Top High Tech Companies To Invest In Right Now

I spent the final week of 2013 cleaning my office, discarding several trash bags full of old notes and research papers to give me a fresh start in the new year.

Along the way, I unearthed some gems buried in the detritus, including the 15th anniversary edition of the MetLife Mature Market Institute. The book highlighted the market trends and planning tips that the research organization had detailed in its many valuable reports over the years.

Who knew that when the MMI issued its greatest-hits tome in December 2012, the organization would close its doors a few months later. As a result, the financial planning community lost an insightful voice that over the past decade and a half identified matters of importance to an aging population, including the impact of longer lifespans on individuals and society as a whole.

Top Bank Companies To Invest In 2016: CBRE Group Inc (CBG)

CBRE Group, Inc., incorporated on February 20, 2001, is a holding company that conducts all of its operations through its indirect subsidiaries. The Company is a commercial real estate services firm. The Company offers a range of services to occupiers, owners, lenders and investors in office, retail, industrial, multi-family and other types of commercial real estate. As of December 31, 2011, it operated approximately 300 offices worldwide, providing commercial real estate services under the CBRE brand name, investment management services under the CBRE Global Investors brand name and development services under the Trammell Crow brand name. CBRE Services, Inc., its direct wholly owned subsidiary, is also a holding company and is the primary obligor or issuer with respect to most of its long-term indebtedness. The Company operates in five segments: Americas, Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA), Asia Pacific, Global Investment Management and Development Services. In March 2014, the Company acquired VALTEQ Gesellschaft mbH and its subsidiaries.

The Americas

The Americas segment consisted of operations throughout the United States and Canada, as well as markets in Latin America. Its operations are wholly owned, but also include independent affiliated offices, which license the use of the CBRE and CB Richard Ellis names in their local markets in return for payments of annual royalty fees to the Company and an agreement to cross-refer business between the Company and the affiliate. Its advisory services businesses offer occupier/tenant and investor/owner services that meet the full spectrum of marketplace needs, including real estate services, capital markets and valuation. Within advisory services, its service lines are Real Estate Services, Capital Markets and Valuation.

The Company provides strategic advice and execution to owners, investors and occupiers of real estate in connection with leasing, disposition and acquisition of property. It generates revenue from ! existing United States real estate sales and leasing clients in 2011. This includes referrals from its contractual fee-for-services businesses, such as facilities and property management, mortgage loan servicing and investment management provided by CBRE Global Investors. The Company offers clients integrated investment sales and debt/equity financing services under the CBRE Capital Markets brand. The Company provides valuation services that include market value appraisals, litigation support, discounted cash flow analyses and feasibility and fairness opinions.

Outsourcing commercial real estate services is a long-term trend in its industry, with corporations, institutions, public sector entities, health care providers and others. Its outsourcing services primarily include two business lines that seek to capitalize on this trend: corporate services and asset services. The Company provides a suite of services to corporate users of real estate, including transaction management, project management, facilities management, strategic consulting, portfolio management and other services. Its clients are global corporations, health care providers and public sector entities with geographically-diverse real estate portfolios. Project management services are typically provided on a portfolio-wide or programmatic basis. Facilities management involves the day-to-day management of client-occupied space and includes headquarter buildings, regional offices, administrative offices and manufacturing and distribution facilities. The Company provides property management, construction management, marketing, leasing, accounting and financial services on a contractual basis for income-producing office, industrial and retail properties owned by local, regional and institutional investors. It provides these services through a network of real estate experts in markets throughout the United States.

Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA)

The Company�� Europe, Middle East and Africa, segment, ! operates ! in 44 countries with operations primarily conducted through a number of indirect wholly owned subsidiaries. The operations are located in France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Russia, Spain and the United Kingdom. Its operations in these countries generally provide a range of services to the commercial property sector. Additionally, it provides some residential property services, primarily in France, Spain and the United Kingdom. Within EMEA, its services are organized along the same lines as in the Americas, including brokerage, investment properties, corporate services, valuation/appraisal services, asset management services and facilities management, among others.

In France, it has operations in Aix in Provence, Bagnolet, Bordeaux, Lille, Lyon, Marseille, Montreuil, Montrouge, Neuilly Sur Seine, Saint Denis and Toulouse. Its German operations are located in Berlin, Cologne, Dusseldorf, Frankfurt, Hamburg, Munich and Stuttgart. Its presence in Italy includes operations in Milan, Modena, Rome and Turin. Its operations in the Netherlands are located in Amsterdam, Almere, the Hague, Hoofddorp and Rotterdam. Itsoperations in Russia consist of an office in Moscow. In Spain, it provides full-service coverage through its offices in Barcelona, Madrid, Marbella, Palma de Mallorca and Valencia. The Company is a commercial real estate services company in the United Kingdom. In London, it provides a range of commercial property real estate services to investment and corporate clients.

The Company has affiliated offices that provide commercial real estate services under its brand name in several countries throughout Europe, the Middle East and Africa. Its agreements with these independent offices include licenses to use the CBRE and CB Richard Ellis names in the relevant territory in return for payments of annual royalty fees to the Company. In addition, these agreements also include business cross-referral arrangements between the Company and its affiliates.

Asia Pacific!

The Company�� Asia Pacific segment operates in 13 countries with operations primarily conducted through a number of indirect wholly owned subsidiaries. It is a provider a range of real estate services to corporations throughout the region, similar to the range of services provided by its Americas and EMEA segments. Its principal operations in Asia are located in China, Hong Kong, India, Japan, Singapore and South Korea. In addition, it has agreements with affiliate offices in the Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia and Malaysia that generate royalty fees and support cross-referral arrangements similar to its EMEA segment.

Global Investment Management

The Company�� operations in Global Investment Management segment are conducted through its indirect wholly owned subsidiary CBRE Global Investors, LLC and its global affiliates, which it also refers to as CBRE Global Investors. CBRE Global Investors provides investment management services to pension funds, insurance companies, sovereign wealth funds, foundations, endowments and other institutional investors seeking to generate returns and diversification through investment in real estate. It sponsors investment programs that span the risk/return spectrum across three continents: North America, Europe and Asia. CBRE Global Investors��investment programs are organized into four primary categories, which include direct real estate investments through separate accounts and sponsored equity and debt funds, as well as indirect real estate investments through listed securities and multi manager funds of funds. As of December 31, 2011, its portfolio of consolidated real estate held for investment consisted of one industrial property and three multi-family/residential properties, all located in the United States.

Development Services

The Company�� operations in Development Services segment are conducted through its indirect wholly owned subsidiaries Trammell Crow Company, Trammell Crow S! ervices, ! Inc. (both of which merged into Trammell Crow Company, LLC effective January 1, 2012) and certain of its subsidiaries, providing development services primarily in the United States to users of and investors in commercial real estate, as well as for its own account. Trammell Crow Company pursues opportunistic, risk-mitigated development and investment in commercial real estate across a wide spectrum of property types, including industrial, office and retail properties; healthcare facilities of all types (medical office buildings, hospitals and ambulatory surgery centers); higher education facilities (primarily student housing); and residential/mixed-use projects.

Trammell Crow Company acts as the manager of development projects, providing services that are in all stages of the process, including site identification, due diligence and acquisition; evaluating project feasibility, budgeting, scheduling and cash flow analysis; procurement of approvals and permits, including zoning and other entitlements; project finance advisory services; coordination of project design and engineering; construction bidding and management as well as tenant finish coordination; and project close-out and tenant move coordination. As of December 31, 2011, its portfolio of consolidated real estate consisted of land, industrial, office and retail properties and mixed-use projects.

The Company competes with Cushman & Wakefield, Jones Lang LaSalle and Grubb & Ellis.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By GURUFOCUS]

  CBRE Group, Inc. (CBG)'s shares performed well in the fourth quarter and appreciated approximately 32% in 2013. We recently attended CBRE Group, Inc.'s annual investor day, which served to solidify our view that the company is well-positioned to benefit from the continued rebound in commercial real estate and the broader economy. As the world's leading global commercial real estate firm, we believe the company will benefit from a rebound in its leasing, investment sales, property management, and investment management businesses.We believe the company may increase its earnings in the next four years to more than $2.50 per share in 2017. If the company maintains its current valuation multiple of 16 times earnings (versus its historical peak multiple of 20 times earnings), its shares could reach $40 in the next three years or approximately 50% upside from the current price of $26 per share.

• [By Seth Jayson]

  CBRE Group (NYSE: CBG  ) is expected to report Q1 earnings on April 25. Here's what Wall Street wants to see:

  The 10-second takeaway
  Comparing the upcoming quarter to the prior-year quarter, average analyst estimates predict CBRE Group's revenues will grow 7.8% and EPS will grow 28.6%.

Top High Tech Companies To Invest In Right Now: Chindex International Inc.(CHDX)

Chindex International, Inc. engages in the provision of healthcare services; and sale of medical equipment, instrumentation, and products. The company operates in two segments, Healthcare Services and Medical Products. The Healthcare Services segment owns and operates the United Family Healthcare network of private hospitals and clinics in the Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou markets. This segment also operates a managed clinic in the city of Wuxi, south of Shanghai. It offers a range of family healthcare services, including 24/7 emergency rooms, intensive care units, and neonatal intensive care units, operating rooms, clinical laboratory, radiology, and blood banking services for men, women, and children. The Medical Products segment markets, distributes, and sells medical capital equipment, instrumentation, and other medical products for use in hospitals in China and Hong Kong. It offers diagnostic color ultrasound imaging devices, robotic surgical systems and instrument ation, mammography and breast biopsy devices, and lasers for cosmetic surgery. This segment sells its products through its direct sales force. The company was founded in 1981 and is based in Bethesda, Maryland.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Jake L'Ecuyer]

  Leading and Lagging Sectors
  Tuesday morning, the healthcare sector proved to be a source of strength for the market. Healthcare stocks surged 1% in today's trading. Leading the sector was strength from Forest Laboratories (NYSE: FRX) and Chindex International (NASDAQ: CHDX) on acquisition news.

• [By Jake L'Ecuyer]

  Leading the sector was strength from Forest Laboratories (NYSE: FRX) and Chindex International (NASDAQ: CHDX) on acquisition news. In trading on Tuesday, non-cyclical consumer goods & services shares were relative laggards, down on the day by 0.2%.

• [By Anna Prior]

  Among the companies with shares expected to actively trade in Monday’s session are Citigroup Inc.(C), JA Solar Holdings(JASO) Co and Chindex International Inc.(CHDX)

Top High Tech Companies To Invest In Right Now: Eaton Vance Tax-Managed Global Diversified Equity Income Fund (EXG)

Eaton Vance Tax-Managed Global Diversified Equity Income Fund (the Fund) is a diversified, closed-end investment company. The Fund was established to offer investors sources of potential tax-advantaged income and gains. The Fund's primary investment objective is to provide current income and gains, with a secondary objective of capital appreciation. The Fund pursues its investment objectives by investing primarily in a diversified portfolio of domestic and foreign common stocks. The Fund invests primarily in dividend-paying domestic and foreign common stocks that qualify for favorable federal income tax treatment. In addition, the Fund writes (sells) stock index call options with respect to a portion of its common stock portfolio value. As of October 31, 2007, the Fund had written call options on 49.9% of its equity holdings. The Fund�� 10 largest equity holdings as of October 31, 2007, included Enel SPA, Nokia Oyj ADR, ENI SPA, Royal Dutch Shell PLC, BP PLC, Cesky Telecom AS, GlaxoSmithKline PLC, EMC Corp., HSBC Holdings PLC and Anadarko Petroleum Corp.

The Fund may invest in Cash Management Portfolio (Cash Management), an affiliated investment company managed by Boston Management and Research (BMR), a subsidiary of Eaton Vance Management (EVM). The Fund had a total return of -4.64% for the period from inception on February 27, 2007, to October 31, 2007.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Vivian Lewis]

  Eaton Vance Tax-Managed Global Equity Income Fund (EXG) favors active management in a declining market based on CIO Michael Wilson's strategy for closed end funds.

Top High Tech Companies To Invest In Right Now: CenterPoint Energy Inc (CNP)

CenterPoint Energy, Inc., incorporated on February 2, 2001, is a domestic energy delivery company. The Company�� business segments include Electric Transmission and Distribution, Natural Gas Distribution, Competitive Natural Gas Sales and Services, Interstate Pipelines, Field Services and Other Operations. The Company serves metered customers primarily in Arkansas, Louisiana, Minnesota, Mississippi, Oklahoma and Texas. The company also owns a 58.3% interest in a midstream partnership it jointly controls with OGE Energy Corp. with operations in natural gas and liquids-rich producing areas of Oklahoma, Texas, Arkansas and Louisiana.

The Company is a public utility holding company. The Company�� indirect wholly-owned subsidiaries include CenterPoint Energy Houston Electric, LLC (CenterPoint Houston), which engages in the electric transmission and distribution business in a 5,000-square mile area of the Texas Gulf Coast that includes the city of Houston and CenterPoint Energy Resources Corp. (CERC Corp. and, together with its subsidiaries, CERC), which owns and operates natural gas distribution systems in six states. Subsidiaries of CERC Corp. own interstate natural gas pipelines and gas gathering systems and provide various ancillary services. A wholly owned subsidiary of CERC Corp. offers variable and fixed-price physical natural gas supplies primarily to commercial and industrial customers and electric and gas utilities.

Electric Transmission & Distribution

CenterPoint Houston is a transmission and distribution electric utility that operates wholly within the state of Texas. CenterPoint Houston delivers electricity from power plants to substations, from one substation to another and to retail electric customers taking power at or above 69 kilovolts in locations throughout CenterPoint Houston's certificated service territory. CenterPoint Houston constructs and maintains transmission facilities and provides transmission services under tariffs approved by the Pu! blic Utility Commission of Texas (Texas Utility Commission).

In the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, Inc. (ERCOT), end users purchase their electricity directly from certificated REPs. CenterPoint Houston delivers electricity for REPs in its certificated service area by carrying lower-voltage power from the substation to the retail electric customer. CenterPoint Houston's distribution network receives electricity from the transmission grid through power distribution substations and delivers electricity to end users through distribution feeders. CenterPoint Houston's operations include construction and maintenance of distribution facilities, metering services, outage response services and call center operations. CenterPoint Houston provides distribution services under tariffs approved by the Texas Utility Commission. Texas Utility Commission rules and market protocols govern the commercial operations of distribution companies and other market participants.

CenterPoint Houston is a member of ERCOT. Within ERCOT, prices for wholesale generation and retail electric sales are unregulated, but services provided by transmission and distribution companies, such as CenterPoint Houston, are regulated by the Texas Utility Commission. ERCOT serves as the regional reliability coordinating council for member electric power systems in of Texas. ERCOT membership is open to consumer groups, investor and municipally-owned electric utilities, rural electric cooperatives, independent generators, power marketers, river authorities and REPs. The ERCOT market includes of the State of Texas, other than a portion of the panhandle, portions of the eastern part of the state bordering Arkansas and Louisiana and the area in and around El Paso.

ERCOT market operates under the reliability standards set by the North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC) and approved by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC). These reliability standards are administered by the Texas Regi! onal Enti! ty (TRE), a functionally independent division of ERCOT. The Texas Utility Commission has primary jurisdiction over the ERCOT market to ensure the adequacy and reliability of electricity supply across the state's main interconnected power transmission grid. The ERCOT independent system operator (ERCOT ISO) is responsible for operating the bulk electric power supply system in the ERCOT market. The ERCOT ISO also serves as agent for procuring ancillary services for those members who elect not to provide their own ancillary services.

CenterPoint Houston's electric transmission business, along with those of other owners of transmission facilities in Texas, supports the operation of the ERCOT ISO. The transmission business has planning, design, construction, operation and maintenance responsibility for the portion of the transmission grid and for the load-serving substations it owns, primarily within its certificated area. CenterPoint Houston participates with the ERCOT ISO and other ERCOT utilities to plan, design, obtain regulatory approval for and construct new transmission lines necessary to increase bulk power transfer capability and to remove existing constraints on the ERCOT transmission grid.

CenterPoint Houston's integrated utility business was restructured in accordance with the Texas electric restructuring law and its generating stations were sold to third parties. CenterPoint Houston serves nearly all of the Houston/Galveston metropolitan area. At December 31, 2012, CenterPoint Houston's customers consisted of approximately 75 REPs, which sell electricity to over two million metered customers in CenterPoint Houston's certificated service area, and municipalities, electric cooperatives and other distribution companies located outside CenterPoint Houston's certificated service area. All of CenterPoint Houston's properties are located in Texas. Its properties consist primarily of high-voltage electric transmission lines and poles, distribution lines, substations, service ce! nters, se! rvice wires and meters.

As of December 31, 2012, CenterPoint Houston owned 28,011 pole miles of overhead distribution lines and 3,713 circuit miles of overhead transmission lines, including 373 circuit miles operated at 69,000 volts, 2,124 circuit miles operated at 138,000 volts and 1,216 circuit miles operated at 345,000 volts. As of December 31, 2012, CenterPoint Houston owned 21,151 circuit miles of underground distribution lines and 26 circuit miles of underground transmission lines, including two circuit miles operated at 69,000 volts and 24 circuit miles operated at 138,000 volts. As of December 31, 2012, CenterPoint Houston owned 233 substation sites having a total installed rated transformer capacity of 54,325 megavolt amperes. CenterPoint Houston operates 14 regional service centers located on a total of 291 acres of land. These service centers consist of office buildings, warehouses and repair facilities that are used in the business of transmitting and distributing electricity.

Natural Gas Distribution

CERC Corp.'s natural gas distribution business (Gas Operations) engages in regulated intrastate natural gas sales to, and natural gas transportation for, approximately 3.3 million residential, commercial and industrial customers in Arkansas, Louisiana, Minnesota, Mississippi, Oklahoma and Texas. The largest metropolitan areas served in each state by Gas Operations are Houston, Texas; Minneapolis, Minnesota; Little Rock, Arkansas; Shreveport, Louisiana; Biloxi, Mississippi; and Lawton, Oklahoma. Gas Operations also provides unregulated services in Minnesota consisting of heating, ventilating and air conditioning (HVAC) equipment and appliance repair, and sales of HVAC, hearth and water heating equipment. Gas Operations actively engages in commodity price stabilization pursuant to annual gas supply plans presented to and/or filed with each of its state regulatory authorities. Gas Operations uses various third-party storage services or owned natural ga! s storage! facilities to meet peak-day requirements and to manage the daily changes in demand due to changes in weather and may also supplement contracted supplies and storage from time to time with stored liquefied natural gas and propane-air plant production.

Gas Operations owns and operates an underground natural gas storage facility with a capacity of seven billion cubic feet It has a working capacity of two billion cubic feet available for use during a normal heating season and a maximum daily withdrawal rate of 50 million cubic feet . It also owns nine propane-air plants with a total production rate of 200,000 Dekatherms per day and on-site storage facilities for 12 million gallons of propane (one billion cubic feet natural gas equivalent). It owns a liquefied natural gas plant facility with a 12 million-gallon liquefied natural gas storage tank (one billion cubic feet natural gas equivalent) and a production rate of 72,000 Dekatherms per day. Gas Operations has entered into various asset management agreements associated with its utility distribution service in Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Oklahoma and Texas. As of December 31, 2012, Gas Operations owned approximately 72,000 linear miles of natural gas distribution mains, varying in size from one-half inch to 24 inches in diameter. Generally, in each of the cities, towns and rural areas served by Gas Operations, it owns the underground gas mains and service lines, metering and regulating equipment located on customers' premises and the district regulating equipment necessary for pressure maintenance.

Interstate Pipelines

CERC's pipelines business operates interstate natural gas pipelines with gas transmission lines primarily located in Arkansas, Illinois, Louisiana, Missouri, Oklahoma and Texas. CERC's interstate pipeline operations are primarily conducted by two wholly owned subsidiaries that provide gas transportation and storage services primarily to industrial customers and local distribution companies, includ! ing Cente! rPoint Energy Gas Transmission Company, LLC (CEGT) is an interstate pipeline that provides natural gas transportation, natural gas storage and pipeline services to customers principally in Arkansas, Louisiana, Oklahoma and Texas and includes the 1.9 billion cubic feet per day pipeline from Carthage, Texas to Perryville, Louisiana, which CEGT operates as a separate line with a fixed fuel rate, and CenterPoint Energy-Mississippi River Transmission, LLC (MRT) is an interstate pipeline that provides natural gas transportation, natural gas storage and pipeline services to customers principally in Arkansas, Illinois and Missouri. CenterPoint Southeastern Pipelines Holding, LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of CERC, owns a 50% interest in Southeast Supply Header, LLC (SESH). SESH owns a one billion cubic feet per day, 274-mile interstate pipeline that runs from the Perryville Hub in Louisiana to Coden, Alabama.

Field Services

CERC's field services business operates gas gathering, treating and processing facilities and also provides operating and technical services and remote data monitoring and communication services. CERC's field services operations are conducted by a wholly owned subsidiary, CenterPoint Energy Field Services, LLC (CEFS), and subsidiaries of CEFS. CERC's field services business provides natural gas gathering and processing services for certain natural gas fields in the Mid-continent region of the United States that interconnect with CEGT's and MRT's pipelines, as well as other interstate and intrastate pipelines. As of December 31,2012, CERC's field services business gathered an average of approximately 2.4 billion cubic feet per day of natural gas. In addition, CERC's field services business has the capacity available to treat up to 2.5 billion cubic feet per day and process 625 million cubic feet per day of natural gas. CEFS, through its ServiceStar operating division, provides remote data monitoring and communications services to affiliates and third parties. CERC's ! field ser! vices business owns and operates approximately 4,600 miles of gathering lines and processing plants that collect, treat and process natural gas primarily from three regions located in producing fields in Arkansas, Louisiana, Oklahoma and Texas.

Other Operations

The Company�� other operations business segment includes office buildings and other real estate. It is used in its business operations and other corporate operations that support all of its business operations.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Robert Rapier]

  Enable Midstream Partners�(NYSE: ENBL), a joint venture by affiliates of�CenterPoint Energy�(NYSE: CNP),�OGE Energy�(NYSE: OGE) and ArcLight Capital Partners. Enable Midstream Partners is one of the largest midstream partnerships in the US, with oil and gas midstream assets that extend from western Oklahoma and the Texas Panhandle to Alabama and from Louisiana to Illinois

• [By Richard Stavros]

  Among those companies that are winding down their spending programs, NextEra Energy Inc (NYSE: NEE) accounts for almost 30 percent of the projected $10 billion decline in annual spending from 2013 to 2015. Other larger-cap companies with projected 2015 budgets that are below their 2013 levels include: CenterPoint Energy Inc (NYSE: CNP), Dominion Resources Inc (NYSE: D), PPL Corp (NYSE: PPL), Public Service Enterprise Group Inc (NYSE: PEG), and Southern Company (NYSE: SO).