7 things you should know about PPF

Best Low Price Stocks To Watch Right Now

Public Provident Fund (PPF) is a scheme of the Central Government, framed under the PPF Act of 1968. Briefly, the PPF is a government backed, long term small savings scheme which was initially started by the Government because it wanted to provide retirement security to self-employed individuals and workers in the unorganized sector.

It is today the most popular investment made by Indian citizens. If you are keen on a safe investment, a decent rate of return, tax benefits (deduction and tax free interest) and have a long term investment horizon, then the PPF is for you. It is a disciplined investment avenue as your money is blocked for 15 years.

2. How do I open a PPF account? What should I keep in mind when opening my PPF account?

Head over to your nearest State Bank of India branch, or a branch of any of State Bank's subsidiaries. You can also open an account in select nationalized banks, and the post office. Fill in the form, attach a photograph, state your PAN Number, and you're done. Once your formalities are completed, you will receive a pass book which will record all your PPF transactions.

At any point in your life, you are allowed to have only 1 PPF account in your name. You can also have an account in the name of a minor child of whom you are the parent / guardian. However that will be the child's account, you will simply be the guardian. You can never have a joint account.
If at any time it is seen that you have more than 1 account in your own name, the second account will be deactivated, and only your principal will be returned to you.

If you have a General provident Fund account, or an Employees Provident Fund account, you can still have a PPF account there is no restriction.

3. Can an NRI open a PPF account?

The rule of 25th July, 2003 states that 'Non Resident Indians are not eligible to open an account under the PPF Scheme'. However 'Provided that if a resident who subsequently becomes a Non Resident during the currency of the maturity period prescribed under the PPF scheme may continue to subscribe to the Fund till its maturity, on a Non Repatriation Basis.'
So if you open it as an RI, and during the 15 year tenure become an NRI, you can continue to invest, but on a non-repatriable basis.

4. When is the best time to invest in PPF account?

The best time to invest is between the 1st and the 5th of any month, preferably April each year. Interest is calculated for the calendar month on the lowest balance at credit of your account, between the close of the 5th day and the end of the month, and is credited at the end of every year.

5. Is a Loan against PPF account allowed?

Yes loan facility is available against a PPF account. The first loan can be taken in the third year of opening the account i.e., if the account is opened during the year 2010-11, the first loan can be taken during the year 2012-2013. The loan amount will be restricted to 25% of the balance including interest for the year 2010-11 in the account as on 31/3/2011. The loan must be repaid in a maximum of 36 EMIs. You can take a second loan against your PPF account before the end of your sixth financial year, but your second loan can be taken only once your first loan is fully settled.

6. Are withdrawals from PPF account allowed?

Any time after the expiry of the 5th year from the date that the initial subscription is made, you become eligible to withdraw an amount of not more than 50% of the previous year's balance or of the 4th year immediately preceding the year of withdrawal, whichever is less. If you have taken any loan on your PPF, this also gets factored in and reduces your balance. You cannot make more than a single withdrawal in the year. You need to apply with Form C for any withdrawals.

7. What happens after PPF account matures?

You have 3 choices.

Either you can withdraw your maturity amount, or you can extend your account by a 5 year block, as many times as you want and make fresh contributions, or you can extend the account without making any further contributions, and continue to earn interest on it every year.
If you decide to withdraw your money, your maturity value is exempt from tax.
If you decide to extend your account and continue making fresh contributions, you can extend it for a block of 5 years at a time, as many times as you want, you can also make withdrawals from the account, up to 60% of the account balance that was there at the beginning of the extended period. Just remember, if you choose to extend your account, submit the necessary documentation for extension before one year passes from the maturity date.
If you choose to extend your account without making any fresh contributions, you can do so. In this case, any amount can be withdrawn without any restriction; however you can only withdraw once per year. The balance will continue to earn interest till it is withdrawn.

Do not forget, there may be lots of things you may not know about your PPF account.

Buzzed, but Not Drunk on QE Kool-Aid - Investment Ideas

I think it's safe to say that Quantitative Easing is considered a market crutch by many, but now that we know it's coming to an end, why aren't stocks crashing? Could this market actually support itself without the Fed? Perhaps...

Headlines can be scary. Think about the events that have taken place in the first part of 2013. We went "over" the fiscal cliff, hiked taxes on Americans and began making automatic budget cuts via the sequestration. Then the FOMC indicated that they intend to slow monthly bond purchases (QE) sooner than later, meaning that $90 billion in monthly bond buying will just go away ... and yet stocks are holding their ground.

What's even more fascinating (and somewhat scary) is that estimates for earnings growth have come down to 1/10th of what they were just three months ago. Q2 earnings season was supposed to be almost 4% better than last year and now analysts are only expecting the S&P 500 to add 0.3% to their bottom line year over year.

Despite the drawbacks and reductions in estimates, stocks have managed to add over 18% year to date.

Why? Because there is not only value left in many stocks, but an underlying hope (bullishness). The fact is that the U.S. is still the best place for global investors looking for a place to park their hard earned dollars, and investors are even looking beyond QE to see bullish potential.

More . . .

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What Are Today's Earnings Whispers Telling Us?

Nearly 3,000 companies will report earnings over the next 30 days. Meanwhile, a Zacks whisper breakthrough is targeting a handful of positive surprises before reports are released. These predictions are made with previously unthinkable accuracy.

Imagine buying a stock a couple days ahead of its report and then selling after its price "pops." Important: This strategy is in high demand and closes to new investors Saturday, Jul! y 13.

Get details now >>

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Still Not Euphoric

If markets were completely euphoric and irrational, then we should have seen a 10-15% correction without a bounce after the FOMC's last statement.

There are 14 stages of investor sentiment; these variations can be fairly easy to spot at times and elusive at others. Stocks often trend depending upon the psyche of investors, not always on hard fundamental data.

Interestingly enough, there is clarity amidst the chaos. As we entered into the New Year, there was doubt and markets were cautious, but stocks still managed to charge forward.

"Hope" was the best way to describe the marketplace back in January, which was fairly close to the point of maximum profitability in the market's emotional cycle (see the chart above).

If we take a look back to mid September 2012, markets were completely euphoric running up into the elections, with the fiscal cliff just a twinkle in the eye of only the savviest investors. After the election results and woes about the cliff and future of the economy, the market quickly gave back 9%, changing the mood from elation to outright depression.

Over the last six months, we have watched market sentiment go from a state of panic and then completely turn around. In fact, if you look at a daily chart of the S&P 500 over the past 3 months, you can see these emotions play out in stock prices.

At the start of last quarter's earnings, stocks had run up into the "Thrill Zone," but took a break, gathered some rationale and reset themselves back into what seems to be more hope than anything, especially given the FOMC's announcements.

Managing Earnings Expectations

While emotions can rule the markets much of t! he time, ! there are four times a year when stocks report their results (earnings) and the objective overtakes the subjective. If the subjective mood is not "overly euphoric" than stable objective data should cause stocks to rise; this works in the opposite direction as well of course.

The good news is that markets are NOT euphoric or even overly optimistic when it comes to MOST earnings expectations. In fact, stocks are perhaps more realistic now than at any other time this year, BUT you must be able to identify those stocks that have built up such a high expectation that it may be impossible to deliver.

I'd be lying to you if I said that corporate revenues are shooting up and that the average company is making money hand over fist. But I can say that there are three things that I feel very good about in the first half of 2013:

1) Corporations are lean and mean - The average American company has cut costs and economized their businesses to keep margins high and operate in a low growth environment. Margins are still expected to be on the rise year over year.

2) Hoards of cash - We are seeing many companies stockpiling cash and equivalents, preparing themselves not just for the worst, but for the turn. The turn being an improvement in the economy and post QE prosperity; that cash is utilized for expansion, M&A, share buybacks and dividends.

3) Expectations low - As I mentioned last quarter, expectations were relatively low, but more recently the average share price and growth estimates have come down even further. This makes the reaction to a positive surprise that much more significant.

Even though Q12013 earnings weren't the strongest, stability and moderate growth were enough to propel the right stocks higher. Despite the less than stellar results, my earnings service actually had one of its best quarters.

These factors will help support the markets throughout the coming earnings season, as long as revenues do not fail miserably.

How Do You! Trade Q2! Earnings?

Expectations are low for a reason. I wouldn't expect the overall market to see as good a return in FY2013 as we saw in FY2012. There will be "headline risk" associated with Europe, China and the speed at which the Fed tightens here in the U.S., which will also keep volatility elevated this summer.

This means that you have to be laser focused and step outside the box to find alternative investment methods that capture superior returns. Defensive stocks and utilities are not in vogue and even stocks with low multiples aren't going to necessarily be safe havens if their reports are weak. Not all stocks are rising in this bullish market.

To get the edge, I target and study analysts' behaviors and actions ahead of a report to sniff out those companies most likely to beat earnings expectations. I compound that data with relative valuation and sector favorability to find high stocks with a high chance of not only beating estimates, but moving higher on that news.

The perfect way to add this type of diversity to your portfolio is to target companies likely to beat analysts' estimates and keep the trades short in duration so you won't be over-exposed to a market that is still susceptible to headlines.

The bottom line is that we will still have companies that perform extraordinarily well and top analyst expectations this coming earnings season. These companies will see their share prices break away (positively) from the market average as they attract new money looking for yield.

The "shotgun investing approach" will NOT work this season as I believe the big winners will be few and hard to target with a still doubtful market.

You will need an effective tool to do this; one that stacks the odds in your favor. Whatever method you choose, be sure to allocate your assets appropriately, reduce risk where needed and take or protect profits once you have them. This will certainly be another tough quarter for the average "long only" investor.

Listen t! o the Right Whispers

I am directing a Whisper Trader service that uses Zacks research data to predict positive earnings surprises before they're reported. It has greater than 82% accuracy in selecting companies that beat estimates. Although these "surprise" stocks don't all turn out to be winners, listening to selected whispers obviously can give investors a substantial advantage.

If you would like my specific stock recommendations, they are now available in the Zacks Whisper Trader, which is open to new investors until Saturday, July 13.

Learn more about Zacks Whisper Trader.

Happy Trading (and don't forget to hedge),

Jared

Jared A. Levy is one of the most highly sought-after traders in the world and a former member of three major stock exchanges. That is why you will frequently see him appear on Fox Business, CNBC and Bloomberg providing his timely insights to other investors. He directs the Zacks Whisper Trader, which has an uncanny record for accurately predicting robust earnings before companies report.

Beat Stocks at Their Own Game - Weekend Wisdom

One of my early mentors told me the most important advice I've ever learned about the stock market:

"The market doesn't care who you are or what you think; it's simply a crowd of varying opinions trying to figure out the best price with the information available."

I went on to learn that many stock market participants know very little about what they are investing in and what the economy is really doing. Most investors simply form a basic, often subjective opinion of a stock that they may like for some reason or another, but rarely dig deep enough to discover the real "secret" behind stock value.

The "smart money" actually takes the time to not just look deeply at a stock's valuation and health, but uses other smart people to help recognize potential and probable patterns in the future of the stock.

My goal in this edition of Weekend Wisdom is to get you ahead of the herds by uncovering a couple of these secret methods that will help you better understand why and where a stock may be headed.

Volatility Abounds

If you were to look back at stocks over the past 100 years, you'll quickly see that stocks have gotten more volatile as time has moved forward and exponentially higher in the last 10-20 years.

Depending on whom you ask, everyone seems to have a different reason for the increased gyrations as of late. Everything from computers, more people investing, high-frequency trading, derivates products, ETFs and leveraged ETFs and ETNs, a more connected global economy and even the speed at which news travels can all be at least partially blamed for the more extreme conditions we see today.

More . . .

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Earnings Whisper Access Closes Saturday

This is the best and only time to get in on Zacks whisper signals, as over 3,000 companies will report earnings during the next 30 days. Our research breakthrough predicts posi! tive surprises before reports are released. And it does that with previously unthinkable accuracy.

Imagine buying a stock a couple days ahead of its report and then selling after its price pops. Your total cost for 30 days of this intelligence is a total of $1. But please note that it is in high demand and closes to new investors Saturday, July 13.

Get details now >>

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Truth be told, it's impossible to blame one thing or another. The fact of the matter is that all of these factors are parts of the marketplace that help shape its behavior. For us to better understand how the market works and help rationalize its movements, we need to educate ourselves on the forces involved and stop blaming the market ... because it simply doesn't care!

Think about it this way...

Ever Been to a Car Auction?

Imagine walking into a car auction looking for a new set of wheels. You haven't done your homework, but you know (believe) that you want a Cadillac. Let's also pretend you're not from the U.S. and have never been to an auction before.

So there you are, a clueless foreigner going to buy a car at a hectic auto auction in Detroit. As the auction starts, it's pandemonium. Everyone is screaming, things are moving so fast and all you're wondering is why American cars, particularly Cadillacs, were fetching higher dollars than their overseas counterparts. The prices aren't making much sense; you just know that they seem a little higher than what you thought.

Since you've never been to that auction, let alone been in Detroit, you probably don't realize that this particular crowd tends to favor American cars because of its locale and the beliefs of the people that attend that regular auction.

As a buyer in that auction, you're definitely paying an American car premium as opposed to auctions elsewhere (this auction may have been ! a better ! choice if you were a SELLER, we will get to that in a minute).

If you had done your homework, you might have been able to control your impulses. Perhaps found a different auction, a different car or at least walked out of there with some cash in your pocket.

But instead, you're the proud owner of a 1982 Cadillac Cimarron (it was one of the worst Caddys produced) because it was affordable and there weren't too many people bidding. You thought it might be a good deal and liked the paint job (it's a Caddy isn't it?).

Unfortunately, the car is plagued with problems, and the price you paid, while it seemed like a deal at the time, is 30% over what they are selling for on average.

While this analogy may seem silly or extreme, it's almost exactly how stocks trade! You can liken the different auctions and/or locations to different stocks, and the professionals and amateurs at those auctions to the analysts and retail investors, respectively. The Cadillac Cimarron can be likened to just about any junk stock that may look like a bargain, but isn't worth nearly what you paid.

The added volatility can be thought of as a multitude of cars coming to auction faster with buyers from around the world bidding feverishly and skittishly with little or no knowledge of what they are buying (kinda like the markets today).

Calm the Craziness!

The point is that you must get to know your new or old stocks intimately!

Look over the last 2-3 months of news headlines to get an idea of what's been going on with it. Check out the company's financials relative to its peers and determine why it's more or less expensive.

Make sure that the Zacks Rank meets your investment goals, and if it doesn't, try to figure out why (maybe they had a poor earnings report).

Also look at the Beta and ATR (average true range) of your stock. The beta tells you how correlated the stock is to the broad market and the ATR tells you just how much the stock moves (in a day, week, m! onth) on ! average.

Watch those high beta (1.8+) stocks, as they can really fall apart if the broad market weakens.

If you are buying a $20 stock that has a weekly ATR of $3.00, you've got a stock that can potentially lose or gain 15% in a week's time! That may or may not be comfortable for you.

Know When and What to Bid On

I know that all of us are guilty of buying a Cadillac Cimarron (a poor stock) at one time or another. It usually happens because we lack factual data and control.

In between all the volatility, news flow and confusion, there are four times a year when we get objective clarity on a stock: earnings. Earnings should be considered waypoints in a stock's journey, and they need to be understood before you plunk down any real cash.

Remember how I said earlier that the analysts are similar to the pros at the auctions? Well in the stock world, these analysts spend every waking hour researching a handful of companies. It's their job to know more than you do about the companies they follow and help predict what their earnings reports will look like.

From the data and news they collect, those analysts form financial models and issue price targets on stocks based on what their models are telling them.

As companies grow (or contract), those models may change, forcing the analyst to raise or lower their expectations. These movements are invaluable and, if read correctly, can unlock major opportunity.

The best part is that analysts share all this data with us!

Of course analysts can't be right 100% of the time, but they do have to be right more often than not or likely find themselves out of work.

Use Analysts to Your Advantage

Zacks.com offers you free access to some very powerful data. The detailed estimates page allows you to see just what analysts are up to. If the data is interpreted properly, it can almost be a free look into the earnings report of a stock.

The most important thing to look for when ! you're lo! ng a stock is to ensure that analyst consensus estimates are going in the right direction (magnitude), especially if the stock has been moving higher. You'll want to see those estimates increasing.

Agreement is also a key factor as you'll want to see the majority of analysts revising their estimates higher over the last couple months, and preferably into the report.

Lastly, check the earnings ESP. It can give you a good indication of whether your stock is likely to beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate, and it can also help give you an idea of what guidance may look like.

There are Nuances

I'd be lying if I said it was easy and that earnings season is a walk in the park. The point here is to prepare yourself as much as possible and stack the chips in your favor.

By paying attention to some of the indicators I've outlined above, you can reduce volatility and help prevent a P&L catastrophe.

If you're one of those people who would like the majority of the work done for you and want to get an education along the way, you are welcome to check out my Whisper Trader earnings service below. It's a pure-play earnings service that uses a Zacks proprietary algorithm plus some of my personal technicals from above to select those companies most likely to beat when they report.

It has greater than 82% accuracy in selecting companies that beat estimates. Although these "surprise" stocks don't all turn out to be winners, listening to selected whispers obviously can give investors a substantial advantage.

If you would like to receive our precise buy/sell signals, then I invite you to join our Whisper Trader. But a word of caution. Due to overwhelming demand, we are closing it to new investors Saturday, July 13. The number of investors who share these stocks must be limited. So I encourage you to look into it today.

Being that earnings season is just underway, it's a good time to either brush up on your homework or join our Whisper Trader family!!

! Learn more about Zacks Whisper Trader.

Happy Investing,

Jared

Jared A. Levy is one of the most highly sought-after traders in the world and a former member of three major stock exchanges. That is why you will frequently see him appear on Fox Business, CNBC and Bloomberg providing his timely insights to other investors. He directs the Zacks Whisper Trader, which has an uncanny record for accurately predicting robust earnings before companies report.

SFEG Amends Mogollon Option Agreement (OTCMKTS:SFEG)

Santa Fe Gold Corporation (SFEG)

Last Friday, SFEG had shed (-2.31%) down -0.003 at $.127 with 166,050 shares in play at the close (ref. google finance July 19, 2013 – Close), but don't let this get you down.

Santa Fe Gold Corporation previously reported it has amended the Mogollon option agreement with Columbus Exploration Corporation (CLX-TSX-V) (formerly Columbus Silver Corporation) under which Santa Fe may earn 100% interest in the Mogollon Project, Catron County, New Mexico. The Mogollon Project encompasses most of the Mogollon district in southwest New Mexico, which has substantial recorded historical production of silver and gold. The project fits Santa Fe's strategic objective of developing new ore sources to augment ore currently processed though its Lordsburg flotation mill.

Best Oil Companies To Buy Right Now

Santa Fe Gold Corporation (SFEG) 5 day chart:

Bill Miller, Legendary Fund Manager, Back on Top

No one knows the high and lows of the market (and life) better than Bill Miller. The famed fund manager’s Legg Mason Capital Management Value Trust (LMNVX) outperformed the S&P 500 for 15 years straight. But 2008 caused the deepest of cuts.

His value instincts meant he placed hefty bets on housing and now-defunct Wall Street names, and the fund sharply underperformed in 2006, 2007 and 2008. Calls for his firing were soon heard, but how, and with whom, do you replace Bill Miller?

Although he did eventually relinquish the reins of Value Trust to co-manager Sam Peters, he continued on with Legg Mason’s Opportunity Trust (LGOAX), and now, proving you can't keep a good manager down, he’s once again back on top—at least according to The Wall Street Journal.

The paper reports that for the third straight quarter, Opportunity Trust finished first in The Wall Street Journal's ranking of diversified U.S.-stock mutual funds with more than $50 million in assets and at least a three-year record.

Just how good is it? Its year-to-date annualized return as of July 10 is 35.21%; its 1-year annualized return is 64.34% and its 3-year annualized return is 14.22%. Whether he can sustain such returns long term, of course, is yet to be seen, but it’s quite a start.

Miller’s strategy is more of the same. The Journal notes “the fund has excelled in the past year using a common strategy: buying shares whose prices are significantly discounted by the market because of doubts about the businesses’ future. As the outlook for such companies improves, Miller says, ‘the gains come as they move to where they should have been, based on those fundamentals.’"

Top Cheap Companies To Invest In 2014

Best Buy Co. (BBY) and Netflix (NFLX) are two holdings largely responsible for the fund’s outperformance. Miller and co-manager Samantha McLemore had added both to their portfolio before those stocks began their runs.

“Gains from these shares and other outperformers left the $1.3 billion Legg Mason fund with a gain of 55.1% for the 12 months through June and a first-half return of 31.6%,” the paper says.

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Check out Who Will Slay the Index-Investing Dragon?

Bull of the Day: Medivation (MDVN) - Bull of the Day

Looking for a biotech stock with the potential to steal major market share from Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) in a key disease market?

Then it's time to take a look at Medivation (MDVN), a $4 billion biopharmaceutical company based in San Francisco that is projected to turn profitable next year with a breakthrough drug treatment for prostate cancer.

Big Market

The prostate cancer market represents huge commercial potential and Medivation's drug, Xtandi (enzalutamide), is already off to a strong start since its approval by the FDA last August. Launches in Europe and Asia will drive sales further, with projected revenues of $2 to $4 billion over the next five years.

According to the American Cancer Society, prostate cancer is the most commonly diagnosed cancer among men in the U.S., other than skin cancer. It is estimated by the American Cancer Society that about 242,000 new cases of prostate cancer were diagnosed in the U.S. in 2012 with 28,000 men dying from it.

New Life

Medivation's business model is to acquire promising technologies in the late preclinical development phase and develop them quickly and cost-effectively.

The approval and launch of Xtandi is a major milestone for the company which had previously faced failure with the development of another key pipeline candidate, dimebon (Alzheimer's disease and Huntington disease).

The company has consistently presented impressive data on Xtandi. Based on clinical results so far, many institutional research analysts believe Xtandi has blockbuster potential. The drug is currently in several studies including for the pre-chemo setting which would be a big opportunity for Medivation.

Key Partner for Global Reach

As with all up-and-coming small and mid-cap biotech companies with unproven science and little-to-no positive cash flow, a big partner is often required to sustain years of drug R&D. Medivation's "big brother" is the Japanese drug-maker Astellas Pharma.

Medivation and Astellas have b! een targeting patients with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer (CRPC). Metastatic prostate cancer that has become castration-resistant is extremely aggressive and this is a key treatment differentiation for Xtandi vs JNJ's drug Zytiga.

The partners are also studying Xtandi in early stage prostate cancer patients (pre-chemo), which could represent a very big market for the candidate. In 2010, the companies initiated a phase III study (PREVAIL) in chemotherapy-naïve advanced prostate cancer patients with data read-outs expected in the second half of 2013.

With the aid of Astellas, Xtandi gained EU approval in June 2013. Medivation recorded $181.7 million in revenues in 2012 under its collaboration agreements with Astellas and former partner, Pfizer (PFE). While the Pfizer upfront payment of $225 million was recognized through the third quarter of 2012, the $110 million Astellas payment will be recognized through the first quarter of2014.

As the drug gains new reach, Medivation has a 60-person sales force in place for promoting Xtandi and Astellas has a 90-person sales force to promote the product in Europe and Asia.

Positive Data, Enthusiastic Analysts

For one quick snapshot of the efficacy of Xtandi, let me share this data bite: Xtandi showed a 4.8-month advantage in median overall survival compared to placebo (18.4 months versus 13.6 months). And a 37% reduction in risk of death was observed in the Xtandi arm compared to placebo.

Based on these results, Xtandi enjoys fast track status with the FDA for the post-chemo indication.

Major institutional research houses covering the biotech industry have been watching the preliminary data from Medivation and in the last two months they've been scrambling to upgrade the stock with expectations of positive data from the PREVAIL study.

The average 12-month price target on the Street is north of $65 if PREVAIL data is positive, with UBS recently raising eyebrows with their $74 target.

Running th! e Gauntle! t

As with all young, unprofitable biotech companies, there is extra volatility and risk as we watch them pass through the FDA gauntlet of clinical trials.

For me, the key is seeing enough analysts positive on the company and its chances of success with new R&D because, by myself, I can't keep up with all the complex science and so I use the analysts as my researchers.

Many biotech analysts are physicians or clinical researchers themselves who have gone to work for brokerages. And in cases where no medical PhDs are on the research staff, they all have a routine of consulting physician experts who are considered Key Opinion Leaders (KOLs) in clinical circles and that the FDA may rely on as well.

I also want to see the analysts raising their estimates as future profitability becomes visible. Climbing back to being a Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) or #2 Rank (Buy) on a regular basis now -- vs a Rank #4 (Sell) or #5 (Strong Sell) as it was last fall -- is a nice turn-around we want to see.

Throw in a positive price trend and institutional accumulation and I'm all in. In full disclosure, I own MDVN for the Zacks Follow the Money portfolio and I own September 55 calls for my own portfolio.

Kevin Cook is a Senior Stock Strategist with Zacks.com

Top 10 Warren Buffett Stocks To Buy For 2014

It's no secret that Warren Buffett has had tremendous success investing in large, well-known companies, many of which appear in the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJINDICES: ^DJI  ) . With earnings season upon us and the Dow in focus, here are Buffett's three largest Dow positions, according to Berkshire Hathaway's (NYSE: BRK-B  ) latest 13-F filing. Keep in mind that Berkshire does not have to disclose all its stock holdings, so if you're looking for Buffett's entire portfolio, you're out of luck. And while this article should not be taken as a buy list, it is always a useful exercise to consider Buffett's investment decisions.

American Express (NYSE: AXP  )
AmEx cardholders have excellent credit, which lowers default risk and raises average spending.�The model is similar to Buffett's auto insurance company, GEICO, which targets responsible drivers in order to reduce claims. Way back in 1964, shares of American Express plummeted after the company vouched for a vegetable oil company that took out large loans by falsifying collateral. American Express lost millions, and investors panicked, but Buffett considered it only a temporary setback. Ever greedy when others are fearful, Buffett recognized the long-term prospects of the company and started buying shares.

Top 10 Warren Buffett Stocks To Buy For 2014: Nucor Corporation(NUE)

Nucor Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, engages in the manufacture and sale of steel and steel products in North America and internationally. It operates through three segments: Steel Mills, Steel Products, and Raw Materials. The Steel Mills segment produces hot and cold-rolled sheet steel; plate steel; structural steel comprising wide-flange beams, beam blanks, and sheet piling; and bar steel, such as blooms, billets, concrete reinforcing bar, merchant bar, and special bar quality products. The Steel Products segment offers steel joists and joist girders, steel deck, fabricated concrete reinforcing steel, cold finished steel, steel fasteners, metal building systems, light gauge steel framing, steel grating and expanded metal, and wire and wire mesh products. The Raw Materials segment produces direct reduced iron (DRI); brokers ferrous and nonferrous metals, pig iron, hot briquetted iron, and DRI; supplies ferro-alloys; and processes ferrous and nonferrous scrap metal products. The company?s operations also include various international trading companies that buy and sell steel and steel products. It sells its hot-rolled steel and cold-rolled steel to steel service centers, fabricators, and manufacturers; steel joists and joist girders, and steel deck to general contractors and fabricators; and cold finished steel and steel fasteners to distributors and manufacturers. The company?s products are used by contractors in constructing highways, bridges, reservoirs, utilities, hospitals, schools, airports, stadiums, and high-rise buildings. Nucor Corporation was founded in 1940 and is based in Charlotte, North Carolina.

Top 10 Warren Buffett Stocks To Buy For 2014: Design Studio Furniture Mfrltd (D11.SI)

Design Studio Furniture Manufacturer Ltd, together with its subsidiaries, engages in the manufacture, supply, and installation of paneling products primarily in Singapore, Malaysia, and the United Arab Emirates. It operates in three segments: Residential Property Projects, Hospitality and Commercial Projects, and Distribution Projects. The Residential Property Projects segment is involved in the manufacture, supply, and installation of paneling products, such as kitchen and vanity cabinets, wardrobes, doors and door frames, and furniture components. The Hospitality and Commercial Projects segment provides interior fitting-out services to hotels, resorts, office, shops, and bank branches. The Distribution Projects segment engages in the distribution of furniture products of various brands. The company offers its products and services under the in-house brand names of PANELZ, i.FORMZ, and GLITZ; and imported brand names of Siematic and Corian. The company was founded in 1994 and is headquartered in Singapore. Design Studio Furniture Manufacturer Ltd is a subsidiary of Depa Interiors LLC.

Top 10 Safest Stocks To Buy Right Now: Electronic Arts Inc (EA)

Electronic Arts Inc., incorporated in 1982, develops, markets, publishes and distributes game software content and services that can be played by consumers on a variety of video game machines and electronic devices (platforms). Its offers products, such as video game consoles, such as the Sony PLAYSTATION 3, Microsoft Xbox 360 and Nintendo Wii; personal computers, including the Apple Macintosh (the Company refers to personal computers and the Macintosh together as PCs); mobile devices, such as the Apple iPhone and Google Android compatible phones; tablets and electronic readers, such as the Apple iPad and the Amazon Kindle, and Internet, including social networking sites, such as Facebook. In August 2011, it acquired PopCap Games Inc. (PopCap), a developer of casual games for mobile devices, tablets, PCs, and social networking sites.

The Company has created, licensed and acquired a portfolio of brands, which span a diverse range of categories, including action-adventure, casual, family, fantasy, first-person shooter, horror, science fiction, role-playing, racing, simulation, social, sports, and strategy. The Company�� portfolio of brands includes wholly owned brands, such as Battlefield, Mass Effect, Need for Speed, The Sims, Bejeweled, and Plants v. Zombies. Its portfolio also includes sports-based brands, such as Madden NFL and FIFA, and titles-based on other brands, such as Star Wars: The Old Republic. It provides a variety of online-delivered products and services, including through its Origin platform. Its packaged goods products are also available through direct online download through the Internet. The Company also offers online-delivered content and services that are add-ons or related to its packaged goods products, such as additional game content or enhancements of multiplayer services. It provides other games, content and services that are available only via electronic delivery, such as Internet-only games and game services, and games for mobile devices.

The Comp! any operates development studios (which develop products and perform other related functions) in North America, Europe, Asia and Australia. It also engages third parties to assist with the development of its games at their own development and production studios. Internationally, the Company conducts business through its international headquarters in Switzerland and has wholly owned subsidiaries worldwide, including offices in Europe, Australia, Asia and Latin America. The Company�� studios and development teams are organized around its Label structure. Each Label operates globally with dedicated game development and marketing teams. These Labels are supported by the Company�� Global Publishing Organization that is responsible for the distribution, sales, and marketing of its products, including planning, operations, and manufacturing functions.

EA Games

EA Games is home to a number of the Company�� studios and development teams, which together create a portfolio of games and related content and services marketed under the EA brand in categories, such as action-adventure, role playing, racing and first-person shooter games. The EA Games portfolio includes a number of franchises, such as Battlefield, Dead Space, Medal of Honor and Need for Speed. EA Games titles are developed primarily at the following EA studios, Criterion, DICE, EA Los Angeles, Visceral, and EA Montreal. EA Games also contracts with external game developers, to provide these developers with a variety of services, including development assistance, publishing, and distribution of their games.

EA SPORTS

EA SPORTS develops a collection of sports-based video games and related content and services marketed under the EA SPORTS brand. EA SPORTS games range from simulated sports titles with realistic graphics based on real-world sports leagues, players, events and venues to more casual games with arcade-style gameplay and graphics. The Company�� EA SPORTS franchises include FIFA, Fig! ht Night,! Madden NFL, NCAA Football, NHL Hockey, and Tiger Woods PGA Tour. EA SPORTS games are developed primarily at the Company�� EA Canada studio in Burnaby, British Columbia, and its EA Tiburon studio located in Orlando, Florida.

BioWare

BioWare develops role-playing games, focused on stories, characters and worlds to discover. BioWare�� portfolio includes the MMO role-playing game Star Wars: The Old Republic and the Mass Effect and Dragon Age franchises. BioWare operates in Texas, California, Canada and Ireland.

Maxis

Maxis (formerly EA Play) are focused on creating games and related content and services for a mass audience. Maxis products include wholly owned franchises, such as The Sims, SimCity, MySims, and Spore. During the fiscal year ended March 31, 2012 (fiscal 2012), the Company released titles in The Sims 3 franchise, and together with Playfish, The Sims Social game on Facebook. Maxis oversees internal studios and development teams located in California, Utah, Beijing, China and Guildford, England, and works with third-party developers.

PopCap

PopCap develops easy-to-learn games. PopCap games, including Bejeweled, Plants vs. Zombies, Zuma, Peggle, and Bookworm are gameplays. PopCap games are developed primarily in Seattle, Washington.

Social/Mobile Studios

The Company�� Social/Mobile studios is focused on developing interactive games for play on mobile devices and Internet platforms, including social networking sites, such as Facebook. Through EA Mobile, the Company is a global publisher of games for mobile devices. Its customers purchase and download the Company�� games through a mobile carrier�� e-commerce service and mobile application storefronts accessed directly from their mobile devices. EA Mobile develops games for mobile devices at studios located in the United States, Canada, Romania, Australia, India and Korea. Through Playfish, it offers free-to-play social games, in! cluding T! he Sims Social, Pet Society, EA Sports FIFA Superstars and Madden NFL Superstars that can be played on platforms, such as Facebook, Google, iPhone and Android. Playfish generates revenue through sales of digital content and Internet-based advertising.

The Company, through its Pogo online service, offers games, such as card, puzzle and word games on www.pogo.com, as well as on Facebook and other platforms. In addition to paid subscriptions, Pogo also generates revenue through Internet-based advertising and sales of digital content. In addition, it has a licensing agreement with Hasbro, which provides the Company with the rights to create digital games for all platforms based on most of Hasbro�� toy and game intellectual properties, including MONOPOLY, SCRABBLE (for United States and Canada), YAHTZEE (excluding the Nordic countries), NERF, and LITTLEST PET SHOP. Hasbro games are developed by its EA Mobile, Pogo and Social studios.

The Company competes with Activision Blizzard, Take-Two Interactive, THQ, Ubisoft, Disney, Capcom Mobile, DeNA, Gameloft, Glu Mobile, Gree, Rovio, Zynga, Big Fish, Nexon, Tencent and Facebook.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Jeff Brown]

  Electronic games are hot — just ask anyone with a teenager glued to a PlayStation, Xbox or Wii. But the market is evolving, with console and PC players drifting away from less popular titles in favor of blockbusters such as 'Medal of Honor,' 'Madden NFL,' 'FIFA' and 'Battlefield,' all developed by Electronic Arts (EA). Over time, the trend will translate into lower sales for the industry as a whole, says Standard & Poor's, which has a 'strong sell' recommendation on EA.

  Blame the extraordinary cost of developing a superstar game, which must have intense action and stunning animation, as well as more — and more-realistic — dialogue. 

  A better economy could prompt consumers to spend more on games, and EA may be successful with a new generation of titles for mobile devices and social-networking sites, two areas seen as the future of gaming. But these new types of games are less profitable, and competition to create mobile games is tough because new firms can easily meet the simpler technical requirements of small devices.

  The Redwood City, Cal., company has recovered from the lean 2008-2011 period, during which it lost money each year. But even though 2012 revenues were near the peak reached in 2009, per-share earnings of 23 cents paled next to the record of $1.95 in 2004. The stock, at $17.58, trades for 16 times estimated profits for the year ahead.

   

  Signaling the depth of EA's problems, CEO John Riccitiello resigned unexpectedly on March 18, not long after release of a survey showing industry sales down 27% in February. 'In our view,' says Argus Research, 'EA's problems are long-term, industry-wide issues, and may not be resolvable by a new CEO.'

Top 10 Warren Buffett Stocks To Buy For 2014: Synalloy Corporation(SYNL)

Synalloy Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, manufactures and sells pipes and piping systems in the United States and internationally. It operates in two segments, Metals and Specialty Chemicals. The Metals segment manufactures pipe and piping systems from stainless steel, carbon, chrome, and other alloys for use in the chemical, petrochemical, pulp and paper, waste water treatment, LNG, mining, power generation, water treatment, brewery, food processing, petroleum, alternative fuels, and pharmaceutical sectors. The Specialty Chemicals segment produces specialty chemicals and dyes for the carpet, chemical, paper, metals, mining, agricultural, fiber, paint, textile, automotive, petroleum, cosmetics, mattress, furniture, janitorial, and other industries. Synalloy Corporation sells its metal products through outside and inside sales employees, manufacturers? representatives, and authorized stocking distributors, as well as directly to engineering firms, construction companies, and project owners. It markets its specialty chemicals directly to various industries through outside sales employees and manufacturers' representatives. The company was formerly known as Blackman Uhler Industries, Inc. and changed its name to Synalloy Corporation in July 1967. Synalloy Corporation was founded in 1945 and is headquartered in Spartanburg, South Carolina.

Top 10 Warren Buffett Stocks To Buy For 2014: eBay Inc.(EBAY)

eBay Inc. provides online platforms, services, and tools to help individuals and merchants in online and mobile commerce and payments in the United States and internationally. Its Marketplaces segment operates ecommerce platform eBay.com; vertical shopping sites, such as StubHub, Fashion, Motors, and Half.com; and classifieds Websites, including Den Bl�Avis, BilBasen, Gumtree, Kijiji, LoQUo, Marktplaats.nl, mobile.de, Alamaula, Rent.com, eBay Anuncios, eBay Kleinanzeigen, and eBay Annunci, as well as provides advertising services. The company?s Payments segment offers payment and settlement services for consumers and merchants on and off eBay Websites and other merchant Websites. This segment operates PayPal, which enables individuals and businesses to send and receive payments online and through mobile devices; Bill Me Later that enables the United States merchants to offer, the United States consumers to obtain, credit at the point of sale for ecommerce and mobile tra nsactions; Zong, which allows users with mobile phones to purchase digital goods and have the transactions charged to their phone bill; and BillSAFE that enables customers pay for purchases upon receipt of an invoice. Its GSI segment offers an ecommerce services suite for enterprise clients that operate in general merchandise categories, including apparel, sporting goods, toys and baby, health and beauty, and home; and marketing services comprising full-service digital agency, enterprise email marketing, mobile advertising, affiliate marketing, advertisement retargeting, and in-depth analytics services. The company also offers X.commerce platform that provides software developers access to the company?s applications programming interfaces to develop functionality for various merchants; and Magento Connect, which allows developers to market and sell add-on functionality and solutions to merchants that use a Magento storefront. eBay Inc. was founded in 1995 and is headquarter ed in San Jose, California.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Jeanine Poggi]

  eBay's biggest story continues to be its PayPal business.

  The payments business pushed eBay's fourth-quarter earnings ahead of expectations. During the quarter the e-commerce company earned $559 million, or 42 cents a share, compared with $1.36 billion, or 1.02 a share in the year-ago period. Excluding costs related to the sale of its Skype business, eBay actually earned 52 cents a share. Revenue climbed 5% to $2.5 billion. Analysts were calling for a profit of 47 cents a share on revenue of $2.48 billion.

  This marks the 18th consecutive quarter eBay surpassed EPS estimates.

• [By Chuck]

  Legg Mason had $259 Million of eBay shares. The stock gained 47.1% during the past year and outperformed the SPY, which returned 21.5% since then. Legg Mason reduced their eBay holdings by 26.4% during the 4th quarter of 2010. Stock returned 23.8% since then, outperforming the SPY by 18 percentage points.

Top 10 Warren Buffett Stocks To Buy For 2014: Codexis Inc.(CDXS)

Codexis, Inc. engages in the production of custom industrial enzymes for use in the manufacture of biofuels, chemicals, and pharmaceutical ingredients. The company offers Codex Biocatalyst Panels and Kits to pharmaceutical companies that are engaged in drug development and the marketing of approved drugs to allow them to screen and identify possible enzymatic manufacturing processes for their drug candidates and their marketed products. It also provides enzyme screening services, enzyme optimization services, and enzymes, as well as supplies intermediates and active pharmaceutical ingredients to pharmaceutical companies. In addition, the company develops CodeXyme cellulase enzymes to convert cellulosic biomass, a non-food plant material into affordable sugars, which can then be converted into renewable fuels and chemicals; and CodeXol detergent alcohols that are used to manufacture surfactants, which are used as cleaning ingredients in consumer products, such as shampoos, liquid soaps, and laundry detergents. It intends to market CodeXyme cellulase enzymes to chemicals manufacturers; and CodeXol detergent alcohols as a drop-in substitute for the detergent alcohols market. The company has strategic collaborations with Royal Dutch Shell plc and Iogen Energy Corporation for the production of cellulosic ethanol from wheat straw and corn stover feedstocks. Codexis, Inc. was founded in 2002 and is headquartered in Redwood City, California.

Top 10 Warren Buffett Stocks To Buy For 2014: Texas Pacific Land Trust(TPL)

Texas Pacific Land Trust engages in the sale, lease, and management of land in the United States. It also retains oil and gas royalties, and involves in temporary cash investments. The company leases land to the ranching industry for grazing purposes. As of March 31, 2011, it owned surface rights in 949,355 acres of land in 20 counties in Texas; and 318 town lots in Loraine. The company also owned a 1/128 nonparticipating perpetual oil and gas royalty interest under 85,414 acres of land; and a 1/16 nonparticipating perpetual oil and gas royalty interest under 386,988 acres of land in the western part of Texas. Texas Pacific Land Trust was founded in 1888 and is based in Dallas, Texas.

Top 10 Warren Buffett Stocks To Buy For 2014: Neratelecommunications Ltd (N01.SI)

Nera Telecommunications Ltd designs, engineers, sells, distributes, installs, services, and maintains telecommunication systems and products in transmission networks, and satellite communications and information technology networks. Its Telecommunications segment offers wireless infrastructure network solutions, including in-building, outdoor coverage enhancement, RF access network optimization, benchmarking, 3G/LTE base stations, and point-to-point and point-to-multi-point microwave solutions; and undertakes various projects that comprise planning, designing, installation, commissioning, testing, and post sales support and services for various market sectors, such as ISPs, broadcasters, enterprises, government organizations, offshore, and utilities. This segment also provides satellite communications products comprising land and marine terminals, land earth stations/gateways, broadband satellite networks for B2B applications, satellite airtime, on-board marine service, an d after sales services to satellite service providers, ISPs, government/aid/rescue organizations, enterprises, media, and marine/offshore/oil and gas industries. Its Infocomm segment offers IP network infrastructure products, such as routers, switches, security and application performance products, and access controlling products; digital TV broadcast network infrastructure products, networks, and services to the broadcasters and service providers; and optical network platform solutions to service providers, mobile carriers, business enterprises, multi-service operators, government, transport, and utilities. This segment also provides point-of-sale payment terminals; terminal/application software; and wireless, contact-less, and IP products to network devices. It serves customers in Singapore, Indonesia, Thailand, the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, and other Asian countries. The company is based in Singapore.

Top 10 Warren Buffett Stocks To Buy For 2014: Galena Biopharma Inc (GALE)

Galena Biopharma, Inc. (Galena), formerly RXi Pharmaceuticals Corporation, incorporated on April 3, 2006, is a biotechnology company focused on discovering, developing and commercializing therapies addressing unmet medical needs using targeted biotherapeutics. The Company is pursuing the development of cancer therapeutics using peptide-based immunotherapy products, including its main product candidate, NeuVaxTM (E75), for the treatment of breast cancer and other tumors. NeuVax is a peptide-based immunotherapy intended to reduce the recurrence of breast cancer in low-to-intermediate HER2-positive breast cancer patients not eligible for trastuzumab (Herceptin; Genentech/Roche). On January 19, 2012, the Company initiated enrollment in its Phase 3 PRESENT clinical trial for NeuVax (E75 peptide plus GM-CSF) vaccine in low-to-intermediate HER2 1+ and 2+ breast cancer patients in the adjuvant setting to prevent recurrence (Clinicaltrials.gov identifier NCT01479244). The Prevention of Recurrence in Early-Stage, Node-Positive Breast Cancer with Low to Intermediate HER2 Expression with NeuVax Treatment study is a randomized, multicenter, multinational clinical trial that will enroll approximately 700 breast cancer patients. The Company�� Phase 2 trial of NeuVax achieved its primary endpoint of disease-free survival (DFS). On April 13, 2011, the Company completed its acquisition of Apthera, Inc.,(Apthera).

The Company focuses to start a Phase 2 trial comparing NeuVax in combination with trastuzumab (Herceptin) versus trastuzumab, alone, in a 300-patient, randomized study in the adjuvant breast cancer setting. The Company's second product candidate, Folate Binding Protein-E39 (FBP), is a vaccine, consisting of the peptides E39 and J65, aimed at preventing the recurrence of ovarian, endometrial, and breast cancers. On February 14, 2012, the Company announced the initiation of a Phase 1/2 clinical trial in two gynecological cancers: ovarian and endometrial adenocarcinomas. Folate binding protein has ! very limited tissue distribution and expression in non-malignant tissue and is over-expressed in more than 90% of ovarian and endometrial cancers, as well as in 20% to 50% of breast, lung, colorectal and renal cell carcinomas.

In April 2011, the Company acquired Apthera Inc and its NeuVax product candidate. The Company focuses on developing a pipeline of immunotherapy product candidates for the treatment of various cancers based on the E75 peptide, the advanced of which is NeuVax, which is targeted at preventing the recurrence of breast cancer. NeuVax has had positive Phase 1/2 clinical trial results for the prevention of breast cancer recurrence in patients who have had breast cancer and received the standard of care treatment (surgery, chemotherapy, radiotherapy and hormonal therapy as indicated). The Company had also initiated its Phase 3 PRESENT clinical trial of NeuVax for the prevention of breast cancer recurrence in early-stage low-to-intermediate HER2 breast cancer patients. NeuVax directs killer T-cells to target and destroy cancer cells that express HER2/neu, a protein associated with epithelial tumors in breast, ovarian, pancreatic, colon, bladder and prostate cancers. NeuVax is comprised of a HER2/neu-derived peptide called E75. E75 is a nine-amino acid sequence that is immunogenic (produces an immune response) and GM-CSF is a commercially available protein that acts to stimulate and activate components of the immune system such as macrophages and dendritic cells.

The Company also develops novel applications for NeuVax based on preclinical studies and phases 2 clinical trials which suggest that combining NeuVax and trastuzumab (Herceptin; Genentech/Roche) can increase antigen presentation by tumor cells by promoting receptor internalization and subsequent proteosomal degradation of the HER2 protein. The Company also is pursuing additional therapeutic indications for NeuVax that are in Phase 1/2 clinical trials. RXI-109, is a dermal anti-scarring therapy that targets! connecti! ve tissue growth factor (CTGF) and that may inhibit connective tissue formation in human fibrotic disease.

The Company competes with Roche Laboratories, Inc., Pfizer Inc., Bayer HealthCare AG, Sanofi-Aventis, US, LLC, Amgen, Inc., GlaxoSmithKline plc, Renovo Group plc, CoDa Therapeutics, Inc., Sirnaomics, Inc., FirstString Research, Inc., Merz Pharmaceuticals, LLC, Capstone Therapeutics, Halscion, Inc., Garnet Bio Therapeutics, Inc., AkPharma Inc., Promedior, Inc., Kissei Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd., Eyegene, Derma Sciences, Inc., Healthpoint Biotherapeutics, Pharmaxon, Excaliard Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Marina Biotech, Inc., Tacere Therapeutics, Inc., Benitec Limited, OPKO Health, Inc., Silence Therapeutics plc, Quark Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Rosetta Genomics Ltd., Lorus Therapeutics, Inc., Tekmira Pharmaceuticals Corporation, Arrowhead Research Corporation, Regulus Therapeutics Inc. and Santaris.

Top 10 Warren Buffett Stocks To Buy For 2014: Rovi Corporation(ROVI)

Rovi Corporation provides digital entertainment technology solutions for the discovery and management of entertainment content. It offers interactive program guides; embedded licensing technologies, such as recommendations and search capability; media recognition technologies; licensing of the company?s database of descriptive information about television, movie, music, books, and game content; and analog content protection technologies and services. The company?s interactive program guides technology is an interactive listing of television or video program information that enables viewers to navigate through, sort, select, and schedule video programming for viewing and recording. The company also provides video delivery solutions, such as compression-decompression technology (codec) to enable distribution of content across the Internet and through recordable media in physical or streamed forms; and media manager, a personal computer application enabling consumers to man age personal media files, including music, photos, and video files. In addition, it offers digital copy solution for consumer electronics devices and PC software applications; the Rovi Entertainment Store video delivery solutions; content authoring solutions; and advertising solutions. Rovi Corporation primarily serves companies in the consumer electronics, cable and satellite, entertainment, and online distribution markets. The company was formerly known as Macrovision Solutions Corporation and changed its name to Rovi Corporation in July 2009. Rovi Corporation was founded in 1983 and is headquartered in Santa Clara, California.

Best Medical Stocks To Own For 2014

Although we don't believe in timing the market or panicking over market movements, we do like to keep an eye on big changes -- just in case they're material to our investing thesis.

What: Shares of Symmetry Medical (NYSE: SMA  ) , a medical device and surgical instruments maker, fell as much as 19% following a double miss in its first-quarter earnings results.

So what: For the quarter, revenue fell 2% to $98.9 million from the year-ago period as adjusted EPS fell 28% to $0.09. Total OEM solutions revenue helped abate some of the fall as they rose 4% while surgical revenue declined 17%. Wall Street had been looking for Symmetry to earn $0.15 per share on $104.3 million in revenue. Despite the miss on both fronts, Symmetry stuck to its full-year forecast and still managed to boost gross margin by 40 basis points to 25.4%.

Best Medical Stocks To Own For 2014: Navidea Biopharmaceuticals Inc (NAVB)

Navidea Biopharmaceuticals, Inc. (Navidea), formerly Neoprobe Corporation, incorporated in 1983, is a biopharmaceutical company focused on the development and commercialization of precision diagnostic agents. As of December 31, 2011, the Company�� radiopharmaceutical development programs included Lymphoseek (Lymphoseek, Kit for the Preparation of Technetium Tc99m for Injection), a radiopharmaceutical agent for lymph node mapping; AZD4694, an imaging agent, and RIGScan, a tumor antigen-specific targeting agent. In January 2012, the Company executed an option agreement with Alseres Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (Alseres) to license [123I]-E-IACFT Injection, also called Altropane, an Iodine-123 radiolabeled imaging agent, being developed as an aid in the diagnosis of Parkinson�� disease, movement disorders and dementia. In August 2011, the Company sold its gamma detection device line of business (the GDS Business) to Devicor Medical Products, Inc.

Lymphoseek

Navidea�� pipeline includes clinical-stage radiopharmaceutical agents used to identify the presence and status of disease. Lymphoseek (Kit for the Preparation of Technetium Tc99m for Injection) is a lymph node targeting agent intended for use in intraoperative lymphatic mapping (ILM) procedures and lymphoscintigraphy employed in the overall diagnostic assessment of certain solid tumor cancers. The lymph system is a component of the body�� immune system. The key components of the lymph system are lymph nodes-small anatomic structures that contain disease-fighting lymphocytes, filter lymph of bacteria and cancer cells, and signal infection in response to heightened levels of pathogens. In Navidea�� Phase III clinical studies of Lymphoseek, it detected over 99% of positive nodes identified by vital blue dye (VBD). As of December 31, 2011, Navidea, in co-operation with UC, San Diego affiliate (UCSD), completed or initiated five Phase I clinical trials, one multi-center Phase II trial and three multi-center Phase II trials inv! olving Lymphoseek. Two Phase III studies were completed in subjects with breast cancer and melanoma. During the year ended December 31, 2011, data from NEO3-09 were released, which indicated that all primary and secondary endpoints for the study were met. As of December 31, 2011, third Phase III clinical trial for Lymphoseek in subjects with head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (NEO3-06) was in progress.

AZD4694

AZD4694 is a Fluorine-18 labeled precision radiopharmaceutical candidate for use in the imaging and evaluation of patients with signs or symptoms of cognitive impairment such as Alzheimer's disease (AD). It binds to beta-amyloid deposits in the brain that can then be imaged in positron emission tomography (PET) scans. Amyloid plaque pathology is a required feature of AD and the presence of amyloid pathology is a supportive feature for diagnosis of probable AD. Patients who are negative for amyloid pathology do not have AD. AZD4694 has been studied in several clinical trials. Clinical studies through Phase IIa have included more than 80 patients to date, both suspected AD patients and healthy volunteers. No significant adverse events have been observed. Results suggest that AZD4694 has the ability to image patients quickly and safely with high sensitivity.

RadioImmunoGuided Surgery

As of December 31, 2011, RIGScan had been studied in a number of clinical trials, including Phase III studies. Navidea has conducted two Phase III studies, NEO2-13 and NEO2-14, of RIGScan in patients with primary and metastatic colorectal cancer, respectively. Both studies were multi-institutional involving cancer treatment institutions in the United States, Israel, and the European Union.

The Company competes with Pharmalucence, Eli Lilly, Bayer Schering, General Electric and GE Healthcare.

Best Medical Stocks To Own For 2014: Cerus Corporation(CERS)

Cerus Corporation, a biomedical products company, engages in the development and commercialization of the INTERCEPT Blood System. The company?s INTERCEPT system is designed to inactivate blood-borne pathogens in donated blood components intended for transfusion. It markets the INTERCEPT system for platelets and plasma primarily in Europe, the Russian Federation, and the Middle East. The company is also developing INTERCEPT Blood System for red blood cells or red blood cell system, which is designed to inactivate blood-borne pathogens in donated red blood cells for transfusion. Cerus Corporation has collaboration agreements with Baxter International, Inc.; and BioOne Corporation, as well as the United States Armed Forces. The company was founded in 1991 and is based in Concord, California.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Michael Shulman]

  Cerus (NASDAQ: CERS) developed and markets the INTERCEPT Blood System, which is designed to inactivate blood-borne pathogens in blood components so the blood can be used in transfusions. In other words, it “cleans” donated blood of viruses, bacteria and parasites.

  Cerus is pretty much the only game in town with this remarkable technology, and it has gained approval in most large European countries. Why not the United States? Well, management has not stood up to the FDA. The approval has been held up by one member of the FDA even though Cerus hit the primary endpoints in its pivotal Phase III trial and is receiving grants from the Department of Defense.

  The FDA should quit dragging its feet eventually. There is no scientific or product risk in this stock. Their system works. My target price is $14 in one to three years.

5 Best Stocks To Own For 2014: Covidien PLC (COV)

Covidien Public Limited Company is engaged in the development, manufacture and sale of healthcare products for use in clinical and home settings. It operates its businesses through three segments: Medical Devices, which includes the development, manufacture and sale of endomechanical instruments, energy devices, soft tissue repair products, vascular products, oximetry and monitoring products, airway and ventilation products; Pharmaceuticals, which includes the development, manufacture and distribution of specialty pharmaceuticals and active pharmaceutical ingredients, and Medical Supplies, SharpSafety products and original equipment manufacturer products. In May 2012, it acquired Newport Medical Instruments, Inc. In May 2012, it acquired superDimension, Ltd. In June 2012, the Company acquired Oridion Systems Ltd. In October 2012, its Mallinckrodt acquired CNS Therapeutics, Inc. In January 2013, the Company acquired CV Ingenuity. Advisors' Opinion:

• [By James K. Glassman]

  A global leader in medical devices, supplies and drugs, Covidien (symbol: COV) isn’t resting easy. The company, based in Ireland, expects to launch 100 new products through 2014. And it will continue to increase its research-and-development budget at a double-digit pace. Another goal: capitalize on emerging markets, where annual sales are growing rapidly. Analysts see Covidien’s plan to spin off its drug business as a positive, allowing the company to focus on its faster-growing and more-profitable devices business. The stock sells for 13 times estimated 2013 profits and yields 1.8%.

• [By Roberto Pedone]

  Covidien (COV) has a market capitalization of $29.74 billion. The company employs 43,400 people, generates revenue of $11.852 billion and has a net income of $1.902 billion. The firm’s earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) amounts to $3.044 billion. The EBITDA margin is 25.68 percent (the operating margin is 20.34 percent and the net profit margin 16.05 percent). 
  
  Financial Analysis: The total debt represents 22.64 percent of the company’s assets and the total debt in relation to the equity amounts to 47.70 percent. Due to the financial situation, a return on equity of 18.66 percent was realized. Twelve trailing months earnings per share reached a value of $3.93. Last fiscal year, the company paid $0.94 in the form of dividends to shareholders. 
  
  Market Valuation: Here are the price ratios of the company: The P/E ratio is 15.97, the P/S ratio is 2.52 and the P/B ratio is finally 2.83. The dividend yield amounts to 1.64 percent and the beta ratio has a value of 0.89.

Best Medical Stocks To Own For 2014: Prima BioMed Ltd (PRR)

Prima BioMed Ltd is a biotechnology company is engaged in the development and commercialization of medical therapies with a focus on oncology. Its product candidates in development include Cvac, an autologous dendritic cell vaccine for ovarian cancer, monoclonal antibodies for multiple tumour types, and an oral formulation for the human papilloma virus (HPV), vaccine. Its product candidate Cvac is a dendritic cell therapy, for which it is conducting a Phase IIb trial for the treatment of ovarian cancer. Cvac is designed to target the tumour antigen mucin-1, which is expressed at high levels on different tumour types. It also has two preclinical product development programs. In May 2011, Prima BioMed GmbH, a 100 % owned subsidiary of Prima BioMed Ltd, was incorporated in Germany. In May 2011, Prima BioMed Middle East FZLLC, a 100 % owned subsidiary of Prima BioMed Ltd, was incorporated in the United Arab Emirates.

Best Medical Stocks To Own For 2014: Algeta ASA (ALGETA)

Algeta ASA is a Norway-based biotechnology company engaged in the development of targeted cancer therapies based on its alpha-pharmaceutical platform. The Company�� principal product is Alpharadin for the treatment of bone metastases resulting from castration-resistant prostate cancer. The Company�� pipeline also includes Alpharadin for the treatment of bone metastases resulting from breast cancer, a combination of Alpharadin with Taxotere for the treatment of bone metastases resulting from prostate cancer and Thorium-227 showing various cancer indications. The Company develops Alpharadin in a development and marketing cooperation with Bayer Schering Pharma. Algeta ASA is active through the two wholly owned subsidiaries, Algeta Innovations AS and Algeta UK Limited. On April 12, 2012, the Company announced that it estabilished a subsidiary active in the United States, Algeta US.

Best Medical Stocks To Own For 2014: Bio-Reference Laboratories Inc.(BRLI)

Bio-Reference Laboratories, Inc. provides clinical laboratory testing services for the detection, diagnosis, evaluation, monitoring, and treatment of diseases primarily in the greater New York metropolitan area. It offers various chemical diagnostic tests, including blood and urine analysis, blood chemistry, hematology services, serology, radio-immuno analysis, toxicology, pap smears, tissue pathology, and other tissue analysis. The company also operates a clinical knowledge management service unit, which uses customer data from laboratory results, pharmaceutical data, claims data, and other data sources to provide administrative and clinical decision support systems. In addition, it operates a Web-based connectivity portal solution for laboratories and physicians to provide laboratory ordering and results to physician customers. The company provides its services directly to physicians, geneticists, hospitals, clinics, and correctional and other health facilities. Bio-Refe rence Laboratories, Inc. was founded in 1981 and is headquartered in Elmwood Park, New Jersey.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Squeeze Ideas]

  Medical Laboratories & Research Industry. Market cap of $621.05M. Short float at 24.02% (equivalent to 25.29 days of average volume).

  Net Income grew by 19.5% ($8.58M vs. $7.18M y/y), while Operating Cash Flow grew by 21.38% ($9.88M vs. $8.14M y/y) (comparing 3 months ending 2010-10-31 vs. 3 months ending 2009-10-31).

  The stock has a relatively low correlation to the market (beta = 0.71), which may be appealing to risk averse investors.

  Other Highlights: Judging by trailing twelve month (TTM) ratios like Return on Equity (ROE), Return on Assets (ROA) and Return on Invested Capital (ROI), it's clear that the company's management is doing an excellent job. TTM ROE at 20.49%, higher than the industry average at 17.9%, TTM ROA at 12.68% vs. the industry average at 6.71%, and TTM ROI at 16.16%, higher than the industry average at 11.34%. The company also outperformed its industry competitors in terms of the TTM Return on Sales ratio (6.32% vs. the industry average at 4.52%).

Jeff Auxier GuruFocus Interview: Part 2

Jeff Auxier is president and CEO of Auxier Asset Management and GuruFocus guru who recently took reader questions for an interview. This is the second half of the interview (the first half is published here):

GuruFocus: You're buying a lot of global brands, and they all had in common emerging market growth, like Proctor and Gamble (PG), Pepsi (PEP), Philip Morris (PM), Johnson and Johnson (JNJ). Is that was a conscious investment theme or is that a coincidence?

Jeff Auxier: Some of the best fundamentals surround the roughly 150 million new entrants that are annually entering the global emerging middle class, which now numbers approximately 1.8 billion. This segment spends between $10-$15 trillion a year. The internet is fueling envy and a new group of consumers seeking truth and trusted brands. Ironically, despite the current global protests against America, there is a powerful desire for quality Western brands. The U.S., France and Norway are the most food-secure countries in the world today. U.S. farmers feed 20% of the world's population on just 10% of the world's land. As incomes rise, so does the demand for a better diet and healthcare. Many of the U.S. multinationals enjoy a reputation for quality and have the scale in distribution to meet this growing demand. Poor execution on the part of JNJ and P&G this past year provided attractive entry price points for both stocks. Each company owns a plethora of leading brands that if spun off could provide tremendous returns for shareholders. Over 80% of acquisitions destroy shareholder value; spinoffs have had a much better record of outperforming the averages within 24 months. While Greece and Europe dominate with negative headlines, countries like Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines offer exciting underlying trends.

And about Pepsi, he says that it's been out of favor during the tech years but a lot of defensive names are all the rage, and is your portfolio tilted towards consumer defensive names because of your macr! oeconomic view, and it seems a more contrarian approach would be a more bullish approach on cyclicals like ArcelorMittal (MT) or Fiat (FIA).

We like products that are purchased because of free will, not a government stimulus program. You have to look at the big picture and the individual businesses. We try to be very disciplined with the price we pay but also about the quality of the business. Once you accumulate debt, historically it is difficult to reduce through austerity. If austerity is too harsh, people riot. It takes time. So we're in a multiyear deleveraging period, and when economies are deleveraging, low-ticket necessity items tend to have a better risk/reward. China's fixed investment levels were unprecedented this past decade. The hangover from their massive stimulus is very difficult to analyze. When the government is a big part of creating the demand for your product, like steel, it can be hard to quantify. We need much greater predictability.

Okay. And thinking about Proctor and Gamble, what are your thoughts on its moat in terms of some of those increasing commodity-like industries such as soap, cough syrup, etc., that are subject to private-label competition?

Companies need to constantly innovate to provide better value for their customers. They need to communicate the value. Globally, consumers have been willing to pay up for healthier products that will benefit them longer term. There is a tremendous opportunity for businesses that are on a virtuous cycle working to provide better value for their customers all the time. Unilever has done a good job staying close to their customers and has outperformed P&G, in my opinion, in many foreign markets. P&G is not executing up to its full potential. They may need to reenergize brands through spinoffs. Apple (AAPL) exemplifies the positive result of a tenacious drive to provide a superior product for the customer.

How would that same question apply to some of your other holdings, like Johnson and Johnson, or M! olson Coo! rs Brewing, or maybe Philip Morris?

Philip Morris has operationally done an excellent job since the split from Altria (MO). Johnson and Johnson suffers from a lack of quality control in many of their products. These are fixable, and again the tremendous lineup of leading brands offers investors good potential with spinoffs.

The other one was Molson Coors Brewing (TAP).

Oh yeah, again, they're really cheap. They're the oldest brewer in North America, and the stock is running about 10-11 times earnings with a very strong balance sheet. If you look at what Heineken is bidding for Asia Pacific Breweries (15-17 times cash flow), Molson looks like a bargain. The company has been innovative in coming out with new products, especially in the craft beer area. Their customer base is mostly unemployed, so that's kind of the problem. But usually if we can buy a beverage company at 10x earnings, we're pretty patient. Historically it's been a pretty good entry point.

Okay. Is that why you would invest in American brands over European brands or other brands in China or Brazil?

We just want a quality brand and honest, diligent management where we can find it. The problem with many foreign businesses is the integrity of the accounting. We like Western accounting better. So we would much prefer a company that makes a quality product with conservative accounting. The added transparency on the Internet benefits the good operators as the news of poor quality and dishonest behavior travels fast. We want businesses to focus their energy on a superior product or service, not financial engineering.

Okay. Great. Did you and Charlie talk about the euro zone? Where do you see that situation going and do you think any of the countries will default?

Well, Greece has been in default over 50 percent of the time since the early 1800s. It is built into their DNA. They never had the finances to join the euro zone in the first place. Spain's recession has been more of a tradit! ional dow! nturn driven by the excesses of real estate development. The inflexible labor markets throughout Europe add to the challenges. The perception of a "safe government" is quite the oxymoron. According to Reinhart and Rogoff, if you look back eight centuries, only six countries have paid their bills. Only six in eight centuries. Throughout history where there is an excessive accumulation of debt, restructuring follows. This leads to bargains opportunities. Recently Carlos Slim announced that Europe is now a good buy. Remember, he was extremely active in buying businesses in 1982 after Mexico defaulted on their debt. J. Paul Getty started buying oil stocks under book value after 1930 during the Great Depression. Historically, the great investors come alive in panics, recessions and depressions because of low prices--that's when you really want to work overtime as an investor. Attractive prices should dictate higher activity.

Charlie: Yes, I have a question. Do you think the opportunity is more in stocks or in debt, or both? If you look at Spain, the biggest companies in Spain, one is a bank, Bank Santander (STD). The other is Telefonica (TEF), a phone company. What other opportunities do you see there?

I think there are huge opportunities with Telefonica. They have solid assets that can be monetized. They recently cut the dividend, so we actually have been buyers of both the debt and stock. We like the Spanish-based companies that are globally exposed--and Telefonica's less than one-third in Spain, they're in Germany, they've got assets all over Europe, and then also in Latin America. So, on a price basis, since they have cut the dividend, the debt is interesting. They have a number of companies that they can take public where they can reduce the debt.

What do you think about the U.S. housing market? Where do you think it will go?

The problem I have with housing is the artificial repression of our interest rates. The Federal Reserve has removed the free market pricing! mechanis! m. It is masking the needed fiscal reform. The U.S. provides $400 billion a year in housing subsidies. There is no stigma in strategically defaulting. With easy money people are gaming the system. What would happen if you brought the free market back to the bond market? According to Jim Grant, the Greek long bond yielded only 20 basis points over the German long bond back in 2005. Look what happened to those interest rates in Greece. Look at California, the world's seventh largest economy, and they have just approved a massive $100 billion bullet train. The history of railroad defaults in the 1800s is not encouraging. Too big to fail? What if California or Illinois needed to be bailed out? What happens to housing values if the market were to price the risk? Government intervention in Japan led to a housing market that has been in a downward spiral for 17 years. It is very difficult to get a true read on the supply and demand for the U.S. housing market today.

Okay. Makes sense. Are you optimistic about natural gas? How are you investing in it, and what is your outlook on fossil fuels versus alternative fuels?

Human ingenuity and the tremendous advances in technology contribute to the speculative nature of undifferentiated commodities. Through fracking and horizontal drilling we have glutted the market with natural gas. We have the technology to just totally meet all of our energy needs, it's pretty exciting, and it's really politics that is standing in the way. Natural gas at these prices is maybe equivalent to $20 oil, so that's really already leading to a huge competitive manufacturing advantage. Now companies are looking to shorten their supply chains. In China, natural gas is maybe anywhere from 6 to10 times more expensive, same with Europe. Instead of buying direct producers, we would rather buy the beneficiaries of lower inputs. We like companies that benefit from lower technology costs, and we like companies that benefit from lower energy inputs. The technology exists for mu! ch lower ! oil prices as well. The branded packaged goods companies should benefit from those lower inputs. But to play it directly is really tough. I remember back in the early 1980s witnessing the boom-bust cycle with the stock of Texas Oil and Gas. In the late 1970s it was a top performing natural gas producer, and then once that boom busted, it was flat for years. Commodities are tough. We are coming off a China-driven 115-month commodity boom that exceeded the tech boom and the housing boom in duration. Once the public is sold on the trend it can become treacherous. Lending standards tend to gets sloppy. Wall Street kind of went crazy with the financing of Chesapeake. It was similar to Enron, where the off-balance sheet funding seemed like it would never fall out of favor. If we were to invest in the sector it would be with a company like Apache.

Why do you like it?

They're just really sensible about how they acquire reserves, sport a strong balance sheet and sell at a steep discount to reserves.

Alright. I think you touched on this with Charlie a lot, about your mentors? And so do you have anything to add? Were there any moments in your investing that changed your views, or were eye opening, throughout your career. Might have changed your path a little bit, or someone you met that changed your thoughts about things?

In business, primarily Robert Pamplin. The call in 1982 to Warren Buffett was critical in establishing the framework to endure longer term. The best thing I did was to energetically focus on that price-value-margin of safety approach. An example of how valuable the lessons proved: I had a client in 1985 who entrusted me with $1 million and we just sat down and we went through all the Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.A)(BRK.B) annual reports and started attending the Berkshire meetings. That $1 million compounded to $6 million by 1992. Achieving those results while employing a systemic, low risk approach hooked me for life.

Yes. Just some comments here. You were reall! y lucky t! o get Warren Buffett to answer your call in 1982. These days if you call him maybe even his secretary is too busy to answer your phone.

He has contributed so much for so many with his education on the proper way to invest. Like what Gurufocus is doing today. Capital allocation is critically important in a free market system and if it's done poorly, the consequences can be devastating to people's lives. Gurufocus provides a very valuable educational service—one of the best I have seen. It still comes down to the daily voracious researching. You can have a strong track record, but if you're not committed daily to a rigorous fact finding effort it is difficult to protect against permanent capital loss. Gurufocus provides the sound fundamental approach needed to endure the most difficult market conditions.

Thank you very much.

Phenomenal, what you guys do.

I have a last question. You live on a farm right?

Right, yeah.

Does that give you an advantage in investing?

I think it does. We actually have a producing farm with cattle, timber and hazelnuts. We export to China We see supply and demand at a very base level. Supply and demand to me is critical in investing. Humility is a big component as there are no shortcuts in farming. The work has to get done every day. You need to get a high quality product to the market. It is not easy. For kids it's a great training ground. Farming combines biology, chemistry, mechanics, engineering, mathematics. I purchased the farm in the late 1980s and in hindsight it was one of the best moves of my life. Investing and farming are similar--you're planting and compounding. A true investor tends to plant in the "hopelessly out of favor" and then harvests during "emotionally euphoric." Like farming, the investor needs persistence and dedication to stick to a disciplined research regimen. An effective risk manager combines humility, persistent fact-finding and cumulative knowledge together with the proper tempera! ment. Mr.! Buffett's advice about living far from Wall Street was so valuable--I took it to heart. John Templeton is another example of an outstanding investor who did much better after moving to the Bahamas from New York. Better to do your own thinking far from the emotions and swirling rumor mills.

Thank you very much. It was a great pleasure to talk to you.

Thank you, any time. You have a great site.

Related links:Jeff AuxierTook reader questionsThe first half is published hereWarren Buffett

Best Gold Companies To Invest In 2014

The S&P 500 (SNPINDEX: ^GSPC  ) hit a new record high on March 28, its first since late 2007. After that, the S&P didn't stop rising, and the major market benchmark has gained more than 4% from its late-March levels, surprising many skeptical investors who expected a major correction to follow the multi-year recovery.

For some stocks, though, that correction has become reality despite the S&P's general move upward. Let's look at the four S&P 500 stocks that have lost the most ground since the index's initial March 28 record close.

Newmont Mining (NYSE: NEM  ) , down 20.9%
For Newmont Mining, the cause of the major downdraft is obvious: the plunge in gold prices that took place in mid-April. Given the size of Newmont's gold-mining business, it can't look to growth prospects as a major driver of profits in the same way that small developing mines can. Rather, much of its earnings depend on gold prices, and the plunge has made investors nervous about Newmont's ability to sustain its profits at current levels. Despite some signs of stabilizing gold prices, the rebound hasn't been solid enough to get Newmont's shares higher, and until they do, Newmont will remain under pressure as the impact on earnings plays out in the quarters to come.

Best Gold Companies To Invest In 2014: Claude Resources Inc.(CGR)

Claude Resources Inc. engages in the acquisition, exploration, and development of precious metal properties, as well as production and marketing of minerals in Canada. It primarily explores for gold in northern Saskatchewan and northwestern Ontario. The company holds interests in the Seabee gold mine located at Laonil Lake, northern Saskatchewan; and the Madsen property that consists of 6 contiguous claim blocks totaling approximately 10,000 acres, located in the Red Lake Mining District of northwestern Ontario. It also holds interest in the Amisk Gold project, which covers an area of 13,800 hectares in the province of Saskatchewan. The company was founded in 1980 and is based in Saskatoon, Canada.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Christopher Barker]

  Hardly a johnny-come-lately, Claude Resources initiated small-scale gold production from its flagship Seabee mine in Saskatchewan in 1991. Just last year, Claude added the Santoy 8 mine to that operation to offer a touch of timely growth. Meanwhile, the operation hosts a number of compelling exploration targets like the recently discovered Neptune zone. After 10 of 15 recent drill holes from Neptune featured visible gold, including a nice high-grade intercept of 84.66 g/t over 3.2 meters, prospects are building for Claude to add some additional years to this time-tested operation.

  While I welcome the existing cash flow from Seabee, my investment thesis for Claude Resources centers around a pair of exciting exploration properties: the Amisk joint venture project southeast of Seabee and the Madsen property at Red Lake, Ontario. At Madsen, historical gold production between 1938 and 1976 yielded 2.4 million ounces at an average grade of 9 g/t. To date, Claude has identified an indicated resource of 928,000 ounces at a comparable grade. At Amisk, drill intercepts of eye-catching thickness suggest strong potential for a profitable open pit operation, including an intercept of 2.16 g/t over 241 meters! The deposit's 921,000 indicated gold-equivalent ounces represent only an early stage hint of the deposit's full potential. The stock is a top-10 holding for Sprott Asset Management, and a core holding for this Fool as well.

Best Gold Companies To Invest In 2014: Northgate Minerals Corporation(NXG)

Northgate Minerals Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, engages in exploring, developing, processing, and mining gold and copper deposits in Canada and Australia. Its principal producing assets include 100% interests in the Fosterville and Stawell Gold mines in Victoria, Australia; and the Kemess South mine located in north-central British Columbia, Canada. The company was formerly known as Northgate Exploration Limited and changed its name to Northgate Minerals Corporation in May 2004. Northgate Minerals Corporation was founded in 1919 and is headquartered in Toronto, Canada.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Christopher Barker]

  I've been reminding Fools to consider positioning for Northgate Minerals' golden explosion for months, and patient gold investors continue to await the day when Northgate's powerful prospects are more fully reflected in the shares. Construction of the critical Young-Davidson mine continues right on schedule, and first production now stands about two quarters away. That means Northgate is reasonably likely to achieve its 2012 production target of 300,000 ounces, followed by 350,000 ounces in 2013. Meanwhile, Northgate recently drilled "one of the best holes ever intersected on the property" -- featuring 4.31 grams of gold per ton over a very wide 79.6-meter segment -- from a new discovery zone outside of the existing 2.8 million-ounce reserve.

  If Young-Davidson were Northgate's sole asset, these shares would still be undervalued here at about $2.60 per share. With a preliminary assessment looming for the reworked Kemess Underground project, a new drill program at the Awakening Gold project in Nevada, and two operating gold mines in Australia, Northgate figures among the clearest bargains in the gold patch.

Top Canadian Companies To Buy Right Now: Golden Star Resources Ltd(GSS)

Golden Star Resources Ltd., a gold mining and exploration company, through its subsidiaries, engages in the acquisition, exploration, development, and production of gold properties. It owns and operates the Bogoso/Prestea gold mining and processing operation that covers approximately 40 kilometers of strike along the southwest-trending Ashanti gold district in western Ghana; and the Wassa open-pit gold mine located to the east of Bogoso/Prestea in southwest Ghana. The company also has an 81% interest in the Prestea underground gold mine located in Ghana. In addition, it holds interests in various gold exploration projects in Ghana, Sierra Leone, Burkina Faso, Niger, and Cote d?Ivoire, as well as holds and manages exploration properties in Brazil in South America. The company was founded in 1984 and is based in Littleton, Colorado.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Curtis]

  Golden Star Resources, Ltd Com (AMEX:GSS): This equity had 10,766,183 shares sold short as of Aug 31st, as compared to 9,400,663 on Aug 15th, which represents a change of 1,365,520 shares, or 14.5%. Days to cover for this company is 3 and average daily trading volume is 3,419,976. About the equity: Golden Star Resources Ltd. is a mid-tier gold mining company. The Company’s operating mines are situated along the Ashanti Gold Belt in Ghana, West Africa.

Best Gold Companies To Invest In 2014: Thompson Creek Metals Company Inc.(TC)

Thompson Creek Metals Company Inc., through its subsidiaries, engages in mining, milling, processing, and marketing molybdenum products in the United States and Canada. The company?s principal properties include the Thompson Creek Mine and mill in Idaho; a metallurgical roasting facility in Langeloth, Pennsylvania; and a joint venture interest in the Endako Mine, mill, and roasting facility in British Columbia. It also holds interests in development projects comprising the Davidson molybdenum property and the Berg copper-molybdenum-silver property located in northern British Columbia; the Howard?s Pass property, a lead and zinc project situated in the Yukon territory-northwest territories border; and the Maze Lake property, a gold project located in the Kivalliq district of Nunavut. The company produces molybdenum products, primarily molybdic oxide and ferromolybdenum, as well as soluble technical oxide, pure molybdenum tri-oxide, and high purity molybdenum disulfide. As o f December 31, 2010, its consolidated recoverable proven and probable ore reserves totaled 462.2 million pounds of contained molybdenum in the Thompson Creek Mine and the Endako Mine. The company was formerly known as Blue Pearl Mining Ltd. and changed its name to Thompson Creek Metals Company Inc. in May 2007. Thompson Creek Metals Company Inc. is based in Denver, Colorado.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Christopher Barker]

  My recent survey of bargain-basement stock valuations among gold miners identified Thompson Creek Metals as a glaring opportunity for value investors. The miner sports two world-class molybdenum mines with 534 million pounds of reserves between them, along with an array of attractive development projects in the pipeline. Foremost among those is the Mt. Milligan copper and gold project, where Thompson Creek expects to launch itself into the ranks of intermediate gold producers with production commencing in late 2013.

  With 6 million ounces of gold reserves, accompanied by 2.1 billion pounds of copper, Mt. Milligan will deliver about 262,100 ounces of gold per year for the first six years of a 22-year mine life, averaging 194,500 ounces annually over that entire span. Although 25% of that gold production is already spoken for through a gold stream agreement with Royal Gold (Nasdaq: RGLD  ) , Thompson Creek Metals is sure to enjoy a powerful cash-flow explosion.

Best Gold Companies To Invest In 2014: Australian Dollar(AU)

AngloGold Ashanti Limited primarily engages in the exploration and production of gold. It also produces silver, uranium oxide, and sulfuric acid. The company conducts gold-mining operations in South Africa; continental Africa, including Ghana, Guinea, Mali, Namibia, and Tanzania; Australia; and the Americas, which include Argentina, Brazil, and the United States. It also has mining or exploration operations in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Guinea, and Colombia. As of December 31, 2010, the company had proved and probable gold reserves of 71.2 million ounces. The company has a strategic alliance with Thani Dubai Mining Limited to explore, develop, and operate mines across the Middle East and parts of North Africa. AngloGold Ashanti Limited, formerly known as Vaal Reefs Exploration and Mining Company Limited, was founded in 1944 and is headquartered in Johannesburg, South Africa.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Mel Daris]

  AngloGold Ashanti (AU), a South African company, is trading for $33 and pays a dividend which yields 3.20%. The stock has an astonishing P/E of 1,015. Its net income totaled $112 million last year, but negative cash flows of $620 million. It holds net tangible assets of $4.3 billion and its balance sheet has not grown nearly as quickly as the other companies on this list. AngloGold has two new mines coming online in Congo and Colombia.

Best Gold Companies To Invest In 2014: Agnico-Eagle Mines Limited(AEM)

Agnico-Eagle Mines Limited, through its subsidiaries, engages in the exploration, development, and production of mineral properties in Canada, Finland, and Mexico. The company primarily explores for gold, as well as silver, copper, zinc, and lead. Its flagship property includes the LaRonde mine located in the southern portion of the Abitibi volcanic belt, Canada. The company was founded in 1953 and is based in Toronto, Canada.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Vatalyst]

  With headquarters in Canada, Agnico-Eagle is a gold producer that has been around for a while with operations in Canada, Finland and Mexico and the United States that has paid a cash dividend for 29 consecutive years. AEM gained 25% over the year and reported 83.5% growth in quarterly earnings. It has a market capitalization of $11.4 billion and a trailing P/E ratio of 34x with expectations of earning $0.55 per share. AEM, like other operators like it, are likely a better bet than ETF trust options like SPDR Gold Shares (GLD).