Best Financial Stocks For 2014

There's an old maxim on Wall Street that says you shouldn't try to catch a falling knife; like a knife, your attempt to catch a stock in freefall may result in some significant damage, explains John Dobosz, editor of Forbes Dividend Investor.

With that cautionary prologue, let's get to our rationale for buying The ADT Corporation (ADT) now��fter reporting quarterly results that fell short of expectations.

On January 30, the Boca Raton, Florida-based electronic security service for homes and businesses reported earnings for the October to December period of $0.43 per share on revenue of $839 million, falling well short of analysts' consensus for $0.49 in EPS and revenue of $850.7 million.

Over the next three days, the stock fell from $37.81 to $28.83 per share. That's when ADT insiders started buying the stock aggressively. On February 3, two directors purchased $181,000 worth of ADT shares, around $30.25 each.

On the same day, even more significantly, ADT's chief financial officer, Michael Geltzeiler, purchased $295,900 worth of ADT at $29.59. Five additional company officers spent another $221,000 collectively on ADT stock between February 3 and yesterday.

Top International Companies To Invest In Right Now: Taubman Centers Inc (TCO)

Taubman Centers, Inc. (TCO), incorporated November 21, 1973, operates as a self-administered and self-managed real estate investment trust (REIT). The Taubman Realty Group Limited Partnership (TRG) is a subsidiary of TCO that owns direct or indirect interests in all of its real estate properties. The Company owns, leases, acquires, disposes of, develops, expands and manages regional and super-regional shopping centers and interests therein. As of December 31, 2012, the Company owned a portfolio of 24 urban and suburban shopping centers in 12 states. The consolidated Businesses consist of shopping centers and entities that are controlled by ownership or contractual agreements, The Taubman Company LLC (Manager), and Taubman Properties Asia LLC and its subsidiaries (Taubman Asia). In December 2012, it acquired additional 49.9% (100% in total) interest in International Plaza, located in Tampa, Florida. Also in December 2012, it acquired additional 25% (50% in total) interest in Waterside Shops. In January 2014, Taubman Centers Inc announced the completion of the sale of land owned by Taubman in Syosset, New York, and Taubman's interest in Arizona Mills to Simon Property Group.

The Company�� centers are located in metropolitan areas, including Charlotte, Dallas, Denver, Detroit, Los Angeles, Miami, Nashville, New York City, Orlando, Phoenix, San Francisco, Tampa, and Washington, D.C. The centers range in size between 236,000 and 1.6 million square feet of gross leasable area (GLA) and between 186,000 and 646,000 square feet of Mall GLA. Of the 24 centers, 18 are super-regional shopping centers. The Company�� centers have approximately 3,000 stores operated by their mall tenants under approximately 850 trade names. The centers have 65 anchors, operating under 14 trade names. The centers lease over 95% of leased Mall GLA to national chains, including subsidiaries or divisions of Forever 21 (Forever 21, For Love 21, XXI Forever, and others), The Gap (Gap, Gap Kids, Baby Gap, Banana Republic, ! Old Navy, and others), and Limited Brands (Bath & Body Works/White Barn Candle, Pink, Victoria's Secret, and others).

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Rich Duprey]

  Shopping-mall operator�Taubman Centers� (NYSE: TCO  ) �announced yesterday�its second-quarter dividend of $0.50 per share, the same rate it paid last quarter after raising the payout 8%, from $0.4625 per share.

• [By Marc Bastow]

  Super-regional shopping center real estate investment trust (REIT) Taubman Centers (TCO) raised its quarterly dividend 8% to 54 cents per share, payable March 31 to shareholders of record as of March 17.
  TCO Dividend Yield: 3.12%

Best Financial Stocks For 2014: Spdr S&P Semiconductor Etf (XSD)

SPDR S&P Semiconductor ETF (the Fund) seeks to closely match the returns and characteristics of the S&P Semiconductor Select Industry Index. The S&P Semiconductor Select Industry Index represents the Semiconductor sub-industry portion of the S&P Total Markets Index. The S&P TMI tracks all the United States common stocks listed on the New York Stock Exchange, American Stock Exchange, National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotation (NASDAQ) National Market and NASDAQ Small Cap exchanges. The Semiconductor Index is a modified equal weight index. SSgA Funds Management, Inc. is the Fund's investment advisor. Advisors' Opinion:

• [By John Udovich]

  There appears to be light at the end of the tunnel for mid cap fabless semiconductor stock Marvell Technology Group Ltd (NASDAQ: MRVL) despite the fact that the company has lost a patent infringement battle with Carnegie Mellon University that could cost it $1.54 billion, meaning its worth taking a closer look at the stock along with the performance of semiconductor ETF benchmarks like SPDR S&P Semiconductor ETF (NYSEARCA: XSD), iShares PHLX SOX Semiconductor Sector (NASDAQ: SOXX) and Direxion Daily Semiconductor Bull 3X Shares (NYSEARCA: SOXL).

• [By MONEYMORNING.COM]

  A more recent recommendation was the SPDR S&P Semiconductor (ETF) (NYSE Arca: XSD), an exchange-traded fund (ETF) that tries to reflect the performance of the Standard & Poor's Semiconductor Select Industry Index. The fund is already up 11.2% since the April 7 "Buy" call.

• [By John Udovich]

  On Thursday after the market closed, mid cap fabless semiconductor stock Marvell Technology Group Ltd (NASDAQ: MRVL) reported earnings and was slipping in after hours trading, meaning its worth taking a closer look at those earnings along with the performance of potential semiconductor benchmarks like the SPDR S&P Semiconductor ETF (NYSEARCA: XSD), iShares PHLX SOX Semiconductor Sector (NASDAQ: SOXX) and Direxion Daily Semiconductor Bull 3X Shares (NYSEARCA: SOXL). In case you aren�� familiar with the term fabless semiconductor, it�� a�business�model that involves the�outsourcing the manufacturing of silicon wafers.�Most semiconductor companies are actually fabless because of the high cost of building�a facility and manufacturing fab. Therefore, fabless semiconductor companies can�concentrate on the design and marketing of chips while outsourcing the actual production to larger foundry companies.

Best Financial Stocks For 2014: Etfs Gold Trust (SGOL)

ETFS Gold Trust (the Trust) is an investment trust. The investment objective of the Trust is for the Shares to reflect the performance of the price of gold bullion, less the expenses of the Trust�� operations. The Trust holds gold bullion and issues ETFS Physical Swiss Gold Shares (the Shares) in exchange for deposits of gold and distributes gold in connection with redemption of Baskets. The sponsor of the Trust is ETF Securities USA LLC (the Sponsor). The trustee of the Trust is The Bank of New York Mellon and the custodian is JP Morgan Chase Bank N.A. Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Peter Pham]

  Although the Fed doubled its bond buying last September, the top gold exchange-traded funds, or ETFs, including SPDR Gold Shares (NYSEMKT: GLD  ) , iShares Gold Trust (NYSEMKT: IAU  ) , and ETFS Physical Swiss Gold Shares (NYSEMKT: SGOL  ) , have dropped around 25% each over the last 12 months, which speaks to gold's extreme vulnerability to QE tapering. Even the mere mention of tapering seems to send gold into a tailspin, as seen with SPDR Gold Shares, which has plunged 24% year to date and also suffered massive losses with its physical holdings. Market Vectors Gold Miners ETF (NYSEMKT: GDX  ) has suffered a massive drop of 48% so far in 2013, making it one of the worst-performing ETFs this year.

Best Financial Stocks For 2014: Kayne Anderson Energy Total Return Fund Inc (KYE)

Kayne Anderson Energy Total Return Fund, Inc. (the Fund) is a non-diversified closed-end investment company. The Fund�� investment objective is to obtain a high total return with an emphasis on current income. The Fund seeks to achieve this objective by investing primarily in securities of companies engaged in the energy industry, principally including publicly-traded energy-related master limited partnerships and limited liability companies taxed as partnerships (MLPs), MLP affiliates, energy-related United States and Canadian royalty trusts and income trusts and other companies that derive at least 50% of their revenues from operating assets used in, or providing energy-related services for, the exploration, development, production, gathering, transportation, processing, storing, refining, distribution, mining or marketing of natural gas, natural gas liquids (including propane), crude oil, refined petroleum products or coal.

Effective December 31, 2006, Kayne Anderson assigned the Investment Management Agreement to its subsidiary, KA Fund Advisors, LLC (the Adviser). The Fund focuses on investing at least 80% of the aggregate of its net assets and borrowings (total assets) in securities of Energy Companies. The Fund invests in equity securities, such as common stocks, preferred stocks, convertible securities, warrants, depository receipts, and equity interests in MLPs, MLP affiliates, royalty trusts and other Energy Companies.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Robert Rapier]

  We got several questions about Kayne Anderson Energy Total Return Fund (NYSE: KYE) during the chat. The main advantage of closed-end MLP funds is the diversification they provide, along with the convenience of a 1099 miscellaneous income tax form instead of having to deal with K-1 forms from each individual MLP. This makes a closed-end MLP fund a more attractive option for an IRA.