Best Cheap Companies 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 power transmission products maker Altra Holdings (NASDAQ: AIMC  ) plummeted 17% today after its quarterly results and outlook disappointed Wall Street.�

So what: The stock has soared over the past year on solid earnings growth, but today's second-quarter results -- adjusted EPS stayed flat on a 3.6% drop in revenue -- coupled with downbeat guidance for the full year is forcing Mr. Market to sober up. On a positive note, gross margin actually expanded 20 basis points despite the slump in sales as management did a good job to reduce costs in the quarter.

Now what: Management now sees full-year EPS of $1.52-$1.64 on revenue of $715 million-$730 million, down from its prior view of $1.75-$1.85 on revenue of $740 million-$750 million. "[W]e expect that the second half of the year will be in line with the comparable period a year ago," said CEO Carl Christenson. "Given the lower-than-expected results in the first half of the year and the lack of any apparent catalyst for significant economic growth in the second half, we are revising our guidance for the full year." When you couple that demand uncertainty with Altra's not-so-cheapish P/E of 25, Fools might want to wait for more of a pullback before jumping in.

Best Healthcare Equipment Companies To Watch For 2015: UnitedHealth Group Incorporated(UNH)

UnitedHealth Group Incorporated provides healthcare services in the United States. Its Health Benefits segment offers consumer-oriented health benefit plans and services to national employers, public sector employers, mid-sized employers, small businesses, and individuals; and non-employer based insurance options for purchase by individuals. It also provides health and well-being services for individuals aged 50 and older; and for services dealing with chronic disease and other specialized issues for older individuals, as well as health plans for the beneficiaries of acute and long-term care Medicaid plans. This segment offers its services through a network of 730,000 physicians and other health care professionals, and 5,300 hospitals. Its OptumHealth segment provides health, financial, and ancillary services and products that assist consumers through personalized health management solutions; benefit administration, and clinical and network management; health-based financi al services; behavioral solutions; and specialty benefits, such as dental, vision, life, critical illness, short-term disability, and stop-loss product offerings. The company?s Ingenix segment offers database and data management services, software products, publications, consulting and actuarial services, business process outsourcing services, and pharmaceutical data consulting and research services. Its Prescription Solutions segment provides integrated pharmacy benefit management services comprising retail network pharmacy contracting and management, claims processing, mail order pharmacy services, specialty pharmacy, benefit design consultation, rebate contracting and management, drug utilization review, formulary management programs, disease therapy management, and adherence programs to employer groups, union trusts, managed care organizations, Medicare-contracted plans, Medicaid plans, and third party administrators. The company was founded in 1974 and is based in Minne tonka, Minnesota.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Dan Carroll]

  Stocks rising higher
  Shares of UnitedHealth Group (NYSE: UNH  ) have surged higher today by a Dow-leading 2.5%. Despite the gains, UnitedHealth's facing hurdles: Obamacare's the big shadow on the company's radar, as the implementation of health care reform next year is still shrouded in uncertainty. More pressing, however, is that UnitedHealth's in hot water with the Department of Defense�over long medical care referral times for military personnel and families. UnitedHealth's acquisition of a contract worth more than $20 billion includes a clause indicating cost reimbursement for "poor performance," and the Pentagon is reportedly looking to get the insurer to reimburse it for the referral delays.

• [By Sean Williams]

  Aetna (NYSE: AET  ) is one of the few insurers currently helping its members out by providing payment estimates on more than 550 services with its proprietary Member Payment Estimator. This tool helps patients determine the often-confusing out-of-pocket costs associated with hospital fees and professional fees. Last year, UnitedHealth Group (NYSE: UNH  ) , the nation's largest health-benefits provider, followed suit by launching myHealthcare Cost Estimator to ballpark the costs of more than 100 common treatments for its 14 million-plus members.

• [By Matt Thalman]

  UnitedHealth (NYSE: UNH  ) was the Dow's biggest winner of the day, as shares rose 6.52% today. The company released its earnings report, which indicated that the company had slightly missed estimates on the top line, but beat on the bottom line. Expected revenue was $30.5 billion, while estimated earnings per share was set at $1.25, but UnitedHealth posted revenue of $30.4 billion and EPS of $1.40. Revenue rose 12% during the quarter over the same time frame as last year, and diluted GAAP earnings increased by 10%. Whether the good times will continue is anyone's guess, as the ObamaCare law is set to go into effect in just a few months, and most analysts are still unsure how the health-insurance companies will be affected by the new laws.�

• [By Dan Caplinger]

  Today, though, the biggest winners in the Dow were those with fairly solid earnings prospects. UnitedHealth Group (NYSE: UNH  ) climbed more than 2% after Barron's gave favorable comments about the health-insurance company's ability to profit from the implementation of Obamacare. Although most analysts have focused on the company's insurance business, UnitedHealth also includes its Optum health-services and management arm, which stands to get huge growth from efforts to attach rising health-care costs at the source by preventing and changing harmful behavior among patients. If those prospects work out, then UnitedHealth could benefit on both sides of its overall business.

Best Cheap Companies For 2014: S&P GSCI(GD)

General Dynamics Corporation, an aerospace and defense company, provides business aviation; combat vehicles, weapons systems, and munitions; military and commercial shipbuilding; and communications and information technology products and services worldwide. Its Aerospace group designs, manufactures, and outfits various large and mid-cabin business-jet aircraft; provides maintenance, repair work, fixed-based operations, and aircraft management services; and performs aircraft completions for aircraft. The company?s Combat Systems group offers tracked and wheeled military vehicles, weapons systems, and munitions. Its product lines include wheeled combat and tactical vehicles; battle tanks and infantry vehicles; munitions and propellant; rockets and gun systems; and axle and drivetrain components and aftermarket parts. This group also manufactures and supplies engineered axles, suspensions, and brakes for heavy-load vehicles for military and commercial customers. The company Advisors' Opinion:

• [By MONEYMORNING]

  Eventually, the company merged with General Dynamics Corporation (NYSE: GD) - but early investors who understood what to look for were able to make a huge profit, very quickly, by paying attention to where DOD money was being deployed.

• [By Rich Smith]

  The U.S. Department of Defense awarded multiple contractors shares in some 17 contracts Tuesday, valued at up to $1.3 billion in combined dollar value. Most of the funds awarded went to a series of 13 contractors working on a single cyber-defense project -- but there were a few other winners. Among them:

Best Cheap Companies For 2014: Progress Software Corporation(PRGS)

Progress Software Corporation operates as an enterprise software company worldwide. Its products include Progress OpenEdge platform, which offers development tools, application servers, application management tools, and an embedded database; Progress Orbix to address enterprise integration problems with standards-based solutions; and Progress ObjectStore, an object data management system to store data faster than relational database management system or file-based storage system. The company?s products also comprise Progress Responsiveness Process Management suite for business users; Progress Control Tower, an interactive business control panel; Progress Sonic, which comprises an enterprise messaging system and the enterprise service buses; Progress Actional that provides operational and business visibility, root cause analysis, and policy-based security and control of services; Progress Apama, which offers tools for creating, testing, and deploying strategies for applicat ions, including algorithmic trading, market aggregation, smart order routing, market surveillance and monitoring, and risk management; Progress Savvion BusinessManager, a business process management software; and Fuse products that provide customers with access to professional open source integration and messaging software. In addition, it offers Progress DataDirect Connect products, which provide data connectivity components; Progress DataDirect Shadow to provide foundation architecture for standards-based mainframe integration; and Progress Data Services product set that offers data integration for distributed applications. Further, the company provides maintenance, consulting, training, and customer support services. Progress Software Corporation sells its products to independent software vendors, original equipment manufacturers, and system integrators through direct sales force and independent distributors. The company was founded in 1981 and is based in Bedford, Massac husetts.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By John Kell and Lauren Pollock var popups = dojo.query(".socialByline .popC"); ]

  Progress Software Corp.(PRGS) trimmed its expectations for the fiscal first quarter, as the business-software provider said results were hurt by lower license sales. Shares dropped 12% to $22.27 premarket.

Best Cheap Companies For 2014: Emerson Electric Company(EMR)

Emerson Electric Co. operates as a diversified manufacturing and technology company. The company engages in appliance solutions, climate technologies, industrial automation, motor technology, network power, process management, professional tools, and storage solutions businesses. Its appliance solutions business provides appliance controls, appliance motors, heating products, and white-rodgers; climate technology business provides heating, ventilation, air conditioning, and refrigeration (HVACR) solutions for residential, industrial, and commercial applications; and industrial automation business offers bearings and power transmission products, electrical power generation products, electric motors, variable speed drives and servos, electrical products, material joining solutions, fluid automation products, and wind turbine systems. The company?s motor technology business provides appliance motors, HVACR motors, DC motors, fractional horsepower motors, integral horsepower a nd larger motors, and drives; network power business provides power, precision cooling, connectivity, and embedded solutions; and process management business provides various wireless related products from self-organizing field networks to wireless asset and people tracking. Its professional tools business offers pipe working and threading equipment, pressing technology, utility locating and visual diagnostics systems, drain maintenance tools, power tools, air tools, general purpose hand tools, wet/dry vacs, job site storage equipment, truck tool boxes and equipment, and van storage equipment; and storage solutions business provides shelving and storage products for residential, commercial, and foodservice needs, as well as offers specialized carts, mobile computer workstations, and cabinet fixtures. The company was founded in 1890 and is headquartered in St. Louis, Missouri.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Dan Caplinger]

  Honeywell is a much more broadly diversified company than many investors give it credit for, with its automation and control systems business earning the most revenue of its four main divisions. As part of a coalition with companies including Emerson Electric (NYSE: EMR  ) , Praxair, and General Dynamics, Honeywell will participate on a $10 million contract from the Department of Energy to further clean-energy manufacturing. That contract is obviously small, but the prospects of clean-energy industry are much larger, and the project should help Honeywell gain valuable expertise in the area that it can put to more profitable use going forward.

• [By Muhammad Bazil]

  Though GE Capital has been a huge source of revenue for the parent company, its earnings aren�� always seen in the light of income from industrial activities leading to how it has been cheaply perceived among its peers. For example, among GE�� peers in the industrial sector like Honeywell International (HON), United Technologies (UTX), Illinois Tool Works (ITW) and Emerson Electric (EMR), only Illinois Tool Works is cheaper than GE, but it is miles apart in growth potential when compared with GE. So, GE stock trades at a huge discount relative to all of its industrial peers except ITW which is rather odd all because of GE Capital. Though GE Capital has been contributing about 30% of GE�� earnings and, hence, a good percentage of its earnings per share (EPS), shedding GE Capital is the only way to make the industrial segments of GE to strive for better growth in the near future to make up for the original earnings growth of GE facilitated by GE Capital.

• [By David Sterman]

  We can glean a few clear trends from these share buybackers:

  The majority of these plans are simply new plans to replace old plans that have now been completed, meaning these companies buy back their shares on a regular basis. Many of these stocks are valued right near the market multiple of 15 to 16 times projected earnings. Many of these stocks offer up a decent dividend as well, boosting their total cash return to shareholders. Most of these buyback programs represent a meaningful amount of the current share count. (Both VMWare's (NYSE: VMW) and Emerson Electric's (NYSE: EMR) buyback programs are not really meaningful as they are only likely large enough to offset stock option grants). Most of these stocks are near their 52-week highs, extending the theme of the current era that companies no longer wait for their stock to fall out of bed before buying back stock. Nor do any of these stocks trade below tangible book value, which also had historically served as a key litmus test of buyback efficacy. 

  Still, the longer-term buyback programs for some of these firms have surely been impressive. Take toy maker Hasbro (NYSE: HAS) as an example. The company's new $500 million share buyback (which would reduce the share count by 11% at current prices) is reasonably impressive -- until you look at what Hasbro has already been doing for nearly a decade.

Best Cheap Companies For 2014: CVS Corporation(CVS)

CVS Caremark Corporation operates as a pharmacy services company in the United States. The company?s Pharmacy Services segment provides a range of pharmacy benefit management services, including mail order pharmacy services, specialty pharmacy services, plan design and administration, formulary management, and claims processing; and drug benefits to eligible beneficiaries under the Federal Government?s Medicare Part D program. This segment primarily serves employers, insurance companies, unions, government employee groups, managed care organizations and other sponsors of health benefit plans, and individuals. As of December 31, 2010, it operated 44 retail specialty pharmacy stores, 18 specialty mail order pharmacies, and 4 mail service pharmacies located in 25 states, Puerto Rico, and the District of Columbia. This segment operates business under the CVS Caremark Pharmacy Services, Caremark, CVS Caremark, CarePlus CVS/pharmacy, CarePlus, RxAmerica, Accordant, and TheraCom names. The company?s Retail Pharmacy segment sells prescription drugs, over-the-counter drugs, beauty products and cosmetics, seasonal merchandise, greeting cards, and convenience foods through its pharmacy retail stores and online, as well as offers film and photo finishing, and health care services. This segment operated 7,182 retail drugstores located in 41 states, Puerto Rico, and the District of Columbia; and 560 retail health care clinics in 26 states and the District of Columbia under the MinuteClinic name. It has a strategic alliance with Alere, L.L.C. for the management of disease management program offerings that cover chronic diseases, such as asthma, diabetes, congestive heart failure, and coronary artery disease. CVS Caremark Corporation was founded in 1892 and is based in Woonsocket, Rhode Island.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Adam Levine-Weinberg]

  Rite Aid also faces particular challenges as the smallest of the three major pharmacy chains. Walgreen and CVS Caremark (NYSE: CVS  ) already offer much broader pharmacy networks than Rite Aid and have ample capital to expand onto Rite Aid's turf, whereas Rite Aid is shrinking. This process could lead to a growing cost gap that would hurt Rite Aid's long-term competitiveness.

• [By Dan Caplinger]

  Rite Aid (NYSE: RAD  ) will release its quarterly report on Thursday, and investors who bucked the popular consensus that the drugstore chain was doomed to failure have reaped the rewards this year, with shares rising nearly sixfold from this time a year ago. But the question remains whether Rite Aid can truly pose a long-term challenge to CVS Caremark (NYSE: CVS  ) and Walgreen (NYSE: WAG  ) , especially with the extensive debt that Rite Aid still has to address.

• [By WALLSTCHEATSHEET]

  CVS Caremark provides valuable health care and pharmacy products and services to many consumers in the United States. The stock has been on a powerful move higher but is now digesting gains from a recent run. Over the last four quarters, earnings and revenue figures have increased for the company, but investors seem to have had mixed feelings about the reports. Relative to its peers and sector, CVS Caremark has been an average performer year-to-date. Look for CVS Caremark to OUTPERFORM.

• [By Daniela Pylypczak]

  After the closing bell on Monday,�CVS Caremark Corporation (CVS) announced that it will acquire the assets of Navarro Discount Pharmacy.�

  Navarro Discount Pharmacy is based in Miami and is the largest Hispanic-owned drugstore chain in the U.S, with 33 retail locations in the country. Though the financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed, CVS announced that the acquired stores will remain under the Navarro brand.

  Commenting on the acquisition, CVS President Helena Foulkes�noted, “The acquisition of Navarro will strengthen CVS/pharmacy’s position in the Hispanic marketplace, the fastest growing demographic in the U.S., and we are excited to be adding the Navarro Discount Pharmacy brand to the CVS/pharmacy family”

  CVS’s�Dividend

  CVS will pay its next quarterly dividend on August 1 to shareholders of record on July 27. The stock goes ex-dividend on July 17.

  Stock Performance

  DD�stock ended Monday’s trading session�0.51% higher. YTD, the company’s stock is up 9.23%.

  CVS�Dividend Snapshot

  As of Market Close on July 14, 2014

  Click here to see the complete history of CVS�dividends.

Best Cheap Companies For 2014: Ford Motor Credit Company(F)

Ford Motor Company primarily develops, manufactures, distributes, and services vehicles and parts worldwide. It operates in two sectors, Automotive and Financial Services. The Automotive sector offers vehicles primarily under the Ford and Lincoln brand names. This sector markets cars, trucks, and parts through retail dealers in North America, and through distributors and dealers outside of North America. It also sells cars and trucks to dealers for sale to fleet customers, including daily rental car companies, commercial fleet customers, leasing companies, and governments. In addition, this sector provides retail customers with a range of after-sale vehicle services and products in the areas, such as maintenance and light repair, heavy repair, collision repair, vehicle accessories, and extended service contracts under the Ford Service, Lincoln Service, Ford Custom Accessories, Ford Extended Service Plan, and Motorcraft brand names. The Financial Services sector offers vari ous automotive financing products to and through automotive dealers. It offers retail financing, which includes retail installment contracts for new and used vehicles; direct financing leases; wholesale financing products that comprise loans to dealers to finance the purchase of vehicle inventory; loans to dealers to finance working capital, purchase real estate dealership, and/or make improvements to dealership facilities; and other financing products, as well as provides insurance services. Ford Motor Company was founded in 1903 and is based in Dearborn, Michigan.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Rick Aristotle Munarriz]

  Alamy Companies can make brilliant moves, but there are also times when things don't work out quite as planned. From an automaker committing to add thousands of high-paying jobs in the new year to a home craft icon's payroll going the other way, here's a rundown of the week's most interesting moves in the business world. Sysco (SYY) -- Winner Leave it to a food company to eat the competition. Sysco is the country's largest food service company, providing restaurants, schools, and other institutions with their edibles. It's about to get bigger. Sysco kicked off the week by announcing a deal valued at $3.5 billion in cash and stock for its nearest competitor, US Foods. There isn't likely to be a lot of regulatory hassle over the combination. This is a highly fragmented sector, with Sysco commanding just 18 percent of the overall market. It will be 27 percent after completing the deal. Given the nature of the business, there are advantages of being big, and Sysco is about to get substantially bigger at a reasonable price relative to its own valuation. lululemon athletica (LULU) -- Loser Shares of Lululemon stumbled 12 percent on Thursday after the retailer of high-end yoga apparel offered up a gloomy outlook for the holiday quarter. The Canadian chain spooked investors by forecasting flat comparable-store sales for the period. Its profit guidance also fell short of expectations. For a hot growth stock like Lululemon, proving ordinary after years of heady store-level sales growth isn't enough. Ford (F) -- Winner Things have been going well for automakers, and things are about to get even better for Ford. The popular automaker revealed in a presentation on Thursday that it plans to hire 3,000 salaried workers in 2014 -- and we're not talking about low-paying jobs here. Most of these new jobs will be in engineering and product development. Ford is also opening three plants overseas, but the stateside job creation will be significant. Martha Stewart Living Om

• [By Douglas A. McIntyre]

  Ford Motor Co. (NYSE: F) must have a great deal of trouble selling its inventory of 2014 Fusions. It has started to offer among the most aggressive incentive packages in the industry so far this year.

• [By Sue Chang]

  U.S. auto sales totaled 1.23 million units in October, up 12.7% from a year earlier with GM�� (GM) �sales projected to rise 10% to 215,274 vehicles, Edmunds.com said in a recent report. Ford�� (F) �sales are estimated to jump 15.5% to 193,988 units.

• [By Alex Planes]

  Birth of the blue oval
  Ford Motor (NYSE: F  ) was officially created on June 16, 1903. This was almost exactly seven years after Henry Ford first successfully test-drove an automobile he'd built himself. It was not Ford's first effort at building a car company -- two earlier efforts had foundered -- but it would be his last, as the world well knows. Ford Motor was an immediate success and began paying dividends to its private shareholders later that year.