Best Tech Companies To Invest In 2014

David Paul Morris/Bloomberg via Getty ImagesYahoo CEO Marissa Mayer NEW YORK and SAN FRANCISCO -- Three weeks ago, Yahoo chief executive Marissa Mayer strode into a Manhattan hotel and was greeted like a rock star by hundreds of advertising executives who snapped pictures as she sat down for an interview with journalist Charlie Rose. That same audience a year ago would have been grousing that Mayer hadn't done enough to engage Madison Avenue, which is arguably Yahoo's most important constituent since the Internet company derives more than 75 percent of its revenue from ad sales. "I think that Marissa has gotten a bit of a bad rap," said David Cohen, the chief media officer at UM, the global media arm of Interpublic Group. The industry perceived Mayer as not caring about advertising, choosing instead to focus solely on products, Cohen said. Ad agency executives say that over the past six months Mayer and her team have been working hard to change that perception, courting advertisers at key industry events, hosting lunches and attending meetings with agency representatives that include Yahoo executives like Chief Operating Officer Henrique de Castro, Senior Vice President and head of Americas Ned Brody and Chief Marketing Officer Kathy Savitt. The charm offensive has impressed many on Madison Avenue, but getting advertisers to actually spend more on Yahoo's Web properties won't happen overnight, industry experts said. The shift to advertising exchanges, which allow marketers to instantly buy placement for their ads across a broad constellation of websites, has pushed down the prices that online publishers such as Yahoo can charge. That was painfully apparent in the second quarter of this year, when Yahoo's display advertising revenue slid 11 percent due in part to a double-digit decline in ad prices. "Advertisers will become more excited if there's clear evidence that Yahoo is growing again in terms of its users and its engagement," said Mark Mahaney, an analyst at RBC Capital Markets. Since Mayer became CEO, Yahoo's (YHOO) stock has more than doubled, recently reaching a near 8-year high of $35.06. But analysts say the gains are mostly due to aggressive share buybacks and the impending initial public offering of Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba Group, in which Yahoo owns a 24 percent stake. More than a year into Mayer's tenure, Yahoo's core business remains stagnant. Revenue has been flat or down for the past four years and Wall Street doesn't expect the situation to improve when Yahoo reports its third-quarter results on Tuesday. Analysts are expecting third-quarter revenue to decline around 1 percent to $1.08 billion, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S. A Yahoo representative said the company has built a team to specifically focus on agency relationships and has recently realigned its sales force according to industry expertise. Yahoo is "working closely with our advertisers to develop opportunities in a more integrated way across our full suite of media, programmatic, video and mobile properties," Yahoo said in an emailed comment. Mobile Target Yahoo is trying to play catch-up to Facebook (FB), Twitter and Google (GOOG) in the fast-growing mobile advertising business, as consumers increasingly access the Web on smartphones instead of PCs, and flock to social media websites that require novel ad formats. Spending on mobile ads grew 145 percent year over year to $3 billion in the first six months of 2013, according to the Internet Advertising Bureau. Mayer has revamped many of Yahoo's mobile apps to make them more attractive to consumers and advertisers. In May she spent $1.1 billion to acquire Tumblr, a popular blogging and social media website. "There's a promise there but it's not ready for prime time today," said Ritu Trivedi, managing director, digital marketplace at MediaVest, a Publicis media agency, referring to Yahoo's mobile ad efforts. Mayer has said that turning Yahoo's business around will be a multi-year process. She has accelerated the pace of product development, and added workplace perks such as free food and top-of-the-line smartphones for employees. But even as the CEO tries to forge closer ties with advertisers, she has made it clear that Yahoo's users come first. That is a big change from the old Yahoo, which was famous for loading its websites with advertising that critics said were overly intrusive and detrimental to the user experience. For instance, Yahoo's new mobile weather app, which takes basic weather feeds and links them with the Flickr photo-sharing service, has sparked interest from advertisers. The app could be particularly appealing to hotel and retail marketers, said Peter Stein, CEO of Razorfish, a digital marketing agency. So far however, Yahoo has kept the weather app ad-free. "There message has been very direct and on point, they are definitely focused on the consumer," said Ari Bluman, chief digital investment officer in North America for WPP's media buying arm GroupM. Consumers First Some ad experts say Mayer's prioritization of users before advertisers is a smart move that could ultimately pay off by increasing Yahoo's popularity with consumers. But others say it may not go over well on Madison Avenue in the short term. For instance, Yahoo did a major overhaul of its popular sports home page to coincide with the start of the NFL season this year. One advertising agency executive said they found out about the change a week before the launch, and so the agency had to scramble to re-design ads that would fit with the new format. "Our client was very upset," said the executive, who did not want to be identified because the agency works closely with Yahoo. "I have a six-page typed memo about the problems we had with Yahoo and this one client." A Yahoo representative said that the company has "moved faster in the past year than anytime in our recent history" to launch better products and to "evolve" the ads on its websites. "We think this will improve performance for our advertisers over time, and we're working closely with our advertising partners." Still, the overall assessment of Mayer is positive. Tamara Bousquet, senior vice president of media at digital marketing agency DigitasLBi, recalled a dinner she attended in late September with other advertising executives where Yahoo was the topic of conversation. "Every single person around that table thought the company was handled better since Marissa came on board," she said. Company: Oracle Cash compensation: $5.5 million Stock and options: $90.7 million Total compensation 1-year change: 24% Despite his $1 salary, Ellison is not only the highest paid tech CEO this year, but the highest paid of all CEOs.

Best Tech Companies To Invest In 2014: Violin Memory Inc (VMEM)

Violin Memory, Inc., incorporated on March 9, 2005, is pioneering a new class of flash-based storage systems that are designed to bring storage performance in-line with high-speed applications, servers and networks. The Company�� Flash Memory Arrays are specifically designed at each level of the system architecture starting with memory and optimized through the array to leverage the inherent capabilities of flash memory and meet the sustained requirements of business-critical applications, virtualized environments and Big Data solutions in enterprise data centers. The Company�� Velocity Peripheral Component Interconnect Express (PCIe), Flash Memory Cards leverage its persistent memory-based architecture in servers and are optimized for applications that require continuous access to quantities of low latency persistent memory located directly in servers.

The Company�� storage systems are based on a four-layer hardware architecture, which is integrated with its Violin Memory Operating System (vMOS), software stack to optimize the management of flash memory at each level of its system architecture. The Company�� Velocity PCIe Flash Memory Cards leverage its expertise in persistent memory-based storage and controller design, as well as its vMOS software stack, to offer a differentiated architecture in a deployable PCIe form factor.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Jayson Derrick]

  Violin Memory (NASDAQ: VMEM) dove following its third quarter results and guidance that was released last night. The company reported a third quarter EPS loss of $0.63 while the Street was looking for a loss of $0.47. Revenue of $28.3 million fell short of the Street's expectation of $31.7 million. Shares were downgraded by J.P. Morgan, (NYSE: JPM) Deutsche Bank (NYSE: DB) and Pacific Crest. Shares lost 48.33 percent, closing at $3.10.

• [By Steve Symington]

  What: Shares of Violin Memory, (NYSE: VMEM  ) plunged 48% Friday after the high-speed data storage specialist came up well short of analysts' estimates with its first quarterly report as a public company.

• [By Mani]

  Violin Memory, Inc. (NYSE: VMEM) is well positioned to take advantage of the strong secular growth of flash in the enterprise. The combination of its proprietary hardware, a growing software portfolio and resulting industry-leading price/performance should translate into robust growth over a multi-year time frame.

Best Tech Companies To Invest In 2014: Canadian Solar Inc.(CSIQ)

Canadian Solar Inc. engages in the design, development, manufacture, and sale of solar power products in Canada and internationally. The company offers solar cell and solar module products that convert sunlight into electricity for various uses. Its products include a range of standard solar modules for use in a range of residential, commercial, and industrial solar power generation systems. The company also designs and produces specialty solar modules and products consisting of customized modules that its customers incorporate into their products, such as solar-powered bus stop lighting; and specialty products, such as portable solar home systems and solar-powered car battery chargers. In addition, it sells solar system kits, a package consisting of solar modules produced by it and third party supplied components, such as inverters, racking system, and other accessories, as well as implements solar power development projects. The company sells its products under the Canad ian Solar brand name. Canadian Solar Inc. offers its standard solar modules through a direct sales force and sales agents primarily to distributors, system integrators, and original equipment manufacturer customers, as well as to solar projects; and specialty solar modules and products to the automotive, telecommunications, and light-emitting diode lighting sectors. The company was founded in 2001 and is based in Kitchener, Canada.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Travis Hoium]

  In China, Canadian Solar (NASDAQ: CSIQ  ) is doing a better job transitioning to Japan and project development than most, and it would be a much better pick than most. But still, there are risks, and this Fool's choice is to stick with high-quality U.S. companies for which you don't have to depend on government banks for survival.�

• [By Travis Hoium]

  The company's systems backlog has fallen from $9.4 billion�to end 2011 to $8.0 billion after Q1 2013, which isn't a good sign because the company is almost 100% reliant on systems. The high-margin systems that come with projects signed years ago will also likely evaporate as First Solar competes on cost per watt against SunPower (NASDAQ: SPWR  ) , Canadian Solar (NASDAQ: CSIQ  ) , and others. But the biggest challenge is the company's panels. �

Top 10 Energy Companies To Watch In Right Now: AOL Inc (AOL)

AOL Inc. (AOL) is a global Web services company with a range of brands and offerings, and a global audience. The Company�� business spans online content, products and services, which it offers to consumers, publishers and advertisers. Its business operations are focused on AOL Properties and Third Party Network. AOL Properties include its owned and operated content, products and services in the Content, Local, Paid Services and Consumer Applications strategy areas in addition to its AOL Ventures offerings. AOL Properties also include co-branded Websites owned by third parties. It generates advertising revenues from AOL Properties through the sale of display advertising and search and contextual advertising. It offers a range of display advertising, including text and banner advertising, mobile, video and rich media advertising, sponsorship of content offerings, and local and classified advertising. It also generates revenues through its subscription access service. It also generates revenues from subscriptions to other products and services. It also generates advertising revenues through the sale of advertising on third-party Websites, which it refers to as the Third Party Network. It markets its offerings to advertisers on both AOL Properties and the Third Party Network under the brand AOL Advertising. It markets its offerings to publishers on the Third Party Network under the brand Advertising.com and also market offerings as video advertisements distributed through goviral A/S (goviral) and 5 Minutes Ltd (5min Media).

On January 22, 2010, the Company completed the acquisition of StudioNow, Inc. On September 28, 2010, the Company completed the acquisition of 5min Media. On September 28, 2010, the Company completed the acquisition of Thing Labs, Inc. On September 29, 2010, the Company completed the acquisition of TechCrunch, Inc. On December 15, 2010, the Company completed the acquisition of Pictela, Inc. On December 20, 2010, the Company completed the acquisition of About.me, Inc. On! January 31, 2011, the Company completed the acquisition of goviral A/S. On February 26, 2010, the Company sold buy.at to Digital Window Limited. On June 16, 2010, the Company sold Bebo, Inc. On July 8, 2010, the Company completed the sale of ICQ operations (ICQ). During the year ended December 31, 2010, the Company sold its investments in Kayak Software Corporation and Brightcove, Inc.

AOL Properties

AOL Media offerings include original content produced through its network of content creators, which includes professional journalists from media, freelance writers and bloggers, content, which it licenses from third parties and aggregations of user-generated content. Its content offerings are made available to audiences through sites, such as the AOL.com homepage, as well as to audiences branded properties, such as Engadget, TechCrunch, PopEater, Moviefone, AOL Shopping, AOL Autos, AOL Travel, AOL Real Estate, MapQuest and StyleList. Its Seed.com platform allows writers and photographers to submit original content for its editors to review and publish on AOL Properties or on third party sites.

The Company has developed and acquired platforms, which are designed to facilitate the production, aggregation, distribution and consumption of local content. This local content includes professional editorial content, user-generated content and business listings. Its local offerings include Patch, which is a community-specific news and information platform dedicated to providing local coverage for individual towns and communities; MapQuest, which is an online mapping and directions service, and City�� Best, which provides local entertainment information for metropolitan areas. It offers a range of consumer applications, including a range of communications products and services. Its consumer applications offerings include AOL Mail, which is an e-mail services in the United States; AIM, which is an instant messaging service in the United States; and a range of mobile offerin! gs, which! extend its content, products and services to a range of digital devices.

The Company offers AOL Search on AOL Properties. It provides its consumers with a general, Internet-based search experience, which utilizes Google�� organic Web search results and additional links on the search results and third-party content and information, as well as provides a range of search-related features, such as suggesting related searches to help users refine their search queries. It also provides consumers with relevant paid text-based search advertising through its relationship with Google, in which it provides consumers sponsored link ads in response to their search queries. It offers vertical search services and mobile search services on AOL Properties.

The Company offers contextually relevant advertising, which is generated based on the content of the AOL Properties Webpage the consumer is viewing. It also offers MapQuest, a service, which provides maps, turn by turn driving directions and other location-based information for consumers globally. During 2010, it launched a new MapQuest platform, which simplified the user interface and included enhanced features. In addition, it provides local directory listings through its AOL Yellow Pages product, which listings are provided by a third party and from which AOL receives a revenue share. The Company�� subscription service has been its subscription access service, including narrow-band (telephone dial-up) access to the Internet. Computer tools and maintenance services, online technical support, anti-virus software, identity theft protection, online and social media privacy and reputation monitoring services, diet fitness services, online learning and other lifestyle services are offered on a subscription basis. Content, products and services on AOL Properties are available to online consumers.

The Company�� AOL-brand subscription access service, which it offers to consumers in the United States for a monthly fee, is a val! uable dis! tribution channel for AOL Properties. As of December 31, 2010, it had 3.9 million AOL-brand access subscribers in the United States. In addition to its content, products and services, which are available to all online consumers, an AOL-brand access subscription provides members with dial-up access to the Internet. It offers Internet access services under the CompuServe and Netscape brands. Its access service partners are Level 3 Communications, LLC and MCI Communications Services, Inc., who provides it with modem networks and related services for a substantial portion of its subscription access service.

The Company also distributes AOL Properties through a range of other channels, including agreements with manufacturers of digital devices and other consumer electronics, broadband access providers and mobile carriers. AOL also distributes its content, products and services directly to consumers on the open Web and through the Apple Apps Store. Additional distribution channels include toolbars, widgets, co-branded portals and Websites, and third-party Websites and social networks that link to AOL Properties. It also utilizes search engine marketing and search engine optimization as distribution methods. In addition, it makes available open standards and protocols for use by third-party developers. It generates advertising revenues from AOL Properties through the sale of display advertising and search and contextual advertising.

Third Party Network

The Company generates advertising revenues through the sale of advertising on third party Websites. Its advertising offerings on the Third Party Network consists of the sale of display advertising and also includes search and contextual advertising. It markets its offerings to publishers on the Third Party Network under the brand Advertising.com and also market offerings as video advertisements distributed through goviral and 5 Minutes Ltd. Its revenues in the Third Party Network are generated from the advertising invent! ory acqui! red from publishers. The Third Party Network includes a display advertising interface, which gives advertisers the ability to target and control the delivery of their advertisements and provides advertisers and agencies with relevant display analytics and measurement tools. It focuses to utilize self-service systems. For its publishers, inclusion in the Third Party Network offers a range of tools and technologies. It aims to develop its relationships with publishers and advertisers.

The Company utilizes a scheduling, optimization and delivery technology, which optimize advertisement placements across the Third Party Network and the available inventory on AOL Properties. AdLearn allows performance to be analyzed and advertisement placement to be optimized based on specific objectives, including click-through rate, conversion rate, sales volume and other metrics. In addition to advertising and subscription revenues, it also generates fee, license and other revenues. It generates fees from its consumer applications associated with mobile e-mail and instant messaging functionality from mobile carriers. Through MapQuest�� business-to-business services, it generates licensing revenue from third-party customers. It also generates revenues by licensing its ad serving technology to third parties, through its subsidiary, ADTECH AG.

The Company competes with Yahoo! Inc., Google Inc., Microsoft Corporation�� MSN, IAC/Interactive Corp., Facebook, Inc., Twitter, Inc., News Corporation, WPP plc and ValueClick, Inc.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Paul Ausick]

  Portal companies like Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ: YHOO), AOL Inc. (NYSE: AOL) and Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ: MSFT) are trying to overcome collapsing revenues for display advertising. Their latest business model aims to appeal to marketers who use video ads. These video ads can command 10 times more revenue than display ads. Online publishers and advertisers both benefit from the fact that commercials frequently already have�been created for broadcast and cable TV.

• [By Keith Fitz-Gerald]

  That's heresy, according to the technorati who are quick to compare the two companies now in the same breathless terms they used back in the dot.bomb heyday. Never mind that's what they said about AOL Inc. (NYSE: AOL), too.

Best Tech Companies To Invest In 2014: ModusLink Global Solutions Inc(MLNK)

ModusLink Global Solutions, Inc., through its subsidiaries, provides supply chain business process management solutions worldwide. Its services and solutions cover forward supply chain, aftermarket service requirements, and e-business processes. The company?s services include sourcing and supply base management, manufacturing and product configuration, fulfillment and distribution, e-business, and aftermarket services, such as returns management and asset disposition; and consumer-electronics repair and reverse logistics services. Its clients include hardware manufacturers, software publishers, telecommunications carriers, broadband and wireless service providers, and consumer electronics companies. In addition, the company, through its venture capital business, invests in early-stage technology companies. ModusLink Global Solutions, Inc., formerly known as CMGI, Inc., was founded in 1986 and is headquartered in Waltham, Massachusetts.

Best Tech Companies To Invest In 2014: MediSwipe Inc (MWIP)

MediSwipe Inc., formerly Cannabis Medical Solutions Inc., incorporated in February 18, 1997, offers a transaction processing and security solutions for the medical and healthcare industries, using traditional, Internet Point-of-Sale (POS), e-commerce and mobile (wireless) payment solutions. The Company's electronic payment processing suite of services will enable clients to accept all credit cards, in store or online, debit and automated teller machine (ATM) cards and ACH check drafts for payment whether a retail, service, mail-order or Internet merchant. The Company�� card-based processing services enable merchants to process both traditional card-present, or swipe, transactions, as well as card-not-present transactions. The Company also operates online payment processing services, gift and loyalty card program programs and prepaid debit cards for consumers through 800 Commerce Inc., the Company's subsidiary, under the domain name www.800Commerce.com .

The Company offers MasterCard prepaid cards branded with corporations��brands. The Company offers a line of merchant services for the healthcare sector, including, Visa, MasterCard and merchant accounts, debit & credit card transaction processing, cash advance, gift/loyalty card programs and POS terminals through its��private banking network. 800 Commerce electronic payment processing and additional services enables the Company's clients to accept all credit cards, as well as debit and ATM cards for payment whether a retail, service, mail-order or Internet merchant. The 800 Commerce Suite of e-Commerce Services Include Merchant Processing Customized Solutions; Private Label Gateway; Credit Card Acceptance; Debit/ATM Card Acceptance; Private Label Debit Card Issuance; Internet Processing; Gift, Payroll and Loyalty Cards; Check Services; Wireless/Mobile Payment Platforms; Web Development and consulting, and ACH.

The Company competes with First Data Corporation, Total System Services, Global Payments, Authorize.net and Bank! of America's BA Merchant Services.

Best Tech Companies To Invest In 2014: Organovo Holdings Inc (ONVO)

Organovo Holdings, Inc. (Organovo), formerly Real Estate Restoration & Rental, Inc., incorporated in 2007, is a development-stage company. The Company has developed and is commercializing a platform technology for the generation of three-dimensional (3D) human tissues that can be employed in drug discovery and development, biological research, and as therapeutic implants for the treatment of damaged or degenerating tissues and organs. On December 28, 2011, Real Estate Restoration and Rental, Inc.�� (RERR) entered into an Agreement and Plan of Merger, pursuant to which RERR merged with its, wholly owned subsidiary, Organovo (Merger Sub). On February 8, 2012, the Company merged with and into Organovo Acquisition Corp. (Acquisition Corp.), a wholly owned subsidiary of Organovo, with the Company surviving the merger as a wholly owned subsidiary of Organovo Holdings (the Merger). As a result of the Merger, Organovo acquired the business of Organovo, Inc.

The Company has collaborative research agreements with Pfizer, Inc. (Pfizer) and United Therapeutic Corporation (Unither). As of March 31, 2012, it has five federal grants, including Small Business Innovation Research grants and developed the NovoGen MMX Bioprinter (its first-generation 3D bioprinter). The Company is engaged in the development of specific 3D human tissues to aid Pfizer in discovery of therapies in two areas of interest. In addition, in October 2011, it entered into a research agreement with Unither to establish and conduct a research program to discover treatments for pulmonary hypertension using its NovoGen MMX Bioprinter technology. Additionally, under the research agreement with Unither, the Company granted Unither an option to acquire from the Company a worldwide, royalty-bearing license in certain intellectual property created under the research agreement solely for use in the treatment or prevention of pulmonary hypertension and all other lung diseases.

The Company�� NovoGen MMX Bioprinter is an automate! d device that enables the fabrication of three-dimensional (3D) living tissues comprised of mammalian cells. A custom graphic user interface (GUI) facilitates the 3D design and execution of scripts that direct precision movement of the dispensing heads to deposit cellular building blocks (bio-ink) or supporting hydrogel. The Company is using a third party manufacturer, Invetech Pty., of Melbourne, Australia, to manufacture its NovoGen MMX Bioprinter. Its bioprinting technology and surrounding intellectual property and commercial rights serve as a platform for product generation across multiple markets that employ cell- and tissue-based products and services.

The Company competes with Organogenesis, Advanced BioHealing, Tengion, Genzyme, HumaCyte and Cytograft Tissue Engineering.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Steve Symington]

  To answer that question, remember what our fellow Fool Isaac Pino reminded us a few weeks ago:�high-end production 3-D printers from companies like 3D Systems, Stratasys (NASDAQ: SSYS  ) , and ExOne (NASDAQ: XONE  ) are capable of using dozens of materials to print infinitely more complicated items including shoes, saws, guitar bodies, and other functioning tools with moving parts.�Heck, 3-D bioprinting specialist�Organovo (NYSEMKT: ONVO  ) is currently working feverishly on perfecting the process of designing and creating functional human tissue which -- putting inevitable regulatory hurdles for using the technology aside -- could obviously change the health care world as we know it.

• [By James E. Brumley]

  It's certainly not the way I would have likes for things to shake out with Organovo Holdings Inc. (NYSEMKT:ONVO), but I'm not going to complain - it's pointed in the right direction. More important, for anybody who's been wanting into an ONVO trade but wasn't sure where the right entry spot was, today's move is it, with just one little caveat.

• [By Roberto Pedone]

  Another stock that's starting to move within range of triggering a near-term breakout trade is Organovo (ONVO), a three-dimensional biology company focused on delivering breakthrough bioprinting technology and creating tissue on demand for research and medical applications. This stock has been on fire so far in 2013, with shares up sharply by 133%.

  If you look at the chart for Organovo, you'll notice that this stock recently pulled back sharply from its high of $8.50 to its recent low of $4.43 a share. During that move, shares of ONVO were consistently making lower highs and lower lows, which is bearish technical price action. That said, the downside volatility stopped for ONVO once it hit $4.43 a share, and the stock has now reversed its downtrend and entered an uptrend. That move is quickly pushing ONVO within range of triggering a near-term breakout trade.

  Traders should now look for long-biased trades in ONVO if it manages to break out above some near-term overhead resistance levels at $6.20 to $6.65 a share with high volume. Look for a sustained move or close above those levels with volume that hits near or above its three-month average action of 2 million shares. If that breakout triggers soon, then ONVO will set up to re-test or possibly take out its next major overhead resistance levels at $7.50 to its 52-week high at $8.50 a share. Any high-volume move above $8.50 will then put its all-time high at $10.90 within range for shares of ONVO.

  Traders can look to buy ONVO off any weakness to anticipate that breakout and simply use a stop that sits right below its 50-day at $5.07 a share, or just below $5 a share. One can also buy ONVO off strength once it takes out that breakout levels with volume and then simply use a stop that sits a comfortable percentage from your entry point.