Top Long Term Companies To Invest In 2014

Last week I wrote about a few things investors should do if they knew a market correction was coming. The preparation for the impending correction was simple: Review your holdings to ensure your portfolio was still properly balanced so that no one stock commands the lion's share of your investable dollars, determine whether your investing thesis was still alive, and mentally prepare yourself for some possible short-term paper loses. Then sit back and let the market do what the market does, because even if the market declines in the short term, it tends to rise ever higher in the long term.

I got a number of reader comments on the article, but one stood out to me. Misterpotatohead wrote, "So how exactly does this strategy differ from any other period in the market cycle?"

Well, let's first look at the market and its cycles. My colleague Dan Caplinger recently published a great piece explaining that when we look at the history of the markets, we typically see three 5% corrections each calendar year, one 10% correction each year, and a 20% correction once every three and a half years.

Hot Oil Service Companies To Watch For 2015: International Rectifier Corporation (IRF)

International Rectifier Corporation designs, manufactures, and markets power management semiconductors worldwide. The company operates through six segments: Power Management Devices, Energy Saving Products, Automotive Products, Enterprise Power, HiRel, and Intellectual Property. The Power Management Devices segment provides power metal oxide semiconductor field effect transistors (MOSFETs), FETKYs, and DirectFETs for power supply, data processing, telecommunications, industrial, and commercial battery-powered systems. The Energy Saving Products segment provides analog high voltage integrated circuits (HVICs), insulated gate bipolar transistors (IGBTs) platforms, digital control ICs, and IRAM integrated power modules for motor control appliances, industrial automation, lighting and display, audio, and video applications. The Automotive Products segment offers HVICs, intelligent power switch ICs, power MOSFETs, IGBTs, diodes, and advanced power modules for various automotive applications. The Enterprise Power segment offers DirectFET discrete products, digital PWM controllers, power monitoring products, voltage regulators, low voltage ICs, and PowIRstages primarily for applications in servers, storage, routers, switches, infrastructure equipment, notebooks, graphic cards, and gaming consoles. The HiRel segment provides RAD-hard discretes, RAD-hard ICs, power management modules, DC-DC converters, and high temperature converters for satellites and space exploration vehicles, military hardware, and other high reliability applications. The Intellectual Property segment sells and licenses technologies and manufacturing process know-how. The company was founded in 1947 and is headquartered in El Segundo, California.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Seth Jayson]

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

Top Long Term Companies To Invest In 2014: BreitBurn Energy Partners L.P.(BBEP)

BreitBurn Energy Partners L.P. engages in the acquisition, exploitation, and development of oil and gas properties in the United States. The company?s properties include natural gas, oil, and midstream assets comprising fields in the Antrim Shale in Michigan, and the New Albany Shale in Indiana and Kentucky; and fields in the Evanston and Green River basins in southwestern Wyoming, the Wind river and Big Horn basins in central Wyoming, the Powder River basin in eastern Wyoming, the Los Angeles basin in California, and fields in Florida?s Sunniland Trend. As of December 31, 2011, its total estimated proved reserves were 151.1 million barrels of oil equivalent. BreitBurn GP, LLC serves as the general partner to the company. BreitBurn Energy Partners L.P. was founded in 2006 and is headquartered in Los Angeles, California.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Matt DiLallo]

  Other industry peers like BreitBurn Energy Partners (NASDAQ: BBEP  ) �have gone on record stating that it will see a $0.21 accretion to its distributable cash flow by investing $500 million to acquire assets that meet its criteria. Its consistent acquisition activity has produced distribution growth of 27% since the first quarter of 2010.

Top Long Term Companies To Invest In 2014: Virgin Media Inc.(VMED)

Virgin Media Inc., through its subsidiaries, provides entertainment and communications services in the United Kingdom. The company offers cable broadband Internet, television, and fixed line telephone services under the Virgin Media brand to residential customers; mobile telephony services through Virgin Mobile, a mobile virtual network operator; broadband and telephone services to residential customers through third-party telecommunications networks; and video on demand services, including access to movies, television programs, music videos, and other on-demand content, as well as provides digital video recorders. It also offers voice, data, and Internet solutions to commercial customers comprising analog telephony and managed data networks and applications, as well as supplies communications services to health and emergency services providers. As of December 31, 2011, the company provided cable broadband services to approximately 4 million subscribers; cable television s ervices to approximately 3.76 million residential subscribers; cable telephony services to approximately 4.2 million residential subscribers; mobile telephony services to approximately 3 million customers; non-cable fixed line telephone services to approximately 163,300 subscribers; and voice, data, and Internet solutions to approximately 50,000 businesses and 250 public sector organizations. The company offers its products and services through telesales, customer care centers, and online, as well as through its sales force. It serves mobile and fixed-line service providers, systems integrators, and Internet service providers; and private and public sector organizations. The company was formerly known as NTL Incorporated and changed its name to Virgin Media Inc. in February 2007. The company was founded in 1993 and is based in New York, New York.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Markos Kaminis]

  Whether the stock is overvalued or not does not matter at this point, because an impact to its subscriber base due to the data sharing news would probably change market expectations for the company's operations and affect both earnings estimates and valuation multiples. It would probably drive the shares lower in my view, and I see no reason to risk that by holding the stock. Long-term holders, of course, have tax considerations to consider, and the news is still filing out. If Verizon's peers are also implicated clearly, perhaps with the aid of a Verizon PR push, this issue would be effectively mitigated. Though even in that case, there could be market share loss by all major American firms, with companies like T-Mobile US (TMUS) and Virgin Media (VMED) benefiting, whether they have also been involved or not. In any event, for new stakeholders, or those willing to deal with tax implications; or for those interested in a potential short opportunity, I would sell the stock today. I see no reason to bear risk while this issue and its implications are still unraveling, and while VZ has thus far not been significantly discounted for it.

Top Long Term Companies To Invest In 2014: Capstead Mortgage Corporation (CMO)

Capstead Mortgage Corporation operates as a self-managed real estate investment trust. It invests in leveraged portfolio of residential mortgage pass-through securities consisting of adjustable-rate mortgage securities issued and guaranteed by government-sponsored enterprises or by an agency of the federal government. The company qualifies as a real estate investment trust for federal income tax purposes. It generally would not be subject to federal corporate income taxes if it distributes at least 90% of its taxable income to its stockholders. The company was founded in 1985 and is headquartered in Dallas, Texas.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Rich Duprey]

  Agency mortgage real estate investment trust�Capstead Mortgage (NYSE: CMO  ) announced this morning�its second-quarter dividend of $0.31�per share, the same rate it paid last quarter.

• [By Amanda Alix]

  Everyone got stung
  The huge drop in share price, along with the unusually heavy trading volume, smacked of investor panic. Adjustable-rate mortgage investors like Capstead (NYSE: CMO  ) , which reported earnings on Thursday, also took a dive. Even players in the 30-year mortgage market, such as American Capital Agency (NASDAQ: AGNC  ) and Annaly (NYSE: NLY  ) got dinged, right along with the ARM crowd.

Top Long Term Companies To Invest In 2014: CoStar Group Inc (CSGP)

CoStar Group, Inc. (CoStar), incorporated on February 2, 1998, is a provider of information, analytics and marketing services to the commercial real estate industry in the United States and United Kingdom. The Company�� suite of online service offerings includes information about space available for lease, comparable sales information, tenant information, information about properties for sale, Internet marketing services, analytical capabilities, information for clients' Websites, information about industry professionals and their business relationships, data integration and industry news. Its service offerings span all commercial property types, including office, industrial, retail, land, mixed-use, hospitality and multifamily. In April 2012, the Company completed the acquisition of LoopNet, Inc.

The Company�� subscription-based information services consist primarily of CoStar Property Professional, CoStar Tenant, CoStar COMPS Professional and FOCUS services. CoStar Property Professional, CoStar Tenant, and CoStar COMPS Professional are generally sold as a suite of similar services and through its mobile application, CoStarGo, and consists of its primary service offering in its United States operating segment. FOCUS is its primary service offering in its International operating segment. As of January 31, 2013, our database of real estate information covered the U.S., London, England and other parts of the U.K., and contained information about approximately 1.6 million sale and lease listings; approximately 4.2 million total properties; approximately 9.0 billion square feet of sale and lease listings; Approximately 5.8 million tenants; approximately 1.9 million sales transactions valued in the aggregate at approximately $4.5 trillion, and approximately 13.8 million digital attachments, including building photographs, aerial photographs, plat maps and floor plans.

CoStar Property Professional

CoStar Property Professional (CoStar Property) is the Company�� fl! agship service. It provides subscribers an inventory of office, industrial, retail and multifamily properties and land in markets throughout the United States and United Kingdom, including for-lease and for-sale listings, historical data, building photographs, maps and floor plans. Commercial real estate professionals use CoStar Property to identify available space for lease, evaluate leasing and sale opportunities, value assets and position properties in the marketplace. Its clients also use CoStar Property to analyze market conditions by calculating current vacancy rates, absorption rates or average rental rates, and forecasting future trends based on user selected variables. When used together with CoStar Connect, CoStar Property enables subscribers to share space surveys and transaction-related documents with their clients, accessed through their corporate Website. CoStar Property, along with all of CoStar�� other core information, analytics and marketing services, is delivered solely via the Internet.

CoStar COMPS Professional

CoStar COMPS Professional (COMPS Professional) provides coverage of comparable sales information in the United States and United Kingdom commercial real estate industries. COMPS Professional offers subscribers numerous fields of property information, access to support documents (deeds of trust) for new comparables, demographics and the ability to view for-sale properties alongside sold properties in three formats, plotted on a map, aerial image or in a table.

CoStar Tenant

CoStar Tenant is a detailed online business-to-business prospecting and analytical tool providing commercial real estate professionals with the commercial real estate-related the United States and United Kingdom tenant information available. CoStar Tenant profiles tenants occupying space in commercial buildings across the United States and provides updates on lease expirations, as well as occupancy levels, growth rates and numerous other facts. Deliverin! g this in! formation through the Internet allows users to target prospective clients quickly through a searchable database that identifies only those tenants meeting certain criteria.

CoStarGo

CoStarGo is an iPad application, which integrates and provides mobile access to subscribers of its property, tenant and comparable sales information in our suite of online service offerings-CoStar Property Professional, CoStar Tenant and CoStar COMPS Professional. CoStarGo provides a single, location-centric mobile interface that allows users to access and display information on millions of properties and gain instant access to analytic data and demographic information from the field.

CoStar Advertising

CoStar Advertising offers property owners and brokers a targeted and way to market a space for lease or a property for sale directly to the CoStar subscribers looking for that type of space through interactive advertising. With the CoStar Advertising program, when the advertiser�� listings appear in a results set, they receive priority positioning and are enhanced to stand out. The advertiser can also purchase exposure in additional submarkets, or the entire market area so that this ad will appear even when this listing would not be returned in a results set.

PPR

The Company�� subsidiary, PPR, and its United Kingdom subsidiary, PPR United Kingdom, offer products and services designed to meet the research needs of commercial real estate investors and lenders. PPR covers metropolitan areas throughout the United States, United Kingdom and Europe, with offerings, including historical and forecast market data and analysis by market and property type, and services, including access to PPR�� analysts, economists, and strategists to develop and deliver custom research solutions. PPR Portal is PPR�� primary delivery platform for research, forecasts, analytics, and granular data surrounding a specific address and property type. PPR COMPASS is PPR�� ! premier c! ommercial real estate risk management tool.

Resolve Portfolio Maximizer

Resolve Portfolio Maximizer is an industry real estate portfolio management software solution. Resolve Portfolio Maximizer allows users to model partnership structures, calculate waterfall distributions and fees, model and analyze debt obligations, and create multiple what if scenarios for alternative investment decision.

Resolve Request

Request is the business intelligence software solution built specifically for managing commercial real estate investments. Request helps users eliminate some of the difficulties of consolidating real estate investment data from disparate sources and facilitates standardization of information presentation and reporting across an organization. Request also provides a platform for users to develop business intelligence and reporting capabilities.

VP Corporate Edition

The Company�� subsidiary, Virtual Premise, offers VP Corporate Edition, a real estate management software solution designed for corporate real estate managers, company executives, business unit directors, brokers and project managers. VP Corporate Edition helps users connect real estate initiatives with company strategic goals, streamline portfolio operations, automate the process for collecting and managing space requests, reduce occupancy costs with analytics that track location performance against targets, and maximize location performance through proactive portfolio management. Virtual Premise also provides lease abstraction and data review services in order to facilitate the effective implementation of this software solution.

VP Retail Edition

VP Retail Edition is a real estate management software solution designed for company executives, real estate dealmakers and store planning and construction managers. VP Retail Edition helps users to utilize and real-time data to establish goals and store strategies, manage the execution of r! eal estat! e strategies, summarize critical portfolio data and prerequisite store-level information and metrics for maximizing location performance through proactive portfolio management. Virtual Premise also provides lease abstraction and data review services in order to facilitate the effective implementation of this software solution.

LoopNet Basic and Premium Membership

The Company�� subsidiary, LoopNet, offer two types of memberships on the LoopNet marketplace, basic and premium. As of January 31, 2013, LoopNet had approximately 6.8 million registered members, of which 82,915 were premium members. LoopNet Premium Lister is designed for commercial real estate professionals and other customers who seek the broadest possible exposure for their listings, access to leads lists, and advanced marketing and searching tools. LoopNet Premium Searcher is designed for members searching for commercial real estate who need unlimited marketplace searching access, professional-quality reports and advanced searching tools.

LoopLink

LoopLink is an online real estate marketing and database services suite that enables commercial real estate firms to showcase their available properties both on the LoopNet marketplace and on the brokerage firm�� Website using hosted search software. Within LoopNet, each LoopLink listing is branded with the client�� logo and is hyperlinked to the client�� Website. The LoopNet import service offers the opportunity to simplify the process of submitting listings to LoopNet from the client�� internal databases, and features advanced data matching and data integrity rules and file conversion capabilities. LoopNet charges a monthly subscription fee to commercial real estate firms for the LoopLink service.

LandsofAmerica and LandAndFarm

LandsofAmerica and LandAndFarm are online marketplaces for rural land for sale. Sellers pay a fee to list their land for sale, and interested buyers can search LoopNet's listings for f! ree.

BizBuySell and BizQuest

BizBuySell and BizQuest are online marketplaces for operating businesses for sale. Business sellers pay a fee to list their operating businesses for sale, and interested buyers can search LoopNet's listings for free. The BizBuySell and BizQuest Franchise Directories allow interested business buyers to search hundreds of franchise opportunities, and franchisors can list their availabilities in the directory on a cost per lead basis.

FOCUS

The Company�� the United Kingdom subsidiary, CoStar U.K. Limited, offers several services; its primary service is FOCUS. FOCUS is a digital online service offering information on the United Kingdom commercial real estate market. This service seamlessly links data on individual properties and companies across the United Kingdom, including comparable sales, available space, requirements, tenants, lease deals, planning information, socio-economics and demographics, credit ratings, photos and maps.

Grecam

The Company�� French subsidiary, Grecam S.A.S., provides commercial real estate information throughout the Paris region through its Observatoire Immobilier D��Entreprise (OIE) service offering. The OIE service provides commercial property availability and transaction information to its subscribers through both an online service and market reports.

The Company competes with commercialsearch.com, PropertyLine.com, Reed Business Information Limited, officespace.com, MrOfficeSpace.com, TenantWise, Inc., www.propertyshark.com, WorkplaceIQ, RealPoint LLC, estatesgazette.com, Xceligent, Inc., eProperty Data, CBRE Economic Advisors, Marshall & Swift, Yale Robbins, Inc., Reis, Inc., Real Capital Analytics, Inc., The Smith Guide, Inc., Catalyst, the National Association of Realtors, CCIM Institute, Society of Industrial and Office Realtors the Commercial Association of Realtors Data Services, the Association of Industrial Realtors, Cougar Software, Yardi Systems, MRI ! Software,! Altus, Intuit Inc., Accruent, Tririga, Manhattan Software and AMT.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Garrett Cook]

  Financial sector was the top gainer in today’s trading. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included CoStar Group (NASDAQ: CSGP), up 11.5 percent, and Intermountain Community Bancorp (NASDAQ: IMCB), up 10.36 percent.

• [By Dave and Donald Moenning]

  Internet Software & Services has been the place to be in 2013. In addition to Shutterstock (SSTK), just take a look at these constituents of this red-hot sub-industry: Pandora Media (P), Facebook (FB), j2 Global (JCOM), Yelp (YELP), CoStar Group (CSGP),LinkedIn (LNKD), etc. The list of superb stocks in the Internet Software & Services space goes on and on. Focusing on stocks in the top-performing sub-industries usually helps bullish trades, so today, let's take a closer look at Shutterstock Inc for a short-term long trade.