Hot Penny Stocks To Watch For 2014

Oil and gas environmental service provider, Heckmann (NYSE: NES  ) , reported first-quarter earnings on May 8. The company missed slightly on both the top and bottom lines which sent shares dipping in after-hours trading. However, all was not lost on the quarter so let's dig in and see what happened.

A deeper look at the numbers
Going into the report analysts were expecting a loss of a penny a share on revenue of $166.9 million. For the quarter, Heckmann produced revenue of $159.5 million and had a loss of $0.05 a share. However, revenue for the quarter nearly tripled year over year and the company delivered adjusted EBITDA of $32.1 million.

The biggest culprit contributing to the miss was unusually harsh weather. Heckmann pointed out that weather affected 13 days of work in its Bakken operations with additional days being lost to weather in the Marcellus. Heckmann was far from the only company to have a weather-related miss in the quarter. While the company planned for weather to be a factor, it turned out to be worse than expected.

5 Best Rising Stocks To Invest In Right Now: Cedar Shopping Centers Inc (CDR)

Cedar Shopping Centers, Inc., real estate investment trust, engages in the ownership, operation, development and redevelopment of supermarket-anchored community shopping centers and drug store-anchored convenience centers in the United States. As of December 31, 2007, it owned 118 properties, aggregating approximately 12.0 million square feet of gross leasable area primarily in Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, Virginia, Ohio, Connecticut, New Jersey, Maryland, Michigan, and New York. Cedar Shopping has elected to be treated as a REIT for federal income tax purposes and would not be subject to federal income tax, if it distributes at least 90% of its REIT taxable income to its stockholders. The company was founded in 1984 and is based in Port Washington, New York.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Bill Smith]

  Valuation
  Lastly, because of the negative perception the entire industry has received, prices in this sector have been absolutely pummeled. ESI now trades at the lower end of all of its historical valuation bands: P/E, P/B, and P/S.
  
  Bullish Points
  Guru ownership and avg price: ESI owned by Hussman ($76.15), Weitz ($75.32), and Greenblatt ($73.29)Over 35% of shares are short, potential short squeezeStock buyback plan: ESI reduced outstanding shares by 19% yoy at the end of the 4th quarter. They repurchased 370K shares in 3Q11.The business model is scalable; the incremental cost to educate each additional student is low, leading to high marginsESI acquired Daniel Webster College, giving them a regional accreditation which they can use to broaden their reach in online classes
  Bearish Points
  High costs of education, in general, rightly or wrongly attract government intervention and could squeeze margins over time. Total student debt surpassed credit card balances, and sits at $1 Trillion as of the end of 2011.Subject to compliance with Dept of Education's 90/10 rules, which states a college can't collect more than 90% of revenue from students participating in federal loan programs.Cohort Default Rate (CDR): for-profit colleges must monitor the federal loan default rates of students who graduate or leave the school. If a school's CDR exceeds 25% for 3 consecutive years, or 40% in any one year, its students won't be eligible for federal financial aid.ESI competes on quality of product which is measured by graduation rates and ability to secure employment. For 2010, 70% of ESI graduates got employment in positions using skills taught in their program of study within 1 year. As of Oct 2011, this rate was 600 bp higher. The average annual salary reported by employed 2011 grads was $32K, compared to $32.4K for 2010 grads.With an improving economy, there's a potential ESI would see declining new student enrollmentsOver 35% of shares are short
  Summary

Hot Penny Stocks To Watch For 2014: Himax Technologies Inc.(HIMX)

Himax Technologies, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, designs, develops, and markets semiconductors for flat panel displays. Its products include display drivers and timing controllers for various thin film transistor liquid crystal displays (TFT-LCD) panels, which are used in desktop monitors, notebook computers, televisions, and mobile handsets, as well as consumer electronics products comprising netbook computers, digital cameras, mobile gaming devices, portable DVD players, digital photo frame, and car navigation displays; and TFT-LCD television and monitor semiconductor solutions. The company also provides liquid crystal on silicon (LCOS) products for palm-size mobile projectors; power management integrated circuits, which include drivers, amplifiers, DC to DC converters and other semiconductors; complementary metal oxide semiconductor image sensors for camera-equipped mobile devices, such as mobile phones and notebook computers with a focus on lowlight image and video quality; and wafer level optics products. It serves TFT-LCD panel manufacturers, mobile device module manufacturers, and television makers. Himax Technologies, Inc. was founded in 2001 and is headquartered in Tainan, Taiwan.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By jaggom]

  Himax Technologies (HIMX) has touched new highs and was trading impressively on the stock market as a result of news that it will be supplying LCOS micro displays to Google. But the stock had run ahead of its fundamentals, and investors were buying more shares under the belief that Google Glass will lead Himax to new highs. Despite a slowdown in revenue and a string of bad quarterly results, Himax shares shone. But the scene has changed now.

Hot Penny Stocks To Watch For 2014: MCG Capital Corporation(MCGC)

MCG Capital Corporation is a private equity firm specializing in investments in middle market companies. The firm does not prefer investments in highly cyclical and volatile industry sectors and businesses with significant volatility exposure. It seeks to invest in small to mid sized companies. The firm prefers to invest in acquisitions, growth financings, organic growth, recapitalization, and leveraged buyouts. It invests in companies based in the United States. The firm seeks to invest upto $75 million in debt and equity in companies having revenues between $20 million and $200 million and EBITDA between $3 million and $25 million. It seeks to invest in the form of senior debt, including amortizing, bullet maturity, term loans, and revolving credit facilities; institutional sub debt, including junior capital; second lien debt, that includes term loans on sole source and participant basis; secured and unsecured subordinate loans structured as current interest, deferred in terest, and equity linked components; mezzanine debt and equity that includes minority equity investments. The firm may invest in minority or control equity positions. It was formerly known as MCG Credit Corporation. MCG Capital Corporation was founded in 1990 and is based in Arlington, Virginia.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Equities Lab]

  The stocks that currently pass the stock screen in order of market cap are Frontier Communications Corp , Crown Media Holdings (CRWN), Vonage Holding (VG), MCG Capital Corp (MCGC), 1-800-FLOWERS.COM (FLWS), MTR Gaming Corporation (MNTG), Alaska Communications (ALSK), and Enzon Pharmaceuticals (ENZN).

Hot Penny Stocks To Watch For 2014: Nuveen Preferred and Convertible Income Fund (JPC)

Nuveen Multi-Strategy Income & Growth Fund is a close-ended balanced mutual fund launched by Nuveen Investments Inc. The fund is co-managed by Nuveen Asset Management, Spectrum Asset Management, Tradewinds Global Investors, LLC, and Symphony Asset Management, LLC. It invests in the public equity and fixed income markets of the United States. The fund seeks to invest in the stocks of companies operating across diversified sectors. For the fixed income portfolio, it invests in the debt instruments, including high yield debt and senior loans. The fund benchmarks the performance of its portfolio against the Merrill Lynch Preferred Stock Hybrid Securities Index, Lehman Tier 1 Capital Securities Index, Merrill Lynch All U.S. Convertibles Index, and CSFB High Yield index. It was formerly known as Nuveen Preferred and Convertible Income Fund. Nuveen Multi-Strategy Income & Growth Fund was formed on March 26, 2003 and is domiciled in the United States.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Douglas A. McIntyre]

  J.C. Penney (NYSE: JPC) and the KMart and Sears divisions of Sears Holdings (NASDAQ: SHLD) are supposes to be the losers among large U.S. retailers. Their stores are too old, their brands too badly damaged, and their balance sheet too frail for either to do well in the white hot competition for holiday sales. However, their stock prices say otherwise, which means there is some expectation that they will outperform forecasts.

Hot Penny Stocks To Watch For 2014: Advanced Cell Technology, Inc.(ACTC)

Advanced Cell Technology, Inc., a biotechnology company, focuses on the development and commercialization of human embryonic and adult stem cell technology in the field of regenerative medicine. Its embryonic stem cell research programs include cellular reprogramming, reduced complexity program, and stem cell differentiation research programs. The company?s cellular reprogramming involves in the development of therapies based on the use of genetically identical pluripotent stem cells generated by its cellular reprogramming technologies. Advanced Cell Technology, Inc. also generates stable cell lines with particular focus on blood lineage and vascular epithelial cell lines from hemangioblast cells. In addition, it is developing an autologous myoblast transplantation therapy to restore cardiac function in patients with advanced heart disease. The company?s stem cell-based therapy would provide treatment for a range of acute and chronic degenerative diseases. Further, it deve lops adult stem cell-based products that are specifically targeted at therapies for heart and other cardiovascular diseases. The company is headquartered in Marlborough, Massachusetts.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By John Udovich]

  Summer and the slow news for the market that usually comes with it�is over with and both stem cell researchers or small� cap stem cell stocks like Advanced Cell Technology, Inc (OTCBB: ACTC), Neuralstem, Inc (NYSEMKT: CUR), NeoStem Inc (NASDAQ: NBS), International Stem Cell Corp (OTCMKTS: ISCO)�and BioRestorative Therapies (OTCBB: BRTX) having news for investors and traders alike. Consider the following: