament winding, hand layup, automatic tape layup and advanced fiber placement to produce finished composite components. Its carbon fibers' product applications include structural components for commercial and military aircraft, spac! e launch vehicles, and certain other applications, such as recreational and industrial equipment.

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Industrial fabrics and specialty reinforcements are ma! de from a variety of fibers, including carbon, aramid and other polymers, several types of fiberglass, quartz, ceramic and other specialty fibers. These reinforcements are used in the production of prepregs and other matrix materials used in primary and secondary structural aerospace applications, such as wing components, horizontal and vertical stabilizer components, fairings, radomes and engine nacelles, as well as overhead storage bins and other interior components. Hexcel's reinforcements are also used in the manufacture of a variety of industrial and recreational products, such as wind energy blades, automotive components, boats, surfboards, skis and other sporting goods equipment.

HexPly prepregs are manufactured for sale to third-party customers and for internal use by its engineered products segment in manufacturing composite laminates and monolithic structures, including finished components for aircraft structures and interiors. Prepregs are manufact ured by combining reinforcement fabrics or unidirectional fibers with a resin matrix to form a composite material with structural properties not present in either of the constituent materials. Reinforcement fabrics used in the manufacture of prepregs include glass, carbon, aramid, quartz, ceramic and other specialty reinforcements. Resin matrices include bismaleimide, cyanate ester, epoxy, phenolic, polyester, polyimide and other specialty resins.

Other fiber reinforced matrix developments include HexMC, a form of quasi-isotropic carbon fiber prepreg that enables small to medium sized composite components to be mass produced. HexTOOL is a specialized form of HexMC for use in the construction of high temperature composite tooling. HexFIT film infusion material is a product that combines resin films and dry fiber reinforcements in production and enabl! es the ma! nufacture of contoured composite structures, such as wind turbine blades.

Polymer matrix ma terials are sold in bulk and film form for use in direct pro! cess manu! facturing of composite parts. Resins can be combined with fiber reinforcements in manufacturing processes, such as resin transfer molding (RTM), resin film infusion (RFI) or vacuum assisted resin transfer molding (VARTM) to produce composite components for both aerospace and industrial applications. Hexcel manufactures and markets a range of Redux film and paste adhesives. These structural adhesives, which bond metal to metal and composites and honeycomb structures, are used in the aerospace industry and for many industrial applications.

HexWeb honeycomb is a cellular structure consisting of nested hexagonal cells. The product is similar in appearance to a cross-sectional slice of a beehive. It can also be manufactured in asymmetric cell configurations for more specialized applications. Honeycomb is primarily used as a lightweight core material and acts as an energy absorber. When sandwiched between composite or metallic facing skins, honeycomb increases the st iffness of the structure, while adding very little weight. The Company produces honeycomb from a number of metallic and non-metallic materials. Its metallic honeycomb is made from aluminum and is available in a selection of alloys, cell sizes and dimensions. Non-metallic materials used in the manufacture of honeycomb include fiberglass, carbon fiber, thermoplastics, non-flammable aramid papers, aramid fiber and other specialty materials. During the year ended December 31, 2011, revenues for the Composite Materials segment to third-party customers represented approximately 77% of its total revenues.

Engineered Products

The Engineered Products segment manufactures and markets composite structures and precision machined honeycomb parts for use in the aerospace industry. Composite structures are manufactured from a variety of compo! site and ! other materials, including prepregs, honeycomb, structural adhesives and advanced molding materials, using such man ufacturing processes, as autoclave processing, multi-axis nu! merically! controlled machining, heat forming, compression molding and other composite manufacturing techniques. During 2011, revenues for the Engineered Products segment to third-party customers represented approximately 23% of its total revenues. The Engineered Products business unit has a 50% ownership interest in a Malaysian joint venture, Asian Composites Manufacturing Sdn. Bhd.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By MONEYMORNING.COM]

  There's also the advanced materials firm Hexcel Corp. (NYSE: HXL), which supplies honeycomb composites to some of the biggest names in the aerospace industry.

• [By John Persinos]

  The standout stocks in this segment are Hexcel Corp. (HXL), the leading producer of carbon composites, and Allegheny Technologies (ATI), which dominates the market in titanium.

• [By Rich Smith]

  This series, brought to you by Yahoo! Finance, looks at which upgrades and downgrades make sense, and which ones investors should act on. Today, our headlines include a pair of aerospace upgrades for European Aeronautic Defence and Space Company (NASDAQOTH: EADSY  ) and Hexcel (NYSE: HXL  ) . But it's not all good news, so let's start off by finding out why.

• [By Seth Jayson]

  Hexcel (NYSE: HXL  ) reported earnings on July 22. Here are the numbers you need to know.

  The 10-second takeaway
  For the quarter ended June 30 (Q2), Hexcel met expectations on revenues and beat expectations on earnings per share.

source from Top Stocks For 2015:http://www.topstocksblog.com/10-best-oil-service-stocks-to-buy-right-now-2.html

I Can't Wait to Ditch My Cable Company for Google

Search giant Google  (NASDAQ: GOOG  ) recently outlined plans to expand its Google Fiber service to Austin, Texas. That represents a disruptive threat to local incumbent cable providers such as Time Warner Cable  (NYSE: TWC  ) and AT&T  (NYSE: T  ) . Austinites will probably switch en masse to the new service, which will hurt both Time Warner and AT&T. Ma Bell promptly responded by announcing its own intention to build a gigabit fiber optic service if it could wrangle the same incentives as Google.

In the following video, Austin-based Fool contributor Evan Niu, CFA, explains why he's excited to ditch his cable company.

As one of the most dominant Internet companies ever, Google has made a habit of driving strong returns for its shareholders. However, like many other Web companies, it's also struggling to adapt to an increasingly mobile world. Despite gaining an enviable lead with its Android operating system, the market isn't sold. That's why it's more important than ever to understand each piece of Google's sprawling empire. In The Motley Fool's new premium research report on Google, we break down the risks and potential rewards for Google investors. Simply click here now to unlock your copy of this invaluable resource.

Top 10 Airline Stocks To Own Right Now

Best Computer Hardware Stocks To Own Right Now

After five years of severe recession and declining credit worthiness, Greece's improving macroeconomic data has created a more reliable environment for investments.

Reflecting that improvement, people are again depositing their money in Greek financial institutions and buyers have returned to the Greek stock market. The data below detail this improvement.

Macro

From 2008 (first year of recession) until 2011, Greek GDP declined by 7.3 percent. The average rate of decline these years was 7.76 percent per year.

In 2012 however, the recovery began. The GDP increased by 0.7 percent.

Best Oil Service Stocks To Watch Right Now: Logitech international SA (LOGI)

Logitech International S.A. (Logitech) is a holding company. Logitech develops and markets hardware and software products for digital navigation, music and video entertainment, gaming, social networking, audio and video communication over the Internet, video security and home-entertainment control. Logitech operates in two segments: peripherals and video conferencing. The Company�� peripherals segment includes design, manufacturing and marketing of peripherals for personal computers (PCs) and other digital platforms. Its products for the PC include mice, trackballs, keyboards, interactive gaming controllers, multimedia speakers, headsets, webcams, and lapdesks. Logitech�� Internet communications products include webcams, headsets, video communications services, and digital video security systems for a home or small business. Its digital music products include speakers, earphones, and custom in-ear monitors. On July 6, 2010, Logitech acquired all of the assets of Paradial AS. On March 31, 2011, the Company sold its equity interest in certain 3Dconnexion subsidiaries.

3Dconnexion subsidiaries are the providers of the Company�� 3D controllers, and its intellectual property rights related to the manufacture and sale of certain 3Dconnexion products. Paradial AS provides firewall and network address translation (NAT) traversal solutions for video communications. For home entertainment systems, Logitech offers the Harmony line of advanced remote controls, Squeezebox wireless music solutions and, in the United States, a line of Logitech products for the Google TV platform. For gaming consoles, the Company offers a range of gaming controllers and microphones, as well as other accessories. Logitech�� sells its peripheral products to a network of distributors and resellers and to other equipment manufacturers (OEMs). The Company�� worldwide retail network includes wholesale distributors, consumer electronics retailers, mass merchandisers, specialty electronics stores, computer and telecomm! unications stores, resellers and online merchants.

The Company�� video conferencing segment includes design, manufacturing and marketing of LifeSize video conferencing products, infrastructure and services for the enterprise, public sector and other business markets. LifeSize products include high-definition (HD) video communication endpoints, HD video conferencing systems with integrated monitors, video bridges and other infrastructure software and hardware to support large scale video deployments, and services to support these products. Logitech sells its LifeSize products and services to distributors, resellers, OEMs and direct enterprise customers. Logitech conducts its business through subsidiaries in the Americas, including North and South America; Europe, Middle East, Africa (EMEA), and Asia Pacific, including, among other countries, China, Taiwan, Japan, India and Australia.

Pointing Devices

Logitech offers a range of computer mice, sold through retail and OEM channels. Its mice products include M215, M310 and M305 wireless mice with advanced 2.4 gigahertz wireless connection and cordless universal serial bus (USB) plug-and-forget nano-receiver; Performance Mouse MX and Anywhere Mouse MX with Logitech Darkfield Laser Tracking; Marathon Mouse 750, and Wireless Trackball M570. Logitech�� mice products also include a line of gaming mice, including the Wireless Gaming Mouse G700, with 13 precisely placed, programmable controls to perform single actions and complex macros, full-speed gaming-grade wireless, and a quick-connect charging cable. In addition, the Company sells both corded and cordless mice designed specifically for OEM customers.

Keyboards and Desktops

Logitech offers a range of corded and cordless keyboards and desktops (keyboard-and-mouse combinations). The Company�� keyboards and desktops include Wireless Solar Keyboard K750; K800 Illuminated Wireless Keyboard; The diNovo Edge keyboard; Wireless Desktop MK320, and G! 19 Keyboa! rd for Gaming.

Audio

Logitech designs and manufactures a range of multimedia speakers, including Wireless Speaker Z515, The Laptop Z305 speaker, and The S-series line of portable iPod/MP3 docks, including the Rechargeable Speaker S715i and the Portable Speaker S135i. It also designs and manufactures The Z-623 2.1 THX certified speakers, the Z-506 5.1 Speakers, and the Z-906 5.1 Surround Sound speakers. Logitech offers a portfolio of network music systems. The Squeezebox Touch, with its 4.3-inch color touch screen, connects to existing stereo system and speakers and supports sampling rates of up to 24 bits at 96 kilohertz. The Squeezebox Radio is a compact network music player and alarm that allows to connect to home network, and access Internet radio, personal music collection or subscription services.

The Ultimate Ears product line offers a range of in-ear consumer or fit earphones for portable music enthusiasts, as well as custom stage earphones for musicians and sound engineers. Its line of earphones include Ultimate Ears 100 and 200 value-priced earphones, with silicone ear cushions in a durable sweat-resistant design; Ultimate Ears TripleFi 10 with triple armature speakers, and The Ultimate Ears 600 featuring single armature speakers, the Ultimate Ears 600vi, and the Ultimate Ears 700 featuring dual armature speakers. Its line of Ultimate Ears Custom Stage Earphones include Ultimate Ears In-Ear Reference Monitors co-designed with Capitol Studios for professional studio engineers and producers for use during recording, mixing and mastering original music content, the UE-18 Pro featuring a six-speaker design, the UE-7 Pro for live performance and stage use, and the UE-4 Pro featuring a dual speaker design for artists and audiophiles.

Logitech offers headsets and microphones designed for applications, such as PC voice communications, voice over Internet protocol (VoIP) applications and online gaming. Its products in this category include the ClearCha! t PC Wire! less headset, the Wireless Headset H760, the USB Headset H530, the G35 Surround Sound Headset for gaming, the Wireless Gaming Headset G930, the USB Desktop Microphone, and the OCS certified Logitech B-530 USB Headset.

Video

Logitech�� webcam offerings include Logitech HD Pro Webcam C910, Logitech Webcam Pro 9000, Logitech HD Webcam C510 and Logitech TV Cam for use with Logitech Revue. Logitech�� webcams works with video messaging applications, and provides up to HD 720p video calling in Skype, Windows Live Messenger and Logitech Vid HD. The Logitech Alert digital video security system is a complete home or small business video security system, with software that provides motion alerts and a live view from an Internet-connected computer, smartphone, tablet or Google TV system, including Logitech Revue.

Gaming

Logitech offers a range of game controllers for PC gamers, including joysticks, steering wheels, gamepads, mice and keyboards, and headsets, as well as gaming products for console platforms, such as PlayStation2, PlayStation3, PSP (PlayStation Portable), Xbox, Xbox 360 and Nintendo Wii. The Company�� gaming products include Logitech G700 Wireless Gaming Mouse; Logitech G13 advanced gameboard with a built-in LCD screen, 25 programmable keys and onboard memory; Logitech G27 Racing Wheel and Logitech G35 Surround Sound Headset.

Digital Home

The Company�� line of remotes includes Harmony One remote, Harmony 900 remote and Harmony 650. In October 2010, Logitech introduced its line of products for Google TV in the United States, including Logitech Revue and the Logitech Keyboard Controller; Logitech TV Cam and Vid HD service, and Logitech Mini Controller.

LifeSize Video Conferencing

LifeSize division offers HD video communication solutions, including HD video conferencing products, audio conference telephones, hardware infrastructure solutions, video management software, and services to support ! video and! audio communications and help users connect to any network securely and with ease. The LifeSize product line includes Passport, LifeSize Video Center, Express Series, Team Series, Room Series and LifeSize Bridge.

The Company competes with Microsoft Corporation, Plantronics, Inc., Altec Lansing LLC, Creative Labs, Inc., Bose Corporation, Sony Corporation, Royal Philips Electronics NV, Hewlett-Packard, Intec, Razer USA Ltd., Performance Designed Products, LLC (Pelican Accessories), Mad Catz Interactive, Inc., Universal Remote Control, Inc., Universal Electronics Inc., RCA, Apple Inc., Roku, Inc., Cisco, Radvision Ltd., Vidyo, Inc. and Polycom.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Lisa Levin]

  Logitech International SA (NASDAQ: LOGI) rose 16.84% to $15.45 after the company reported strong FQ3 results and lifted its full-rear guidance.

  Fusion-io (NYSE: FIO) shares jumped 14.75% to $10.81 on stronger-than-expected quarterly results.

Best Computer Hardware Stocks To Own Right Now: Onyx Service & Solutions Inc (ONYX)

Onyx Service & Solutions, Inc., incorporated on November 25, 2009, focuses on energy solutions. The Company is a solar products manufacturer and supplier. Utilizing Polycrystalline silicon, with 72 cells in series, it provides 240 watt, 245 watt, 250 watt, 255 watt, 260 watt, 265 watt, 270 watt, 275 watt and 280 watt configurations. Its 72 cell panel size is 1955 x 992 x 50 millimeters. It also provides panels, which utilize 54 cells in series for 200 watt, 205 watt, 210 watt and 215 watt configurations. The Company is also a provider of both privately-owned and company-owned automatic teller machines (ATM��), in Onondaga County in upstate New York. The Company receives revenues from the collection of the surcharge revenues and inter-exchange revenues. As of July 31, 2011, it owned three ATMs and manages 19 ATMS throughout upstate New York. On August 22, 2011, the Company acquired Southern Geo Power Corp. (SGPC).

The Company�� 54 cell panel size is 1482 x 992 x 50 millimeters. ONYX/Optimum Solar silicon ingots are provided in both Monocrystalline and Polycrystalline versions. Its ingots are P type with Boron dopant. ONYX/Optimum solar silicon wafers are Polycrystalline solar cell materials. Its wafers are provided in the 156 x 156 millimeter size with a thickness of 220 micrometer/ 220 micrometer +/- 40 micrometer. ONYX/Optimum Solar cells are crystalline materials. It offers two models of solar cells, its Mono five inches (R150) 125S and its Mono five inches (R165) 125SL. Its R150 125S delivers 10 different levels of efficiency and its R165 125SL delivers 11 different levels of efficiency. ONYX Solar Air Conditioning Units offer thermal solar, as well as photovoltaic alternate current (AC) technology solutions. ONYX Solar Street Lights employed for both surface road and elevated highway use, in single or multiple unit setups. Its solar street lights are replenished within the sunlit hours of the day, enabling sustained performance throughout the night.

ONYX Solar Desalin! ization Systems are driven by means of photovoltaic panels, making use of pressure pumps, which force sea water across a membrane filtration system. ONYX/Optimum Solar 300 watt grid-tied micro photovoltaic inverter model OSI-300 is designed for superior installation, functionality and field maintenance. ONYX Solar Photovoltaic (PV) Glass is able to supply power to any given location with access to sunlight. ONYX Solar Well-Water Pump Systems are available in four energy options for use in a range of functions. Its solar well water pump systems were developed for virtual maintenance-free operation, rendering these units as solution for usage throughout isolated regions, including those without an electricity infrastructure readily available. ONYX Solar�� Vertical Vane Wind Turbines thrive on their ability to deliver energy from the smallest of application sites with the most stringent requirements. Each unit is able to deliver six kilowatts of power and may be used in multi-unit configurations. Onyx Solar�� Attic Fans operate within attic room setup, delivering needed aid in overall temperature regulation of the entire home or industrial/commercial building. Each fan supplies a steady exchange rate of 1600 cubic feet per minute.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Lee Jackson]

  Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ: AMGN) is a company doing the acquiring. The company recently completed a $10.4 billion purchase of Onyx Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ: ONYX) to add its cancer drug Kyprolis to its already sprawling portfolio. UBS has a $124 price target on the stock. The consensus target is at $123. Investors are paid a 1.7% dividend.

Best Computer Hardware Stocks To Own Right Now: Makism 3D Corp (MDDD)

Makism 3D Corp., incorporated on May 4 2010, is a three dimensional (3D) printer manufacturing company. The Company produces consumer and professional grade 3D printers. The Company�� flagship product, branded as the Wideboy family of printers, offers packaging designed to fit any office or professional space.

Its 3D printers utilize British and German engineered components. Its printers are assembled in Cambridge (United Kingdom).

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.

Best Computer Hardware Stocks To Own Right Now: George Risk Industries Inc (RSKIA)

George Risk Industries, Inc. (GRI), incorporated on February 21, 1961, is engaged in the design, manufacture and sale of computer keyboards, push button switches, burglar alarm components and systems, pool alarms, thermostats, EZ Duct wire covers and water sensors. GRI is a diversified manufacturer of electronic components, consisting of the security industries variety of door and window contact switches, environmental products, proximity switches and custom keyboards. The Company operates in two segments: security alarm products and security alarm products GRI�� security burglar alarm products comprise approximately 84% of net revenues and are sold through distributors and alarm dealers/installers. These products are used for residential, commercial, industrial and government installations. Its products include security products/ magnetic reed switches, data entry peripherals, pushbutton switches, custom engraved keycaps and proximity sensors.

The security segment has approximately 3,000 customers. One of the distributors, ADI accounts for approximately 40% of the Company's sales of these products. The keyboard segment has approximately 800 customers. Keyboard products are sold to original equipment manufacturers to their specifications and to distributors of off-the-shelf keyboards of proprietary design. GRI owns and operates its main manufacturing plant and offices in Kimball, Nebraska with a satellite plant 40 miles away in Gering, Nebraska.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Geoff Gannon] things I said was that I knew George Risk's materials cost was higher than some competitors' selling price. The fact that any company could survive under conditions like that immediately suggested that dollars paid for the product was not the key concern for this product.

  Perceived costs had to involve other concerns like customization, shipping speed, reliability, etc. Because it was a low cost product going into a higher cost product going into very high cost projects it seemed likely there was the opportunity to raise prices if needed. And that's what they ended up doing. The important clue for me in that investigation was the severe cost disadvantage George Risk had. You couldn�� compete at such a cost disadvantage unless price was less important than I initially thought.

  I think you will find that most of these insights are not available in the financial statements. They come from reading the 10-Ks of all companies in the industry, reading articles about the companies, listening to all conference call transcripts, etc.

  For example, there is not much in the financial statements of Carnival (CCL) that explains how the cruise business really works. But all of the companies in the industry (CCL, RCL and NCL) freely discuss the economics of their business in great detail. They break out costs before and after fuel. They give you per-passenger prices of how much newly built ships cost. They give you lots and lots of details. They explain how they price their product (the way airlines do) and so on. There is an extreme level of detailed explanation of the business in the various conference calls, 10-Ks, etc.

  A great source for this information is going back to the time the company went public or at least finding the S-1 of a competitor. When a company goes public it often gives much more detail into product economics, etc., than it will later on when it reports annual results.

  That is also a good place to learn about market share, com

• [By Geoff Gannon]

  Take George Risk (RSKIA). All of their competitors moved overseas. They��e still in Nebraska. Management doesn�� really claim they can either be better or cheaper than their competitors. They know they can�� be cheaper. And as far as better ��this isn�� dark chocolate they��e selling. Beyond customization, timeliness, and reliability ��I�� not sure the idea of ��uality��has much meaning in that business. It�� either frustration-free or it�� not. The two things George Risk can be are timely and customized. Both of those things are easier to be ��for American customers ��if you are manufacturing in the U.S.

• [By Geoff Gannon] >Ark Restaurants (ARKR). When I bought them - and even now - I think their return on buyback would be high and I'd be in favor of it. However, the stocks are illiquid and their free cash flow relative to the dollar value of freely traded shares is not high. As a result, I'm always in favor of RSKIA and ARKR buying back stock. But, I understand it's very hard for them to do in practice unless there is a meaningful holder who signals he wants out of the stock.

  My approach to buybacks is pretty simple. One, I prefer them. Two, I look at the share count history over the last 10 to 20 years as my guide to what the company might do in the future - I want a pattern of predictable behavior. Generally, that means a continuously shrinking share count that shrinks in bull markets and bear markets, panics and recessions and booms and busts and so on. Three, if I'm a buyer of the stock - then the company should be a buyer of its own stock. No questions asked on that one. If the stock is good enough for me to buy it's clearly good enough for the company to buy. Finally, I look for the return on buyback. I tend to focus on the earning power the company is buying relative to the net cash it is spending. If a company has cash on its balance sheet, the amount of net cash consumed by a buyback will be less than it appears because I will end up with a greater percentage ownership of the resulting balance sheet as well as the income statement.

  I want the return on buyback to always be at least 10%. As a rule, the average company will only get returns on its buybacks of 10% or higher if it pays less than 15 times normal earnings. In special cases - fast growing companies, companies where free cash flow vastly exceeds reported income, etc. - it is possible that buybacks above 15 times earnings will return more than 10%. It almost never makes sense for a company to buy back stock at over 25 times earnings. So, for most companies, under 15 times earnings is the green zone for bu

10 Best Stocks To Invest In Right Now

With shares of Barclays (NYSE:BCS) trading around $18, is BCS 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

Barclays is a global financial services provider engaged in retail banking, credit cards, wholesale banking, investment banking, wealth management, and investment management services. The company operates in eight segments: U.K. Retail and Business Banking, Europe Retail and Business Banking, Africa Retail and Business Banking, Barclaycard, Barclays Investment Bank, Barclays Corporate Banking, Wealth and Investment Management, and Head Office and Other Operations. Banking and capital markets services are just about a requirement for most consumers and companies around the world.

Barclays will lay out its plans to meet new financial regulations in Britain, when the bank reports second-quarter earnings Tuesday. Analysts expect the bank to sell bonds known as CoCos and raise equity, or a combination of the two, in response to new U.K. rules on capital. The bank is in talks with regulators about how to meet the new rules.

Best Clean Energy Stocks To Own For 2015: Alliance Fiber Optic Products Inc.(AFOP)

Alliance Fiber Optic Products, Inc. engages in the design, manufacture, and marketing of a range of fiber optic components and integrated modules incorporating these components to communications equipment manufacturers and service providers in North America, Europe, and Asia. The company offers interconnect devices that are used to connect optical fibers and components; couplers and splitters that are used to divide and combine optical power; and dense wavelength division multiplexing (DWDM) devices that separate and combine multiple specific wavelengths. Its connectivity products include connectivity modules; optical connectors, adapters, and cable assemblies; fused and planar fiber optical splitters and couplers; optical tap couplers and ultra low polarization dependent loss tap couplers; amplifier wave division multiplexing (WDM) couplers; optical fixed attenuators; and fused fiber WDM couplers. The company?s optical passive products comprise filter WDMs, amplifier fil ter WDMs, DWDMs, coarse WDMs, compact coarse WDMs, add/drop DWDM filters, optical isolators, optical bypass switches, and automatic variable optical attenuators. Its products are deployed in long-haul networks that connect cities; metropolitan networks that connect areas within cities; last mile access networks that connect to individual businesses and homes; and enterprise networks within businesses. The company sells its products to communications equipment manufacturers who incorporate its products into their systems and sell them to network service providers, as well as to other component manufacturers for resale or inclusion in their products. Alliance Fiber Optic Products, Inc. was founded in 1995 and is headquartered in Sunnyvale, California.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Harry Boxer]

  On the long side, Alliance Fiber Optic Products Inc. (AFOP) �has held support at around 17.00 and bounced, reaching 20.43 intraday on Tuesday, before closing at 20.04. That was a gain of 35 cents, or 1.78%, on 1.1 million shares, an increase in volume. It's near resistance. It did back off 20.64, the high it had about two weeks ago, and if it can get through that, it should test 21.00, and then 24.00, my targets.

10 Best Stocks To Invest In Right Now: Danieli & C Officine Meccaniche SpA (DAS)

Danieli & C Officine Meccaniche SpA is an Italy-based company primarily engaged in industrial sector. The Company designs, manufactures, sales and makes installation of machines and plants for the metallurgical industry. The Company's portfolio includes mines; pellet production plants; blast furnaces; direct reduction equipment; machinery for the treatment of scrap metal; steelworks for production of liquid steel; continuous casting machinery for blooms, billets and slabs; rolling mills for long products, seamless tubes and flat products; production lines for welded tubes and flat products; plants for secondary processing, such as peeling, rolling and drawing; forging presses and manipulators; extrusion presses for ferrous and non-ferrous metals; plants for longitudinal and transversal cutting; automation and control systems, and cranes and lifting equipment. It is also active in the production and sale of special steel for automotive, machine tools and railway industry, among others. Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Damian Illia]

  Crown Castle has acquired recently the privately held company NextG Networks Inc., largest provider of outdoor Distributed Antenna Systems (DAS), with more than 7,000 DAS plus another 1,500 nodes in the pipeline, and over 4,600 miles fiber-optic cable�� transmission rights. Through this addition, the company has improved greatly its DAS network across 26 United States metropolitan areas. As NextG has only 1.7 tenants per network on an average and thus underutilizing its capacity, Crown Castle will increase customers with no integration and rearrangement costs. Another company�� big move was the acquisition of 9,700 wireless towers from AT&T Inc. (T) Located in the top 100 markets in the U. S. T-Mobile is likely to maintain its infrastructure in these towers for the next 10 years. On top of all, the recent conversion of business into a REIT has represented long term benefits for the company in terms of tax savings and enhancing shareholders��wealth.

• [By GURUFOCUS]

  EMC�� products ��both hardware and software - are litearlly a geek�� wonderland alphabet soup, which include Storage Area Network (SAN), Network Attached Storage (NAS), Direct Attached Storage (DAS), Virtual SAN, All-Flash XtremIO, Atmos, Avamar, �Data Domain, Isilon, Pivotal, ViPR Software Defined Storgae, VMAX, VNX, VNXe, VPLEX, VSPEX (none of these are typos).� Information storage makes up 70% of revenues and virtualization 23% of revenues.� Products generate 55% of revenues.� Services generate 45% of revenues.� The Company�� gross profit split is approximaltey 67% data storage and 31% virtualization.

10 Best Stocks To Invest In Right Now: Adobe Systems Inc (ADBE)

Adobe Systems Incorporated (Adobe), incorporated on October 5, 1983, is a diversified software company. The Company offers a line of software and services used by professionals, marketers, knowledge workers, application developers, enterprises and consumers for creating, managing, delivering, measuring and engaging with content and experiences across multiple operating systems, devices and media. The Company markets and licenses its software directly to enterprise customers through its sales force and to end users through application stores and its Website at www.adobe.com. Adobe also distributes its products through a network of distributors, value-added resellers (VARs), systems integrators, independent software vendors (ISVs), retailers and original equipment manufacturers (OEMs). In addition, Adobe licenses its technology to hardware manufacturers, software developers and service providers for use in their products and solutions. It offers some of its products via a Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) model (also known as a hosted model or cloud-based model), as well as through term subscription and pay-per-use models. The Company�� software runs on personal computers (PCs) and server-based computers, as well as on smartphones, tablets and other devices, depending on the product. It has operations in the Americas, Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) and Asia. On January 13, 2012, the Company completed the acquisition of Efficient Frontier. In January 2011, the Company acquired Demdex. In July 2011, the Company acquired EchoSign. In October 2011, the Company acquired Typekit Inc. In November 2011, it acquired Auditude Inc. In January 2012, the Company acquired Efficient Frontier. In December 2012, the Company acquired Behance. In May 2013, Adobe Systems Inc acquired Ideacodes LLC. In July 2013, Adobe Systems Inc announced the completion of acquisition of privately held Neolane.

Digital Media

The Digital Media segment provides tools and solutions that enable individuals, small! businesses and enterprises to create, publish, promote and monetize their content anywhere. Its customers include content creators, Web application developers and digital media professionals, as well as their management in marketing departments and agencies, companies and publishers. The flagship of the Company�� Digital Media business is its Creative Suite family of products. Consisting of 13 individual products and five suites that contain different configurations of these products, the Company focuses on the needs of professional customers, which include graphic designers, production artists, Web designers and developers, user interface designers, writers, videographers, motion graphic artists, prepress professionals, video game developers, mobile application developers, students and administrators. They use and rely on its solutions for publishing, Web design and development, video and animation production, mobile applications and gaming development and, document creation and collaboration. They work in businesses ranging from publishers, media companies and global enterprises, to design agencies, small and medium-sized businesses, and individual freelancers. Its Creative Suite family of products is used by creative professionals to create the printed and online information people see, read and interact with every day, including newspapers, magazines, websites, mobile applications, catalogs, advertisements, brochures, product documentation, books, memos, reports and banners. Its tools are also used to create content, including video, animation and mobile content, that is created by multimedia, film, television, audio and video producers who work in advertising, Web design, music, entertainment, corporate and marketing communications, product design, user interface design, sales training, printing, architecture and fine arts. Knowledge workers, educators and hobbyists also use its creative products to create and deliver content.

Adobe Digital Publishing solution is an online, hosted p! ublishing! solution that enables magazine and newspaper publishers to deliver engaging, reading experiences of their publications to an array of mobile and tablet devices. Its Digital Publishing solution utilizes E-commerce models to sell single issues and subscriptions directly to consumers through mobile marketplaces, and analytics capabilities based on its Adobe Digital Marketing Suite. The Company�� Digital Media-Creative products include Adobe After Effects, Adobe Audition, Adobe Creative Cloud, Adobe Creative Suite Design Premium, Adobe Creative Suite Design Standard, Adobe Creative Suite Master Collection, Adobe Creative Suite Production Premium, Adobe Creative Suite Web Premium, CS Live Services, Adobe Digital Publishing solution, Adobe Dreamweaver, Adobe Edge, Adobe Encore, Adobe Fireworks, Adobe Flash Professional, Adobe Illustrator, Adobe InCopy, Adobe InDesign, Adobe InDesign Server, Adobe Muse, Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Photoshop Express, Adobe Photoshop Express Mobile, Adobe Photoshop Elements, Adobe Photoshop Extended, Adobe Photoshop Lightroom, Adobe Premiere Elements, Adobe Premiere Express, Adobe Premiere Pro, Adobe Soundbooth, Adobe Story, Adobe Visual Communicator, Business Catalyst and TypeKit. Its Digital Media-Touch App Products include Adobe Revel, Adobe Collage, Adobe Debut, Adobe Ideas, Adobe Kuler, Adobe Photoshop Touch and Adobe Proto. Its Developer and Platform products include Adobe AIR, Adobe Flash Builder, Adobe Flash Catalyst, Adobe Flash Lite, Adobe Flash Player, Adobe Flash Platform Services, Adobe Flex and PhoneGap Build. The Company�� Adobe Media Server products include Adobe Flash Access, Adobe Media Interactive Server, Adobe Media Enterprise Server, Adobe Media Live Encoder, Adobe Media Playback, Adobe Media Streaming Server, Adobe Video Streaming Service, Adobe Pass, Auditude, HTTP Dynamic Streaming, Digital Media, Adobe Acrobat Standard, Adobe Acrobat Pro, Adobe Acrobat Suite, Adobe CreatePDF, Adobe SendNow and EchoSign.

The Company competes with Apple, Aviar! y, Avid, ! Corel, Microsoft, Quark, ACDsee, Mediascape, Xara, Bare Bones Software, FlashDevelop, JetBrains, Panic, MacRabbit, MacroMates, Oracle, Micro Focus, IBM, Amazon, Aquafada, Google, Texterity, Zinio, ACD Systems, AI Soft (Japan), ArcSoft, Corel, i4 (Japan), Kodak, Nova Development, Magix, Microsoft, Rovi, Sony, Canon, Dell, Hewlett-Packard, Nikon, Phase One, Autodesk, Broderbund and Grass Valley.

Digital Marketing

Digital Marketing segment provides solutions and services for how digital advertising and marketing are created, managed, executed, measured and optimized. Its customers include digital marketers, advertisers, publishers, merchandisers, Web analysts, chief marketing officers and chief revenue officers. The Company�� Digital Marketing Business unit provides solutions that include Web analytics, online business optimization and Web experience management products, solutions and services. It delivers these capabilities through its Digital Marketing Suite, which includes its Day CQ5 WEM offerings, as well as the offerings gained through its acquisition of Efficient Frontier. The Company�� products include Adobe SearchCenter, Adobe AudienceManager, Context Optional Social Marketing Suite, Adobe CQ, Adobe Merchandising, Adobe Publish, Adobe Recommendations, Adobe Scene7 On-Demand, Adobe Search&Promote, Adobe SiteSearch, Adobe Test&Target, Adobe Discover, Adobe SiteCatalyst, Adobe SocialAnalytics, Adobe Survey, Adobe Tag Manager, Adobe Insight, Adobe Insight for Retail, Adobe CRX, Adobe DataWarehouse and Adobe Genesis.

The Company�� Digital Enterprise Products include Adobe Connect, Adobe LiveCycle Collaboration Service, Adobe LiveCycle Connectors for ECM, Adobe LiveCycle Content Services, Adobe LiveCycle Mosaic, Adobe LiveCycle Data Services, Adobe LiveCycle Forms, Adobe LiveCycle Reader Extensions, Adobe LiveCycle Output, Adobe LiveCycle PDF Generator, Adobe LiveCycle Production Print, Adobe LiveCycle Digital Signatures, Adobe LiveCycle Rights Management, A! dobe Live! Cycle Process Management, Adobe LiveCycle Business Activity Monitoring, Adobe LiveCycle Managed Services, Adobe Central Pro Output Server, Adobe LiveCycle Designer, Adobe Output Designer, Adobe Output Pak for mySAP.com and Adobe Web Output Pak.

The Company competes with Google, Yahoo!, Microsoft, Oracle, IBM, HP, salesforce.com, AdXpose, WebTrends, Infor, Nielsen Company, SAS Institute, Microsoft Advertising, WPP, Truviso, Clickfox, QlikTech, Teradata, Accenture, Acxiom Digital, [x + 1], Celebros, SLI Systems, Nextopia Software, Fredhopper. EMC, OpenText, Alfresco, CoreMedia, Percussion, SDL, Cisco WebEx, IBM Lotus Sametime, Citrix GoToMeeting, PegaSystems, Nuance and Ultimus.

Print and Publishing

The Company�� Print and Publishing business segment contains products and services that address market opportunities, including eLearning solutions, technical document publishing, Web application development and high-end printing. Its ColdFusion offering provides ways to build and deploy Internet applications. Developers can extend or integrate ColdFusion with Java or .NET applications, connect to enterprise data and applications, create and interact via Web services, or interface with short messaging service (SMS) on mobile devices or instant messaging clients. Its Print and Publishing products include Adobe Authorware, Adobe Captivate, Adobe ColdFusion, Adobe Contribute, Adobe Director, Adobe eLearning Suite, Adobe FrameMaker, Adobe FrameMaker Server, Adobe Font Folio, Adobe JRun, Adobe PageMaker, Adobe PDF Print Engine, Adobe PostScript, Adobe RoboHelp, Adobe Shockwave Player, Adobe Technical Communication Suite, Adobe Type Classics for Learning, Adobe Type Sets and FreeHand MX.

The Company competes with Microsoft, Hewlett-Packard, IBM and Oracle.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Vanin Aegea]

  Innovation and friendliness are two stewards that software developers value highly in order to retain and attract customers. Applications that are easy to navigate and to use have proved to be highly valued by users. Some companies were able to meet the challenge and deliver tailor made products, among them are: Sap Aktiengesellschaft (SAP) and Adobe Systems (ADBE). But, does catering to customer preferences generate profits?

10 Best Stocks To Invest In Right Now: Continental AG (CON)

Continental AG is a Germany-based holding company and automotive industry supplier. It operates two business groups: Automotive Group and Rubber Group. The Automotive Group is divided into Chassis & Safety division, Powertrain division and Interior division. The Chassis & Safety division focuses on the areas of networked driving safety, brakes, driver assistance, chassis, active and passive safety and sensor technology for the avoidance of accidents and injury. The Powertrain division specializes in the powertrain solutions. The Interior division focuses on information, communication and networking solutions. The Rubber Group is divided into Tire division and ContiTech divisions. The Tire division comprises Passenger and Light Truck Tires, including tires for motorcycles. The ContiTech division develops and manufactures functional parts, components and systems for the automotive industry. In February 2014, it acquired Veyance Technologies Inc. Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Ruth David]

  Schaeffler AG, the largest investor in Hanover, Germany-based Continental AG (CON), raised 950 million euros on Sept. 17 by selling a 4 percent stake in Europe�� second-largest car-parts maker to reduce debt. Telegraaf Media Groep NV, the publisher of the largest Dutch newspaper, exited its holding in German broadcaster ProSiebenSat.1 Media AG on Sept. 6, making proceeds of about 391 million euros.

10 Best Stocks To Invest In Right Now: Monolithic Power Systems Inc.(MPWR)

Monolithic Power Systems, Inc., a fabless semiconductor company, designs, develops, and markets analog and mixed-signal semiconductors. It offers direct current (DC) to DC converter integrated circuits (IC) that are used to convert and control voltages of various electronic systems, such as portable electronic devices, wireless LAN access points, computers, set top boxes, televisions and monitors, automobiles, and medical equipments. The company also provides lighting control ICs for use in systems that offer the light source for liquid crystal display (LCD) panels in notebook computers, LCD monitors, car navigational systems, and LCD televisions. In addition, it provides audio amplifier ICs to amplify sound produced by audio processors; and Class-D audio amplifiers for plasma televisions, LCD televisions, and digital versatile disk players. The company serves consumer electronics, communications, and computing markets. Monolithic Power Systems, Inc. sells its products thr ough third party distributors and value-added resellers, as well as directly to original equipment manufacturers, original design manufacturers, and electronic manufacturing service providers. The company was founded in 1997 and is headquartered in San Jose, California.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [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 Monolithic Power Systems (Nasdaq: MPWR  ) , whose recent revenue and earnings are plotted below.

• [By Eric Volkman]

  McDonald is a veteran CFO, having served in that position for a number of tech companies including eASIC, Advanced Analogic Technologies, and Monolithic Power Systems (NASDAQ: MPWR  ) .

10 Best Stocks To Invest In Right Now: Halliburton Company(HAL)

Halliburton Company provides various products and services to the energy industry for the exploration, development, and production of oil and natural gas worldwide. It operates in two segments, Completion and Production, and Drilling and Evaluation. The Completion and Production segment offers production enhancement services, completion tools and services, cementing services, and Boots & Coots. Its production enhancement services include stimulation and sand control services; completion tools and services comprise subsurface safety valves and flow control equipment, surface safety systems, packers and specialty completion equipment, intelligent completion systems, expandable liner hanger systems, sand control systems, well servicing tools, and reservoir performance services; cementing services consist of bonding the well and well casing, while isolating fluid zones and maximizing wellbore stability, and casing equipment; and Boots & Coots include well intervention services , pressure control, equipment rental tools and services, and pipeline and process services. The Drilling and Evaluation segment provides field and reservoir modeling, drilling, evaluation, and wellbore placement solutions that enable customers to model, measure, and optimize their well construction activities. Its services comprise fluid services, drilling services, drill bits, wireline and perforating services, testing and subsea services, software and asset solutions, and integrated project management and consulting services. The company serves independent, integrated, and national oil companies. Halliburton Company was founded in 1919 and is headquartered in Houston, Texas.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Dimitra DeFotis]

  The market seems to be showing fatigue particularly with positive onshore oil service data points that may no�longer seem incremental. Investors have become especially focused on potential issues and macro concerns. We believe this phase�of enhanced risk perceptions will pass and still recommend owning selective stocks based on attractive valuations and healthy�fundamentals. Of the 16 oilfield services companies having reported their quarters to date, the share price changes have at times�been difficult to tie to specific results. �… Five of the 12 companies who have beaten earnings expectations have seen their share prices drop on the day, including Basic Energy Services (BAS) (-9.0%), Baker Hughes (BHI) (-2.5%), National Oilwell Varco (NOV) (-1.5%), Oceaneering (OII) (-4.2%), and Schlumberger (SLB) (-2.0%). Other stocks beating expectations have traded higher as expected, including Cameron International (CAM) (+4.1%), FMC Technologies (FTI) (+3.1%), Mitcham Industries (MIND) (+3.8%), Nabors Industries (NBR) (+1.2%), Patterson-UTI Energy (PTEN) (+1.8%), RPC (RES) (+8.4%), and Weatherford International (WFT) (+2.3%). Companies which have missed have universally seen their share prices decline, including Diamond Offshore Drilling (DO) (-4.3%), Gulfmark Offshore (GLF) (-0.1%), and Hercules Offshore (HERO) (-6.9%). Halliburton (HAL) was in line and flat on the day.

• [By Alex Planes]

  How we got here and where we're going
  This isn't a particularly compelling performance for Atwood, which dramatically underperforms oil services company Halliburton (NYSE: HAL  ) on these metrics. Halliburton earned five out of nine passing grades (owing to its dividend), while Atwood musters a mere two. In a more direct comparison, Atwood beats deepwater driller Transocean (NYSE: RIG  ) , which earned only one out of nine passing grades. Are offshore drilling specialists lousy investments in general, or is there something particular to the two we've just examined that makes them lousy?

10 Best Stocks To Invest In Right Now: Blackrock Corporate High Yield Fund Inc (HYT)

BlackRock Corporate High Yield Fund VI, Inc. is a diversified closed-end management investment company. The Fund seeks to provide current income by investing primarily in a diversified portfolio of fixed-income securities.

The investments are rated in the lower rating categories of the rating services (Ba or lower by Moody's Investors Service, Inc., or BB or lower by Standard & Poor's Corporation) or are unrated securities of comparable quality. BlackRock Advisors, LLC. is the manager of the Fund.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Aaron Levitt]

  MMT comes with a hefty 6.76% distribution yield and is currently trading for a nearly 12% discount to its underlying value. That�� well over the normal discount range for the fund. �Expenses for MMT run 1.00% — or $100 per $10,000 invested — per year.

  BlackRock Corporate High Yield Fund (HYT)

  Discount to NAV: 7.11%
  Distribution Yield: 7.86%

How Come My ISP Won't Increase Internet Speed and Lower My Bill, Like They Do in Sweden?

We Americans are getting addicted to our high-speed broadband connections. Unfortunately, they are often slower and more expensive than the Internet hook-ups you can grab in many other developed nations.

For example, my brother pays $40 a month for his 100-megabit broadband connection in Karlstad, Sweden. He can take his pick from 19 different service providers, all using a common last-mile infrastructure and competing on price and features. For $70 a month, he could upgrade to a full gigabit.

Me, I'm stuck paying $83 a month for a 50-megabit connection. Moreover, my upload connection rarely goes past half the speed Verizon (nyse: vz) promised. So I'm paying more and getting less, and if I wanted Verizon's fastest available FiOS connection, I'd be paying $300 a month (plus taxes!) for half a gigabit.

It's pretty clear that the Swedish model delivers more value and lower prices than the American way. And it's all made possible by a robust collection of municipal networks.

So why isn't America following the municipal path to high-speed bliss?

... it's complicated
Here's what happened in Sweden, in a nutshell.

As the 1990s drew to a close and the Internet started to become a big deal, Swedish consumers and businesses started thirsting for faster and more reliable connections. An industry emerged to serve this unmet need, much like anywhere else.

But there was a problem. Formerly government-owned telecom giant Telia had already installed a nationwide fiber-optic network and was unwilling to share network access with other operators. One by one, county and municipality leaders started drawing up their own plans for local high-speed networking -- and reaching out to one another to connect the separate networks into a nationwide loop.

This began with the larger cities, before spreading to suburbs and downright rural areas. Encouraged by the success of local leadership projects, the Swedish government started pumping additional funds into this expansion -- and regulating the newborn industry.

Take government funds, and you'll have to commit to opening up the network for others to use. This is crucial.

The fiber expansion is still going on, and slowing down as the return on investment shrinks when the fiber stretches into thinly populated markets. But slowing down is not the same thing as stopping development altogether.

Today, 57% of Swedish households have access to 100-megabit broadband services. Nearly 200 of Sweden's 290 municipalities offer a so-called city network, under public or private ownership but conforming to the same open-access principles.

The government aims to reach 90% of the population with 100-megabit broadband by 2020 and has approved $500 million of funds to support rural expansion over the next six years. Moreover, each one of the nation's 21 counties has a separate budget to coordinate these broadband expansion efforts.

City networks: Orange = municipal, black = private, gray = missing. Source: SSNF.org

The Swedish model today
That's the history and a snapshot of the current situation. The end result is that a majority of Swedes have direct access to a broadband infrastructure that was developed, funded, built, and supported by local and national government bodies. In a few places, the local electric power utility has played some or all of these roles -- but these tend to be run by the government anyhow.

This last-mile infrastructure and the connecting fiber loops are accessible to a variety of telecoms, cable service providers, and Internet specialists. All of them have equal access to the consumer-facing and core networks, on "equal and non-discriminatory terms."

The companies and government agencies that built these networks to begin with often sold consumer services at first. Today, that's incredibly rare, as third-party service operators have come to dominate the end-user market. Intense competition between them forces prices way down and gives the service providers incentive to develop new selling points for the same basic network access.

But again, all of these benefits spring from open access policies, where anybody can compete on equal terms.

And therein lies the rub.

This is why we can't have nice things!
The American broadband infrastructure grew from a very different place.

First, Sweden is about the size of California, with the population of North Carolina. With about 24 citizens per square kilometer, compared with America's 35, the population density is much thinner. Kind of like a scaled-up version of Mississippi.

The economic challenges of criss-crossing Sweden with fiber-optic broadband are very different from covering the New York cityscape or the big-sky vastness of Wyoming. But that's just a huge math problem, and not the biggest difference.

The real game-changers are political in nature. Funding and building a coast-to-coast broadband network would meet massive resistance in the tax-averse American market. And if tax dollars went into building the darn thing, why would the government then turn the network over to others, rather than drawing a profit from the huge investment?

Now, the early days of the Internet itself saw two American backbone networks develop much like the Swedish municipal networks are doing much later. The early ARPANET and NSFNET networks were built and operated by government agencies, before merging and then getting privatized in 1995. The commercial core network operators that emerged then still run the show today as Tier 1 networks, alongside a few later additions.

But things were different back then. Way different.

When commercial forces took control of America's Internet backbone, about 16 million global Internet users surfed 19,000 websites on primitive browsers like NCSA Mosaic, Netscape Navigator, or the text-based Lynx.

Today, 3 billion Internet users worldwide use smartphones and modern browsers to access over 1 billion websites -- and a ton of content available only to specialized apps.

The core network is no longer serving up a trickle of text and simple graphics to a microscopic niche market. The Internet has gone mainstream, including bandwidth hogs like online video and digital health services.

So the game has changed, while the fundamental business model hasn't. Commercial interests have built out the backbone networks we use today, and they rightly expect to see a decent long-term return on their investments. It's not about serving the community with low-cost, high-quality services. Serving investors sets up a very different incentive structure.

It all comes down to this:

The Swedish model is using public funds to create an Internet service that provides consumers and local businesses with affordable and powerful services. Turning a profit is a secondary consideration, if at all. This is true on several levels, from the nationwide backbone to local last-mile services.

The American model is powered by private, for-profit organizations. On the next level down, consumers are facing a Balkanized patchwork of cable, fiber, and DSL services with minimal competition and zero infrastructure sharing. Flooding or overriding this system with government support would be politically impossible, so we're stuck with this framework. That means focusing on profits over service quality, and there is no incentive at all to lower the cost to consumers.

Top Tech Companies To Watch For 2015

Final words
The American status quo could still change, but not easily. Google (NASDAQ: GOOG  )   (NASDAQ: GOOGL  ) Fiber is throwing a wrench in the monopolistic pricing tendencies, as local telecoms and cable companies tend to introduce cheaper and faster Internet services wherever Google's services pop up.

Increased competition brings price pressure. Sweden has a lot of it, thanks to an open infrastructure and low profit expectations. American consumers have very little, for a variety of political and historical reasons. Google Fiber and similar upstarts can narrow the gap a little bit, but never the twain shall meet.

This $19 trillion industry could destroy the Internet
One bleeding-edge technology is about to put the World Wide Web to bed. And if you act right away, it could make you wildly rich. Experts are calling it the single largest business opportunity in the history of capitalism. The Economist is calling it "transformative." But you'll probably just call it "how I made my millions." Don't be too late to the party -- click here for one stock to own when the Web goes dark.