Hot Cheapest Companies For 2015

We've already had a quick look at some companies�reporting quarterly earnings�next week. But there are a lot of�FTSE 100�firms with first quarters ending in March, and a good number of them are due to report in the coming days. Here are three bringing us Q1 figures, all next Thursday:

Royal Dutch Shell
Valued at 140 billion pounds,�Royal Dutch Shell� (LSE: RDSB  ) (NYSE: RDS-B  ) �is the biggest company in the FTSE -- and�it might also be the cheapest. The Shell share price has gone nowhere over the past year, currently standing at 2,226 pence. And that is likely to be, in part at least, due to forecasts of falling earnings per share, or EPS, for this year, which follow on from a drop in reported earnings for 2012.

But those forecasts put the shares on a forward price to earnings, or P/E, �ratio of only a little over eight, which is way below the long-term FTSE average of around 14. And there are dividends too -- last year, Shell provided shareholders with a 5.1% yield, and with a rise expected this year, City analysts are predicting 5.4%.

Hot Cheapest Companies For 2015: Pimco High Income Fund(PHK)

PIMCO High Income Fund is a closed ended fixed income mutual fund launched and managed by Allianz Global Investors Fund Management LLC. The fund is co-managed by Pacific Investment Management Company LLC. It invests in the public fixed income markets across the globe. The fund invests in U.S. dollar denominated high-yield corporate debt obligations. It employs fundamental analysis along with a top down stock picking approach to make its investments. PIMCO High Income Fund was formed on April 30, 2003 and is domiciled in the United States.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Morgan Housel]

  Interest rates have risen over the last month, offering a taste. Pimco High Income Fund (NYSE: PHK  ) is down 10% in the last month. The Vanguard Long Term Corporate Bond Fund (NASDAQ: VCLT  ) lost 4.6%. Mortgage REITS sensitive to the same interest rate risk have been pummeled; Annaly Capital Management (NYSE: NLY  ) shares are off by one-fifth over the last year.

Hot Cheapest Companies For 2015: Proofpoint Inc (PFPT)

Proofpoint, Inc. (Proofpoint), incorporated in 2002, is a security-as-a-service vendor that delivers data protection solutions, which helps medium- and large-sized organizations worldwide. Proofpoint�� security-as-a-service platform consists of an integrated suite of on-demand data protection solutions, including threat protection, regulatory compliance, archiving and governance, and secures communication. It provides a multi-tiered security-as-a-service platform consisting of solutions, platform technologies and infrastructure. The Company�� security-as-a-service platform includes four solutions bundled for the convenience of its customers: Proofpoint Enterprise Protection, Proofpoint Enterprise Privacy, Proofpoint Enterprise Archive and Proofpoint Enterprise Governance. Its platform services consist of content inspection, reputation, encryption and key management, notification and workflow, and analytics and search. During the year ended December 31, 2011, the Company acquired NextPage, Inc. In September 2013, Proofpoint Inc completed its acquisition of Armorize Technologies Inc. In October 2013, the Company acquired Silicon Valley based Sendmail, Inc.

The Company�� solutions are used by approximately 2,400 customers worldwide, including 26 of the Fortune 100, protecting tens of millions of end-users. It markets and sells its solutions worldwide both directly through the sales teams and indirectly through a hybrid model. It also distributes its solutions through International Business Machines Corp. (IBM), Microsoft Corporation and VMware, Inc.

Proofpoint Enterprise Protection

Proofpoint Enterprise Protection is the Company�� communications and collaboration security suite designed to protect customers' mission-critical messaging infrastructure from outside threats including spam, phishing, unpredictable e-mail volumes, malware and other forms of objectionable or dangerous content before they reach the enterprise. Key capabilities within proofpoint en! terprise protection include threat detection, virus protection, zero-hour threat detection and smart search.

Proofpoint Enterprise Privacy

The Company�� data loss prevention, encryption and compliance solution defends against leaks of confidential information, and helps ensure compliance with common United States, international and industry-specific data protection regulations, including HIPAA, GLBA, PIPEDA and PCI-DSS. Key capabilities within Proofpoint Enterprise Privacy include Advanced data loss prevention, Flexible remediation and supervision, Policy-based encryption and Secure file transfer.

Proofpoint Enterprise Archive

Proofpoint Enterprise Archive is designed to ensure accurate enforcement of data governance, data retention and supervision policies and mandates; cost effective litigation support through discovery, and active legal hold management. Proofpoint Enterprise Archive can store, govern and discover a range of data, including e-mail, instant message conversations, social media interactions, and other files throughout the enterprise. The key capabilities within Proofpoint Enterprise Archive include Secure cloud storage, Search performance, Flexible policy enforcement, Active legal-hold management and End-user supervision.

Proofpoint Enterprise Governance

Proofpoint Enterprise Governance provides organizations the ability to track, classify, monitor, and apply governance policies to unstructured information across the enterprise. The key capabilities within Proofpoint Enterprise Governance include Document Tracking-Digital Thread, Cloud-based Search and Analytics, and Flexible policy enforcement.

The Company competes with Cisco Systems, Inc., EMC Corporation, Google Inc., Hewlett-Packard Company, Intel and Microsoft.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Sean Williams]

  One company in particular I'd suggest putting back on the sales rack is Proofpoint (NASDAQ: PFPT  ) , a threat and regulatory security-as-a-service provider. The profit potential is certainly there. Proofpoint's SaaS model is built around getting the client hooked on its products and making it inconvenient and cost-inefficient for them to switch to a competitor. In other words, it's setting up its own razor-and-blades model that should fuel recurring revenue for years to come.

• [By John Kell]

  Security services provider Proofpoint Inc.(PFPT) shares popped after the company posted better-than-expected fourth-quarter results and issued optimistic revenue guidance. Shares jumped 10% to $40.24 premarket.

Top India Companies To Buy For 2015: Fairfax Financial Holdings Ltd (FRFHF.PK)

Fairfax Financial Holdings Limited (Fairfax) is a financial services holding company. The Company, through its subsidiaries, is principally engaged in property and casualty insurance and reinsurance and the associated investment management. The Company�� segments consist of Insurance, Reinsurance, Insurance and Reinsurance Other, Runoff, and Corporate and Other. On December 22, 2011, the Company completed the acquisition of 75% interests in Sporting Life Inc. On August 16, 2011, the Company acquired William Ashley China Corporation. On March 24, 2011, an indirect wholly owned subsidiary of Fairfax completed the acquisition of The Pacific Insurance Berhad. On February 9, 2011, an indirect wholly owned subsidiary of Fairfax completed the acquisition of First Mercury Financial Corporation. In October 2012, its RiverStone runoff subsidiary acquired all the outstanding shares of Brit Insurance Limited.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Infinity Group]

  With 515 million shares outstanding, this equates to 33% of all shares being shorted. It should also be noted that Prem Watsa's Fairfax Financial Holdings (FRFHF.PK) is holding 51.8 million BlackBerry shares. Prem Watsa stated at the annual FairFax shareholders meeting that Fairfax is holding a long position with BlackBerry and anticipates shareholder value increasing over the next 2-3 years. The cost basis for FairFax financial holdings is approximately $17 per BlackBerry share.

Hot Cheapest Companies For 2015: Rex Energy Corporation(REXX)

Rex Energy Corporation operates as an independent oil and gas company in the Appalachian Basin and the Illinois Basin. It focuses on the Marcellus Shale drilling projects, and Utica Shale and Upper Devonian Shale exploration activities in the Appalachian Basin. The company also holds interests in the Lawrence Field ASP Flood project, which is an oil recovery project located in Lawrence County, Illinois. As of December 31, 2011, it operated approximately 2,117 wells, including approximately 517 disposal and injection wells. The company had estimated proved reserves of 366.2 billions of cubic feet equivalent. Rex Energy Corporation was founded in 2007 and is headquartered in State College, Pennsylvania.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Matt DiLallo]

  The company has also shifted some of its attention to next-door neighbor Ohio's Utica Shale. It's not the only Marcellus driller to look to the higher profit potential in the liquids-rich Utica. Smaller drillers like Rex Energy (NASDAQ: REXX  ) are also looking west to the Utica in an effort to grow liquids production. The company reported positive results at three recently drilled wells at its Warrior South project. While all this attention is great for the Utica, Pennsylvania would rather have drillers investing that drilling capital within its borders to add more jobs and tax revenue. �

• [By Matt DiLallo]

  Other smaller drillers like Rex Energy (NASDAQ: REXX  ) and Magnum Hunter Resources (NYSE: MHR  ) are following suit and increasing the amount of capital being spent on the play. Just last month Rex reported results at three of its Utica wells. According to CEO Tom Stabley, the company believes the results "demonstrate the opportunity for superior well performance in this region." Like Gulfport, Rex is spending a large portion of its 2013 capital budget on the play and is expecting that capital to generate significant liquids-rich growth for the company.

• [By Matt DiLallo]

  These infrastructure additions are important for Gulfport Energy� (NASDAQ: GPOR  ) �which is pouring nearly all of its resources into developing the Utica's assets. If its wells provide the type of production it is expecting, this infrastructure build-out will prove critical to Gulfport's ability to deliver its product to market. The additions are also important for Rex Energy (NASDAQ: REXX  ) which is investing more than 30% of its more than $255 million 2013 capital budget to develop its acreage in the Utica.

• [By Arjun Sreekumar]

  Infrastructure additions also bode well for Gulfport Energy (NASDAQ: GPOR  ) , a company highly levered to the play. In fact, Gulfport is plowing the majority of its capital budget toward developing its Utica acreage, with quite impressive well results thus far. Improved infrastructure should also provide a boost to Rex Energy (NASDAQ: REXX  ) , which is allocating nearly a third of its roughly $255 million capital budget for the year toward developing its assets in the Utica.

Hot Cheapest Companies For 2015: The Medicines Company(MDCO)

The Medicines Company, a pharmaceutical company, provides various medicines to hospitals for advancing the treatment of critical care patients worldwide. The company markets Angiomax, an intravenous direct thrombin inhibitor for use as an anticoagulant in combination with aspirin in patients with unstable angina undergoing percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty and for use in patients undergoing percutaneous coronary intervention; and Cleviprex, an intravenous small molecule calcium channel blocker for the reduction of blood pressure, as well as to treat neurocritical care and cardiac surgery patients. Its products under development include Cangrelor that is in Phase III clinical trial acts as an intravenous small molecule antiplatelet agent to prevent platelet activation and aggregation; and Oritavancin, which is in Phase III clinical trial acts as an investigational intravenous antibiotic for the treatment of serious gram-positive bacterial infections, including acute bacterial skin and skin structure infections. The company?s products under development also comprise MDCO-157, a pre-registration stage product for platelet inhibition in patients suffering from acute coronary syndrome (ACS), and patients experiencing myocardial infarction, stroke, or peripheral arterial disease; MDCO-2010, a small molecule serine protease inhibitor that is in Phase II clinical trial used for the reduction of blood loss during surgery; and MDCO-216, which is in Phase I clinical trial used for the reversal of atherosclerotic plaque development and the reduction of the risk of coronary events in patients with ACS. Its products also consist of Argatroban, a direct thrombin inhibitor used as anticoagulant for prophylaxis or for the treatment of thrombosis; and acute care generic products. The Medicines Company was founded in 1996 and is based in Parsippany, New Jersey.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Jay Silverman]

  Jay Silverman: Oh, by the way, if you wanted me to throw a few of those names that might be considered, Novavax would be one of them, and Nektar (NKTR), and the Medicines Company (MDCO) and Pharmacyclics, which has been a great stock, but has come under pressure of late.

• [By Lisa Levin]

  The Medicines Company (NASDAQ: MDCO) shares touched a new 52-week low of $24.17 after the company provided an update on Angiomax patent litigation.

• [By Rich Duprey]

  If all goes well in phase 3�trials for�ProFibrix's lead biologic, Fibrocaps -- a treatment�to stop bleeding during surgery -- shareholders of the Netherlands-based drugmaker could receive a hefty payday from The Medicines Company (NASDAQ: MDCO  ) , which says it's willing to buy out the company if it can expect to bring the therapy to market here at home as well as in Europe.

Hot Cheapest Companies For 2015: Rexnord Corp (RXN)

Rexnord Corporation (Rexnord), incorporated on July 13, 2006, is a multi-platform industrial company. The Company comprises of two platforms, Process & Motion Control and Water Management. Rexnord�� Process & Motion Control product portfolio includes gears, couplings, industrial bearings, aerospace bearings and seals, FlatTop chain, engineered chain and conveying equipment, and are marketed and sold globally under brands, including Rexnord, Rex, Falk and Link-Belt. Its Water Management platform operates in the commercial construction market for water management products and the municipal water and wastewater treatment markets. Its Water Management product portfolio includes drainage products, flush valves and faucet products, backflow prevention pressure release valves, PEX piping and engineered valves and gates for the water and wastewater treatment markets. These products are marketed and sold through brand names, including Zurn, Wilkins, VAG, GA, Rodney-Hunt and Fontaine. In August 2013, Rexnord Corp announced that it has acquired the assets of Micro Precision Gear Technology Limited. In December 2013, Rexnord acquired Precision Gear Holdings, LLC (PGH). PGH has two operating subsidiaries, Merit Gear LLC and Precision Gear LLC.

Process & Motion Control

The Company�� Process & Motion Control platform designs, manufactures, markets and services mechanical components used within complex systems. The Company sells its Process & Motion Control products into a diverse group of end markets, including mining, general industrial applications, cement and aggregates, agriculture, forest and wood products, petrochemical, energy, food and beverage, aerospace and wind energy. The Company is a manufacturer of gear drives and gear sets for the heavy duty industrial market. Its gear drives, service and gear sets are used in a number of heavy duty industries. These primary industries include the natural resource extraction, steel, pulp and paper, chemical, forest and wood industries. ! Rexnord manufactures a range of heavy duty, medium and light duty gear drives used for bulk material handling, mixing, pumping and general gearing applications. It also operates a gear service and repair business through its Product Service group (Prager and Renew). Its Couplings are primarily used in high-speed, high-torque applications and are the interface between two shafts that permit power to be transmitted from one shaft to the other. Rexnord�� couplings are sold to a range of end markets, including the petrochemical and refining, wood processing, chemical, power generation and natural resources industries. Couplings comprise of the grid, flexible disc, elastomeric and gear product lines and are sold under the Steelflex, Thomas, Omega, Rex, Viva, Wrapflex, Lifelign, True Torque, Addax and Autogard brand names.

The Company primarily produces mounted bearings, which are offered in a range of specialized housings to suit specific industrial applications. Its FlatTop chain provides a continuous conveying surface that is critical to high-speed operations, such as those used to transport cans and bottles in beverage-filling operations, and is primarily sold to the food and beverage, consumer products, warehousing and distribution, and parts processing industries. The Company supplies its aerospace bearings and seals to the commercial aircraft, military aircraft and regional jet end markets for use in door systems, engine accessories, engine controls, engine mounts, flight control systems, gearboxes, landing gear and rotor pitch controls. Rexnord�� aerospace bearings and seals products consist of rolling element airframe bearings sold under the Shafer brand name, slotted-entry and split-ball sliding bearings sold under the PSI brand name and aerospace seals that are sold under the Cartriseal brand name, which are primarily sold for use in both aerospace and industrial applications.

The Company�� special components products consist of three primary product lines: electri! c motor b! rakes, miniature Process & Motion Control components and security devices for utility companies. These products are manufactured by its businesses, such as Stearns, W.M. Berg and Highfield. Stearns��products are used in a range of applications, including steel mills, oil field equipment, pulp processing equipment, large textile machines, rubber mills, metal forming machinery and dock and pier handling equipment. W.M. Berg sells its products to a range of markets, including aerospace, semiconductor, medical equipment, robotics, instrumentation, office equipment and satellite communications. Highfield�� products are sold to a range of markets, including electric, gas, water, telecommunications, utilities and plumbing and heating.

The Company�� conveying equipment and industrial chain products are used in various applications in a number of industries, including food and food processing, beverage and container, mining, construction and agricultural equipment, hydrocarbon processing and cement and aggregates processing. Its primary products include conveying equipment, engineered steel chain, and roller chain. Its conveying equipment product group provides design, assembly, installation and after-the-sale services primarily to the mining, cement and aggregates industries. Its products include engineered elevators, conveyors and components for medium to heavy duty material handling applications. The Company�� engineered steel chain products are sold under the Link-Belt and Rexnord brand names. These products are used in a number of applications, including cement elevators, construction and mining equipment and conveyors, and they are supplied to the cement and aggregates, energy, food and beverage, and forest and wood products industries.

Water Management

The Company�� Water Management platform designs, procures, manufactures and markets products that provide and enhance water quality, safety, flow control and conservation. The Water Management product port! folio inc! ludes professional grade specification drainage products, flush valves and faucet products, engineered valves and gates for the water and wastewater treatment market and PEX piping and are marketed and sold through brand names, including Zurn, Wilkins, VAG, GA, Rodney Hunt and Fontaine. Rexnord�� Water Management platform has a network of approximately 1,100 independent sales representatives across approximately 210 sales agencies in North America, who work with local engineers, contractors, builders and architects to specify its products for use in construction projects. Its water control and safety products are sold under the Wilkins brand name and encompass a variety of valves, including backflow preventers, fire system valves, pressure reducing valves and thermostatic mixing valves. These products are sold into the commercial and industrial construction applications, as well as the fire protection, waterworks and irrigation end markets.

Zurn�� commercial brass products include manual and sensor operated flush valves marketed under the Aquaflush, AquaSense, AquaVantage and HydroVantage brand names and heavy duty commercial faucets marketed under the AquaSpec brand name. Water conserving fixtures are marketed under the EcoVantage and Zurn One brand names. These products are used in office buildings, schools, hospitals, airports, sports facilities, convention centers, shopping malls, restaurants and industrial production buildings. The Zurn One Systems integrate commercial brass and fixtures into plumbing systems. PEX is its product line manufactured out of cross-linked polyethylene into tubing and is suited for high temperature and pressure fluid distribution piping. Its PEX products include lines of pipe, fittings, valves and installation tools for both potable water and radiant heating systems. Its water and wastewater products are sold under the VAG, GA, Rodney Hunt and Fontaine brand names and are used to control the flow of water and wastewater throughout the water cycle from ra! w water t! hrough collection, distribution and wastewater treatment. Products include automatic control valves, check valves, air valves, butterfly valves, water control gates, hydrants, actuation systems, and other specialized products for municipal, industrial, and hydropower applications. Its product lines are primarily sold into the water supply and treatment markets worldwide.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Ben Levisohn]

  Each month, Credit Suisse’s small-cap strategists ask the firm’s analyst to name their favorite small- and mid-cap stocks. This month, six new stocks made the list: RPM International (RPM), SunCoke Energy (SXC), Zions Bancorp (ZION), Signature Bank (SBNY), Edwards Lifesciences (EW) and�Rexnord (RXN).

Hot Cheapest Companies For 2015: Alston Energy Inc (ALO)

Alston Energy Inc. (Alston) is a Canada-based petroleum and natural gas company. The Company is engaged in the exploration and production of oil and natural gas reserves in Western Canada�� sedimentary basins. The Company�� projects include Alexander, Pembina and Chauvin. Alexander assets include a 14.0% average working interest in 10 proved producing gas/oil wells, three proved development locations, related production facilities and pipelines and 6,560 gross acres of mineral leases. Pembina assets include a 3.5% interest in 19 producing oil wells, one coal bed methane gas well, four standing or suspended wells, two oil batteries, related production facilities and pipelines and 5,690 gross acres of land in the Pembina/Cardium Pool. Alston has oil assets in the emerging Chauvin area resource play. Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Sarah Jones]

  HSBC, Europe�� biggest bank, Societe Generale SA (GLE), France�� second-largest lender, and Germany�� Commerzbank AG each climbed at least 2.6 percent after posting results. Allianz gained 3.6 percent after Europe�� largest insurer reported a jump in profit. Alstom SA (ALO) sank 12 percent after the power-equipment maker cut its profit forecast.

Hot Cheapest Companies For 2015: Atwood Oceanics Inc. (ATW)

Atwood Oceanics, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, engages in offshore drilling, and the completion of exploratory and developmental oil and gas wells. The company owns semisubmersible rigs, semisubmersible tender assist rigs, jack-up drilling rigs, and submersible drilling rigs. As of November 22, 2010, it operated nine mobile offshore drilling units located in offshore southeast Asia, offshore Africa, offshore Australia, offshore South America, and the Mediterranean Sea. The company was founded in 1968 and is headquartered in Houston, Texas.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Alex Planes]

  Investors love stocks that consistently beat the Street without getting ahead of their fundamentals and risking a meltdown. The best stocks offer sustainable market-beating gains, with robust and improving financial metrics that support strong price growth. Does Atwood Oceanics (NYSE: ATW  ) fit the bill? Let's take a look at what its recent results tell us about its potential for future gains.

• [By Jon C. Ogg]

  Atwood Oceanics Inc.�(NYSE: ATW) was added to the Conviction Buy list on December 16, after having been raised from Neutral to Buy back in May. Shares were at $51.11 before the call, rose to $52.11 on the day of the call and have trended up to almost $53 since. Atwood’s consensus price target now is almost $65.

Hot Cheapest Companies For 2015: Group 1 Automotive Inc. (GPI)

Group 1 Automotive, Inc., through its subsidiaries, engages in the marketing and sale of automotive products and services. It sells new and used cars, light trucks, and vehicle parts. The company also provides vehicle financing services; service and insurance contract services; and automotive maintenance and repair services. The company has operations located in metropolitan areas in the states of Alabama, California, Florida, Georgia, Kansas, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, Mississippi, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Oklahoma, South Carolina, and Texas in the United States; and in the towns of Brighton, Hailsham, and Worthing in the United Kingdom. As of October 25, 2012, it owned and operated 121 automotive dealerships, 158 franchises, and 30 collision centers in the United States and the United Kingdom that offer 32 brands of automobiles. The company was founded in 1995 and is headquartered in Houston, Texas.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Ning Jia]

  In 2001, Advance Auto Parts acquires Carport Auto Parts, a regional retail chain with 29 stores in Alabama and Mississippi. The combination of Advance and Carport locations establishes Advance Auto Parts as the market leader in Alabama and Mississippi. In November of 2011, Advance acquires 671 Discount Auto Parts, Inc., a regional auto parts chain in Florida, Alabama, Georgia, South Carolina, and Louisiana. The acquisition strengthens the company's position as the market leader in Florida. Upon completion of this merger, Advance Auto Parts becomes a publicly traded company, listed as a common stock on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol AAP. After the Company went public in 2001, AAP continued to expand both organically and through acquisition. On October 16th 2013, Advance Auto Parts entered into a definitive agreement to acquire General Parts International, Inc. (GPI), a leading privately held distributor and supplier of original equipment and aftermarket replacement products for commercial markets operating under the CARQUEST and WORLDPAC brands, in an all-cash transaction with an enterprise value of $2.04 billion. The transaction has been approved by the boards of directors for both companies. The deal creates the largest automotive aftermarket parts provider in North America, with annual sales of more than $9.2 billion and more than 70,000 employees.