5 Best Information Technology Stocks To Watch For 2014

The economy is not yet out of woods despite a raft of measures taken by the authorities. Investors then prefer to sit on cash, unable to find an attractive avenue for earning good returns. However, a three-pronged approach based on better monsoon, the rupee fall against US dollar and an impending recovery could throw up fresh opportunities to invest.

Monsoon, the rupee fall and telecom

"The equity market is now skewed," Prasad Koparkar, senior director, Industry & Customised Research at Crisil, the domestic arm of global rating agency S&P; told moneycontrol.com on the sidelines of an event organised by Kotak Mahindra Bank and Crisil Research on Tuesday.

"Investors are ready to pay higher premium for quality stocks as uncertainties continue. A better-than-expected monsoon will drive rural consumption while a depreciating rupee would bless export oriented sectors like information technology. Thirdly, a lot of weeding out of unproductive customers has made telecom an attractive bet," he said.

Best Specialty Retail Stocks To Own Right Now: Triangle Petroleum Corporation (TPLM)

Triangle Petroleum Corporation engages in the acquisition, exploration, development, and production of unconventional shale oil and natural gas resources in the Bakken Shale and Three Forks formations in the Williston Basin of North Dakota and Montana. As of January 31, 2013, the company held leasehold interests in approximately 86,000 net acres in McKenzie and Williams Counties of North Dakota, and Roosevelt and Sheridan Counties of Montana. It also holds an 87% working interest in approximately 412,924 net acres of oil and natural gas leases in the Windsor Sub-Basin of the Maritimes Basin located in Nova Scotia, Canada. In addition, the company offers hydraulic pressure pumping and complementary well completion services to oil and natural gas exploration and production companies in the Williston Basin of North Dakota and Montana. The company was formerly known as Peloton Resources Inc. and changed its name to Triangle Petroleum Corporation in May 2005. Triangle Petroleum Corporation was incorporated in 2003 and is headquartered in Denver, Colorado.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Tyler Crowe]

  Despite the fact that Kodiak Oil & Gas (NYSE: KOG  ) has decided to be acquired by Whiting Petroleum (NYSE: WLL  ) for slightly less than market value for similar deals recently, Wall Street seems to love the transaction. Both Kodiak and Whiting have seen shares climb by 10.1% and 10.4%, respectively, following the announcement, which suggests there might have been something bigger to the deal. Let's take a look at what has changed recently for Kodiak and how that could impact other smaller players in the Bakken such as Oasis Petroleum (NYSE: OAS  ) and Triangle Petroleum (NYSEMKT: TPLM  ) .

5 Best Information Technology Stocks To Watch For 2014: TRW Automotive Holdings Corporation(TRW)

TRW Automotive Holdings Corp., together with its subsidiaries, designs, manufactures, and sells automotive systems, modules, and components for automotive original equipment manufacturers and related after-markets. It operates in four segments: Chassis Systems, Occupant Safety Systems, Electronics, and Automotive Components. The Chassis Systems segment offers product lines relating to steering gears and systems, foundation brakes, modules, brake controls, and linkage and suspension. The Occupant Safety Systems segment provides airbags, seat belts, steering wheels, and occupant restraint systems. The Electronics segment offers various products comprising safety electronics, radio frequency electronics, chassis electronics, powertrain electronics, and driver assist systems. The Automotive Components provides body controls, engine valves, and engineered fasteners and components. The company offers its products for passenger cars, light trucks, and commercial vehicles worldwid e. TRW Automotive Holdings Corp. was founded in 1904 and is based in Livonia, Michigan.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Patricio Kehoe]

  Automobile manufacturers have been performing well as of late, largely due to increasing sales pushed by a recovering U.S. economy and growing emerging markets. Auto parts suppliers, such as TRW Automotive Holdings Corp (TRW) and Johnson Controls Inc. (JCI), are bound to benefit largely from rising sales, and thus present themselves as interesting investment opportunities. However, due to their focus on different industry segments, and their current stock valuation, investing in only one of these companies makes sense.
  
  Safety Sells

• [By guruek]

  
  TRW Automotive Holdings Corp (TRW): Director Neil P. Simpkins Sold 10,273,062 Shares
  
  Director of TRW Automotive Holdings Corp (TRW) Neil P. Simpkins sold 10,273,062 shares on 08/05/2013 at an average price of $71.34.

• [By Ben Levisohn]

  Cooper Tire & Rubber (CTB) has gained 1% to $24.86 today, but its trading more on whether investors expect its acquisition by Apollo Tyres to be completed. Car-part companies, however, are also exhibiting weakness today. TRW Automotive (TRW) has fallen 0.8% to $77.91, Lear (LEA) has dipped 0.4% to $74.78 and American Axel and Manufacturing (AXL) is off 0.5% to $18.99.

5 Best Information Technology Stocks To Watch For 2014: Euro/Forint(GY)

GenCorp Inc. engages in the manufacture and sale of aerospace and defense products and systems in the United States. The company operates in two segments, Aerospace and Defense, and Real Estate. The Aerospace and Defense segment offers defense system products, including liquid, solid, and air-breathing propulsion systems and components for applications in missile defense systems, maneuvering propulsion systems, precision war-fighting systems, and specialty metal products, as well as for use in strategic, tactical, and precision strike missiles. This segment also provides composite and metallic aerospace structural components, and warhead and armament systems for precision tactical and long range weapon applications. In addition, it provides liquid, solid, and electric propulsion systems and components for space systems, such as expendable and reusable launch vehicles, transatmospheric vehicles, manned and unmanned spacecraft, separation and maneuvering systems, upper stage engines, satellites, solid boosters, and integrated propulsion subsystems. This segment serves military, civil, and commercial space customers; Department of Defense; National Aeronautics and Space Administration; aerospace, defense, and commercial prime contractors; and various agencies of the United States government. The Real Estate segment engages in the re-zoning, entitlement, sale, and leasing of the company?s excess real estate assets; and owns approximately 12,200 acres of land in the Sacramento metropolitan area. GenCorp Inc. was founded in 1915 and is headquartered in Rancho Cordova, California.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Jon C. Ogg]

  Short sellers are an interesting lot. They may be betting against the market or against a specific stock, but they are a necessary and useful aspect required for most markets. GenCorp Inc. (NYSE: GY) is a stock that 24/7 Wall St. recently featured as one of nine stocks that could double in 2014. This comes with many risks and caveats, and it also is in direct competition with a massive number of short sellers.

• [By Jake L'Ecuyer]

  Equities Trading DOWN
  Shares of GenCorp (NYSE: GY) were down 5.16 percent to $17.64 after the company reported Q1 results. GenCorp reported a Q1 loss of $0.03 per share.

• [By Jake L'Ecuyer]

  Equities Trading DOWN
  Shares of GenCorp (NYSE: GY) were down 3.97 percent to $17.86 after the company reported Q1 results. GenCorp reported a Q1 loss of $0.03 per share.

• [By Rich Smith]

  On Monday, the GenCorp (NYSE: GY  ) subsidiary announced that it has won a contract from the U.S. Air Force Nuclear Weapons Center Propulsion Applications Program to demonstrate a new Medium Class Stage III motor that could be used to refurbish America's aging arsenal of Minuteman III Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles.

5 Best Information Technology Stocks To Watch For 2014: West Pharmaceutical Services Inc.(WST)

West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. manufactures and sells components and systems for injectable drug delivery and plastic packaging, and delivery system components for the pharmaceutical, healthcare, and consumer products industries. The company?s Packaging Systems segment provides packaging components and systems used in injectable drug delivery. This segment offers elastomeric stoppers and discs, elastomeric plungers, needle shields, tip caps, aluminum seals and removable plastic buttons, elastomeric components, flashback bulbs and sleeve stoppers, elastomer and co-molded elastomer/plastic components, non-filled syringe components, and dropper bulbs, as well as pharmaceutical containers, closures, and dispensers. This segment also provides laboratory and other services comprising extractables and leachables testing, package/container testing, method development/validation, stability testing, process development, and problem resolution. Its Delivery Systems segment offer s healthcare devices, such as ready-to-use prefilled syringe systems and sterile vials. This segment also offers sterile devices and electronic patch injector systems; passive safety needle systems, disposable auto-injector systems, and safety systems for prefilled syringes; and contract manufacturing services for personal care and consumer products, including infant nurser assemblies, closures for beverage containers, and child-resistant and tamper-evident closures and dispensers. In addition, this segment engages in contract manufacturing and assembling injection molded components and devices for surgical, ophthalmic, diagnostic, and drug delivery systems. The company distributes its products through its sales force and distribution network, as well as through contract sales agents and regional distributors in the United States, Germany, France, and other European countries. West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. was founded in 1923 and is headquartered in Lionville, Pennsylva nia.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Seth Jayson]

  Calling all cash flows
  When you are trying to buy the market's best stocks, it's worth checking up on your companies' free cash flow once a quarter or so, to see whether it bears any relationship to the net income in the headlines. That's what we do with this series. Today, we're checking in on West Pharmaceutical Services (NYSE: WST  ) , whose recent revenue and earnings are plotted below.