Best High Tech Companies To Buy For 2015

Another Royal Caribbean (RCL) cruise ship had to cut its trip short due to a virus outbreak on Thursday. Just a week earlier, another of its fleet had returned to shore carrying as many as 1,000 sick people��he highest number on any cruise in two decades.

These back-to-back occurrences are part of a string of ill-fated trips over the past couple of years for the liner.

Royal Caribbean isn�� the only cruise line with an image problem.

In 2012, Carnival�� (CCL) Costa Concordia sank in calm waters outside the coast of Italy, taking 32 peoples��lives with it. A year later, an engine fire started in the Carnival Triumph leaving the ship without power, enough food and unsanitary conditions. And a 6-year-old boy drowned in a pool aboard the Carnival Victory that led travelers questioning safety and canceling bookings.

While Carnival and Royal Caribbean have safety and health issues, Norwegian Cruise Line (NCLH) doesn�� score very well on Cruiseline.com, where travelers rate their experiences. Rated a 3 out of 5, many complain about the poor quality of food but enjoy the nightlife. Considering cruise experiences tend to revolve around cuisine, the subpar ratings aren�� exactly conducive to selling more tickets.

Best High Tech Companies To Buy For 2015: Iliad SA (ILIAF.PK)

Iliad SA is a France-based holding company active in the integrated telecommunications sector. The Company provides Internet access services, hosting services and others. Iliad SA is also focused on fixed-line telephony services and the provision of wireless fidelity (WiFi) cards, among several others. In addition, Iliad SA sells via Internet a range of insurance policies. As of December 31, 2012, the Company had a number of subsidiaries, which include Free SAS, Centrapel SAS, Freebox SAS, Telecom Academy SARL, Free Frequences SAS, Iliad 1 SAS, Iliad 2 SAS, Protelco SAS, IFW SAS, IRE SAS, Management Centre De Relation Abonne (MCRA), F Distribution SAS, and Centrapel SAS, among others. Its Fixe subsidiary is a landline business-provider of broadband Internet services. As of year-end 2012, the Company was active as a operator in more than 35 countries. Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Mike Arnold]

  I normally don't look at charts much, but comparing Orange to its competitors in the French telecommunications market is quite fascinating. As one can see, incumbents Bouygues (BOUYF.PK) and Vivendi (VIVHY.PK) (owner of SFR) saw similar price declines. The market, on the other hand, rapidly bid up the price of new entrant Iliad SA (ILIAF.PK), as a result of forecasts for Iliad to capture significant mobile market share (which it did, around 10%). The wide divergence in price relative to changes in underlying value favor going long the incumbents, including Orange. Because this time it's different.

Best High Tech Companies To Buy For 2015: LHC Group Inc (LHCG)

LHC Group, Inc. (LHC Group), incorporated on January 1, 2005, provides post-acute health care services to patients through its home nursing agencies, hospices and long-term acute care hospitals (LTACHs). As of December 31, 2012, through the Company's wholly- and majority-owned subsidiaries, equity joint ventures and controlled affiliates, the Company operated in Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, Missouri, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, West Virginia and Washington. The Company operates in two segments: home-based services and facility-based services. As of December 31, 2012, the Company owned and operated 274 home-based service locations, with 232 home nursing agency locations, 32 hospices, three specialty agencies and four private duty agencies. In February 2014, LHC Group Inc acquired two home health providers.

As of December 31, 2012, the Company also managed the operations of three home nursing agencies in which the Company does not have an ownership interest. The Company's facility-based services included six long-term acute care hospitals with nine locations, a pharmacy, and a family health center. The Company provides home-based post-acute health care services through its home nursing agencies and hospices. The Company's home nursing locations offer a wide range of services, including skilled nursing, medically-oriented social services and physical, occupational and speech therapy. The nurses, home health aides and therapists in the Company's home nursing agencies work closely with patients and their families to design and implement individualized treatments in accordance with a physician-prescribed plan of care.

The Company's hospices provide end-of-life care to patients with terminal illnesses through interdisciplinary teams of physicians, nurses, home health aides, counselors and volunteers. Of the 274 home-based services locations, 140 are wholly-owned by the Company, 124 ar! e majority-owned or controlled by the Company through joint ventures, seven are operated through license lease arrangements, and the Company manages the operations of three home nursing agencies in which the Company has no ownership interest.

The Company's LTACH locations provide services primarily to patients with complex medical conditions who have transitioned out of a hospital intensive care unit but whose conditions remain too severe for treatment in a non-acute setting. As of December 31, 2012, the Company's LTACHs had 220 licensed beds. Of the Company's 11 facility-based services locations, six are wholly-owned by the Company and five are majority-owned or controlled by the Company through joint ventures.

Home-Based Services

The Company�� registered and licensed practical nurses provide a range of medically necessary services to homebound patients who are suffering from acute or chronic illness, recovering from injury or surgery, or who otherwise require care, teaching or monitoring. These services include wound care and dressing changes; cardiac rehabilitation; infusion therapy; pain management; pharmaceutical administration; skilled observation and assessment, and patient education. It has also designed guidelines to treat chronic diseases and conditions, including diabetes, hypertension, arthritis, Alzheimer�� disease, low vision, spinal stenosis, Parkinson�� disease, osteoporosis, complex wound care and chronic pain. Its home health aides provide assistance with daily living activities, such as light housekeeping, simple meal preparation, medication management, bathing and walking. Through its medical social workers, it counsels patients and their families with regard to financial, personal and social concerns that arise from a patient�� health-related problems.

The Company provides skilled nursing, ventilator and tracheotomy services, extended care specialties, medication administration and management, and patient and family assistance an! d educati! on. It also provides management services to third-party home nursing agencies, often as an interim solution until proper state and regulatory approvals for an acquisition can be obtained. The Company�� physical, occupational and speech therapists provide therapy services to patients in their home. Its therapists coordinate multi-disciplinary treatment plans with physicians, nurses and social workers to restore basic mobility skills, such as getting out of bed and walking safely with crutches or a walker. Its therapists assist patients and their families with improving and maintaining a patient�� ability to perform functional activities of daily living, such as the ability to dress, cook, clean and manage other activities safely in the home environment. Its speech and language therapists provide corrective and rehabilitative treatment to patients who suffer from physical or cognitive deficits or disorders that create difficulty with verbal communication or swallowing.

All of the Company�� home nursing agencies offer 24-hour personal emergency response and support services through Philips Lifeline (Lifeline) for qualified patients who require close medical monitoring but who want to maintain an independent lifestyle. These services consist principally of a communicator that connects to the telephone line in the subscriber�� home and a personal help button that is worn or carried by the individual subscriber which, when activated, initiates a telephone call from the subscriber�� communicator to Lifeline�� central monitoring facilities. Lifeline�� trained personnel identify the nature and extent of the subscriber�� particular need and notify the subscriber�� family members, neighbors and/or emergency personnel, as needed.

The Company�� Medicare-certified hospice operations provide a range of hospice services designed to meet the individual physical, spiritual and psychosocial needs of terminally ill patients and their families. Its hospice services are primaril! y provide! d in a patient�� home but can also be provided in a nursing home, assisted living facility or hospital. Key services provided include pain and symptom management accompanied by palliative medication, emotional and spiritual support, spiritual counseling and family bereavement counseling, inpatient and respite care, homemaker services, dietary counseling and social worker visits for up to 13 months after a patient�� death.

Facility-Based Services

The Company�� LTACHs treat patients with severe medical conditions who require a care and frequent monitoring by physicians and other clinical personnel. Patients who receive its services in an LTACH are too medically unstable to be treated in a non-acute setting. It also treats patients diagnosed with musculoskeletal impairments that restrict their ability to perform normal activities of daily living. As part of its facility-based services, the Company operates an institutional pharmacy, which focuses on providing a full array of services to its long-term acute care hospitals. All coding, medical records, case management, utilization review and medical staff credentialing are provided at the hospital level. Centralized functions that are provided by the home office include payroll, accounting, financial reporting, billing, collections, regulatory and legal compliance, risk management, pharmacy, information technology and general clinical oversight accomplished by periodic on-site surveys.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Sean Williams]

  What: Shares of home health providers Amedisys (NASDAQ: AMED  ) , Gentiva Health Services (NASDAQ: GTIV  ) , and�LHC Group (NASDAQ: LHCG  ) �swooned as much as 28%, 20%, and 15%, respectively, following a public proposal by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, or CMS, late yesterday that in-home health care reimbursements be cut by 1.5% in 2014.

Top 5 Companies To Invest In 2015: Assured Guaranty Ltd(AGO)

Assured Guaranty Ltd., through its subsidiaries, provides credit protection products to public finance, infrastructure, and structured finance markets in the United States and internationally. The company offers insurance, reinsurance, and credit derivative products that protect holders of debt instruments and other monetary obligations from defaults in scheduled payments, including scheduled interest and principal payments. It provides policies issued directly to the holders of insured obligations at time of issuance and those issued in the secondary market; and assumed reinsurance contracts written to third parties. The company insures various types of securities, including taxable and tax-exempt obligations issued by the United States or municipal governmental authorities, utility districts, or facilities; notes or bonds issued to finance international infrastructure projects; and asset-backed securities issued by special purpose entities. Assured Guaranty Ltd. markets its credit protection products directly to issuers and underwriters of public finance, infrastructure, and structured finance securities, as well as to investors in such debt obligations. The company was founded in 2003 and is based in Hamilton, Bermuda.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Sue Chang]

  Assured Guaranty Ltd. (AGO) �is forecast to post third-quarter earnings of 63 cents a share.

Best High Tech Companies To Buy For 2015: Apollo Residential Mortgage Inc (AMTG)

Apollo Residential Mortgage, Inc. is a holding company, which conducts its business primarily through ARM Operating, LLC and its other operating subsidiaries. The Company is a residential real estate finance company that invests in residential mortgage assets in the United States. The Company invests in residential mortgage-backed securities (RMBS) that are issued or guaranteed as to principal and/or interest by a federally chartered corporation, such as Fannie Mae (Freddie Mac), or an agency of us the United Sates Government, such as Ginnie Mae (collectively, the Agencies, with RMBS being issued or guaranteed by the Agencies being referred to as Agency RMBS), whose underlying collateral includes fixed rate mortgages, adjustable rate mortgages (ARMs) and interest-only and inverse interest-only securities (collectively, Agency Derivatives). The Company also invests in RMBS that are not issued or guaranteed by the United Sates government Agency (non-Agency RMBS) and considers investing in residential mortgage loans and other residential mortgage assets. As of December 31, 2011, the Company held a diversified portfolio. The Company is externally managed and advised by ARM Manager, LLC.

The assets that the Company targets for investment: Agency RMBS, Non-Agency RMBS, residential mortgage loans and other residential mortgage assets. Agency RMBS includes primarily whole pool Agency RMBS, and Agency collateralized mortgage obligations. Non-Agency RMBS includes highly rated, as well as non-investment grade and unrated, tranches backed by Alt-A mortgage loans, subprime mortgage loans and prime mortgage loans. Residential mortgage loans includes prime mortgage loans, jumbo mortgage loans, Alt-A mortgage loans and subprime mortgage loans. Other residential mortgage assets consist of interest-only and principal-only Agency RMBS and non-Agency RMBS, inverse floating rate and floating rate securities, and other Agency and non-Agency RMBS derivative securities, as well as other financial assets, includi! ng common stock, preferred stock and debt of other real estate-related entities.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Tim Melvin]

  I sat down this morning and spent some time looking for cheap stocks that might do well regardless of market action in 2014. While bargains are scarce there are still a few to be found. One such bargain is mortgage REIT Apollo Residential Mortgage (AMTG). The stock is trading at less than 80% of quarter-end book value, and management also announced a $50 million share buyback at the same time. There may be some erosion of book value as they look to adopt more credit-sensitive portfolio policies, but I doubt it will be substantial.

• [By Rich Duprey]

  Residential mortgage-backed securities REIT�Apollo Residential Mortgage (NYSE: AMTG  ) announced yesterday its second-quarter dividend of $0.70 per share, the same rate it's paid for the past three quarters after lowering the payout almost 18% from $0.85 per share.

Best High Tech Companies To Buy For 2015: Von Roll Holding AG (ROH)

Von Roll Holding AG is a Switzerland-based holding company that focuses on products and systems for power generation, transmission and distribution, as well as high-tech materials. The Company diversifies its activities into three business segments: Von Roll Insulation; Von Roll Composites, and Von Roll Transformers. The Von Roll Insulation business segment covers the Company's products, systems and services related to insulation with focus on large generators, high-voltage motors, traction motors and transformers. The Von Roll Composites business segment covers the Company's heat and fire resistant cable insulations, composite materials, compression-molded tiles and solutions for ballistic protection. The Von Roll Transformers business segment covers the Company's complete solutions for power transmission and distribution, power transformers and special transformers. In June 2013, it acquired Albesiano Sisa vernici Srl. Advisors' Opinion:

• [By The Part-time Investor]

  The following stocks met the criteria in January of 2008 and were put into the initial portfolio:

  Abbot Labs (ABT)Advanced data processing (ADP)Associated Banc-Corp (ASBC)Bank of America (BAC)BB&T Corp. (BBT)Bemis Company (BMS)Anheuser Busch (BUD)The Chubb Corporation (CB)Clorox (CLX)Comerica Inc. (CMA)Diebold Inc. (DBD)Emerson Electronics (EMR)First Dollar Corp. (FDO)First Third BanCorp. (FITB)Gannett Co, Inc. (GCI)General Electric (GE)Hershey (HSY)Illinois Tools Works (ITW)Johnson and Johnson (JNJ)Leggett and Platt (LEG)Eli Lilly (LLY)La-Z-Boy (LZB)McDonald's (MCD)Marsh and Ilsley (MI)M&T Bancorp (MTB)PepsiCo (PEP)Pfizer (PFE)Procter & Gamble (PG)Pentair Ltd. (PNR)Regions Financial Corp. (RF)Rohm and Haas (ROH)RPM International (RPM)Sherwin Williams (SHW)Sysco Corp. (SYY)UDR Inc. (UDR)

  Historical quotes were taken from Yahoo Finance. $10,000 was put into each position, to the nearest whole share, so a total of $349,262.89 was invested. From 1/15/08 through 5/16/13 all dividends were reinvested back into the stock that paid them. If a dividend cut was announced, that stock was sold on the ex-div date of the new, lower dividend.