Top Quality Companies To Buy For 2014

Coca-Cola Co. (NYSE: KO)�and PepsiCo Inc. (NYSE: PEP)�are the most respected brands in the United States. While Coke has enjoyed this status for six years straight, Pepsi moved up from being the sixth most respected brand in 2012.

24/7 Wall St. reviewed consultancy firm CoreBrand�� recent report on brand reputation. CoreBrand measured the familiarity and favorability of 1,000 companies. Familiarity is based on how widely known the companies are, and favorability is based on how well people think of these companies. The report identified the top 100 brands for familiarity with the lowest favorability scores. Companies such as Delta, Philip Morris and H&R Block are widely known yet not favorably viewed. These are the least respected companies in America.

Click here to see the least respected companies

To earn a high level of respect, explained CoreBrand CEO Jim Gregory, ��onsistency over time is probably the most important thing.��Not surprisingly, many of the most highly regarded companies, including PepsiCo, Coca-Cola, Hershey and Harley Davidson, have made products that are easily identified with the parent company. They also have�done well financially, have had few problems with management, and rarely have�had problems with product or service quality.

Top 10 Net Payout Yield Stocks To Own For 2015: ITT Industries Inc.(ITT)

ITT Corporation designs, manufactures, and sells a range of engineered products, and provides related services worldwide. Its Defense & Information Solutions segment develops tactical communications equipment, electronic warfare and force protection equipment, radar systems, integrated structures equipment, and imaging and sensor equipment, including night vision goggles, as well as weather, location, surveillance, and other related technologies for military and government agencies. It also provides services comprising air traffic management, information and cyber solutions, large-scale systems engineering, and integration and defense technologies; satellite-based imaging payloads for intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance solutions; and high-resolution commercial imaging systems with earth and space science applications, climate and environmental monitoring sensors and systems, and GPS navigation and software applications designed for image and data processing and dissemination. The company?s Fluid Technology segment provides water transport and wastewater treatment systems, pumps and related technologies, and other water and fluid control products with municipal, residential, commercial, and industrial applications. Its Motion & Flow Control segment manufactures shock absorbers and brake friction materials for the transportation industry; switch applications for the industrial and aerospace industries; electrical connectors used in telecommunications, computers, aerospace, medical, and industrial applications; and a range of pumps and tailored products for marine, food and beverage, and general industrial markets. The company was formerly known as ITT Industries, Inc. and changed its name to ITT Corporation in July 2006. ITT Corporation was founded in 1920 and is based in White Plains, New York.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Jeremy Bowman]

  What: Shares of ITT Educational Services (NYSE: ITT  ) were flying higher today, gaining as much 34% after smashing analyst estimates in its quarterly report.

• [By Stephen Simpson, CFA]

  This is a logical deal for SKF on multiple fronts. For starters, Kaydon will meaningfully expand the company's U.S. presence - something it could have done on its own eventually, but certainly not without spending money. With that, there is the possibility of using Kaydon's existing U.S. footprint to sell more SKF products and further trouble rivals like RBC Bearings (ROLL) and ITT (ITT).

• [By Will Ashworth]

  As for the other stocks in the portfolio, you can’t ignore the performance of both Apollo (APO) and ITT Corp. (ITT).

  It’s been a busy year for private equity firm Apollo Global Management, which got the Twinkie back on grocery store shelves in July. Carried interest income more than doubled in the first six months of the year to $1.4 billion.

• [By MONEYMORNING]

  This 85-year-old forest products company operates as a Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT) after being first acquired, then later spun off, by ITT Corp. (NYSE: ITT).

Top Quality Companies To Buy For 2014: Team Inc.(TISI)

Team, Inc. provides specialty maintenance and construction services for maintaining high temperature and high pressure piping systems and vessels that are utilized in heavy industries. It offers inspection and assessment services, such as inspection and evaluation of piping, piping components, and equipment; field heat treating services, including electric resistance and gas-fired combustion; leak repair services comprising on-stream repairs of leaks in pipes, valves, flanges, and other parts of piping systems and related equipment; and fugitive volatile organic chemical emission leak detection services consisting of identification, monitoring, data management, and reporting. The company also provides hot tapping services, such as hot tapping, Line-stop, and Freeze-stop services; field machining services, including the use of portable machining equipment to repair or modify machinery, equipment, vessels, and piping systems, as well as flange facing, pipe cutting, line bori ng, journal turning, drilling, and milling services; and technical bolting services comprising the use of hydraulic or pneumatic equipment with bolt tightening techniques for leak-free connections, plant maintenance, and expansion projects, as well as bolt disassembly and hot bolting services. In addition, it offers field valve repair services consisting of on-site repairs to manual and control valves, and pressure and safety relief valves, as well as specialty valve actuator diagnostics and repair. The company markets its services to companies in a various heavy industries, which include the petrochemical, refining, power, pipeline, steel, pulp and paper, and shipbuilding industries, as well as to municipalities, original equipment manufacturers, distributors, and engineering and construction firms. It operates in the United States, Canada, Europe, and internationally. The company was founded in 1973 and is headquartered in Alvin, 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 Team (NYSE: TISI  ) .

Top Quality Companies To Buy For 2014: Imagination Technologies Group PLC (IGNMF.PK)

Imagination Technologies Group plc is engaged in multimedia and communication technologies. The Company operates in two segments: Technology business and the Pure business. The Company�� Technology business segment is engaged in the development of embedded graphics, video, display and multi-threaded processor and multi-standard broadcast receiver and connectivity technologies for licensing to semiconductor companies for incorporation into silicon devices. The Company�� Pure business segment is engaged in the development and marketing of consumer products to showcase the technologies of the Technology business and to develop markets for such technologies. In March 2012, Toumaz Ltd completed the exchange of Imagination Technologies Group plc's interest in Toumaz Ltd�� Toumaz Microsystems subsidiary. In February 2013, it acquired the operating business and certain patent properties of MIPS Technologies, Inc. Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Ashraf Eassa]

  However, I expect that Intel is at risk of having a significant marketing problem trying to sell a dual core product into a world of quad core phones, even if the dual core part delivers better performance/watt. I further expect that from what is currently known about Bay Trail's GPU (4 EU Gen7 GPU), it is unlikely that -- unless Intel is either using Imagination's (IGNMF.PK) next generation PowerVR 6 or a beefed up Gen7 design for the "Merrifield" SoC -- it will be as competitive with the Snapdragon 800 on the GPU side of things, which could pose as an additional headwind to adoption. I also believe that the Q1 2014 launch curtails any hope that there will be a 14nm smartphone product launched in 2014 (although Mr. Krzanich's comments about "acceleration" could be a source of optimism here), which means that the company's process lead could ultimately prove to be ephemeral in this particular end market. Fortunately, product cycles in this space are short, so it may be okay to have Merrifield be reasonably short lived.

Top Quality Companies To Buy For 2014: Brown(n)

N Brown Group plc operates as an Internet and catalogue home shopping company in the United Kingdom. The company principally offers womenswear, menswear, footwear, household, and electrical products, as well as provides insurance services. It also operates in the Republic of Ireland, Germany, and the United States. The company was founded in 1859 and is based in Manchester, the United Kingdom.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Tom Taulli]

  OK, so what are some of the cloud companies that look attractive and have good long-term prospects? Well, here�� a look:

  Cloud Companies to Buy: NetSuite (N)

  NetSuite (N) is one of the pioneers among cloud companies (it was founded in the late 1990s). Then again, the company has needed lots of time to build mission-critical software for ERP (enterprise resource planning) requirements. While there is competition — such as Workday (WDAY) — it is still fairly limited. And this will likely remain the case because of complexities of the market.

Top Quality Companies To Buy For 2014: ImmunoGen Inc.(IMGN)

ImmunoGen, Inc. engages in the research and development of targeted therapeutics for the treatment of cancer using cancer biology, monoclonal antibodies, and highly potent cell-killing agents. The company develops its products using its Targeted Antibody Payload (TAP) technology. Its product candidates include Trastuzumab emtansine (T-DM1), a Phase III clinical trial product for HER2+ breast cancer; lorvotuzumab mertansine (IMGN901), a Phase I clinical trial product, which targets CD56 found on small-cell lung cancer, Merkel cell carcinoma, multiple myeloma, ovarian cancers, carcinoid tumors, and other cancers of neuroendocrine origin; IMGN529, a pre-investigational new drug stage drug for CD37+ B-cell malignancies, such as non-Hodgkin's lymphoma; and IMGN853, a preclinical stage product for cancers that overexpress folate receptor 1, including ovarian cancer. The company?s earlier-stage compounds in development stage comprise SAR3419, a Phase I clinical trial product for CD19+ B-cell malignancies, including non-Hodgkin's lymphoma; SAR650984, a Phase I clinical trial product for CD38+ hematological malignancies; SAR566658, a phase one clinical trial product for DS6+ solid tumors; and BT-062, a Phase I product for multiple myeloma. It has collaboration agreements with Amgen, Inc.; Bayer Schering Pharma AG; Biogen Idec MA Inc.; Biotest AG; Genentech, Inc.; Novartis Institutes for BioMedical Research, Inc.; and sanofi-aventis U.S. LLC. ImmunoGen, Inc. was founded in 1981 and is headquartered in Waltham, Massachusetts.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Bryan Murphy]

  It may not have blazed a trail into the young, immunology segment of the biotech industry the way Dendreon Corporation (NASDAQ:DNDN) did back in 2010 with the debut of Provenge. It may not have the same immunology pipeline (and company size) that ImmunoGen, Inc. (NASDAQ:IMGN) boasts. One thing is pretty certain about cancer-immunotherapy developer CEL-SCI Corporation (NYSEMKT:CVM) right now, however - its stock may be poised to dole out a much bigger foreseeable-future reward than DNDN or IMGN are.

• [By Sean Williams]

  A moat of competition, but plenty of upside
  However, investors would probably be wise not to get too carried away with yesterday's news given that another therapy -- which I would certainly call revolutionary�-- known as Kadcyla for HER2-positive breast cancer was just approved in February. Kadcyla, developed by Roche�and ImmunoGen (NASDAQ: IMGN  ) piggybacks a toxin on an antibody and, using ImmunoGen's proprietary targeted antibody payload technology, delivers a higher dose of toxin directly to the targeted cancer, which has a signature protein that causes the release of the toxin from the antibody. In late-stage trials, Kadcyla improved PFS by 50% over the placebo to 9.6 months.

• [By Sean Williams]

  A new type of treatment that involves utilizing antibodies to carry toxins also shows plenty of promise. These antibodies work by releasing a toxin once they come into contact with very specific protein signatures released by the targeted cancer cells, and could be the key to targeted cancer treatments. One example is Roche and ImmunoGen's (NASDAQ: IMGN  ) Kadcyla, which was approved by the FDA in February as a second-line treatment for HER2-positive breast cancer. The drug combines the HER2 protein-blocking power of Herceptin and uses ImmunoGen's targeted antibody payload technology to deliver the chemotherapy agent directly to the cancer cells. With minimal healthy tissue death, Kadcyla improved progression-free survival and median overall survival by 3.2 months and 5.8 months, respectively, as compared to another current standard of treatment, which is GlaxoSmithKline's�and Roche's Xeloda.

• [By RichardCox]

  While it is important to seek out well-established companies with a proven product line, it should be remembered that it is still possible to find long-term opportunities in companies that are still in the clinical stage. In these cases, risk can be reduced by identifying those companies with a diversified set of drug innovations. So, when smaller companies are limited in the types of diseases and treatments, there is generally less protection from investment risk. One example of a smaller company with strong product positioning is ImmunoGen (IMGN).

Top Quality Companies To Buy For 2014: National Oxygen Ltd (NOL)

National Oxygen Limited (NOL) is an India-based company, which is a producer and supplier of industrial gases both in liquid and gaseous forms to industries and hospitals. Its products include oxygen, nitrogen and acetylene. The Company operates in two segments: Industrial Gases, which is engaged in the manufacture of industrial gases, and Windmill, which is engaged in the generation of windmill energy. During the fiscal year ended March 31, 2012 (fiscal 2012), the Company produced 51,07,981 cubic meters of oxygen, 52,138 cubic meters of dissolved acetylene, 30,69,610 cubic meters of nitrogen and 26,86,762 kilowatt hours of windmill energy. It has two industrial gas plants in Tamil Nadu and Pondicherry, and one windmill in Maharashtra. During fiscal 2012, NOL had an installed capacity to produce 2,50,00,000 cubic meters of oxygen, 2,00,000 cubic meters of dissolved acetylene and 44,00,000 kilowatt hours of windmill energy. Advisors' Opinion:

• [By John Emerson]

  Another huge benefit which was imbedded in the value of RTEC was the tens of millions of net operating losses (NOL) that the company had accrued as a result of the massive accrual losses it would sustain during the credit crisis. These benefits were not reflected on the balance sheet but they would translate into tens of millions of dollars in income tax savings when the company eventually returned to profitability.