Hot Gas Utility Companies To Invest In Right Now

In his State of the Union address earlier this year, President Obama called for Congress to raise the federal minimum wage to $9 an hour by 2015, with automatic adjustments upward to reflect increasing costs of living going forward. But with the current level of $7.25 an hour, the increase would amount to an almost 25% jump in the costs that minimum-wage employers have to pay, raising concerns about potential impacts on businesses and on employment among lower-paid workers. Although proponents argue that boosting the minimum wage stimulates overall economic growth by putting more money in the hands of workers, opponents respond that minimum-wage increases result in reduced hours for workers because of the cost pressures they put on employers.

President Obama at his State of the Union address. Source: White House.

One interesting fact in the minimum-wage debate is that many states already pay more than the federal minimum wage. Let's look at the six states that pay the highest minimum wage, according to figures as of the beginning of 2013 from the Department of Labor and more recent updates from various legislative sources.

Top 10 Rising Stocks To Watch For 2015: Cray Inc(CRAY)

Cray Inc. engages in the design, development, manufacture, marketing, and service of high-performance computing (HPC) systems, known as supercomputers. Its product line includes Cray XE6 system, a massively parallel processing system; Cray XE6m supercomputer that incorporates its Cray Gemini network; Cray XMT supercomputer, a scalable massively multithreaded platform with a shared memory architecture that is suited for tasks, such as pattern matching, complex searches, scenario development, behavioral prediction, anomaly identification, and graph analysis; and Cray CX1 and CX1000 systems that are purpose-built for laboratories and university departments. The company?s products under development comprise Cray XE6 System enhancements; and next generation Cray XMT System. It also offers engineering services related to HPC systems and solutions, such as maintenance support services and technology-led professional services. Cray Inc. provides its products and services to gover nment agencies, academic institutions, and commercial entities in the United States, Canada, Europe, Japan, and the Asia-Pacific. The company was formerly known as Tera Computer Company and changed its name to Cray Inc. in 2000. Cray Inc. was founded in 1987 and is headquartered Seattle, Washington.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Jake L'Ecuyer]

  Equities Trading UP
  Cray (NASDAQ: CRAY) rose on Friday's session, gaining a staggering 36.87 percent to $41.02 after beating on the top and bottom lines, while boosting its fiscal year guidance.

• [By Michael A. Robinson]

  The charting approach we use to find low-priced, fast-moving tech shares, my Real Demand Tracking System, is set up to find stocks like:

  Santarus Inc. (Nasdaq: SNTS): Shares of this small-cap biotech firm have gained 835% over the past five years. Cray Inc. (Nasdaq: CRAY): This small-cap leader in high-performance computing gave shareholders a five-year return of 855%. Align Technology Inc. (Nasdaq: ALGN): Over the past five years, share of this mid-cap medical device firm are up some 720%.

  As impressive as these gains are, the opportunity I'm closely watching today could be among the greatest we'll see in our lifetimes.

• [By Jonathan Fishman]

  2. Their new product, the ClusterStor, will grow at the rate of 24%-53% a year according to the expectations of Cray (CRAY), a reseller of the ClusterStor.

• [By Lisa Levin]

  Cray (NASDAQ: CRAY) surged 14.40% to $31.07. The volume of Cray shares traded was 649% higher than normal. Cray affirmed its revenue outlook for 2013 and 2014.

Hot Gas Utility Companies To Invest In Right Now: Materion Corporation (MTRN)

Materion Corporation, a materials solutions company, engages in the production and supply of high-performance engineered materials in the United States and internationally. The company offers high performance materials solutions for large area coatings, alternative energy, and thin film applications; and specialty inorganic chemicals for semiconductors, LED lighting, and energy storage applications. It also provides precision thin film coatings and optical filters for manufacturers in the defense, commercial, space, science, astronomy, and thermal imaging industries; beryllium-based metals and metal matrix composites for commercial, research, and engineering applications; and copper, copper beryllium, and spinodal alloy products for end-use products in the aerospace, automotive, computers, telecommunications, manufacturing equipment, mobile equipment, medical products, oil and gas, alternative energy, and plastic tooling markets. In addition, the company offers high perfor mance engineered ceramics; beryllium X-ray window and ultra high vacuum products; electron beam welding, vacuum furnace brazing, and waterjet cutting services, as well as engineering support services; and beryllium products, such as speaker domes and microphone transducers. Further, Materion Corporation provides precision-coated materials; thin film deposition materials, electronic packaging products, and specialty materials for the semiconductor, photonics, data storage, wireless, military, and medical markets; and precision parts cleaning, precious metals refining, and recycling services. Additionally, it engages in beryllium mining and milling business; and offers engineered beryllium materials and specialty strip metal products. The company was formerly known as Brush Engineered Materials Inc. and changed its name to Materion Corporation on March 8, 2011. Materion Corporation was founded in 1931 and is headquartered in Mayfield Heights, Ohio.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Seth Jayson]

  Margins matter. The more Materion (NYSE: MTRN  ) keeps of each buck it earns in revenue, the more money it has to invest in growth, fund new strategic plans, or (gasp!) distribute to shareholders. Healthy margins often separate pretenders from the best stocks in the market. That's why we check up on margins at least once a quarter in this series. I'm looking for the absolute numbers, so I can compare them to current and potential competitors, and any trend that may tell me how strong Materion's competitive position could be.

Hot Gas Utility Companies To Invest In Right Now: Rambus Inc.(RMBS)

Rambus Inc. engages in the creation, design, development, and licensing of patented innovations, technologies, and architectures to digital electronics products and systems. Its patented innovations include Dual Edge Clocking, which is designed to allow data to be sent on the clock pulse; Variable Burst Length that improves data transfer efficiency by allowing varying amounts of data to be sent per a memory read or write request in dynamic random access memory (DRAM) and flash memory; and FlexPhase technology, which synchronizes data output and compensates for circuit timing errors. The company also offers Channel Equalization to improve signal integrity and system margins in high speed parallel and serial link channels; Module Threading, which improves the power efficiency of a memory module by applying parallelism to module data accesses; and MicroLens optical design technology, which provides optimum utilization of high-brightness light-emitting diodes (LED) in edge-lit lighting applications. In addition, it licenses its architectures and industry-standard solutions for use in digital electronics products and systems, including XDR Memory Architecture enabling the production of DRAM; XDR2 Memory Architecture that incorporates DRAM micro-threading for graphics intensive applications, such as gaming and digital video; Mobile XDR Memory Architecture, which enables applications, such as HD video recording and 3D gaming on battery powered mobile devices; RDRAM Memory used in play stations, Intel-based personal computers, televisions, and routers; and FlexIO Processor Bus, a high speed chip-to-chip interface. Further, the company offers industry-standard chip interface solutions, including DDRx; digital logic controllers for peripheral component interconnect express and other industry standard interfaces; and custom solutions for displays, LED backlights, and general lighting. Rambus Inc. was founded in 1990 and is headquartered in Sunnyvale, Ca lifornia.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Rich Bieglmeier]

  One-time Wall Street darling and high-flyer Rambus Inc. (NASDAQ:RMBS) is bucking an ugly, bloody tape. The memory-chip make is up more than 4% as we type thanks to an upgrade from Citi.

Hot Gas Utility Companies To Invest In Right Now: Cape Bancorp Inc.(CBNJ)

Cape Bancorp, Inc. operates as the holding company for the Cape Bank that provides a line of business and personal banking products to retail customers and small and mid-sized businesses primarily in Cape May and Atlantic Counties, New Jersey. Its deposit products include non-interest-bearing demand deposits, such as checking accounts; interest-bearing demand accounts, including NOW and money market accounts; savings accounts; and certificates of deposit. The company?s loan products portfolio comprises commercial mortgage loans, one-to-four family residential mortgage loans, commercial business loans, construction loans, home equity loans and lines of credit, and other consumer loans. It operates through its 16 full service branch offices located in Atlantic and Cape May counties in southern New Jersey; and a loan production office in Burlington County. The company was founded in 1923 and is based in Cape May Court House, New Jersey.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Tim Melvin]

  Right now I know that silver miners like Pan American Silver (PAAS) and Coeur Mining (CDE) are very cheap on an asset basis. I know that oil and gas producers like Swift Energy (SFY) and WPX Energy (WPX) are priced as if no one will ever use the stuff again. I know that small banks like Cape Bancorp (CBNJ) and Essa Bancorp (ESSA) are crazy-cheap — and if the world does not end, those stocks will be a lot higher in a few years.

Hot Gas Utility Companies To Invest In Right Now: TGC Industries Inc.(TGE)

TGC Industries, Inc. provides geophysical services for clients in the oil and gas business in the United States and Canada. It conducts three-D surveys and seismic data acquisition services primarily to onshore oil and natural gas exploration and development companies for use in the onshore drilling and production of oil and natural gas. The company also owns a data bank that contains gravity data and magnetic data from oil and natural gas producing areas located in the United States. It operates 8 seismic crews in the lower 48 states in the United States, as well as 2 crews in Canada. The company was formerly known as Tidelands Geophysical Co., Inc. and changed its name to TGC Industries, Inc. in July 1986. TGC Industries, Inc. was founded in 1967 and is headquartered in Plano, Texas.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Lisa Levin]

  TGC Industries (NASDAQ: TGE) shares reached a new 52-week low of $5.55. TGC Industries is expected to release its Q1 financial results on April 28, 2014.

Hot Gas Utility Companies To Invest In Right Now: WebMD Health Corp (WBMD)

WebMD Health Corp. provides health information services to consumers, physicians and other healthcare professionals, employers, and health plans through its public and private online portals, mobile platforms, and health-focused publications in the United States. The company?s public portals enable consumers to obtain health and wellness information, including information on specific diseases or conditions; check symptoms; locate physicians; store individual healthcare information; receive periodic e-newsletters on topics of individual interest; and participate in online communities with peers and experts. Its public portals for physicians and healthcare professionals provide access to clinical reference sources; stay abreast of the latest clinical information; learn about new treatment options; earn continuing medical education credit; and communicate with peers. The company also provides mobile health information applications for use by consumers and physicians. In addit ion, WebMD Health Corp. offers e-detailing promotion and physician recruitment services, content syndication and distribution, and information services, as well as print services, including the advertisements in WebMD the Magazine, a consumer magazine distributed to physician office waiting rooms. The public portals? sponsors and advertisers include pharmaceutical, biotechnology, medical device, and consumer products companies. The company?s private portals enable employers and health plans to provide their employees and members with access to personalized health and benefit information and decision support technology that helps them to make more informed benefit, treatment, and provider decisions. Further, it offers telephonic health coaching services on a per participant basis across an employee or plan population for clients of its private portals. The company was founded in 1995 and is headquartered in New York, New York.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Keith Speights]

  Turnaround turns heads
  WebMD (NASDAQ: WBMD  ) attracted plenty of investor attention on Friday, with a sneak peek at its second-quarter results. Shares soared 26% on the surprisingly good news from the online health information provider.