Best Quality Stocks For 2014

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Photo courtesy of Ford Motor

The results are in and Ford's (NYSE: F  ) success is driven by two of its hottest models ��the Fusion and the Escape. Those two have a chance to do something that no other Ford vehicle besides the F-Series has done in almost 10 years ��top 300,000 sales in the U.S. It's only a recent trend: Ford was long known for producing a quality truck and its car models were largely left for dead. Let's look at some numbers and see why some investors are excited about Ford.

Over the first four months of the year Ford's car and utility segments are up 12.5% and 18.1%, respectively, versus last year. The segment leaders are the Fusion and the Escape; take a look at what they've done over the last five years, and at this year's pace.

Best Quality Stocks For 2014: Star Pharmaceutical Limited (X64.SI)

STAR Pharmaceutical Limited engages in the manufacture and sale of western and traditional Chinese medicine-formulated prescription drugs. The company primarily offers antibiotics, cerebrovascular drugs, cardiovascular drugs, and other specialized drugs in various dosages and administration forms ranging from powder injections, lyophilized powder injections, and liquid injections to tablets, capsules, and granules. It sells its products through a network of approximately 398 distributors to hospitals, clinics, and pharmacies in the People�s Republic of China. The company was founded in 1993 and is based in Haikou City, the People�s Republic of China. STAR Pharmaceutical Limited is a subsidiary of DB NOMINEES (S) PTE LTD.

Best Quality Stocks For 2014: Cubist Pharmaceuticals Inc.(CBST)

Cubist Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a biopharmaceutical company, focuses on the research, development, and commercialization of pharmaceutical products that address unmet medical needs in the acute care environment. The company markets CUBICIN (daptomycin for injection), a once-daily, bactericidal, intravenous, antibiotic with activity against gram-positive organisms, including methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus. Its clinical development product pipeline consists of CXA-201, which is in the phase III clinical trial for patients with complicated urinary tract infections; and in phase II clinical trial for patients with complicated abdominal infections. The company is also developing CXA-201 for the treatment of hospital acquired pneumonia. In addition, its product under development comprises CB-183,315, an oral, bactericidal lipopeptide with in vitro bactericidal activity against C. difficile, for the treatment of clostridium difficile-associated diarrhea (CDAD). Further , the company?s pre-clinical programs include therapies to treat various bacterial infections and agents to treat acute pain. Additionally, it promotes MERREM I.V. (meropenem for injection), a carbapenem class intravenous antibiotic, in the United States under a commercial services agreement with AstraZeneca Pharmaceuticals, LP; and DIFICID as the treatment for CDAD in adults under the co-promotion agreement with Optimer Pharmaceuticals, Inc. The company also has collaborations with Forma Therapeutics, Inc. to discover and develop antibacterial compounds; an agreement with the Broad Institute to transform natural products discovery; a collaboration with Hydra Biosciences, Inc., to develop ion channel drugs; and a collaboration agreement with Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, Inc., for the development and commercialization of Alnylam's RNAi therapeutics as a therapy for the treatment of respiratory syncytial virus. The company was founded in 1992 and is headquartered in Lexington, Mas sachusetts.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Dug]

  Cubist Pharmaceuticals(CBST) is a major player in anti-infectives, which prevent and treat diseases, specifically those caused by drug-resistant pathogens. For example, Cubist's major product, Cubicin, is used to treat complicated skin and skin structure infections as well as bacterimia.

  The company has two anti-biotics that are in stage two of FDA approval. Since 2008, Cubist has grown sales and earnings per share 29% and 24% annually, on average. Its stock delivered annualized gains of 8.9% over that period. Recent deterioration of growth has led to a sell-off in Cubist, disconcerting investors.

  Its stock is down 4% over the past three months. Fourth-quarter adjusted earnings decreased 28% year-over-year, but did beat the consensus estimate by 38%. The top-line, down 3%, missed consensus by 1.1%. The operating margin strengthened during the quarter, from 28% to 29%, indicating pricing strength. Jefferies is optimistic about the outcome of a patent litigation lawsuit, which has a trial date in April, and considers the small-cap undervalued, at just 13-times forward earnings, a 39% peer discount. But, it considers reliance on Cubicin a concentrated risk.

  Bullish Scenario: Jefferies expects Varian to rise 39% to $31.

  Bearish Scenario: ThinkEquity foresees a drop of 10% to $20.

Top Small Cap Companies To Invest In Right Now: IRSA Inversiones Y Representaciones S.A. (IRS)

IRSA Investments and Representations Inc., through its subsidiaries, engages in a range of diversified real estate investment and related activities in Argentina. The company is involved in the acquisition, development, and operation of shopping centers, offices, and other non-shopping center properties primarily for rental purposes; development and sale of residential properties; acquisition and operation of luxury hotels; and acquisition of undeveloped land reserves for future development purpose. It also engages in consumer financing activities, including credit card products to its consumers at shopping centers, hypermarkets, and street stores. IRSA Investments and Representations, Inc. was founded in 1943 and is headquartered in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

Best Quality Stocks For 2014: SureWest Communications(SURW)

SureWest Communications provides a range of telecommunications services in northern California, the greater Kansas City, and Kansas and Missouri areas. It provides data, video, and voice services to residential and business customers. The company?s data services include high-speed Internet access; video services comprise pay-per-view channels, video on demand (VOD) service, and premium VOD channels, music channels, and an interactive, on-screen program guide; and voice services consist of value-added services, such as voicemail, call waiting, caller identification, and other calling options. The company also offers Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) digital phone; and telecommunications services, including traditional circuit-switched voice, long distance, and various lightly-regulated or non-regulated services, as well as wholesale access services. In addition, it provides business communications services comprising fiber-optics-based high-speed Internet, customized dat a and Ethernet transport services, data center and disaster recovery solutions, traditional landline and VoIP phone services, wireless backhaul, and digital television services to small, medium, and large business customers. As of December 31, 2011, the company served approximately 107,100 residential subscribers; and had approximately 8,000 business customers. SureWest Communications was founded in 1914 and is headquartered in Roseville, California.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Vatalyst]

  Shares are trading around $11.50 at the time of writing, as against their 52-week trading range of $7.08 to $17.83. At the current market price, the company is capitalized at $161 million. Its earnings per share during the last year were $0.22, and it paid a dividend of $0.32 (a yield of around 3%).

  Offering internet and communications services regionally in California, Kansas, and Missouri, SureWest operates in the same business space as AT&T (T) . AT&T has a global business, and will find it easier to avoid suffering in an economic downturn than SureWest (particularly as California is the most indebted state in the United States). Investors should opt for AT&T’s better operating margins (15.5% versus 7%), higher dividend yield (6% versus 3%), and realistic price to earnings ratio (8.39 versus 51.73). Sell SureWest Communications shares.

Best Quality Stocks For 2014: Google Inc.(GOOG)

Google Inc. maintains an index of Web sites and other online content for users, advertisers, and Google network members and other content providers. It offers AdWords, an auction-based advertising program; AdSense program, which enables Web sites that are part of the Google Network to deliver ads from its AdWords advertisers; Google Display, a display advertising network that comprises the videos, text, images, and other interactive ads; DoubleClick Ad Exchange, a real-time auction marketplace for the trading of display ad space; and YouTube that provides video, interactive, and other ad formats for advertisers. The company also provides Google Mobile that optimizes Google?s applications for mobile devices in browser and downloadable form; and enables advertisers to run search ad campaigns on mobile devices, as well as Google Local that provides local information on the Web; and Google Boost for small businesses to participate in the ads auction. In addition, it offers And roid, an open source mobile software platform; Google Chrome OS, an open source operating system; Google Chrome, a Web browser; Google TV, a platform for the consumers to use the television and the Internet on a single screen; and Google Books platform to discover, search, and consume content from printed books online. Further, the company provides Google Apps, a cloud computing suite of message and collaboration tools, which includes Gmail, Google Docs, Google Calendar, and Google Sites; Google Search Appliance that offers real-time search of business and intranet applications, and public Web sites; Google Site Search, a custom search engine; Google Commerce Search for online retail enterprises; Google Checkout to make online shopping and payments streamlined and secure; Google Maps Application Programming Interface; and Google Earth Enterprise, a firewall software solution for imagery and data visualization. Google Inc. was founded in 1998 and is headquartered in Mountain View, California.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Kevin M. O'Brien]

  Google (GOOG) will surpass $725.00/share. Google has a lot of trouble over the last few years maintaining its all-time highs. I do not think this will be the case in 2012. The stock is really starting to show strength of late and I do believe this carries over into next year.

• [By McWillams]

  This stock has been going up higher and higher for at least the last 10 years.  They don’t seem to be letting up.  On the fundamental side, their market share is growing as well as the market itself.  They are starting to get into the social networking space as well with the recent release of Google+.  The thing you want to watch for is their operational costs.  It’s been rising very quickly due mostly to hiring costs.  I don’t foresee that stabilizing at any point.  Just make sure the earnings are growing faster than rising costs.