Top 5 Oil Service Companies To Invest In 2014

Weatherford International (NYSE: WFT  ) is going through an identity crisis of sorts that I'm surprised hasn't raised some legal red flags or caused more concern on Wall Street. The company maintains its main operational office in Houston, was formerly legally based in Bermuda, moved to Switzerland in 2009, and now seeks the greener pastures of Ireland to operate at lower costs and further attract top talent. What's going on here? Is Weatherford gaming the system, or�is it�possibly hiding something? One thing's for sure, this is perfectly legal but something sure doesn't smell right since tax shelters are increasingly being vilified in political circles here in the�United States. Ireland has also been under pressure to make�its tax structures harder to abuse by multinational corporations.�

The oil services player has been looking to capitalize on the favorable tax structure that�the Swiss have benefited for years and years. With greater international scrutiny of Swiss tax laws as well as top executive and board member pay, Weatherford is now hoping to incorporate in Ireland while maintaining its tax domicile in Switzerland. Keep in mind that�tech companies like Apple, Google, and even Facebook�all take advantage of Ireland's favorable tax rate environment. That doesn't make it right for Weatherford to follow�the same�path.�

Top Specialty Retail Companies To Watch For 2015: Yahoo! Inc.(YHOO)

Yahoo! Inc., together with its subsidiaries, operates as a digital media company that delivers personalized digital content and experiences through various devices worldwide. It offers online properties and services to users; and a range of marketing services to businesses. The company?s communications and communities offerings include Yahoo! Mail, Yahoo! Messenger, Yahoo! Groups, Yahoo! Answers, Flickr, and Connected TV, which provide a range of communication and social services to users and small businesses enabling users to organize into groups and share knowledge, common interests, and photos. Its search products comprise Yahoo! Search and Yahoo! Local, available free to users to navigate the Internet and discover content. The company?s marketplaces offerings and services include Yahoo! Shopping, Yahoo! Travel, Yahoo! Real Estate, Yahoo! Autos, and Yahoo! Small Business, which allow users to research specific topics, products, services, or areas of interest by review ing and exchanging information, obtaining contact details, or considering offers from providers of goods, services, or parties with similar interests. Its media offerings comprise Yahoo! Homepage, Yahoo! News, Yahoo! Sports, Yahoo! Finance, My Yahoo!, Yahoo! Toolbar, Yahoo! Entertainment & Lifestyles, Yahoo! Contributor Network, and Yahoo! Pulse, which are designed to engage users with online content and services on the Web. The company also offers marketing services, such as display and search advertising, listing-based services, and commerce-based transactions to advertisers. In addition, it provides software and platform offerings for third-party developers, advertisers, and publishers, such as Yahoo! Developer Network, Yahoo! Open Strategy, Yahoo! Application Platform, Yahoo! Updates, Yahoo! Query Language, and Yahoo! Search BOSS. The company has strategic alliances with Nokia and ABC News, Inc. Yahoo! Inc. was founded in 1994 and is headquartered in Sunnyvale, Californi a.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Rex Crum]

  Also attracting attention was the annual Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, which begins this week with about 150,000 attendees. Yahoo Inc. (YHOO) � Chief Executive Marissa Mayer and Twitter CEO Dick Costolo are scheduled to deliver keynote speeches.

• [By Daniel Sparks]

  Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL  ) continues to bump heads with big tech companies, duking it out with Google (NASDAQ: GOOG  ) and even scrambling a bit with Facebook (NASDAQ: FB  ) . But one company seems to get along with Apple very well: Yahoo! (NASDAQ: YHOO  ) . In the video below, Fool contributor Daniel Sparks explains this dynamic and the latest move by Apple to get a bit cozier with Yahoo!.

• [By Wall Street Sector Selector]

  So does "Big Ben" trump everything? Apparently so, as the S&P 500 repeatedly sets new record highs. What has kept stocks flying? NOT QUARTERLY Earnings as the list below clearly demonstrates:

  United Parcel Service (UPS) – On July 12, the company announced that it was lowering its profit forecast for the year and that it expects to report earnings of $1.13 per share on July 23. Although analysts were expecting annual EPS to reach $4.98, the company lowered its guidance to a range between $4.65 and $4.85.Yahoo (YHOO) – Although Yahoo's earnings of 35 cents per share beat estimates of 30 cents per share, the company fell short at the top line, reporting quarterly revenue of $1.07 billion, compared with estimates of $1.8 billion.Google – Google reported quarterly earnings of $9.56 per share on net revenue of $11.1 billion, falling short of estimates of $10.80 per share on net revenue of $11.4 billion.Intel (INTC) – Intel reported quarterly EPS of 39 cents on revenue of $12.8 billion, missing estimates of 40 cents per share on revenue of $12.9 billion.Coca-Cola (KO) – Coke reported quarterly EPS of 59 cents on revenue of $12.75 billion, compared with estimates of 63 cents per share on $12.96 billion in revenue.American Micro Devices – AMD reported a "less bad than expected" quarterly loss of 9 cents per share on revenue of $1.16 billion, beating estimates of a 12-cent-per-share loss on revenue of $1.11 billionMicrosoft – Microsoft reported quarterly EPS of 59 cents on revenue of $19.9 billion, missing estimates of 75 cents per share on revenue of $20.73 billion.IBM: Big Blue reported quarterly EPS of $3.91 on revenue of $24.9 billion. Although it beat the EPS estimate of $3.77, it missed the revenue estimate of $25.37 billion.FedEx (FDX) – FedEx beat quarterly EPS estimates of $1.96, reporting earnings of $2.13 per share. However, its quarterly revenue of $11.45 billion fell short of the estima

Top 5 Oil Service Companies To Invest In 2014: Mediabistro Inc (MBIS)

Mediabistro Inc, formerly WebMediaBrands Inc., incorporated on April 5, 1999, is an Internet media company. The Company provides content, education, career services to social media, traditional media and creative professionals through a portfolio of vertical online properties, communities and trade shows. On May 11, 2011, the Company acquired Inside Network, Inc.In March 2011, the Company acquired the assets of the blog FacebookMarketing.de. In March 2011, the Company acquired the assets of the Website SemanticOverflow.com. In May 2011, it acquired Inside Network Inc. In August 2012, the Company acquired the assets of Lost Remote the blog covering the field of social television.

The Company�� online business includes mediabistro.com, a blog network providing content, education, community resources and career resources about media industry verticals including new media, social media, Facebook, TV news, advertising, public relations, publishing, design and mobile. Its mediabistro.com business also includes a job board for media and creative professionals focusing on job categories such as social media, new media, publishing, public relations/marketing, advertising, sales, design, Web development, television and more. InsideNetwork.com, a network of online properties dedicated to providing original market research, data services, news, events and job listings on the Facebook platform, on social gaming and on mobile applications ecosystems. SemanticWeb.com, a blog providing content, education, community resources and career resources on the commercialization and application of Semantic Technologies, Linked Data and Big Data. Community, membership and e-commerce offerings including a freelance listing service, a marketplace for designing and purchasing logos (stocklogos.com) and premium membership services.

The Company�� education business features online and in-person courses and online conferences, including its Social Media Marketing Boot Camps, for media and creative prof! essionals. Online education conferences are programs that offer attendees the opportunity to learn in a dynamic online setting with live weekly instruction via webcast, daily forum discussions within an online classroom, homework assignments, and small group interaction where students receive one-on-one guidance and instruction from an advisor. The Company�� trade shows include, among others, the Semantic Tech and Business Conference, Inside Social Apps, Social Gaming Summit and AllFacebook Marketing Expo. Its online business also includes AllCreativeWorld.com, a network of online properties providing content, education, community, career and other resources for creative and design professionals.

The Company competes with Monster.com and LinkedIn.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Paul Ausick]

  Stocks on the Move: Aetrium Inc. (NASDAQ: ATRM) is up 156.2% at $12.40 following a positive report based on a recent management change and new products. Mediabistro Inc. (NASDAQ: MBIS) is down 17.4% at $3.41 as the stock gives back some of the 87% gain it scored yesterday. J.C. Penney Co. Inc. (NYSE: JCP) is up 7.7% at $10.08 on momentum from an insider stock purchase earlier this week.

• [By James E. Brumley]

  Well, I'll be the first to admit it took way longer than I expected, but Mediabistro Inc. (NASDAQ:MBIS) has finally unleashed the strength I saw brewing up four months ago. Now get out. Seriously. Go ahead and take your profits on MBIS and walk away while you still can.

• [By Paul Ausick]

  One lightly traded stock making a big move today is Mediabistro Inc. (NASDAQ: MBIS), an Internet media company that offers a variety of services in a number of vertical media markets. The company today announced a strategic investment in 3dprintingindustry.com, a media firm that covers the hot 3D printer market. No financial details were provided.

Top 5 Oil Service Companies To Invest In 2014: Verint Systems Inc (VRNT)

Verint Systems Inc. (Verint), incorporated in February 1994, is engaged in Actionable Intelligence solutions and value-added services. More than 10,000 organizations use Verint Actionable Intelligence solutions to capture, distill, and analyze complex and underused information sources, such as voice, video, and unstructured text. In the security intelligence market, it offers communications and cyber intelligence, video and situation intelligence, and public safety solutions help government and commercial organizations to protect people and property. On March 30, 2011, the Company acquired Rontal Engineering Applications Ltd. On August 2, 2011, the Company acquired a privately held provider of communications intelligence solutions, data retention services, and network performance management, based in the Americas region. On August 4, 2011, the Company acquired Vovici Corporation (Vovici). On October 7, 2011, the completed the acquisition of Global Management Technologies (GMT). On November 1, 2011, the Company acquired certain technology and other assets for use in its Communications Intelligence operating segment. On November 10, 2011, the Company acquired certain technology and other assets for use in its Enterprise Intelligence operating segment in a transaction. On January 5, 2012, the Company acquired a privately held provider of Web intelligence technology, based in the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, and Africa (EMEA) region. In February 2014, Verint Systems Inc has completed its acquisition of KANA Software, Inc, a portfolio company of Accel-KKR.

The Enterprise Intelligence Solutions Segment

The Company is a provider of enterprise intelligence software and services. Its solutions enable organizations to extract and analyze information from customer interactions and related operational data. It markets these solutions under the Impact 360 brand to contact center, back-office, and branch and remote office operations, to other customer-facing departments, such as sale! s and marketing. These solutions comprise a range of enterprise workforce optimization and voice of the customer solutions and services, which include Internet protocol (IP) and Time Division Multiplexing (TDM) voice recording, quality monitoring, voice of the customer analytics (speech, text, and enterprise feedback management), workforce management, e-Learning and coaching, performance management, and desktop and process analytics. These solutions can be deployed stand-alone or in an integrated fashion.

The Company�� Impact 360 is an unified portfolio of workforce optimization and voice of the customer solutions. Its portfolio of Enterprise Intelligence Solutions include Quality Monitoring, Full-Time and Compliance Recording, Workforce Management, Voice of the Customer Analytics (Speech, Text, and Enterprise Feedback Management), Performance Management, e-Learning and Coaching, Desktop and Process Analytics, Workforce Optimization and Voice of the Customer for Small-to-Medium Sized Businesses and Public Safety. Quality Monitoring records multimedia interactions based on user-defined business rules and provides interaction assessment functionality, including intelligent evaluation forms and automatic delivery of calls for evaluation according to quotas or contact-related criteria. Its Full-Time and Compliance Recording provides contact center recording for compliance, sales verification, and monitoring in IP, traditional TDM, and mixed telephony environments. It includes encryption capabilities to help support the payment card industry data security standard and other regulatory requirements for protecting sensitive data. Workforce Management Helps enterprises forecast staffing requirements, deploy the appropriate level of resources, and evaluate the productivity of their customer service staff. It also includes optional strategic planning capabilities. Its speech analytics solutions analyze call content for the purpose of identifying business trends, building containment and customer s! ervice st! rategies, and quality monitoring programs. Its text analytics analyze structured and unstructured data in multiple text sources include e-mail, chat sessions, blogs, contact center notes, white mail, survey comments, and social media channels. Its enterprise feedback management solutions provide enterprise-wide customer feedback capabilities through surveys and online communities to centralize and simplify survey management, deployment, and analysis across survey platforms, including interactive voice response, e-mail, social media, and mobile devices. Performance Management Provides a view of key performance indicators (KPIs), with performance scorecards and reports on customer interactions, customer experience trends, and contact center, back-office, branch, remote office, and customer service staff performance. e-Learning and Coaching Enables enterprises to deliver Web-based training to customer service staff desktops, including learning clips created from recordings and other customized materials to staff needs and competencies. Desktop and Process Analytics Captures information from customer service employee interactions with their desktop applications to provide insights into productivity, training issues, process adherence, and bottlenecks. Workforce Optimization and Voice of the Customer for Small-to-Medium Sized Businesses is designed for smaller companies (with contact centers), which face the same business requirements as their larger competitors. Public Safety includes quality assurance, forecasting and scheduling, speech analytics, performance scorecards, citizen surveys, incident investigation and analytics, and full-time and compliance recording solutions under the brand Impact 360 for Public Safety Powered by Audiolog. Its public safety solution allows first responders (police, fire departments, emergency medical services, etc.) in the security intelligence market to deploy workforce optimization solutions to record, manage, and act on incoming assistance requests and related data.

! The Company competes with Aspect Software, Inc., HP company, Genesys Telecommunications, NICE Systems Ltd. (NICE).

The Video and Situation Intelligence Solutions Segment

The Company is a provider of networked IP video solutions and a provider of situation intelligence solutions to optimize security and enhance operations. Its solutions, marketed under the Nextiva brand, include IP video management software and services, edge devices for capturing, digitizing, and transmitting video over different types of wired and wireless networks, video analytics, network video recorders, and physical security information management. Its networked IP video portfolio enables organizations to deploy an end-to-end IP video solution with analytics or evolve to IP video solutions. Its situation intelligence solutions enable organizations to view, correlate, and analyze information from various stand-alone systems and sensors. It is engaged in the networked IP video market with Nextiva, an end-to-end, networked IP video solution portfolio. Its IP Video Management Software simplifies management of video and geographically dispersed video surveillance operations, with a suite of applications, which includes automated system health monitoring, policy-based video distribution, networked video viewing, and investigation management. It is designed for use with industry-standard servers and storage solutions and for interoperability with other enterprise systems. Edge Devices captures, digitizes, and transmits video across enterprise networks. It includes IP cameras, bandwidth-efficient video encoders to convert analog images to IP video for transmission over IP networks, and wireless devices, which perform both video encoding and wireless IP transmission. Video Analytics Analyzes video content to detect anomalies and activities of interest, such as perimeter intrusion, unattended objects, camera tampering, and vehicles moving in the wrong direction. It also includes industry-specific analytics applicati! ons. Netw! ork Video Recorders Performs networked video recording utilizing secure, embedded operating systems and market-specific data integrations for applications, which require local storage, as well as remote networking.

The Company�� Physical Security Information Management (Situation Intelligence) captures and integrates information from various stand-alone security and public safety systems, such as access control, video, intrusion, fire and public safety, first responder, and other mobile device systems. Its Video Intelligence solutions are deployed across a range of industries, including banking, retail, critical infrastructure, government, corporate campuses, education, airports, seaports, public transportation, and homeland security. Its video solutions include video analytics and data integrations.

The Company competes with 3VR, Tyco, Genetec Inc., March Networks Corporation, Milestone Systems A/S, NICE and Schneider Electric Limited.

The Communications and Cyber Intelligence Solutions Segment

The Company is a provider of communications intelligence solutions and a developer of cyber intelligence solutions, which help law enforcement, national security, intelligence, and civilian government agencies detect, investigate, and neutralize criminal and terrorist threats and detect and thwart cyber-attacks. Its portfolio includes solutions for communications interception, service provider compliance, mobile location tracking, open source Web intelligence, cyber intelligence and tactical communications intelligence. These solutions can be deployed stand-alone or collectively. The Company is engaged in the market for communications intelligence solutions and a developer of cyber intelligence solutions, which are marketed under the RELIANT, VANTAGE, STAR-GATE, ENGAGE, FOCALINFO, and CYBERVISION brand names. Its Communications Interception enables the interception, monitoring, and analysis of information collected from a range of communications networks, inc! luding fi! xed and mobile networks, IP networks, and the Internet. It includes lawful interception solutions designed to intercept specific target communications pursuant to legal warrants and mass interception solutions for investigating and proactively addressing criminal and terrorist threats. Communications Service Provider Compliance enables communication service providers to collect and deliver to government agencies specific call-related and call-content information in compliance with Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act (CALEA), European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI), and other compliance regulations and standards. It includes a scalable warrant and subpoena management system. Its Mobile Location Tracking tracks the location of mobile network devices for intelligence and evidence gathering, with analytics and workflow designed to support investigative activities. It provides real-time tracking of multiple targets, real-time alerts, and investigative capabilities, such as geospatial fencing and events correlation. Its Open Source Web Intelligence features advanced data collection, text analysis, data enrichment and analytics. Tactical Communications Intelligence provides portable communications interception and location tracking capabilities for local use or integration with centralized monitoring systems, to support tactical field operations. Its Cyber Intelligence designed to provide network-based cyber security, including malware detection capabilities for high-speed networks, for national cyber protection organizations.

The Company competes with Bosch Security Systems, Cisco Systems, Inc., United Technologies Corp., Honeywell International Inc., Aqsacom Inc., BAE Systems, JSI Telecom, NICE, Pen-Link, Ltd., RCS S.R.L., Rohde & Schwarz, Trovicor, SS8 Networks, Inc. and Sophos, Plc.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Lee Jackson]

  Verint Systems Inc. (NASDAQ: VRNT) is a global leader in actionable intelligence solutions. Its portfolio of Enterprise Intelligence Solutions and Security Intelligence Solutions helps organizations make Big Data actionable through the ability to capture, analyze and act on large volumes of rich, complex and often underused information sources — such as voice, video and unstructured text. With Verint solutions and value-added services, organizations of all sizes can make more timely and effective decisions. More than 10,000 organizations in over 150 countries, including more than 80% of the Fortune 100, count on Verint solutions to improve enterprise performance. The J.P. Morgan price target is $51, and consensus estimate is inline at $51.29. Verint closed Tuesday at $47.12.

Top 5 Oil Service Companies To Invest In 2014: Integrys Energy Group(TEG)

Integrys Energy Group, Inc., through its subsidiaries, operates as a regulated electric and natural gas utility company in the United States and Canada. It provides natural gas utility services in Chicago, Wisconsin, Michigan, and Minnesota. As of December 31, 2009, the company served approximately 1,669,000 residential, commercial and industrial, transportation, and other customers. It had approximately 22,000 miles of natural gas distribution mains; and approximately 1,010 miles of natural gas transmission mains. The company also generates and distributes electric energy form coal, natural gas, fuel oil, hydroelectric, and wind resources in Wisconsin and Michigan. It served approximately 489,000 residential, commercial and industrial, wholesale, and other customers. In addition, Integrys Energy offers nonregulated energy supply and services; and electric transmission services. The company was formerly known as WPS Resources Corporation and changed its name to Integrys En ergy Group, Inc. in February 2007. Integrys Energy Group, Inc. was founded in 1883 and is based in Chicago, Illinois.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Justin Loiseau]

  Integrys Energy (NYSE: TEG  ) has officially received regulatory approval for a $220 million modernization project for its Wisconsin Public Service subsidiary. After completing a pilot project in 2012, the utility developed plans for a five-year large scale project to start in 2014.

• [By Justin Loiseau]

  Getting more from gas
  Integrys Energy's (NYSE: TEG  ) Michigan Gas Utilities subsidiary has filed a request for a 6% increase in natural gas rates beginning in 2014. The company has recently hit a rough spot because of falling sales, pricey upgrade costs, more expensive customer service functions, and inflation.

• [By Justin Loiseau]

  Other utilities are following suit, pushing hard to turn coal into "clean coal." Integrys (NYSE: TEG  ) currently has a $17 million rate request on the table to add coal dust collectors to an 824 MW facility, a move that would put the utility one step closer to covering environmental costs.

• [By Garrett Cook]

  Integrys Energy Group (NYSE: TEG) shares shot up 12.90 percent to $68.81 after Wisconsin Energy (NYSE: WEC) announced its plans to acquire Integrys Energy Group in a deal valued at $9.1 billion.