Top 10 Income Companies To Invest In 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 chemical and biofuels manufacturer FutureFuel (NYSE: FF  ) soared 20% on Tuesday after its quarterly results impressed Wall Street.

So what: The stock has rallied in recent months optimism over accelerating growth, and today's strong Q4 results -- net income spiked 327% on revenue growth of 68% -- only reinforce those good vibes. In fact, adjusted operating margin for the quarter clocked in at 22.4% versus just 8% in the year-ago period, suggesting that FutureFuel's competitive position and cost structure are improving as well.

Now what: Don't expect the operating momentum to slow anytime soon. "We are committed to improve and position our company for future growth both organically as well coupled with strategic acquisitions when appropriate," said President Lee Mikles. "We strive to be very shareholder aware with our continued dividend policy paired with an exceptionally strong balance sheet." Of course, with the stock now off about 20% from its 52-week highs, that short-term uncertainty might be providing patient biotech-savvy Fools with a juicy entry point.

Best Prefered Stocks To Own Right Now: Bruker Corporation(BRKR)

Bruker Corporation designs, manufactures, services, and sells proprietary life science and materials research systems worldwide. The company?s Scientific Instruments segment offers advanced instrumentation and automated solutions based on magnetic resonance, mass spectrometry, gas chromatography, X-ray, spark-optical emission spectroscopy, atomic force microscopy, stylus and optical metrology, and infrared and Raman molecular spectroscopy technologies. This segment serves pharmaceutical, biotechnology, and molecular diagnostic companies; academic institutions, medical schools, and other non-profit organizations; clinical microbiology laboratories; government departments and agencies; nanotechnology, semiconductor, chemical, cement, metals, and petroleum companies; and food, beverage, and agricultural analysis companies and laboratories. Its Energy & Supercon Technologies segment provides superconducting materials, including metallic low temperature superconductors for use in magnetic resonance imaging, nuclear magnetic resonance, fusion energy research, and other applications; and ceramic high temperature superconductors primarily for fusion energy research applications, as well as non-superconducting Cuponal materials and wires based on co-extruded copper and aluminum, and non-superconducting high technology tools. Its customers include companies in the medical industry; private and public research and development laboratories in the fields of fundamental and applied sciences, and energy research; academic institutions; and government agencies. This segment is also involved in the development of superconductors and superconducting-enabled devices for applications in power and energy, as well as industrial processing industries. The company markets its products through direct sales force; and distributors, independent sales representatives, and other representatives. Bruker Corporation was founded in 1991 and is headquartered in Billerica, M assachusetts.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Jake L'Ecuyer]

  Bruker (NASDAQ: BRKR) was down, falling 8.85 percent to $18.65 on Q3 results.

  Commodities
  In commodity news, oil traded down 0.93 percent to $95.48, while gold traded down 0.62 percent to $1,315.50.

• [By Charley Blaine]

  Scientific-instrument maker Bruker (NASDAQ: BRKR) was down, falling 6.18 percent to $19.19 on Q3 results.

  Commodities
  In commodity news, oil traded down 1.84 percent to $94.61. It was crude's lowest settlement since June 21. Crude had been up as much as 20.4 percent for the year; that's been trimmed to 3.4 percent. Gold settled down 0.8 percent to $1,313.20.

Top 10 Income Companies To Invest In 2014: Rose Rock Midstream LP (RRMS)

Rose Rock Midstream, L.P., incorporated on August 5, 2011, owns, operates, develops and acquires a diversified portfolio of midstream energy assets. The Company is engaged in the business of crude oil gathering, transportation, storage, distribution and marketing in Colorado, Kansas, Minnesota, Montana, North Dakota, Oklahoma and Texas. It serves areas that are through its exposure to the Bakken Shale in North Dakota and Montana, the Denver-Julesburg Basin (DJ Basin) and the Niobrara Shale in the Rocky Mountain region, and the Granite Wash and the Mississippi Lime Play in the Mid-Continent region. The Company�� operations are conducted through, and the Company�� operating assets are owned by, its wholly-owned subsidiary, Rose Rock Midstream Operating, LLC, and its subsidiaries.

Cushing Storage

The Company owns and operates 28 crude oil storage tanks in Cushing with an aggregate storage capacity of approximately 7.0 million barrels and an additional 600,000 barrels of storage. The Company�� storage terminal has a combined capacity to deliver 480,000 barrels of crude oil per day, and has inbound connections with the White Cliffs Pipeline from Platteville, Colorado, the Great Salt Plains Pipeline, the Cimarron Pipeline from Boyer, Kansas, its Kansas and Oklahoma gathering system and two-way interconnections with all of the other storage terminals in Cushing.

Kansas and Oklahoma System

The Company owns and operates an approximately 640-mile crude oil gathering and transportation pipeline system and over 660,000 barrels of associated storage in Kansas and northern Oklahoma. This system gathers crude oil from throughout the region and delivers it to third-party pipelines and refineries and its Cushing terminal. During the years ended December 31, 2012, the Company�� transported an average of approximately 52,000 and 36,000 barrels per day, respectively, from multiple receipt points. The system has pipeline diameters ranging from 4 to 12 inches and! has 25 pump stations. This system also includes 18 truck unloading stations.

Bakken Shale Operations

The Company owns and operates a crude oil gathering, storage, transportation and marketing business in the Bakken Shale area in western North Dakota and eastern Montana. Using its fleet of trucks and two truck unloading facilities, the Company purchase crude oil at the wellhead, transport it through its trucks and third-party pipelines, including the Enbridge North Dakota System, and market it to customers. The Company owns tanks in Trenton and Stanley, North Dakota, with an aggregate storage capacity of 61,800 barrels that connect into the Enbridge North Dakota System. During the year ended December 31, 2012, the Company handled and marketed an average of approximately 7,100 barrels per day.

Platteville Facility

The Company owns and operates a modern, sixteen-lane crude oil truck unloading facility in Platteville, Colorado, which connects to the origination point of the White Cliffs Pipeline. Much of the crude oil production from the DJ Basin and the nearby Niobrara Shale must initially be transported by truck due to a shortage of gathering capacity. Throughput at the facility averaged 43,500 and 32,400 barrels per day for the years ended December 31, 2012. The facility includes 230,000 barrels of crude oil storage capacity. The Platteville facility also allows customer pipeline gathering systems to connect to the origination point of the White Cliffs Pipeline.

The Company competes with Enbridge Energy Partners, L.P., Magellan Midstream Partners, L.P., Plains All American Pipeline, L.P., Blueknight Energy Partners, L.P., Enterprise Products Partners L.P, MV Purchasing, LLC, Plains All American Pipeline, L.P., National Cooperative Refinery Association, Plains All American Pipeline, L.P. and Eighty Eight Oil LLC.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Robert Rapier]

  Rose Rock Midstream (NYSE: RRMS) isn’t a name we have discussed much here. RRMS is an MLP that owns oil-gathering, storage and transportation assets in Colorado, Kansas, Montana, North Dakota, Oklahoma and Texas. The MLP was formed by midstream energy giant SemGroup (NYSE: SEMG), which acts as the general partner. RRMS had its IPO in December 2011 with an initial EV of $1.2 billion and a minimum yield of 4.7 percent.

Top 10 Income Companies To Invest In 2014: Orexigen Therapeutics Inc.(OREX)

Orexigen Therapeutics, Inc., a development stage company, focuses on the development of pharmaceutical product candidates for the treatment of obesity. Its lead combination product candidates include Contrave, which has completed phase III clinical trials; and Empatic that has completed phase II clinical trials. Contrave is a combination of two drugs, bupropion and naltrexone, in a sustained release formulation (SR). Bupropion is an antidepressant and smoking cessation medication; and naltrexone is a treatment for alcohol and opioid addiction. The company?s Empatic product candidate is a combination of bupropion SR and zonisamide SR. Zonisamide is for the adjunctive treatment of partial seizures, a form of epilepsy. The company has a collaboration agreement with Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited to develop and commercialize Contrave. Orexigen Therapeutics, Inc. was founded in 2002 and is based in La Jolla, California.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Brian Orelli]

  VIVUS' direct competitors in the obesity space both have large partners. Arena Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: ARNA  ) secured a marketing deal with Eisai to market Belviq, and Orexigen (NASDAQ: OREX  ) will have help from Takeda once its obesity drug, Contrave, is approved.

• [By Keith Speights]

  Fast-forward to 2013. Many investors are excited about the prospects for a new weight-loss drug on the market from Arena Pharmaceuticals� (NASDAQ: ARNA  ) . Many are disappointed by the sluggish start for VIVUS' (NASDAQ: VVUS  ) Qsymia. And some are hopeful for potential drugs on the way from Orexigen Therapeutics (NASDAQ: OREX  ) .

• [By Maxx Chatsko]

  Unfortunately, doctors have not been knocking down the doors to prescribe Qsymia, and I foresee a similar slow start for Belviq when it launches this June. This wasn't unexpected for the new treatments, but over time the prospects should brighten. Market research performed by Orexigen (NASDAQ: OREX  ) suggests that obesity prescriptions could grow 300% to 400% in the next five years from just 7.8 million in 2012. Given the obesity market's ability to support multiple blockbusters, investors may be wondering what other weight-loss therapies are being developed elsewhere in the industry. Here are three compounds in the pipeline that could become the future of the fight against obesity. �

Top 10 Income Companies To Invest In 2014: Star Bulk Carriers Corp.(SBLK)

Star Bulk Carriers Corp. operates as a shipping company providing seaborne transportation solutions in the dry bulk sector worldwide. Its vessels transport major bulks, which include iron ore, coal, and grain; and minor bulks, such as bauxite, fertilizers, and steel products. The company has an operating fleet of 15 dry bulk carriers consisting of 7 Capesize and 8 Supramax dry bulk vessels with a combined cargo carrying capacity of 1,625,945 deadweight tons. The company was incorporated in 2006 and is based in Athens, Greece.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By James E. Brumley]

  It's certainly no Safe Bulkers, Inc. (NYSE:SB) or Star Bulk Carriers Corp. (NASDAQ:SBLK), in terms or market cap or revenue. In fact, even with the drybulk shipping industry it's a somewhat obscure name. Yet, FreeSeas Inc. (NASDAQ:FREE) may well be the stock with the most near-term potential upside, now that it's gotten over a key technical hump.

• [By Igor Greenwald]

  Last month, Oaktree Capital (OAK), managed by another distressed investing icon, Howard Marks, disclosed a huge 21.9% stake in Star Bulk Carriers (SBLK).

• [By James E. Brumley]

  I'll warn you now that if you're a fan or shareholder of Star Bulk Carriers Corp. (NASDAQ:SBLK), then you're not going to like what you're about to read. Before you fly off into a tirade of "colorful" descriptions of me, however, know that this is neither a judgment call on the company itself, nor a long-term outlook. It's simply a trading-based observation of hints that SBLK has dropped today. Fair enough? OK, let's dig in.

• [By Roberto Pedone]

  Star Bulk Carriers (SBLK) provides worldwide transportation of drybulk commodities through its vessel-owning subsidiaries for a range of customers and minor bulk cargoes including iron ore, coal, grain, cement and fertilizer. This stock closed up 7.9% at $10.58 in Monday's trading session.

  Monday's Volume: 243,000
  
  Three-Month Average Volume: 64,367
  
  Volume % Change: 228%

  From a technical perspective, SBLK jumped sharply higher here right above some near-term support at $9.47 with above-average volume. This stock has been uptrending strong for the last two months and change, with shares moving higher from its low of $5.37 to its recent high of $11.53. During that move, shares of SBLK have been consistently making higher lows and higher highs, which is bullish technical price action. That move has now pushed shares of SBLK within range of triggering a near-term breakout trade. That trade will hit if SBLK manages to take out its 52-week high at $11.53 and then once it clears some past resistance at $11.98 with high volume.

  Traders should now look for long-biased trades in SBLK as long as it's trending above near-term support at $9.47 and then once it sustains a move or close above those breakout levels with volume that hits near or above 64,367 shares. If that breakout triggers soon, then SBLK will set up to enter new 52-week-high territory, which is bullish technical price action. Some possible upside targets off that breakout are its next major overhead resistance levels at $14 to $15.

Top 10 Income Companies To Invest In 2014: Cooper Tire & Rubber Company(CTB)

Cooper Tire & Rubber Company, together with its subsidiaries, manufactures and markets replacement tires in North America and internationally. It operates in two segments, North American Tire Operations and International Tire Operations. The North American Tire Operations segment produces and distributes passenger car and light truck tires, as well as tires for racing, medium trucks, and motorcycles to independent tire dealers, wholesale distributors, regional and national retail tire chains, and other large automotive product retail chains. This segment sells its products through three own retail stores. The International Tire Operations segment manufactures and markets passenger car, light truck, motorcycle, light vehicle tires, radial and bias medium truck tires, and racing tires and tire retread material to markets worldwide. The company was founded in 1913 and is based in Findlay, Ohio.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Monica Gerson]

  Breaking news

  Vitran Corporation (NASDAQ: VTNC) announced today that it has entered into a definitive arrangement agreement with TransForce pursuant to which TransForce has agreed to acquire all of the outstanding common shares of Vitran not already owned by TransForce for US$6.50 in cash per share, in accordance with TransForce's prior proposal. To read the full news, click here. ReneSola (NYSE: SOL) today announced it signed a Memorandum of Intent (MOI) to sell three utility-scale projects in Western China, with a total capacity of 60MW, to Jiangsu Akcome Solar Science & Technology Co on December 30, 2013. To read the full news, click here. Cooper Tire & Rubber Company (NYSE: CTB) today announced it has terminated the merger agreement with Apollo Tyres (NSE:ApolloTYRE). To read the full news, click here. RedHill Biopharma (NASDAQ: RDHL) today announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement with leading healthcare investor OrbiMed Israel Partners Limited Partnership, an affiliate of OrbiMed Advisors LLC, for the sale of RedHill's American Depository Shares and warrants in a private placement transactionor a total sum of $6.0 million. To read the full news, click here.

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Top 10 Income Companies To Invest In 2014: Rovi Corporation(ROVI)

Rovi Corporation provides digital entertainment technology solutions for the discovery and management of entertainment content. It offers interactive program guides; embedded licensing technologies, such as recommendations and search capability; media recognition technologies; licensing of the company?s database of descriptive information about television, movie, music, books, and game content; and analog content protection technologies and services. The company?s interactive program guides technology is an interactive listing of television or video program information that enables viewers to navigate through, sort, select, and schedule video programming for viewing and recording. The company also provides video delivery solutions, such as compression-decompression technology (codec) to enable distribution of content across the Internet and through recordable media in physical or streamed forms; and media manager, a personal computer application enabling consumers to man age personal media files, including music, photos, and video files. In addition, it offers digital copy solution for consumer electronics devices and PC software applications; the Rovi Entertainment Store video delivery solutions; content authoring solutions; and advertising solutions. Rovi Corporation primarily serves companies in the consumer electronics, cable and satellite, entertainment, and online distribution markets. The company was formerly known as Macrovision Solutions Corporation and changed its name to Rovi Corporation in July 2009. Rovi Corporation was founded in 1983 and is headquartered in Santa Clara, California.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Alex Planes]

  What: Shares of Rovi (NASDAQ: ROVI  ) have lost nearly 12% today as a result of the company's disappointing earnings report. Both top and bottom lines missed estimates, and the company is now contemplating divestitures to keep itself afloat.

Top 10 Income Companies To Invest In 2014: Multimedia Games Holding Company Inc.(MGAM)

Multimedia Games Holding Company, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, engages in the design, manufacture, distribution, and maintenance of gaming machines, video lottery terminals, and associated systems and equipment. The company provides a range of networked gaming systems that control and operate Class II gaming machines, video lottery terminals, and bingo terminals at Native American and commercial gaming facilities. It offers various classic 3-reel and 5-reel mechanical reel games, which provide players with a slot gaming experience; Side Action series of slot games; Maximum Lockdown, a hybrid mechanical reel game; Treasure Top series, a range of 3-reel mechanical games that includes LED lights and a video spinning wheel; TournEvent, a slot tournament system, which allow operators to switch from in-revenue gaming to out-of-revenue tournaments; and High Rise Games. The company also offers back-office accounting and slot management systems that are used to manage the floor operations; and server-based centrally-linked player terminals, which are placed and sold in Class II, video lottery terminal, and bingo settings, as well as standalone player terminals that are placed and sold in Class III settings. It provides its gaming systems to Native American and commercial casino operators in North America; domestic and selected international lottery operators; and charity and commercial bingo gaming facility operators. The company was formerly known as Multimedia Games, Inc and changed its name to Multimedia Games Holding Company, Inc. in April 2011. Multimedia Games Holding Company, Inc. was founded in 1991 and is based in Austin, Texas.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Brian Pacampara]

  What: Shares of gaming machine manufacturer Multimedia Games (NASDAQ: MGAM  ) surged 19% today after its quarterly results and guidance easily topped Wall Street expectations.