Best Growth Stocks To Invest In 2014

The following video is from Wednesday's Motley Fool Money roundtable discussion with host Chris Hill and analysts Ron Gross, Charly Travers, and James Early.

Shares of Coach (NYSE: COH  ) rose more than 10% on Tuesday after the retailer reported better-than-expected third-quarter profits. Coach also increased its dividend by 13%, and it continues to face stiff competition. Shares of Michael Kors (NYSE: KORS  ) have outperformed Coach over the past year. In this installment of Motley Fool Money, our analysts talk about the future of Coach.

The relevant video segment can be found between 12:54 and 13:51.

Michael Kors is one of today's hottest high-end fashion brands, and that's translated into one of the best-performing stocks in retail -- since its debut on the market in late 2011, the share price has more than doubled. But with all that growth, has the stock finally become too expensive or is there still room left to run? The Motley Fool's premium report on Michael Kors gives investors all the information they need to make the right decision. We cover the key must-watch areas, opportunities, and threats to the company that investors need to know. To claim your copy, simply click here now for instant access.

5 Best Defense Stocks To Watch For 2015: Eastern Insurance Holdings Inc.(EIHI)

Eastern Insurance Holdings, Inc., through its subsidiaries, provides workers compensation insurance and reinsurance products in the United States. The company?s Workers Compensation Insurance segment provides traditional workers compensation insurance coverage products, including guaranteed cost policies, policyholder dividend policies, retrospectively-rated policies, deductible policies, and alternative market products to employers. This segment distributes its workers? compensation products and services through its independent insurance agents primarily in Pennsylvania, Delaware, North Carolina, Maryland, Indiana, and Virginia. Its Segregated Portfolio Cell Reinsurance segment offers alternative market workers compensation solutions comprising program design, fronting, claims administration, risk management, segregated portfolio cell rental, asset management, and segregated portfolio management services to individual companies, groups, and associations. Eastern Insurance Holdings, Inc. is headquartered in Lancaster, Pennsylvania.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Lauren Pollock]

  ProAssurance Corp.(PRA) agreed to acquire Eastern Insurance Holdings Inc.(EIHI) for about $205 million, expanding the insurance company’s casualty insurance offerings. Eastern Insurance is a domestic casualty insurance group specializing in workers’ compensation products and services, among other things. ProAssurance plans to pay $24.50 in cash for each outstanding Eastern share, a 16% premium over Monday’s closing price.

Best Growth Stocks To Invest In 2014: MEDIFAST INC(MED)

Medifast, Inc., through its subsidiaries, engages in the production, distribution, and sale of weight management and disease management products, and other consumable health and diet products in the United States. The company?s product lines include weight and disease management, meal replacement, and vitamins. It also operates weight control centers that offer Medifast programs for weight loss and maintenance, customized patient counseling, and inbody composition analysis. The company markets its products under the Medifast and Essential brand names, including shakes, appetite suppression shakes, women?s health shakes, diabetics shakes, joint health shakes, coronary health shakes, calorie burn drinks, calorie burn flavor infusers, antioxidant shakes, antioxidant flavor infusers, bars, crunch bars, soups, chili, oatmeal, pudding, scrambled eggs, hot cocoa, cappuccino, chai latte, iced teas, fruit drinks, pretzels, puffs, brownie, pancakes, soy crisps, crackers, and omega 3 and digestive health products. Medifast Inc. sells its products through various channels of distribution comprising Web, call center, independent health advisors, medical professionals, weight loss clinics, and direct consumer marketing supported via the phone and the Web; Take Shape for Life, a physician led network of independent health coaches; and weight control centers. The company was founded in 1980 and is headquartered in Owings Mills, Maryland.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Ben Levisohn]

  Shares of Weight Watchers have gained 23% to $24.36 at 11:27 a.m., while NutriSystem (NTRI) has gained 2.4% to $15.36 and Medifast (MED) has dropped 1.6% to $31.15.

• [By Monica Gerson]

  Analysts expect Medifast (NYSE: MED) to post its Q4 earnings at $0.36 per share on revenue of $80.83 million. Medifast shares surged 2.19% to close at $26.08 on Friday.

• [By Ben Levisohn]

  Shares of Nutrisystem have gained 20% to $18.05 at 1:34 p.m., while Weight Watchers (WTW) has risen 3.6% to $39.42. Medifast (MED), however, has dropped 1.9% to $24.94.

Best Growth Stocks To Invest In 2014: Delphi Financial Group Inc. (DFG)

Delphi Financial Group, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, provides integrated employee benefit services. The company operates in two segments, Group Employee Benefit Products and Asset Accumulation Products. The Group Employee Benefit Products segment provides disability, group life, and excess workers? compensation insurance products to small and mid-sized employers. It also offers travel accident, voluntary accidental death and dismemberment, group dental, and limited benefit health insurance products, as well as assumed workers? compensation and casualty reinsurance. This segment markets its group products to employer-employee groups and associations in various industries primarily through independent brokers and agents. The Asset Accumulation Products segment primarily offers fixed annuities, such as single premium deferred annuities, flexible premium annuities, and multi-year interest guarantee products to individuals through networks of independent insurance agen ts. The company also provides integrated disability and absence management services, including event reporting, leave of absence management, claims and case management, and return to work management. Delphi Financial Group, Inc. was founded in 1987 and is based in Wilmington, Delaware.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Holly LaFon]

  Some of Elliott Management�� top equity positions in the first quarter 2012 are Brocade Communications Systems (BRCD), Delphi Automotive (DFG), Iron Mountain (IRM) and News Corp. (NWS).

Best Growth Stocks To Invest In 2014: Buffalo Wild Wings Inc.(BWLD)

Buffalo Wild Wings, Inc. engages in the ownership, operation, and franchise of restaurants in the United States. The company provides quick casual and casual dining services, as well as serves bottled beers, wines, and liquor. As of July 26, 2011, it had 773 Buffalo Wild Wings locations in 45 states in the United States, as well as in Canada. The company was founded in 1982 and is headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Chris Katje]

  Redhook and Buffalo Wild Wings (BWLD) will launch Game Changer Ale in July, as part of a new alcohol menu at all of the restaurant chain's locations. Buffalo Wild Wings CEO Sally Smith had this to say, "Draft beer is another cornerstone of our brand. We continue to create new opportunities to enhance the draft beer experience for our guests, increase our beer sales and improve our draft beer margins."

Best Growth Stocks To Invest In 2014: TrueBlue Inc.(TBI)

TrueBlue, Inc. provides temporary blue-collar staffing services in the United States. It supplies on demand general labor to various industries under the Labor Ready brand; skilled labor to manufacturing and logistics industries under the Spartan Staffing brand; and trades people for commercial, industrial, and residential construction, and building and plant maintenance industries under the CLP Resources brand. The company also provides mechanics and technicians to the aviation maintenance, repair and overhaul, aerospace manufacturing, and assembly industries, as well as to other transportation industries under the Plane Techs brand; and temporary drivers to the transportation and distribution industries under the Centerline brand. It primarily serves small and medium-size businesses. The company was formerly known as Labor Ready, Inc. and changed its name to TrueBlue, Inc. in December 2007. TrueBlue, Inc. was founded in 1985 and is headquartered in Tacoma, Washington.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Jonathan Yates]

  For those looking to invest in real estate stocks, highly recommended is the Dr. Housing Bubble blog. In a recent posting, the "Dr." pointed out that there was a "Lost Generation" when it came to household income. That has not happened for those investing in staffing industry stocks such as Paychex (NASDAQ: PAYX), Robert Half International (NYSE: RHI), TrueBlue, Inc. (NYSE: TBI), and Labor SMART (OTCBB: LTNC).

• [By Jonathan Yates]

  Even though the stock market rallied on Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke's remarks with the Dow Jones Industrial Average (NYSE: DIA) and Standard & Poor's 500 Index (NYSE: SPY) surging, the long term winners will be stocks in the staffing industry such as Paychex(NASDAQ: PAYX), TrueBlue (NYSE: TBI), Robert Half (NYSE: RHI), and Labor SMART (OTCBB: LTNC).

• [By Jonathan Yates]

  When looking at small cap stocks, it is useful to compare the company with others that have expanded in both share price and size. For those considering investing in the $100 billion staffing industry, the growth of TrueBlue (NYSE: TBI) shows what could be the potential path for Labor SMART (OTCBB: LTNC), as both operate in the $29 billion demand labor sector. Other firms have done well in the staffing industry include Paychex (NASDAQ: PAYX) and ManPower Group (NYSE: MAN).

Best Growth Stocks To Invest In 2014: Waste Management Inc.(WM)

Waste Management, Inc., through its subsidiaries, provides waste management services to residential, commercial, industrial, and municipal customers in North America. It offers collection, transfer, recycling, and disposal services. The company also owns, develops, and operates waste-to-energy and landfill gas-to-energy facilities in the United States. Its collection services involves in picking up and transporting waste and recyclable materials from where it was generated to a transfer station, material recovery facility, or disposal site; and recycling operations include collection and materials processing, plastics materials recycling, and commodities recycling. In addition, it provides recycling brokerage, which includes managing the marketing of recyclable materials for third parties; and electronic recycling services, such as collection, sorting, and disassembling of discarded computers, communications equipment, and other electronic equipment. Further, the company e ngages in renting and servicing portable restroom facilities to municipalities and commercial customers under the Port-o-Let name; and involves in landfill gas-to-energy operations comprising recovering and processing the methane gas produced naturally by landfills into a renewable energy source, as well as provides street and parking lot sweeping services. Additionally, it offers portable self-storage, fluorescent lamp recycling, and medical waste services for healthcare facilities, pharmacies, and individuals, as well as provides services on behalf of third parties to construct waste facilities. The company was formerly known as USA Waste Services, Inc. and changed its name to Waste Management, Inc. in 1998. Waste Management, Inc. was incorporated in 1987 and is based in Houston, Texas.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Helix Investment Research]

  We note that Keating Capital's co-investors in many of its portfolio companies are not simply other venture capital or existing investors, but strategic investors as well. Examples include Agilyx, where Waste Management (WM) is a co-investor, BrightSource, where Chevron (CVX) and BP (BP) are co-investors, Kabam, where Google (GOOG) and Intel (INTC) are co-investors, or Tremor Video (TRMR), where Time Warner (TWX) is a co-investor. As of the end of Q2 2013, 9 (excluding Jumptap) of Keating Capital's portfolio companies had unrealized gains, with an average gain of 25.6% (again excluding Jumptap, which had unrealized gains of 8% as of the end of Q2 2013). The remaining 6 companies had an average loss of 44.46%. However, on an overall basis, Keating Capital's portfolio currently has an average unrealized gain of 2.15%. While this is not a large gain, we note that the bulk of Keating Capital's profits are realized upon exiting an investment in conjunction with the portfolio company's IPO or sale. Furthermore, portions of Keating Capital's portfolio are defended by structurally protected appreciation clauses that the company has struck with its portfolio companies, clauses that are not reflected on its balance sheet. These clauses, which are negotiated between Keating Capital and its portfolio companies, allow the company to receive shares in the portfolio company's IPO at a discount, or grant it warrants to purchase additional shares in an IPO for a nominal price. Since inception, Keating Capital has negotiated structurally protected appreciation clauses in 11 of the 20 companies it has invested in. As of the end of Q2 2013, 6 of Keating Capital's 15 portfolio companies were protected by structurally protected appreciation clauses, representing $22 million in total capital (almost 43% of the company's invested capital), thereby entitling Keating Capital to a weighted-average aggregate value of 1.9x its investment at the time of an IPO.

• [By Thomas Scarlett]

  Disposing of garbage may not be the most glamorous industry, but it can be a source of steady profits for investors.  Waste Management Inc. (NYSE: WM) has been the U.S. leader in this field for many years, and it remains that today.

• [By Sean Williams]

  Show me the money!
  Starting us off this week is refuse and recycling giant Waste Management (NYSE: WM  ) , which on Friday divvied out $0.375 per share to investors, a $0.01 jump from its payout in the previous quarter. Waste Management's business has been hit recently by weaker commodity prices that hurt its recycling margins, along with consolidation in the refuse business which is also pressuring margins. However, as the clear market-share leader in refuse, a necessity-based business, it continues to wield impressive pricing power that can be used to slowly grow its bottom line. Waste Management's 3.6% yield should remain an attractive lure for income-seeking investors.

• [By Daniel Sparks]

  The payout ratio is an excellent tool for dividend investors. Without it, it's tough to judge how sustainable a company's dividend is. Though a lower payout ratio is always better than a high payout ratio, some companies can easily cope with higher ratios than others. In the video below, Fool contributor Daniel Sparks looks at�Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL  ) , Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT  ) , and Waste Management (NYSE: WM  ) , illustrating how the ratio deserves careful attention during analysis.