Top 10 Cheapest Companies To Own In Right Now

The winds of change are blowing through our energy economy, and it won't be long before they're at gale force. The simple fact is that we can't maintain our prosperity and growth without energy, and we can't continue to produce energy the way we've been doing it all along. Everything about the way we generate, transmit, and consume energy is going to have to change. This creates plenty of investment risk, but it also offers extraordinary opportunity for those who see the big picture.

The cheapest Megawatt
U.S. Deputy Secretary of Energy Daniel Poneman had a lot to say about energy efficiency at the recent Bloomberg New Energy Finance (BNEF) Summit. "Life is too short to work on second-class problems," he said by way of opening. Poneman views the transformation of our energy economy as the challenge of our generation, emphasizing that we cannot resist the transition to sustainability: We must lead it.

The U.S. energy economy has reached 100 quadrillion British thermal units (btu) per year. This is nearly 20% of the world's energy, even though the U.S. has only 5% of the world's population. Astonishingly, more than half the energy we use is wasted. Poneman asks us to think about what we could do with that energy, or with the money saved from not buying it.

Top 5 Restaurant Stocks To Watch For 2015: TICC Capital Corp.(TICC)

TICC Capital Corp., a business development company, operates as a closed-end, non-diversified management investment company. The firm invests in both public and private companies. It invests in secured and unsecured senior debt, subordinated debt, junior subordinated debt, preferred stock, and common stock. The firm primarily invests in debt and/or equity securities of technology-related companies that operate in the computer software, Internet, information technology infrastructure and services, media, telecommunications and telecommunications equipment, semiconductors, hardware, technology-enabled services, semiconductor capital equipment, medical device technology, diversified technology, and networking systems sectors. It concentrates its investments in companies having annual revenues of less than $200 million and a market capitalization or enterprise value of less than $300 million. The firm invests between $5 million and $30 million per transaction. It seeks to exit its investments within 7 years. It serves as the investment adviser to TICC. The company was formerly known as Technology Investment Capital Corp. and changed its name to TICC Capital Corp. in December 2007. TICC Capital Corp. was founded in 2003 and is headquartered in Greenwich, Connecticut.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Brian Pacampara]

  Based on the aggregated intelligence of 180,000-plus investors participating in Motley Fool CAPS, the Fool's free investing community, closed-end asset manager TICC Capital Corp. (NASDAQ: TICC  ) has earned a respected four-star ranking.

• [By Monica Gerson]

  TICC Capital (NASDAQ: TICC) is estimated to report its Q4 earnings at $0.28 per share on revenue of $28.43 million.

  Fuel-Tech (NASDAQ: FTEK) is expected to post its Q4 earnings at $0.06 per share on revenue of $29.00 million.

Top 10 Cheapest Companies To Own In Right Now: Ventas Inc. (VTR)

Ventas, Inc. is a publicly owned real estate investment trust. The firm engages in investment, management, financing, and leasing of properties in the healthcare industry. It invests in the real estate markets of the United States and Canada. The firm primarily invests in healthcare-related facilities including hospitals, skilled nursing facilities, senior housing facilities, medical office buildings, and other healthcare related facilities. Ventas, Inc. was founded in 1983 and is based in Chicago, Illinois with additional offices in Louisville, Kentucky and Dallas, Texas.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Ben Levisohn]

  HCP has dropped 1.6% to $39.17 today, while competitor Health Care REIT (HCN) has gained 0.6% to $61.97, while Ventas (VTR) has risen 0.5% to $62.31.

• [By Dividends4Life]

  Ventas, Inc. (VTR) is a publicly owned real estate investment trust that engages in investment, management, financing, and leasing of properties in the healthcare industry. December 9th the company increased its quarterly dividend 8.25 to $0.725 per share. The dividend is payable December 31, 2013, to stockholders of record on December 16, 2013. The yield based on the new payout is 5.0%.

• [By Teresa Rivas]

  As for companies with the most upside, Marathon Petroleum (MPC) tops the list, with 63.6%, followed by Autodesk (ADSK), Ventas (VTR), salesforce.com (CRM) and American Tower (AMT). Outside the top five, the list also includes big names like Schlumberger (SLB), Halliburton (HAL), Expedia (EXPE) and General Motors (GM).

Top 10 Cheapest Companies To Own In Right Now: Cavium Networks Inc.(CAVM)

Cavium, Inc. designs, develops, and markets semiconductor processors for intelligent and secure networks. Its semiconductor products enable customers to develop networking, wireless, storage, and electronic equipment that are application-aware and content-aware, and process voice, video, and data traffic. The company?s products also include a suite of embedded security protocols, which enable unified threat management (UTM), secure connectivity, network perimeter protection, deep packet inspection, network virtualization, broadband gateways, third generation/fourth generation (3G/4G) wireless infrastructure, storage systems, wireless high-definition multimedia interface (HDMI) cable replacement, and embedded video applications. Its products are used in networking equipment, such as routers, switches, content-aware switches, UTM and other security appliances, application-aware gateways, voice/video/data gateways, wireless local area network, 3G/4G Wimax/Long Term Evolution access, aggregation and gateway devices, storage networking equipment, servers and intelligent network interface cards, Internet protocol surveillance systems, digital video recorders, wireless HDMI cable replacement systems, and video conferencing systems; and connected home and office equipment, such as print servers, wireless routers, and broadband gateways. In addition, the company offers embedded Linux operating system, related development tools, support, and professional services. It sells its products directly or through contract manufacturing organizations and distributors to the providers of networking, wireless, storage, and consumer electronic equipment; and to original design manufacturers and contract electronics manufacturers primarily in the United States, China, Taiwan, Japan, and Malaysia. The company was formerly known as Cavium Networks, Inc. and changed its name to Cavium, Inc. in June 2011. Cavium, Inc. was founded in 2000 and is headquartered in San Jo se, California.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Lee Jackson]

  Cavium Inc. (NASDAQ: CAVM) generates 18% of their revenue from their association with Cisco. While the company had solid earnings and beat analysts estimates, the coming quarters could prove more difficult. The Thomson/First Call price target is $39.50.

Top 10 Cheapest Companies To Own In Right Now: Watson Pharmaceuticals Inc.(WPI)

Watson Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a specialty pharmaceutical company, engages in the development, manufacture, marketing, sale, and distribution of generic and brand pharmaceutical products in the United States, western Europe, Canada, Australasia, Asia, South America, and South Africa. The company offers its products for therapeutic categories, such as central nervous system, cardiovascular, hormones and synthetic substitutes, anti-infective agents, and urology. It operates in three segments: Global Generics, Global Brands, and Distribution. The Global Generics segment develops, manufactures, and sells generic pharmaceutical products, as well as distributes generic versions of third parties? brand products. This segment offers various dosage forms, such as oral solids, transdermals, injectables, inhalation products, and transmucosals for indications, including pregnancy prevention, pain management, depression, hypertension, and smoking cessation. The Global Brands segment pr omotes and co-promotes Rapaflo, Gelnique, Trelstar, Androderm, Crinone, ella, INFeD, Generess, sodium ferric gluconate, AndroGel, and Femring branded products; and markets its products through sales professionals. It also sells various non-promoted products. The Distribution segment distributes generic and select brand pharmaceutical products, vaccines, injectables, and over-the-counter medicines to independent pharmacies, alternate care providers, pharmacy chains, and physicians? offices. The company sells its generic and brand pharmaceutical products primarily to drug wholesalers, retailers, and distributors, including national retail drug and food store chains, hospitals, clinics, mail order, government agencies, and managed healthcare providers, such as health maintenance organizations and other institutions. Watson Pharmaceuticals, Inc. was founded in 1983 and is headquartered in Parsippany, New Jersey.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Louis Navellier]

  Actavis Plc is one of the world’s largest generic drugmakers. For the past three decades, this company was known as Watson Pharmaceuticals (WPI), but the company rebranded itself as Actavis in 2013. With a portfolio of over 190 pharmaceutical product families, Actavis has its name on everything from antibiotics to contraceptives to smoking cessation treatments.

• [By Holly LaFon] n Pharmaceuticals stock has been on a decidedly upward trajectory in the last five years, increasing 108 percent. It became slightly cheaper in 2011, however. Dalio has been trading the stock for years but most recently he bought 314,360 shares at about $65 per share in the fourth quarter of 2011 after the stock had ventured off of its 52-week high of $73.35 it climbed to in the middle of the year.

  Watson has a long-term record of profitability and growth, with an 11.9% 10-year revenue per share growth rate and 14.2% 10-year free cash flow per share growth rate.

  Though the stock price declined in late 2011, the company in November reported double-digit net revenue and earnings growth. The company also announced that month an exclusive agreement with Pfizer Inc. (PFE) to launch a generic version of Lipitor, the world�� best-selling drug in the history of pharmaceuticals. It also received approval from the FDA to start producing a generic version of the birth control drug Yaz that month, a drug with sales of $173 million in the 12 months ending Sept. 30, 2011.

  In February, Watson announced a full-year 2011 net revenue increase of 29 percent and EPS increase of 39 percent, due in large part to the successful launch of a total of 189 generic products globally for the year. Currently it is using its strong cash position to invest in growth markets, Canada and European operations.

  In spite of the good news and increasing its full-year revenue forecast by $100 million to about $5.4 billion, the stock is up just 0.05 percent year to date.

  Dalio�� next largest purchase was Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (BRK.B), and three new buys: BCE Inc. (BCE), The Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS), and Peabody Energy Corp. (BTU).

  Dalio staking over 32 percent of his fund in emerging markets is tantamount to a forecast that emerging markets will outperform from the macro guru. His other top purchases have clear growth prospects. To see more of what Dalio

Top 10 Cheapest Companies To Own In Right Now: TD Ameritrade Holding Corporation(AMTD)

TD Ameritrade Holding Corporation, through its subsidiaries, provides securities brokerage services and technology-based financial services to retail investors, traders, and independent registered investment advisors (RIAs) in the United States. The company?s offerings include TD Ameritrade for self-directed retail investors; TD Ameritrade Institutional, which provides brokerage and custody services to independent RIAs and their clients; thinkorswim that offers a suite of trading platforms serving self-directed and institutional traders, and money managers; and Investools, which provides investor education products and services for stock, option, foreign exchange, futures, mutual fund, and fixed-income investors. Its offerings also include Amerivest, an online advisory service that develops portfolios of exchange-traded funds to enable long-term investors pursue their financial goals; and TD Ameritrade Corporate Services, which provides self-directed brokerage services to employees and executives of corporations. In addition, the company offers various products and services, such as common and preferred stocks; exchange-traded funds; a range of option trades, including complex, multi-leg option strategies; futures trades in various commodities, stock indices, and currencies; and foreign exchange products. Further, it provides mutual funds; treasury, corporate, government agency, and municipal bonds; mortgage-backed securities and certificates of deposit; new issue securities; margin lending; and cash management services. Additionally, the company offers trustee, custodial, and other trust-related services to retirement plans; and cash sweep and deposit account products through third-party relationships. It provides its products and services through the Internet, network of retail branches, mobile trading applications, and interactive voice response and registered representatives via telephone. The company was founded in 1971 and is headquart ered in Omaha, Nebraska.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Dan Caplinger]

  In order to encourage greater investor participation, Schwab recently boosted its presence in the red-hot exchange-traded fund market. Schwab pioneered commission-free ETF investing more than three years ago, but since then, rivals had cut into Schwab's minimalist lineup of proprietary ETFs with broader deals. TD AMERITRADE� (NYSE: AMTD  ) had issued a lineup of more than 100 no-commission ETFs from various fund families, drawing investors interested in greater variety of funds. In response, Schwab came out with its ETF OneSource platform, topping TD Ameritrade with 105 ETFs.

Top 10 Cheapest Companies To Own In Right Now: Kraft Foods Group Inc (KRFT)

Kraft Foods Group, Inc. (Kraft Foods Group), incorporated on March 16, 2012, operates food and beverage businesses in North America. The Company manufactures and markets food and beverage products, including convenient meals, refreshment beverages and coffee, cheese and other grocery products, in the United States and Canada, under a stable of iconic brands. Its product categories span breakfast, lunch and dinner meal occasions, both at home and in foodservice locations. The Company sells its products to supermarket chains, wholesalers, supercenters, club stores, mass merchandisers, distributors, convenience stores, drug stores, gasoline stations, value stores and other retail food outlets in the United States and Canada. On September 14, 2012, the Company�� parent company, Kraft Foods Inc. (Kraft ParentCo), issued a press release relating to the anticipated trading markets for Kraft Foods Inc. and Kraft Foods Group, Inc. common stock through the completion of its spin-off from Kraft Foods Inc. In October 2012, Mondelez International, Inc. completed the spin-off of North American grocery business, Kraft Foods Group. In June 2013, Kraft Foods Group Inc announced plans to create two new, standalone business units: Meals and Desserts, and Enhancers and Snack Nuts.

The Company�� brand portfolio consists of food brands in North America, including three brands: Kraft cheeses, dinners and dressings; Oscar Mayer meats, and Maxwell House coffees- plus over 20 brands. It manufactures and sells food and beverage products in 50 categories. The Company operates in five segments: U.S. Beverages, which manufactures packaged juice drinks, powdered beverages and coffee; U.S. Cheese, which manufactures processed, natural and cream cheeses; U.S. Convenient Meals, which manufactures processed meats and lunch combinations; U.S. Grocery, which manufactures spoonable and pourable dressings, condiments, desserts, packaged dinners and snack nuts, and Canada & N.A. Foodservice, which sells products that span ! all of its segments and includes the Canadian and Puerto Rico grocery business, the North American foodservice operations and the North American Grocery Export Business.

U.S. Beverages

During the year ended December 31, 2011, the Company�� U.S. Beverages segment contributed 16% of its combined net revenues. This segment manufactures refreshment beverages, including Capri Sun (under license) and Kool-Aid packaged juice drinks, Kool-Aid, Crystal Light and Country Timepowdered beverages and MiO liquid concentrate, and coffee products, including Maxwell House, Gevalia and Yuban coffees, Maxwell House Internationalbeverage mixers and Tassimo (under license) hot beverage system.

U.S. Cheese

During 2011, U.S. Cheese segment had contributed 20% of the Company�� combined net revenues. This segment manufactures processed cheese, including Velveeta and Cheez Whiz processed cheeses, Kraft and Deli Deluxe processed cheese slices, Kraft grated cheeses and Polly-O and Athenos hummus and cheeses; natural cheese, including Kraft and Cracker Barrel natural cheeses, and cream cheese, including Philadelphia cream cheese and cooking creme.

U.S. Convenient Meals

During 2011, the Company�� U.S. Convenient Meals segment contributed 18% of its combined net revenues. This segment�� principal brands and products include Oscar Mayer lunch meats, hot dogs and bacon, Lunchables lunch combinations, Boca soy-based meat alternatives, and Claussen pickles.

U.S. Grocery

During 2011, the Company�� U.S. Grocery segment contributed 25% of its combined net revenues. This segment�� principal brands and products include Kraft and Kraft Deluxe macaroni & cheese dinners, Planters nuts, trail mixes and peanut butter, Corn Nuts corn snacks, Jell-O dry packaged desserts and refrigerated gelatin and pudding snacks, Cool Whip whipped topping, Jet-Puffed marshmallows, Baker�� chocolate and baking ingredients, Kraft and Miracle Whip sp! oonable d! ressings, Kraft and Good Seasons salad dressings, A.1. steak sauce, Kraft and Bull��-Eye barbecue sauces, Grey Poupon mustards, Shake N��Bake coatings, Stove Top stuffing mix, Taco Bell Home Originals (under license) meal kits, Velveeta shells and cheese dinners, and Velveeta Skillets meal kits.

Canada & N.A. Foodservice

During 2011, the Company�� Canada & N.A. Foodservice segment contributed 21% of its combined net revenues. The principal products and brands in this segment span all of its segments. Canadian grocery offerings include Nabob coffee and Kraft peanut butter, as well as a range of products in the Grocery Business Lines. The North American foodservice business sells branded products, including Maxwell House coffee, A.1. steak sauce and a range of Kraft sauces, dressings and cheeses, and serves the needs of restaurants and other foodservice operations. Puerto Rico grocery offerings include all grocery business lines, except for powdered and liquid concentrate beverages, such as Crystal Light, Tang and MiO. The North American Grocery Export Business products and brands span all grocery business lines, except for powdered and liquid concentrate beverages and certain products sold under brands, such as Philadelphia cream cheese and Kraftmayonnaise, which marketed and sold locally by Kraft ParentCo in countries outside the United States and Canada.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Eric Volkman]

  Kraft Foods (NASDAQ: KRFT  ) is forging ahead with attempts to organize its sprawling product assortment. The company announced that it has created a pair of standalone units within its grocery segment -- meals and desserts, and enhancers and snack nuts. The change will be effective July 1.

• [By Magic Diligence]

  One stock that has been in the official Magic Formula (MFI) screen for the past month or so has piqued my interest: Kraft (KRFT).

  The MFI screens, particularly the $50 million screen, are usually reserved for deep value stocks. Usually you find stocks in here suffering serious adverse business developments (LQDT, NSR, etc.), operate in out-of-favor industries (APOL, STRA, etc.), have volatile and difficult-to-predict future prospects (PDLI comes to mind), or are just simply cheap quantitatively (CSCO, COH, et.al.).

Top 10 Cheapest Companies To Own In Right Now: Analog Devices Inc (ADI)

Analog Devices, Inc. (Analog Devices), incorporated on January 18, 1965, is engaged in the design, manufacture and marketing of a range of analog, mixed-signal and digital signal processing integrated circuits (ICs). The Company produces a range of products, including data converters, amplifiers and linear products, radio frequency (RF) ICs, power management products, sensors based on micro-electro mechanical systems (MEMS) technology and other sensors, and processing products, including DSP and other processors, which are designed to meet the needs of a base of customers. The Company's products are embedded inside many different types of electronic equipment, including industrial process control systems; instrumentation and measurement systems; wireless infrastructure equipment, and aerospace and defense electronics. The Company designs , manufactures and markets a range of ICs, which incorporate analog, mixed-signal and digital signal processing technologies. The Company's product portfolio includes both general-purpose products used by a range of customers and applications, as well as application-specific products. On March 30, 2012, the Company acquired Multigig, Inc.

Analog Products

The Company's product portfolio includes several thousand analog ICs. The Company's analog IC customers include original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and customers who build electronic subsystems for integration into larger systems. The Company is a supplier of data converter products. Data converters translate real-world analog signals into digital data and also translate digital data into analog signals. The Company is also a supplier of amplifiers. Amplifiers are used to condition analog signals. The Company provides precision, instrumentation, intermediate frequency/radio frequency (RF), broadband, and other amplifiers. The Company also offers a range of precision voltage references, which are used in a range of applications. The Company's analog product line also includes a range port! folio of RF ICs covering the RF signal chain, from RF function blocks, such as phase locked loops, frequency synthesizers, mixers, modulators, demodulators, and power detectors, to broadband and short-range single chip transceiver solutions.

The Company's RF ICs support the requirements of cellular infrastructure and a range of applications in the Company's target markets. Also within the Company's analog technology portfolio are products, which are based on MEMS technology. This technology enables the Company to build small sensors, which incorporate an electromechanical structure and the supporting analog circuitry for conditioning signals obtained from the sensing element. The Company's MEMS product portfolio includes accelerometers used to sense acceleration, gyroscopes used to sense rotation, inertial measurement units used to sense multiple degrees of freedom combining multiple sensing types along multiple axis, and MEMS microphones used to sense audio. The Company's current revenue from MEMS products is derived from the automotive end market. In addition to the Company's MEMS products, its other analog product category includes isolators. The Company's isolators have been designed for applications, such as universal serial bus isolation in patient monitors, where it allows hospitals and physicians to adopt the advances in computer technology to supervise patient health and wirelessly transmit medical records. In smart metering applications, the Company's isolators provide electrostatic discharge performance. In satellites, where any malfunction can be catastrophic, the Company's isolators help protect the power system while enabling designers to achieve small form factors. Power management & reference products make up the balance of the Company's analog sales. Those products, which include functions such as power conversion, driver monitoring, sequencing and energy management, are developed to complement analog signal chain components across core market segments from micro power, en! ergy-sens! itive battery applications to power systems in infrastructure and industrial applications.

Digital Signal Processing Products

Digital Signal Processing products (DSPs) complete the Company's product portfolio. DSPs are optimized for numeric calculations, which are essential for instantaneous, or real-time, processing of digital data generated, from analog to digital signal conversion. The Company's DSPs are designed to be fully programmable and to execute specialized software programs, or algorithms, associated with processing digitized real-time, real-world data. Programmable DSPs are designed to provide the flexibility to modify the device's function using software. The Company's DSP IC customers write their own algorithms using software development tools provided by the Company and third-party suppliers. The Company's DSPs are designed in families of products, which share common architectures and therefore can execute the same software across a range of products. The Company's customers use the Company's products to solve a range of signal processing challenges across its core market and segment focus areas within the industrial, automotive, consumer and communications end markets. As an integrated part of the Company's customers' signal chain, there are other Analog Devices products connected to its processors, including converters, audio and video codecs and power management solutions.

The Company competes with Broadcom Corporation, Maxim Integrated Products, Inc., Cirrus Logic, Inc., Microchip Technology, Inc., Freescale Semiconductor, Inc., NXP Semiconductors, Infineon Technologies, ST Microelectronics, Intersil Corporation, Silicon Laboratories, Inc., Knowles Electronics, Texas Instruments, Inc. and Linear Technology Corporation.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Ben Levisohn]

  The market doesn’t necessarily want to go higher–it just can’t seem to help itself. Walt Disney (DIS), Analog Devices (ADI) and Idenix Pharmaceuticals (IDIX) gained.

• [By Ben Eisen and Saumya Vaishampayan]

  Analog Devices Inc. (ADI) �sank nearly 3%. The semiconductor firm reported late Tuesday fourth-quarter adjusted earnings of 62 cents a share and sales of $678 million, with sales missing analyst expectations.