Top 5 US Stocks To Watch For 2014

Sales at America's automakers have been going great guns these past few quarters, and you'd think that would be great news for the companies that make parts for all these shiny new autos. In some cases, you'd be right to think that. But in at least one case -- the case of Johnson Controls (NYSE: JCI  ) stock -- you'd be very, very wrong.

Shares of auto-parts makers such as Lear (NYSE: LEA  ) and Magna International (NYSE: MGA  ) have rocketed this past year, outperforming the S&P 500 with 46% and 56% returns, respectively. Yet Johnson Controls stock has lagged the market average by more than five points. Why?

Three reasons.

Johnson Controls stock is worse than average
Turns out that when you stack up Johnson Controls stock against its two smaller rivals, there's precious little to recommend it. Johnson Controls' P/E ratio of 27.8 is no bargain. It's more than twice the cost of a share of Magna (which costs 10.5 times earnings), and nearly six times the cost of Lear, which sells for only 4.7 times earnings.

Top 5 US Stocks To Watch For 2014: Steel Dynamics Inc.(STLD)

Steel Dynamics, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, engages in the manufacture and sale of steel products in the United States and internationally. The company operates in three segments: Steel Operations, Metals Recycling and Ferrous Resources Operations, and Steel Fabrication Operations. The Steel Operations segment provides a range of sheet steel products, including hot rolled, cold rolled, and coated steel products; structural steel beams, pilings, and rails; special bar quality and merchant bar quality rounds and round-cornered squares; billets and merchant steel products comprising angles, plain rounds, flats, and channels; and merchant beams and specialty structural steel sections. This segment offers its products for automotive, agriculture, energy, construction, commercial, transportation, and industrial machinery markets. The Metals Recycling and Ferrous Resources Operations segment purchases, processes, and resells ferrous products, such as heavy melting steel , busheling, bundled scrap, shredded scrap, steel turnings, and cast iron products; and processes nonferrous products consisting of aluminum, brass, copper, stainless steel, and other nonferrous metals for use in foundry, mill refining, and smelting applications. It also provides liquid pig iron and hot briquetted iron; and iron nugget products. The Steel Fabrication Operations segment fabricates steel building components, which include steel joists, trusses, girders, and decking products for the non-residential construction industry. The company was founded in 1993 and is headquartered in Fort Wayne, Indiana.

Top 5 US Stocks To Watch For 2014: Cna Group Ltd. (5GC.SI)

CNA Group Ltd. engages in the design, implementation, and maintenance of green information communication technology (ICT) for integrated building and facility management. The company offers ICT products, including ELV systems, intelligent building management systems, and energy management systems that are installed to automate, control, and manage virtually every facility in buildings or industrial plants; and provides various services, such as master system integration, project management, engineering design, software development, programming, supply and installation, testing and commissioning, and maintenance support. It also offers infrastructural, mechanical, electrical, and plumbing services for airports, rail transport, healthcare, industrial, educational, commercial, and residential developments. The company�s infrastructural services include designing and constructing roads, drainages, sewage networks, water supply networks, electrical power distribution networks, street lighting, telecommunication and data networks, landscapes, and signages. In addition, it is involved in design and implementation of control and automation solutions in airports, prison complexes, water treatment facilities, and commercial buildings, as well as offers indoor air quality solution products, such as filtration systems and germicidal UVC emitters that are used in hospitals and offices. The company primarily operates in Singapore, the People�s Republic of China, the Middle East, Vietnam, the Philippines, Thailand, Malaysia, India, and Australia. CNA Group Ltd. was incorporated in 1990 and is based in Singapore.

Top Low Price Stocks To Invest In Right Now: Littelfuse Inc.(LFUS)

Littelfuse, Inc. designs, manufactures, and sells circuit protection devices for use in the automotive, electronic, and electrical markets in the Americas, Europe, and the Asia-Pacific. The company offers electronic circuit protection products, such as fuses and protectors, positive temperature coefficient resettable fuses, varistors, polymer electrostatic discharge suppressors, discrete transient voltage suppression diodes, TVS diode arrays and protection thyristors, gas discharge tubes, and power switching components, as well as fuseholders, blocks, and related accessories under PICO II, and NANO2 SMF, TECCOR, SIDACtor, and Battrax brand names. It offers its electronic circuit protection products for use in wireless telephones, consumer electronics, computers, modems, telecommunications equipment, telephones, data transmission lines, and alarm systems. The company also provides automotive fuses that are used in automobiles, trucks, buses, and off-road equipment to protec t electrical circuits and the wires that supply electrical power to operate lights, heating, air conditioning, radios, windows, and other controls, as well as offers fuses for the protection of electric and hybrid vehicles. It markets its automotive fuse products under ATO, MINI, MAXI, MIDI, MEGA, MasterFuse, JCASE, and CablePro brand names. In addition, Littelfuse manufactures various low-voltage and medium-voltage circuit protection products, such as power fuses that are used in the protection from over-load and short-circuit currents in motor branch circuits, heating and cooling systems, control systems, lighting circuits, and electrical distribution networks to electrical distributors and their customers in the construction, original equipment manufacturers, and industrial maintenance and repair and operating supplies markets. Littelfuse sells its products through direct sales force and manufacturers? representatives. The company was founded in 1927 and is headquartered in Chicago, Illinois.

Top 5 US Stocks To Watch For 2014: Presstek Inc.(PRST)

Presstek, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, engages in the design, manufacture, and marketing of digital-based offset printing solutions to commercial and in-plant segments of the printing industry. The company provides digital offset presses and printing plates, computer-to-plate (CTP) systems, workflow solutions, chemistry-free printing plates, no preheat thermal CTP plates, and a line of prepress and press room consumables, as well as distributes third-party products. Its digital offset presses include Presstek 75DI Press, a 6-up or B2 format direct-to-press machine; Presstek 52DI Press, a landscape format 52cm direct-to-press machine; Presstek 52DI-AC Press, a landscape format 52cm direct-to-press machine with an in-line aqueous coater; and Presstek 34DI Press, a portrait format 34cm direct-to-press machine. The company?s printing plates comprise ProFire Digital Media, which is designed to work as a system with the laser imaging and press components of ProFire and ProFire Excel enabled DI presses; PearlDry Plus that is designed to work in conjunction with previous generation DI presses; and PearlDry, which is used for direct-to-press applications that require an aluminum-backed plate. Its CTP products consist of Compass 4000, Compass 8000, Dimension Pro, Dimension Excel, Vector FL52, DPM Pro 400, and Digital PlateMaster series plate setters; and CTP plates include Anthem Pro, Freedom Pro, Aurora Pro, and Aeon brand CTP thermal plates. The company?s workflow products comprise Latitude, an automated prepress workflow solution powered by EskoArtwork Odystar; Momentum RIP, which is designed to drive Presstek?s CTP and DI systems, as well as ABDick branded CTP systems; and Momentum Pro, an integrated workflow and RIP. It markets its products through direct sales force, independent graphic arts dealers, and strategic OEM partners worldwide. Presstek, Inc. was founded in 1987 and is headquartered in Greenwich, Connecticut.

Top 5 US Stocks To Watch For 2014: Precision Castparts Corporation(PCP)

Precision Castparts Corp. (PCC) manufactures and sells metal components and products worldwide. Its Investment Cast Products segment offers aerospace structural and airfoil castings; industrial gas turbine (IGT) castings; artificial hips and knees; parts for satellite launch vehicles; landing gear struts and engine inlets for unmanned aerial vehicles; impellers for pumps and compressors; components for armament systems; and alloys for other manufacturers of investment castings. The company?s Forged Products segment provides forged components for jet engines, including fan discs, compressor discs, turbine discs, seals, spacers, shafts, hubs, and cases; airframe structural components, such as landing gear beams, bulkheads, wing structures, engine mounts, struts, tail flaps, and housings; discs, spacers, and valve components for steam turbine and IGT engines; shafts, cases, and compressor and turbine discs for marine gas engines; mechanical and structural tubular forged produ cts for energy markets; and forged components for propulsion systems on nuclear submarines and aircraft carriers, as well as forgings for pumps, valves, and structural applications. PCC?s Fastener Products segment offers aerospace fasteners comprising bolts, nuts, nut plates, latches, expandable diameter fasteners, quick release pins, hydraulic fittings, bushings, inserts, collars, and other precision components. It also provides refiner plates and screen cylinders for the pulp and paper industry; metal-injection-molded and ThixoFormed components; grinder pumps and components for sewer systems; gas monitoring systems for the power generation industry; and thread-rolling and trimming dies, pins and steel, and carbide forging tools for fastener production. PCC sells its fastener products and services through a network of distributors and independent sales representatives, as well as through a direct sales and marketing staff. The company was founded in 1949 and is based in Por tland, Oregon.