5 Best Sliver Stocks To Watch For 2014

Although we don't believe in timing the market or panicking over market movements, we do like to keep an eye on big changes -- just in case they're material to our investing thesis.

What: Shares of HealthStream (NASDAQ: HSTM  ) , an Internet-based talent management company that provides learning solutions to the health care industry, jumped as much as 16% after the company reported its second-quarter earnings results.

So what: For the quarter, HealthStream reported revenue growth of 24% to $31.9 million as EPS matched the year-ago quarter's total of $0.09 despite an 8% increase in EBITDA. HealthStream's results matched the Street on EPS at $0.09, but slightly topped the $31.4 million in revenue analysts had expected. Overall, its learning and talent management segment saw revenue climb by 30% as subscription revenue jumped 28%. More importantly, HealthStream boosted its full-year revenue growth forecast to a range of 23% to 25% from previous estimates of 20% to 22% growth. This would imply full-year revenue of $127.6 million to $129.6 million compared to current Street expectations that call for $126.5 million in revenue.

Best Prefered Stocks To Own Right Now: AZZ Inc (AZZ)

AZZ incorporated, incorporated on March 29, 1956, is an electrical equipment and components manufacturer, serving the global markets of power generation, transmission and distribution, and the general industrial markets, and a provider of hot dip galvanizing services to the North American steel fabrication market. The Company operates in two segments: the Electrical and Industrial Products and Services Segment and the Galvanizing Services Segment. On October 1, 2012, the Company completed the acquisition of substantially all of the assets of Galvcast Manufacturing Inc. On January 2, 2013, the Company acquired G3 Galvanizing Limited (G3), a company with galvanizing operations in Halifax, Nova Scotia. On March 29, 2013, the Company completed its acquisition of Aquilex Specialty Repair and Overhaul LLC. In April 2013, it completed the acquisition of Aquilex Specialty Repair and Overhaul LLC (Aquilex SRO).

Electrical and Industrial Products and Services Segment

The Company�� Electrical and Industrial Products and Services Segment produces engineered specialty electrical products, industrial lighting and tubular products, all of which the Company market and sell both in domestic and international markets. The Company�� electrical products are designed, manufactured and configured to distribute electrical power to and from generators, transformers, switching devices and other electrical configurations and are supplied to the power generation, transmission and distribution markets and the general industrial market. The Company�� industrial products include industrial lighting and tubular products. The Company provides lighting products to the petroleum and food processing industries, and to other industries with lighting challenges. The Company also provides tubular products to the petroleum industry. In addition, the Company�� Electrical and Industrial Products and Services Segment provide electrical and mechanical equipment and services enhancing the safety of nuclear faci! lities.

Galvanizing Services Segment

The Galvanizing Services Segment provides hot dip galvanizing to the steel fabrication industry through facilities located throughout the South, Midwest, East Coast and Southwest of the United States and in the Canadian provinces of Quebec, Ontario and Nova Scotia. Hot dip galvanizing is a metallurgical process in which molten zinc is applied to a customer�� material. As of February 28, 2013, the Company operated thirty-five galvanizing plants, which are located in Alabama, Arkansas, Arizona, Colorado, Indiana, Illinois, Louisiana, Kentucky, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Ohio, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia and West Virginia in the United States and Ontario, Quebec and Nova Scotia in Canada. The Company serves fabricators or manufacturers that provide services to the electrical and telecommunications, bridge and highway, petrochemical and general industrial markets, and numerous original equipment manufacturers.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Eric Volkman]

  AZZ (NYSE: AZZ  ) has released results for its Q4 2013 and trailing 12 months. For the quarter, net sales were just over $140 million, which bettered the $124 million in the same period the previous year. The bottom line also rose, to $13.2 million ($0.52 per diluted share) from Q4 2012's $11.6 million ($0.46).

• [By Travis Hoium]

  What: Shares of electrical equipment maker AZZ (NYSE: AZZ  ) dropped as much as 16% today after the company reported earnings.

  So what: Revenue was up 44%, to $183.2 million, but net income fell 9%, to $14.5 million, or $0.57 per share. Analysts expected $197.6 million in revenue and $0.63 in earnings, so the quarter fell well short of expectations.�

• [By Eric Volkman]

  AZZ (NYSE: AZZ  ) is again opening its coffers for a shareholder payout. The company has decided to keep its dividend steady by declaring a fresh distribution of $0.14 per share. This will be paid on July 26 to shareholders of record as of July 12. That amount matches each of the firm's previous three distributions, the most recent of which was handed out in early May. Prior to that, AZZ paid $0.25 per share, although this was in advance of a two-for-one stock split effected in July 2012.

5 Best Sliver Stocks To Watch For 2014: Quanex Building Products Corporation(NX)

Quanex Building Products Corporation provides engineered products and aluminum sheet products. Its Engineered Products segment produces window and door components for original equipment manufacturers that primarily serve the residential construction and remodeling markets. This segment?s products consist of insulating glass spacer/sealant systems, thin film solar panel sealants, window and patio door screens, aluminum cladding and other roll formed metal window components, thresholds and astragals, moldings, residential exterior products, engineered vinyl and composite patio doors, window profiles and custom window grilles, and trim and architectural moldings in various woods primarily for the home improvement and residential construction markets. The company?s Aluminum Sheet Products segment includes reducing reroll coil to specific gauge, annealing, slitting, and custom coating. This segment?s products are used in customer end-use applications comprising window screen fr ames and screens, exterior home trim, fascias, roof edgings, soffits, downspouts, and gutters in the building and construction markets, as well as capital goods and transportation markets. The company offers its products to original equipment manufacturers and distributors through direct and indirect sales groups primarily in the United States, Mexico, Canada, Asia, and Europe. Quanex Building Products Corporation is based in Houston, Texas.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Seth Jayson]

  When judging a company's prospects, how quickly it turns cash outflows into cash inflows can be just as important as how much profit it's booking in the accounting fantasy world we call "earnings." This is one of the first metrics I check when I'm hunting for the market's best stocks. Today, we'll see how it applies to Quanex Building Products (NYSE: NX  ) .

5 Best Sliver Stocks To Watch For 2014: Lean Hogs (HE)

Hawaiian Electric Industries, Inc., through its subsidiaries, primarily engages in electric utility and banking businesses primarily in Hawaii. The company is involved in the production, purchase, transmission, distribution, and sale of electricity from renewable energy sources, such as wind, solar, photovoltaic, geothermal, wave, hydroelectric, sugarcane waste, municipal waste, and other biofuels, as well as from fuel oil. It distributes and sells electricity on the islands of Oahu, Hawaii, Maui, Lanai, and Molokai; and serves suburban communities, resorts, the United States armed forces installations, and agricultural operations. As of December 31, 2011, the company had net generating and firm purchased capability of 2,326.9 megawatts. It also engages in providing banking and other financial services, such as accepting savings accounts, checking accounts, money market accounts, and certificates of deposit; and providing loans comprising residential and commercial real es tate, residential mortgage, construction and development, multifamily residential and commercial real estate, consumer, and commercial loans to consumers and business. The company operated 57 branches and 119 automated teller machines. Hawaiian Electric Industries, Inc. was founded in 1891 and is based in Honolulu, Hawaii.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Jake L'Ecuyer]

  Leading and Lagging Sectors
  Utilities stocks gained Friday, with Korea Electric Power (NYSE: KEP) leading advancers. Meanwhile, gainers in the sector included Huaneng Power International (NYSE: HNP), with shares up 1.8 percent, and Hawaiian Electric Industries (NYSE: HE), with shares up 1.4 percent.

• [By Jake L'Ecuyer]

  Utilities shares dropped by 0.31 percent in the US market today. Among the sector stocks, Hawaiian Electric Industries (NYSE: HE) was down more than 2.9 percent, while Edison International (NYSE: EIX) tumbled around 1.4 percent.

• [By Geoff Gannon]

  路 Within 5 or 6 hours��(he) found 20 stocks selling at 2 or 3 (times) earnings with strong balance sheets.

  路 Korea rebuilt itself in a big way post 1998. Companies overbuilt their balance sheets.

5 Best Sliver Stocks To Watch For 2014: Textura Corp (TXTR)

Textura Corporation, incorporated on September 27, 2007, is a provider of on-demand business collaboration software to the commercial construction industry. The Company�� solutions are focused on facilitating collaboration between owners/developers, general contractors and subcontractors. The Company offers PlanSwift, a take-off and estimating solution used in preparing construction bids, and Contractor Default Claims Management, which supports the process of documenting a subcontractor default insurance claim. Each of its collaboration solutions was designed from inception as a software-as-a-service (SaaS) solution with on-demand architecture. The Company collaboration solutions each use a single code base and it do not customize its solutions for any of the Company�� clients. In December 2013, Textura Corp closed its acquisition of LATISTA Technologies Inc, the provider of mobile-enabled solutions for construction project collaboration.

The Company�� collaboration solutions offer functionality, data sharing and exchange capabilities, and workflow tools that support several business processes at various stages of the construction project lifecycle, which include Construction Payment Management (CPM) enables the generation, collection, review and routing of invoices and the necessary supporting documentation and legal documents, and initiation of payment of invoices; Submittal Exchange enables the collection, review and routing of project documents; GradeBeam supports the process of obtaining construction bids, including identifying potential bidders, issuing invitations-to-bid and tracking bidding intent; Pre-Qualification Management (PQM) supports contractor risk assessment and qualification, and Greengrade facilitates the management of environmental certification processes. The Company�� on-demand business collaboration software solutions address the several challenges associated with the traditional paper-based and personnel-intensive manual approaches or with technology solut! ions not designed for collaborative processes, and support many of the trends occurring within the commercial construction industry.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Evan Niu, CFA]

  What: Shares of Textura (NYSE: TXTR  ) have popped today after a slew of analysts initiated bullish coverage on the company.

  So what: Textura went public in early June with an early pop, and four Street analysts have started the company off with outperform ratings. That includes William Blair, Oppenheimer, Credit Suisse, and Barrington Research, all of which are optimistic about Textura's prospects.

• [By John Udovich]

  Small cap construction software stock Textura Corp (NYSE: TXTR) has been all over the place lately, meaning it might be time to take a look at it along with other small cap or mid cap construction, design or real estate software stocks like RealPage, Inc (NASDAQ: RP) and more well known Autodesk, Inc (NASDAQ: ADSK). After all, enterprise software stocks like these would offer a more indirect way to bet on a housing or construction ��ecovery,���ust like building materials stocks; plus earlier this summer,�a benchmark global study (sponsored by Textura Corp) called Global Construction 2025 predicted that the global construction market will grow by more than 70% to reach $15 trillion by 2025.�

• [By Jon C. Ogg]

  Textura Corp. (NYSE: TXTR) was reiterated as Outperform along with a $50 price target at Credit Suisse. The firm said that a negative report from Citron on the company last week that knocked about 20% of its value off has created as buying opportunity. Credit Suisse believes the report is untrue. It said the report was full of profanity and that it sees no merits to any of the work, with the report alluding to incorrect innuendos and false assumptions that suggested management misled investors. After shares saw a more than a 5% gain to $29.54 on Friday, the post-IPO range is $19.68 to $47.25.

• [By David Zeiler]

  6. Textura Corp. (NYSE: TXTR): Textura creates and sells business collaboration software to the commercial construction industry. TXTR went public June 7 at $15 a share and rose 39.6% its first day. The stock currently trades at $40.080, for an increase of 167.2%.